Early Music America Fall 2012 - (Page 32)

Reconstructing Spanish Songs Ex. 6. Luiz de Briçeño, “Si quereis que os enrrame la puerta,” Método mui facilíssimo… (Paris, 1626). Lorenzo Franciosini Fiorentino, Vocabulario italiano e spagnuolo (Rome, 1638); cited in Niecks, “Les Folies d’Espagne: A Study” (London, 1888) If you want me to decorate [put branches on] your door, life of my heart, if you want me to decorate your door, your love shall be mine. In the sky are two stars who are complaining to god, for he did not make them as beautiful as you. If we love each other, I will rightly sing: if you want me to decorate your door your love shall be mine. Street above, street below, you keep me in life and death, the weeds turn into ﬂowers wherever you place your feet. My dear, it is true that you are causing me passion; if you want me to decorate your door, your love will be mine. Ex. 7. Reconstruction of “Si quereis que os enrrame la puerta.” Briçeño includes eight songs he calls folias, all with a similar harmonic and metrical structure. One of his texts, “Si quereis que os enrrame la puerta,” is also cited as an example of “true” folias by Gonzalo Correas in his Arte de la lengua española castellana (ms. 1625; modern edition by Emilio Alarcos García in Revista de ﬁlología española 56 [1954]). The text was also sung in Los órganos y sacristanes, an entremés (short theatrical farce) by Luis Quiñones de Benavente, published in 1676, and was even collected by folklorist Kurt Schindler, who heard it sung in the 1930s! Briçeño’s folia is set under guitar chords with strumming indications (Ex. 6). The harmonic structure used by Briçeño in his folias is similar to others, like the one published by Tomasio Marchetti (see Ex. 1, page 29), but in this particular piece, Briçeño substitutes the IV chord for the more usual VII, and it appears in a major mode. A likely melody for Briçeño’s song can be deduced from examples published by Richard Hudson (The Folia, the Saraband, the Pasacaglia, and the Chaconne; 4 vols, Musicological Studies and Documents, 35, Neuhausen-Stuttgart, American Institute of Musicology, Hänssler, 1982), and, superimposed on Briçeño’s harmonies, can be realized as in Ex. 7 (stems going down indicating a downstrum, those going up up-strums, in the down-up down-down-up down-down-up pattern characteristic of Spanish guitar style), though any line of the four-voice texture could be sung. The Roman numerals identify the tonic, dominant, and sub-dominant harmonies used in standard music theory. The other folias printed by Briçeño, all in different modes or keys, can be reconstructed in this same way. One of his folias stands out for the beauty of its text and for one variation in the chordal pattern, “Venteçillo mormurador” (Ex. 8). The text of this song survives from the end of the 16th century and exists in several different sources, attesting to its popularity. The chords of the estribillo 32 Fall 2012 Early Music America

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Fall 2012

Editor’s Note
EMA Competition
Sound Bytes
Musings: Listening Forward
Profile: A Classical Playlist on Your Cable Television
Recording Reviews
Reconstructing Spanish Songs from the Time of Cervantes
Janet See: Traversist on Two Continents
Musical Mosaic Explores “Perspectives of Interspersing Peoples”
Book Reviews
Ad Index
In Conclusion: Conducting Early Music

Early Music America Fall 2012