Cantiga
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| Medieval | Classical |
Baroque | Neoclassical | Romantic | Post romantic | 20th
Century
genre of 13th-century Spanish monophonic, or unison, song,
often honoring the Virgin Mary. The most famous
collection is a manuscript, the Cantigas
de Santa Marķa, compiled by King Alfonso X the Wise of Castile and Leon
in the second half of the century and preserved in three manuscript copies at
the library of El Escorial, northwest of Madrid, the Biblioteca Nacional,
Madrid, and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Florence. The collection contains
the words and music of more than 400 songs in the Galician language, celebrating
the miracles of the Virgin. Most of the songs are in virelai
form (found in medieval French poetry and music) and show an affinity with the
songs of the contemporary troubadours
(poet-musicians of Provence).