CSM Cantiga 342 Lyrics: Con razôn nas creaturas figura póde mostrar Déus

Standard spelling
Con razôn nas creaturas figura póde mostrar Déus
Cantiga 342: Con razôn nas creaturas figura póde mostrar Déus
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 fez parecer a sa omage d' ontre ũas pédras mármores que asserravan en Costantinópla.

Line Refrain  Metrics  
1 Con razôn nas creaturas | figura póde mostrar 7' | 7  A
2 Déus de si ou de sa Madre, | pois elas quis fegurar. 7' | 7  A
 
  Stanza I     
3 Ca en fegurar as cousas | da fegura que hoj' han 7' | 7  b
4 nen d' outras naturas muitas, | non prendeu nen prend' afán 7' | 7  b
5 Déus, nen sól filla cuidado | de as fegurar, ca tan 7' | 7  b
6 gran poder há no começo | ben come no acabar. 7' | 7  A
  Con razôn nas creaturas | figura póde mostrar...    
 
  Stanza II     
7 E porende, se nas pédras | faz feguras parecer, 7' | 7  b
8 non dev' aquesto null' hóme | por maravilla tẽer, 7' | 7  b
9 nen outrossí enas érvas, | ca el xe as faz nacer 7' | 7  b
10 e dá-lles muitas coores | por a nós ben semellar. 7' | 7  A
  Con razôn nas creaturas | figura póde mostrar...    
Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson
www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/342
 
  Stanza III     
11 Porend' en Costantinópla | avẽo, com' aprendí, 7' | 7  b
12 que Don Manüél, o bõo | Emperador, mandou i 7' | 7  b
13 fazer eigreja mui nóbre; | e mármores, com' oí, 7' | 7  b
14 mandou trager de mui longe | e per meo asserrar 7' | 7  A
 
  Stanza IV     
15 por fazer távoas grandes | pora põer en redor 7' | 7  b
16 do altar da Virgen santa, | Madre de Nóstro Sennor. 7' | 7  b
17 E u serravan un deles, | viron dentro de coor 7' | 7  b
18 a sa omagen pintada, | ben qual xa quis Déus pintar, CSM 342:18Like the previous CSM 341, this cantiga also has a gap in [E], and is not included in any other manuscript. The gap here is the size of one stanza, and it appears from the stanzas that precede and follow it that all of the missing text must be taken up with a description of the image of the Virgin found in the marble. I will therefore throw all caution to the wind on this occasion and suggest the following patch: remove the immediately preceding hemistich, i.e. ben qual xa quis Deus pintar, and replace it with the text a Virgen que non á par, which scans and rhymes correctly, is a very common formula in other cantigas, and joins nicely onto the trailing sentence fragment Tẽendo seu Fill' en braço. It's obviously a much shorter description than was originally intended, but it does the job. 7' | 7  A
  Con razôn nas creaturas | figura póde mostrar...    
 
  Stanza V     
19 [...................................................] —    
Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson
www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/342
 
  Stanza VI     
20 tẽendo séu Fill' en braço, | que dela carne fillou. 7' | 7  b
21 Poi-lo Emperador esto | soube, lógo cavalgou, 7' | 7  b
22 e pois que viu a omagen, | tan tóste a aorou 7' | 7  b
23 e fez-la põer na pórta | per u havían d' entrar, 7' | 7  A
 
  Stanza VII     
24 e alí sé hoge día, | en que han gran devoçôn 7' | 7  b
25 todos. E a Santa Virgen | fez esto por tal razôn, 7' | 7  b
26 porque póde do culpado | omannar-ll' o coraçôn 7' | 7  b
27 da sa graça, pois la pédra | mui dura foi omannar. 7' | 7  A
  Con razôn nas creaturas | figura póde mostrar...    
 

Footnotes

Line 18:

Like the previous CSM 341, this cantiga also has a gap in [E], and is not included in any other manuscript. The gap here is the size of one stanza, and it appears from the stanzas that precede and follow it that all of the missing text must be taken up with a description of the image of the Virgin found in the marble. I will therefore throw all caution to the wind on this occasion and suggest the following patch: remove the immediately preceding hemistich, i.e. ben qual xa quis Deus pintar, and replace it with the text a Virgen que non á par, which scans and rhymes correctly, is a very common formula in other cantigas, and joins nicely onto the trailing sentence fragment Tẽendo seu Fill' en braço. It's obviously a much shorter description than was originally intended, but it does the job.

Standard spelling  
Zoom

Footnotes

E1:

The word Deus here was originally missed out from the manuscript, but it was added as a later correction, and the number of notes and ligatures is right.

Manuscript references

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

[E]342viewhttp://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/facsimiles/E/609small.htmlExternal link

Oxford CSM Database record

External link to poem data:  CSM 342http://csm.mml.ox.ac.uk/index.php?p=poemdata_view&rec=342

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

Rhyme

AA / bbbA
 RIIIIIIIVVVIVII
A 
b i ou̯

Estimated performance times

Average syllables / min. Time
Very slow5012:00
Slow1006:00
Medium1504:00
Fast2003:00
Very fast2502:23

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: 600