Babel: Littératures Plurielles (Jul 1999)
La relecture du romancero par les vihuelistes de la Renaissance
Abstract
Spanish romances, at the time of the Reconquista, used to tell about past events in the epic mode, on a melodious rhythm which made it easier for the minstrel to store up long narratives in his memory. When Diego Pisador took up a romance, he merely kept a few lines from it. As a result, there is a closer relationship between the words and the notes. On the basis of an epic poem, he made a genuine musical composition through lyrical amplification. He brought about a real aesthetic change, passing from the long narrative based on a short recurrent musical theme, which characterized the medieval romance of the Reconquista, onto a shorter and more elaborate form which blends lyrical vibration and epic contents. As a member of the Royal Court, he intended to serve Felipe II’s interests, and dedicated his work to him. As a vihuelist composer, Pisador contributed to the Moor’s integration, in accordance with the policy which was being implemented by the House of Austria. But the wedding did not take place, and the Moors were expelled in 1609. An analysis of the song clearly reveals how the musician could provide real lyrical amplification to a simple tale through music. The new piece does not simply put music on a poetical text, the music does not simple parallel words, it is not only the musical image of a text. The music and the poem are two autonomous means of expression which, within the song, aim at the same objective. Sometimes they get very close to each other, at other times, each of them follows its own free movement, so that the song is precisely characterized by the permanent tension between its two components. Thus, setting poetry to music implies a certain degree of interpretation on the part of the composer, since he selects those elements which will be translated or amplified by the melody.
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