Prólogo das cantigas das cinco féstas de Santa María.
| Line | Refrain | Metrics | |
| 1 | Quen Santa María servir, | 8 A | |
| 2 | non póde no séu ben falir. | 8 A | |
| Stanza I | |||
| 3 | E porque éu gran sabor hei | 8 b | |
| 4 | de a servir, serví-la-ei, | 8 b | |
| 5 | e quanto podér punnarei | 8 b | |
| 6 | d' os séus miragres descobrir. | 8 A | |
| Quen Santa María servir... | |||
| Stanza II | |||
| 7 | Pero direi ant' en bon son | 8 b | |
| 8 | das sas cinque féstas, que son | 8 b | |
| 9 | mui nóbres, e direi razôn | 8 b | |
| 10 | que praza a quena oír. | 8 A | |
| Quen Santa María servir... | |||
| Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/410 | |||
| Stanza III | |||
| 11 | Santa Egreja ordinnou | 8 b | |
| 12 | cinque féstas, porque achou | 8 b | |
| 13 | cinque letras no nome sou, | 8 b | |
| 14 | como vos quéro departir. | 8 A | |
| Quen Santa María servir... | |||
| Stanza IV | |||
| 15 | A primeira, que ‘ÉME’ é, | 8 b | |
| 16 | móstra de com' a nóssa fé, | 8 b | |
| 17 | nacend' ela, naceu e sé | 8 b | |
| 18 | i firm' a queno comedir. | 8 A | |
| Quen Santa María servir... | |||
| Stanza V | |||
| 19 | ‘A’ móstra a saüdaciôn | 8 b | |
| 20 | d' Ave que Gabrïél entôn | 8 b | |
| 21 | lle disse que fillo barôn, | 8 b | |
| 22 | Déus e hóm', iría parir. | 8 A | |
| Quen Santa María servir... | |||
| Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/410 | |||
| Stanza VI | |||
| 23 | ‘ÉRRE’ móstra como reinou | 8 b | |
| 24 | ontr' as vírgẽes, u amou | 8 b | |
| 25 | sa virgĩidad' e guardou | 8 b | |
| 26 | por toda bondade comprir. | 8 A | |
| Quen Santa María servir... | |||
| Stanza VII | |||
| 27 | ‘I’, indo de ben en mellor | 8 b | |
| 28 | foi ofrecer o Salvador, | 8 b | |
| 29 | séu Fill', a Déus con gran sabor | 8 b | |
| 30 | de fazer-nos a céo ir. | 8 A | |
| Quen Santa María servir... | |||
| Stanza VIII | |||
| 31 | ‘A’ ar mostrou carreira tal | 8 b | |
| 32 | u desta vida temporal | 8 b | |
| 33 | sobiu aa celestïal | 8 b | |
| 34 | por nos fazer alá sobir. | 8 A | |
| Quen Santa María servir... | |||
| Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/410 | |||
Manuscript references
External links marked 
are to facsimiles on Greg Lindahl's Cantigas de Santa Maria website.
| [E] | FSM Prologue | viewhttp://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/facsimiles/E/002small.htmlExternal link |
Oxford CSM Database record
External link to poem data: CSM 410http://csm.mml.ox.ac.uk/index.php?p=poemdata_view&rec=410
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
| 8 8 |
Stanzas
| 8 8 8 8 |
Rhyme
AA / bbbA| R | I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | iɾ | ||||||||
| b | ei̯ | oŋ | ou̯ | ɛ | oŋ | ou̯ | oɾ | al | |
Estimated performance times
| Average syllables / min. | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| Very slow | 50 | 8:00 |
| Slow | 100 | 4:00 |
| Medium | 150 | 2:39 |
| Fast | 200 | 2:00 |
| Very fast | 250 | 1:36 |
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: 400
