Overview

"Alfonso X (1221-84) ruled over the Crown of Castile from 1252 until his death. Known as ""the Wise,"" he oversaw the production of a wealth of literature in his scriptorium. One of the most impressive of these literary outputs is the collection of songs known as the Cantigas de Santa Maria, which by most counts comprises 429 songs preserved in four manuscripts. The miracle songs (or cantigas de miragre) form the focus of this book. While the Cantigas have been the subject of much scholarly attention, only a handful of studies have looked at the repertory through an interdisciplinary lens. Fewer still have probed how the Cantigas use the power of song as a communicative medium, one that functions as a social tool within the erudite environment of the Alfonsine court.This book offers a new perspective to the song collection, probing how the Cantigas use their music and text, together with rhetorical devices, to communicate with their desired audience. Author Henry T. Drummond builds upon previous methodologies, adopting a novel and holistic assessment of the songs' melodies, poetic features, and narrative logic to assess a wide selection of songs. He presents a nuanced understanding of a song form that effectively conveys its narratives to its listeners via a diverse combination of tools, embracing medieval rhetoric, rhyme-based play, and song's inherent ludic potential. Such devices, Drummond argues, allow for the Cantigas to loom large as propaganda pieces, designed to dignify Alfonso X through an elaborately devised courtly ritual."

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9780197670590

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Reviews

In this pioneering account of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, Henry T. Drummond brings diverse disciplinary perspectives to bear on the craft, meaning, experience, and function of song in the time of Alfonso X. The results are a deeply humanised and historicised account of the Cantigas, illuminating in stunning detail how songs were powerful instruments of community expression. As well as inspiring future studies of the Cantigas, this outstanding book will undoubtedly be a vital point of reference for anyone working on medieval song. * Emma Dillon, Professor of Music, King's College London * A groundbreaking study, this nuanced and subtle analysis provides new insight into the Cantigas' musical-poetic structures: Henry T. Drummond illuminates how aspects of rhetoric, rhyme, and cyclical form promoted the ideals of Alfonso's court. This book is invaluable for scholars interested in aspects of narrative song and its potential to shape the politics of crusade, conquest, and conversion. * Marisa Galvez, Professor of French and Italian, Stanford University *

In this pioneering account of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, Henry T. Drummond brings diverse disciplinary perspectives to bear on the craft, meaning, experience, and function of song in the time of Alfonso X. The results are a deeply humanised and historicised account of the Cantigas, illuminating in stunning detail how songs were powerful instruments of community expression. As well as inspiring future studies of the Cantigas, this outstanding book will undoubtedly be a vital point of reference for anyone working on medieval song. * Emma Dillon, Professor of Music, King's College London * A groundbreaking study, this nuanced and subtle analysis provides new insight into the Cantigas' musical-poetic structures: Henry T. Drummond illuminates how aspects of rhetoric, rhyme, and cyclical form promoted the ideals of Alfonso's court. This book is invaluable for scholars interested in aspects of narrative song and its potential to shape the politics of crusade, conquest, and conversion. * Marisa Galvez, Professor of French and Italian, Stanford University *

Author Information

"Henry T. Drummond is a postdoctoral researcher at the KU Leuven and a participant in the cross-institutional ""Sound of Music"" FWO-funded project, which analyses and valorizes large bodies of liturgical chant repertory through digital technology. He completed his DPhil in Music in 2018 at the University of Oxford. His research interests include vernacular song of the later Middle Ages, musical mobility across medieval Europe, music and liturgy, and digital humanities."

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