Cantiga about a friend

The term “cantiga about a friend” means a song (musical and poetic work) composed by a man (troubadour, segrell or juggler) on behalf of a woman ( port. Canção em voz feminina , port. Canto em voz feminina ) ^[1] , in other words - represents female love song ^[2] . In domestic literary criticism, the terms “song about a sweetheart” ^{[3] [4] [5]} , “song about a friend” ^{[6] [7]} and “song about a sweet friend” ^{[8] were also used} .

If until 1913 the translation of the concept of gal.-port . cantiga as a “song” was skeptical by musicologists, then after the sensational discovery of “Windel Parchment” it was necessary to reconsider the attitude to the cantig texts. Thanks to the appearance of the manuscript with texts and musical notation of the six works of Martin Kodas (or Kodaks), the little-known Galician juggler gained world fame until that time. The perception of the cantig of medieval songwriters as poetic texts for songs with lost notation was even more firmly established after the discovery of Parchment Charrera in 1990 with cantigas about the love of the Portuguese king-troubadour Dinis I.

According to Rip Cohen, the complete cantig corpse of a friend includes 500 songs that were created by 88 poets between 1220 and 1350 (more accurate dating: 1220–1300) ^[9] . The 13th century cantig collection “ Ajud ’s Songbook ” presents cantigas about love (love songs composed on behalf of a man), and there isn’t a single cantig about a friend. All surviving female love songs are recorded in the “Songbook of the National Library” (indicated by the Latin letter B) and the “Songbook of the Vatican” (indicated by the Latin letter V). Of these, 7 songs are presented only in the collection B, and 9 others - only in V ^[10] .

A. I. Drobinsky wrote: “The Songs of the Sweetheart ( cantigas de amigo ) undoubtedly date back to the oldest examples of folk poetry, and some, apparently, are their processing” ^[4] . The archaic nature of these songs back in 1894 was indicated by Henry Lang ( Henry Roseman Lang ), which was subsequently confirmed by the studies of Manuel Pedro Ferreira ( ¹¹⁾ . According to I. A. Terteryan , the more ancient layers of lyrics about a friend go back to the songs of spring agricultural festivals ^[6] . The presence of this autochthonous genre testifies in favor of the fact that when creating their own poetic school, the authors of the Iberian kingdoms creatively perceived the traditions of the Provencal troubadours, but cantiges about each other were perceived as their own, that is, created without the influence of others ^[1] . The poets of the Iberian Peninsula, who wrote Galician-Portuguese, mastered the traditional folk love song for women, introducing a new genre absent from Provencal poetry into the courteous universe of chivalry poetry. Now a full corpus of 500 cantigas about a friend is the most extensive collection of female love songs that has come down to us from medieval Europe ^[12] .

According to E. G. Golubeva , the Kharjis , the short endings of the muvashshahs of medieval Andalusia , in which the girl sang about her love, somewhat resemble songs about a friend ^[13] .

While in love songs, a knight (troubadour), a squire (segrel) or a singer (juggler) sang the beauty and virtues of a lady (often there is a direct borrowing from the Provencal tradition of a masculine concept regarding a woman: my or literally my master is mia senhor ), ladies ( dona ), songs about a friend describe the emotional experiences of a girl ( donzela ), most often - the joy of an upcoming meeting or sadness in separation from her lover. A dear friend ( amigo ) is almost always outside the event field, “behind the scenes” ^[14] . Usually a girl is alone in the bosom of nature: in the forest, by the river, on the seashore. The female voice, which the troubadour or juggler makes to sound in the song, introduces into a certain limited universe, filled with eroticism, an anticipation of love and contrasting with the relations of the vassality of the inaccessible and indifferent mistress ^[1] . In other cantigs of this genre, the girl pours out her experiences to her friend, sister or asks for advice from her mother. In a kind of dialogic cantiga about a friend ( port. Cantiga de amigo dialogada ), a dialogue of female and male voices begins, which begins with a female voice, and a dialogue of two female voices also occurs ^[15] . So there is a chorus of voices, called the theater of voices , where the voices of the author, the girl in love, her girlfriends or mother, and the dear friend’s indirect speech in the transmission of his beloved are distinguishable. Cantigi about a friend was composed and performed by men, but, based on their texts, a female voice sounded in them. True, the possibility of women performing songs of this genre is not completely ruled out ^[1] .

The voice theater is also represented on the border of genres by the songs of the Portuguese juggler Lawrence Três moças cantavam d'amor (B 1262, V 867), which Graca Videira Lopes refers to the cantigas about love, and Rip Cohen belongs to the cantiges about a friend ^[16] . The song was written on behalf of the man (Lawrence), but the woman’s voice also sounded in it: “Three girls sang about love <...> And one of them said, my lady: [at this point the refrain begins, performed by the lady of the juggler] Repeat the song with me my friend". In 1936, the Brazilian composer Eitor Vila Lobos composed the Song of the Sailor, suggesting that these verses were written by Gil Vicente in 1500, and being unaware of the song to Lawrence of the 13th century ^[17] .

On the one hand, according to some sources, cantigas about each other did not experience the influence of the Provencal tradition ^[14] . On the other hand, E. G. Golubeva wrote:

And yet, despite the ancient folklore features that give them a kind of charm, “songs about a friend” is a phenomenon of Troubadour court poetry, a refined stylization that did not escape the influence of Provencal poetics.

- Quote from the book: Poetry of the troubadours. SPb., 1995, p. 211 ^[18] .

Formally, the songs of this genre often use the archaic construction of the stanza , known as “parallelism”, that is, the repetition of the same idea in two adjacent lines with minor changes to the last words ^[1] . Such a simple rhythmic structure is usually called “parallelistic” ^[6] . The presence of refrain in 88% of the surviving cantiges about a friend also indicates the folklore origin of songs of this genre ^[1] . As a rule, a scheme with short stanzas is used ^[14] .

The simplest construction of the cantiga stanza about a friend is represented by a couplet with refrain (2 + 1). Other schemes include two, three, or four verses with refrain (2 + 2, 3 + 1, 3 + 2, 4 + 1, 4 + 2, etc.). Usually refrain contains from one to four verses, but the shortest can consist of only one or two words. A rare case of refrain from five verses is presented in a song about a friend of the Portuguese troubadour Fernan Rodrigues de Calheiros ( Fernão Rodrigues de Calheiros ) Madre, passou per aqui um cavaleiro (B 632, V 233) translated into Russian by V. N. Andreev ^{[19] [20]} . Cantigi without refrain belong to the category of mashtria ( gal.-port . Meestria , port. Mestria ) ^[21] . Some songs are accompanied by an ending ( gal.-port . Fiinda , port. Finda ), rhyming in some cases with both the last verse of the stanza and the refrain ^[22] . The poetic virtuosity of the most sophisticated authors was embodied in the use of parallelism with the characteristic “leisha-pren” technique (by connecting or linking gal.-port . Leixa-pren , port. Deixa-prem - literally “leave the link”). Typical in this case was the construction of a 2 + 1 stanza.

A parallel technique consists in repeating a verse with a change in the last word or several words; inversion is used to create a new rhyme. Parallelism with the Leisha-Prén bond leads to the creation of repeating links in a double chain of verses and strengthens associations. These techniques are a characteristic feature of the medieval lyrics of the west of the Iberian Peninsula, distinguishing the school of Galician-Portuguese troubadours from the Provencal school. Scheme of building one of the most famous songs of the 13th century Catalan troubadour, Cerveri de Girona No.l prenatz lo fals marit Jana delgada! the viader genre repeats the simplest cantiga model about a friend 2 + 1 (couplet with refrain). In addition, the poet used a parallelistic technique with a characteristic “leisha-prén” characteristic of some cantiges about each other, which probably indicates the influence of Galician-Portuguese poetics:

Verse 2 of the 1st stanza becomes verse 1 of the 3rd stanza,

Verse 2 of the 2nd stanza becomes verse 1 of the 4th stanza,

Verse 2 of the 3rd stanza becomes verse 1 of the 5th stanza,

The 2nd verse of the 4th stanza becomes the 1st verse of the 6th stanza.

Such a construction was not typical of Provencal poetry, more precisely, it was the late innovation of Serveri de Giron in the Occitan canon and is found in 16 surviving works in this language ^[23] .

The 2 + 1 strophic model was occasionally used in cantigas about love, for example, in Bernal de Bonaval 's song A dona que eu am'e tenho por senhor (B 1066, V 657) ^[24] . Another distinctive but rare feature of the refrain of Galician and Portuguese authors was the alternation of his verses with the previous lines of the stanza. Cantiges about a friend of some authors were combined by researchers into cycles, which include songs about the deer of the Galician (?) Trubadadur Pero Meogo ( Pero Meogo ^[25] , three of them published in Russian by A. M. Geleskul ), Portuguese Lisbon barcarolos (?) Juggler Joan Zorro (or João Zorro João Zorro ) ^[26] , three cantiges of pilgrimage ( cantigas de romaria ) to the chapel of St. Momede ( ermida de San Momede ) by Joan de Cangas , songs with a mention of Vigo Martin Codas (Codax). These works are connected by one theme and sequential development of events.

O anel do meu amigo - the work of the Portuguese troubadour Pero Gonçalves de Porto Carreiro ( Pero Gonçalvez de Porto Carreiro ), the author of exquisitely elegant "songs about a friend" ^[27] , contains four stanzas of the 2 + 1 model - a couplet with the same refrain from one verse. Parallelism is expressed by repeating the 1st and 2nd verses of the 1st stanza in the 2nd stanza, the 2nd verse of the 3rd and 4th stanzas with the last words of the original changing. When using the “Leisha-preen” technique, the 2nd verse of the 1st stanza becomes the 1st verse of the 3rd stanza, the 2nd verse of the 2nd stanza is repeated as the 1st verse of the 4th stanza.

In the construction procedure proposed by Golubeva and Lopesh ^[30] , a double sequential chain of verses is created. In the editorial board of Cohen, when the 3rd and 4th stanzas are reversed, the “Leisha-pren” of the 2nd and 3rd stanz creates an inner ring, and the 1st and 4th stanz creates an external one ^[31] .

• Barcarole ( port. Barcarola ) or marinha ( port. Marinha ) ^[14] - a girl’s song by the river or by the sea. The water barrier separated the lovers, but the one who is waiting for the return of her lover hopes that the waves will bring the boat or ship back, stopping the separation.
• Cantiga on pilgrimage ( port. Cantiga de romaria ) ^[14] - this variety was used mainly by Galician authors. Churches served as a meeting place for lovers.
• Alba ( port. Alva, alba, alvorada ) ^[14] - the dawn song or the song of the morning dawn was a rare subspecies of Galician-Portuguese poetry. One of the most famous cantiges in the Galician-Portuguese language and, possibly, the best song of the cycle about the deer of the Galician (?) Troubadour Pero Meogo [Levou-s'aa alva], levou-s'a velida (B 1188, V 793) subject to the adoption by Rip Cohen of the modern version of reading the first words lost by manuscripts: alva instead of fremosa ^[32] . In favor of this version is evidenced by the no less famous album Levantou-s'a velida (B 569, V 172) of Dinish I, where the action takes place in the morning dawn, and the model for the creation of which, in the opinion of the researchers, was undoubtedly Meogo’s song ^[33] .
• Ballad ( port bailia, bailada ) - a cantiga with a mention of dance or with an invitation to dance, a rare variety of Galician-Portuguese lyrics, the best example of which is represented by the song of Airas Nunes Bailemos nós já todas três, ai amigas .

Selected songs of each of these varieties were translated into Russian ^{[34] [35]} .

Among 88 authors of the cantig corps about a friend, troubadours, segrels and jugglers of the Iberian kingdoms of Galicia , Portugal and Castile and Leon are represented. According to the full cantig corpse published by Cohen about a friend, a greater number of works of this genre, including dubious authorship, are attributed to the troubadour king Dinis I (52), Joan Airas of Santiago (46) and Juan Garcia de Guillade (22) ^[36] .

However, the quantity does not necessarily indicate the quality of the works. The Galician juggler Mendinho won the fame of an outstanding poet thanks to the only surviving cantigue about a friend Sedia-m'eu na ermida de San Simión (B 852, V 438), related to the subgenre of cantigas about holy places ( port.cantigas de santuário ) and recognized as one of the best total body of 500 female love songs. The power of poetic mastery, with the seemingly traditional simplicity of form, was embodied thanks to the ability to convey deep feelings of a girl surrounded by raging waves, symbolizing both her love passion and her hopelessness. A short song immerses the lover in the inner world with her desire, despair, anxiety, fear of death before the water element and the fear that the lover will never appear on a date. The emotionality of the atmosphere is enhanced by the use of the unfinished past, present and future tenses, which plunges the listener into a multi-valued timelessness and asks a riddle: if in the first two verses a girl recalls a past event, then how to perceive her fears in the present and fear of possible death in the future? ^[37] .

• 500 Cantigas d'Amigo. Edição crítica / Critical edition / Edição crítica de Rip Cohen, tradução da introdução e glosas a versos por Isabel Rodrigues. - 1.ᵃ edição. - Porto: Campo das Letras, 2003 .-- 645 p. - ISBN 972-610-590-0 . (port .)
• Cantigas d'amigo dos trovadores galego-portugueses / Edição crítica de José Joaquim Nunes. - Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, 1926-1928. (rpt. Lisboa: Centro do Livro Brasileiro, 1973) (port.)

• Cantiga

• Lusitanian lyre / Comp., Foreword and comm. S. I. Piskunova . - M .: Fiction, 1986.
• Poetry of the troubadours: Anthology of Galician literature / Compiled by: Elena Golubeva , Elena Zernova; Foreword: Jesus Alonso Montero; preparation of texts and afterword: Elena Golubeva. - SPb. : Center for Galician Studies, St. Petersburg State University, with the assistance of the publishing house Aleteya, 1995. - 237 p. - ISBN 5-85233-003-14 (erroneous) .
• Saprykina O. A. Galician-Portuguese songs about the sweetheart and Mozarabic hajj: sources and traditions // Actual problems of modern linguistics. - M .: RUDN Publishing House, 2009. - S. 319—326.
• Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. Sobre as cantigas (port.) . Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas . Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH / NOVA. Date of appeal February 24, 2018. (English)

• Drobinsky A.I. Kansoneiro // Brief Literary Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. A.A. Surkov . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia , 1962-1978.
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• Cantiga de amigo (port.) . Dicionários Porto Editora . Porto Editora Date of appeal February 24, 2018.
• Pero Meogo "Levóus 'a louçana, levóus' a velida" on YouTube - Paulina Ceremużyńska. E moiro-me d'amor - Cantigas de desexo e saudade, 2006, Galiza - Espanha ( contrafactum CSM 276)