Musical culture is one of the extremely complex formations in which aesthetic, psychological, social, communicative and other directions are intertwined. This multiplicity is associated with the special parameters of the impact of its basis – music. Music is among the most ancient and widespread arts in human culture. It is able to convey the emotional state of people, as well as express general ideas related to feelings. Music, as a part of culture has extraordinary expressiveness and diversity since the subject of its reflection is the entire wealth of human history. Alfonso el Sabio’s Songs to the Virgin Mary reflects multiple aspects of medieval culture, including religion and everyday life.
This work of art has a traditional medieval musical sound, characteristic of the Spanish musical and poetic song genre. The music’s main part is written as a virile – a poetic form with a three-line stanza (Wagner 131). It also has the form of a rondo, based on the repeated reproduction of the main-leading theme, called the refrain. It constantly alternates with different, contrasting thematic material and musical episodes that differ from each other in content. Rondo and virelle originated and reached the peak of popularity precisely in the Middle Ages and made Songs to the Virgin Mary sound Medieval. Despite the fact that each ensemble of medieval music interpreted these one-voice chants in its own way, the characteristic construction of the song gave it the flavor of time in any of its variations.
Songs to the Virgin Mary represent Medieval Culture, allowing us to reconstruct the details of court festivities and the circumstances of everyday life in Spain in the XIII century. Mostly, Songs to the Virgin Mary is a monument to the cult of the Mother of God, the most important in the Catholic culture of the Middle Ages and alive to this day. The songs tell how the Virgin Mary defeated the basilisk and the dragon in Toledo, how she fished drunken monks out of the river near Salamanca, and how she cured a dying horse (Knighton and Skinner 16). Each of the stories – scary or funny – is filled with faith in infinite mercy. Most of these songs keep traces of a variety of medieval musical traditions and local dialects, including Arabic and Jewish. Due to Songs to the Virgin Mary, the traditions of medieval life can be restored in their entirety and historical authenticity.
In Songs to the Virgin Mary, there is a large number of plucked instruments. Arabic music came to the court of many Spanish nobles, so many of the court musicians were Muslims, which can also be seen in the miniatures. In my opinion, this mixing of two different cultures – Arabic and Spanish – influenced the meaning of music. When listing the instruments, I noticed that all the instruments mentioned were plucked, not bowed. Bowed instruments did not participate in musical entertainment at court. I think they were not allowed into the process of forming new sound ideals, which were regarded as Islamic. For many centuries, the stringed bow instrument had the meaning of shamanism, the taste of unfaithful and dissolute people.
Songs to the Virgin Mary demonstrate not only moral qualities but also religious tolerance of Medieval times. Through medieval music, the culture of a society that knows neither geographical, ethnic, or religious borders is transmitted. The study of medieval music, entirely based on the interpenetration of the traditions of the East and the West, allows to the formation of a fairly complete picture of everyday and festive life at the court of the Middle Ages kings.
Works Cited
Knighton, Tess, and David Skinner, editors. Music and Instruments of the Middle Ages: Essays in Honour of Christopher Page (Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music). Boydell Press, 2020.
Wagner, Silvan. “Nasty Gap and Lovely Suspense: Thinkable and Hearable Music in the Middle Ages.” Continental Thought & Theory: A Journal of Intellectual Freedom, vol. 3, no. 3, 2021, pp. 126-135.