The Codex Las Huelgas is a music

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

from ''c.'' 1300 which originated in and has remained in the

Cistercian convent Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church. History The first Cistercian monastery for women, Le Tart Abbey, was established at Tart-l'Abbaye in th ...

Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight ...

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...

, in northern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The convent was a wealthy one which had connections with the royal family of Castile. The manuscript contains 45 monophonic pieces (20

sequences In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called t ...

, 5

conductus The ''conductus'' (plural: ''conducti'') was a sacred Latin song in the Middle Ages, one whose poetry and music were newly composed. It is non-liturgical since its Latin lyric borrows little from previous chants. The conductus was northern Frenc ...

, 10 Benedicamus tropes) and 141

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

compositions. Most of the music dates from the late 13th century, with some music from the first half of the 13th century ( Notre Dame repertory), and a few later additions from the first quarter of the 14th century. Many of the pieces are not found in any other manuscripts. It is written on

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...

, with the staves written in red ink with Franconian

notation In linguistics and semiotics, a notation is a system of graphics or symbols, characters and abbreviated expressions, used (for example) in artistic and scientific disciplines to represent technical facts and quantities by convention. Therefore, ...

. The bulk of material is written in one hand, although as many as 12 people contributed to it, including corrections and later additions. Johannes Roderici (Juan Rodríguez in modern Spanish) inscribed his name in a number of places in the manuscript. He may have composed a couple of the pieces in the manuscript, as well as being

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

, compiler, and corrector, according to his own inscriptions. The music was intended for use in performance, presumably within the monastery which had a choir of 100 women at one point in the 13th century. The manuscript raises questions regarding

performance practice Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of the musical era in whic ...

of the pieces it contains, especially the polyphonic repertory. It is believed that this choir of women performed the polyphonic works in the manuscript, despite Cistercian rules against the performance of polyphonic music.Women in Music Two-part polyphony appears to have been considered legitimate. In 1217, the General Chapter complained about two English abbeys which were said to sing in three or four parts in the manner of non-monastic churches; the implication is that two-part polyphony was then acceptable, and the manuscript contains two-part

solfège In music, solfège (, ) or solfeggio (; ), also called sol-fa, solfa, solfeo, among many names, is a music education method used to teach aural skills, Pitch (music), pitch and sight-reading of Western classical music, Western music. Solfège is ...

exercises with notations on their use in the convent. However, there are also three-part pieces.

Publication history

The manuscript was rediscovered in 1904 by two

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

s who were researching

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...

. However, the music was not published until the 1930s. There is also a 1980s edition.

Huelgas Ensemble

The

Huelgas Ensemble The Huelgas Ensemble is a Belgian early music group formed by the Flemish conductor Paul Van Nevel in 1971. The group's performance and extensive discography focuses on Renaissance polyphony. The name of the ensemble refers to a manuscript of poly ...

, a Belgian group specialising in polyphony, takes its name from the codex. It was founded in 1971.

Recordings

There have been many recordings of music from the Codex. Notable recordings include those of: * Sequentia (Ensemble Sequentia, Köln). ''Codex Las Huelgas: Music from the Royal Convent of Las Huelgas de Burgos, 13-14th C.'' on

Deutsche Harmonia Mundi Deutsche Harmonia Mundi (founded 1958) is a German classical music record label. It was founded by Rudolf Ruby and based in Freiburg, Breisgau. The company was acquired by BMG Music in 1992 and is now part of Sony Music Entertainment. Ruby had Alf ...

, 1992. Directed by Benjamin Bagby & Barbara Thornton. * The

, which was founded by

Paul Van Nevel Paul Van Nevel (born 4 February 1946) is a Belgian conductor, musicologist and art historian. In 1971 he founded the Huelgas Ensemble, a choir dedicated to polyphony from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Van Nevel is known for hunting out lit ...

, has performed many important early Spanish and Portuguese works including much music from the Codex. *

Anonymous 4 Anonymous 4 was an American female ''a cappella'' quartet, founded in 1986 and based in New York City. Their main performance genre was medieval music, although later they also premiered works by recent composers such as John Tavener and Steve Re ...

, founded in 1986. This women's ''a cappella'' group, released the album: "Secret Voices: Chant and Polyphony from the Las Huelgas Codex" in 2011. * Ars Combinatoria, founded in 1991 by Canco López. The concept behind the creation of the group was to be able to perform any type of music from any period, changing the composition of the ensemble accordingly. Ars Combinatoria released the album: "Mulier Misterio. El Códice de las Huelgas. Musaris" in 2017.

Bibliography

* Higinio Anglès ''El Còdex Musical de Las Huelgas. Música a veus dels segles XIII-XIV'', 3 vols., Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 1931;

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, Old master print, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from ...

edition with commentary. *Gordon Athol Anderson ''The Las Huelgas Manuscript, Burgos, Monasterio de Las Huelgas'', 2 vols., Corpus Mensurabilis Musicæ 79,

American Institute of Musicology The American Institute of Musicology (AIM) is a musicological organization that researches, promotes and produces publications on early music. Founded in 1944 by Armen Carapetyan, the AIM's chief objective is the publication of modern editions ...

, Hänssler Verlag, Neuhausen-Stuttgart, 1982; transcription into modern notation.

References

Goldberg
by Juan Carlos Asensio. Translated by Yolanda Acker. *Ernest H. Sanders; Peter M. Lefferts. "Sources, MS, §V: Early motet 2. Principal individual sources.", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed May 20, 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). *Judith Tick. "Women in music, §II: Western classical traditions in Europe & the USA 2. 500–1500.", ''

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed February 5, 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access).

Publication history

Huelgas Ensemble

Recordings

Bibliography

References

Notes

External links

Recording

Music scores