CSM Cantiga 263 Lyrics: Muit' é ben-aventurado e en bon ponto naceu

Standard spelling
Muit' é ben-aventurado e en bon ponto naceu
Cantiga 263: Muit' é ben-aventurado e en bon ponto naceu
Please read the notes on using the texts and the IPA transcriptions Please read the notes on using the music transcriptions
   
Standard spelling
Epigraph  

Como Santa María apareceu a un hóme que éra tolleito de todo-los nembros e disse-lle que se fezésse levar a sa igreja e sería lógo são.

Line Refrain  Metrics  
1 Muit' é ben-aventurado 7' A
2 e en bon ponto naceu 7  B
3 o que da Virgen mandado 7' A
4 fez e a obedeceu. 7  B
 
  Stanza I     
5 Ca ela sempr' a nós dá(a) | que façamos o mellor CSM 263:5The text for the first hemistich of this line, as written by the lyric scribes in both [F] and [E], and copied by Mettmann, is Ca ela sempre a nos dá. This has the correct number of syllables, and Mettmann lets it pass without comment. Things are not quite so simple for those of us who care about the music, unfortunately: the hemistich is supposed to end with an unstressed syllable, to match every other line, but the verb here naturally attracts the stress. The music scribe in [E] obviously latched onto this, and wrote just a single note for -pre a, in order to force synalepha (or elision) and thereby bring forward in the melody to a point where the rhythm matches the stress, leaving it with a long note at the end of the phrase. Of course, the seven notes/ligatures that remain then completely fail to fit the other stanzas. To fix this, I have just added an extra punctum at the end of the phrase for the unstressed syllable, at E2 on the Music tab, matching the music for d' erro in the next line; and for the first stanza I have kept the desired elision to sempr' a and drawn out at the end with a small melisma, so as to keep the stress and rhythm in agreement. With reference to Elmes' edition, this means that the fourth bar of line 5, which contains just a dotted minim on D, should be changed to match the fourth bar of line 7, which has D minim + D crotchet. 7 | 7  c .on
6 per que nos guardemos d' érro | e hajamo-lo amor 7' | 7  c
7 de Déus, e que ar sejamos | sen coita e sen door; 7' | 7  c
8 porên quena non crevésse | sería muito sandeu. 7' | 7  B
  Muit' é ben-aventurado...    
 
  Stanza II     
9 E daquest' un gran miragre | mui préto de Santandér 7' | 7  c
10 fez a Virgen, en Cudejo, | dun hóme que gran mestér 7' | 7  c
11 havía d' haver saúde, | que qual de séus nembros quér 7' | 7  c
12 perdera en tal maneira, | per que o córpo perdeu. 7' | 7  B
  Muit' é ben-aventurado...    
Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson
www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/263
 
  Stanza III     
13 E deste mal tan cuitado | éra que sól se volver 7' | 7  c
14 non podía nen erger-se | eno leito nen seer, 7' | 7  c
15 e chorando e gemendo | non quedava de dizer 7' | 7  c
16 que o acorress' a Virgen, | que a muitos acorreu. 7' | 7  B
  Muit' é ben-aventurado...    
 
  Stanza IV     
17 Un día fazend' aquesto, | mostrou-se-lle, sen dultar, 7' | 7  c
18 a Virgen Santa María | e disse: “Se tu sãar 7' | 7  c
19 quéres desta 'nfermidade, | fais-te tan tóste levar 7' | 7  c
20 a esta eigreja lógo.” | E el espavoreceu; 7' | 7  B
 
  Stanza V     
21 pero falou como pode | e disse: “Alá irei 7' | 7  c
22 u me mandades que vaa; | mas pois i for, que farei?” 7' | 7  c
23 Diss' ela: “Fas ũa missa | cantar, ca de cérto sei 7' | 7  c
24 que pois que o Córpo vires | de Déus que por ti morreu, 7' | 7  B
Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson
www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/263
 
  Stanza VI     
25 que tan tóste gran saúde | no córpo receberás. 7' | 7  c
26 Onde faz-ti levar lógo | sól que vires a luz cras; 7' | 7  c
27 mas a missa que te digo | da Madre de Déus farás 7' | 7  c
28 dizer, e verá-lo córpo | daquel que dela naceu, 7' | 7  B
 
  Stanza VII     
29 e lógo serás guarido | e ar cobrarás téu sen.” 7' | 7  c
30 E el, poi-la viu fremosa | e ar vestida tan ben, 7' | 7  c
31 disse-lle: “Por Déus, ai dona, | dizede quen sodes, quen?” 7' | 7  c
32 Diss' ela: “Santa María, | de que Déus carne prendeu.” 7' | 7  B
  Muit' é ben-aventurado...    
 
  Stanza VIII     
33 Foi-s' a Virgen. Ficou ele | e fez quanto lle mandou; 7' | 7  c
34 e pois foi ena igreja | e a missa ascuitou 7' | 7  c
35 e viu o Córpo de Cristo, | que chorando aorou, 7' | 7  c
36 lógo foi guarid' e são, | e du jazía s' ergeu 7' | 7  B
Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson
www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/263
 
  Stanza IX     
37 e ao altar dereito | se fillou corrend' a ir. 7' | 7  c
38 Quand' aquesto viu a gente, | todos lógo sen mentir 7' | 7  c
39 loaron Santa María, | porque nunca quér falir 7' | 7  c
40 de valer a quena chama, | com' a aqueste valeu. 7' | 7  B
  Muit' é ben-aventurado...    
 

Footnotes

Line 5:

The text for the first hemistich of this line, as written by the lyric scribes in both [F] and [E], and copied by Mettmann, is Ca ela sempre a nos dá. This has the correct number of syllables, and Mettmann lets it pass without comment. Things are not quite so simple for those of us who care about the music, unfortunately: the hemistich is supposed to end with an unstressed syllable, to match every other line, but the verb here naturally attracts the stress. The music scribe in [E] obviously latched onto this, and wrote just a single note for -pre a, in order to force synalepha (or elision) and thereby bring forward in the melody to a point where the rhythm matches the stress, leaving it with a long note at the end of the phrase. Of course, the seven notes/ligatures that remain then completely fail to fit the other stanzas. To fix this, I have just added an extra punctum at the end of the phrase for the unstressed syllable, at E2 on the Music tab, matching the music for d' erro in the next line; and for the first stanza I have kept the desired elision to sempr' a and drawn out at the end with a small melisma, so as to keep the stress and rhythm in agreement. With reference to Elmes' edition, this means that the fourth bar of line 5, which contains just a dotted minim on D, should be changed to match the fourth bar of line 7, which has D minim + D crotchet.

Standard spelling  
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Footnotes

E1:

The expected decorated capital 'C' is missing from the stave at this point. A space was obviously left—the clef is indented, and no 'C' is written on 'Ca' in the underlaid text—but then the stave lines were inked in over the space.

E2:

See the note to line 5 of the lyrics for an explanation of my insertion here.

Manuscript references

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

[E]263viewhttp://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/facsimiles/E/472small.htmlExternal link
[F]70 

Oxford CSM Database record

External link to poem data:  CSM 263http://csm.mml.ox.ac.uk/index.php?p=poemdata_view&rec=263

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

Refrain

7'  7  7'  7

Stanzas

7 | 7  7' | 7  7' | 7  7' | 7 I
7' | 7  7' | 7  7' | 7  7' | 7 II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

Rhyme

ABAB / cccB
 RIIIIIIIVVVIVIIVIIIIX
Aado 
Beu̯
c ɛɾei̯asou̯

Estimated performance times

Average syllables / min. Time
Very slow5016:46
Slow1008:23
Medium1505:35
Fast2004:11
Very fast2503:21

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: 839