Song of Mary, No. 181:
"The Virgin will aid those who most love her"
Listening Guide
Performed by Jordi Savall and Ensemble; listen from 0:13 through 3:29.
Composer: Anonymous
Composition: Song of Mary, No. 181: "The Virgin will aid those who most love her" (Pero que seja a gente d'outra lei [e]descreuda)
Date: c. 1275
Genre: Song
Form: Refrain [A] & verses [ab] = A-ab
Nature of Text: Refrain and strophes in an earlier form of Portuguese, praising the Virgin Mary
Translation of the text: https://ballandalus.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/cantiga-181-from-the-cantigas-de-santa-maria/
Performing Forces: small ensemble of vocalists, men and women singing together and separately
What we want you to remember about this composition:
- It is music for entertainment, even though it has a sacred subject.
- It is monophonic.
- Its narrow-ranged melody and repetitive rhythms make it easy for non-professionals to sing.
Other things to listen for:
- In this recording, the monophonic melody is sung by men and women and is played by a medieval fiddle and lute; a drum plays the beat; near the end of the excerpt, you can also hear flutes and shawms.
- Its musical form is A-ab, meaning that the refrain is always sung to the same music.
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
Text and Form:
Fiddles and lute playing melody for refrain; Drum playing rhythmic motive; monophonic texture throughout; Mostly conjunct melody with a narrow range; Repeated motive shifts back and forth between twos and threes
A: Intro
One woman starts and then others join, singing monophonically the same the same melodic phrase as the refrain
a: First two lines of the first verse
Several women singing with a monophonic texture a different melodic phrase
b: Second two lines of the first verse
One man, joined by other men; same melody as in the first half of the verse above
a: First two lines of the second verse
Several men; same melody as in the second half of the verse above
b: Second two lines of the second verse
Women; same melody as the other verses; men join them for the b phrase of the melodic theme.
ab: Verse three