CSM Cantiga 250 Lyrics: Por nós, Virgen Madre, róga Déus, téu Padre Cantiga 250This Cantiga has an unusual structure, although it presents no particular difficulties for the performer. The text here is the same as Mettmann's, and corresponds to the version in [F]. [E]—which is the only source of music, since [F] has none—includes neither the repeated lines 5, 10 and 15, nor the three-line stanza at the end. The commentary in [CLXG] presents a lengthy discussion on what the correct structure should actually be: not only which lines belong here at all, but also which ought to be considered "parallel" statements and which others constitute the refrain. It concludes by keeping lines 5, 10 and 15 but rejecting the final short stanza on the grounds that it is thematically unlike any other finda found in the Cantigas. The author of that work suggests instead that it is most likely the result of the scribe either being confused about the structure, or deliberately filling up space on the folio purely to maintain the visual aesthetic. As you can see on the Music tab, I have repeated the music from the start of the cantiga to accommodate the short stanza anyway, so as to keep the performer's options open. Elmes has taken the same approach in his edition.

Standard spelling
Por nós, Virgen Madre, róga Déus, téu Padre
Cantiga 250: Por nós, Virgen Madre, róga Déus, téu Padre
Please read the notes on using the texts and the IPA transcriptions Please read the notes on using the music transcriptions
   
Standard spelling
Epigraph  

Esta é de loor de Santa María.

Line Stanza I  Metrics  
1 Por nós, Virgen Madre, 5' a
2 róga Déus, téu Padre 5' a
3 e Fill' e amigo. 5' b
4 Róga Déus téu Padre 5' a
5 e Fill' e amigo. 5' b
 
  Stanza II     
6 A Déus que nos préste 5' a
7 róga-lle, pois éste 5' a
8 téu Fill' e amigo. 5' b
9 Róga-lle pois éste 5' a
10 téu Fill' e amigo. 5' b
 
  Stanza III     
11 Róga que nos valla, 5' a
12 pois el é sen falla 5' a
13 téu Fill' e amigo. 5' b
14 Pois el é sen falla 5' a
15 téu Fill' e amigo. 5' b
Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson
www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/250
 
  Stanza IV     
16 Por nós, Virgen Madre, 5' a
17 róga Déus, téu Padre 5' a
18 e Fill' e amigo. 5' b
 

Footnotes

This Cantiga has an unusual structure, although it presents no particular difficulties for the performer. The text here is the same as Mettmann's, and corresponds to the version in [F]. [E]—which is the only source of music, since [F] has none—includes neither the repeated lines 5, 10 and 15, nor the three-line stanza at the end. The commentary in [CLXG] presents a lengthy discussion on what the correct structure should actually be: not only which lines belong here at all, but also which ought to be considered "parallel" statements and which others constitute the refrain. It concludes by keeping lines 5, 10 and 15 but rejecting the final short stanza on the grounds that it is thematically unlike any other finda found in the Cantigas. The author of that work suggests instead that it is most likely the result of the scribe either being confused about the structure, or deliberately filling up space on the folio purely to maintain the visual aesthetic. As you can see on the Music tab, I have repeated the music from the start of the cantiga to accommodate the short stanza anyway, so as to keep the performer's options open. Elmes has taken the same approach in his edition.

Standard spelling  
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Footnotes

E1:

In [E] this cantiga has all stanzas that are included (the final short one is not) underlaid to music. However, the repeated parts are abbreviated, so I have expanded them all here, for clarity, and added the short stanza at the end, repeating the music from the start. Note that the presence or absence of decorated capitals is also a bit haphazard, even though space was allocated in all cases.

Manuscript references

External links marked are to facsimiles on Greg Lindahl's Cantigas de Santa Maria website.

[E]250viewhttp://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/facsimiles/E/451small.htmlExternal link
[F]76 

Oxford CSM Database record

External link to poem data:  CSM 250http://csm.mml.ox.ac.uk/index.php?p=poemdata_view&rec=250

Links to the Oxford database are provided with the kind permission of the project team. When planning a concert or recording, I would recommend that you use (and credit) my more pragmatic texts and supporting materials in the preparation of your performance, but that you request permission from the Oxford database team to reproduce (and credit) their own critically edited texts in your programme or liner notes, as these adhere to stricter criteria that keep them closer to the original sources, and undoubtedly have the greater academic authority.

Metrical summary

Stanzas

5'  5'  5'  5'  5' I II III
5'  5'  5' IV

Rhyme

aabab ~ aab
 IIIIIIIV
aadɾeɛsteaʎaadɾe
bigo

Estimated performance times

Average syllables / min. Time
Very slow502:09
Slow1001:04
Medium1500:43
Fast2000:32
Very fast2500:25

These are very approximate total times for a full sung (or spoken) performance of all stanzas with all repeats of the refrain. Note that the speed is in average syllables per minute, and no particular mensural interpretation is assumed. More ornamented music will reduce the syllabic speed considerably. Remember also to add time for instrumental preludes, interludes and postludes.

Total syllables: 108