Martin Dalby - Catalogue
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Catalogue
Cantigas Del Cancionero (1972)
Programme Note available
Martin Dalby
Commissioned by Baccholian Singers.
First performance:
The Baccholian Singers, Glasgow University, 09 Feb 1972
Score : Novello / Location: ref library [enquire]
Recording BBC / Martin Dalby MDCDOO6 / location: sound archive - YELLOW [enquire]
Recording BBC (off air recording) / location: sound archive - C - DAL 4 a [enquire]
Programme Note availableMartin Dalby
Commissioned by Baccholian Singers.
First performance:
The Baccholian Singers, Glasgow University, 09 Feb 1972
Work Details
Category: choral secular unaccompanied
Duration: 15'
Instrumentation: 2 T 2 Bar B
Duration: 15'
Instrumentation: 2 T 2 Bar B
SMC Holdings
Score : Novello / Location: ref library [enquire]
Recording BBC / Martin Dalby MDCDOO6 / location: sound archive - YELLOW [enquire]
Recording BBC (off air recording) / location: sound archive - C - DAL 4 a [enquire]Programme Note
Cantigas del Cancionero was completed in January 1972 and was commissioned by the Bacccholian Singers with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain. It is scored for five solo mens' voices, though with careful attention to the use of solos and doublings it could be performed by a larger group of male voices.
The work is basically a recital of some of the thirteenth-century monophonic Spanish Cantigas and Canciones which form the musical language of an instrumental sequence which Dalby wrote a year earlier in 1971. It is called Cancionero para una Mariposa. In this instrumental work the identities of the songs are largely hidden, their characteristics forming their own musical ideas, the work's rhythms, melodies, textures and harmonies. Only occasionally do any outlines emerge.
In Cantigas del Cancionero the songs are very much more to the fore. The work contains arrangements of four of them spanned by two sections of original composition. These arrangements are not intended to be scholarly, indeed it is unlikely that the songs would ever have been performed in five vocal parts. They are impressions of an ancient style of performing. The two spans bear a close resemblance to the instrumental work both in intention and effect. Some of the music is a reworking of instrumental material and the composer has deliberately used the voices in a more instrumental way. The corresponding words have been added to the fragments and motives which make up the various patterns. In such a mosaic as this the words inevitably lose the literary meaning that they held in their original context. Like the musical shapes, the words become simply evocative.
There are about ten cantigas and canciones concealed within the work but the four arrangements that are heard clearly are:
Alza la voz, pregonero
Raise your voice, town crier: the reason for his death will comfort whoever grieves for him. Tell of his glory, let everyone follow his adventure.
Cantiga de Santa Maria
A troubadour sings to the Virgin Mary, asking for her prayers and guidance.
Enemiga le soy, madre
I am his enemy, mother, a bad enemy. He worships me, he considers me his lady , but I consider him my enemy.
Desciende al valle, ni–a
Come down to the valley, little fair-haired girl, it's no longer day. Come down to the lambs that are straying in the rye fields.
The four arrangements can be performed on their own separately from the main work. In this case there is a fifth arrangement to perform with them.
Martin Dalby
Cantigas del Cancionero was completed in January 1972 and was commissioned by the Bacccholian Singers with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain. It is scored for five solo mens' voices, though with careful attention to the use of solos and doublings it could be performed by a larger group of male voices.
The work is basically a recital of some of the thirteenth-century monophonic Spanish Cantigas and Canciones which form the musical language of an instrumental sequence which Dalby wrote a year earlier in 1971. It is called Cancionero para una Mariposa. In this instrumental work the identities of the songs are largely hidden, their characteristics forming their own musical ideas, the work's rhythms, melodies, textures and harmonies. Only occasionally do any outlines emerge.
In Cantigas del Cancionero the songs are very much more to the fore. The work contains arrangements of four of them spanned by two sections of original composition. These arrangements are not intended to be scholarly, indeed it is unlikely that the songs would ever have been performed in five vocal parts. They are impressions of an ancient style of performing. The two spans bear a close resemblance to the instrumental work both in intention and effect. Some of the music is a reworking of instrumental material and the composer has deliberately used the voices in a more instrumental way. The corresponding words have been added to the fragments and motives which make up the various patterns. In such a mosaic as this the words inevitably lose the literary meaning that they held in their original context. Like the musical shapes, the words become simply evocative.
There are about ten cantigas and canciones concealed within the work but the four arrangements that are heard clearly are:
Alza la voz, pregonero
Raise your voice, town crier: the reason for his death will comfort whoever grieves for him. Tell of his glory, let everyone follow his adventure.
Cantiga de Santa Maria
A troubadour sings to the Virgin Mary, asking for her prayers and guidance.
Enemiga le soy, madre
I am his enemy, mother, a bad enemy. He worships me, he considers me his lady , but I consider him my enemy.
Desciende al valle, ni–a
Come down to the valley, little fair-haired girl, it's no longer day. Come down to the lambs that are straying in the rye fields.
The four arrangements can be performed on their own separately from the main work. In this case there is a fifth arrangement to perform with them.
Martin Dalby