Chapter 13. Tradicionalismo e inovação musical na cantiga paralelística

Abstract

Taking into account the different views penned since 1917 on the melodic style found in Martin Codax, and also the connection with the larger sphere of parallelistic song featuring a woman’s voice, this chapter tries to ascertain which musical traits echo oral composition procedures and might point to an earlier style of women’s song symbolized by the ‘boyfriend’ and related keywords. Differences between cantigas II and III and the remaining, and the metrics of the latter, are discussed, and a new musical edition is proposed for these two (and also, in passing, for cantiga V). Finally, those stylistic aspects that in the Vindel MS may betray an earlier tradition, in contrast to those that can be attributed to the artistic initiative of Galician jongleurs, are tentatively identified.