Cobras E Son

The 13th-century "Castigas de Santa Maria" were composed and set to music at the court of King Alfonso X of Castille. They are songs in the praise of the Virgin Mary, composed in the Galician-Portuguese language. While there has been long-standing debate over the musical notations, only recently scholars have become aware of textual problems demanding a close study of all manuscript components, particularly the relation between the poetry (Cobras) and music (Son). This volume consists mainly of papers given at an international colloquim held in Oxford in 1994. The meeting discussed textual, musical, palaeographical and iconographical problems of the "Cantiagas de Santa Maria", questioning many views about the relationships between the manuscripts, the evolution of the collections, the source of the music and the place of the collections in relation to artistic and scriptual developments in Europe.