EUROPEAN ROOTS
OF THE PASTORIL.
This text has
two main purposes: first, to understand the meaning of the word “Pastoral”, and
how the ideas associated with the term or genres developed, its functions, its
links with musical genres and especially its association with the commemoration
of Jesus Christ’s birthday. Second, to
identify coincidences, similarities or differences between European genres in
order to make further comparisons with the topic of this research, the
Brazilian Pastoril.
The term “
Pastoral” brings to mind ideas of rural
life, shepherds playing flutes and the like.
In searching for more appropriate words to define the genre, as well as
the origin of this kind of aesthetic, the first two definitions of pastoral
according to the Collins English Dictionary[1]
are useful to explain the subject itself.
1) Pastoral way of life is one in which people live in
the country and farm the land, especially by keeping animals that feed on the
grass.
2) Pastoral place, atmosphere, idea, is characteristic of
or relates to peaceful country life and scenery; a literary word.
This adjective
may have appeared first with reference to music, with Stesichorus’ (6th century
BC) lament to Daphne (the forest nymph whom Zeus transformed into a
flute). However, only with Theocritus
(3rd century BC) is the pastoral song elevated to an important genre. His play Idylls,
was probably intended for public
performance, with a semi-dramatic plot.
It includes laments, strophic songs with refrains, song contests and
syrinx tunes. In this elementary form we
can already see some of the vital features which persist through the genre’s
history namely: lament, nymph, flute, idyll and semi-dramatic plot. Theocritus’ composition became a kind of
model and its patterns appeared later in most of the artistic productions
related to the genre.
At that time,
the Greek term for pastoral; Bucoliasmos or
Bukolica was already associated with
rustic life, music, dance laments, idyllic atmosphere. These elements are also found in Virgil’s Bucolics, or Eclogues. These were
performed as sung mimes in the first century BC and became the inspiration for
a vast literary production between the fifteenth and the eighteenth centuries
A.D. This does not mean that pastoral principles and aesthetics disappeared in
European art until that time. At a more
popular level, in the time of Charlemagne, pastorals were revived as a musical
idea with the repertory of the troubadours and trouvères, spreading their literary form throughout Europe,
including the Iberian peninsula.[2] In medieval times, pastoral ideals developed
and seem to have appeared in many other forms of musical production. A remarkable example of this is Adam de la
Halle’s Jeu de Robin et Marion
(thirteenth century). Here, the musical
idea is associated with theatre, since it represents an entire pastoral
play. The Jeu de Robin et Marion is a sophisticated piece, a light
entertainment telling of an amorous encounter between a Shepherdess and a
roving knight, with dramatised dances and Shepherds’ games. Its tunes are monophonic, short, rhythmic and
syllabic. The lyric forms are always in
refrain and the plot is an aristocratic stylisation of country life.
Another aspect
of this play worth emphasising is the combination of sung and spoken parts,
which are deemed to be closer to the narrative genre. Also to be considered are the popular
contemporary features in Halle’s work
and the links with pastoral music, entertainment and Christmas. Robin
et Marion was written to amuse expatriate Northern French soldiers of
Robert II (Adam de La Halle’s patron at the time) as part of their Christmas
festivities. The play is an
entertainment and in its style is similar to a revue. In France however, pastoral motives also inspired later
generations of composers. Pastorale d’Issy, by Perrin et Cambert
(1659), is considered to be the first real French opera. Prior to this, the Le triomphe de l’Amour, by Michel de la Guerre inspired Lully (Les fêtes de l’Amour et de Bacchus
[1672]) and Rameau’s Zaïs (1748) to
create the same kind of compositions.
Even in Rousseau’s Le Devin du
Village (1752) pastoral scenes and characters are present.
The use of the
pastoral matrix and ideals in France also coincides with the wave of interest
in such themes that lasted for several generations in Italy. Certainly, the
same themes occur also in the fifteenth century Italian madrigals where
Virgil’s classical model is also an inspiration. The influence of pastoral
musical features spread also to other genres giving the instrumental support to
other forms such as the Serenata
(Serenade). Also to be considered in the
production of pastoral themes is the use of theatrical dimensions associated
with music and dance in some similar poems during the fifteenth century in
Italy. Among them are Angelo Poliziano’s
Favela d’Orfeo (1471), Jacopo Peri’s Dafne (1597), Monteverdi’s Orpheus and Guarani’s Il Pastor Fido, which were translated
into many European languages and during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries remained a model for the Pastorale[3].
In Germany,
Austria and the Slavonic countries, the Italian pastoral motifs were also
assimilated, along with the Austrian Shepherd tradition. At the same time, the use of pastoral
patterns with wind-instrumentation, symbolising the rural Shepherd style,
became a trend (Bach’s Christmas Oratorio,
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons) featuring
representations of storms, gratitude to nature etc. Later, when this was still a Christmas
tradition in Germany[4],
Leopold Mozart, inspired by popular pastoral tradition where animals speak,
introduced in his Bauernhochzeit (1755)
instruments that imitated birds and other animals. This kind of picturesque trend adopted by
some eighteenth century composers gradually became disconnected from the very
literary pastoral tradition. In other
words, hunting scenes, water, birds, flowers, harvest, seasons, which had
previously appeared as musical images came to be widely used by some Romantic
composers. Their compositions seem to be
a small detail of the rural life within a larger pastoral scene. The very mood which characterised the
aesthetics of the period was the idealization of nature.
But the idea of
pastoral as an source of inspiration continued into the nineteenth century,
when many composers made use of aspects of nature, or tried to recreate the
pastoral mood.
In its long history, the pastoral tradition has served
a variety of audiences and artistic purposes.
Accounts of it often stress the literary aspects of the tradition at the
expense of musical and pastorales, addressed to cultivated audiences at the
expense of the more popular, and in consequence the tradition often appears
essentially artificial and unreal.[5]
We can see then,
that rural life and the rustic innocence of shepherds have inspired artistic
production from earliest times. We may
agree with Philip Tagg when he points out that nature has been seen in close
connection with feelings of: homesickness, bucolism, quietness, nationalism,
joyfulness, meditation etc.[6]
The main idea in the genre has been to recreate an idealised nature, and
associated with this its general message is the revelation and hope of human
transformation through love.
But what links
have such aesthetics with the commemoration of Jesus Christ’s birth, as an
amusement as well as a popular festivity? What rural themes is Christmas
connected with and where do they come from? Perhaps we must turn back to the
history of the Christmas prophecy of peace on earth.
Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace and good will toward men.
(Luke. 2/14).
It is not
necessary to talk about the earliest sources of this prophecy which flourished
over a thousand years ago and mingled with the fate of mankind, festivities and
magic chants to bring health and prosperity, when people joined in feasts to
make their plans for the coming year.
The tradition is also related to the way older religions reached Greece
and Egypt[7]
and then Rome. They also reserved an
important place for the end of year festivities since according to their
calendars, December 25th was the day the sun reached its weakest point and
began to regain its strength. In
addition, to the Romans December was also a month of agricultural festivals
praising Saturn, the Saturnalia, a
mixture of entertainment with street processions, masquerade and lucky charms,
commemorating the generosity of nature as well as the hopes for the next
harvest.
It was in this
pagan environment that Christianity was born, surrounded by many natural images
and gods.[8]
So the star appearing to the shepherds in a pastoral landscape, the donkey and
the ox, the cattle-shed are all symbols which belong to rural life. In addition, the tranquility of the couple in
a contemplative attitude before the infant Jesus seem to be part of a pastoral
idyll. Even today in its religious
rites, Christianity evokes literary aspects and symbols that compare nature
with human feelings. The image of the
Shepherd as God, mankind’s patron, is an old tradition. It comes from the time when the Shepherds had
their wealth in the flock that was fed and protected by them.
Agnus Dei.
Qui tollis peccata mundi. Miserere nobis.
(Agnus Dei from the Roman Catholic mass)
But Jesus’
birthday was not always commemorated as a serious and idyllic story. The purity of this event did not enter into
converted pagans’ souls without some kind of acculturation. The Romans were hard to wean away from their
old observances, in spite of the hard line Church leaders took against the
pagan bacchanalia, the feast of Saturnalia and sun worship. At the very beginning of Christianity, the
converted sometimes worshipped both pagan gods and the Christian God. In such circumstances, the new born religion
had to develop a special tolerance, a kind of mediator quality in order to gain
new followers. In other words, the
Christian liturgy also took aspects from other religions and rituals. So, the severity of the first Christians was
in some ways tempered with allowances.
The Christ figure itself as a symbol of humanisation, asking for
forgiveness to all, and calling on everyone to come to him, is evidence of
this.
Returning to the
beginning of this text, we can quote the two last definitions of Pastoral from
the Collins Dictionary:
3) The Pastoral duties and activity of clergy in the
Christian Churches relate to the general needs of people, rather than just
their spiritual or religious needs.
4) The Pastoral duties and activities of teachers in
school relate to the general needs of the pupils, rather than just their
educational needs.[9]
In this sense,
the word “Pastoral” relates also to education, forgiveness and
sublimation. Both definitions evoke
someone’s leadership of a group, like the relationship between the Shepherd and
his flock.
Reviewing the
paths of the Christmas tradition, how Christ’s earthly experiences developed
and how his birth became a major centre of attention, we can say that the pagan
and religious sides are just one aspect of this interesting subject.[10] In this context we must ask about Christmas
music. Where did it come from? What
links does it have with nature, entertainment and education? Available
documentation regarding its origin points to the Middle Ages, when pageants on
religious themes were used to attract crowds and convert them to the Christian faith. It is interesting to note that by this time,
religious drama followed the same characteristics mentioned before, allowing
for the incorporation of a certain amount of secular elements (dances,
sketches), so that it became difficult to separate the secular from Christian
elements. Together with the Passion, the
Christmas celebration seems to have been the most popular event, comprising
theatre performances, processions and other events.
Like the
earliest Christian hymns, the first Christmas tunes were probably sung to the
melodies of Jewish temple hymns and psalms.
In addition (concerning the main subject) many early church hymns tell
about Christmas.[11] By the time Christianity spread in the west,
Christmas ceremonies and festivals were mixed with many other traditions,
taking different names. In spite of the use of these hymns in Church, they are
a quite different breed because they derive from secular sources.[12] During the Church’s struggle against pagan
influence, it almost expelled this musical genre from sacred services. Nevertheless, they appeared outside the
Church in great numbers, especially those which refer to the Nativity.[13]
From the social
point of view, there are many kinds of Christmas songs: courtly, popular, dance
song, religious-popular and popular litany or processional song, even the
ecclesiastical polyphonic variety.
However their social functions can be very varied. We find tunes with both religious and secular
functions or even the same melody with two or more lyrics and different
functions. Summarising, we may say that
western Christmas songs and plays need to be analysed as a phenomenon of
popular culture, since a formal musical poetic definition and analysis of
sounds is always inadequate.
2.2 IBERIAN
ROOTS.
We now turn to
the connection between pastoral motifs and Christmas in Iberia, where the
Brazilian Pastoril has its
roots. Although evidence suggests a
predominant influence of French medieval liturgical drama in Iberia, there was
also a native vernacular dramatic tradition.
The oldest
Iberian literary source on the subject is the incomplete Castilian Auto de los Reis Magos (Play of The
Three Wise Men) from the eleventh century.
There, the worship of the Holy Family and the journey to Bethlehem are
already the main subject in the plot.
But the legend of the birth of Christ is not only described in
theatrical plays. In many fifteenth century collections, like the Cancionero Musical de Palacio and Cancionero Musical de Segovia we can
find songs on Christmas subjects or devoted to the Virgin Mary. Another literary source is the Portuguese
poet Gil Vicente, who most certainly used the same motif as inspiration when he
wrote his Monologo do Vaqueiro
(Monologue of the Cowherd) in 1502, in homage to the birth of a son to Queen
Maria. At that time it was customary to
write texts for presentation at great feasts, but Vicente used the pastoral
environment not only in this play, that describes clearly the conditions of
Christ’s nativity. The Shepherds’ life
and the rural atmosphere are depicted also in his Auto Pastoril Castelhano (Castilian Pastoral Play), and Auto Pastoril Português (Portuguese
Pastoral Play). Besides, his Auto da Sibila Cassandra (The Play of
the Sybil Cassandra) concerns an ancient traditional legend that predicts the
birth of Christ.[14]
In the interest
of this research we must emphasise the use of popular sources by Gil
Vicente. In his time Christmas was
celebrated also by peasants in the whole Iberian Peninsula. From the point of
view of official Catholicism, no celebration had more access to popular
language and music than the Nativity plays.[15]
Inserted courageously among the Latin parts, permeating texts, arguments and
dramas, giving the solo/choir duality the necessary variety, they sometimes
reached the level of a short opera.
Thus, from their origin, the Nativity verses wander between the
religious and profane, cultivated and popular language. This is the case of Juan de Encina’s plays
(1468-1530). His first works are short
dialogues between Shepherds, with their regional accents and witty
anti-literary dialogue. The earliest are
two Eclogues with Nativity references combining liturgical motives and secular
material. Later, in the next dozen, he
introduces other characters such as a squire who falls in love with a peasant
girl, a peasant who is corrupted by courtly life, a hermit who is seduced by a
nymph, a student who rags two peasants, and finally, courtly lovers who are set
against comic peasants, bawds, go-betweens and Venus herself. Here we must stress not only the similarities
between these Iberian works with their specific plots and stereotyped
characters, but also with the whole European Christmas tradition and with the
Brazilian Pastoril in its tendency to
deal with mythology, court life, hermits and the idealisation of rural life in
contrast to its urban characters.
As I have
pointed out, the mutual influence between vernacular and liturgical drama or
music seem closer in Iberia than elsewhere.
So, regarding Christmas music, the dividing line between the sacred and
profane is completely blurred. This
visible contradiction between the religious character of Christmas Eve and
Church laxity in allowing performances in the vernacular, between the popular
character of such songs and their functions in religious works, will follow a
unique course in Iberia.
Historically, it
should be said that the Iberian Christmas musical genre is also akin to other
genres such as the French Virelai[16]
and the religious Lauda which have
almost the same form.[17]
Like the Ballade and the Rondeau, the Italian Lauda Spirituale or the processional
hymns, the Virelai is one of the
three fixed forms that dominated French poetry in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries. Albeit with an overall rhyme
structure in ABBA and simple musical form, the Virelai has a long and complex history, mixed with the history of
dance. It seems to have come from
eleventh century North Africa and Spain, influencing the Provençal troubadour
songs, as well as the Spanish religious song such as Cantigas de Santa Maria written by Alfonso el Sabio
(1221-1284). These are nearly all Virelai types, whose patterns became
extremely popular both in Spain and in Portugal. Many examples of them have survived which,
since the fifteenth century have usually been described by the term Villancico. The very name Villancico (the word comes from Vilano, someone who comes from a rural environment) indicates the
rural links of the genre and reminds us that pastoral aesthetics and ideals
survived also in other popular traditions.
As the name of
the collections indicates, we can say that the Spanish and Portuguese medieval
monophonic song Cantiga is another
main stream of the Villancico. It was also widely used in Iberia up to
about 1450 to designate a song as opposed to a Decir (to tell), which was looked upon as a poem. The most famous surviving Cantigas are the collection of 400 songs
about the Virgin Mary mentioned previously.
They are miniatures that tell of miracles performed by the Blessed
Virgin.[18]
All things
considered, we may say that both the Cantiga,
the Virelai, and the Villancico have almost the same pattern
and as far as religious theatre is concerned, the Iberian genre also had
different functions both in religious and popular events. However, its semi-popular character sometimes
raised voices of protest against those in power, even if it did not extinguish
popular enthusiasm for the genre.[19] Its popularity was such that Christmas
festivities were interrupted by performances.
In this context, concerning the formal characteristics, it was strongly
affected by popular and erudite culture, absorbing the taste of the moment.[20]
Throughout the
“Siglo de Oro” the Villancico, which
in the beginning had an educational purpose, enlarged its role. It was not a question of merely teaching,
disciplining or catechizing, but of amusing too. The Church began to find itself in
competition with theatre (a new, independent and popular kind of entertainment
that was gaining ground), exaggerating words, characters and plots and possibly
changing the dances and musical form as well.
Through the
influence of Italian Opera, Villancicos
(their orchestration, melodies, and lyrics) sometimes became conventional and
merely a recomposition of others. The
dramatic effects on the Baroque style produced by dialogues and contrasting
sonorities fundamentally affected its form and character.[21] At that time, recitatives and arias replaced
the coplas, the instrumental sections
became important and the dramatic effects in the Baroque Villancicos became increasingly theatrical.
For purposes of
this study, the vernacular aspect of Iberian theatre is as relevant as the
religious. It is exactly the
characteristic of light entertainment, the stereotyped characters, the comical,
ironical and double meaning situations in the plots of the former that suggests
that the Brazilian Pastoril descends
to some extent from the theatrical sketches known as Entremeses. This “Inferior
theatre” as it is sometimes called, was enjoyed by the audience as the apéritif
is by gourmets.[22] For Hannah Bergman (1980) who studied the
genre, an Entremés in its heyday
could save a bad play from failure and assure the success of a good one.[23] Loa,
Entremés, Baile, Jácara, Mogiganga, Comédia Antigua, Representación Graciosa,
Sainete, Fin de Fiesta, are examples of this genre which, with blurred
distinctions between each other, presented a diversity of functions that
fulfilled the needs of Iberian society for centuries. They were presented between the scenes of the
serious theatre (Entremés means
‘between acts’) and represented a kind of break in the austerity of the
former. The difference is that in the
serious theatre, noble themes and an idealised world are presented whereas in
the Entremeses, the commoners and everyday life are shown. The exaggeration of such realism is
intrinsically that of caricature and parody.
In an effort to
understand the meaning and functions of this kind of theatre, and of the
dichotomy that existed between its popular and serious sides, Bakhtin’s
contribution on medieval culture was
studied. It brought a new light to
concerns about the Pastoril. In his studies of laughter in Rabelais’ work,
he talks about the so-called “carnavalization phenomenon” and points out some
trends: the break with daily life, elimination of social barriers and
conventions, an inversion of values (generating permissiveness), and the
primacy of laughter. This tradition
seems to have been alive during the Middle Ages when the comic had plenty of
room in the festivities, both in religious and vernacular events. Thus, the clergy allowed some comic festivals
to take place inside the church.
This is why the medieval parody played a completely
unbridled game with all that is most sacred and important from the point of
view of official ideology
....
The serious aspects of class culture are official and
authoritarian: they are combined with violence, prohibitions, limitations and
always contains an element of fear and of intimidation. These elements prevailed in the Middle
Ages. Laughter, on the contrary,
overcomes fear, for it knows no inhibitions, no limitations. Its idiom is never used by violence and
authority.[24]
Bahktin’s work
also sheds much light on the comic elements of the popular rite of the
Brazilian Pastoril. Beyond this, and returning to the point
where we discussed the erotic appeal of this event, we can attempt to
understand it in the light of the knowledge that popular medieval culture also
counted on an element of “studies pointing out the tension between the official
and the popular world and low corporal material” (to use Bakhtin’s phrase) as
one of its attractions. Through
Bakhtin’s concepts of parody and carnavalization, we may understand much of the
Pastoril because its formal patterns
and its textual matrix, both official and popular, are inherited from the past
and filtered through the oral tradition.
The popular medieval tradition is also recalled not only in its hybridism,
in its lack of a defined form and genre, but through its stereotyped
characters, typical of the theatre of that time, based on oppositions between
the religious and the popular, the liturgical and the profane, the serious and
the playful.
I have attempted
to describe the association between pastoral
genre, nature and Christmas music. I
have also written about the role of medieval religious theatre and music as a
mainstream that carried many other vernacular genres and how Christ’s birth has
inspired Western cultural production. The aim was to prepare the reader for a
better understanding of the Brazilian
Pastoril which in its essence shows many links with all these subjects,
that is: eclecticism, generic mix, combination of cultured and popular
features, stereotyped characters, idealisation of rural life etc. As well as these common points being present
in England, Spain or elsewhere, Christmas festivities can also be studied
beginning from a tradition of musical arts or from the folk-popular
tradition. In this way I believe that
they had long affected each other, “two-way traffic” is a very appropriate
expression to define the situation. The
fact of having music and speech, and the entertainment and educational aspects
co-existing, can be considered as additional distinguishing features. It is with these thoughts in mind, that
further arguments will be developed in later chapters of this thesis.
[1] Collins English
Dictionary: 1993, p.1051.
[2] The Pastourelle, a genre of courtly song in
mock-popular style whose plot is an amorous encounter between a knight and a
Shepherdess, was one of the most popular
French forms which spread all over Europe. As for French cultural influences in Portugal, it permeates the
whole history of Portuguese literature, predominating in certain specific
periods. In the Middle Ages, besides the trouvère
literature, the vestiges of the great medieval French culture are found in the
so-called Chartres school with Abelard and the Cistercian movement, dominated
by Saint Bernard de Clairvaux (1091-1053). Portuguese nationality is linked
with France when Kings and Princesses from both countries married. In 1150 D.
Afonso Henriques married Da. Mafalda from the Savoy court, and his son D.
Sancho I, married Da. Dulce, a Princess from Provence. With regard to the artistic aspects,
literature gives an excellent example. Garcia de Rezende’s Cancioneiro Geral for instance, is considered to have been very
influenced by the French Recollection des
Merveilles Advenues au Nostre Temps, with the same strophic character, the
same verse form and criteria of selection of the facts. The Romance Cortês (11th century), that
succeeded the Chansons de Gestes, is
also clearly influenced by the French poetry. For more sources, see Machado: 1984.
[3] It also lent itself to
parody, as in Il Pastor Infido (a scherzo drammatico, Pádua 1715). In France,
parodies of such themes were popular in the eighteenth century.
[4] The vernacular song was already established in Germany even before
the Reformation and was developed both by Lutherans and Catholics. Also, Christmas songs were very popular in
Germany as well as in Austria.
[5] GROVE: 1980.Vol XIV, p. 290.
[6] Tagg: IASPM. International
Publications. P8206.
[7] Sun worship, common in both civilizations seems to have a close
link with the Roman Saturnalias.
[8] Jesus Christ’s birthday
commemoration on 25th December was officialized in the fourth century by
Pope Julius II. Before this, it was commemorated on any day between December 6th and January 6th when
Europeans praised the Sun, asking for
its return.
[9] Collins English Dictionary:1993, p.1051.
[10] The mixture of religious and profane subjects in Christianity
continued to be part of Catholicism. In France for instance, during the Middle
Ages, the two most favoured Christmas plays were the Donkey festival (Fête de L’âne) and the Feast of Fools (Fête de Foux) performed on New Year’s
Night. In the first, the donkey, in a re-enactment of the Holy Family’s flight
to Egypt, was performed most colourfully at Beauvais and Sens in France. The
donkey carrying Mary was arrayed in all the colours of the rainbow. The huge
procession which surrounded and followed the family group as it wound its way
through the narrow streets, sang a hymn of praise to the donkey set to an old
Latin hymn, Orient Partibus. The
feast of fools was more a vulgar procession, presided over by a village idiot.
It seems that the tradition of mockery with the procession going up to the
cathedral, proceeding down the nave to altar and presenting a parody Mass, is
indirect descendent of the mock kings of the early religious processions. Page: 1987.
[11] The Oxford Book of Carols (1993) includes 197 Carols (music and
lyrics). Among them, 251 about Christmas, 6 about Advent, 8 about Christmas
Eve, 10 Secular Christmas songs, 3 about 26th December, 1 about 27th December,
7 about 28th December, 10 about New Year, 27 about Epiphany, 33 about Nativity
and 6 about Annunciation.
[12] With the Carols and the forsaking of the timeless contemplative
melodies of the Church, began the era of modern music, which has throughout
been based upon the dance. in Oxford Book
of Carols: (1993) p. V.
[13] In order to explain the origin and essence of such songs, I quote
from the Oxford Book of Carols (1993). “Carols, moreover, were always modern,
expressing the manner in which the ordinary man at his best understood the
ideas of his age, and bringing traditional conservative religion up to date:
the Carol did this for the fifteenth century, after the collapse of the old
feudal order, and should do the same for
the twentieth. The charm of an old Carol lies precisely in its having been true
to the period in which it was written, and those which are alive today retain
their vitality because of this sincerity; for imitations are always sickly and
short-lived. A genuine Carol, may have faults of grammar, logic and prosody;
but one fault it never has is that of sham antiquity”. p. VI.
[14] Canto da Sibila (Sybil’s
Song), first in Latin and further in vernacular languages was very popular in
the sixteenth century in France and Spain. It is based on the verses of JUDICII
SIGNUM that Constantine declaimed in Greek during the Council of Nicaeia and
Saint Augustine translated to Latin in “The
City of God”. Its popularity lasted since the 10th century when it was
performed as a religious drama, having a
syllabic structure and no melisms. In Subirá: 1945. p. 17.
[15] For further references on this subject, see Villanueva:1991 and
1994, Cantos: 1992, Damasceno: 1970, De La Barca:1983, Fernández: 1987, Ledang:
1897, Le Gentil: 1954, Pidal: 1957, Pope:1944, Preciado:1986, Saint Amour:1940
among others.
[16] The general influence of France in the Iberian Peninsula has
origins in the Middle Ages when French medieval culture spread all over the
area. Certainly the French style was assimilated by the court when Iberian
Kings protected artists from that country (Alfonso el Sabio protected
persecuted French trouvères).
[17] As a musical genre, they are defined as songs of uniform stanzas,
and a refrain that repeats after each stanza, and relates to other forms such
as the Rondeau, Virelai, and Ballade, to
the Italian Lauda Spirituale and to
processional hymns.
[18] The poems were written in Galician (akin to Portuguese), the common
Castilian poetic language during that time.
[19] Already in 1565, Tomaz de Santa Maria spoke against Villancicos. He said they were of
“Little Art”. Later on, in 1596 the battle against the genre won an official
victory through Philip II’s order banning it from royal chapel. Then little by
little every church and cathedral abolished the Villancico in its religious celebrations. However, in the
seventeenth century, it became more popular and its use grew to a large
proportions as Philip IV permitted reinstating the vernacular plays in
Churches. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, this kind of exaggeration
gave the Jansenists (a devotional movement founded by Dutch theologian
Cornelius Jansen-1585-1638), arguments for the final battle against the Villancicos.
[20] The dividing line between the musical and theatrical Villancico, between its religious and popular characteristics in
Iberia is very weak. In addition, one must bear in mind that it is also mixed
with other genres such as the Entremés,
which was very popular during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Spain
and Portugal.
[21] The rise and vitality of musical baroque theatre is unquestionable,
with many Zarzuelas, Tonadillas sceneres and mainly the Italian Opera performances in
Iberia. Certainly, theatre took the place of the semi-religious events at that
time and undoubtedly contributed to the disappearance of Villancicos.
[22] Among the relevant sources for this genre are the works of Calderón
de la Barca, Lope de Vega, Cervantes, Juan de Encina and others.
[23] Bergman: 1980, p.10.
