The Cancionero de la Colombina or Cancionero Musical de la Colombina (CMC) is a Spanish manuscript (Ms. 7-1-28) containing Renaissance music from the second half of the 15th century.DIAMM - Source E-Sc Ms. 7-1-28 /ref>
The manuscript was copied during the reign of the
Catholic Monarchs
The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...
, possibly between the 1460s and the 1480s. Therefore, it predates the more famous
Cancionero de Palacio
The Cancionero de Palacio (Madrid, Biblioteca Real, MS II–1335), or Cancionero Musical de Palacio (CMP), also known as Cancionero de Barbieri, is a Spanish manuscript of Renaissance music. The works in it were compiled during a time span of aro ...
. The first half of the manuscript is the work of two main scribes, and the second half was completed by six other scribes. It originally comprised 106 folios, 8 of which are lost. The general condition of the remaining folios is less than satisfactory. A title added on a later period reads "''Cantilenas vulgares puestas en musica por varios Españoles''" (Popular melodies set to music by various Spaniards).
The ''Cancionero de la Colombina'' has been related with the court of the powerful
dukes of Medina Sidonia
Duke of Medina Sidonia ( es, Duque de Medina Sidonia) is a peerage grandee title of Spain in Medina-Sidonia, holding the oldest extant dukedom in the kingdom, first awarded by King John II of Castile in 1380.Juan de Triana, the main composer of the manuscript.
In 1534 it was bought by the second son of
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
, the bibliophile
Ferdinand Columbus
Ferdinand Columbus (Spanish: ''Fernando Colón'' also ''Hernando'', Portuguese: ''Fernando Colombo'', Italian: ''Fernando Colombo''; c. 24 August 1488 – 12 July 1539) was a Spanish bibliographer and cosmographer, the second son of Christopher C ...
, who added it to his rich Sevillian library of more than 15,000 volumes known by the name of "Columbine Library" (in Spanish, ''"Biblioteca Colombina"''). After his death, the library was transferred to the Seville Cathedral, where it remains up to this day.
The ''Cancionero'' currently contains 95 musical settings, some of which are incomplete. Of this total, 53 remain anonymous. The authorship of several works could be established because they had been properly attributed in other ''
cancionero
A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings o ...
s'', especially the
Cancionero de Palacio
The Cancionero de Palacio (Madrid, Biblioteca Real, MS II–1335), or Cancionero Musical de Palacio (CMP), also known as Cancionero de Barbieri, is a Spanish manuscript of Renaissance music. The works in it were compiled during a time span of aro ...
and the
Cancionero de Montecassino The ''Cancionero Musical de Montecassino'' (Montecassino, Biblioteca dell'Abbazia, 871), known by the abbreviation "(CMM)" is an important Neapolitan manuscript of music from the 1480s, containing many otherwise unknown compositions.
References
...
.
The repertory in the manuscript is varied. Among the musical genres can be found '' canciones'', ''
villancico
The ''villancico'' (Spanish, ) or vilancete (Portuguese, ) was a common poetic and musical form of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America popular from the late 15th to 18th centuries. Important composers of villancicos were Juan del Encina, Pedro ...
s'', ''
romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
s'' and '' ensaladas''. Many of the ''villancicos'' and ''canciones'' are sacred, mostly
Marian
Marian may refer to:
People
* Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia
* Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name
* Marian (surname), a list of people so named
Places
* Marian, Iran (disambiguation)
* Marian, Queenslan ...
. Two of the works are in French and 12 are liturgical compositions in Latin. There are also two short versions in Castilian of
the Song of the Sibyl
The Song of the Sibyl ( ca, El Cant de la Sibil·la ) is a liturgical drama and a Gregorian chant, the lyrics of which comprise a prophecy describing the Apocalypse, which has been performed in churches on Majorca ( Balearic Islands, Spain) an ...
(''"El Cant de la Sibil·la"''), nos. 73 and 91 (''"Juysio fuerte será dado"'').
List of works
Bibliography
*''Historia de la música española. Vol 2. Desde el Ars Nova hasta 1600''. Samuel Rubio. Alianza Editorial. Madrid. 1983.
*''El cancionero musical de la Colombina (siglo XV). Transcripción y estudio por Miguel Querol Gavaldá''. 2a ed. Madrid. 1989. Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia. ''Monumentos históricos de la música española'' Collection.
*Anglés, Higinio. ''La música en la Corte de los Reyes Católicos''. C.S.I.C. Madrid. 1960
*Gómez Fernández, Lucía. ''Música, nobleza y mecenazgo: los duques de Medina Sidonia en Sevilla y Sanlúcar de Barrameda (1445-1615).'' Universidad de Cádiz. Cádiz. 2017.
*Spanish Music in the Age of Columbus. Robert Louis Stevenson. Hyperion Pr. 1979. 0883558726
*Sources, MS, §IX, 22: Renaissance polyphony: Spanish and Portuguese cathedral manuscripts. Grove Music Online.