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The five-course guitar, alfabeto song and the villanella spagnola in Italy, ca. 1590 to 1630

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The five-course guitar, alfabeto song and the villanella spagnola in Italy, ca. 1590 to 1630

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Content THE FIVE-COURSE GUITAR, ALFABETO SONG AND THE VILLANELLA
SPAGNOLA IN ITALY, CA. 1590 TO 1630

by

Daniel Zuluaga

––––––––––––––––––––

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(MUSIC HISTORY AND LITERATURE)

December 2014

Copyright 2014 Daniel Zuluaga

ii

DEDICATED TO
JAMES TYLER
(1940-2010)

iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This dissertation would not have been possible without the help, guidance, and
encouragement of many people. My deepest gratitude goes to my first reader, Bruce Alan
Brown. His unwavering commitment to this dissertation is only matched by his capacity for
insightful criticism and his patience; his generosity has been and will remain a source of
inspiration. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, Louise K. Stein
and Joanna Demers, for their continued support. I am deeply indebted to Louise K. Stein
for sharing her profound knowledge and expertise, and for her ongoing assistance with
access to sources, long before this dissertation began to take form. Joanna Demers has
provided her assistance in crucial moments during this process with invaluable ideas and
fresh perspectives, many of which will continue to inform my research.
I wish also to acknowledge the late Prof. James Tyler, who played a key part in the
early stages of this dissertation. The breadth of Jim’s knowledge, his expertise in early
plucked instruments, and his endless fascination with every nook and cranny of sixteenth-
and seventeenth-century Italian music, were continued sources of inspiration. To him I owe
my interest in this repertoire, and it is my hope that this dissertation is deserving of our
countless discussions on the subject.
I would like to thank several members of the academic community, who generously
shared with me their ideas, resources, and time: Tarcisio Balbo, Lisa Brunetti, Aníbal
Cetrangolo, Victor A. Coelho, Alexander Dean, Juan Díaz de Corcuera, Ralph DiFranco,
Bruno Forment, John Griffiths, Giulio Ongaro, Nina Treadwell, and Francisco Valdivia. I
extend my gratitude to Laura Rude, and Peter Rutenberg, for their endless generosity and
friendship, and to Lisa de Alwis for her support and encouragement.
iv
I express my appreciation also to the many libraries that allowed me access to their
collections, especially the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence, the Biblioteca Estense
in Modena, the Biblioteca Palatina in Parma, the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana in Rome,
the Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale in Bologna, and the Biblioteka Jagiellońska in
Kraków; and to the libraries at the University of Southern California and the University of
California, Los Angeles, the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University in
Cambridge, Indiana University in Bloomington, and McGill University in Montreal.
Finally, to my parents, and to Valérie, thank you for your constant support.

v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CHAPTER 1: GUITAR AND SOLO SONG IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ITALY . 13
CHAPTER 2: ALFABETO AND STAFF NOTATION SOURCES OF THE
VILLANELLA SPAGNOLA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

37
CHAPTER 3: THE CASE FOR THE VILLANELLA SPAGNOLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
CHAPTER 4: THE POETIC AND MUSICAL FORMS IN THE ALFABETO SONG
VILLANELLA SPAGNOLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

123
CHAPTER 5: THE VILLANELLA SPAGNOLA AS ALFABETO SONG . . . . . . . . . . 151
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUDING REMARKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
APPENDIX 1: INDEX OF FIRST LINES AND CONCORDANCES OF
VILLANELLA SPAGNOLA SETTINGS, 1595-1625 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

201
APPENDIX 2: INDIVIDUAL INVENTORIES OF SOURCES CONTAINING
VILLANELLA SPAGNOLA SETTINGS, 1595-1625 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

224

vi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustration 2.1 Opening chord sequences, “Lo que me quise me tengo.”
I-PAp 1506/I, p. 11; I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200, fol. 16v.

43
Illustration 2.2 “O, se uolas, uolas las oras” (Oh, si volasen las horas).
I-Fn Landau-Finaly 252, fol. 56r (detail).

46
Illustration 2.3 “Si hay mayor mal que el morir.” I-Fn Magl. XIX 25,
fol. 11v (detail).

48
Illustration 2.4 “Si hay mayor mal que el morir.” GB-Lbl add. 36877,
fol. 47r (detail).

49
Illustration 2.5 I-Rli Cod. 625, fol. 51r (detail).

63
Illustration 2.6 NL-DHk 72J46, fol. 88r (detail).

70
Illustration 3.1 Title page of Troiano’s Il quarto libro delle sue rime
(1569) (detail).

93
Illustration 3.2 Spagnoletta (Palumbi). I-Fr 2804, fol. 10v.

97
Illustration 3.3 “Oh, si volasen las horas.” I-VEc 1434, fol. 151v
(fragment).

117
Illustration 4.1 Poetic cancionero and alfabeto songbook comparison.
“Con esperanzas espero.”

132
Illustration 4.2 Romance simple: “Riéndose va un arroyo,” in alfabeto
song format and transcription. I-VEc 1434, fol. 156r
(detail).

136
Illustration 4.3 Romance with estribillo: “En la villa de Segura,” in
alfabeto song format and transcription. I-VEc 1434, fol.
147r (detail).

140
Illustration 4.4 Letrilla type 1: “Frescos aires del Prado.” Comparison
of poetic and musical form as derived from alfabeto
harmonic sequences. I-VEc 1434, fols. 135r-v (detail).
144

Illustration 5.1 “Es amor un no se que,” with strummed ritornello.
I-Fn Magl Cl. VII 618, fol. 20r (fragment).

153
Illustration 5.2 “Que os parece Antón,” with isolated strum patterns.
I-MOe a.R.6.4, fol. 93v (fragment).

153
vii
Illustration 5.3 “Cuando yo me enamoré.” I-Fr 2973/3, fol. 44v.

158
Illustration 5.4 “Cuando yo me enamoré.” I-MOe alpha P.6.22, fol. 9r
(detail).

160
Illustration 5.5 “Aria Spagnola che si suona con le viole.” Colonna
(1637/R), p. 53.

161
Illustration 5.6 Alfabeto duet, “Bullicioso era el arroyuelo.” I-Fr 2804,
fol. 157v (detail).

173
Illustration 5.7 Alfabeto duet, “Airecitos del río.” I-VEc 1434, fol. 132r
(detail).

173
Illustration 5.8 Alfabeto duet, “Oh, si volasen las horas.” I-VEc 1434,
fol. 151r (detail).

173
Illustration 5.9 Alfabeto duet, “Oh, si volasen las horas.” I-Fr 2793, fol.
93v (detail).

174
Illustration 5.10 Alfabeto duet, “Entre todos los remedios.” I-Rvat Chigi
L.VI.200, fol. 21v (detail).

175
Illustration 5.11 Solo alfabeto Sarabanda (Palumbi). I-VEc 1434, fol. 7r.

177
Illustration 5.12 Sarabanda in guitar tablature with strum signs.
Carbonchi (Sonate di chitarra spagnola, 1640), p. 6.

178

viii
LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES

Musical Example 2.1 “A la moza, bonita, chiquita,” alfabeto song
settings.

67
Musical Example 2.2 “Al espejo se toca” (estribillo only). PL-Kj Mus.
ms. 40163, fols. 31v-32r (a3 composition); I-VEc
1434, fol. 123r (text and alfabeto).

77
Musical Example 3.1 Massimo Troiano. “Oh, pasos esparcidos.”

91
Musical Example 3.2 Radesca di Foggia, “Si vos pretendéis quererme.” 96
Musical Example 3.3 Spagnoletta (Palumbi). I-Fr 2804.

98
Musical Example 3.4 Radesca di Foggia, “Que sean las mujeres
inconstantes.”

99
Musical Example 3.5 Radesca di Foggia, “Si de los ojos nace.”

101
Musical Example 3.6 (Long Imitation): Sanseverino (1616), “Passados
contentamientos.”

103
Musical Example 3.7 Sanseverino (1616), “Olvidada sois de mi”
(estribillo only).

103
Musical Example 3.8 Stefani (1618), “Ay que contento.” 105
Musical Example 3.9 Stefani (1619), “¿Quien menoscaba mis bienes?”

107
Musical Example 3.10 Pedro Rimonte (1614), “Madre, la mi madre”
(fragment).

111
Musical Example 3.11 “Oh, si volasen las horas,” D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2, fol.
85v.

115
Musical Example 3.12 “Oh, si volasen las horas.” PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163,
fol. 14v (estribillo only).

117
Musical Example 5.1 “Quando yo me enamoré.” PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163,
fol. 42v (estribillo only).

156
Musical Example 5.2 “Aria spagnola.” Colonna (1637/R).

162
Musical Example 5.3 “Cuando yo me enamoré.”

165
Musical Example 5.4 “Aria Spagnola.” Sanseverino (1620), pp. 70-71. 167
ix
Musical Example 5.5 Solo alfabeto Sarabanda (Palumbi).

177

x
LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Concordances between the Palumbi manuscripts
and other sources.

53
Table 2.2 Number of concordances between Palumbi
manuscripts.

55
Table 4.1 Poets in villanella spagnola sources.

125
Table 4.2 Romances by source and type.

134
Table 4.3 Musical Forms for Type 1 and Type 2 letrillas.

145

xi
ABBREVIATIONS
D-Mbs Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
E-Mn Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional
E-OL Olot, Biblioteca Popular
E-PAbm Palma de Mallorca, Biblioteca de la Fundación Bartolomé March
E-Szayas Seville, Private Library of Rodrigo de Zayas
F-Pn Bibliothèque nationale de France
GB-Lbl London, British Library
I-Bc Bologna, Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica di Bologna
I-Fas Florence, Archivio di Stato
I-Fc Florence, Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Cherubini
I-Fl Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana
I-Fn Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale
I-Fr Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana
I-MAa Mantua, Archivio di Stato
I-MOe Modena, Biblioteca Estense e Universitaria
I-Nn Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III
I-PAp Parma, Biblioteca Palatina
I-Rc Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense
I-Rli Rome, Biblioteca dei Lincei e Corsiniana
I-Rvat Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
I-VEc Verona, Biblioteca Civica
NL-DHk The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek
PL-Kj Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska
Introduction
The official debut of the five-course guitar in northern Italy during the 1589 intermedi for
La pellegrina in Florence followed years, possibly decades, of use for song accompaniment
in the kingdom of Naples, where alfabeto, the instrument’s early system of notation, is
thought to have been created.
1
As a system anchored in the concept of chords as
independent entities, alfabeto was, in a sense, at the vanguard of musical developments that
would eventually be “crystallized in basso continuo notation.”
2
Taking into account that by
the middle of the sixteenth century there was already a mature tablature notation developed
for both the lute and the four-course guitar, the swift consolidation of alfabeto in the last
years of the sixteenth century as the preferred notation for the chitarra alla spagnola, as the
five-course guitar was commonly known, is nothing short of astounding. The same could
be said about its longevity, as alfabeto remained the sole notation for the five-course guitar
well into the 1630s. This consolidation is evident upon examination of the earliest sources
that include alfabeto, which show that already by the year 1599 both a well-developed
nomenclature and a clearly defined role for the guitar as a strummed accompaniment
instrument for song had been established.
3

1
John Walter Hill, Roman Monody, Cantata, and Opera from the Circles around Cardinal Montalto (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1997), 70; James Tyler and Paul Sparks, The Guitar and its Music: From the Renaissance to
the Classical Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 35. It is unclear how early in the sixteenth century
the five-course guitar had been in use in Southern Italy. Warren Kirkendale noted that the two guitars used in
the Florentine intermedi (a chitarrina alla spagnola and a chitarrina alla Napolettana) had been sent from
Rome. It is assumed that chitarrina alla Napolettana is the four-course guitar, but there is no certainty about
the organological characteristics of the chitarrina alla spagnola (see Chapter 1). See Warren Kirkendale,
L’Aria di Fiorenza id est Il Ballo del Gran Duca (Florence: Olschki, 1972), 48-49. Some portions of this
introduction have appeared in Daniel Zuluaga, “Spanish song, chitarra alla spagnola, and the a.bi.ci.: Matheo
Bezón and his 1599 alfabeto songbook,” Resonance Interdisciplinary Journal (Spring 2013).
2
Hill, Roman Monody, 119-20.
3
There are three known pre-1600 manuscripts that utilize alfabeto extensively: I-Bu MS 177/ IV, a single
canto partbook that contains Italian strophic songs dated ca. 1585-1600; I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 (known as the
Traetta manuscript), a collection of Spanish poems with alfabeto originating in Naples in 1599; and E-Szayas
A.IV.8, a guitar tutor penned in Italy by the Spanish guitarist Matheo Bezón also around 1599. I-Rvat
ChigiL.VI.200 and E-Szayas A.IV.8 are examined in Chapter 2 as sources of alfabeto song settings of
2
This study focuses on manuscript and printed sources of Italian vocal music from
the period 1585-1630 that include poems in Spanish. This restriction is driven in part by the
sheer size of the Italian vocal repertoire with alfabeto, about 250 sources comprising over
1800 song settings, although it stems mainly from a deep personal interest in musical
settings of Spanish siglo de oro poetry. In the course of preparing this dissertation I have
come to the conclusion that the distinction between alfabeto songs in Spanish and those in
Italian is largely one of poetry rather than musical style, less significant than the differences
from concurrent repertoires in Spain and France, as I will point out throughout this study.
Thus, this dissertation aims in part to dispel the notion that this repertoire consists of
“Spanish songs.” I should note that many of the conclusions reached in this study, as well
as the tools used for the analysis of alfabeto accompaniments, apply to alfabeto songs in
Italian, and will, I hope, prove useful to other scholars researching the repertoire.
Although a small portion of the repertoire survives in staff notation, a large number
of songs, about 250, survive only as poetic texts accompanied by alfabeto symbols, a
written format for vocal music that remained popular in Italy into the later part of the
seventeenth century. Although the term “alfabeto song” has been used in modern
scholarship in a general manner to refer to vocal compositions that includes alfabeto
independently of the presence or absence of staff notation, for the purposes of this study, I
have chosen to narrowly define “alfabeto songs” as those consisting of a poetic text and
alfabeto symbols only. The main reason is that the presence of alfabeto as the sole musical
notation above a poem clearly indicates a specific performance practice, whereas the use of

Spanish verse. See also Tim Carter, “Caccini’s Amarilli mia bella: Some Questions (and a Few Answers),”
Journal of the Royal Musical Association 113 (1988): 255; Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 39,
43-44; Hill, Roman Monody, 70-74; John H. Baron, “Secular Spanish Solo Song in Non-Spanish Sources,”
Journal of the American Musicological Society 30 (1977): 24; 6; Zuluaga, “Matheo Bezón.”
3
alfabeto in staff-notation sources often represents, in my opinion, an alternative musical
nomenclature added to an existing format. I am not suggesting that alfabeto and basso
continuo nomenclature in early seventeenth-century vocal compositions are mutually
exclusive. The alfabeto song format is not a self-sufficient musical notation, because it
requires advance knowledge of the given composition; it was intended as a prod to
memory. What alfabeto song format suggests, however, is that the performance of such
songs to a strumming guitar, in all probability without an added bass line, was a common,
well-established practice.
The essential characteristics of alfabeto as a musical notation are fairly
straightforward. In its simplest form it is a shorthand in which individual harmonies are
each assigned a letter of the alphabet in a manner unrelated to musical nomenclature. The
letter “A” represents a G-major chord, the letter “B” a C-major chord, the letter “D” an A-
minor chord, and so forth. The alfabeto chart below shows the equivalency between chords
in modern symbol notation and the alfabeto letters from charts found in some of the
manuscripts discussed in this study.
4

E-Szayas A.IV.8
1599
Montesardo
1606
F-Pn Esp. 390
1610-1620
I-Fl Ashb. 791
ca. 1615 [?]
I-Fl Ashb. 791
[Cifras]
Chord
a A A a 1 G major
b B B b 2 C major
c C C c + D major
d D D d A minor
e E e e o D minor
f F F f 9 E major
g G G g 3 F major

4
Empty spaces in the order of keys represent non-existent shapes in a particular chart. Asterisks denote
alternate chord positions. I-Fl Ashb. 791 is the only alfabeto song source from the period that contains both
alfabeto and cifras, the Spanish equivalent of alfabeto notation. A large number of early alfabeto manuscripts
or prints do not include an alfabeto chart. The earliest known chart is from 1599, found in manuscript E-
Szayas A.IV.8. The earliest printed chart appeared in Girolamo Montesardo’s guitar tutor Nuova inventione
d’intavolatura (Florence: Marescotti, 1606). Minor differences in chord nomenclature are attributable to
geographical variations. See Alexander Dean, “The Five-Course Guitar and Seventeenth-Century Harmony:
Alfabeto and Italian Song” (Ph.D. Diss., University of Rochester, 2009), 168-70.
4
h H H h 4
Bb major
i I I i P A major
k G minor*
K K
Bb minor
u L C minor
add2
L L [*] C minor
m M M m
Eb major
N N n
Ab major
o O O o G minor
p P F minor
q Q
F# major
r R B major
+ + x E minor

The assignment of chords to letters follows a logical, orderly pattern, at least initially. The
first three chords, G major, C major, and D major, functionally mimic a tonal I-IV-V
progression as if in the key of G major, a chordal pattern characteristic of the early guitar
passacaglia.
5
The next three chords in the chart duplicate this progression as if in the key of
A minor (i-iv-V), after which the pattern breaks down. The alfabeto system appears to have
been conceived so that individuals with little or no musical education could quickly learn to
play the guitar without the aid of an instructor. The chords would be notated in tablature in
a prefatory chart, which the student would commit to memory.
6
Perhaps the most important
aspect of alfabeto is that it conceptualizes each chord as an individual harmonic entity
rather than as a mere confluence of contrapuntal lines. The result is a notation that
expresses many of the conventions found in the practice of basso continuo approximately
two decades before its first printed examples. The clear absence of contrapuntal

5
Although 1599 is too early a date for the use of the term “tonality,” the forms found in early guitar music
harbor a concept of mode that is rooted on the relationship between triadic chords, thus resembling tonal
progressions. For a thorough discussion on the subject, see Richard Hudson, “The Concept of Mode in Italian
Guitar Music during the First Half of the 17th Century,” Acta Musicologica 42, nos. 3-4 (1970): 163-83,
especially 164-66.
6
“La prima, e principal Regola, che deve tenere quello, il quale vuol saper toccare bene questo istrumento
gliè, che mandi in memoria ben’il sottoscritto Alfabetto.” Montesardo, Nuova inventione, fol. 4.
5
considerations in alfabeto notation also encapsulates the most fundamental aspect of the
instrumental technique used to play the five-course guitar, that is, strumming.
Two important studies represent the starting point for present study. In his brief
monograph on Spanish musical cancioneros in Italy, Cesare Acutis examines some of the
alfabeto song manuscripts central to this study.
7
Acutis is primarily concerned with the
poetic contents and the history of the manuscripts, but his is the earliest attempt at isolating
musical sources in Italy destined for performance that contain Spanish verse, and one of the
first to take into consideration the alfabeto songbooks as musical sources. John H. Baron’s
article “Spanish Song in non-Spanish Sources” addresses the music contained in the
alfabeto songbooks mentioned by Acutis by using contemporary French (and Spanish)
staff-notation settings of Spanish verse in the early seventeenth-century airs de cour
publications by Robert Ballard to attempt a reconstruction of the alfabeto songs.
8
As will be
shown in Chapter 3, Baron’s reconstructions are only partially successful because
“Spanish” alfabeto songs are, in fact, Italian vocal compositions that set Spanish poetry, a
repertoire with a unique rhythmic profile that differentiates it from Spanish or French
settings of Spanish poetry.
More recent research by John Walter Hill on the music associated with Cardinal
Montalto’s court in Rome discusses the role of the guitar as an accompaniment instrument
and its function in the development of early monody.
9
Hill specifically examines the
correspondence between alfabeto songs in sources such as I-Rvat L.VI.200 and Spanish
polyphonic cancioneros. While acknowledging that the instrument is commonly associated
with songs featuring clearly metrical patterns, he identifies the sparse use of alfabeto chords

7
Cesare Acutis, ‘Cancioneros’ musicali spagnoli in Italia (1585-1635) (Pisa: Università di Pisa, 1971).
8
Baron, “Secular Spanish Solo Song,” 20-42.
9
Hill, Roman Monody.
6
in some songs as a type of accompaniment ideally suited for arias in recitational and quasi-
recitational style. In a later article, Hill further elaborates on the notion of the alfabeto style
as a model for the accompaniment of recitational formulas in Italian monody, a style that he
links to earlier sixteenth-century Spanish romances.
10
As shown in Chapter 5, I find this
correlation problematic because it does not take into consideration that an essential aspect
of the five-course guitar technique is the rhythm provided by the strumming patterns. The
rhythmic nature of the instrument’s technique would suggest that a vocal composition sung
to a guitar accompaniment would have had a clearly defined rhythmic profile, even in the
absence of frequent chord changes.
11

Two recent dissertations centrally address the use of alfabeto in early seventeenth-
century Italian vocal music: Cory M. Gavito’s study examines the use of alfabeto in printed
vocal music, emphasizing its association with Naples and Rome, the pastoral imagery of its
poetry, and how the repertoire represents an intersection between elite and popular music
production in Naples and the Italian south; Alexander Dean’s research focuses on the
relationship between alfabeto symbols, fully notated vocal compositions, and the general
harmonic practice in alfabeto notation, with an eye toward reassessing the placement of the
guitar and its notation in the chronology of the development of functional harmony.
12

10
John Walter Hill, “L’Accompagnamento Rasgueado di Chitarra: un Possibile Modello per il Basso
Continuo dello Stile Recitativo?,” in Giulia Veneziano, ed., Rime e Suoni alla Spagnola: Atti della Giornata
Internazionale di Studi sulla Chitarra Barocca, Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana, 7 febbraio 2002 (Florence:
Alinea, 2003): 35-57.
11
Hill’s research has greatly informed this study, and despite somewhat different conclusions regarding the
style of strummed guitar accompaniments, his idea of alfabeto as a possible point of origin for basso continuo
practice is a topic ripe for further research.
12
Cory Michael Gavito, “The Alfabeto Song in Print, 1610-ca. 1665: Neapolitan Roots, Roman Codification,
and ‘Il gusto popolare’” (Ph.D. Diss., The University of Texas at Austin, 2006); Dean, “The Five-Course
Guitar.” Dean’s very recent study of the strumming patterns in one manuscript of Italian alfabeto song (I-Fc
CF. 108) examines the relationship between such patterns, dance, and meter. Some of Dean’s conclusions are
similar to those I make on Chapter 5, where I emphasize the rhythmic nature of the instrument and the
problems that arise from separating harmonic from rhythmic concepts for the purpose of analysis. Alexander
7
Several shorter studies have influenced the general direction of this dissertation.
Donna Cardamone’s article on sixteenth-century laments associated with the exile of the
Prince of Salerno, Ferrante Sanseverino, has shed some light into the early connection
between guitar and solo song, as well as underscored the link between Italian and Spanish
musical practices in Naples.
13
Silke Leopold and Roark Miller have written about the
alfabeto song anthologies by Remigio Romano and their connection to the practice of
monody in Venice, specifically to the anthologies of Giovanni Stefani.
14
Miller’s article
draws from his dissertation on the development of Venetian monody, which highlights the
interest of Venetian composers in small-scale musical structures such as those found in the
chord sequences of alfabeto songs.
15
The differences between Spanish and Italian
recitational styles and their respective accompaniment practices were highlighted by Louise
K. Stein in her study of the Spanish recitado, an article that has provided the inspiration to
look deeper into the distinction between the alfabeto song practice in Italy and the music in
Spanish polyphonic songbooks.
16
James Tyler’s report on the earliest sources of alfabeto
accompaniments for solo voice brought to my attention the existence of manuscript PL-Kj
Mus. ms. 40163 (also known as the Kraków manuscript, a source central to the concerns of
this study) and its connection to the alfabeto song anthologies of Francesco Palumbi.
17

Dean, “Strumming into the Void: A New Look at the Guitar and Rhythm in 17th-Century Canzonettas,” Early
Music 42, no. 1 (2014): 55-72.
13
Donna Cardamone, “The Prince of Salerno,” Acta Musicologica 67, no. 2 (1995): 77-108.
14
Silke Leopold, “Remigio Romano’s Collection of Lyrics,” Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association
110 (1983-84): 45-61; Roark Miller, “New Information on the Chronology of Venetian Monody: the
“Raccolte” of Remigio Romano,” Music & Letters 77, no. 1 (1996): 22-33.
15
Roark Miller, “The composers of San Marco and Santo Stefano and the development of Venetian Monody
(to 1630)” (Ph.D. Diss., University of Michigan, 1993).
16
Louise K. Stein, “The Origins and Character of recitado,” Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music 9, no. 1
(2003), http://www.sscm-jscm.org/v9/no1/stein.hmtl.
17
James Tyler, “The Role of the Guitar in the Rise of Monody: The Earliest Manuscripts,” Journal of
Seventeenth-Century Music 9, no. 1 (2003), http://www.sscm-jscm.org/v9/no1/tyler.html. Tyler’s inventory of
guitar music sources has also been an invaluable resource. See Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music.
8
Other studies that address the role of the guitar as an accompaniment instrument for song in
a peripheral manner, such as those by Maurice Esses,
18
Keith Larson,
19
or Nina
Treadwell,
20
are discussed in the body of this dissertation.
This study focuses heavily on Spanish verse encountered in alfabeto songs
anthologies. Several philological studies have provided much needed access and insight
into the sources and their poetic contents. María Teresa Cacho has published several
inventories of the manuscripts containing texts in Spanish that are found in the major
libraries in Italy, including many of the manuscript alfabeto sources discussed in this
dissertation.
21
Cacho’s writings have also addressed, albeit from a literary perspective, the
intersection between Spanish verse and guitar music in early seventeenth-century Italy.
22

Margit Frenk’s extensive research on popular Spanish poetry of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries has provided an invaluable guide to understanding the history of
forms such as the romance, the letrilla, and their many variants, which constitute the core

18
Maurice Esses, Dance and Instrumental Diferencias in Spain during the 17
th
and early 18
th
centuries
(Stuyvesant: Pendragon, 1992).
19
Keith Larson, “The Unaccompanied Madrigal in Naples from 1536 to 1654” (Ph.D. Diss., Harvard
University, 1985).
20
Nina Treadwell, Music and Wonder and the Medici Court (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008).
21
María Teresa Cacho, “Manuscritos españoles en la biblioteca cívica de Verona,” Cuaderni di Lingue e
Letteratura 18 (1993): 211-24; Cacho, Manuscritos hispánicos en las bibliotecas de Florencia: Descripción e
inventario (Florence: Alinea, 2001); Cacho, “El cancionero del Fondo Boncompagni-Ludovisi de la
Biblioteca Apostólica Vaticana,” Archivo de filología aragonesa 59-60 (2002): 1901-17; Cacho, “Canciones
españolas en manuscritos musicales de la Biblioteca Nacional de Florencia,” in Pierre Civil, ed., Siglos
dorados: Homenaje a Augustín Redondo (Madrid: Castalia, 2004) I:155-76; Cacho, Manuscritos hispánicos
de la Biblioteca Estense de Módena (Kassel: Reichenberger, 2006).
22
María Teresa Cacho, “Canciones eróticas españolas en la Italia del Siglo de Oro,” El Bosque 2 (1992): 17-
29; Cacho, “Quevedo, los bailes, y los cancioneros musicales medíceos,” in Música y Literatura en la
Península Ibérica 1600-1750), Actas del Congreso Internacional, Valladolid, 20-22 de febrero, 1995. María
Antonia Virgili Blanquet, Germán Vega García-Luengos and Carmelo Caballero Fernádez Rufete, eds.
(Valladolid: Sociedad V Centenario del Tratado de Tordesillas, 1997): 275-86; Cacho, “Canciones españolas
en cancioneros musicales florentinos,” in Giulia Veneziano, ed., Rime e Suoni alla Spagnola: Atti della
Giornata Internazionale di Studi sulla Chitarra Barocca, Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana, 7 febbraio 2002
(Florence: Alinea, 2000), 83-96.
9
of the poetry set to music that is studied in this dissertation.
23
José J. Labrador Herráiz and
Ralph A. DiFranco’s recent critical edition of manuscript I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 provides a
clean edition of its poetic contents, omitting song-like features such the line repetitions and
alfabeto symbols but retaining the original orthography.
24
The edition also includes a
comprehensive list of concordant primary sources from Italy and Spain, based on Labrador
and DiFranco’s bibliographical database Bibliografía de la Poesía Áurea.
The aim of Chapter 1 is to provide a background to Italian interest in Spanish
amorous poetry in the form of song and in the early practice of singing to a guitar by
investigating some of the earliest documents that record the performance of such songs in
sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Italy. In Chapter 2, I give an overview of the
different sources containing song settings of Spanish verse, complemented by individual
inventories of their contents in Spanish in Appendix 2. Thirty-four manuscripts and printed
collections are organized by geographical provenance as well as content. Chapter 3 focuses
on song settings that survive in staff notation, and is concerned primarily with establishing
a stylistic distinction between this and concurrent repertoires through a detailed musical
analysis. In Chapters 4 and 5, I address the much larger portion of the song settings that
survive in alfabeto song format in two contrasting but complementary ways. Chapter 4
examines the alfabeto song settings by contrasting the musical forms distilled from the
alfabeto sequences to formal aspects of Spanish verse; in Chapter 5, I address a deceivingly

23
I refer mainly to Margit Frenk, Lírica hispánica de tipo popular (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México, 1966); and to her monumental Nuevo corpus de la antigua lírica popular hispánica,
siglos XV a XVII (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2003). Several of her articles on Spanish poetic
forms, discussed throughout my study, can be found in a recent edition of her collected writings, Margit
Frenk, Poesía popular hispánica: 44 estudios (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2006).
24
José Labrador Herraiz and Ralph DiFranco, Dos cancioneros hispano-italianos. Analecta Malacitana
Anejo LXVIII (Málaga: Universidad de Málaga, 2008).
10
complex question at the root of the repertoire and its performance practice: how was the
five-course guitar played in the context of alfabeto song?
Some early seventeenth-century Italian sources containing songs in Spanish are not
considered for stylistic reasons. All compositions in Juan de Arañés’ Libro segundo de
tonos y villancicos (Rome: Robletti, 1624) feature basso continuo prominently, as does
Francesco Lambardi’s only known work in Spanish, the four-part composition “Lenguas
son” from the 1620 Neapolitan festa a ballo entitled Delizie di Posilipo Boscarecce, e
Maritime,
25
thus representing a different compositional style from what is suggested by the
repertoire central to this study. Judging by the sole surviving alto part, Giovanni Maria
Trabaci’s manuscript entitled Canzonette Italiane e Spagnole à tre, e quattro voci (B-Bc
17062) is related to Spanish musical cancioneros from the 1630s, reflecting a later
compositional style that is closer to Spanish musical anthologies such as the Libro de tonos
humanos (E-Mn M1262) than to the repertoire studied here.

Editorial criteria
All song titles have been modernized when cited in the body of the text and in the
general index of villanella spagnola song titles and concordances (Appendix 1). The
individual inventories of the manuscript and printed collections (Appendix 2) include the
original spelling under the headings “incipit” and “other incipit.” Each song title consists of
the first full line of text, even if the tables of content of individual sources list a shortened
version. A longer song title is given in several instances, comprising two or three verses, to

25
Published in Breve racconto della festa a ballo (Naples: Constantino Vitale, 1620); modern edition by
Roland Jackson, A Neapolitan festa a ballo ‘Delizie di Posilipo Boscarecci, et Martitime’ and Selected
Instrumental Ensemble Pieces from Naples Conservatory MS 4.6.3. Recent Researches in Music of the
Baroque Era, vol. XXV (Madison: A-R Editions, 1978).
11
help differentiate the poems used in the songs from other poems in cancioneros that begin
with the same line of text.
Poetic texts have been transcribed exactly as they appear in their sources, retaining
the numerous orthographical discrepancies, such as the u/v, the i/y/j, and the z/ç/s/c
substitutions, in addition to the frequent Italianate spelling of Spanish words. Accentuation,
capitalization, and punctuation have been modernized. Abbreviations have been completed
whenever possible, and words that appear joined in the sources have been separated (and
vice versa). Any additional changes are noted after each poetic text. Similar criteria are
applied to longer citations from texts and documents. If a text is quoted from a secondary
source, the orthography in that source is retained. Unless otherwise noted, all translations
are mine.
The text underlay in all musical examples follows different criteria from those noted
for poetic texts. Typographical conventions without material effect in the pronunciation of
words such as u/v, b/v, and the i/y/j substitutions, have been modernized. However, in those
instances where such substitutions could affect the resulting sound, for instance z/ç/s/c, the
original spelling has been maintained. Double consonants are retained and treated as one
phoneme, with the sole exception of the geminate ll (for instance in the word perdello, as it
represents a combined form of an infinitive verb and enclitic pronoun). Capitalization has
also been modernized.
The staff-notation musical examples have been transcribed into modern notation.
Barlines have been inserted at regular intervals following the original time signatures,
which have been retained. Clef changes and transpositions are noted. Transcriptions of
alfabeto songs and other alfabeto fragments are rendered as basso continuo notation, in
most cases without a rhythmic value ascribed to the individual notes, because I consider
12
that it interprets the original intention of alfabeto symbols in the most faithful manner
possible. As a reference, I have retained the alfabeto symbols under the basso continuo
figures. Since the vast majority of alfabeto songs have no time signatures, the half bar lines
inserted represent new lines of text as laid out in alfabeto song format.
Chapter 1

Guitar and solo song in the sixteenth century

Ya en Italia, así entre damas como entre caballeros, se tiene por jentileza i galanía
saber hablar castellano (Already in Italy, among ladies as much as gentlemen, it is
considered courteous and elegant to know how to speak Spanish).
26

The signing in 1559 of the Cateau-Cambrésis peace treaty between Henry II of France and
Philip II of Spain, which acknowledged the Spanish Habsburgs’ hegemony over the
peninsula, signified an end to six decades of confrontation on Italian soil between the
French and Spanish armies.
27
The fifty or so years of political stability in the Italian
peninsula that ensued were a period that also saw a significant increase in the Spanish
population in Italy and an expansion of its role in the political, economic, and social
spheres.
28
According to Thomas Dandelet, a long-held negative view of the Spanish
presence among historians of early modern Italy, labeled by the early twentieth-century

26
Juan de Valdés, Diálogo de la lengua (manuscript 8629 in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid), ed. Luis de
Usoz y Río (Madrid: J. Martín Alegría, 1860), 4. Modern edition by José F. Montesinos (Madrid: Espasa-
Escalpe, 1976).
27
For overviews of this period see: Eric Cochrane, Italy, 1530-1630, ed. Julius Kirshner (London-New York:
Longman, 1989); Gregory Hanlon, Early Modern Italy, 1550-1800 (London-New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2000); and John A. Marino, Early Modern Italy, 1550-1796 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002). An
overview of the relations between France, Italy, and Spain in the Italian peninsula is found in Romolo
Quazza, “Spagna e Italia dal 1555 al 1631,” in Alessandro Pavolini, ed., Italia e Spagna: Saggi sui rapporti
storici, filosofici ed artistici tra le due civiltà (Florence: Felice Le Monnier, 1941), 163-92.
28
In late sixteenth-century Rome, for example, the Spanish population was, by some estimates, close to thirty
thousand, about 25% of the entire city’s population. Sixteenth-century Spain consisted of an aggregation of
disparate nations such as Aragon, Castile, Catalonia, Galicia, and Portugal, among others, nations that only
consolidated into what can be considered as a unified Spanish nation under one monarch during the second
half of the sixteenth century. Thomas J. Dandelet, Spanish Rome, 1500-1700 (New Haven-London: Yale
University Press, 2001), 113-19. The charter of the Cofradía de la Santísima Resurrección, the Spanish
confraternity in Rome created by Pope Gregory XIII on 15 March 1579, defined as a Spaniard “tanto el que
fuere de la Corona de Castilla como de la de Aragón y del Reyno de Portugal, y de las Islas de Mallorca,
Menorca, Cerdeña, e islas y tierra firme de entrambas Indias, sin ninguna distinción de edad ni de sexo ni de
estado” ([He is understood to have the said quality of being Spanish] if he is from the crown of Castile or the
crown of Aragon, or from the kingdom of Portugal, and the islands of Majorca, Menorca, and Sardinia, or
both the islands and mainland of the Indies with no distinction of age or sex or rank). Cited in translation in
Dandelet, Spanish Rome, 116, 243n12. Spanish text in Manuel Espadas Burgos, Buscando a España en Roma
(Barcelona, Lunwerg: CSIC, 2006), 98; and Enrique García Hernán and Davide Maffi, eds., Guerra y
sociedad en la monarquía hispánica: Política, estrategia y cultura en la Europa Moderna (1500-1700)
(Barcelona: Laberinto-Mapfre-CSIC, 2006), 656n21.
14
Spanish historian Julián Juderías as the “Black Legend,” probably dates back to sixteenth-
century humanists such as Francesco Guicciardini, and extends into the early twentieth
century with figures such as Benedetto Croce.
29
Dandelet also notes that this negative view
has slowly given way to a “more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the reciprocal
nature of Spanish-Italian relations and the rich cultural production that was the product of
far-reaching exchanges between the two peninsulas throughout the early modern period.”
30

As observed by Romolo Quazza, there was no such thing as a generalized hatred in Italy of
the Spaniards, largely because “their dominance was far from absolute.”
31
The reality of the
Spanish population in Italy during this period is that it consisted “of a fluid, constantly
changing group of cardinals, soldiers, lawyers, noblemen, courtiers, couriers, artists, and
working class Spaniards and Italians.”
32

The reciprocity mentioned by Dandelet is reflected in cultural production. Aside
from the numerous Spanish literary works that were first published in Italy, a very large
number of cancioneros, manuscript anthologies containing Spanish siglo de oro poetry,
circulated during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries throughout the many independent
states and territories on the Italian peninsula. Benedetto Croce noted the occasional
presence of canzonette spagnuole in frottola publications from the late 1510s as

29
Thomas J. Dandelet and John A. Marino, eds., Spain in Italy: Politics, Society, and Religion 1500-1700
(Leiden/Boston: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2007), 3; Sverker Arnoldsson, La leyenda negra: estudios sobre sus
orígenes (Göteborg: Elanders Boktryckeri Aktiebolag, 1960), 7-10.
30
Dandelet and Marino, Spain in Italy, 3. Dandelet observes that the process of rethinking these relationships
began sometime in the 1970s, and cites Aurelio Musi’s Alle origini di una nazione. Antispagnolismo e
identità italiana (Milan: Aurelio Guerci e Associati, 2003) as a key study of the process.
31
Quazza, “Spagna e Italia,” 192. Quazza continues (my translation): “In court and higher social strata there
was an assimilation of Spanish fashions and way of life; in more humble strata there was a permanent back-
and-forth between servility, occasional insults, and surges of devotion.”
32
Dandelet, Spanish Rome, 124.
15
confirmation that a taste had developed for the Spanish language.
33
Alda Croce documented
a number of Spanish-language expressions that made their way into Italian literature, and
also into commedie.
34
One example of the later sixteenth-century perception of Spaniards in
Italy is encapsulated in an anonymous poem from an Italian manuscript anthology entitled
Libro romanzero de canciones:
35

Signora, 4 semo
que cantare uolemo:
vno spagniolo e un siciliano,
un fiorentino e un napolitano.
Hor stateci ascoltare,
e poi piglia di noi chi uoi amare.

Afaciati da loco
e sienteme no poco;
e da chessa finestra, adaso, adaso,
Lady, there are four of us
who wish to sing [to you]:
a Spaniard and a Sicilian,
a Florentine and a Neapolitan.
Now, get ready to listen,
and then pick among us the one to love.

[Neapolitan:]
Look from wherever you are,
and listen to me a little
from that window, slowly, slowly,

33
Benedetto Croce, La lingua spagnuola in Italia (Rome: E. Loescher, 1895), 11, 11n4. B. Croce’s focus was
on the early part of the sixteenth century because he considered that through the routine exposure to the
language that followed, the initial impression made by the Spanish language was lost. Croce specifically cites
Andrea Antico’s 1518 volume of frottole, although it is unclear if he is referring to the 1518 reprint of
Antico’s Canzoni, sonetti, strambotti et frottole: libro tertio (Rome: J. Mazzocchi, 1517); or to Fioretti di
frottole barzelette capitoli strambotti e sonetti libro secondo (Naples: J. A. Caneto 1519). Antico’s libro tertio
contains no compositions in Spanish. See Alfred Einstein, ed., Canzoni sonetti, strambotti et frottole, libro
tertio (Northampton: Smith College, 1941). I was unable to access a copy of Fioretti di frottole, or Jeppesen’s
inventory of the same (Knud Jeppesen, La Frottola, Acta Jutlandica 40-2 (Aarhus: Universitatsforlag, 1968-
70), but the volume is listed in RISM (1519/4)

as containing works by B.F., M. Cara (3), Carpentras, I.P.,
Ludovico Milanese, J.T. de Maio (9), B. Pifaro, Ranier, B. Tromboncino (8), and Anon. (8). Text incipits
suggest at least four songs in Spanish. According to Arturo Farinelli, the volume was Antico’s Frottole libro
secondo, printed in Rome in 1518 (1516?) and reprinted in Venice in 1520, containing nine songs (out of
forty-five) with texts in Spanish (Farinelli also mentions Fioretti as containing only three “frottole
castigliane.”) Arturo Farinelli, “Review of Benedetto Croce, La Corte Spagnuola d Alfonso d’Aragona a
Napoli, Versi spagnole in lode di Lucrezia Borgia duchessa di Ferrara e delle sue damigelle, and Di un
antico romanzo Spagnuolo relativo alla storia di Napoli: La “Question de Amor”,” Rassegna bibliografica
della letteratura italiana 5 (1894): 139. To my knowledge, the earliest example (of a song in Spanish
included in an Italian publication) is found in Petrucci’s Frottole libro sexto (Venice, 1506). The four-part
composition, “Venimus en romería” (fols. 45v-46r), is probably by an Italian composer, judging by the
stylistic similarities to other frottole in the volume. I wish to thank Juan Díaz de Corcuera, of the Universidad
Central in Bogotá, Colombia, for bringing this composition to my attention.
34
Alda Croce, “Relazioni della letteratura italiana con la letteratura spagnuola,” in Antonio Viscardi, ed.,
Letteratura comparate (Milan: Carlo Marzorati, 1948), 101-44, cited in Labrador Herraiz and. DiFranco, Dos
cancioneros, 20n6.
35
Manuscript 263, fol. 164r, in the Biblioteca Classense in Ravena. Paolo Pintacuda, ed., Libro romanzero de
canciones, romances y algunas nuebas para passar la siesta a los que para dormir tienen la gana, compilato
da Alonso de Navarrete (Pisa: ETS, 2005), 234 (poem no. 206). The first stanza is cited in Acutis,
Cancioneros, 16n38.
16
prima che n’ora ietame no baso;
e se mi ami tantillo,
quando lo uoi ‘sto core pigliatillo.

V. che Dio lo bolissi
che tu di mia ardissi:
saria lo chiù contento inamoratu
che mai homo a lo mundo fuse natu.
Hor se mi uoi amari,
jatuzza mia, no me strasiari.

Coteste son canzoni,
e cotesti son suoni;
dico, mi piace el suon del or, quatrini,
andar al hoste e bere di buon uini.
36

Horsù, bella fanciulla,
a Dio mi racomando, uuoi tu nulla?

Segnora graziosa,
mui linda y mui hermosa,
pues que uuestra belleza me ha matado,
y este corazón l’a siempre amado,
dulçe señora mía,
beso las manos de vueseñoría.
before you throw me out;
if you love me even just a little,
whenever you desire, grab my heart.

[Sicilian:]
See, it is God who wishes
that you burn with love for me:
I would be the happiest lover,
that such a man was never before born.
Thus, if you want to love me,
my gentle soul, do not torment me.
37

[Tuscan:]
Those are songs,
and these are sounds;
I mean, I like the sound of gold, of money,
to go to the pub and drink good wine.
Come, beautiful maiden (to God
I entrust myself), do you want anything?

[Spaniard:]
Gracious lady,
most fair and most beautiful,
since your beauty has slain me,
and this heart has always loved you,
sweet lady of mine,
I kiss the hands of your ladyship.

The manuscript source for the poem, compiled in 1589, is a large collection of Spanish
poetry (230 poems) copied by Alonço de Nabarrete (Navarrete), a native of Pisa, and the
variety of its content is typical of contemporary poetic cancioneros.
38
The text I cite above

36
Pintacuda notes that the second half of the word “hosterie” in this verse is crossed out in the manuscript.
Pintacuda, Libro romanzero, 234, 503-04. Each of the five stanzas consists of an alternation of seven- and
eleven-syllable lines (aaBBcC), so that that portion of the word was probably crossed to maintain the length
of the eleven-syllable line intact. I thank Professor Bruce A. Brown for bringing this to my attention.
37
The initial “V.” in this stanza could be interpreted as an abbreviation, although it is also plausible that it is
the initial of the unknown lady’s first name, which as a single metrical syllable would maintain the seven-
syllable line. “Jatuzza mia” is an expression of affection, intimacy, or love, which can be translated as “my
gentle breath,” “my little breath,” or “my soul,” signifying “you are part of me.” I wish to thank Professor
Tarcisio Balbo, of the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali “O. Vecchi - A. Tonelli,” in Modena, for his
observations and assistance with the interpretation of this stanza.
38
It includes a majority of the most popular secular poetic genres in Spanish poetry, including new romances,
canciones with estribillo, glosas, and erotic and sexually explicit poetry in a variety of Italian and Spanish
meters. For a detailed description of its contents, see Pintacuda, Libro romanzero, 11-27, 289-531. See also
17
is a serenade delivered by four different characters: a Neapolitan, a Sicilian, a Florentine,
and a Spaniard. Each sings a stanza to the same woman, a lady presumably hiding behind a
window or inside a balcony while listening to the serenade, exalting the reasons why he
should be chosen as her lover. The juxtaposition of different regional idiosyncrasies,
expressed through courtship, captures how deeply woven into the fabric of the Italian
language and culture both the stereotype of the Spaniard and the Spanish language itself
were in the late sixteenth century.
39
The text is evidently burlesque, but in its caricature it
also outlines recurring aspects of the stereotype of the Spaniard that revolve around
courtship, amorous subjects, and song.
The more positive side of the Spaniard stereotype was typified decades earlier, in
writings such as Il libro del Cortegiano, Mantuan Baldassare Castiglione’s treatise on
courtly behavior. Castiglione expressed admiration for the Spanish in Italy: “generally
speaking . . . between the Spanish and the French, the former are better suited in their
manners to the Italians, since the poised seriousness that is so particular to the Spanish
seems to me more convenient to us.”
40
Castiglione repeatedly praised the “poise that so
well serves the Spanish nation, because the extrinsic is witness to the intrinsic.”
41

Antonio Restori, “Il ‘cancionero’ classense 263,” Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei 9 (1902): 99-
136.
39
For a discussion on the influence of Spanish in the Italian language, see Benedetto Croce, La spagna nella
vita italiana durante la rinascenza (Bari: Gius. Laterza & Figli, 1917); and Gian Luigi Beccaria, Spagnolo e
spagnoli in Italia: Riflessi ispanici sulla lingua italiana del Cinque e del Seicento (Turin: Giappichelli, 1968),
esp. 19-135.
40
“…& parlando generalmente, a me par che con gl’Italiani piu si confacciano ne i costumi gli Spagnuoli,
che i Francesi; perche quella gravità riposata peculiar de gli Spagnuoli, mi par molto piu conueniente a noi
altri, che la pronta uiuacità, la qual nella nation Francese quasi in ogni mouimento si conosce.” Baldassare
Castiglione, Il libro del Cortegiano (Venice: Bernardo Basa, 1534), libro secondo, fol. 76r. Modern edition
and translation: Daniel Javitch, ed., The Book of the Courtier: The Singleton Translation (New York: W.W.
Norton & Co., 2002).
41
“Ma nel resto uorrei che mostrassino quel riposo, che molto serua la nation Spagnuola, perche le cose
estrinseche spesso fan testimonio delle intrinseche.” Castiglione, Il Cortegiano, libro secondo, fol. 68r. Cited
in Croce, La spagna, 176.
18
According to Benedetto Croce, the Spanish intellectual qualities that were held in highest
regard were acumen, wit, and subtlety.
42

The Spaniard, with its reputation for excessive gallantry, was one of the more
common character stereotypes in the genre of the commedia dell’arte, the improvised street
theater that began to flourish halfway through the sixteenth century.
43
Tommaso Garzoni,
for example, wrote in the 1580s a description of the realities of an actor’s life on the road,
and mentioned among the common characters in the theater troupe “vn spagnuolo, che non
sà proferire, se non mi vida, mi corazón” (a Spaniard who does not know how to say
anything other than “if not my life, then my heart”).
44
As Donna Cardamone has noted, the
phrase “fare il Don Diego” was used in reference to someone making amorous advances
with excessive gallantry and abundant bowing gestures and hand-kissing, and had its origin
in an improvised masked Italian comedy performed in Munich on 8 March 1568, as part of
the festivities for the wedding of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Bavaria and Renée of
Lorraine.
45
One of the characters, “lo spagnolo disperato chiamato Don Diego de
Mendoza,” was one of three different roles that Massimo Troiano performed in this
“Commedia all’improuiso alla Italiana dell’arte.”
46
Troiano’s collection of canzoni alla

42
Benedetto Croce, Ricerche ispano-ialiana: I. Appunti sulla letteratura spagnuola in Italia alla fine del sec.
XV e nella prima metta del sec. XVI (Naples: Regia Università, 1898), 10.
43
For instance, the title of a 1566 comedy presented in Mantua was Spagnolo da le comedie; cited in Croce,
Ricerche, 15.
44
Tommaso Garzoni, La Piazza universale di tutte le professioni del mondo (Venice: Pietro Maria Bertano,
1638), 320 (first edition: Venice, 1585).
45
Donna Cardamone, Canzoni Villanesche and Villanelle (Madison: A-R Editions, 1991), l-li, n1, n6; M. A.
Katritzky, The Art of Commedia: A Study in the Commedia dell’Arte 1560-1620 with Special Reference to the
Visual Records (Amsterdam: Rodopi BV, 2006), 45; Horst Leuchtmann, Die Münchner Fürstenhochzeit von
1568: Massimo Troiano: Dialoge: Zweigespräche über die Festlichkeiten bei der Hochzeit des bayerischen
Erbherzogs Wilhelm V. mit Renata von Lothringen, in München im Februar, 1568 (Munich, E. Katzbochler,
1980); Clive Wearing, “Orlandus Lassus (1532-1594) and the Munich Kapelle,” Early Music 10, no. 2
(1982): 147-53.
46
The other two characters played by Troiano, a singer, were “il prologo uestito da goffo uillano,” and a lover
“sotto il nome di Polidoro.” The improvised comedy also included Orlando di Lasso “sotto il nome di messer
19
napolitana, published the following year, also contains one of the earliest settings of a
vocal composition alla spagnola (see Chapter 3).
The representations of the Spaniard were invariably comical. The role of the
captain, for instance, was most commonly identified with a Spaniard: Capitano Alonso
Cocodrillo,
47
Capitano Matamoros,
48
or Capitano Cardone.
49
National types were
complementary to plots in the commedia dell’arte, benefiting from the possibilities for
laughter offered by mockery and ridicule of foreigners and their cultural habits. Thus, the
capitano’s nationality varied considerably, and included Italians, Neapolitans, Romans,
Calabrese, and Sicilian, as well as French and Germans.
50
Members of the military were
most commonly portrayed in commedie, although it is important to emphasize that
“foreigner” in this context meant not only individuals of different nationalities but also
from different regions in Italy, as exemplified in the capitano.
51
This type of role also
offered the possibility to engage audiences of different nationalities, as it included material
in different languages.
Returning to the serenade in Navarrete’s manuscript, the text of “Signora, 4 semo”
implies a well-established interest in late sixteenth-century Italy in Spanish amorous and
amatory poetry in the form of song. The high point of this interest is found sometime

Pantalone di bosognosi.” Troiano published an extensive bilingual account (in Italian and Catalan) of the
festivities entitled Dialoghi di Massimo Troiano (Venice, Zaltieri, 1569), which pays particular attention to
the musical events. Katritzky, The Art of Commedia, 44-58. Troiano’s account of the play is transcribed in pp.
56-58. According to Benedetto Croce, the expression “fare il Don Diego” was coined by the Venetian writer
Luigi Pasqualigo, who first used it in his pastoral fable Gl' Intricati pastorale del clariss. sig. Aluise
Pasqualigo (Venice: Francesco Ziletti, 1581), IV, 4. See Benedetto Croce, La spagna, 175, 175n1.
47
The role created by the Neapolitan actor Fabrizio de Fornaris in 1584, in his published play L’Angelica,
where it includes passages in broken Spanish. Katritzky, The Art of Commedia, 214-216.
48
Created by actor Silvio Fiorillo (1584-1634); see Katritzky, The Art of Commedia, 214.
49
Created by actor Valentino Cortesei, often replicated, including in Vecchi’s l’amfiparnasso of 1597; see
Katritzky, The Art of Commedia, 216.
50
For example the Capitano Spavento or Capitano Rinoceronte, See B. Croce, Ricerche, 16; Katritzky, The
Art of Commedia, 214.
51
Katritzky, The Art of Commedia, 104.
20
between 1580 and 1630, judging from the profusion of poetic romanceros and cancioneros
from this period that are found in Italian libraries, and especially from the ample number of
Italian musical collections in which Spanish texts are present specifically as songs.
52
This
period also represents the earliest stage in the history of the five-course guitar, commonly
referred to as chitarra alla spagnola, an instrument that rose to prominence in close
connection with solo popular song as practiced in Southern Italy.
53
The link between guitar
and solo song, however, can be traced back to the early part of the sixteenth century, to the
forerunner of the five-course instrument and to a series of accounts that record the
performance of songs in Spanish.
One of the earliest records is a description of Ferrante Sanseverino (1507-1568),
Prince of Salerno, singing and presumably accompanying himself on a guitar while visiting
King Francis I of France at the Palace of Fontainebleau in 1544, a description found in a
letter by Bernardo de’ Medici, Bishop of Forli, to Cosimo I de’ Medici:
Ogni sera molte dame li fanno cantare delle canzoni napolitane et ci hanno indocte
una quantità di chitarre et ogni dama ha la sua (Every evening many ladies of the
court make him sing some Neapolitan songs, and having brought a number of
guitars, each lady was encouraged to take her own).
54

52
Documented in Acutis, Cancioneros; and Baron, “Secular Spanish Solo Song,” 20-42.
53
Hill, Roman Monody, 56-120, esp. 69-75; Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 37-38.
54
The letter by Bernardo de’ Medici, Bishop of Forli, to Cosimo I de’ Medici, is dated 27-31 December 1544
(I-Fas, Archivio Mediceo del Principato, filza 4500, fols. 18r, 32r); cited in Benedetto Croce, Aneddoti di
varia letteratura (Bari: Laterza & Figli, 1953), 1:334; translation in Cardamone, “The Prince of Salerno,” 83.
The complete letter is transcribed in Abel Desjardins, Négociations diplomatiques de la France avec la
Toscane (Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1865), 3:140-41. According the Desjardins, the passage in question
reads “Il principe di Salerno è ancor quà; e ogni sera queste dame lo fanno cantare due canzone napolitane, e
ci hanno in dette una quantità di chitarre, che ogni dama ha la sua.” As noted by Cardamone, there are some
discrepancies between the two transcriptions, the most important of which is “due canzone” vs. “delle
canzoni.” Also mentioned in Larson, “The Unaccompanied Madrigal,” 111n249.
21
Ferrante would be exiled from his native Naples in 1552 for promoting, in alliance with the
French, the 1547 uprisings against the Viceroy Pedro de Toledo.
55

In spite of its brevity, the account of Sanseverino’s performance at Fontainebleau is
remarkable for a number of reasons. First, at this early date there are no other records of the
use of this instrument in France, at least to my knowledge.
56
The first French sources of
music for the guitar are dated ca. 1550.
57
In fact, the 1544 description predates the earliest
examples of music for the instrument from just about everywhere in Europe.
58
The phrase
“una quantità di chitarre et ogni dama ha la sua,” on the other hand, implies not only easy
availability of multiple guitars in a court setting, but also an already built-in audience for its
music and a seemingly keen interest in learning how to play it. Despite the absence of any
detailed description, there is no doubt that the type of guitar mentioned in the account is the

55
Ludovic Lalanne, ed., Oeuvres complètes de Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme (Paris: Jules
Renouard, 1866), 2:38.
56
The history of the guitar in the early part of the sixteenth century is not well documented. James Tyler
begins his survey of the literature for the instrument with the first references in printed music ca. 1538. Tyler
and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 5-11. A few earlier, obscure references to the instrument exist, the
better known of which is from ca. 1487, by Johannes Tinctoris: “Quinetiam instrumentum illud a Catalanis
inventum: quod ab aliis ghiterra: ab aliis ghiterna vocatur: ex lyra prodisse manifestissimum est: hec enim ut
leutum (licet eo longe minor sit) et formam testudineam: et chordarum dispositionem atque contactum
suscipit” (Furthermore there is the instrument invented by the Catalans, which some call the guiterra and
others the guitherne. It is obviously derived from the lyre since it is tortoise-shaped (though much smaller)
and has the same stringing and method of playing). Latin text in Johannes Tinctoris, De inventione et usu
musicae, Karl Weinmann, ed., Johannes Tinctoris (1445-1511) und sein unbekannter Traktat ‘De inventione
et usu musicae’ (Regensburg: Pustet, 1917), 42; cited and translated in Anthony Baines, “Fifteenth-Century
Instruments in Tinctoris’s De Inventione et Usu Musicae,” Galpin Society Journal 3 (1950): 23. Tinctoris is
describing a lute-shaped instrument (ex lyra), not the figure-8 shape that is commonly associated with the
guitar. Yet, he points to the playing technique being the same as the lute, which is consistent with the earliest
records of music for the four-course instrument.
57
The earliest source is the 1550 edition of Guillaume Morlaye’s Le premier livre des Chansons, Gaillardes,
Pavannes, Branles, Almandes, Fantaisies, reduitctz en tabulature de Guiterne, which unfortunately is lost,
although a 1552 reprint (Paris: Robert Granlon & Michel Fezandat, 1552), does survive. See Brown,
Instrumental Music, 124, 138.
58
The earliest examples of music for the instrument are from 1546 in Spain, in Alonso de Mudarra, Tres
libros de musica en cifras para vihuela (Seville: Juan de León, 1546). There is an earlier reference to the
instrument in one of the Conde Claros variations (no. 15, fol. 104v) in Luys de Narváez, Los seys libros del
Delphín de Música (Valladolid, 1538), although the volume contains no guitar music. The earliest Italian
pieces are found in a 1549 print containing mostly lute music, Melchiore di Barberiis’ Opera intitolata
contina (Venice: Hieronymum Scotum, 1549).
22
early four-course instrument, the direct antecessor to the chitarra alla spagnola that is
central to this study and which only appeared decades later. Second, this is one of the
earliest records to link oral transmission of songs, specifically the Neapolitan villanelle that
the court ladies are showing interest in learning, and the practice of singing to one’s own
guitar accompaniment. Cardamone identified Sanseverino as a key figure in the oral
transmission of the villanella repertoire, given that “few Neapolitan songs were in print by
1544,” also pointed to the connection between manuscript and printed three- and four-part
arrangements of villanelle, and printed poetic anthologies containing strophic texts that
served as memory aids for these songs.
59
As is the case with alfabeto song sources, the
assumption is that the actual music was already known by the performers and possibly
audiences alike. While no songs are mentioned in Bernardo de’ Medici’s letter cited above,
the sixteenth-century chronicler Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme (1540-1614),
tied Ferrante Sanseverino to two specific songs, “Ohi me, qu’io no pensava di partirme,”
and “Ya passó el tiempo qu’ero enamorado.”
60
Brantôme’s writings were published
posthumously, so the precise date on which he heard Sanseverino’s songs is unknown; in
all probability, he recorded events taking place sometime after Sanseverino’s exile to
France in 1552.
61
No music survives for either of these compositions. Yet, the juxtaposition
of songs in Neapolitan and Spanish (both presumably set to music in the style of mid-
sixteenth-century Neapolitan villanelle), solo vocal performance accompanied by the

59
Cardamone, “Prince of Salerno,” 81, 83.
60
Lalanne, Oeuvres complètes de Brantôme, 2:24-26. The passage on Ferrante’s songs is a portion of a larger
chapter dedicated to Pedro de Toledo. Brantôme does not cite Ferrante by his name, only as “Prince of
Salerno,” nor does his account appear to be a first-person account. The entire passage is translated in
Cardamone, “Prince of Salerno,” 79. Larson incorrectly identifies both texts as being in Spanish; Larson,
“Unaccompanied Madrigal,” 111n249.
61
Based on Ludovic Lalanne, Brantôme: Sa vie et ses éscrits (Paris: [n.p.], 1896), Cardamone surmises late
1564 as the possible encounter between Brantôme and Ferrante; see Cardamone, “Prince of Salerno,” 90.
23
guitar, and written memory aids (the printed poetic anthologies mentioned by Cardamone),
establishes an important precursor to the alfabeto song format that was predominant in the
early seventeenth century.
Judging by the court setting described in Ferrante’s account, the four-course guitar
may have not had, at least in Italy, the low-class association that the five-course guitar
would develop later in the century. In Della prattica musicale et instrumentale (1601) for
example, the Neapolitan theorist Scipione Cerreto listed the noblemen Fabritio Filomarino,
Filippo Carrafa, Ettore Gesualdo, and Ettore della Marra as “rari sonatori del Liuto, e della
Chitarra à sette corde” (rare performers on the lute and the seven-string guitar).
62
Only a
few years later (1608), Cerreto himself vituperated against the chitarra alla spagnola,
calling it an instrument of “lowly, unworthy people.”
63
Cerreto’s thoughts on this matter are
echoed by other conservative writers such as Sebastián de Covarrubias, who in his 1611
dictionary of the Spanish language defined the guitar as an “instrumento bien conocido, y
exercitado muy en perjuyzio de la música” (a well-known instrument, practiced to great
detriment of [the art of] music), adding that “la guitarra no es más que vn cencerro, tan fácil
de tañer, especialmente en lo rasgado, que no ay moço de cauallos que no sea músico de
guitarra” (the guitar is nothing more than a cowbell, so easy to play, especially in the
strummed style, that there is no stable boy who is not a guitar player).
64
Cerreto’s
distinction between the two different types of guitars is explicit, but what is not obvious is

62
Scipione Cerreto, Della prattica musicale et instrumentali (Naples: Iacomo Carlino, 1601), 155.
Separately, Cerreto also names Neapolitans Fabio Caltelano and Antonio Miscia as excellent players of the
four-course guitar, active in 1601. Miscia is also named as a player of the viola d’arco and the lira in gamba.
Cerreto, Della prattica, 157. The chitarra de sette corde was the Italian name for the four-course guitar.
63
Scipione Cerreto, Dell’arbore musicale (Naples: Sottile, 1608), 37; quoted in Hill, Roman Monody, 68.
64
Sebastián de Covarrubias Horozco, Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española (Madrid, Luis Sánchez,
1611), 1: fol. 458r (s.v. gvitarra), 2: fols. 73v-74r (s.v. vigvela). Modern edition by Martín de Riquer
(Barcelona: Horta, 1943).
24
that his qualification is probably one of technique rather than organological classification,
something made abundantly clear by Covarrubias. Cerreto’s description of the strumming
technique on the four-course guitar highlights it as a special effect and emphasizes its
technical difficulty.
65
In other words, he is stressing that strumming is not the instrument’s
standard (or preferred) technique. In his retrospective Discorso sopra la musica (1628),
Vincenzo Giustiniani corroborated both the (former) popularity of the four-course guitar
among gentlemen and the widespread acceptance in the early seventeenth century of the
five-course guitar (along with the theorbo) over the lute as an ideal vehicle for song
accompaniment.
66
The description of Ferrante’s earlier performance thus raises a seemingly
simple question: how was the instrument played when accompanying Neapolitan villanelle?
According to John W. Hill, one of the earliest references to guitar strumming
technique appears in Juan Bermudo’s 1555 treatise Declaración de instrumentos
musicales.
67
The specific term used in the text is “villancicos de música golpeada,” which
Bermudo defines as “those commonly written in homorhythm.”
68
Although the word
“golpeada” can be translated as “struck,” the fragment cited by Hill is part of a longer
passage discussing intabulation technique, not instrumental technique.
69
Bermudo is likely

65
“E quando tale Strumento si sonarà arpiggiando con tutte le dita della mano destra, farà anco bello effetto,
ma questo modo di sonare si può imparare con lunga prattica” (And when such instrument is played plucking
with all fingers of the right hand, it will create a beautiful effect. This manner of playing, however, can only
be learned through much practice). Cerreto, Della prattica, 321.
66
See Vincenzo Giustiniani, Discorso sopra la musica, translated by Carol MacClintock, Musicological
Studies and Documents 9 (Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1972), 79.
67
Juan Bermudo, Comiença el Libro Llamado Declaración de Instrumentos Musicales (Ossuna: Juan de
Leon, 1555).
68
“...comúnmente dan todas las vozes junctas.” Bermudo, Declaración, fol. 99v. The entire passage is quoted
and translated in Hill, Roman Monody, 67-68.
69
Nor is Bermudo specifically discussing the guitar. It is not entirely clear if Bermudo is referring to
instrumental playing technique, since it is not addressed throughout the entire chapter devoted to the vihuela
and the guitar, among other plucked instruments he discusses.
25
referring to the difference between homophony and counterpoint, using the term golpeada
to mean sounds occurring simultaneously (homophony).
A precise reference to strumming technique is found in Miguel Sánchez de Lima’s
1580 treatise on poetic forms entitled El arte poética en romance castellano. In a passage
where he describes the main characteristics and provides examples of Italianate poetic
forms such as the sonnet and the madrigal, Sánchez de Lima discusses the poetic form
canzona, which he addresses with the Spanish term “canciones.” Following three examples
of the form, Sánchez de Lima continues:
Estas canciones quando son buenas, son muy ágradables a los buenos y dilicados
ingenios, porque son de mucho artificio. En este stilo se puede proseguir vna
historia, vna égloga, y cosas desta calidad, que no sufren más de hasta vna dozena
destas canciones, que aunque se llaman por este nombre, yo no he visto ni oydo
cantar muchas dellas, déuelo de causar, que todo lo que agora se vsa de cantar y
tañer es a lo rasgado, y ninguna cosa se canta ni tañe de sentido, y estas canciones
quieren sonada conforme al stilo que lleua, y por esta causa no se cantan estas
canciones, aunque en el reyno de Portugal, suelen las mulatas y morenas de aquella
tierra cantarlas con tanto sentido y concierto, que admiran a los oyentes.
70

(These canciones, when they are good, are very agreeable to those with a sharp and
subtle intellect, because there is much art to them. In this style, one could continue
with a story, an eclogue, and then more of the same quality, being careful not to
exceed twelve [strophes]. Although they are known by this name [canciones], I have
not seen or heard many of them sung. This must be because all that is in fashion
now is to sing and play in the strummed style, and nothing with much artifice is ever
sung or played [anymore]. Such songs carry a tune that conforms to their [simple]
style, thus the canciones are not often performed; in the kingdom of Portugal,
however, mulatto and dark-skinned women from those lands sing such songs with
so much sense and coherence that they inspire admiration from the listeners).

Unlike Bermudo’s statement, Sánchez de Lima’s phrase “cantar y tañer es a lo rasgado” is
an unequivocal reference to strumming technique. The frame of reference in this passage is

70
Miguel Sánchez de Lima, El arte poética en romance castellano (Alcalá de Henares: Iuan Iñiguez de
Lequerica, 1580), diálogo segundo, fols. 47r-v. Also cited in Esses, Dance and Instrumental Diferencias,
1:115, 115n11, and 3:21; and June Yakeley and Monica Hall, “El Estilo Castellano y el Estilo Catalán: An
Introduction to Spanish Guitar Chord Notation,” The Lute 35 (1995): 43. Sánchez de Lima’s El arte poética
was the first sixteenth-century treatise on the art of poetry written in Spanish.
26
vague in that it appears to invoke a contrast between idealized (composed) song and oral
(improvised) repertoire.
71
Sánchez de Lima’s choice of words is ambivalent because he
uses the word canciones in reference to both song and to the poetic form. The added
qualifier “ninguna cosa se canta ni tañe de sentido,” however, is undoubtedly a criticism of
popular song of the lighter type commonly associated with the guitar.
A nearly contemporary document provides reinforcement for my interpretation of
Sánchez de Lima’s phrase “cantar y tañer a lo rasgado”:
Primeramente nos los dichos Pedro de Salcedo y Antonio Laso nos obligamos cada
uno por lo que le toca de que asistiremos en esta corte y en las demás partes
ciudades villas y lugares donde fuere necesario y nos fuere ordenado por vos los
dichos señores Alberto Anaseli y Bicencio Botaneli y juntamente ambos y los
dichos vuestros compañeros a todas las comedias que ubiéredes de hacer e sea de
noche o de día en las cuales avernos de servir de tañer nuestras guitarras y cantar las
tonadas a los tiempos y ocasiones y como y quando por los susodichos nos fuere
ordenado y mandado, a nuestro uso castellano.
72

(Firstly, we the aforementioned Pedro de Salcedo and Antonio Laso, commit
ourselves, each one by the agreed share, to participate, in this court and in all other
locations, cities, villages, and places where it is necessary, and as ordered by the
said gentlemen Alberto Anaseli [and Bicencio Botaneli, both together] and by your
said colleagues, in all the comedies you will be performing, be they at night or
during the day, in which our service will be to play our guitars and to sing the tunes,
at which time and opportunity, however, and whenever it is commanded and
ordered by the aforementioned, in our accustomed Castilian manner).

This document is a legal contract dated 31 March 1581 between two Spanish guitar players,
Pedro de Salcedo and Antonio Laso, and Giovanni Alberto Naselli, better known as Zan
Ganassa, to perform in a series of commedia dell’arte performances throughout Spanish
territory. Ganassa, Naselli’s stage name, was a famous commedia dell’arte actor and troupe

71
I am interpreting “tañe de sentido” following Covarrubias’ comment on one of the common uses of the
word sentir: “Muchas vezes sentir, se pone por entender, como dezir: yo siento esto assí, yo lo entiendo assí
(Many times “sentir” is used in place of [the word] understand, as when one says: This is how I feel it,
[which is the same as] this is how I understand it). See Covarrubias, Tesoro, II, fol. 26, s.v. “sentir.”
72
Esses, Dance and Instrumental Diferencias, 1:114, 114n6, and 3:21n6. According the Esses, the document
is located in E-Mn Barbieri MS 14043 (76), 2-3.
27
leader, and played a vital role in introducing female actors on the Spanish stage through his
comedy troupe’s performances in Spain between 1574 and 1584.
73
While Ganassa’s troupe
had been performing regularly in Spain since 1574 and continued doing so up until 1584,
the addition of the Spanish players appears to be specific to the 1581 series of
performances. Most commedia dell’arte iconography from around 1580 shows lutes rather
than guitars, although the latter are by no means entirely absent.
74
While it is almost certain
that the guitar was used in Italian commedia during this period, the manner in which it was
used is unknown.
75
It comes as a bit of a surprise that Ganassa’s troupe hired Spanish
guitarist-singers for the 1581 performances. There is no known record of any of these
performances, of the characters played, or the kind of music involved. The rationale for the
musicians’ hiring could have been, as noted by Shergold, so that the troupe could continue
“to play the novel foreign commedia dell’arte in the Italian style and language,” while
being accompanied by “Spanish music and song.”
76
The phrase “tañer nuestras guitarras y
cantar las tonadas . . . a nuestro uso castellano” is significant. It brings into play what is
arguably the first record of the guitar’s strummed style being identified as playing alla

73
Katritzky, The art of commedia, 69, 201n582. Ganassa’s troupe included Vincencio Botanelli (alias
“Curtio”), whose name is crossed out in the document as cited by Esses, César de Novile, Juan Pietro
Pasquarelo (alias “Pascariello”?), Cepión Graseli, Julio Villanti, Jacome Portalupi, and Carlos Masi. See N.
D. Shergold, “Ganassa and the ‘Commedia dell’arte’ in Sixteenth-Century Spain,” The Modern Language
Review 51, no. 3 (1956): 361-62. The sole female actor of the troupe was Naselli’s wife, the Roman stage
performer Barbara Flaminia (baptismal name unknown).
74
Katritzky compiled a vast collection of commedia dell’arte iconography ranging from the middle of the
sixteenth century well into the seventeenth century. See Katritzky, The Art of Commedia, 349-625, esp. 518-
39, 590, 622.
75
Ivano Cavallini establishes a link between the alfabeto solo and song anthologies from the early 1600s and
the probable repertoire of some seventeenth-century commedia dell’arte troupes, but the connection between
these and the sixteenth-century practice is considerably less patent, particularly when it comes to music and
instruments in use. This is best exemplified in the series of engravings by Jacques Callot (1592-1635) entitled
Balli di Sfessania (ca. 1621), which show seventeenth-century guitars and colascioni, but none of the lutes
seen in sixteenth-century iconography. Katritzky, The Art of Commedia, 351-53 (plates 2-5); Ivano Cavallini,
“Sugli improvvisatori del Cinque-Seicento: persistenze, nuovi repertori e qualche riconoscimento,” Recercare
I (1989): 32-36.
76
Shergold, “Ganassa,” 362.
28
spagnola. It associates the practice of cantar y tañer a lo rasgado to a specific regional
practice. In doing so, it gives some sense to interpreting the expression alla spagnola as “in
the Spanish style,” rather than simply as “Spanish.” As is the case in Ferrante’s account and
in Sánchez de Lima’s brief diatribe, it is impossible to determine if the instruments alluded
to in the Ganassa document are four-course or five-course guitars (or both). The general
assumption is that the fifth course became a permanent addition to the four-course
instrument sometime during the last quarter of the sixteenth century.
77
There are earlier
records of five-course guitars, but they generally present the instrument as an anomaly.
78

The names of the guitar players provided by the Ganassa document, Pedro de
Salcedo and Antonio Laso, are intriguing. They are listed in the contract as guitarists as
well as singers, probably a well-appreciated double skill although one would guess,
considering Ferrante’s account, not altogether rare at the time either in Italy or Spain. The
presence of Spanish musicians in Italy during the last two decades of the sixteenth century
is relatively well documented, but most of Spanish musicians already noted by scholars are
only mentioned as singers.
79
Jessie Ann Owens cites Ernando (Ferdinando) Bustamante,
cantore spagniolo, and one of “the best sopranos in Italy,” as active in Ferrara between
1561 and 1593.
80
Francisco de Bustamante, Ernando’s uncle and also a singer, was on the

77
Esses, Dance and Instrumental Diferencias, 1:114. According to Félix Lope de Vega, Vicente Espinel was
responsible for adding the fifth course to the instrument. See Isabel Pope Conant, “Vicente Espinel as a
Musician,” Studies in the Renaissance 5 (1958): 135-37.
78
There are a small number of pieces for vihuela de cinco órdenes in Miguel de Fuenllana’s Orphenica Lyra
(Seville: Martín de Montesdoca, 1554). Bermudo also mentions a small five-course guitar in chapter 84 of his
libro quarto. See Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 8.
79
For Naples, see Larson, “The Unaccompanied Madrigal,” 109-15.
80
Following his employment in Naples and Rome. Jessie Ann Owens, “Review of Anthony Newcomb, The
Madrigal at Ferrara 1579-1597,” Early Music History 1 (1981): 374-75; Anthony Newcomb, The Madrigal
at Ferrara 1579-1597 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), 169. Newcomb notes that in 1589
Ernando was “the most highly paid singer of the cappella . . . his total compensation was approximately 120
per cent of Luzzaschi’s.” Newcomb, The Madrigal, 30-31. Newcomb also mentions Ernando’s brother
Domenico was a singer.
29
payroll of the Viceroy of Naples in 1558 and later that year was brought as a singer, along
with Ernando, to the Cappella Sistina by Pope Paul IV.
81
The tenor Diego di Salas was also
active in Ferrara at the time of Ernando.
82
Pedro Valenzuela (Pietro Valenzola), cantore
spagnolo, was well regarded as an alto singer and composer in Verona and Venice before
moving to Naples in 1579 to sing in the choir of the Santissima Annunziata Maggiore
basilica.
83
Similarly, Sebastián Raval (ca. 1550-1604) was best known as a maestro di
cappella and through his published collections of vocal music.
84
Fernando Martínez de
Loscos (d. 1583) is mentioned only as leader of the new Regia Cappella in Naples.
85
It is
not entirely clear from the documents cited by Susan Parisi if brothers Pedro (Piero) and
Giovanni Gutiérrez were both singers, but Pedro is named by Giustiniani as a performer
esteemed for his manner of singing alla spagnola, a style he infers was learned from their
father Antonio.
86
Pedro is mentioned occasionally alongside another Spaniard, Francesco
(Francisco?) Sánchez, both usually identified simply as “musici spagnoli.”
87
The Gutiérrez

81
Richard Sherr, “From the Diary of a 16th-Century Papal Singer,” Current Musicology 25 (1978): 89;
Owens, “Review of Anthony Newcomb,” 374.
82
Newcomb, The Madrigal, 180. Presumably Salas was a Spaniard.
83
Francesco Bussi, “Il cantore spagnolo Pietro Valenzola e i suoi madrigali italiani,” Collectanea Historiae
Musicae 4 (1966), 17-34; Oxford Music Online, s.v. Pedro Valenzuela” (by Francesco Bussi),
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/ (accessed 25 May 2013).
84
Ottavio Tiby, “Sebastian Raval: a 16th-Century Spanish Musician in Italy,” Musica Disciplina 2 (1948):
217-23.
85
Larson, “The Unaccompanied Madrigal,” 110n245; Fabris, Music in Seventeenth-Century Naples, 18.
Martínez de Loscos succeeded Spaniard Diego Ortiz as chapel master in Naples.
86
Susan Parisi, Ducal Patronage of Music in Mantua, 1587-1627: An Archival Study (Ph.D. Diss., University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1989), 451-53; Giustiniani, Discorso, 77; and Hill, Roman Monody, 110-11.
In a letter sent from Rome on 30 October 1604 to Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua, Pedro states: “. . . no he
cantado sino diez vezes al Virrey despues de comer q. assies mi profesion . . .” (I have only sung for the
Viceroy ten times, after dinner; such is my profession); Parisi, Ducal Patronage, 592n334. For further
discussion of the meaning of singing alla spagnola, see Stein, “The Origins and Character of Recitado.”
87
Antonio Bertolotti, Musici alla corte dei Gonzaga in Mantova dal secolo XV al XVIII: Notizie e documenti
raccolti negli Archivi Mantovani per A. Bertolotti (Milan: G. Ricordi & C., 1890), 88 (Facsimile reprint in: La
musique à Mantoue aux XVe et XVIIIe siècles (Geneva: Minkoff Reprint, 1978), 129-244); Parisi, Ducal
Patronage, 500, 592-93n336.
30
brothers were active in Naples, Rome, Florence, and Mantua, into the late 1610s.
88
Antonio
Gutiérrez, the father, is credited by Giustiniani with introducing the aforementioned alla
spagnola style of singing into Naples; he was active mainly in Mantua, Naples, and Rome,
until his death in 1608.
89
The general assumption, at least in the case of the Gutiérrez
family, is that they were guitarists as well as singers, although most of the evidence appears
circumstantial.
90
Giustiniani mentions another singer from Spain, Mathias “spagnuolo,”
without providing any additional information.
91
A Vittorio “spagnuolo” (no surname),
active at the Mantuan court around 1608, is one of the few names unmistakably identified
as a musico di chitarra and chitarriglia.
92
This previous list is not intended to be
exhaustive, but rather to illustrate the general ambiguity that surrounds the identification of
performers as guitarists before the appearance of the first printed guitar sources in the early
seventeenth century.
There are very few explicit associations of singer-guitarists in Italy performing
songs in Spanish in the years around 1600. The most notorious one is that of the Neapolitan

88
Hill transcribes a letter from the Duke of Modena, Cesare d’Este, to Cardinal Montalto, dated 8 July 1614,
thanking him for “lending” him the Gutiérrez brothers. Hill, Roman Monody, 333 (letter 78).
89
Parisi, Ducal Patronage, 451. In a 1593 letter aimed at securing his release from prison, the Duke of
Mantua described Antonio as a “huomo spagnuolo da piacevole tratenimento che altre volte è stato qui al mio
seruigio” [a Spanish man of pleasant restraint, who has previously been here at my service]. Antonio had been
imprisoned in Rome on his way to Mantua, by order of the Neapolitan Viceroy. See Bertolotti, Musici alla
corte dei Gonzaga, 71.
90
Susan Parisi, “Acquiring Musicians and Instruments in the Early Baroque: Observations from Mantua,”
Journal of Musicology 14, no. 2 (1996): 121n6, 122-24, 123n11. The only record I have encountered that
mentions Antonio along with guitars is in Bertolotti’s account of Antonio’s imprisonment in October-
November 1593, where it is noted that right after his release Antonio “spedì due chitarre al suo compagno
Galarza in Mantova” (sent two guitars to his colleague Galarza in Mantua). Bertolotti, Musici alla corte dei
Gonzaga, 71.
91
Giustiniani, Discorso, in Solerti, Le origine del melodramma, (Turin: Fratelli Boca, 1903), 110.
92
Parisi, Ducal Patronage, 515, and 673-75, notes 694-98. Vittorio is also mentioned in connection to a
troupe of Spanish comedy actors about to embark in a series of engagements in Italy, France, and Spain. See
Parisi, ibid, esp. n694. According to Bertolotti, Cardinal Gonzaga wrote the Duke of Mantua from Rome, on
15 April 1589, asking safe passage be provided for Isabella Lobata, a Portuguese singer “di molta uirtù et
specialmente commandata del sonare et cantare” (of great virtue and specially gifted in the art of playing and
singing), thus, possibly a guitarist. Bertolotti, Musici alla corte dei Gonzaga, 69.
31
singer Adriana Basile. Upon the recommendation from Paolo Faccone, a bass singer and
recruiting agent in Rome for the Mantuan court,
93
Gioseppe Fachoni (Faccone, Paolo’s
brother) wrote a letter to Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua, where he extolled the virtues of the
then relatively unknown Basile as a singer and performer, hoping recruit her for service at
the Gonzaga court:

Mio fr’ello mi ha detto che un pezzo fa sta su la prattica d’una Napolitana quale ha
tutte q’ste qualità: sona di Arpa in eccelenza, e vi canta al libro ogni sorte di
madrigali con tal sizurrezza che non vi’è cantante nissuno che la sup[era]re è quello
che è il meglio sona di chitarra beniss.mo e canta a la spagnola, et il tal coppia che
tra le Italiani e Spagnole sa piú di trecento opere a la mente; è giovane di dicenove
anni in circa; sarebbe stata presa da cardinali principali che la volevano, ma per
essere troppo vistosa, e bella sono restate.

(My brother recently told me that he was on the trail of a Neapolitan who has all
these qualities: She plays the harp excellently and has a good voice and can sight-
read any kind of madrigal with such assurance that no singer is more talented than
she. And what is even better, she plays the guitar very well and sings in Spanish and
has such a repertory that between the Italian and the Spanish she knows more than
300 works by heart. She is young, about nineteen years old. She would have been
taken on by important cardinals who wanted her, but because she is too striking and
beautiful they reneged).
94

The letter was written in Rome on 9 May 1609.
95
Parisi translated the phrase “canta alla
spagnola” as “singing in Spanish.” Judging by the statement in the following line, “tra le
Italiane e Spagnole,” it is possible that what is meant by “canta alla spagnola” is “singing in
the Spanish style,” the same style mentioned by Giustiniani in his Discorso, the meaning of
which is still unclear. I would surmise that the number of songs in Spanish in Basile’s
repertoire was small, yet not insignificantly so, since it was underscored by Faccone,

93
Parisi, “Acquiring Musicians,” 133-35.
94
I-MAa, Archivio Gonzaga no. 990, fragment. Cited in its entirety and translated in Parisi, Ducal
Patronage, 132-33 (translation), 181-82n49 (original text), 405-10, 545n45.
95
Fachoni surmises that Basile was about nineteen years old, although current scholarship places her
birthdate ca. 1580. See Hill, Roman Monody, 42-43; Parisi, Ducal Patronage, 132-34, 405-10; Oxford Music
Online, s.v. Adriana [Andreana] Basile [Baroni] (by Susan Parisi), http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/
(accessed 25 May 2013).
32
although there is no additional information to help determine the mix of Italian and Spanish
of Basile’s three-hundred songs. Faccone’s letter is one of two instances in which Basile is
described as performing songs in Spanish. The other comes from an anonymous letter, sent
from Milan and dated 29 August 1611, that provides a lengthy, florid account of a
performance at the house of Baltassar da Rho, Mantuan ambassador to the Spanish
Governor of Milan, Juan Fernández de Velasco y Tovar.
96
The hour-long performance
featured Basile, who began singing to her own accompaniment on the harp, after which:
. . . e come bella così pietosa del morir nostro, preso un’instromento men grave, una
ghitarra spagnuola, passò à gli scherzi, & à vezzi leggiadri or soli, or compagni
d’un’altra voce, se non pari almen degna, ch’è della sorella che l’aitava, trattennesi
come prima con versi, e canzoni d’Italia, e di Spagna etiandio che tutti eran fuoco
conforme à quell Cielo, a fine di sopire in una cara estasi tutti gli astanti.
97

(. . . she took hold of a less serious instrument, a Spanish guitar, and she continued
on to the scherzi; and with graceful charm, sometimes on her own or accompanied
by another voice if not her equal at least worthy, that of her sister who was helping
her, engaged us as before; first with verses, then songs of Italy and of Spain,
knowing that everyone was excited after that heaven[ly sound?], in order to soothe
all listeners in one precious rapture).

Certain aspects of this account are remarkably consistent with Faccone’s description; here a
repertoire of songs in Italian and Spanish is sung to the accompaniment of a ghitarra
spagnuola, and Basile’s skill on the instrument, and, obviously, her superb qualities as an
engaging performer, are mentioned. On the other hand, the term canzoni di Spagna, or the
mention of the performance of lighter songs (scherzi) for one or two voices, are unique to
this document. The choice of the suffix di Spagna, as opposed to alla spagnola, is probably
inconsequential, perhaps a result of the anonymous chronicler having heard songs in
Spanish, instead of actual Spanish compositions. The performance of Spanish music at this

96
Fernádez de Velasco y Tovar, fifth Duke of Frías, was Governor of Milan in 1592-95, and 1610-13.
97
Alessandro Ademollo, La bell’Adriana ed altre virtuose del sup tempo alla corte di Mantova (Castello: S.
Lapi, 1888), 174-77.
33
event would not be out of place considering the presence at the gathering of Fernández de
Velasco y Tovar and his wife Juana Fernández de Córdoba y Enríquez.
98
But the
contemporary Spanish musical cancioneros do not preserve solo songs (they preserve
polyphonic settings).
99
The guitar technique deduced from the information in the
anonymous letter is undoubtedly strumming, because it is the only technique associated
with the guitar at this time (1611). The performance practice intimated by the phrase “or
soli, or compagni d’un’altra voce” must be in line with that suggested by the duet markings
present in some alfabeto song settings (see Chapter 5). Basile has been linked to at least
two different alfabeto song manuscripts containing settings in Spanish (alternatively
labeled canzonetta or villanella spagnola), although this connection is presumptive rather
than definitive for at least one of the sources.
100

Songs in Spanish, in all probability similar to the canzonette and villanelle
connected to Adriana Basile, were also part of Giulio Caccini’s performing repertoire. In a
letter to his patron Ferdinando de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, written on 19 February
1605, Giulio Caccini wrote:
. . . la sera stessa io mi ritrovase al Lovero con tutte le mie donne, com’io feci: dove
havendo cantato, Italiano, Spagnuolo e Francese, con particolare, e più che mai,

98
Married in 1608, Juana was his second wife. In the letter she is identified only as the Duchess of Frías.
99
The only source of Iberian music in Italy that is roughly contemporary to this account is I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-
14 (the Cancionero de Turín). Acutis considers this source was either brought into or compiled in Savoy
during the “Spanish” period of that court, between 1585, the wedding date of Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy and
Catalina Micaela (1567-1597, daughter of Philip II and Isabel de Valois), and 1605, the date of future Spanish
king Philip IV’s birth, which effectively buried Carlo Emanuele’s hopes of access to the Spanish throne and
began an “anti-Spanish” period at the Savoy court. See Acutis, Cancioneros, 29-32; Giovanni Maria Bertini
and Cesare Acutis, with P. L., Avila, La romanza spagnola in Italia (Turin: Giapichelli, 1970), 53-81. The
relationship between Iberian sources and the villanella spagnola is explored in Chapter 4.
100
I am referring to manuscript I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200, which according to Hill was property of Isabella
Carafa (Gonzaga), Basile’s patroness in 1610; see Hill, Roman Monody, 70. The information available,
however, is inconclusive. The other source is I-Nn XVII.30. Both are discussed in Chapter 2.
34
gusto del Re, e di tutti quei Principi ivi presenti, fu cagione che la mattina seguente
me fecero fare la suddetta imbasciata.
101

(. . . the same evening I met again with my wife and daughters at the Louvre, as I
regularly do: after having sung in Italian, Spanish, and French, which was enjoyed
above all by the King, and also by all the Princes who were there present, the
following morning I was requested to repeat the performance).

Caccini was halfway through a seven-month sojourn in Paris, where he stayed between
September 1604 and May 1605.
102
This is Caccini’s only recorded trip to foreign soil (his
second wife Margherita, and three of his children, Francesca, Pompeo, and Settimia,
accompanied him).
103
Caccini and his family had been summoned to Paris by Maria de’
Medici, who had recently wed French King Henry IV in a proxy ceremony in Florence on 5
October 1600. The festivities, which included music by Caccini (and Peri), lasted until the
end of that month, and Caccini’s participation in the celebration surely aroused Maria’s
interest, enough to motivate Henry IV’s petition in 1604 that they be granted leave to visit
France.
104
Ottavio Rinuccini supplied the Queen with detailed reports of the musical
innovations taking place in Florence after her departure for Paris.
105
Caccini is known to
have been an excellent theorbo player, regularly accompanying himself on the
instrument.
106
There is no record of his playing the guitar, but his first wife, Lucia di

101
19 February 1605. I-Fas, Archivio Mediceo del Principato, filza 921, fols. 642-643; quoted in its entirety
in Angelo Solerti, “Un viaggio in Francia di Giulio Caccini, 1604-1605,” Rivista Italiana di Musicologia 10
(1903): 709-10.
102
Ferdinand Boyer, “Giulio Caccini à la cour d’Henri IV (1604-1605), Revue Musical 7 (1926): 244, 250;
Carter, “Caccini’s Amarilli mia bella,” 261, 261n27; Solerti, “Un viaggio in Francia,” 709, 711.
103
In absence of Henry IV, whom Maria would join in Lyon. John S. Powell, Music and Theatre in France
1600-1800 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000), 165.
104
Letter from Henry IV to Ferdinando I de’ Medici, dated 23 August 1604. I-Fas, Archivio Mediceo, MS
4728, fol. 185. Henry Prunières, Opéra italien en France avant Lulli (Paris: Honoré Champion, 1913), xxx;
cited and translated in Powell, Music and Theatre, 165.
105
Powell, Music and Theatre, 165; Solerti, “Un viaggio in Francia,” 707-08. Powell notes that Rinuccini
joined the Queen on her trip to Lyon, and traveled often between Paris and Florence in the years that followed
the Queen’s wedding.
106
“. . . e di poco inanzi ch’io facessi fare la tratta a i contrabassi, era venuto a Ferrara, il Signor giulio
Caccini, detto il Romano huomo eccelentissimo nei bel cantare chiamato da quelle Altezze Sereniss. il quale
35
Filippo Gagnolanti, was a first-rate guitarist as well as singer, making it reasonable to
surmise that Caccini was well acquainted with the instrument.
107
The accounts of Caccini’s
performances in Paris do not provide enough information to reasonably conjecture about
how the songs in Spanish (or French) were performed, but there is one very early alfabeto
song manuscript (1599) containing songs in Spanish (E-Szayas A.IV.8) that also includes
two Caccini compositions from Le nuove musiche.
108

The earliest instance of the five-course guitar notation on the Italian peninsula is
found in a manuscript located at the Biblioteca Universitaria in Bologna (I-Bu MS 177/
IV). This is a single-line manuscript part-book, labeled “canto,” which contains Italian
strophic songs by Orazio Vecchi, Giulio Caccini, Paolo Quagliati, Luca Marenzio, and
others. Sixteen out of the forty songs in the manuscript feature alfabeto letters written
above the staff-notation part. It can be dated ca. 1585 based on its contents.
109
By
comparison, the two other pre-1600 sources containing alfabeto, manuscripts E-Szayas
A.IV.8 and I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200, consist mainly of alfabeto songs in Spanish. They
reinforce the close connection between the early history of the five-course guitar and solo
song in Spanish as practiced in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Italy,

haueua vn Chitarrone d’Auorio accomodato in quella maniera medesima ch’io ho detto di sopra, della quale si
seruiua, per accompagnamento della voce” (and shortly after I had made the changes to the bass strings, to
Ferrara came Giulio Caccini, known as the Roman, a gentleman that excels in the art of good singing, as
summoned by the most serene lords; he had a theorbo of ivory, fitted in the same manner that I have described
above, and he used it to accompany himself while singing). Alessandro Piccinini, Intavolatura di liuto et di
chitarrone libro primo (Bologna: Heredi di Gio. Paolo Moscatelli, 1623), 5.
107
Lucia is reported as playing the chitarrina alla Napolettana in the 1589 Florentine intermedii. See Chapter
5. The proximity of tuning patterns between a theorbo in A and a five-course guitar makes a transition
between the two instruments a straightforward affair.
108
The songs are an early version of “Amarilli, mia bella,” and “Fillide mia, se di beltà sei vaga.” See
Zuluaga, “Matheo Bezón.” I am not suggesting, however, that this manuscript is connected to Caccini in any
meaningful way, but rather pointing to the variety of songs that circulated conjunctly in alfabeto anthologies,
which would indicate they were part of a performer’s active repertoire.
109
Tim Carter notes that the manuscript “appears to largely contain canzonettas from the 1580s and 1590s,”
whereas James Tyler simply mentions the date range as ca. 1585-1600. Carter, “Caccini’s Amarilli mia bella,”
255; Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 39.
36
illustrated in the accounts above. Thus, the unifying thread of this study is the attempt to
distinguish and articulate the generalized musical “Spanishness” that emerged in Italy. It
blended two different cultural manifestations as a consequence of the prolonged Spanish
presence in Italy bringing together Spanish verse and the chitarra alla spagnola, to create a
musical repertoire that I define as the villanella spagnola. I avoid using the term “Spanish
song” for reasons that become clear in the analysis. As I will attempt to show, the evidence
strongly suggests an Italian song repertoire with Spanish texts flourishing in conjunction
with the early practice of the guitar in the strummed style, a song repertoire that was
collateral, yet not fully detached from analogous repertoires cultivated on the Iberian
peninsula or in France.
Chapter 2
Alfabeto song and staff-notation sources of the villanella spagnola
There is a distinct repertoire of canzonette and villanelle in Spanish that appears
sporadically in printed and manuscripts anthologies of Italian vocal music from the period
ca. 1595 to ca. 1625, attributable to what Cesare Acutis calls “il fascino della moda
ispanofila” in early modern Italy.
110
The characteristics of this repertoire are well defined,
and can be summarized succinctly in the term villanella spagnola. As will be shown in
Chapter 3, these compositions are villanelle and canzonette that happen to set Spanish
poetry. Their presence in manuscripts and publications of Italian music is a reflection of a
general interest in Spanish poetry, if not in actual Spanish music, an interest best
exemplified in the very large number of poetic cancioneros that circulated throughout the
Italian peninsula between ca. 1580 and ca. 1630, in comparison to the very small number of
Iberian musical manuscripts found in Italian soil.
111
Printed examples represent only a
small segment of the musical repertory, and the largest portion of this repertory of over 300
songs is found in alfabeto song format, divided among twenty-seven different sources
(twenty-five manuscripts and two publications). Most of the manuscript anthologies
belonged to members of the aristocracy who were interested in popular songs in both Italian
and Spanish, sung to the guitar.
112
A few of these manuscripts have not been previously

110
Acutis, “Cancioneros,” 28.
111
See Bertini and Acutis, La romanza spagnola. The two musical cancioneros that are clearly Spanish in
origin are I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14 (the Cancionero de Turín) and I-Rc 5437 (known as the Cancionero de la
Casanatense).
112
On this basis I would suggest that the alfabeto solo portions of the manuscripts are in reality written-out
accompaniments for the songs and for common grounds, rather than independent solos.
38
mentioned as sources of alfabeto song, and a significant number of them have been
described as such only in passing.
113

Twenty-five alfabeto song sources can be grouped into five different types by
geography and content: 1) Modenese and Parmesan alfabeto sources (four manuscripts); 2)
Florentine alfabeto song manuscripts (seven manuscripts); 3) alfabeto manuscripts by
Francesco Palumbi and closely related sources (seven manuscripts); 4) Roman-Neapolitan
alfabeto song sources (five manuscripts); and 5) additional sources of villanelle spagnole
(two manuscripts). One additional manuscript, PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, contains villanella
spagnola settings in staff notation and is closely related to the alfabeto song manuscripts
and to Florentine sources in particular. The largest number of the alfabeto song manuscripts
is currently held in Northern Italian libraries (groups 1-3), although in many instances it is
not possible to establish a correlation between present-day location and seventeenth-century
usage patterns due to the absence of information on absolute provenance. Six printed
collections also contain settings in staff notation. The two remaining publications contain
settings in alfabeto song format. PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 and the printed collections,
addressed only briefly in this chapter, are considered in more detail in Chapters 3 and 5.
Individual inventories for the thirty-four sources reviewed here are provided in Appendix 2.

1. The Modenese and Parmesan alfabeto song sources
Manuscripts I-MOe alpha P.6.22, alpha Q.8.21, and alpha R.6.4, held in Modena,
Biblioteca Estense e Universitaria, Fondo Estense, are three closely related alfabeto song
anthologies containing villanella spagnola settings only. Together, their contents provide a

113
The most exhaustive inventory of the alfabeto sources has been done by María Teresa Cacho. Her
approach has been from the literary perspective, thus some of the most useful musical information found in
the alfabeto sources has not been retained in her inventories.
39
total of sixty-four different compositions.
114
The poems in these manuscripts were edited in
1950 by Charles Aubrun, who believed that the manuscripts were compiled in the last years
of the sixteenth or in the very early years of the seventeenth century. According to Giulio
Bertoni, I-MOe P.6.22, the smallest one of the three collections, belonged to Giulia
d’Este.
115
María Teresa Cacho has conjectured instead that the three volumes could have
belonged to the Turinese Isabella de Savoia (1591-1626). Isabella, who married Alfonso III
d’Este in 1608, was the daughter of the Spanish Infanta Caterina Micaela of Austria.
116
The
same scribe, possibly a Spaniard, copied all three anthologies. The connection with Iberian
musical sources is limited to a few concordant texts.
117
As noted by Acutis, the large
number of concordances among the three manuscripts indicates they are likely to have been
copied from a common source.
118
It is unclear whether any of them is the original source
for the material. Most of the songs are found in manuscript alpha Q.8.21, the largest of the
three sources, but the presence of repeated items in this manuscript indicates it is a copy
rather than a main source. Baron considered that there is a close connection between the
Florentine and the Modenese anthologies, though the evidence I have seen does not support
this conclusion, since the relatively few concordances between these two groups of sources

114
Edited in Charles Aubrun, “Chansonniers espagnols du XVIIe siècle: II – Les recueils de Modène,”
Bulletin Hispanique 52 (1950): 313-74. Its contents have also been examined in Acutis, Cancioneros, 6-7, 14-
15; and in Baron, “Spanish Solo Song,” 23-24. A detailed inventory is found in Cacho, Manuscritos de
Módena, 9-12, 16-23, 26-33. Baron tallied sixty-seven compositions. Acutis and Baron address the Modenese
sources by their old call numbers, Est. 2, Est. 3, and Est. 115, respectively.
115
Cited in Aubrun, “Chansonniers,” 316, 316n3.
116
Cacho, Manuscritos de Módena, xii. The Spanish cultural presence in the d’Este court is considerably
older. Alfonso I wedding to Lucrezia Borgia in 1502, for example, resulted in the presence of an important
number of Spanish poets and musicians in the court at Ferrara.
117
Three texts are set in manuscript E-PAbm 13231 (known as Cancionero de Medinaceli or Tonos
Castellanos-B): “Aquí lloró sentado,” “Arrojome las naranjitas,” and “Oh, que bien que baila Gil.” “Oh, si
volasen las horas,” is found in D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2 (known as the Cancionero de Sablonara). “Río de Sevilla”
and “Vaisos amores” are also set in manuscript I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14 (the Cancionero de Turín). See Appendix
1.
118
Acutis, Cancioneros, 6n9.
40
(five) are not significantly larger in number than those between the Modenese manuscripts
and other sources.
119

1.1. I-MOe alpha P.6.22. Odae aliaque carmina hispana
120

This 47-folio manuscript contains twenty-five song settings, two of which are not
found in the other Modenese manuscripts: “Vuestros ojos dama,”
121
and “Si con tanto
olvido.” There is an alfabeto chart (+, A-Z, &) in fol. 1r, and cover page title reads
“canciones en lengva española.”

1.2. I-MOe alpha Q.8.21. Odae aliquae hispanicae
122

The largest of the Modenese anthologies (188 folios), manuscript I-MOe alpha
Q.8.21, contains sixty song settings. “A mi gusto me acomodo,” on fols. 32r-v, is repeated
exactly on fols. 71v-72r. Seven song settings are not in the other Modene manuscripts: “A
la villa, Pastor,” “Cuando el pájaro canta,” “Cupidillo se arroja,” “Miraba la mar la mal
casada,” “Naranjitas tira la niña,” “Oh, si volasen las horas,” and “Una flecha de oro.”
There is no title page or alfabeto chart. With the exception of “Cuando el pájaro canta,” the
alfabeto letters that accompany all songs in manuscript alpha Q.8.21 are in lower case,
whereas in the other two sources they are all capitalized. All alfabeto letters are
handwritten in red ink.

119
For example, there are three items in Modena found in GB-Lbl Add. 36877: “Ay como las esperanzas,”
“Con esperanzas espero” and well-known song “Vuestros ojos dama.” Four are also set in I-Rvat Chigi
L.VI.200: “Dos damas hermosas bellas,” “Río de Sevilla,” “Si aquel de la benda,”, and “Vuestros ojos dama.”
Concordances with other sources include I-PAp 1506 (4), PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 (4) and I-Rli Cod. 625 (4).
See Baron, “Secular Spanish Solo Song,” 23.
120
Old call number: Est. 2.
121
Only the estribillo. Fols. 11r-v are blank, suggesting the corresponding coplas were never copied into the
space reserved for them.
122
Old call number: Est. 115.
41
1.3. I-MOe alpha R.6.4. Carmina hispanica
123

The 99-folio manuscript I-MOe alpha R.6.4 contains fifty-six song settings, two of
which are not shared with the other Modena manuscripts. “Pues matáis cuando miráis”
appears twice in the manuscript, in fols. 51v-53v and fols. 87r-v, but a close examination of
the text repetitions and the harmonic progressions shows they are different compositions
despite a similar opening harmonic sequence. “Con saber que Pedro Antón” is unique to
this source. In fols. 1r-70r, all alfabeto letters are stamped in red ink above the handwritten
texts of the songs. Also stamped in red are the words “canción” and “ripresa,” used at the
heading of every setting, and the cover-page title “canciones en lengva española.” There is
an alfabeto chart (+, A-Z, &) in fol. 1r, followed by six unlabeled alfabeto dances.
124

1.4. I-PAp 1506/I (1604-1612)
Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, miscellanea parmense 1506/I is a relatively small
manuscript (38 pages plus 8 folios) first mentioned by Antonio Restori in 1899 as a poetic
anthology containing Spanish texts.
125
It contains fifteen Spanish and five Italian poems
indexed in fols. 1r-v. An alfabeto chart is included on fol. 3v, and the original pagination
begins on fol. 4r. All twenty songs include alfabeto. The manuscript belonged to Ginevra
Bentivoglio (d. 1651), sister of Enzo Bentovoglio, the Ferrarese ambassador to the Holy
See. In 1604 Ginevra married Pio Torelli di Montechiarugolo. Torelli’s decapitation in
1612 due to his involvement in the plot against duke Ranuccio motivated Ginevra’s

123
Old call numbers: Est. 3; ms. XII.F.5; ms. XII.I.13.
124
The first chord pattern is a ciaccona.
125
Antonio Restori, “Poesie Spagnole appartenute a Donna Ginevra Bentivoglio,” in Homenaje a Menéndez
Pelayo (Madrid: Victoriano Suárez, 1899), 2:455-85. The cover has a label with a previous call number,
Biblioteca Reale di Parma, manuscript 371.
42
departure from Parma during that year.
126
The manuscript was most likely compiled during
her stay in Parma, that is, between 1604 and 1612. This is one of the few sources of
alfabeto songs with a name of an author, Giacomo Pompilio di Cardona, of whom nothing
is known. Both Restori and Acutis note the grandiloquence of Cardona’s dedicatory preface
and read in it a burlesque tone that they considered reason enough to cast doubt on the
guitarist’s inferred Spanish origin.
127
His claim to authorship of the songs is also
problematic. As with most of the alfabeto manuscripts under study here, there is little
reason to believe that Cardona, whoever he was, was the author of any of the poetic texts or
songs. It is likely that the guitarist’s claim to authorship refers to the selection and
transcription of the compositions into alfabeto song format for this specific anthology.
Only a handful of the songs in the Parma manuscript are found in other sources.
Two poems are concordant with alfabeto songs in manuscript I-Rvat L.VI.200, two other
with Florentine manuscripts, and three with the Modenese sources.
128
The two
concordances with I-Rvat L.VI.200, in particular, are almost exact with regard to the music,
number, and order of verses. The discrepancies are relatively minor, mostly omitted or
added chords found in only one of the sources. The most interesting case occurs with “Lo
que me quise,” because the text repetitions are identical, but the initial chord sequence in I-

126
See Restori, “Poesie,” 2:458n1, and Acutis, Cancioneros, 8, 35. Baron mentions this source as missing,
which may be due to conflicting library sigla. See Baron, “Secular Spanish Solo Song,” 21.
127
I-PAp 1506/I, cover: “Dell Ill
ma
Sig
ra
La Sig
ra
/ Geneuera Bentiuogli / Lib
o
de diuerse Canzoni Spagnuole /
et italiane / composte dal S
or
M Ill
tre
el señor / D. Giacomo Pompilio de Cardona / Domadore de Muestros
Castigador / de vigliacos magnadores de toda la / forza. Che adora la Señora D
a
/ Caterina y Zineura Damas
muy / Hermosas y Galanas besos las / Manos” (Property of the most illustrious lady, lady Genovivia
Bentivoglio, [a] book of various Spanish and Italian songs, written by his most illustrious Sir Mr. Giacomo
Pompilio di Cardona, tamer of monsters, punisher of the wicked, and savviest; who adores Lady Catherine,
and Lady Genovivia, most beautiful and elegant ladies. I miss your hands). The last name Cardona was
commonly associated with a commedia dell’arte character, the Capitano. See Chapter 1.
128
See Appendix 1. Normally, for any of the alfabeto sources some of the concordances are only textual. In
“Ay enemigo amor,” from E-Szayas A.IV.8, for example, the setting diverges in the repetitions of text and of
some of the words. On the other hand, “Fillide mia,” also in E-Szayas A.IV.8, is an exact musical
concordance.
43
Rvat L.VI.200, an alfabeto duet, is only hinted at in I-PAp 1506/I, suggesting that it could
be a solo-song arrangement of a basso seguente duet (see Ilustration 2.1).
Illustration 2.1. Opening chord sequences, “Lo que me quise me tengo,”
I-PAp 1506/I, p. 11 (above); I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200, fol. 16v (below).

2. Florentine alfabeto song manuscripts
2.1. I-Fl Ashb. 791
The very large, 580-folio manuscript in Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana,
Fondo Ashburnham 791 (hereafter I-Fl Ashb. 791), is a collection of assorted papers and
gatherings from various periods, hands, and sizes.
129
Gathering no. 10 (fols. 380r-399v)

129
579 folios plus one unfoliated page between fols. 388r and 389r. Inventoried in Cacho, Manuscritos de
Florencia, 382-84. Not mentioned as an alfabeto source by James Tyler, or in the bibliography of Florentine
44
contains twenty-one Spanish texts and two dialogues in Spanish and Neapolitan, all
featuring alfabeto.
130
To my knowledge, this is the only alfabeto song source in Florence
that could be attributed to a Spanish copyist (or an Italian with excellent knowledge of the
Spanish language), given the absence of the orthographic italianisms seen in other sources.
A Spanish hand is also suggested by the cifras chart (1-9, P, +, 0) that immediately follows
the alfabeto chart (a-x) in fol. 380v.
131
Although a large number of the Florentine sources
include an alfabeto chart, a cifras chart is unique, as the system was used exclusively by
Spanish musicians. Interestingly, not one of the song texts utilizes cifras. Fol. 399v reads
“Al Ill[ustrissi]mo S[i]g[no]r. Sig[no]re e P[ad]rone. Cosimo / Il Sig[nor]. Rosso Antonio
Martín.” Martín is probably the copyist. Cacho has suggested that this could be the
dedicatory page for this songbook. In total there are twenty-three settings of villanella
spagnola in I-Fl Ashb. 791, twelve of which are not set to music elsewhere. A close
examination of the alfabeto sequences indicates that the contents are more closely related to
the Modenese sources and to GB-Lbl Add. 36877 than to any of the Florentine
manuscripts.
132

baroque guitar sources in Giovanna Lazzi, ed., Rime e suoni per corde spagnole: Fonti per la chitarra
barocca a Firenze (Florence: Polistampa, 2002).
130
Fols. 380r-381v and 396v-399r are blank.
131
Cifras was the Spanish guitar nomenclature equivalent to Italian alfabeto. It is believed to have first
appeared in print in 1586, in guitarist and physician Joan Carles Amat’s guitar tutor entitled Guitarra
española de cinco órdenes, although the earliest surviving edition is from 1626. Judging by its use in only two
prints, Amat’s and Luis de Briceño’s Método mui facilíssimo para aprender a tañer la guitarra a lo español
(Paris: Ballard, 1626), before its reappearance during the later second half of the seventeenth century, Spanish
cifras were significantly less popular than alfabeto during the early part of that century, certainly in Italian
musical circles. See Yakeley and Hall, “El estilo castellano,” 28-61.
132
See Appendix 1.
45
2.2. I-Fn Landau-Finaly 252 (1625)
Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, manuscript 252, entitled Libbro di sonate
di chitarra spagnuola (hereafter I-Fn LF 252), is primarily a collection of Italian alfabeto
songs compiled for Atto Celli da Pistoia, of whom no published information is available.
The 77-folio collection consists of two main sections, fols. 1r-13r, containing alfabeto
dances, and fols. 13v-75r, with seventy-two alfabeto songs (sixty-five in Italian, six in
different dialects and only one in Spanish). According to Maria Adelaide Bartoli Bacherini,
the volume was a guitar tutor that belonged to Celli da Pistoia, who may have taken lessons
from Antonio Carbonchi, among others.
133
Marginal notes include a few other names,
including a Bartolomeo, a Giacomo Antonio Barbugli, who appears to have been another of
the guitar teachers, and an obscure guitarist referred to only as “Bologna,” who apparently
supplied some guitar sonatas to Barbugli. I have found no information on either Barbugli or
Bologna.
134
The manuscript’s sole setting in Spanish is “O, se uolas, uolas las oras” is a
minor text variant of “Oh, si volasen las horas,” found in five other alfabeto sources. Also
on fol. 56r, there is one crossed-out text in Spanish with two alfabeto symbols followed by
a fragment of a strummed ritornello. The three lines of text and alfabeto symbols
correspond to the opening of the song “Encontreme un día a mi Leonor,” a setting that
appears in most of the Florentine sources (see Illustration 2.2).

133
Lazzi, Rime e suoni, 61-62. Maria Bartoli notes that a few of the Italian alfabeto songs are concordant
with prints by Pietro Millioni, Paolo D’Aragona, Carlo Milanuzzi, and Giovan Battista Fasolo, among others.
See Maria Adelaide Bartoli Bacherini, “Antologia musicale fiorentine per la chitarra spagnola,” in Giovanna
Lazzi, ed., Rime e suoni per corde spagnole: Fonti per la chitarra barocca a Firenze (Florence: Polistampa,
2002), 21-30.
134
Wolfgang Boetticher, Handschriftlich überlieferte Lauten- und Guitarrentabulaturen (RISM B/VII)
(Munich: G. Henle Verlag, 1978), 116-117. It is unclear from the contents if the lessons to Pistoia go beyond
the alfabeto solos at the beginning portion of the manuscript, to include some of the songs.
46
Illustration 2.2. “O, se uolas, uolas las oras” (Oh, si volasen las horas).
I-Fn Landau-Finaly 252, fol. 56r (detail).

2.3. I-Fn Magl. VII 618
One of three sources containing villanelle spagnole in the Fondo Magliabechi,
manuscript Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Fondo Magliabechiano, Classe VII
618 (hereafter I-Fn Magl. VII 618), has been mentioned only rarely as an alfabeto song
source.
135
The 34-folio compilation is an anthology of Italian compositions, with three
“canzone alla spagniuola” in fols. 19v-20v that only have a refrain set with alfabeto, which
indicates that they are strophic songs. They all have the particularity of including an
instrumental ritornello with alfabeto stroke symbols, possibly as an interlude between
missing stanzas. Only the song “Es amor un no se qué” is musically concordant with other
sources.

135
Wolfgang Boetticher, “Zur inhaltlichen Bestimmung des für Laute intavolierten Handschriften-bestands,”
Acta Musicologica 51 (1979): 203; Iain Fenlon, review of “Lute, Vihuela, and Guitar to 1800: A Bibliography
by David B. Lyons,” Musical Times 120 (1979): 489; Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 91. Cacho
inventories the Spanish texts in this source in Cacho, Manuscritos de Florencia, 79-80.
47
2.4. I-Fn Magl. VII 646
Manuscript Classe VII 646, in the Fondo Magliabechiano at the Biblioteca
Nazionale Centrale in Florence (hereafter I-Fn Magl. VII 646), is a large poetic anthology
(191 folios), not previously examined as a musical source.
136
A small portion, fols. 96r-
109v, contains alfabeto songs, mostly in Italian. A single item in fols. 101v-102r, “Inesilla,
Francisquilla,” is in Spanish. An exact copy of this song is in I-Fr 2774.

2.5. I-Fn Magl. XIX 25
Also from the Fondo Magliabechi at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence,
manuscript Classe XIX 25 (hereafter I-Fn Magl. XIX 25) includes twenty-seven vocal
compositions for one or two voices and basso continuo.
137
Fourteen compositions include
alfabeto on both the canto and bass lines, independent of whether the bass line is texted or
it offers a basso continuo line for the solos. The two-part pieces are basso seguente duets
written in choirbook format. The bottom of fol. 11v, following the soprano and bass lines
for Antonio Brunelli’s “Vezzosetta pastorella che mi struggi,” includes a single texted bass
line with alfabeto for “Si hay mayor mal que el morir” (see Illustration 2.3), also found in
alfabeto song format in GB-Lbl Add. 36877.
138

136
Cacho, Manuscritos de Florencia, 215.
137
Fols. 7v-32v. Two additional three-part untexted compositions, are found on fols. 3v-4r and 5v-7r. See
Bianca Becherini, Catalogo dei manoscritti musicali della Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze (Kassel:
Bärenreiter, 1959), 8-9; Lazzi, Rime e suoni, 58. This manuscript is not mentioned in Cacho’s inventory of
Spanish poetic sources in Florence.

138
The Italianate orthography of the Spanish song text, characteristic of many of the alfabeto sources,
indicates the copyist was undoubtedly Italian. See Acutis, Cancioneros, 14, 44-46.
48
Illustration 2.3. “Si hay mayor mal que el morir.” I-Fn Magl. XIX 25, fol. 11v (detail).

There are no additional parts for this song in the manuscript. The setting is strophic
and the additional stanzas are located on fol. 12r under four blank staves, suggesting that
additional parts were not written in. The interaction between the alfabeto symbols and the
bass line resembles that of the compositions in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163. It also an example
of a typical vocal bass line under sparse alfabeto symbols that in isolation could be
mistaken for a rhythmically static line. The concordant setting in GB-Lbl add. 36877 is an
almost exact match.
139
The repetitions of text are identical, as are the placement of
repetition signs and the absence of a refrain. The anonymous copyist has been identified as
the same copyist who compiled I-Fn Magl. XIX. 24, a manuscript copy of works by
Rafaello Rontani (d. 1622) that had appeared in print in 1618-1623.
140
In fact, a closer look

139
There is a three-part setting of this text in an Iberian source, manuscript E-OL I.VIII, fols. 2v-4r. There are
some similarities although they are limited to the first phrase. This and other musical differences, such as the
presence of an independent coplas section, suggest a collateral relationship between the sources rather than a
direct copy. There is little information available on E-OL I.VIII, although it is believed to date from the
1630s. See Judith Etzion, “The Spanish Polyphonic Cancioneros c.1580-1650,” Revista de Musicología 9
(1988): 74-75; Miguel Querol Galvaldá, “El cancionero musical de Olot,” Anuario Musical 18 (1963): 57-60;
José Romeu Figueras, “Las poesías catalanas del manuscrito musical de Olot,” Anuario Musical 18 (1963):
45-55.
140
Lazzi, Rime e suoni, 58.
49
at the calligraphy suggests that the copyist could also be the same one who penned GB-Lbl
add. 36877 (compare Illustrations 2.3 and 2.4).
141

Illustration 2.4. “Si hay mayor mal que el morir.” GB-Lbl add. 36877, fol. 47r (detail).

2.6. I-Fr 2774
Manuscript 2774 in Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana, described as “sloppy in
appearance” by John H. Baron, is another source whose contents are closely connected to
the Palumbi manuscripts.
142
Baron has suggested that this 93-folio manuscript is a
combination of two separate sources (fols. 12r-29v and 30r-51v) because various songs are
repeated across but not within the sections. Whereas in most alfabeto sources, Italian and
Spanish songs are separated into different sections, the thirty-two villanella spagnola
settings in manuscript 2774 are interspersed amidst the Italian songs.
143
This manuscript
has only limited concordances with sources outside Florence.
144
Noteworthy among the
alfabeto settings is “Quiero asomarme a la celogía,” a dialogue that alternates stanzas

141
Other works in the manuscript include “Vagheggiando le bell’onde,” which appears in Montesardo’s 1612
publication I lieti Giorni di Napoli as a three-part composition with alfabeto in the cantus and bass parts; and
“Amor che attendi,” found in Caccini’s 1614 volume. For additional concordances, see Beccherini, Catalogo,
7-8, and Lazzi, Rime e suoni, 56.
142
Baron, “Secular Spanish Solo Song,” 21-22. Guglielmo Bartelotti considers that at least some of the
sections in the manuscript were used by a professional player, hence the contrast between clearly copied
portions with aesthetic ornamentations and those that are barely readable; see Lazzi, Rime e suoni, 66-67;
Boetticher, RISM B/VII, 118, Cacho, Manuscritos de Florencia, 349-51. Twenty-four items are concordant
with the Palumbi manuscripts.
143
Songs in Italian on fols. 12r-23v, 30r-44v, 47r-47v, 50r, 52r-60v, 62r-67v, 68v-76v, 82v, 90r; songs in
Spanish on fols. 24r-29v, 45r-46v, 48r-51v, 61r-61v, 65v, 67v-68; alfabeto solos on fols. 2r-11r, 77r-88v.
144
Concordant settings of “Vuestros ojos dama” are found in the Modenese manuscript and in I-Rvat Chigi
L.VI.200, as well as in most of the Florentine sources.
50
between a Spanish woman and a Neapolitan man in Spanish and Neapolitan dialects,
respectively. The text plays on the sixteenth-century stereotype of the excessively gallant
courting Spaniard by reversing the roles. The courting subject is now a Neapolitan man and
the object of courtship a Spanish woman. The facetious nature of the text is summarized in
the recurring bawdy response uttered by the Neapolitan: “so sciusciame in canna lo
napolitano.”
145
There are nearly identical copies of this text in E-Szayas A.IV.8 and I-Fl
Ashb 791, though the musical settings vary slightly. Interestingly, there is also a “sanitized”
version of this text in I-Fl Ashb 791, where the response has been changed to “beso la
mano de V.S., patrona mía.” The dialogue form and the mixture of languages appear rarely
in alfabeto settings elsewhere.
146
Beginning on fol. 21v, most of the songs add rhythmic
notation to the alfabeto, mostly to the ritornelli that precede each song.
147
The manuscript
includes an alfabeto chart (fol. 1r), tuning instructions (fol. 1v), and alfabeto solos (fols. 2r-
11r).

2.7. I-Fr 2973/3
Following the structure of most of the Florentine alfabeto sources considered here,
manuscript 2973/3 at the Biblioteca Riccardiana contains alfabeto solos (fols. 5r -10v), and
alfabeto songs in Italian (fols. 19r-21v, 51v-77v) and Spanish (fols. 29r-47v). Additionally,
fols. 11r-15v contain fifteen song texts in Spanish and one in Italian that do not have

145
Which can be roughly translated as “just blow in my pipe, the Neapolitan.” I am thankful to Giulio
Ongaro for his thoughts on this text.
146
This is one of a handful texts in the repertoire that use a mixture of languages. The others are: “Acqua
madonna al foco,” “Ben mi vedrai,” and “Bona noche señora mía.” Two other Spanish-only dialogues are
“Señora quereisme a mí,” and “Çe, Çe, mira lo que te digo.” See Appendix 1.
147
Only up to fol. 31r. The most interesting is “Tirinto mio, tu mi feriste” (fol. 21v), a setting of a fragment
from Michelangelo Buonarotti’s commedia “La fiera,” which has rhythmic alfabeto for the entire refrain
section in a manner similar to Sanseverino’s setting of “Quando yo me enamoré” (discussed in Chapter 5).
51
alfabeto in a layout more representative of poetic collections than alfabeto song
anthologies. A single texted staff-notation line (C4) is jotted somehwat carelessly in fol.
16r, along with alfabeto.
148
The alfabeto chords notated here are written in capital letters,
which also occurs in the alfabeto chart in fol. 4r, on fols. 20v-21v and in the ritornelli that
precede each song, but not in the alfabeto that accompanies all the other songs.
149
The
twenty villanelle spagnole are mostly concordant with Florentine sources.
150

3. Alfabeto song manuscripts by Francesco Palumbi and closely related sources
Nearly identical calligraphy identifies guitarist Francesco Palumbi as the author of
five manuscripts containing villanelle spagnole: F-Pn esp. 390, I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175, I-
Fr 2793, I-Fr 2804, and I-VEc 1434. The similitude of contents between these and
manuscripts I-Fr 2951 and I-Fr 2952 closely ties them to the Palumbi sources. I-Fr 2849
and a portion of I-Fc 2556, which do not contain material in Spanish, have also been
identified as prepared by the same copyist.
151
Most sources in Palumbi’s hand can be dated
between 1610 and 1620.
152
Given the presence of alfabeto songs in Italian, Sicilian, and
Spanish in all of his manuscripts, Tyler conjectured that Palumbi was originally from
Southern Italy and had traveled to the courts in the north in search of employment.
153
The
content of his anthologies does not exactly support this. In addition to Spanish, Sicilian, and

148
The text incipit is “Che dolce più.”
149
See Baron, “Secular Spanish Solo Song,” 21, 33, 35-37; Cacho, Manuscritos de Florencia, 362-65.
Despite the similarities, this could suggest either a different hand; it could also indicate different source
material for the collection.
150
The well-known dance-song “Al villano se le da,” is in alfabeto song format immediately after two
strummed settings of the ground in D major and C major (the alfabeto song is in C major). The other eighteen
songs are on fols. 29r-47v. Twelve items are concordant with the Palumbi manuscripts. The only settings not
found other Florentine sources are “Si queréis que os enrame la puerta,” and “Quando yo me enamoré.”
151
See Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 78; and Kirkendale, L’Aria di Fiorenza, 81.
152
See Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 90-95.
153
Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 78-79.
52
Italian, there are alfabeto songs in Neapolitan, Calabrese, and Venetian, a linguistic mixture
seen in numerous Northern Italian alfabeto sources. Alfabeto solos with location-specific
titles, such as the ubiquitous Tenor di Napoli or Ballo del gran Duca, also point to a variety
of geographical areas although these titles are not useful as guides to establish a reasonably
accurate date or place of origin.
154
The only manuscripts signed by Palumbi himself are F-
Pn esp. 390 and I-VEc 1434, which happen to be the only two located outside Florence and
the only two addressed to specific patrons. Any connection between Palumbi and his
patrons, however, is unknown. It is plausible that the aristocrats who owned these
manuscripts, Filippo Roncherolle and Paulo Canozzi, respectively, were guitar students of
Palumbi in Florence, his likely place of residence. It is also possible that he could have
traveled to Normandy or Verona, where the owners presumably lived, to teach them,
bringing along the volumes, or he could have sent the anthologies directly to the patrons as
gifts.
155
The evidence is inconclusive. Because they do not contain detailed technical
instructions of any sort, it is clear that all five manuscripts are musical anthologies rather
than instruction books.

154
For instance, “Aria nova che si canta in Firenze, Aria venetiana da la Monica, Fessania che si Balla in
Roma é a Napoli, La volta francese, a gagliarda di Pitti, and a gagliarda di Mantova.
155
See the descriptions of the manuscripts below. Unless they were students of his at one time, it is less likely
that they simply traveled to Florence for lessons or were sent the manuscripts as a present, given the complex
techniques present in some of the solos, which would have required a considerable amount of time to learn.
53
Table 2.1. Concordances between the Palumbi manuscripts and other sources.

There are sixty-three different settings of villanelle spagnole spread among the five
Palumbi manuscripts (see Table 2.1). After the Modenese sources, this is the largest
collection of villanelle spagnole. Interestingly, the number of concordances between these
two large groups, five in total, is very small. This is also the case when one compares these
two groups of sources with I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200, the third largest anthology. Unlike the
Modenese manuscripts or the main part of I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 (both of which offer
Palumbi MSS [63]
I-MOe MSS [64]
I-Fr 2774 [27]
I-Fr 2951 [30]
I-Fr 2952 [20]
I-Fr 2973/3 [20]
I-Fn Magl. 618 [4]
I-Fn LF 252 [1]
I-Fl Ashb. 791 [22]
PL-Kj Mus. 40163 [17]
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [58]
I-Rvat Bonc. M18 [8]
I-Rli cod. 625 [32]
GB-Lbl Add. 36877 [17]
E-Szayas A.IV .8 [22]
NL-DHk 72J46 [5]
6
20
18
15
12
1
1
1
12
4
1
1
1
1
1
54
Spanish texts exclusively), all Palumbi sources also include large sections of alfabeto solos
and songs in Italian and other dialects. In most of the Palumbi manuscripts the sections that
contain songs in Italian and in Spanish have separate, independent original pagination that
corresponds with the separate tables of contents (tavole) at the end of each manuscript. The
sections of alfabeto solos and ottave do not have pagination or a corresponding list of
contents.
156
All Palumbi manuscripts include alfabeto charts.
The largest number of concordances across manuscripts is between I-Fr 2793 and I-
Fr 2804. Concordances between the five manuscripts tend to have small variants, including
the presence of duet markings in one source that are absent in another one (see Chapter 5),
the occasional omission of chords in one of the concordances but not in the others, or the
layout of texts, which varies from manuscript to manuscript. In no instance are these
variants enough for one to consider them independent settings. The variants indicate that
the material was from Palumbi’s working repertoire as a performer or teacher, and not
copied exactly from a specific source, as is the case with the Modena sources. Despite the
large number of total settings, only three songs are found in all of the Palumbi sources.
157

Table 2.2 below illustrates the number of concordant villanella spagnola texts between the
different Palumbi manuscripts.

156
A separate tavola would not have been necessary for the ottave sections, given that the number of settings
is usually small, about ten on average. This is in comparison with a much larger number of settings in Spanish
or Italian. Browsing through most alfabeto solo sections would have also been considerably easier since any
particular ground is presented in various keys consecutively. F-Pn esp. 390 has no tavole or original
pagination.
157
The sarabanda “Como te pones amores,” “Decía la moza al cura,” and “Una tarde fuí llamado.”
55
Table 2.2. Number of concordantces between Palumbi manuscripts.

3.1. F-Pn ms. nuov. acq. espagnol 390
Palumbi’s earliest manuscript, held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris,
is entitled “Libro de villanelle spagnuol’ et italiane et sonate spagnuole del molt’
ill[ustrissi]
mo
sig[no]
re
mio oss[ervandissi]
mo
, il s[igno]
re
Filippo Roncherolle, servo di
V.[ostra] S.[ignoria] molt’ ill[ustrissim]
o
Francesco Palumbi” (Book of Spanish and Italian
villanelle, and of Spanish sonatas, belonging to the most illustrious, my most honorable
lord, sir Filippo Roncherolle; servant of your most illustrious lordship, Francesco
Palumbi).
158
Daniel Devoto suggested the year 1595 as an approximate date for its
compilation, based on the handwriting, the type of ink and paper, and the alfabeto solo
dances contained therein.
159
As is the case with other manuscripts, such as the E-Zsayas

158
M. Hervé, “Manuscript no. 390 du fonds espagnol de la Bibliothèque nationale,” Réunion des sociétés des
beaux-arts des départements a la sorbonne (Paris: E. Plon, 1881): 316-21.
159
I have only examined a photocopy of the manuscript, so it is impossible for me to corroborate this date on
the grounds of the type of ink or paper. Devoto indicates that the manuscript initially came from the
I-VEc 1434
[44]
I-Fr 2793
[39]
I-Fr 2804
[49]
F-Pn 390
[12]
I-Fn LF 175
[11]

36
33
6
2
10
29
6

9
6

9
56
A.IV.8 or the Florentine sources, the solo guitar pieces in this 43-folio manuscript are
common dances that can be found around 1595 but also in the 1630s, making it difficult to
date their sources. Richard Hudson has suggested the date of ca. 1630 for F-Pn esp. 390,
whereas Maurice Esses has dated it around 1620.
160
As noted by Devoto, there is no
information to be found about Filippo Roncherolle, the original owner of the volume. It is
possible that this Filippo, however, was Philippe de Roncherolles (1612-1636), chevalier
de Malte and son of Robert II, baron de Roncherolles, a seigneury in northwest France
(Normandy).
161

Fol. 2r contains a “Fondement des lettres Italiennes,” followed by calligraphic
alphabets showing the different styles used to represent each letter, and a final notice that
reads “Ne sois honteux de prendre enseignement De ce que n’est comprins en ta notice. Le
bien appris, vit honnorablement, Mais l’ignorant est plain de vice. Asmyters” (Do not be
ashamed of learning that which is not within your knowledge. One who learns well, lives
honorably, yet the ignorant is full of vices. Asmyters). The quality of the handwriting, the
absence of technical complexity in the alfabeto solo sections, and the overall lack of
organization in the anthology, confirm F-Pn esp. 390 as the earliest of Palumbi’s sources.
All twelve of its villanelle spagnole have concordances in other alfabeto sources.
162
Unlike
the other Palumbi manuscripts, in which the alfabeto solos and the songs in Spanish and

Bibliothèque de l’abbaye de Corbie. See Daniel Devoto, “Encore sur “la” sarabande,” Revue de Musicologie
50 (1964), 189-91.
160
See Richard Hudson, The Folia, the Saraband, the Passacaglia, and the Chaconne: The
Historical Evolution of four forms that originated in music for the five-course guitar, II, The Saraband
(Stuttgart: Hänssler Verlag, 1982): xxxi; Esses, Dance and Instrumental Diferencias, 1:169n200.
161
This would somewhat corroborate Hudson’s estimation of ca. 1630, but without further research this
hypothesis remains conjectural. See Louis Moréri, Le grand dictionnaire historique, ou le mélange curieux de
l’histoire sacré et profane (Paris: Libraires Associés, 1749): 9:349.
162
The manuscript also contains eight Italian villanelle.
57
Italian are separated into sections, the contents of F-Pn esp. 390 are mixed together in no
apparent order.

3.2. I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175
Manuscript 175, in the Fondo Landau-Finaly at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in
Florence, is the second smallest of the extant Palumbi anthologies. The organization of the
68-folio volume is the same as that found in all other Palumbi sources preserved in
Florence, with separate sections for alfabeto solos (fols. 3r-24v), alfabeto songs in Italian
(fols. 24v-36r, 40r-46v, 58v-59v), and in Spanish (fols. 48v-58r.) Only six out of ten
Spanish texts in fols. 48v-58r have alfabeto. The layout of these four texts is the same as in
the other songs, with ample space for the guitar chords, suggesting that alfabeto was
intended but not inscribed. “Caminad suspiros” has alfabeto jotted in the coplas section
only.
163
“En la corte está una dama,” which is inscribed without alfabeto, is unique to this
manuscript. The heading reads “chacona,” so, presumably, the text would have been sung
to the pattern as it appears in the alfabeto solo portion of this manuscript. The setting
probably would have been similar to the chaconas set to alfabeto in other Palumbi
manuscripts, “Hasme preguntado vida,” “Una tarde fuí llamado,” and “Todas las veces que
veo.” These last two texts are given in I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175 without alfabeto.
164

163
The settings found in the other Palumbi sources have alfabeto in both sections.
164
This is also the case with the sarabanda “Como te pones, Amores,” which could indicate the owner of the
manuscript was well acquainted with the two dance-songs. I have access to only a portion of the manuscript.
According to Bartoli Bacherini, fol. 3r has a library seal for the private library of Camilo Gustavo Galletti.
There is no additional information regarding this manuscript or Galletti. See Lazzi, Rime e suoni, 62-63.
58
3.3. I-Fr 2793
The structure and content of manuscript Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana, 2793, are
very similar to those in other Palumbi sources.
165
This 118-folio volume, however, contains
no table of contents in the final folios. There are thirty-nine villanelle spagnole in the
manuscript, all including alfabeto notation.
166
The main portion of the manuscript is by
Palumbi, but the two songs on fols. 117v-118r are written in a different hand, possibly that
of a Spaniard, judgin by the spelling. Out of these, “Mirando estaba Fileno” is the only item
unique to this manuscript; known settings of “En esta larga ausencia” are primarily found in
Spanish sources.
167
These items were probably added at a later date.

3.4. I-Fr 2804
Manuscript 2804, also in the Biblioteca Riccardiana, is the largest of Palumbi’s
anthologies (210 folios).
168
Forty-nine arie are listed in a “tauola delle spagnole” (fols.
207r-210r), corresponding to the contents (fols. 133v-186r). There is no table for the arie
siciliane or the alfabeto solos. There is a barely legible inscription on fol. 41v, possibly
contemporary to the manuscript, indicating tha the book belonged to a Giovanni Francesco
Altoviti, of whom nothing is presently known. One of the songs in Spanish, the çhacona
“Una tarde fuí llamado,” has no alfabeto, but space is provided for it in the text layout.
Only two of the songs in Spanish are unique to this source: “Poderoso caballero es don
dinero” is a satyrical letrilla by Francisco de Quevedo, and no few musical setting of this

165
Alfabeto solos on fols. 1r-19v, alfabeto songs on fols. 22v-118r.
166
Cacho lists thirty-eight. Cacho, Manuscritos de Florencia, 352-54.
167
This is textually concordant with settings in I-Rli Cod. 625, I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14, and E-Mn M1370, 1371,
1372.
168
210 folios. Solos on fols. 1v-37r; alfabeto songs on fols. 41v-186r. Cacho considered the hand in I-Fr
2804 was not the same as in I-Fr 2793. See Cacho, Manuscritos de Florencia, 355.
59
text is known in Italian or Iberian sources;
169
“En el balle de Pisuerga vive entre penas un
ángel” is a fragment of a long romance by Pedro Liñán de Riaza (two stanzas of the
romance are followed by the refrain, “De nieve serrana tenéis la color.”)

3.5. I-VEc 1434 (82.3)
The title page of manuscript 1434, Classe Arti, Ubicazione 82.3, at the Biblioteca
Civica in Verona (hereafter I-VEc 1434), reads “libro del ill[ustrissi]
mo
conte Pavlo Canossi
Verone[ne]
se
” (book belonging to the most illustrious Count Paulo Canossi, Veronese),
followed by the inscription “Fran[ces]
co
Palvmbi maestro di chitarra.”
170
Its contents are a
close match to those of other Palumbi manuscripts.
171
I have found no information
regarding the identity of Paulo Canossi, although a Paolo Canozzi is mentioned in a legal
letter dated August 1604 in connection with a member of the Orsini family.
172
Six out of
forty-four villanella spagnola settings are unique to this manuscript.
173

169
Two coplas beginning “Madre yo al oro mi humillo.”
170
I-VEc 1434 is the only source that specifically identifies Palumbi as a guitar instructor. Dinko Fabris first
called attention to this manuscript in Dinko Fabris, “Prime aggiunte italiane al volume RISM B/VII —
intavolature mss. per liuto e chitarra,” Fontes Artis Musicae 29 (1982): 117. Tyler used it as a source to
identify other manuscripts by Palumbi; see Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 78-80. An inventory
of its poetic contents is found in Cacho, “Manuscritos de Verona,” 211-24.
171
188 folios: alfabeto solos fols. 4r-32r; songs in Italian, fols. 22r-118r, and in Spanish, fols. 122r-169r; and
ottave in fols. 170r-180r. The tables of content for the songs in Italian and Spanish are in fols. 183r-186v.
172
Box 23, Folder 1, Anguillara 04: Istromento del cambio con l’Anguillara con la cessione delle ragioni del
[Paolo] Canozzi a favore di Mario Orsini contro il Collegio Nardini. Orsini Family Papers at UCLA,
hwww.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0n39q6hv/entire_text/
173
The letrilla “Barcos enramados, los remos mueven;” the romanza “En la villa de Segura;” “Fugitivo río,
tu curso para;” “Hallaban mis suspiros, madre;” “Llega Filis al Tormes;” and the Romanza sobre la Çhacona
“Niña, pues tienes edad.”
60
3.6. I-Fr 2951
Manuscript 2951 in Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana, is an anthology of alfabeto
solos and alfabeto songs mostly in Italian and Spanish.
174
Cosimo Passaro conjectured that
this mansucript, copied sometime in the early 1620s, belonged to the Capponi family from
Florence, possibly to a banker and member of the Accademia della Crusca named
Bernardino Capponi.
175
Passaro identified three hands, although the bulk of I-Fr 2951 is
copied by just one scribe, the same one who penned I-Fr 2952. The 237 folios are divided
into four basic sections with the separate tables of contents (fols. 236r-242r): alfabeto solos
(vailes, fols. 3r-86v), alfabeto songs in Spanish (fols. 92r-146v, under the title Ayre
espannol), in Italian (fols. 147r-217v), and “arie de cantar ottaue et siciliane” (fols. 218r-
234v), also in alfabeto song format; additional songs in Italian or dialects are scattered on
fols. 87r-91v, 115v-116v, 123v-126r, and 236r.
176
Fol. 1v has tuning instructions for the
guitar, and fol. 2r includes an alfabeto chart under the heading “Lettrillas.” Tyler noted that
a large portion of this manuscript’s contents is dedicated to close copies of material found
in the various Palumbi manuscripts, and conjectured that it was likely copied from one or
more of them.
177
The seventeen villanelle concordances with the five Palumbi manuscripts,

174
There are a few texts in Northern and Southern Italian dialects, and one in French. Inventory and
preliminary study in Cosimo Passaro, “Il manoscritto per chitarra spagnola 2951 della Biblioteca Riccardiana
di Firenze,” Il Fronimo 80 (1992): 35-43. Briefly mentioned in Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music,
78, 92; Baron, “Secular Spanish Solo Song,” 21-22; Richard Pinnell, The Role of Francesco Corbetta (1615-
1681) in the History of Music for the Baroque Guitar, Including a Transcription of His Complete Works
(Ph.D. Diss. Univeristy of California, Los Angeles), 46; Massimo Preitano, “Gli Albori della Concezione
Tonale: Aria, Ritornello Strumentale e Chitarra Spagnola nel Primo Seicento,” Rivista Italiana di Musicologia
29, 1 (1994): 45-46; Lazzi, Rime e suoni, 54-55; Massimo Preitano, L’accompagnamento strumentale dell’
«aria» a Firenze nella prima metà del seicento (Tesi di Laurea, Università degli Studi di Pavia, 1991-2), 37.
175
Capponi was also member of the Accademia Fiorentina. Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 19 (1976),
s.v. Bernadino Capponi. According to Passaro, Capponi’s library was inherited by the Riccardi family in
1689. Passaro, “Il manoscritto 2951,” 36n2.
176
One alfabeto song in French, “Ma berger infidell,” on fols. 114r-115r.
177
Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 78.
61
out of the total of twenty-nine villanelle spagnole in I-Fr 2951, confirm Tyler’s theory. By
comparison, only five songs are found in Roman-Neapolitan sources.

3.7. I-Fr 2952
Closely related to I-Fr 2951 in content, organization, and appearance, manuscript
2952 is a slightly smaller anthology (162 folios) copied by the same hand. Given the
number of empty folios that separate the different sections of the manuscript, Passaro
considered that this source was likely a work in progress, with the blank folios provided for
later additions to each section.
178
Only one out of twenty villanelle spagnole in I-Fr 2952 is
not in I-Fr 2951, the chacona “Una tarde fuí llamado.”

4. Roman-Neapolitan alfabeto song sources
4.1. I-Rli Cod. 625
The manuscript Rome, Biblioteca dei Lincei e Corsiniana, Cod. 625 is a 63-folio
collection of alfabeto songs in Spanish entitled “Canzonette diverse in lingua spagnuola Al
Ill[ustrissi]mo y Ex[cellentissi]mo Señor Principe Perette,” who has been identified as
Michele Perreti (1577-1631), brother of Cardinal Montalto.
179
Michele was a minor Roman
nobleman, Count of Celano and Caluso, Baron of Pescina, Marquis of Incisa and San
Martino, Prince of Venafro, and was principal heir of Pope Sixtus V.
180
According to

178
Passaro, “Il manoscritto 2951,” 25. I have been unable to access a copy of this manuscript. My gratitude
goes to professor Ralph DiFranco, who provided me detailed information on the source.
179
José Luis Gotor, “Romance de la caza de Bracciano: del repertorio de un guitarrista español en Italia,”
Symbolae Pisanae: Studi in onore di Guido Mancini, 2 vls., Blanca Periñan and Francesco Guazelli, eds.
(Pisa: Giardini, 1989), 1:251-74. According to Gotor, the Corsini library was founded by the combination of
the collections from Pope Clement XII (Lorenzo Corsini), Cardinal Neri, Prince Bartolomeo, and Cardinal
Andrea. Not listed in the earliest known catalog of the library, from 1710 (manuscript Vat. lat. 12631).
180
George L. Williams, Papal genealogy: The Families and Descendants of Popes (Jefferson: Macfarland,
1998), 92. Most of these territories were in areas of strong Spanish presence: Celano and Pescina in the
62
Dandelet, he had been invited to serve Henri IV of France in 1595, a request Michele
declined, asserting “I am Spanish and not French.”
181
He is also known to have visited
Florence frequently, “and with more splendor that his brother the cardinal.”
182
Cod. 625
only contains alfabeto songs in Spanish. José Luis Gotor gives no approximate date for the
manuscript, but it is probably safe to assume that it was copied sometime around 1610,
since many of its poetic contents were in circulation around this date in Italian poetic
manuscripts.
183
Each song is preceded by a typical chord sequence, or passacalle, in the
key of the song. This is common enough in the alfabeto song manuscripts, although it is
only referred to as “passacalle” in Florentine sources. Judging by the spelling, the copyist
of I-Rli Cod. 625 could have been a Spaniard (see Illustration 2.5).
184
Most of the song
texts set are unique to this manuscript, although a very small number of the poems are also
found in the Modenese sources.
185

Abruzzo, Caluso in Turin, Incisa and San Martino in the Monferrato. The title of principality to Venafro
(Kingdom of Naples), for example, had been granted to Michele Peretti by Felipe III of Spain in 1605,
although the territory had been purchased from the Spanish King for Peretti in 1586. Giambattista Masciotta,
Il Molise dalle origini ai nostro giorni, vol. 3, Il circondario d’Iserna (Cava dei Terreni: E. di Mauro, 1952),
553; cited in Hill, Roman Monody, 6-7. Peretti was a given name, their real last name was Damasceni.
181
Dandelet. Spanish Rome, 95, 95n202. Michele’s arranged marriage to Margherita Cavazzi della Somaglia,
took place in 1587, when he was only eleven years old. Somaglia was part of the Duchy of Milan. His close
connection to the Spanish faction in Rome would explain the presence of this manuscript in his collection.
Michele’s connection to performances of Guarini’s Il pastor fido in Ferrara, Turin, Florence, and Milan,
produced by Cardinal Montalto, are examined in detail by John Hill, as is Montalto’s 1614 production of G.
Cicognini’s spectacle Amor pudico, festino e balli danzati, for Michele’s second wedding to Anna Maria Cesi
in 1613. See Hill, Roman Monody, 239-41, 279-81, et seq.
182
Claudio Annibaldi review of Roman Monody, Cantata, and Opera from the circles around Cardinal
Montalto, by John Walter Hill,” Early Music History 18 (1999): 391.
183
See Giovanni Caravaggi, “Tradizionalismo lirico e letterature aulica: testomonianze edite e inedite sul
Baile del Polvillo,” in Études de philologie romane et d'histoire littéraire offertes à Jules Horrent à l'occasion
de son soixantième anniversaire (Liège: [n.p.], 1980), 565-575; and Giovanni Caravaggi, “’Y tal conejito… y
como es bonito’. Un sistema bisemico della melica tradizionale,” in Codici della trasgressività in area
ispanica: Atti del Convegno in Verona 12-13-14 giugno 1980 (Verona: [n.p.], 1980), 167-75.
184
This assessment is based on the single-page facsimile of fol. 51r appended to José Luis Gotor’s article.
Gotor, however, considers the copyist Italian based on the use, among other orthographical markers, of double
consonants in words such as “frutta” or “bottas.” See Gotor, “Romance,” 252.
185
“Arrojome las naranjicas,” “Ay que no oso,” and “Corre, corre, corre.” “Ay quien me quiera comprar” is
textually concordant with E-Szayas A.IV.8. “En esta larga ausencia,” is found in I-Fr 2793; and “Hombre que
esta sin amores,” in I-Fn Magl. Cl. VII 618. See Appendix 1.
63
Illustration 2.5. I-Rli Cod. 625, fol. 51r (detail).

4.2. I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
The title page of manuscript Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Fondo
Chigiano L.VI.200, reads “Libro de Cartas y Romançes | españoles ÷ | Del’Illustrissima
Señora Duchessa | di Traetta | mi señora que Dios guarde | mil años 1599” (Book of
Spanish Letters and Romances belonging to my Lady the very illustrious Duchess of
Traetta, may God watch over you for a thousand years, 1599).
186
Along with manuscript E-

186
The Spanish poetic contents of the manuscript have been examined in detail and edited
in Labrador Herraiz and. DiFranco, Dos cancioneros italianos, 329-476. Cesare Acutis
addressed the poetic contents of the manuscript twice, in Bertini and Acutis, La romanza
spagnola, 176-84, with emphasis on the romances; and in Acutis, Cancioneros. The
64
Zsayas A.IV.8 (see below), I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 is the earliest source of villanella
spagnola in alfabeto song format. Both manuscripts are dated 1599. The 97-folio
manuscript contains fifty-eight songs in Spanish, making it one of the largest collections
dedicated almost exclusively to songs in Spanish.
187
The title of the anthology has led to
some disagreement about the identity of the Traetta Duchess. James Tyler has identified her
as Camilla Caetana Caetana, daughter of Cornelia Carrafa Caetana, on the basis of the
dedication found in dancing master Fabritio Caroso’s 1600 Nobiltà di dame.
188
Hill, on the
other hand, suggested that the Duchess was instead Isabella Gonzaga (1565-1637), who
married Luigi Carafa (1567-1630) in 1586.
189
Singer Adriana Basile’s employment in the
house of Isabella in 1609, around the time Vincenzo Gonzaga selected her for the Mantuan
court, has led Hill to conjecture that the singer knew and performed material from this
manuscript.
190
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 contains no alfabeto chart, but the consistency of the
alfabeto symbols indicates that the notation was well established by the last decade of the
sixteenth century.
There are three layers to this manuscript. The first (fols. 1r-37v) contains fifty-one
alfabeto songs copied by the same hand and indexed in the first folios of the manuscript.
The second (fols. 38r-46r) contains seven additional songs, including one in Italian, plus

musical contents have been discussed briefly in Baron, “Secular Spanish Solo Song,” 20-
42; in Hill, Roman Monody, 70-74; and in Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 43-
44.
187
There is one song in Italian, “Quanta forz’ha lo sdegno,” added to the second, later portion of the
manuscript.
188
Tyler, The Guitar and its Music, 43.
189
Hill, Roman Monody, 42, 70.
190
This is largely circumstantial. Another Neapolitan manuscript containing Spanish alfabeto songs, I-Nn
XVII.30, did belong at one point to Adriana Basile (see below). But it is from a much later date. There are
only a few alfabeto songs in that poetic anthology, and I have found no concordances between the any of the
texts in I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 and those in I-Nn XVII.30. This is noteworthy given that these are two of only
three sources of clear Neapolitan origin, and alfabeto collections from the same geographical tend to have a
high degree of concordant texts.
65
five texts without alfabeto. There are at least four hands present in this section. The third
portion (fols. 47r-58v) offers a series of Italian poems in two different hands, without any
alfabeto. It is certain that at least the first layer dates from 1599, because the Spanish poems
it includes can be dated between 1580 and 1599. The large number of songs exclusive to
this manuscript, approximately forty, highlights its uniqueness, and justifies consideration
of the entire set of Roman-Neapolitan sources as an independent group despite the absence
of any clear connection between sources within this geographical group of which I-Rvat
Chigi L.VI.200 is the main collection.
There are twelve poetic texts concordant with Northern sources, although the
musical relationship between settings of the same text is in many instances unclear.
191
The
setting of “Ay que contento,” for example, is exactly the same as the one found in F-Pn esp.
390 with the exception of the duet markings, but the musical concordance with the staff-
notation setting of the poem in Stefani’s Affetti amorosi is only partial. If transposition and
the omission of chords are taken into account, the first two lines of text could be loosely
related, but by the third line of text it is clear that the Stefani setting is a different
composition. “A la moza bonita, chiquita” is interesting due to the large number of minor
discrepancies between settings. The text can be found in many of the Palumbi manuscripts,
and also in the Modenese sources, where it appears under the title “A la niña bonita,
chiquita.” The relationship between these three groups of settings is not as clear as
suggested by Baron. The differences become apparent upon comparison of the word and
line repetitions in each of the estribillos, which show that the Palumbi and the I-Rvat Chigi

191
Baron identified seven texts that were also set in Northern sources, six from the first section, and one from
the second. See Baron, “Secular Spanish Solo Song,” 24, 24n11. Baron’s study focused only on the following
Italian sources: I-Fr 2774, 2793, 2804, 2951, 2973/3, the three Modenese manuscripts, I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200,
and I-Nn XVII.30.
66
L.VI.200 versions are the same musical composition, whereas the Modenese setting has a
different layout of the text indicating a contrasting setting:
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200, fol. 16r

A la moça bonita ciquitta y pappigordita Dios me la guarde
A la bieja mocosa Raposa, y garrapattosa mal fuego la arde

I-VEc 1434, fol. 143r

Ala moza bonita çhiquita
y papigordita Dios me la guarde
y la bieja mocosa Raposa, y zarrapastrosa
mal fuego l’arde.

I-MOe alpha P.6.22, fol. 7v

A la niña bonitta, chiquitta, bonitta, chiquitta y papigordita
Que dios, que dios me la guarde,
A la bieja mocosa, raposa, y sarrapastrosa
mal fuego, mal fuego la arda,
sarrapastrosa, mal fuego, mal fuego la arda,
sarrapastrosa, mal fuego, mal fuego la arda.

A close look at the alfabeto chord progressions further emphasizes the differences
between the settings in the I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 and Palumbi manuscripts, and the
Modenese settings. Although the settings in the I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 and Palumbi
manuscripts are related, there are some harmonic discrepancies that exemplify the types of
changes characteristic of alfabeto song concordances, attributable to different geographical
practices and/or oral transmission. Example 2.1 shows a basso continuo rendition of the
alfabeto chords that accompany the first part of the refrain in the three sources.

67
Musical Example 2.1. “A la moza, bonita, chiquita,” alfabeto song settings.

4.3. I-Rvat Bonc. M.18
Manuscript Rome, Vatican Library, Fondo Boncompagni-Ludovisi M.18, is one of
very few Spanish manuscripts in this archive that contain poetic texts. The Boncompagni
portion of the archive largely consists of political correspondence and administrative
documents of the family patrimony.
192
I-Rvat Bonc. M.18 was probably compiled in the
last years of the sixteenth century or in the opening years of the seventeenth at the latest,
since most of the texts have concordances with printed or manuscript poetic cancioneros
from the late sixteenth century.
193
The Boncompagni archive has its origin in the papacy of
Gregory XIII (Ugo Boncompgani, pope from 1572 to 1585).
194
Shortly after being made
cardinal in 1565, Ugo was sent as legate to Spain to investigate archbishop Bartolomé
Carranza of Toledo who had been accused of heresy. Thanks to his service as nuncio,
Boncompagni gained the support of Felipe II of Spain.
195
His close connection with the
Spanish faction in Rome might explain the presence of this manuscript in the Fondo
Boncompagni, as well as the high quality of its Spanish orthography. Cacho identifies three

192
Partial edition of the poetic contents in Cacho, “Fondo Boncompagni-Ludovisi,” 1901-17.
193
Cacho, “Fondo Boncompagni-Ludovisi,” 1902.
194
The Ludovisi portion of the archives joined the collection in 1681, with the marriage of Gregorio
Boncompagni and Hippolita Ludovisi. Cacho, “Fondo Boncompagni-Ludovisi,” 1901.
195
Philippe Levillain, ed., Dictionnaire historique de la papauté (Paris: Fayard, 1994), 663.
I-Rvat L.VI.200,
fol. 16r
I-VEc 1434,
fols. 143r-v
I-MOe alpha P.6.22,
fols. 7v-9r
A la
!
moça boni ta ci - quitta y - papigor
!
di
!
- ta Dios
!
- me la
[§] guarde
A la mo
!
za bo - ni - ta çhi - quita y - papigor dita Dios
!
- me la
[§] guarde
Ala niña bonitta, chi quita, bo - nitta, chiqui - ta, y pa - pigor - dita, Que - dios, que dios me la
#
guarde
?
?
?
œ
œ b
œ b
œ
œ b
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ b
œ b
œ
œ b œ b
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
68
hands (fols. 1r-22v, fols. 24r-26v, and fols. 27r-v, respectively). A closer look reveals that
the hands she identifies as one and three are the same. Hand two is somewhat similar to that
of the copyist of GB-Lbl Add. 36877.
196
As is common in Roman-Neapolitan sources, there
is no alfabeto chart. Although the manuscript is moderately large (89 folios), fols. 8v-9v
and 27r-89v are blank. Sixteen texts in Spanish are laid out in standard alfabeto song
format, including word and line repetitions in the estribillo, and indications for a return to
the refrain in the coplas. Only eight of the texts contain any alfabeto symbols.
197
The extent
to which alfabeto is applied to the songs varies. Two poems, “De mis ojos a mi boca” (fols.
6r-v), and “En el árbol madre,” have no alfabeto for the coplas section, even though it is
clear that the musical form is not strophic. “Celos por amores,” and “De mis ojos a mi
boca,” have jotted strumming patterns between the estribillo and the copla, intended to
function as ritornelli between the sections in a manner similar to those found in manuscript
I-Fn Magl. Cl. VII 618. All alfabeto song settings in I-Rvat Bonc. M.18 are unique to this
source, although a few of the texts have been set to music in other sources.

4.4. NL-DHk 72J46 (1606)
The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 72J46, is a large poetic anthology of Spanish
and Italian texts. The 142-folio manuscript is entitled “Libro de cançiones españolas y
italianas,” and is dated in Rome, 1606. According to Kenneth Brown, the volume is a copy
prepared by Valobre himself, although this seems unlikely since the name “el señor de
Valobre” appears on the front and back covers in gold letters, suggesting that he was the

196
Despite the similarities, the absence of the spelling mistakes present in GB-Lbl Add. 36877 indicates they
are different scribes.
197
Nos. 1, 2, 5, 7, 13, 14, 15, and 16.
69
owner rather than the copyist.
198
The general characteristics of the anthology are similar to
those in Spanish poetic collections that circulated in Italy in the late sixteenth and early
seventeenth centuries, such as the “Libro romanzero... compilato da Alonso de
Navarrete,”
199
or the “Cancionero Patteta.”
200
NL-DHk 72J46 contains Italian (fols. 65r-
87r) and Spanish texts (fols. 1r-58r) in a format that suggests the anthologies are collections
of poetry for song (poesía para cantar). Several of the forty-nine Spanish poems are found
set to music in other alfabeto song sources, especially Florentine and Northern Italian ones.
NL-DHk 72J46 contains no alfabeto symbols, however. Five Spanish song texts (fols. 88r-
91r) are accompanied by fragments of guitar tablature in the notational style used for the
lute by French and English players, that is, a five-line staff representing the five courses of
the instrument, with letters indicating where to fret each course (see Illustration 2.6).

198
Kenneth Brown gives the full title of the manuscript as “Libro de cançiones españolas y italianas para el
Señor de Valobre,” which is also the title given by Rodrigo de Zayas in his brief bibliographical reference to
the manuscript. Zayas had no access to the source; he was working from photographical reproductions of a
few pages sent to him in 1947. The manuscript is mentioned considerably earlier, in 1846, by Achille Jubinal
in a letter to Narcisse-Achille de Salvandy: “Le manuscrit 696, petit in-4
o
, d'écriture espagnole du XVII
e

siècle (1606), relié en parchemin, avec des filets dorés, des fleurs-de-lys et les armes de son possesseur
primitif, el señor de Valobre, dont le nom se trouve écrit en grosses lettres d'or sur le plat des deux côtés, a
pour titre: - Libro de canciones españolas y italianas. La plupart de ces poèmes légers remontent à la fin du
XVI
e
siècle. J'en ai copié un en espagnol, fort spirituel, intitulé: la Chacona. J'en ferai imprimer le texte à la
fin de ces lettres.” Judging by Jubinal’s note, it is likely that de Valobre was the owner rather than the copyist.
See Achille Jubinal, Lettres à M. le comte de Salvandy sur quelques-uns des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque
royale de La Haye (Paris: Libraire Archéologique de Didron, 1846), 41. According to Brown, the manuscript
was purchased in 1798 by the Stadhouderlijke Bibliotheek, forerunner of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, from
Willem V, Prince of Orange-Nassau, whose family seems to have had the manuscript in their collection since
the seventeenth century. See Kenneth Brown and Gemma García San Román, El cancionero áureo de la
Biblioteca Real de la Haya (Pamplona: Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, 2005), 21; Rodrigo de Zayas, ed.,
Gaspar Sanz (Madrid: Alpuerto, 1985), lxxxi. I have been unable to examine the manuscript in person.
Brown’s edition provides a facsimile copy of the pages with tablature, fols, 88r-91r, but not of the title page.
199
Ravenna, Biblioteca Classense, manuscript 263. See Chapter 1.
200
Rome, Vatican Library, manuscript Patteta 840.
70
Illustration 2.6. NL-DHk 72J46, fol. 88r (detail).

The notation of these song texts has some unusual features. At this early date
(1606), there are no other instances of Italian or French lute tablature being used for the
five-course guitar, and certainly not in a style that adds strumming symbols. The earliest
examples of such tablatures are found in Estienne Moulinié’s 1629 print Airs de cour avec
la tablature de luth et de guitarre.
201
Possibly the earliest record of five-line staves in
combination with strumming signs in Italy is in a manuscript entitled “Libro de sonate
diuerse alla chitarra spagnola,” dated 1614.
202
Italian tablature, however, consists of
numbers, not letters, and the order of the strings is reversed, so it is clear that even if it
originated in Rome (as the manuscript’s title page indicates), NL-DHk 72J46 was intended
for a patron familiar with letter tablature. The combination with strum signs above the staff
is extremely rare for this early date. Only three of the songs accompanied by the staff

201
James Tyler has linked one of the Italian songs in Moulinié’s volume, “O stelle homicide,” to alfabeto
sources. He also noted that the Moulinié’s Spanish song “Ribericas del río de Mansanares,” is also found in
PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 and in some of the Palumbi manuscripts. He is probably alluding to the villanella
“Airecitos del río de Manzanares,” in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, although this is an entirely different
composition. See Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 101-2.
202
I-Bc V 280, fols. 28v-30r. In this manuscript, the strumming pattern is written in alfabeto “solo” style,
with stroke symbols following an alfabeto letter, above the five-line staff. Thus, the staff tablature functions
as an explanatory note for the dissonant chords, or false.
71
tablature, all dance-songs, have strumming indications, a chacona, a çarabanda, and a
folia. Despite similar opening harmonies, “Al espejo se toca” is not musically related to the
Florentine alfabeto settings of the same poem.
203
The songs based on the chacona (“Vida,
vida, la vida bona”) and the folia (“Si queréis que os enrame la puerta”) patterns appear in
other alfabeto sources, but are also easily found outside of Italy.
204

4.5. I-Nn XVII.30
Manuscript XVII.30 in Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III (I-Nn
XVII.30) is an anthology also known alternatively as “Cancionero del Duque de Alba,” or
“Romanzes y letrillas varias.” Benedetto Croce first examined this source, and subsequent
studies have used Croce’s hand-written copy of the manuscript (I-Nn I.E.65), since the
original was held for many years in private ownership.
205
There are two main parts to the
manuscript. The first part (fols. 1r-57r) was compiled for Antonio Álvarez de Toledo, Duke
of Alba and Viceroy in Naples from 1622 to 1629, and contains seventy-six Spanish texts;
the larger second portion (beginning on fol. 58r), apparently compiled for Adriana Basile
Barone, consists of sixty-three texts in Spanish and 115 in Italian.
206
Despite the large size
of the manuscript (157 folios) only eleven of the Spanish texts are accompanied by
alfabeto, all located in the second portion of the manuscript. Both the place and date of
copy of this second section of the manuscript are unclear. According to Croce, this second

203
Nor is it related to the three-part setting in the Spanish manuscript E-PAbm 13231, fols. 4v-5r.
204
For instance, both texts are set to music in Briceño’s Método mui facilíssimo (1626).
205
B. Croce does not identify the owners of the manuscript, but according to Acutis, it belonged to the Pironti
family from the town of Montoro, in Campania. See Benedetto Croce “Illustrazione di un canzoniere ms.
italo-spagnuolo del secolo XVII,” Atti della Accademia Pontaniana 30, vol. 6. Napoli, (1900): 1-32; Bertini
and Acutis, La romanza spagnola, 228-29; Acutis, Cancioneros, 8-9; Baron, “Secular Spanish Solo Song,”
24-25; Dinko Fabris, “Prime aggiunte,” 103-21.
206
A few of the poems in the second portion of the manuscript are dedicated to either Adriana or her
daughter, Leonora Barone. See Bertini and Acutis, La romanza spagnola in Italia, 228; Croce,
“Illustrazione,” 2.
72
part was compiled around 1635, in Naples, Rome, and in other parts of Italy.
207
If
confirmed, the late date and varying locations could partly explain the absence of
concordances with other sources of villanelle spagnole.
208
There were several hands
involved in the copying of the manuscript, but the scribe of the Spanish texts was very
likely a Spaniard. The romance “Hecho trompeta el sol” contains an unlabeled estribillo,
“vete mi vida, no pierdas por un hora muchos días,” identifiable in the text by a series of
alfabeto figures different from those in the stanzas.

5. Additional alfabeto song sources of villanelle spagnole
5.1. E-Szayas Ms. Mús. A.IV.8 (1599)
The manuscript A.IV.8 in the private library of Rodrigo de Zayas in Seville (E-
Szayas A.IV.8), commonly known as the “Cancionero de Matheo Bezón,” is one of only
three manuscript alfabeto sources known today to date before the first printed Italian guitar
collection of guitar music, Girolamo Montesardo’s Nuova inventione d’intavolatura (1606).
E-Szayas A.IV.8 is the earliest source known to include an alfabeto chart, alfabeto solo
guitar pieces, and the first to add some type of rhythmic notation to alfabeto symbols.
209
In
all of these features, it predates Montesardo’s Nuova inventione by at least five years. It is
also the earliest anthology of its kind to identify its compiler by his full name (Matheo
Bezón), as well as the earliest known collection combining alfabeto solo pieces and songs
in Italian and Spanish, an aggregation characteristic of many manuscript anthologies

207
Croce, “Illustrazione,” 1-2.
208
I concur with John Baron in considering this source as mainly a poetic collection, which may be another
reason for the absence of concordances. Baron identified two poems concordant with Florentine sources: “En
que nieve no pisada,” and “Saca niña las manos del regalillo.” A third text mentioned by Baron, “Bullicioso y
claro arroyuelo,” is a different poem from the one set in Florentine manuscripts, “Bullicioso era el arroyuelo,
y salpicome.” See Baron, “Spanish Solo Song,” 25.
209
Zuluaga, “Matheo Bezón.”
73
containing villanelle spagnole. The manuscript was purchased from the Florentine
antiquarian Leo Olschki in 1938 by the Zayas library.
210
The manuscript, dated 1599, is
clearly an instruction book recording guitar lessons imparted over a period of at least two
years. No information is currently available on Bezón or on Antón, the guitar student who
was one of the two copyists of the manuscript’s contents.
211
The main part of E-Szayas
A.IV.8 consists of twenty-nine alfabeto songs, twenty-two of which are on Spanish texts.
212

Although there is no specific pattern to the concordances, none of the songs in the
manuscript are found in Spanish musical sources.
213
A larger number of concordances with
Florentine alfabeto sources point to northern Italy as a likely place of origin, rather than
Naples or Rome, as has been suggested elsewhere.
214

5.2. GB-Lbl Add. 36877
Additional manuscript 36877, held at the British Library in London (GB-Lbl Add.
36877), is a large, 146-folio compilation of alfabeto songs with mostly Italian texts. The
anthology is entitled “Villanelle Di più sorte con l’Intauolatura per sonare, et cantare su la

210
Rodrigo de Zayas, Gaspar Sanz, lxxviii.
211
According to a romance by Baltasar de Cepeda, one of the guests at the celebrations for the wedding of
Juana Pacheco and painter Diego Velázquez in 1618, known simply as “Beçón,” sang in the comedy that was
performed at the occasion, “canto diestramente, porque lo es mucho en el canto, i de Música hizo un brindiz
mas dulce que los de Baco” (sang masterfully, because he is such in the art of signing, and with music he
created a toast sweeter than those of Bacchus). This Bezón, however, is not Matheo but a comic actor named
Juan Bezón, active in the theatres in Madrid between the 1630s and the 1650s, and probably unrelated.
Cepeda’s poem is cited and studied in W. L. Fichter, “Una poseía contemporánea inédita sobre las bodas de
Velázquez,” in Varia Velazqueña (Madrid, 1960), 1: 636-39. See also Luis Méndez Rodríguez, Velázquez y la
cultura sevillana (Seville: Universidad de Sevilla-Fundación Focus-Abengoa, 2005), 99-103; Josef Oehrlein,
El actor en el teatro español del Siglo de Oro (Madrid: Castalia, 1993), 300. I am thankful to John Griffiths
and Pepe Rey for bringing this account to my attention.
212
The remaining song texts are in Italian (four), a combination of Spanish and Italian (two), and Latin (one).
213
There are some text concordances with contemporary French sources, but full concordances of text,
alfabeto, and music are rare.
214
Daniel Devoto has suggested Naples, possibly due to the presence of Spanish texts. Rodrigo de Zayas also
conjectured Naples. Daniel Devoto, “Un millar de cantares exportados,” Bulletin Hispanique 96, no.1 (1994),
22. Rodrigo de Zayas, Gaspar Sanz, lxxviii.
74
Chitarra alla Spagnola di Giovanni Casalotti.” Nothing is known about Giovanni Casalotti,
nor is it clear whether he was the owner or the author of the anthology. Hill has described
this source in some detail, identifying links to prints of Italian monody published between
1602 and 1623 and to the repertoire associated with Cardinal Montalto and his circle.
215
He
suggests Naples as a possible place of origin for GB-Lbl Add. 36877, given its Spanish
content, but at the same time acknowledges the presence of such songs in manuscripts
throughout Italy and its “significant number of concordances with Florentine
manuscripts.”
216
Seventeen villanelle spagnole are found in two different sections of the
manuscript (fols. 47r-59r, and fols. 101r-104r). They are copied by the same hand, and their
content suggests a close relationship to Florentine sources, especially to the Palumbi
manuscripts.
217
GB-Lbl Add. 36877 has no alfabeto chart, and is unique among the sources
in the simultaneous use of two symbols, letters “f” and “x,” to represent E major.

6. One staff-notation manuscript closely related to Florentine alfabeto song sources
6.1. PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163
Manuscript Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, Mus. ms. 40163, is a 56-folio
anthology of two- and three-part villanelle in full staff notation, fifteen of which include
alfabeto, and is closely associated to Florentine alfabeto song sources containing villanelle

215
Hill, Roman Monody, 169-71, 394-402.
216
Hill, Roman Monody, 170.
217
Hill’s inventory lists sixteen songs in Spanish, which he identifies as romances. There is also one alfabeto
song in Portuguese, “Menina formosa.” The number of concordances with other alfabeto song manuscripts
are: I-Fr 2793 (5), I-Fr 2804 (5), I-VEc 1434 (5), I-Fn LF 175 (2), F-Pn esp. 390 (1); I-Fr 2774 (4), I-Fr 2951
(4), I-Fr 2952 (4), I-Fr 2973/3 (1), I-Fn Magl. XIX 25 (1), I-Fl Ashb. 791 (3), I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 (2), E-
Szayas A.IV.8 (1), I-MOe a.P.6.22 (2), I-MOe a.R.6.4 (2), I-MOe Q.8.21 (2) (total I-MOe = 3).
75
spagnole.
218
The main part of the manuscript (fols. 1r-50r) consists of twenty-six three-part
compositions in choirbook format, sixteen of which have Spanish texts (the remaining are
untexted). Two different copyists can be identified in this portion of the manuscript.
Judging by the orthography, the copyist responsible for the musical notation, the decorative
initials, and scattered section and voice markings and text incipits, was likely an Italian; the
second copyist, responsible for the text underlay and the alfabeto, was probably a Spaniard.
Four additional compositions copied by a third hand, three in Italian and one in Spanish
(fols. 51v-55r), constitute the second portion of the manuscript, which appears to be a later
addition.
219

Ten out of the thirty compositions in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 have no text, but the
presence of decorative initials in each of the untexted pieces indicate that the main part of
the manuscript was copied directly from another source. The untexted compositions are
scattered throughout the manuscript, on fols. 8v-14r (3), fols. 20v-21r (1), fols. 24v-33r (5),
and fols. 36v-38r (1). Despite the absence of text, regular markings identifying sections as
coplas, and occasional text incipits marking the return to corresponding refrain sections

218
Wolfgang Boetticher described this manuscript as lost in RISM B/VII. Dieter Kirsch and Lenz Meierott
made note of its presence in the Biblioteka Jagiellońska in Kraków. James Tyler briefly reported on the
contents of this manuscript in October 2000 at the International Conference on Early Opera and Monody to
Commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the Italian Music Dramas of 1600, at the University of Illinois in
Urbana-Champaign (October 5-8, 2000). See Boetticher, RISM B/VII, 29; Dieter Kirsch and Lenz Meierott,
Berliner Lautentabulaturen in Krakau: Beschreibender Katalog der handschriftlichen Tabulaturen fur Laute
und verwandte Instrumente in der Biblioteka Jagiellonska Krakow aus dem Besitz der ehemaligen
Preussischen Staatsbibliothek Berlin (Mainz: Schott, 1992), 208-13; Tyler, “The Role of the Guitar, par. 2.5,
2.6, 2.7; Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 44-45. For the whereabouts of the manuscript between
its presence in Berlin and its rediscovery in Kraków, see Francisco Javier Romero Naranjo, “El cancionero
poético-musical español de Cracovia,” Revista de Musicología 25, no. 1 (2002): 143-56.
219
This assessment is based on the different calligraphy, the different style of musical notation, and the
presence of Italian villanelle, absent from the first portion of the manuscript. The four compositions are jotted
in a slightly careless manner, suggesting they were added into this manuscript to make use of the empty
folios.
76
indicate that all untexted pieces were intended to set Spanish texts.
220
The manuscript does
not have a title-page, a table of contents, or an alfabeto chart, nor does it appear to have had
them at any point. The careful caligraphy throughout the main section, however, suggests
that the unfinished manuscript was intended for an unknown patron rather than as a
repertoire manuscript for a singer. Thanks to the decoractive initials, I have been able to
identify one text that is likely the poem intended for the composition on fols. 31v-33r. “Al
espejo se toca” is a well-known seguidilla found in alfabeto song format in six manuscripts
connected to Francesco Palumbi, in nearly identical settings. The word and line repetitions
and the chord progressions of the alfabeto song settings are very close matches to the three-
part composition in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, as shown in musical example 2.2, below.
221

220
Nine out of the ten untexted pieces have a section marked copla, indicating a bipartite estribillo-coplas
form.
221
“Al espejo se toca” is also found in a musically unrelated setting in E-PAbm 13231.
77
Musical Example 2.2. “Al espejo se toca” (estribillo only).
PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, fols. 31v-32r (a3 composition);
I-VEc 1434, fol. 123r (text and alfabeto);
alfabeto chord progressions rendered as basso continuo.

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Text: I-VEc 1434
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Alfabeto: I-VEc 1434
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78
No composers or compilers are named, but a large number of the compositions (12)
in the manuscript are concordant with three of the Palumbi manuscripts, I-Fr 2793 (6), I-Fr
2804 (8), and I-VEc 1434 (8), suggesting more than a casual link between these sources.
222

PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 has been tentatively dated ca. 1590-1620, which makes it
contemporary to most of the alfabeto song manuscripts containing villanelle spagnole.
Although Naples has been suggested as its place of origin, Florence is a more likely place
of provenance, because of the many concordant settings of alfabeto songs in the Florentine
manuscripts.

7. Italian printed sources containing villanella spagnola settings
All printed sources containing villanelle spagnole in staff notation were published
in Northern Italy, as were the two collections containing settings in alfabeto song format.
These are listed below in chronological order. These collections are mainly anthologies of
Italian canzonette and villanelle, thus the number of villanelle spagnole is very small, often
no more than one. The exception is Benedetto Sanseverino’s Segundo libro (1616), which
consists primarily of settings in Spanish. No copy of Girolamo Montesardo’s El pr[imer]
lib[ro] de las canciones villanelas (1606) is known to survive, thus it is impossible to
determine its specific content, but the title in Spanish suggests a collection of villanelle
spagnole similar in content and style to Sanseverino’s 1616 print.
223
Printed staff-notation

222
The near exact musical concordances to alfabeto songs in the Palumbi manuscripts would strongly suggest
that there is a common source material, yet undiscovered, from where PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 was copied and
that is also the source of Palumbi’s alfabeto songs. Given the lack of information available on the provenance
of PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, this hypothesis remains entirely conjectural.
223
Montesardo’s collection is listed in Albert Göhler’s bibliography with the first name Geronimo
(Girolamo), a Hispanicization similar to that of Sanseverino’s first name, Bendito (Benedetto), in his Segundo
libro (1616). See Albert Göhler, Verzeichnis der in den Frankfurter und Leipziger Messkatalogen der Jahre
1564 bis 1759 angezeigten Musikalien (Leipzig: [n.p.], 1902; facsimile reprint Hilversum: Frits A. M. Knuf,
1965), 2:54, item no. 965.
79
villanella settings in Spanish are examined in Chapter 3. Although concordances with the
alfabeto song settings of villanella spagnola are few, their musical features are similar to
those in compositions in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, and help clarify the general musical
characteristics of the repertoire.

7.1. Il secondo libro delle canzonette, madrigali, et arie alla romana a due voci, per
cantare, & sonare con il chitarone e la spinetta, del Radesca di Foggia (Milan: l’herede di
Simon Tini & Filippo Lomazzo, 1606)
7.2. Il terzo libro delle canzonette, madrigali, et arie alla romana, a due voci, per cantare,
& sonare con la spineta, chitarrone, & altri simili stromenti, del Radesca di Foggia
(Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1616/2)
7.3. Il quarto libro delle canzonette, madrigali, et arie alla romana, a due voci, con alcune
à trè, & un dialogo à quattro nel fine, per cantare, & sonare con la spinetta, chitarrone, &
altri simili strumenti, del Radesca di Foggia (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1610)
Three out of the four collections of Canzonette, madrigali, et arie alla romana by
Enrico Antonio Radesca (known as Radesca di Foggia) that appeared in print between 1605
and 1610 contain one canzonetta spagnola each.
224
Originally from the town of Foggia in
the southern Italian region of Apulia, Radesca seems to have spent most of his career as a
musician in northern Italy.
225
Records of his presence in the Piedmont can be found as early
as 1597. By 1601 he had entered the service of Amadeo di Savoia as a chamber musician,

224
A fifth volume with similar title, printed in 1617, dropped the alla romana designation for the arie.
225
According to Rosy Moffa, payment records from the year 1617 list Radesca as maestro di cappella at the
Turin Cathedral, a post possibly held since the death of his predecessor Ruggero Trofeo in 1614, although
payment records at the cathedral are missing for the years 1602-1612. Rosy Moffa, “L’attività e la produzione
di Radesca,” in Francesca Seller, ed., Radesca e il suo tempo: Atti del Convegno di studi, Foggia 7-8 Aprile
2000 (Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, 2001), 10-11.
80
and in 1602 he had been appointed to the post of organist at the Turin cathedral. Radesca
became full citizen of Turin in 1606, where he remained until his death in 1625. Well
regarded by his contemporaries for his basso seguente duets, Radesca is considered as the
foremost figure among composers of a genre that represents, in John Whenham’s view, “an
equivocal response to Florentine monody.”
226

The three canzonette in Spanish are scored for two voices: an unspecified high
voice (C1 clef), and a bass (F4) that also functions as a basso seguente line. This scoring
was typical of Radesca’s collections. The title page of Il secondo libro indicates that the
performance of these duets as solo songs was a common practice, achieved by playing the
bass line on a spinet or theorbo. There is no mention of the guitar, presumably known in
northern Italy by this date (1606). These performance-practice indications are duplicated on
the title pages of both the terzo libro and the quarto libro. No copy survives of the first
edition of third book, but its date of publication was probably around 1607.
227
None of
Radesca’s three canzonette spagnole, “Si vos pretendéis quererme” (Il secondo libro), “Que
sean las mujeres inconstantes” (Il terzo libro), and “Si de los ojos nace” (Il quarto libro),
have any known concordances.

7.4. El segundo libro de los ayres, villançicos, y cancioncillas a la española, y italiana al
vso moderno, a dos, y tres bozes, para cantar, y tañer en las ghitarras, de Bendito
Sanseverino (Milan: Filippe Lomazzo, 1616)

226
Oxford Music Online. s.v. Radesca (by John Whenham). http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com. Accessed
25 May 2013.
227
Marco Giuliani, ed., I quattro libri di canzonette, madrigali e arie alla romana: per cantare e suonare con
il chitarrone o spinetta del Radesca di Foggia, organista della Metropolitana di Torino (Lucca: Libreria
Musicale Italiana, 2000), xix-xxv; Moffa, “L’attività e la produzione di Radesca,” 21. Vincenti’s 1616 reprint
has no dedication, encomium, or preface, but the title page still names Radesca as organist at the Turin
cathedral and in service of Amadeo di Savoia, who died in 1610.
81
Sanseverino’s El segundo libro de los ayres is the only surviving printed collection
consisting mainly of villanelle spagnole. The language of the dedication page implies that
Sanseverino’s previous publication also consisted of canzonette alla spagnuola, although
there is no surviving record of the volume or its content.
228
El segundo libro de los ayres is
dedicated to Giulio Cesare Borromeo, Count of Arona (Lombardy), to whom fellow
Milanese guitarist Giovanni Ambrosio Colonna also dedicated his Intavolatura di chitarra
alla spagnuola (1620). Sanseverino dedicated his later guitar tutor (1620/1622) to a
different patron, Cleophas Senago, suggesting his request for Borromeo’s patronage may
have been unsuccessful. The little information that is known about Sanseverino comes from
the title pages of his own surviving publications. His principal place of activity appears to
have been Milan, where all his surviving works were published. In his 1620 print he
declared himself as “musico nella chiesa di Santo Ambrosio Maggiore” in Milan.
El segundo libro consists of twenty-two vocal compositions for one to three voices
(eighteen in Spanish and four in Italian), most of which are two- or three-part villanelle
without an independent basso continuo line.
229
All two-part compositions, written in the
style similar to Radesca’s basso seguente duets, but include alfabeto above the top vocal
line. The the three-part compositions include alfabeto above the top and below the bottom
vocal lines, and the solos below the basso continuo line only.

7.5. Affetti amorosi: canzonette ad vna voce sola, poste in musica da diuersi con la parte
del basso, & le lettere dell’alfabetto per la chittarra alla spagnola, raccolte da Giovanni
Stefani (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1618)

228
I wish to thank Annibale Cetrangolo for providing me access to a copy of this volume.
229
The two works that include a basso continuo line are two solo arias: one in Spanish, entitled “Si mi tañer y
canto,” and one in Italian, “In questo duro scoglio.”
82
7.6. Scherzi amorosi: canzonette ad vna voce sola, poste in musica da diuersi, e raccolte da
Giovanni Stefani, con le lettere dell’Alfabetto per la chitarra alla spagnuola...libro secondo
(Venice: Alessandro Vincenti, 1619 [lost]/1622)
Affetti amorosi (1618) and Scherzi amorosi (1619) are the first two of four known
anthologies of strophic solo canzonette compiled and edited by Giovanni Stefani and
published in Venice.
230
There is no biographical information available on Stefani, but the
content of his anthologies has been associated with the repertoire of Cardinal Montalto, as
well as with Florentine monody manuscripts.
231
The source material for the first two
collections, in particular, largely appears to be drawn from northern Italian sources rather
than Roman ones.
232
The number of reprints of Stefani’s volumes attests to the popularity
of his anthologies.
233

In addition to the canzonette that form the basis of the anthology, the title page of
Affetti amorosi advertises three “arie siciliane” and two “vilanelle spagnole.” The text of
“Ay, que contento” is also found in two alfabeto manuscripts, although the settings are only
partially related. The two alfabeto songs settings of “Vuestra belleza, señora,” in I-Rvat
L.VI.200 and in I-Fr 2951, are identical to the setting in Affetti amorosi.
234
The cover page
of Scherzi amorosi does not advertise any villanelle or arie, but the table of contents lists
four items labeled spagnuole (plus one aria per cantar ottave siciliane). The settings of
“No partáis, mi dulce vida” (sung to the music of the folia “Alma mia, dove ten vai”) and

230
The third, Concerti amorosi (1623), contains no settings in Spanish, and the fourth, Ariette amorose
(1626), is lost. Oxford Music Online, s.v. “Stefani, Giovanni” (by Roark Miller),
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/ (accessed 25 May 2013); Hill, Roman Monody, 378-80.
231
Hill, Roman Monody, 165.
232
Leopold, “Remigio Romano’s Collection of Lyrics,” 49-53.
233
Affetti amorosi was reprinted three times (1621, 1623, 1626) and Scherzi amorosi once (1622). Gavito,
“The Alfabeto Song,” 103.
234
Modern edition of “Ay que contento” and “Vuestra belleza, señora” in Miguel Querol Gavaldá, Canciones
a solo y dúos del siglo XVII. Monumentos de la Música Española 47 (Barcelona, CSIC, 1988).
83
“Tres niñas me dan enojos,” are unique to Stefani’s anthology.
235
“De mis tormentos y
enojos” is set in alfabeto song format in I-PAp 1506/I. “¿Quien menoscaba mis bienes?”
was reprinted as an alfabeto song in Remigio Romano’s Terza raccolta (1622). Stefani’s
anthologies differ from other sources of villanelle spagnole in the use of a basso continuo
line to accompany the solo vocal line, with alfabeto placed above the vocal line only.

7.7. Terza raccolta di bellisime canzoni alla romanesca, per suonare, e cantare nella
chitara alla spagnuola, con la sua intavolatura, con altre canzonette vaghe, & belle, date
alla stampa per il Sig. Remigio Romano (Vicenza: Salvadori, 1622)
Remigio Romano gathered most of the musical material for his four alfabeto song
anthologies from Venetian composers.
236
His first three collections are, in fact, closely
connected to Stefani’s Affetti amorosi.
237
The single alfabeto song setting in Spanish in
Romano’s collection, “¿Quien menoscaba mis bienes?,” was probably copied directly from
Stefani’s Scherzi amorosi, judging by the inscription “prvebas de amor estrañas” that
precedes the song, the exact rendering of the alfabeto, and the later publication date of
Romano’s collection. Romano’s setting, however, contains abundant orthographic
mistakes.
238

235
No musical concordances exist for “Tres niñas,” but the text is found in NL-DHk 72J46 (copla: “En
aquesos ojos bellos”), and in I-Rvat Bonc. M.18.
236
Miller, “Venetian Monody,” 176-80.
237
Leopold, “Remigio Romano’s Collection of Lyrics for Music,” 49-50.
238
It appears under the title “Quien menosiaba mis bene?” The designation “Aria per cantare e suonare con la
chitarra alla spagnuola” that precedes it is used throughout the volume along with canzonetta, scherzo, and
romanesca, without much attention to the poetic forms of the songs. None of the canzonetta texts are
accompanied by alfabeto, nor bear the indication “suonare con la chitarra alla spagnuola.” For additional
information on Romano’s collections see also Miller, “New Information,” 22-33.
84
7.8. Il primo libro d’intavolatvra per la chitarra alla spagnuola, de passacalli, ciaccone,
saravande, spagnuolette, folie, pauaniglie, pass’emezzi, correnti, et altre varie suonate, di
Benedetto Sanseverino (Milan: Filippo Lomazzo, 1622)
This guitar tutor is a reprint of Sanseverino’s earlier Intavolatura facile (Milan: F.
Lomazzo, 1620) but with the addition of six canzonette in alfabeto song format, five in
Italian and one in Spanish. Both volumes are identified as “Opera terza,” although it is clear
that the songs were added to the 1622 in order to increase the volume’s commercial value.
“Dimmi amore,” for example, is a dance song based on the well-known ground Aria del
Gran Duca, also known as Aria di Firenze, Ballo di Fiorenza, or Ballo del Gran Duca, a
harmonic pattern that grew out of Cavalieri’s ballo “O che nuovo miracolo” and was a
favorite among guitarists and other composers of instrumental music;
239
“Caldi sospiri” is
found in several Florentine settings in both alfabeto song and staff-notation formats;
240
and
“Capelli d’oro d’Amor” is also found in GB-Lbl Add. 36877.
241
A single setting in Spanish,
“Cuando yo me enamoré,” is found in concordant settings in several alfabeto manuscripts,
as well as PL-Kj Mus. ms 40163.

239
See Warren Kirkendale, L’Aria di Fiorenza.
240
Manuscripts I-Fn Magl. XIX 24 and Magl. XIX 143, and GB-Lbl Add. 36877.
241
Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 58-59.
Chapter 3

The Case for the villanella spagnola

In the period roughly circumscribed by the years 1570-1630, the rubric alla spagnola was
applied to distinguish the five-course guitar from the four-course guitar, and as an adjective
to imply or suggest stylistic traits in the composition or performance of secular vocal
music. The designation alla spagnola was used in a similar way to refer to items of
clothing--a collar, the cut of a dress or suit, the shape of a sleeve--identified in Italy as
Spanish in fashion or style. Likewise, the five-course guitar was identified as the chitarra
alla spagnola or chitarra spagnola because it originated in Spain and had identifiably
consistent physical characteristics and tunings. The application of the term alla spagnola to
vocal music in this period brings up a number of thorny questions because it is not
immediately clear why the rubric is applied, what the designation means, and which
musical characteristics might justify its usage. In both printed and manuscript musical
collections, the rubric alla spagnola is found on title pages and in tables of contents, as well
as in the headings for specific pieces. The most commonly found designations are “aria
spagnola,” “aria alla spagnola,” “villanella spagnola,” “villanella alla spagnola,” and
“canzonetta spagnola,” or “canzonetta alla spagnola,” although “ayre” or “aire,” and
“cançionçillas,” “cançiones,” “canzoni,” and “villancicos,” are also sometimes called “alla
spagnola.” There is no musical evidence to suggest that the terms aria, villanella,
canzonetta, etc., designated specific and distinct musical genres, however.
242
In this

242
According to James Haar, in the sixteenth century the term “aria” represented “a more or less stereotyped
melodic pattern used as the basis for improvisatory singing of narrative or lyric verse.” Tim Carter tied the
term to performance practice and interpretative affect, rather than to a circumscribed independent form.
Mauro Giuliani has suggested that the correlation between “aria” and form in particular was a much later
adoption. See James Haar, “The Madrigale Arioso: A mid-century Development in the Cinquecento
Madrigal,” Studi Musicali 12 (1983): 206; Tim Carter, “‘An Air New and Grateful to the Ear’: The Concept
of ‘Aria’ in Late Renaissance and Early Baroque Italy,” Music Analysis 12, no. 2 (1993): 140; Marco
86
chapter, I present arguments for considering the repertoire of approximately 300 songs that
is found in Italy during the period 1590-1625 under the various rubrics noted above, as a
conspicuous, distinct repertoire of Italian songs with Spanish texts.
Usage of the term villanella suggests at least a connection to the Italian repertoire
designated by the terms villanesca or villanella, which flourished between 1537 and
1570.
243
The term villanella, initially denoting strophic, tuneful, simple pieces imitating the
“Neapolitan peasant style,” was applied in the later sixteenth century to three- and
occasionally four-part compositions belonging to the light secular genres.
244
By the early
seventeenth century, when printed examples of pieces alla spagnola appear with some
regularity, the term was considered “old-fashioned.”
245
The canzonetta, a new genre ca.
1580, was characteristically in four parts and combined frequent homorhythmic passages
with short, simple imitative segments.
246
These stylistic features of the canzonetta genre
were promptly absorbed by the three-part villanella, so that in the early seventeenth century

Giuliani, ed., I quattro libri di canzonette, madrigali e arie alla romana: per cantare e suonare con il
chitarrone o spinetta del Radesca di Foggia, organista della Metropolitana di Torino (Lucca: Libreria
Musicale Italiana, 2000), xxiv. In reference to Radesca’s use of the rubric “alla romana,” Giuliani notes that
“Independentemente dalla connotazione tipicamente geografica o linguistica, essa fa riferimento senza dubbio
ad una nuova consuetudine di prassi esecutiva e di stile che la ben nota, seppur tardiva, teztimonianza di
Vincenzo Giustiniani ci delinea con sufficiente chiarezza” (Independently of the typical geographical or
linguistic connotation, [alla romana] undoubtedly refers to a new tradition of performance practice and style
that is well outlined, albeit late, by Vincenzo Giustiniani’s document). Giuliani notes that the first appearance
of the rubric in a frontispiece, specifically in regard to style, is in Orazio Scaletta’s Vilanelle alla romana a 3 .
. . libro primo (Venice: Amadino, 1590). In the dedication, Scaletta indicates that “alla romana” signified that
“queste Vilanelle a Tre voci [sono] secondo l’uso di Roma composte” (these three-part villanelle are
composed in the Roman style).
243
According to Donna Cardamone, the shift from villanesca to villanella occurs ca. 1555. Donna
Cardamone, “Forme musicali e metriche della canzone villanesca e della villanella alla napolitana,” Rivista
Italiana di Musicologia 12, no. 1 (1977): 27, 47.
244
Considered “light” due to the literary character of their texts, which in turn corresponded to their musical
style. See Ruth DeFord, “Musical Relationships between the Italian Madrigal and Light Genres in the
Sixteenth Century,” Musica Disciplina 39 (1985): 112-13.
245
John Whenham, Duet and Dialogue in the Age of Monteverdi (Ann Arbor: UMI Press, 1982), 119.
246
DeFord, “Musical Relationships,” 117.
87
both terms are used interchangeably to designate three-part compositions.
247
The use of
these terms for musical settings of Spanish texts was interchangeable, with no precise
meaning regarding form or structure. This interchangeability also occurs in other early
seventeenth-century musical genres, such as the strophic duets with basso continuo.
248
In
the context of this study I will refer to these compositions with the term villanella
spagnola, acknowledging any contrasting nomenclature.
The use of the spagnola rubric seems dependent on a number of variables, ranging
from implied musical style to geography, language, and an interest in increasing sales of a
publication.
249
Girolamo Montesardo, for example, used it in the title of his printed
collection I lieti giorni di Napoli: concertini italiani in aria Spagnuola à due, e tre voci
(1612).
250
The collection contains solo madrigals, dialogues, and two- and three-part
canzonette, although it contains no items in Spanish and the only feature that may be
interpreted as Spanish is the addition of guitar alfabeto.
251
Montesardo, a Neapolitan, is
best known for his guitar tutor Nuova inventione d’intavolatura (1606), the first printed

247
DeFord, “Musical Relationships,” 118. In describing Luza Marenzio’s three-voice villanelle ca. 1585,
DeFord observes “the texture is predominantly homophonic, with the principal melody in the top voice. In
most pieces a homorhythmic opening gives way to light contrapuntal effects in one or more later sections
without compromising the melodic integrity of the top voice. Each poetic line is set as a complete phrase,
only occasionally broken into shorter segments with rests or repetitions of partial lines.” Ruth DeFord,
“Marenzio and the villanella alla romana,” Early Music 27, no. 4 (1999): 538-39.
248
See Whenham, Duet and Dialogue, 120-21.
249
The use of alla in the alla spagnola rubric appears arbitrary, without relevance to form, style, or even
nomenclature.
250
I lieti giorni di Napoli: concertini italiani in aria Spagnuola à due, e tre voci con le lettere dell’Alfabeto
per la Chitarra (Naples: Gardano & Nuci, 1612). The volume is dedicated to the Spanish viceroy in Naples,
Pedro Fernández de Castro (1560-1622), viceroy starting in 1608.
251
Montesardo omits the alla spagnola rubric when referring to the guitar in I lieti giorni di Napoli, although
he uses chitarra spagnuola in his 1606 guitar tutor. The tutor, however, was printed in Florence, whereas I
lieti giorni di Napoli was published in Naples (1612), so presumably the use of the rubric was unnecessary.
The three two-part canzonette, “Le vaghe ninfe (pp. 14-15), “O colli, ò monti” (pp. 34-35), and Ecco Filena
bella” (p. 40). are stylistically similar to those by Radesca, with the notable addition of alfabeto. “Chi puo
mirarvi” (p. 16) is set as a solo aria with basso continuo, although it is written in the homophonic style of the
duets. All the two-part and most three-part canzonette have alfabeto symbols added to both the highest voice
and the texted bass, which suggests an alternative to perform the three-voice pieces as basso seguente duets.
88
collection of solo five-course guitar music, and also the first to add rhythmic figurations to
the guitar’s alfabeto notation that had been in use in southern Italy for nearly two
decades.
252
Dinko Fabris has suggested that the term in aria spagnola could be an
interpretation, for the purpose of attracting more buyers, of the Roman-Neapolitan style of
song known as arie alla romana.
253

The situation is the same in Orazzio Giaccio’s Armoniose voci, canzonette in aria
spagnola, et italiana, a tre voci (1613).
254
The only similarity between these two sources is
the relatively early use of alfabeto.
255
Keith Larson mentions the presence of a canzonetta
with a text partially in Spanish in Giuseppe Biffi’s Della ricreatione di Posilipo (1606).
256
I
have been unable to examine this source, but the volume’s inventory in Il nuovo Vogel lists
a four-part canzonetta alla spagnola entitled “Un spagnoletto un giorno al suo bel sole,”
suggesting an Italian composition in mixed language (perhaps similar to “Quiero asomarme

252
It is also the first print to add an explanatory chart for the alfabeto symbols, likely a consequence of being
printed in Florence and intended for a public less familiar with this notation than they must have been in the
southern part of Italy, where it originates. See Gavito, “The Alfabeto Song,” 89; Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar
and its Music, 32-33.
253
Dinko Fabris, “Le notti a Fiorenza i giorni a Napoli,” in Giulia Veneziano, ed., Rime e Suoni alla
Spagnola: Atti della Giornata Internazionale di Studi sulla Chitarra Barocca, Firenze, Biblioteca
Riccardiana, 7 febbraio 2002 (Florence: Alinea, 2003): 26.
254
Armoniose voci, canzonette in aria spagnola, et italiana, a tre voci. di Oratio Giaccio, libro primo
(Naples: Giovanni Iacomo Carlino, 1613). Reprinted twice by Giovanni Battista Gargano & Matteo Nuci, in
1618 and in 1620, but only the 1620 copy survives. The volume contains alfabeto but no songs in Spanish.
255
In addition to the prints by Montesardo (1612) and Giaccio (1613), only three printed collections of vocal
music before 1616 include alfabeto: Giovanni Kapsperger’s Libro primo di villanelle (Rome: 1610), Orfeo,
Musiche de’ diverse autori (Venice: B. Magni, 1613), and Girolamo Marinoni’s Il libro primo de motetti a
una voce (Venice: 1614). Giaccio does not add alfabeto to any of the vocal lines, instead reproducing the song
texts in alfabeto song format following the staff notation. Bernardino Borlasca’s Canzonette a tre voci
(Venice: G. Vincenti, 1611), cited in the inventories by Gavito, “The Alfabeto song,” 176, Nina Treadwell,
“The chitarra spagnola and Italian Monody” (M.A. Thesis, University of Southern California, 1995): 89; and
Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 96, does not contain any alfabeto. Its cover page, however,
indicates the contents are appropriate to be sung to the “chitariglia alla spagnuola,” among other instruments,
“as it is done in the Roman court.”
256
Della Ricreatione di Posilipo a Tre, à Quattro, et à Cinque voci, con vn Madrigale à sei nel fine,
artificioso. Di Gioseppe Biffi da Cesena. Libro Primo (Naples: Gio. Battista Sotile, 1606). The publication is
dedicated to Luigi Caietano d’Aragonia “Duca di Traietto.” The canzonetta alla spagnola à 4 “Un
spagnoletto un giorno al suo bel sole” is on pp. 28-29. The only surviving copy, in I-Bc, is incomplete (only
canto, alto, and tenor parts survive).
89
a la celogía” in manuscripts E-Szayas A.IV.8, I-Fl Ashb 791, and I-Fr 2774; see Chapter
2).
257
As indicated by these sources, it seems clear that in no instance is the use of the alla
spagnola rubric referring to actual Spanish music originating in the Iberian Peninsula.
258

Early examples
Massimo Troiano’s Il quarto libro delle sue rime & canzoni alla napolitana a tre
voci con vn’aria alla spagnuola a quattro voci (1569) includes, as the title indicates, a four-
part composition in Spanish, one of the earliest examples of an aria alla spagnola.
259
The
poem set by Troiano is “Oh, pasos esparcidos,” a Spanish translation of Petrarch’s sonnet
“O, passi sparsi.” The sonnet by Petrarch had become popular in the early sixteenth century
thanks to a four-part setting by Sebastiano Festa. Festa’s setting appeared in several printed
collections beginning in 1526, especially in lute, and four-course guitar collections.
260

257
Larson, “The Unaccompanied Madrigal,” 113n254; Emil Vogel, Alfred Einstein, François Lesure, and
Claudio Sartori, eds., Il nuovo Vogel: Bibliografia della musica italiana vocale profana pubblicata dal 1500
al 1700 (Pomezia: Standerini-Minkoff, 1977), 230-31 (no. 396).
258
Dinko Fabris has associated these three publications with the festivals common in Naples during the
summer known as spassi di Posillipo, a customary ride by boat or carriage from Naples to neighboring
Posillipo popular among Neapolitan nobles, and which coincided with the holidays for harvest and vindemia.
See Fabris, “Music In Seventeenth-century Naples: Francesco Provenzale 1624-1704” (Aldershot: Ashgate,
2007), 6-8. See also John H. Marino, Becoming Neapolitan: Citizen Culture in Baroque Naples (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011), 85.
259
Venice: Girolamo Scotto, 1569.
260
Festa’s four-part villanella appears in Libro primo de la croce (Rome: Pasoti and Dorico, 1526), no. 4.
Instrumental settings include those found in Pierre Attaingnant, ed., Chansons musicales a quatre parties
(Paris: Attaingnant, 1533) “O passi sparsi;” Gregoire Brayssing, Quart Livre de Tabulature de Guiterre
(Paris: Le Roy & Ballard, 1553), fols. 15r-16r: “O Passi sparsy;” Albert de Rippe, Cinquiesme Livre de
Tabulature de Leut (Paris: Michel Fezandat, 1555), fols. 13r-16r: “O Passi sparsi” (attributed to Constantinus
Festa); Rippe, Tiers Livre de Tabelature de Luth (Paris: Le Roy & Ballard, 1562), fols. 2r-3r: “O passi sparsi”
(=1555); Pierre Phalèse and Jean Bellère, eds., Selectissima, Elegantissimaque, Gallica, Italica et Latina in
Guiterna Ludenda Carmina (Antwerp, Phlèse & Bellère, 1570), fols. 8r-9r: “O passi sparsy” (=1553); Pierre
Phalèse and Jean Bellère, eds., Thesaurus Musicus (Antwerp, Phlèse & Bellère, 1574). See Howard Mayer
Brown, Instrumental Music before 1600: A Bibliography (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965). There
is a 12-voice setting of the same text by Andrea Gabrieli in Concert di Andrea, et di Gio: Gabrieli (Venice:
A. Gardano, 1587). The Spanish vihuelist Diego Pisador included an intabulation of the song under the title
Cancion Francesa Sparsi sparcium a4 in the seventh part of his Libro de Musica de Vihuela (1552), fol. 92v.
The heading for the Seventh book is “Libro Séptimo que trata de villanescas a tres y a quatro bozes, y dellas
las tres tañidas, y la otra boz cantada por de fuera. Y canciones Francesas” (Seventh book, which consists of
90
Troiano’s setting is musically unrelated to Festa’s, and its musical style is very similar to
the other three-part Neapolitan canzoni in Troiano’s print. A bipartite musical structure sets
the first quatrain of the sonnet, dividing the verses evenly into a duple-time section that is
static harmonically and declamatory in its rhythmic profile, followed by a triple-time
section that sets the remaining two verses in a faster, dance-like rhythm. The simple
homophonic setting offers no distinguishable rhythmic or melodic profile, motivic or
polyphonic interplay. The words of the remaining verses of the sonnet are printed at the
bottom of the page in each of the part-books, calling for a strophic performance of the
piece. No instructions are given about how to fit the remaining verses of the sonnet
(4+4+3+3 verses) into the musical framework (see Musical Example 3.1).

three- and four-part villanescas, and of those in which three parts are played [by instruments] and the
remaining part is sung; and also containing French chansons).
91
Musical Example 3.1. Massimo Troiano, “Oh, pasos esparcidos.”

Troiano’s Quarto libro is the first publication in the second half of the sixteenth
century to include a song in Spanish within a collection that otherwise consists of
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
O passos esparzidos
Massimo Troiano
Rime di Salamon; Vsq; di Massimo Troiano
Canto
[Alto]
Tenore
[Basso]
9
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3
3
3
3
18
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c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
&
b
Oh
B
pa ssos - es par - zi - dos, - oh cui da - dos, - oh cos tan - te - me-
&
b
Oh
B
pa ssos - es par - zi - dos, - oh cui da - dos, - oh cos tan - te - me-
&
‹
b
Oh
?
pa ssos - es par - zi - dos, - oh cui da - dos, - oh cos tan - te - me-
?
b
Oh
?
pa ssos - es par - zi - dos, - oh cui da - dos, - oh cos tan - te - me-
&
b
mo ria,_oh_ar - dor - tan fie ro, - oh de sseo - fuor te,_oh - co ra - çón - sin -
&
b
mo ria,_oh_ar - dor - tan fie ro, - oh des seo - fuor te,_oh - co ra - çón - sin -
&
‹
b
mo ria,_oh_ar - dor - tan fie ro, - oh des seo - fuor te,_oh - co ra - çón - sin -
?
b
mo ria_oh_ar - dor - tan fie ro, - oh des seo - fuor te,_oh - co ra - çón - sin -
&
b
ce ro, - oh o jos, - o jos - no fuon tes - tor na - dos. - dos.
&
b
ce ro, - oh o jos, - o jos - no fuon tes - tor na - dos. - dos.
&
‹
b
ce ro, - oh o jos, - o jos - no fuon tes - tor na - dos. - - dos.
?
b
ce ro, - oh o jos, - o jos - no fuon tes - tor na - dos. - dos.
w
˙
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w W
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92
Neapolitan villanelle.
261
The reasons for doing so are unknown. Troiano, a Neapolitan, was
part of what Donna Cardamone considered a “new generation of villanella composers,”
whose output was printed between 1560 and 1570.
262
As early as 1559 Troiano had
petitioned the Milanese senate for a privilege to print his Neapolitan songs.
263
According to
Dinko Fabris and John Griffiths, prior to his engagement as an alto singer in Munich,
Troiano had been employed by the Spanish governor in Milan.
264
His works eventually
were printed in Venice, although by the time the Quarto libro was printed in 1569, Troiano
served Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria in Munich. In the title page of his first two volumes of
canzoni alla napolitana Troiano referred to himself as Massimo Troiano “di Corduba da
Napoli.”
265
The inclusion of “Oh, pasos esparcidos,” however, could have been motivated
by his acclaimed performance in role of the Spaniard “Don Diego de Mendoza” in the
improvised commedia for the 1568 wedding celebrations in Munich (see Chapter 1), or by
the success of Troiano’s published account of those festivities.
266
The presence of “Oh,
pasos esparcidos” in Troiano’s collection of Neapolitan villanelle seems to have been

261
A few secular vocal music collections by Spanish composers were printed in Italy in the sixteenth century,
for example, Francisco Guerrero’s Canciones y villanescas espirituales (Venice, 1589), and Mateo Flecha’s Il
primo libro de madrigali a quatro et cinque voci (Venice: Antonio Gardano, 1568). Flecha’s collection of
madrigals in Italian includes one five-part piece titled “Ay de mí, qué’n tierra agena,” identified as a
villancico spagnuolo. This composition is not a villanella or villancico, but a madrigal, like the other pieces in
the volume.
262
Donna Cardamone, The canzone villanesca alla napolitana and Related Forms: 1537-1570, 2 vols. (Ann
Arbor: UMI, 1981), 1:29.
263
The petition is dated 7 June 1559. A letter of introduction, by Marc’Antonio Caimo, accompanied the
document. See Cardamone, The canzone villanesca, 30
264
Cosimo Bottegari, Il libro di canto e liuto. Facsimile edition by Dinko Fabris and John Griffiths (Bologna:
Arnaldo Forni Editore, 2006); p. 13, n. 22. At the time of the petition the Spanish governor was Gonzalo
Fernández de Córdoba, third Duke of Sessa, who served two terms in that office: 1558-1560 and 1563-1564.
265
Primo et secondo libro delle canzoni alla napolitana (Venice: G. Scotto, 1568).
266
Troiano’s account was printed in Italian and Catalan, and was translated into Spanish by Juan de Miranda
as Dialoghi di Massimo Troiano [...] Tradotti nella lingua castigliana di Giovanni Miranda (Venice: Zaltieri,
1569). See Encarnación García Dini, “Los dialoghi di Massimo Troiano,” Scrittura e riscrittura. Traduzioni,
refundiciones, parodie e plagi: Atti del Convegno di Roma (Rome: Associazione Ispanisti Italiani, 1995), 11-
22.
93
intended to attract buyers, as suggested by how prominently it is featured on the title page
(Illustration 3.1).
Illustration 3.1. Title page of Troiano’s Il quarto libro delle sue rime (1569) (detail).

The next inclusion of a composition alla spagnola in a collection of Italian vocal
music takes place over twenty years later, in Giaches de Wert’s Il Primo libro delle
canzonette, villanelle, a cinque voci (1589).
267
Two villanelle spagnuole are included in the
volume, “De que sirven ojos morenos,” a setting of a poem by Lope de Vega,
268
and
“Nunca mucho costó poco.” Both settings are five-part compositions, an unusual format for
both contemporary villanelle and Spanish songs from the period.
269
I am aware of only one
other instance of a five-part villanella spagnola, in Giovanni Simone Ranieri’s Il Secondo
Libro delle villanelle a tre et a 4 voci con una villanella spagnola a5 (1617).
270
Wert’s
volume was dedicated to Eleonora de’ Medici Gonzaga (1567-1611) in celebration of the

267
Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle a cinque voci (Venice: Angelo Gardano, 1589); modern edition
in Carol MacClintock, ed., with Melvin Burnstein, Wert: Collected Works (Rome: American Institute of
Musicology, 1961- ), XIV, 51-52.
268
José Manuel Blecua, ed., Lope de Vega: Obras poéticas (Barcelona: Planeta, 1989).
269
Five- and six-part villanelle make an appearance in the late 1560s as arrangements of three-part villanelle.
By the 1570s such compositions were “as a rule substantially longer and more complex.” Eventually the term
“canzone” becomes the common name for these lighter five- and six-part compositions. See DeFord,
“Musical Relationships,” 114-15.
270
Il Secondo Libro delle villanelle a tre et a 4 voci con una villanella spagnola a 5 nel fine; ed altriune arie
da cantar solo, di Gio. Simone Renieri musico nella regia cappella in Napoli (Naples: Gio. Battista Gargano e
Lucretio Nucci, 1617). This volume is not listed in Vogel/Sartori. I have been unable to access a copy of this
publication.
94
recent birth of her two sons Francesco and Ferdinando. According to Carol MacClintock,
the works in this collection “are sophisticated versions of the more rustic villanella
napoletana; they are madrigalesque and elegant, with crudities of the older form
transformed into subtleties, vulgarities into allusions.”
271
She notes that the repertoire in
Wert’s collection is similar to that in Andrea Dragoni’s Primo libro delle villanelle à 5
(1588), and Ruggiero Giovanelli’s Primo libro delle villanelle et arie alla napoletana à 3
(1588), which share various texts and melodies, although the treatment of the material is
different.
272
The inclusion of three villanelle francesi, and one villanella greca, in addition
to the items in Spanish, sets this volume apart from similar collections of the period,
however.
273
MacClintock identifies these compositions as French chansons, Spanish
villancicos and a Greek popular song. Their musical style is identical to Wert’s Italian
villanelle: bipartite form with an initial quasi-homophonic section followed by a
contrapuntal one based on short motives, occasional use of concertante texture between
low and high voices, and imitative polyphony.
274
The presence of these pieces within the
collection is not listed in the title page of the volume. Coincidentally, Wert, like Troiano,
had worked in Milan as maestro di cappella between the early 1560s and his move to
Mantua in 1565, during Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba’s second tenure as Spanish
governor in Milan.

271
Carol MacClintock, Giaches de Wert (1535-1596): Life and Works ([n.p.]: American Institute of
Musicology, 1966), 122.
272
MacClintock, Giaches de Wert, 123.
273
“Jay trouue ce matin un nid,” “S'y ie t'avons donne m' amour,” and “Vn cuor ie me alloys quillant de
viollettes” in French; “Tis pyri pyr edamasse,” in Greek.
274
MacClintock, Giaches de Wert, 123-24.
95
The notated villanella spagnola in seventeenth-century printed sources
The inclusion of an occasional composition in Spanish becomes more common in
printed collections of Italian canzonette or villanelle during the first decade of the
seventeenth century. The three canzonette in Spanish published by Radesca di Foggia (see
Chapter 2) exhibit distinct stylistic characteristics, though they all fall within Radesca’s
simple style, a reduction from earlier homophonic three- and four- part canzonette
consisting of “largely homophonic and diatonic [sections] but contain[ing] points of
imitation ‘lightly touched’ [with] occasional chromaticism.”
275
The bipartite musical
structure of “Si vos pretendéis quererme,” in Radesca’s Secondo libro delle canzonette
(1606), mirrors the estribillo-and-coplas (refrain and stanzas) form of the text, an
octosyllabic letrilla (described in detail in Chapter 4). Each four-bar musical phrase of the
coplas section (measures 18-25) is an almost exact repetition of the opening four bars of the
estribillo; it is repeated thrice to accommodate each of the three six-line stanzas. The coplas
section is punctuated by a repetition of the second part of the refrain. The resulting form
does not effectively differentiate between sections of the text, which are perceived instead
as a succession of strophes (Musical Example 3.2).

275
Whenham, Duet and Dialogue, 107.
96
Musical Example 3.2. Radesca di Foggia, “Si vos pretendéis quererme.”

The music is closely related to the spagnoletta, a dance-song and instrumental court
dance, well known in Italy and Spain in the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
276
The
earliest independent song setting known of a spagnoletta is the four-part anonymous
composition “Stava la gentil dama,” found in an English manuscript known as the
“Winchester part-books,” copied between 1564 and 1566 in Antwerp.
277
The harmonic
formula of the spagnoletta was in use as early as 1557, as a fragment of Filippo Azzaiolo’s

276
Alfabeto settings of the spagnoletta appear regularly in manuscript and printed alfabeto solo guitar
collections and in the solo-guitar portions sometimes found in alfabeto song manuscripts beginning in 1599.
In the preface to Terpsichore (1612), Michael Praetorius observes that the spagnoletta originated in the
Netherlands (“Spagnoletta: Ist im Niederlande gemacht”). Michael Praetorius, Terpsichore, musarum
aoniarum quinta (Wolfenbüttel, 1612); modern edition with facsimile of the preface in Gunther Oberst, ed.,
Gesamtausgabe der musikalischen Werke von Michael Praetorius (Wolfenbüttel: Möseler Verlag, 1929), XV,
x. Juan Esquivel Navarro mentions it in his dance treatise Discursos sobre el arte del dançado (Seville: Juan
Gómez de Blas, 1642) as no longer in regular use, though still danced occasionally in royal settings in Spain
(fol. 38r). According to Esses, the spagnoletta is still mentioned in Spanish plays in the early eighteenth
century. See Esses, Dance and Instrumental Diferencias, 1:503, 630-33.
277
Winchester College, Warden and Fellows’ Library, MS 153, fols. 7v-8. See Cardamone, “Prince of
Salerno,” 90, 92-94. This piece is one of only two compositions in Spanish in the collection, which contains
107 madrigals and villanelle. See Kristine Forney, “A Gift of Madrigals and Chansons: The Winchester Part
Books and the Courtship of Elizabeth I by Erik XIV of Sweden,” Journal of Musicology 17, no. 1 (1999): 50-
75.
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
Enrico Radesca di Foggia
Secondo libro di canzonette...1606
Sy vos pretendeys quererme
©Daniel Zuluaga, 2009
Canzonetta spagnola, qui scritta à gusto d'un Cavaliero
™
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D.S.
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[Canto]
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Si vos pre ten - déis - que rer - me, - que re - ros - e siem pre - yo,
?
b [Basso]
3
Si vos pre ten - déis - que rer - me, - que re - ros - e siem pre - yo,
&
b
%
y si no, no, no, no, no, no, no, y si no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
[Fine]
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b
y si no, no, no, y si no, no, no.
&
b
[Copla]
1.Que
co
Si_el
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a
mo_a
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bien
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hé
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me
un
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toy.
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b
[No bass text]
2. Padezer sin esperar
Ni[n]gun'Amante lo quiera
Puis con el bien que s'espera
Un dolor se ha da passar
Sy en Amor pensays pagar
Quereros e siempre yo
Y sy no no no...
3. La primiera vez que os vi
Señora sy os acordays
Muy faborecido fui
De a questo que me negays
Que reros e sy me days,
Lo que allí se me mostró
Y sy no no no...
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97
“Da l'horto se ne vien la vilanella.”
278
It can also be found as an instrumental composition
for lute in Fabritio Caroso’s dance treatise Il ballarino (1581). Caroso’s two settings of the
dance use exactly the same harmonic-metric scheme used by Cesare Negri (Cm: ||: i-VII-
IV-[ ]-IV-VII-IV :||: IV-i-VII-[VII]-i-V-i :||: i-V-IV-V-i).
279
The use of the spagnoletta in
Radesca’s “Si vos pretendéis quererme” probably occurred in response to the direct request
of a patron; I have been unable to find any other examples in Radesca’s duets that make
such clear use of a dance form.
280

Illustration 3.2. Spagnoletta. I-Fr 2804, fol. 10v.

278
Il primo libro de villotte alla padoana con alcune napolitane a quatro voci intitolate Villotte del fiore.
(Venice: Gardano, 1557-58). See Lawrence Moe, “Dance Music in Printed Italian Lute Tablatures from 1507
to 1607” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University, 1956): 276-77.
279
Fols. 163r-164r in Caroso (1581), and pp. 116-17 in Negri (1602). Caroso’s Il ballarino was reprinted and
expanded in 1600 as Nobiltà di dame. Modern edition by Julia Sutton, ed., Courtly dance of the Renaissance
(New York: Dover Publications, 1995). See also Esses, Dance, 1:630-33.
280
The heading for the piece reads Canzonetta spagnola, qui scritta à gusto d’vn Caualiero.
98
Musical example 3.3. Spagnoletta.
I-Fr 2804, rendered in basso continuo notation.

“Que sean las mujeres inconstantes,” in Radesca’s terzo libro (1607), is a very
different type of setting. It is characterized by a free, declamatory section and static bass in
the opening measures, and a slow rate of harmonic change. A short imitative section,
beginning in measure 13, functions as a mechanism to build up climax towards the cadence
at measure 17. The third section changes meter from duple to triple for the line of text
“pues d’engaño y de mudanza” (of deception and fickleness). By means of a very brief
imitative triple-time section, Radesca emphasizes both words, switching back to duple time
at the end of the line for a cadence, where the text reads “llenas son” (full they are). Each
section is repeated, but the piece is effectively through-composed (Musical Example 3.4).

Spagnoletta
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[Basso Continuo]
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˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
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99
Musical Example 3.4. Radesca di Foggia, “Que sean las mujeres inconstantes.”

The text is an alternation of eleven- and seven-syllable lines, with no additional
stanzas, and no different texts for the repetitions noted in each part. There are deliberate
harmonic changes between C major and A minor that serve to illustrate the text. Compared
to “Si vos pretendéis quererme,” “Que sean las mujeres inconstanes” is more contrapuntal
in its writing, probably a reflection of the text. It is not labeled canzonetta spagnola, unlike
Radesca’s two other pieces in Spanish, which could be a further indication of a different
compositional approach. The piece is dedicated to Emanuele Filiberto Rovara, Count of
°
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Anonymous
Radesca...Il Terzo libro...1616[?]
Que sean las mugeres
L'instabilità delle donne. D'incierto. All'Illustriss. Sig. Conte di Rovigliasco
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Que
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se an, - que se an - las mu je - res - in cos - tan - tes, - -
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se an, - que se an - las mu je - res - in cos - tan - tes, - -
&
es vi cio - na tu - ral, - es vi cio - na tu - ral. - Ya vi vo - cier to - que no tien,
?
es vi cio - na tu - ral, - es vi cio - na tu - ral. - Ya vi vo - cier to - que no
&
que no tien, que no tie ne_el - mun do - co sa - más va ria - ble - o men ti - ro - sa, -
?
tien, que no tie ne_el - mun do - co sa - más va riab - ble - o men ti - ro - sa, -
&
∑ ∑
pues d'en ga - ño_y - de mu dan - za,_y - de
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pues d'en ga - ño_y - de mu dan - za,_y - de mu dan - za,_y - de
&
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100
Rovigliasco, who wrote the dedication to Carlo Emanuele I, Duke of Savoy, in Giovanni
Battista Marino’s Il ritratto del serenissimo Don Carlo Emanuelle Duca di Savoia,
panegirico del cavalier Marino (1608).
281

“Si de los ojos nace,” from Radesca’s Quarto libro (1610) is a straightforward
example of his simpler song-like style, similar to “Si vos pretendéis quererme.”
282
The
poem is also a letrilla.
283
Labeled canzonetta spagnola, it is set entirely in duple meter. Its
musical structure consists of two unlabeled, distinct musical sections that correspond to the
poetic form (estribillo and coplas). Each section contains an internal repetition that clearly
articulates the individual phrases. The phrases are short, set syllabically except for two
passing notes in measure 3 in the top voice. Phrase two, beginning in measure 4, is
considerably longer than the others. It includes a short imitative passage between the
voices, quickly falling back into homophonic writing in measure 6 for the remainder of the
song. This phrase could be subdivided into two, separating the imitative section (measures
4-9) from the cadential homophonic section (measures 10-15). There are no shifts of
harmony and all cadences are closely related to G minor. The music for the coplas mirrors
the poetic structure of the text. Both couplets of the four-verse strophe are set to the same
three-measure phrase; the music for the two verses of the vuelta incorporates measures 16-
17 as the antecedent and measures 3-4 as the consequent phrase, which ties into the return

281
Girolamo de Miranda, “Giambattista Marino, Virginio Orsini e Tommaso Melchiorri in materiali
epistolari inediti e dimenticati,” Quaderni d’italianistica 14 (1993): 24.
282
This text was also set by Joan Brudieu in his book of madrigals (1585). Brudieu sets only the estribillo
and the first copla in the through-composed, bipartite style of the madrigals in late sixteenth century.
Brudieu’s volume is dedicated to Prince Carlo Emanuele I (1562-1630), Duke of Savoy (1580-1630): this
could have been Radesca’s source for an otherwise obscure poem. Joan Brudieu, De los madrigales del muy
reverendo Ioan Brudieu (Barcelona: Hubert Gotard, 1585); modern edition by Felipe Pedrell and Higini
Ángles (Barcelona: Istitut d’estudis catalans, 1927).
283
The refrain is in the form of seguidillas (alternating heptasyllabic and pentasyllabic lines), whereas the
coplas consist of a redondilla menor (a hexasyllabic quatrain), followed by two verses of enlace and vuelta
that transition back to the esitribillo. See Chapter 4 for a detailed discussion of the poetic form.
101
to phrase two of the estribillo. The resulting musical form is a repeated alternation of the
music for the two sections in an estribillo-copla-estribillo fashion.
284
Radesca’s setting of
this letrilla reflects a subtle understanding of the formal nuances found in the poetic form,
and, despite its unpretentiousness it is, to quote John Whenham, “imaginative and well
made.”
285

Musical Example 3.5. Radesca di Foggia, “Si de los ojos nace.”

Brevity and a song-like quality characterize the three Radesca’s duets examined so
far, although these features are also typical of his settings of Italian poetry. As noted by

284
Judith Etzion, Cancionero de la Sablonara (London: Tamesis Books, 1996), xliii.
285
Whenham, Duet and Dialogue, 110.
°
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Enrico Radesca di Foggia
Il Qvarto libro delle Canzonette
Venice: G. Vincenti, 1610
Si de los ojos naçe
Canzonetta spagnola
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Si
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de los o jos - na çe - ver y de se - ar: - ¿Pa ra - qué quie ro -
?
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&
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o jos, - pa ra - qué quie ro - o jos, - pa ra - qué quie ro - o jos - si me_han de ma ttar, -
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ra qué quie ro - o jos, - o jos, - pa ra - qué quie ro - o jos - si me_han de ma ttar, -
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si me_han de ma ttar, - pa ra - qué quie ro - o jos - si me_han de ma ttar? - [tar?]
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102
Whenham, their scoring for high voice and bass, and their simple, syllabic style of writing
emphasize the melodic interest in the upper voice, which facilitates their performance as
solo songs.
286
This sets Radesca’s compositions apart from earlier Italian settings of
Spanish poetry such as those written by Wert.
The stylistic traits of Radesca’s canzonette spagnole are shared by a significant
number of the early seventeenth-century examples of villanelle spagnole that survive in
staff notation. The largest collection of these is found in a publication by Benedetto
Sanseverino, a composer best known (like Montesardo) for a guitar tutor, Intavolatura
facile delli passacalli (1620). Sanseverino’s El segvndo libro de los ayres, villançicos, y
cancioncillas a la española, y italiana (1616) contains twelve duets in Spanish, all notated
for soprano (C1 clef) and bass (see Chapter 2).
287
They can be grouped in two main types:
purely strophic songs (nos. 5, 6, 9, 10, 11) and those in sectional bipartite form (nos. 1, 2, 3,
4, 7, 8, 12), following the estribillo and coplas structure of their texts (see Appendix 2).
The strophic musical structure is akin to that found in contemporary canzonette and
villanelle, although the stanzas consist of more characteristically Spanish hexasyllabic or
octosyllabic quatrains.
288
Both types of songs display nearly identical characteristics: a lack
of textural complexity, relatively short length, regular alternation between homophonic and
short imitative passages, and submission to poetic meter without much rhythmic subtlety in
the music or declamatory gestures. Sanseverino’s compositions fall into the general
category of light secular genres, yet they differ from Radesca’s compositions and the

286
Whenham, Duet and Dialogue, 104-105.
287
“No me quejo yo del daño” is listed in the table of contents as a two-voice composition but it is scored for
three voices.
288
The five nine-verse stanzas in “Los ojos con que miré,” are, nonetheless, structured around the redondilla
form. Strophic poetic forms are far less common in Spanish musical cancioneros.
103
villanella style in the varying length of these imitative passages, which can be up to ten
measures long (see Music Examples 3.6 and 3.7).
Musical Example 3.6. (Long Imitation): Sanseverino (1616), “Pasados contentamientos.”

Musical Example 3.7. Sanseverino (1616), “Olvidada sois de mí” (estribillo only).

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1. Passados contentamientos
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Ayre. Y aunque Señora no vy
La carte que renuncié.
Moriré.

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Del pnnto que me dañaua
Y aquel que por ti jugaua
Ganome el proprio majar.
Ayre. Iuguè de mano y seruy
Con al punto que quedè.
Moriré.
Copla. Tu Señora que mirauas
El punto de mi contrario
En este juego tan vario
Ganaste quanto apostauas.
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104
Six villanelle in Spanish were included in the first two volumes of solo canzonette
issued by Giovanni Stefani in Venice in 1618 and 1619 (see Chapter 2), which share some
similarities to the compositions by Radesca and Sanseverino, but also have important
differences. The most significant difference is all the villanelle spagnole published by
Stefani are scored for solo voice and basso continuo. Alfabeto is added above the vocal
part, which makes the layout closer to the one used in Sanseverino’s 1616 print. The
strophic song “Ay, que contento,” in Stefani’s Affetti amorosi (1618), consists of a
homophonic section (measures 1-13) that is contrasted with a repeated-note pattern that
suggests semi-declamatory ideas despite the poor text setting (see Musical Example 3.8).
There are no short points of imitation, although the melodic gesture in the vocal part in
measures 8-11, to the text “que en el alma,” implies such an interplay between the parts.
This interplay is also suggested by the text underlay of the word “alma” in measure 8-10,
which is incomplete the first time it appears (“al-”), as if the beginning of the line is
followed by another voice in imitation. This exact procedure is used, for instance, in
Radesca’s “Que sean las mujeres inconstantes” (Musical Example 3.4, measures 14-16).
This interplay suggests that the source of Stefani’s setting may have been a basso seguente
duet, which in turn would explain the presence of duet markings in a partially concordant
alfabeto song setting in I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200. “Vuestra belleza señora,” the other song in
Spanish in Stefani’s Affetti, is structured to accomodate estribillo and coplas sections in a
manner that resembles Radesca’s “Si vos pretendéis quererme,” that is, with a coplas
section based on the melodic and harmonic material of the estribillo. Its smooth melodic
contour is characterized by a series of repeated notes that only move with the harmony. It is
unusual as a non-declamatory pattern, echoing both harmonically and melodically the
initial phrase of the spagnoletta harmonic-metric scheme.
105
Musical Example 3.8. Stefani (1618), “Ay que contento.”

The musical style of the four villanelle in Stefani’s Scherzi amorosi (1619) is
similar to that of the two compositions in Affetti amorosi. “No partáis mi dulce vida” is a
strophic poem set to the harmonic-metric scheme and tune of the folia dance pattern.
289

289
The text of “No partáis mi dulce vida,” with a heading that reads “Cançión sobre las folias,” is presented
on the facing page of the song “Alma mia dove ten vai,” a composition entitled “aria della folia. “Ohime che
far degg’io” (p. 18) is subject to the same treatment with an additional text, “Ecco, che pur al fine” (p. 19), to
be sung “sopra l’istessa Aria.”
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
Anonymous
3
3
Ay que contento
Amante Felice. Vilanella Spagnola

8

14

21

28

&
b
B
©Daniel Zuluaga, 2006
[Canto]
Ay,
G
que
A
con
D
ten
H
-
B
to,
G
- Ay,
H
que
B
con
C
ten
M
-
G
-
?
b [Basso]
&
b
to,
H
- que_en
G
el' al,
B
que_en
M
el' al
O B
ma - sien
C
to,
A
- que_en
E
el' al ma
H
- sien
B
to,
G
-
?
b
&
b
des
O
pués - que_a mor - qui
C
so, - con dar
F
me_a - vi
B
- so, - li brar - me - de in
G
fier -
A
no
B
- y
?
b
&
b
dar me - des can
G
- so_en
H
- su
G
pa
B
raí
G
- so. - Que
G
se a, - que se
O
a - la
?
b
&
b
vi da,
C
- la vi
M
da - se gu - ra_y
H
- e
C
ter -
A
na, - se
D
gu
H
- ra_y - e ter
B
-
G
na. -
?
b
Source: Affetti amorosi
Canzonette ad vna voce sola
Raccolte da Giovanni Stefani.
Venezia, A. Vincenti 1618.
[1.] Ay que contento
Que e ne l’alma siento
Despues que amor quiso
con darme auiso
librarme de infierno
Y darme descanso
en su parayso
Que sea la vida
segura y eterna.
2. Ay que alegria:
Siente esta alma mia,
De uerme mudado
Muy en cunbrado
Tan alto y dichosso;
Que tengo de uerme
En mundo descanssado;
Idesta mudanza
Mas dura inuidiosa.
3. Ay que ventura
Gozzo, gozzo seguro,
Y e’l mar de mi burlando
Me andaua dexando,
Sentada en la rena,
Y agora enl puerto
Ya stoi descanssado;
Idesta mudanza
Mas dura inuidiosa.
Ó Ó
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w
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106
“Tres niñas me dan enojos,”
290
and “De mis tormentos y enojos,” are also strophic. The
latter is based on the tune of the spagnoletta, and is almost an exact copy of the refrain in
Radesca’s “Si vos pretendéis quererme.” The setting of the poem “¿Quien menoscaba mis
bienes?,” reprinted in alfabeto song format in Remigio Romano’s Terza raccolta (1622), is
in a declamatory style similar to Radesca’s “Que sean las mujeres inconstantes,” although it
exhibits a higher degree of refinement. This musical setting matches some of the intricacies
of the poetic form, known as ovillejo. Each ten-line stanza of the poem consists of two
sections: the first part comprises six verses grouped into three distinct pairs, each pair
consisting of one octosyllabic verse followed by a trisyllabic one, functioning together as
question and answer; the initial six-verse group is then followed by a quatrain of
octosyllabic verses (a redondilla). The final verse in the stanza consists of the three three-
syllable verses put together. In Stefani’s setting each short three-syllable verse in the first
part of the stanza is repeated, which emphasizes the question-and-answer structure, and
effectively punctuates each pairing. At the same time, however, this repetition
approximates the syllable count of the shorter verses to that of the longer ones in each pair,
eliminating the poetic form’s characteristic truncation. The change in key signature
(measure 13) suggests a division of the musical form into two larger sections, but this
musical division is in disagreement with the the poetic division of the stanza (which occurs
after the three pairs of verses). The entire setting is strophic.

290
No concordances exist for this song, but the text is found in NL-DHk 72J46 with the copla “En aquesos
ojos bellos,” and in I-Rvat Bonc. M.18.
107
Musical Example 3.9. Stefani (1619), “¿Quién menoscaba mis bienes?”

Despite the absence of additional musical concordances, it is possible to speculate
that perhaps half of Stefani’s villanelle spagnole could have been basso seguente duets,
which Stefani modified into solo arias with basso continuo. This notion is supported by
numerous examples from the Italian canzonetta repertoire, where the high-voice-and-bass
duet texture is used frequently, accompanied by indications to perform the vocal bass part
on continuo instruments.
291
Stylistically, there is little to differentiate the vocal part of any
of Stefani’s songs from the compositions by Radesca or Sanseverino. In both cases, the

291
For example, the bass lines of “O mio core che novello” and “Ohime che far degg’io,” in Stefani’s Scherzi
Amorosi, also resemble basso seguente bass parts in their homorhythm adherence to the high vocal part.
Radesca indicates on the title pages of his canzonette collections the flexibility to perform the vocal bass line
on the theorbo or the spinet.
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
Anonymous
Quien menoscabas mis bienes
Pruebas de amor estrañas

8

17

24
™
™
™
™
™
™
™
™

c
c
c
c
&
B
[Canto]
¿Quién
A
me nos - ca
B
- ba - mis bie
C
nes?
A
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C
- nes,
+
- des
B
de
C
- nes.
A
- ¿Y
G
quién
?
[Basso]
&
au men
H
- ta - mis due
B
los?
G
- Los ze
B
los,
E
- los
H B
ze
G
los. -
b
¿Y
H
quién prue
M
ba - mi pa cien
G
- cia?
H
- Au sen
G
- -
?
b
&
b
cia,
H
au
M
sen
G
- cia.
H
- De_es
G
te - mo do_en - mi do len
A
- cia
B
- nin gún - re me
O
- dio - se al
L
-
?
b
&
b
can
C
ça,
A
- pues
G
me ma
H
tan - la spe ran
B
- ça
G
- des
G
de
B
- nes, - ze
E
los - y au
H
sen
B
- cia.
G
U
-
?
b
[1.] Qvien menoscabas mis bienes?
Desdenes
Y quien aumenta mis duelos?
Los Zelos.
Y quien prueua mi paciencia?
Ausencia.
De este modo mi dolencia
Ningun remedio se alcança
Pues me matan la esperança
Desdenes, zelos y ausencia.
[2.] Quien me causa este dolor?
Amor.
Y quien mi gloria repuna?
Fortuna.
Y quien conzienze mi duelo?
El Cielo.
De este modo io recelo,
Morir de este mal estraño
Pues se aunan en mi danno
Amor, fortuna, y el Cielo.
Source: Scherzi amorosi Canzonette ad vna voce sola
raccolte da Giovanni Stefani. Libro Secondo
Venetia: A. Vincenti, 1622II
[3.] Quien me Ioraran mi suerte?
La muerte.
Y el bien de Amor quien le alcança?
Mudança.
Y sus males quien los cura?
Locura.
De este modo nos es coldura
Querer curar la passion
Quando los remedios son
Muerte, mudança y locura.
Ó
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108
melodic interest lies on the top voice, and the bass line functions to supply harmonic
support, and in most cases apt is to be played by a chordal instrument (as often suggested in
early seventeenth-century publications).
292

The villanella spagnola and the music in Spanish polyphonic cancioneros
The logical question that follows is: How do these villanelle spagnole differ from
the two-part pieces found in contemporary Spanish musical cancioneros? Describing what
the lost music for the opera La selva sin amor, composed for the Spanish court by Filippo
Piccinini in 1627, would have been like, Louise K. Stein draws on the style of a dance-song
written by Piccinini during his earlier tenure at the Savoy court to establish a comparison
between this and the style of contemporary Spanish songs at the Madrid court:
The style and texture of Piccinini’s published dance-song would not have been new
to the Spanish court. Most of the two-voice Spanish songs by court composers in the
early seventeenth-century cancioneros exhibit the same characteristics as the Italian
songs of popular inspiration: simple, clearly defined melodic phrases, a constant
rhythmic pattern (or dance rhythm), a lack of independence for the lower voice or
bass, and general homorhythm between the outer voices.
293

Stein is specifically comparing the high-voice-and-bass duet by Piccinini, “Fili gentil,
perché fuggi ogn’hora” (1610), to the few duets in contemporary sources written by
Spaniards, such as those found in the musical cancioneros I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14 (known as
“Cancionero de Turín”), D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2 (known as “Cancionero de la Sablonara”), and
to sections of Pedro Rimonte’s printed collection Parnaso español de madrigales, y

292
Whenham notes advertisement for at least three contemporary prints, including Brunetti’s Euterpe,
suggesting basso seguente duets could be performed by one or two voices. See Whenham, Duet and
Dialogue, 104-106.
293
Stein, Louise K., Songs of Mortals, Dialogues of the Gods: Music and Theatre in Seventeenth-Century
Spain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 195. Stein’s book also contains an organized brief description
of sources that includes the musical cancioneros examined in this chapter as well as several of the alfabeto
sources examined in Chapter 2. See Stein, Songs of Mortals, 354-60.
109
villancicos, a qvatro, cinco, y seys (1614).
294
In addition to the similarities noted by Stein,
these sources show important differences that may be used to distinguish between the
musical style of the villanella spagnola and that of the Spanish polyphonic cancioneros.
I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14 is a Spanish polyphonic music manuscript copied in the late
sixteenth century.
295
It contains forty-nine compositions by mostly anonymous Spanish
composers.
296
Typical for the period, the majority of pieces are for three voices, mainly
tiple, alto, and bassus. The ten duets in the collection present some unique characteristics
that set them apart from basso seguente duets. They are scored for a high voice (tiple) and a
middle voice (alto), or for two high voices.
297
In most instances the melodic contour of the
lower part functions as a bass line.
298
The resulting texture is compact and closely spaced,
which stands in contrast to the characteristic amplitude of the high-voice-and-bass duets.
Half of the duet settings are strophic, which is rare in other contemporary Spanish sources

294
Pedro Rimonte, Parnaso español de madrigales, y villancicos a qvatro, cinco, y seys (Antwerp: P.
Phalèse, 1614); modern edition by Pedro Calahorra Martínez (Zaragoza: Diputación de Zaragoza, 1980).
295
Modern edition by Miguel Querol Gavaldá, Cancionero musical de Turín: Transcripción y estudio
(Madrid: Sociedad Española de Musicología, 1989).
296
The heading for the three-part composition “En el campo florido” (fols. 25v-26r) gives the name Juan de
Palomares. The two-voice setting of “Sobre moradas violetas” (fols. 39v-40r) is anonymous in I-Tn Ris. Mus.
I-14, but it appears as a three-voice composition in the Cancionero de Sablonara (D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2, fols.
44v-45r), where it is attributed to Palomares. Palomares was a well-known guitarist and vihuelist from Sevilla
whose death was reported by Lope de Vega in 1596. See Etzion, Sablonara, xxxiv.
297
Only the first two pieces in the manuscript specify in words the types of voices, but the use of the clefs is
fairly consistent throughout, providing a good indication of the intended scoring. The two-part compositions
are: “Ay malogrados pensamientos” (clefs: C1, C3), “A la jineta vestido” (C1, C2), and “No puedo en tus
ojos bellos | no temo al competidor” (G2, C2); the romance “Ay amargas soledades” (the example cited by
Stein), is possibly a basso seguente duet (C1, C3) in duple meter, but it is not strophic (estribillo: “Ay horas
tristes”), and the lower part (C3) functions as a bass line; “Fuego de Dios” (C1, C3), with estribillo and
coplas; “Desdichada la dama” (C1, C3), strophic in duple meter; “Vaisos amores” (G2 C3), strophic; “Tristes
de mis ojos” (C1, C2), strophic in duple meter, no bass function; “Blanda la mano | Contra tu dueño” (C1 C3),
triple meter, estribillo and coplas; “No lloréis casada | no cubrías con velo” (C1, C3), triple meter, estribillo
and coplas.
298
For example, the bass voice in the three-part setting of “Sobre moradas violetas” in D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2
(fols. 44v-45r) is the alto voice from the two-part setting in I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14, transposed an octave lower to
allow for an additional inner voice.
110
such as D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2.
299
In some instances the polyphonic interplay between the
voices creates a motivic interdependence that renders the instrumental performance of the
lower voice, as practiced in the basso seguente duets, ineffective.
300
The rhythmic patterns
are not particularly distinct, constant, or repetitive, and any hint of dance-like rhythms is
sporadic at best and limited to the triple-time compositions. In reference to the general
volume, Judith Etzion has observed that the style of the cadences is “typical of earlier
secular works.”
301

Three out of the twelve five- and six-part settings of villancicos in Rimonte’s
Parnaso español (1614) contain sections scored for two voices. Rimonte’s usual approach
recomposes the traditional poetic form of estribillo and coplas into two parallel strophic
sections. These are scored for one to three voices and separated by an elaborate repetition
of the initial refrain stanza rescored in five or six parts. Each of the three villancicos
contains two duet sections, consisting of an initial section (duo) and final coplas: “De
vuestro divino pecho,” scored for superius and sextus (G2, C4); “Madre la mi madre,”
scored for superius and bassus (C1, F4); and “Virgen escogida,” also scored for superius
and bassus (C1, C4). In their scoring these duet sections are very similar to the examples by
Radesca and Sanseverino. Their contrapuntal texture is closer to the triple-meter pieces in I-
Tn Ris. Mus. I-14 in the longer sections of polyphonic interplay, in contrast to the brief
points of imitation in Radesca’s duple-time “Si de los ojos nace” or any of the triple-meter
examples in Sanseverino’s collection. Rimonte articulates his longer imitative passages
with brief homophonic punctuations, usually cadential in nature. This is particularly the

299
In all likelihood this reflects poetic sources from earlier in the sixteenth century, before the use of an
independent stanza as a refrain became pervasive in most poetic forms.
300
For example, “Vaisos amores” (fols. 38v-39r), or “Blanda la mano” (fols. 45v-46r). Such interplay is
limited to the estribillo sections. In both cases the coplas are set homophonically.
301
Judith Etzion, “The Spanish Polyphonic Cancioneros c. 1580-1650,” Revista de Musicología 9 (1988): 69.
111
case in “De vuestro divino pecho” and “Virgen escogida.” Rimonte’s approach to “Madre,
la mi madre” differs slightly, perhaps because the text had a clearer origin in popular
song.
302
Instead of opening with a long imitative phrase, it opens with an entire phrase in
homophony, followed by the imitative passages. This opening phrase displays an important
characteristic representative of Spanish composers and found in both the two- and three-
voice sections in Rimonte’s collection, differentiating it from the Italian material (see
Musical Example 3.10). The characteristic rhythmic interplay of this opening is typically
found in triple-meter compositions from the Spanish polyphonic cancioneros but is absent
from all known examples of the villanella spagnola.
Musical Example 3.10. Pedro Rimonte (1614), “Madre, la mi madre” (fragment).

302
A three-part setting with a similar melodic contour is found in I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14. See Stein, Songs of
Mortals, 195, 413-15. Judging by their poetic texts, Rimonte’s villancicos are sacred versions of popular
songs. Fragment edited in Stein, Songs of Mortals, 415; full edtion in Rimonte, Parnaso (ed. Calahorra), 281-
88.
°
¢
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¢
°
¢
Madre la mi madre
Initial fragment
3
3
[Superius]
[Basso]
7
14
&
b
B
Ma dre, - la mi ma dre, - guar dar - me - que -
?
b
Ma dre, - la mi ma dre, - guar dar - me - que -
&
b
réis mas si yo no me guar do, - mal me guar da - réis, -
?
b
réis, mas si yo no me guar do, - mal me guar da - réis, - mas si
&
b
mas si yo no me guar do, - mal me guar da - réis. -
?
b
yo no me guar do, - mal me guar da - - - réis. -
Ó
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112
The hemiola in measures 3-5 is only unusual because it occurs early in the first
phrase. The resolution of the third beat is tied into the following first beat instead of falling
onto the strong first beat of the next measure to conclude the hemiola, and this creates a
sense of a delayed downbeat. Something similar occurs in measures 17-19, where the top
voice is tied into the following measure to elide a consonance into a dissonance against the
bass that is then resolved; the resultant rhythmic effect is again a delayed sense of pulse
only resolved with a return to a triple-meter rhythm on the first beat of the V-I cadence.
Similar rhythmic effects can be heard in the duet “Virgen escogida” (basso, measures 7-10,
15-18, extended version in 18-25).
This extended hemiola occurs often enough in pieces of Iberian provenance to
suggest that it is a regional characteristic.
303
Its use is complemented by the preference in
Spanish compositions for longer anacruses beginning on the second beat of a triple-time
measure, creating a rhythmic interplay that simultaneously exploits duple and triple
groupings. This practice differs substantially from the use of hemiola in Italian canzonette,
where hemiola patterns lead to cadences at the ends of phrases. The combination of
extended hemiola patterns and longer anacruses creates irregular chains of duple- and
triple-time groupings that are largely exclusive to triple-time Spanish compositions of the
period. These chains also are distinct from the alternations characteristic of contemporary
French airs, which freely shift between two- and three-beat units, regardless of the meter.

303
Luis Robledo addressed the pervasive use of hemiola in seventeenth-century Spain, ascribing some of the
conventional rhythmic formulas to the systematic use of coloration in the ternary meter (minor prolation) that
was most common in early seventeenth-century Iberian secular song. Robledo only briefly mentions the
presence of extended hemiolas. Luis Robledo, Juan Blas de Castro (c.1561-1631): vida y obra (Zaragoza:
Institución Fernando el Católico, 1989), 95-98.
113
This characteristically French alternation responds to the fundamental ametrical nature of
the French air, and is most evident in the metric disruptions at cadential points.
304

Spanish compositions in other contemporary manuscripts exhibit the same rhythmic
traits. The sole duet in manuscript Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, ms. 5437 (known as
“Cancionero de la Casanatense,” hereafter I-Rc 5437) is “Van y vienen las olas,” written by
the Flemish-born Spanish composer Matheo Romero (ca. 1575-1647).
305
It is scored for
alto and bass, but otherwise similar to the triple-time pieces described above. This
polyphonic cancionero, which may have been copied in Catalonia, is a short anthology of
three-part compositions from the early decades of the seventeenth century.
306
The sole duet
in the undated manuscript E-PAbm 13231 (known as Cancionero de Medinaceli or Tonos
Castellanos-B), “Dime Pasqual tus desvelos | Bras que me muero de celos,” is scored for
high voice and bass (C1, C4).
307
The composition is structured as a question asked by a
solo voice that is answered in duo, but otherwise shares the rhythmic features described
above. According to Luis Robledo, at least eight different hands can be differentiated in this
manuscript collection, most of which was probably copied before 1620.
308

Most of the eleven duet compositions found in D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2 also share this
type of ternary rhythmic profile that combines extended hemiolas and longer anacruses.
309

304
For a full discussion see Jonathan Le Cocq, “A Guide to Notation in the Air de Cour for Voice and Lute
(The Ballard Editions, 1608-1643),” The Lute-Journal of the Lute Society 39 (1999): 39-41.
305
Modern edition in Miguel Querol Gavaldá, ed., Madrigales españoles inéditos del siglo XVI. Cancionero
de la Casanatense. Monumentos de la Música Española 40 (Barcelona: CSIC, 1981).
306
Nineteen compostions in total. See Charles Aubrun, “Chansonniers musicaux espagnols du XVIIe siècle,”
Bulletin Hispanique 51 no. 3 (1949): 269-90; Etzion, “Cancioneros,” 75; Robledo, Juan Blas, 89-90.
307
Palma de Mallorca, Biblioteca de la Fundación Bartolomé March, MS 13231 (formerly Madrid, Biblioteca
de Bartolomé March, Medinaceli 13231).
308
Robledo considers the calligraphy of the hand copying the final portion of the manuscript (fols. 96v-107v)
as characteristic of the 1650s. See Robledo, Juan Blas, 67-68.
309
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. hisp. 2 (Codices Hispanici - Cim. 383). Four additional
compositions in this manuscript have the coplas section scored as a high voice / bass duet: one three-part
114
The only item that does not, “Soledades venturosas,” is a setting in duple meter. This
manuscript anthology was compiled in Spain during the early 1620s for the Bavarian Duke
Wolfgang Wilhelm, and represents the kind of secular vocal compositions cultivated at the
royal court in Madrid at this time.
310
Duets represent only a small percentage of the
seventy-five pieces contained in the source. The remaining works are evenly split between
three- and four-part polyphonic settings. All the duets are scored for high voice and bass.
“Oh, si volasen las horas,” from D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2, presents an interesting case, in
part because it has often been used to attempt reconstruction of some alfabeto song sources
(see Music Example 3.11).
311
This duet in ternary meter is scored for high voice and bass.
The rhythmic characteristics I have described above are less pronounced than in some of
the Spanish examples cited. A long opening imitative phrase shifts to homophony to
emphasize a strong cadence in measure 15, and this texture is retained until the end of the
section. The imitative texture is used to emphasize the phrase “Oh, si volasen las horas” (if
hours would fly by, measures 1-9) and the word “volar” (to fly, measures 21-25), whereas
homophony is used for the remainder of the text. There are no extended hemiola patterns in
the estribillo, but a longer anacrusis is used to set up the cadential hemiola, measures 12-15.
The texture of the coplas section (not shown) is homophonic, as was conventional before
ca. 1620. The bass suggests an extended hemiola pattern (measures 57-58), although the
cadential punctuation brings a regular hemiola.

letrilla, “Ay que me muero de celos;” and three four-part romances, “Entre dos alamos verdes,” “Salió al
prado de su aldea,” and “Tus envidias me hablan.”
310
Wolfgang Wilhelm, Duke of Bavaria (1614-1653), visited Madrid between October 1624 and May 1625.
Afterwards, he requested a collection of the type of secular polyphonic works he heard at court. The
manuscript anthology was copied by Claudio de la Sablonara. Etzion, Sablonara, xix-xxii.
311
Baron, “Spanish Solo Song,” 38; Dean, “The Five-Course Guitar,” 89-92.
115
Musical Example 3.11. “Oh, si volasen las horas,” D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2, fol. 85v.

Despite the apparent simplicity of this triple-time setting, attempts to reconstruct
textually concordant alfabeto settings such as the one in manuscript I-Fr 2793 (see Chapter
2) have only been partially successful due to unsurmountable problems. The most
significant are the need to adjust or leave out harmonies that do not coincide with an
abstraction of the vocal bass line, or to skip portions or entire sections where there is no
musical concordance. Both John H. Baron and Alexander Dean are correct in theorizing a
possible pre-existing source for the alfabeto setting in order to explain these discrepancies.
The three-part setting of “Oh, si volasen las horas” in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163
differs radically from the setting in the D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2 (see Musical Example 3.12).
°
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O si bolassen las horas
Capitán [Sablonara]
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?
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&
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116
Scored for alto, tenor and bass, the setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 is in duple time and its
texture homophonic, except for a brief imitiative passage between the tenor and bass in
measures 1-3. The constant rhythmic pattern in the composition in D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2 is
replaced by a declamatory setting that pays careful attention to the natural accentuation of
the language, particularly in the coplas section.
312
Some of the discrepancies, such as the
absence of extended hemiola, could be attributed to the difference in meter. Others,
particularly the absence of longer anacruses on unimportant words, are undoubtdely the
consequence of a contrasting compositional approach. More importantly, the setting in PL-
Kj Mus. ms. 40163 contains alfabeto figures above the fully texted bass and tenor parts that
match the known alfabeto song settings almost exactly.
313
The near-exact concordance
between the alfabeto song settings and the setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 of “Oh, si
volasen las horas” clearly indicate that the musical composition used for the alfabeto song
settings is the same three-part composition in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, although it is not
possible to determine if the alfabeto settings were copied from this particular manuscript.
The differences between the setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, of Italian provenance, and
the setting in D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2, which reflects the music at the court in Madrid, illustrate
some of the main characteristics that point to a distinct style of setting song texts in Spanish
that existed in Italy in the early seventeenth century.

312
The accented syllables of the text are placed on strong beats and reinforced by longer rhythms, taking into
consideration the natural accents that shift between the final and the penultimate syllable.
313
See Appendix 1.
117
Musical Example 3.12. “Oh, si volasen las horas.” PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, fol. 14v
(estribillo only).

Illustration 3.3. “Oh, si volasen las horas.” I-VEc 1434, fol. 151v (fragment).

The same musical elements are recognizable in the rest of the compositions found in
PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, most of which are scored for three voices. The only other examples
of three-part villanelle spagnole are found in Sanseverino’s 1616 collection, which contains
°
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O si uolassen las horas
Edition©: Daniel Zuluaga, 2008
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118
five settings scored for two high voices and a bass. The rhythmic profile of the only two-
part piece in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, “Entre todos los remedios,” is also that of the triple-
time villanella spagnola. There are no extended hemiola patterns. The longer anacruses,
when they occur, set up a constant rhythmic pattern of the type described by Stein, rather
than setting up the rhythmic interplay of concurrent two- and three-beat patterns described
as characteristic in Spanish polyphonic compositions.
314
The main characteristics of this
distinct style are corroborated by the compositions in the collections of Radesca di Foggia,
Sanseverino, and Stefani. More importantly, the many near-exact concordances between
alfabeto song sources and PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 confirm that, while no staff-notation
concordances survive for the majority of them, the numerous alfabeto songs settings of
Spanish poetry are settings of villanelle spagnole.
The relationship of the compositions in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 to music in the
Spanish polyphonic songbooks varies. In addition to “Oh, si volasen las horas,” only two
other song texts have concordances in the Spanish anthologies. There are some parallels
between the settings of the seguidilla “Cantos apacibles de ruiseñores” in PL-Kj Mus. ms.
40163, a three-part duple-time composition, and in E-PAbm 13231, a triple-time setting
also scored for three voices. In both cases the musical structure of the estribillo follows the
poetic form by splitting the text into two verse couplets, each consisting of one hexasyllabic
and one pentasyllabic line.
315
The second couplet is repeated in both settings. There are
minor structural differences in the hexasyllabic coplas. The setting in E-PAbm 13231
duplicates the redondilla structure in a repeated musical phrase that sets two verses each
time, and provides a new phrase for the verses of enlace and vuelta. The villanelle spagnole

314
The setting of “Entre todos los remedios” in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 is concordant with the alfabeto song
settings found manuscripts E-Szayas A.IV.8, and I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200.
315
“Cantos apasibles (6) | “de ruyseñores” (5) + “ajuntemos quexas” (6) | “que son de amores” (5).
119
rarely present this structure, and instead tend to set the estribillo and coplas as separate
sections. In “Cantos apacibles de ruiseñores,” both copla sections lead back into a partial
repetition of the refrain, but in the villanella setting each section is perceived as more
conclusive. Melodically and harmonically, however, there are no similarities between the
two compositions. The initial repeated-note motive could be interpreted as a motivic
connection between the settings, but given the different treatment it is given in these two
settings, it is reasonable to conclude that they are entirely different compositions. “Aquí
lloró sentado,” however, is the same duple-time, three-voice composition found in E-PAbm
13231, despite some minor differences attributable to copying mistakes.
316

The differences between the three-part settings of “Al espejo se toca” in PL-Kj Mus.
ms. 40163 and in E-PAbm 13231 fall in line with those noted for “Cantos apacibles,” albeit
significantly amplified. The setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 is in duple meter, whereas the
one in E-PAbm 13231 is in triple meter, so the rhythmic traits described above as
characteristic of Spanish triple-meter compositions are only found in the latter of the two
settings. The musical approach to the song text in E-PAbm 13231 is also more complex. In
the setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 the refrain is split into two couplets, a division
matched by the musical structure (measures 1-6, 7-17). The initial couplet is set syllabically
and cadences in Bb major (measure 4); the immediate repetition of the second verse
completes a cadence in C major that functions as a tag. The second couplet is more
expansive in its repetition of text: both verses are repeated, but the repetition of the line
“donde se mira” is fractured to emphasize the word “donde,” repeated four times. The
section concludes with a cadence in G minor, the original key. The more complex approach

316
Transposed down a fifth, the setting matches the alfabeto versions in I-MOe alpha R.6.4, fols. 76v-77r
(copla: que pagava entre tanto), and I-MOe alpha Q.8.21, pp. 163-165.
120
to the poetry in the E-PAbm 13231 setting hinges on the repetition of words within lines,
and on mutiple repetitions of a verse in a complete or fragmented manner. The first line has
an internal repetition of the words “se toca” to adjust the brief initial imitiative texture into
a homophonic (Phrygian) cadence in D major for the second verse, prepared by an
extended hemiola. The entire couplet is repeated in a slightly varied repetition with a
cadence in G minor, after which another extended hemiola sets up an additional repetition
of only verse 2 for a sectional cadence in D major. The second couplet extends the imitative
counterpoint to the phrase level and sets both verses three and four, measures 21-29. The
words “se mira” are echoed between voices, measures 27-30, setting up a varied, full
repetition of verses three and four in a similar texture. A full third repetition of the second
couplet happens homphonically in measures 38-49. The more elaborate text setting in E-
PAbm 13231 consequently results in a longer refrain section (fifty measures) that shifts
often between homophonic and imitative textures, whereas the refrain in PL-Kj Mus. ms.
40163 is not only considerably shorter (seventeen measures) but also largely homophonic.
In addition to the structural differences based on the textual and musical material, melodic
and particularly harmonic characteristics such as the different cadential arrivals indicate
entirely different compositions.
There is an important, if subtle, difference, with regard to different preferences for
triple time versus duple time settings in the villanella spagnola and in the Spanish
polyphonic cancioneros. Whereas earlier Spanish sources such as I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14 show
no particular preference for either meter, later sources, particularly D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2, I-
Rc 5437, and E-PAbm 13231, mentioned above, decant heavily for triple-time
121
compositions.
317
In the case of the villanella spagnola, there seems to be a slight preference
for settings in duple meter. Whereas most of the pieces in Spanish in the Stefani collections
are in ternary meter, the contents of PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 are set in duple over triple
meter in a 2-to-1 proportion.
318
No items in Sanseverino’s 1616 printed collection are set
exclusively in triple time. All villanelle spagnole in that volume are set either in duple or in
a combination of duple and triple.
319
The rhythmic profile that I have described above as
characteristically Spanish relies heavily on choices that are particular to ternary meter, such
as the use of hemiola and the simultaneous juxtaposition of duple- and triple-time
groupings. It is important to emphasize that these characteristics are also closely linked to
texture.
On the basis of surviving fully notated polyphonic songs it emerges that the most common
format for the villanella spagnola was that of the basso seguente duet. The three-part
settings found in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 can be considered a written convention, or in John
W. Hill’s words, “all-purpose arrangements.”
320
The rationale for notation of the solo song
settings in the Stefani collections may reflect a different publishing format chosen to appeal
to potential buyers of the books, since at least two of the settings were likely duets to begin
with, and two additional ones use ready-made formulas based on dance patterns, so they
may have been conceived originally as solo songs. The Stefani layout may also reflect
changing musical preferences. Beyond 1610, when the last volume of high-voice-and-bass
duets was issued, the duets appeared with decreasing frequency, mostly in monody books

317
In D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2, for example, there are forty-five compositions in triple time, thirteen in duple time,
and seventeen that shift between both meters. On the preference for triple meter in early seventeenth-century
Iberian secular song, see also Robledo, Juan Blas, 95-98.
318
I am taking into consideration the seventeen items that set Spanish texts and the ten untexted items, almost
surely intended to set Spanish texts as well.
319
The four compositions in Italian, a solo aria and three three-voice canzonette, are in duple time.
320
Hill, Roman Monody, 66.
122
up until the early 1620s. By the mid 1620s, examples of basso seguente duets are rare and
far between.
321
This timeline coincides with the period of highest popularity of the
villanella spagnola, reinforcing the theory that the basso seguente duet was the most
common format.
322
The reduction of duets into solo songs with instrumental
accompaniment is a choice also reflected in Sanseverino’s 1622 song additions to his 1620
volume, albeit in a more developed alfabeto song format. Most important, a significant
number of the alfabeto song manuscripts have annotations that clearly indicate some solo
songs were also performed as duets for high voice and bass. These are examined in Chapter
5.

321
Some of the last examples are by Biagio Marini, who includes two examples in his 1620 Arie Madrigali e
Correnti; their style reflects an increased interest in the early seventeenth century style of madrigals.
322
The last collection printed during the early seventeenth century containing compositions in Spanish in any
significant manner is a Roman print by the Spaniard Juan de Arañés (Rome: G.B. Robletti, 1624). Its
contents, four solo arias, three duets, four three-part pieces and one four-part composition, include basso
continuo. As mentioned in the introduction, this places Arañes’ publication into a separate category than to
the ones central to this study. In the specific case of the two-part compositions, they exhibit some elements
that are more in line with the Arañés’ own three-part works found in I-Rc 5437, but their scoring puts them in
the realm of duets with independent basso continuo line. Arañes’ compositions also exhibit the rhythmic
characteristics, explained in this chapter, considered characteristic of works by Spanish composers of or
Spanish provenance. “Pensamientos altos” is scored for soprano and bass, plus basso continuo; “A la luz del
día,” for two equal voices (C1 clef) and basso continuo; “Para recibir a Lisa” for alto, tenor and basso
continuo. The text of the solo “Mi zagala sus paños,” is found in two alfabeto song sources, but the settings
are not related.

Chapter 4
The poetic and musical forms in the villanella spagnola
In the manuscripts and publications under consideration, two major Spanish poetic forms
account for approximately three-fourths of the poems set to music: the romance and the
letrilla. Their predominance represents the most important point of convergence with
contemporary Iberian polyphonic cancioneros. A large variety of terms is used to identify
the settings of Spanish poetry in the sources, including “canciones,” “cançioncillas,”
“cancionetas,” “chaconas,” “folías,” “letras,” “letrillas,” “romanza,” “seguidillas,”
“villancicos,” “zarabandas,” and so forth. These terms are used broadly, however, to
designate poetry combining a refrain of uneven length verses with an assonant rhyme
scheme (the estribillo, generally unlabeled) with a more metrically regular series of stanzas
(designated as coplas, estrofas, glosas, mudanzas, or vueltas), rather than to refer to
specific poetic forms.
323
Nearly 80 percent of the repertoire, approximately 250
compositions, survives exclusively in alfabeto song format. Due to the absence of staff-
notation for such a large number of songs, a study of the relationship between poetry and
music is limited to the correlation between metrical and musical forms. The purpose of this
chapter is to examine the alfabeto songbooks as musical collections, concentrating on the
association between the formal elements of the poetry and the alfabeto sequences to
determine basic musical procedures that are characteristic of the repertoire.

323
Pierre Alzieu, Robert Jammes, and Yvan Lissorgues, eds., Floresta de poesías eroticas del siglo de oro
(Toulouse: Université, 1975), xviii; Antonio Carreira, ed., Nuevos poemas atribuidos a Góngora: letrillas,
sonetos, décimas y poemas varios (Barcelona: Sirmio, 1994), 22-24.
124
Poets and poetry
To a great extent, the poems set as villanelle spagnole belong to the newer types of
Spanish poetry that began to appear around 1580 as a result of the increased popularity of
older, typically Spanish poetic forms such as romances, letrillas, and seguidillas, and their
use and imitation by contemporary poets. According to Margit Frenk,
. . . this imitation was practiced so systematically that it is possible to speak of a
school of semi-popular poetry. Semi-popular, because the motives and stylistic traits
originating in the popular tradition would be combined, in varying number, with a
series of elements from contemporary literary culture. It is in this new spirit that
numerous estribillos for letrillas and romances would be written.
324

This new type of poetry was anchored in the assimilation of popular-song themes and
metrical forms, and in the combination of elements from both old and new poetic traditions,
which resulted in a renovated style characterized by the addition of elements such as the
refrain (the estribillo).
325
Frenk points out that this process of assimilation had music as its
main vehicle because learned writers and audiences became interested in popular song. At
least initially, this interest was due to the unique characteristics that stemmed from their
nature as songs, the most important of which was the use of an estribillo.
326
The notion of
popular song refers to unrefined and unsophisticated, (probably) unwritten aspects of vocal

324
Margit Frenk Alatorre, Lírica hispánica de tipo popular (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma
de México, 1966), xxi-xxii (my translation). Stylistic imitation of the poetic forms such as the old romances is
seen already in the middle of the sixteenth century, but it is only with the works of writers such as Cervantes,
Liñán de Riaza, and Lope de Vega, that this trend gains acceptance among younger generations of poets and
audiences. See Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Historia de la lengua española (Madrid: Gredos, 1980), 1:953-54.
325
Frenk observes that the important social and cultural changes taking place in Spain were partially a
consequence of rural migration to increasingly larger cities, where a larger lower-class population found itself
the target audience of theater works and new genres of poetry. See Frenk, Folklore, 46-53.
326
Maurice Molho assessed that the letrilla was a “perfect symbiosis of antagonistic traditions: popular (as in
the estribillo) and erudite (the coplas).” Cited in Carreira, ed., Nuevos poemas, 22n3. The popularity of the
new poetry was aided by widespread circulation in manuscript and, beginning in 1589, of numerous printed
loose folios and small poetic compilations eventually consolidated into large printed poetic anthologies such
as the Romancero general (1600). See Margit Frenk, “Valoración de la lírica popular en el siglo de oro,” in
Poesía popular hispánica: 44 estudios, 61-62.
125
music of the common people, in contrast to the more polished, high-minded secular cultural
production in aristocratic settings.
The poetry in the villanella spagnola sources is unattributed, a characteristic shared
with poetic and musical cancioneros circulating in Spain and Italy during this period.
Philologists Ralph DiFranco and José J. Labrador Herráiz have suggested that this
anonymity could have been a consequence of copyists who, being musicians, were less
interested in the authors of the poetry than in the music.
327
In some circumstances, it is
possible that the identity of the poems’ authors was fairly well known information; in
others, the absence of poetic attribution could be a consequence of the “popular” origin of
texts closely tied to song and dance and, thus, examples of a “collective art.”
328
It has been
possible to identify the authors for a small number of poems.
329
In most cases the poets are
roughly contemporary with the repertoire (see Table 4.1).
Table 4.1. Poets in villanella spagnola sources.

Poet Incipit Source
Lupercio Leonardo de Argensola
(1559-1613)
Por las montañas de Jaca
romance
I-Rli Cod. 625
Miguel de Cervantes ¿Quién menoscaba mis bienes?
330
Stefani (1622)

327
Labrador and DiFranco, Dos cancioneros, 335. DiFranco and Labrador are addressing I-Rvat Chigi
L.VI.200.
328
Margit Frenk, Entre folklore y literatura (Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1971), 18-20, 48. Frenk
observes that in the specific case of printed poetic collections, the main authors generally include names such
as Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Góngora, Liñan de Riaza, Lasso de la Vega, Juan de Salinas, and Quevedo. In
many instances, however, all that can be connected to these authors is a refrain borrowed from the oral
tradition.
329
Querol Gavaldá published editions of some of the polyphonic concordances for songs with poems by
Lope de Vega and Góngora, and additional work about musical settings of texts by Cervantes. See Miguel
Querol Gavaldá, ed., Cancionero de Góngora (Barcelona: Instituto Español de Musicología, 1975);
Cancionero Musical de Lope de Vega, 3 vols. (Barcelona: CSIC, 1986/1987/1991); La música en obra de
Cervantes (Alcalá de Henares: Centro de Estudios Cervantinos, 2005).
330
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (Madrid: Juan de la
Cuesta, 1605), primera parte, capítulo xxvii; modern edition by Alberto Blecua y Andrés Pozo (Madrid:
Espasa-Calpe, 1998), 214-15. It is worth noting that in the pastoral setting described by Cervantes, the song is
heard as a single unaccompanied line.The voice is described as sweet, facile sounding, in a possible reference
to a well-trained singer. This surprises the listeners because they were not expecting an educated voice in such
a place (“en las selvas y campos”), but rather peasants or farmers. Cervantes describes the verses as those
belonging to modest courtiers (“discretos cortesanos”).
126
(1547-1616) ovillejo Romano (1622)
Luis de Góngora
(1561-1627)
A toda ley, madre mía
331

letrilla
I-MOe alpha R.6.4
I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
Caracoles me pide la niña (att.)
letrilla
GB-Lbl Add. 36877
En su balcón una dama
romance
I-PAp 1506/I
La mas linda/bella niña de nuestro lugar
332

romancillo
I-MOe alpha R.6.4
I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
Llegó a una venta Cupido
romance
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
Lo que me quise me tengo yo
romancillo
I-PAp 1506/I
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
No son todos ruiseñores
letrilla / canción
I-Fr 2793
I-Fr 2804
I-Fr 2951
I-Fr 2973/3
I-VEc 1434
Servía en Orán al Rey
333

romance
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
Si pensara o si entendiera (att.)
334

canción
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
Pedro Liñán de Riaza
(d. 1607)
En el valle de Pisuerga
335

romance
I-Fr 2804
La zagala más hermosa
336

romance
I-Fr 2774
Félix Lope de Vega
(1562-1635)
Caminad, suspiros, adonde soléis
337

letrilla
GB-Lbl Add. 36877
I-Fn LF 175
I-Fr 2793
I-Fr 2804
I-Fr 2951
I-Fr 2952
I-Fr 2973/3
I-VEc 1434
En esta larga ausencia
338
I-Rli Cod. 625

331
Refrain and the first copla only. Antonio Carreira, ed., Luis de Góngora: Obras completas (Madrid:
Fundación José Antonio de Castro, 2000), 1:149-51.
332
Refrain and the first and last two coplas. Poem is dated 1580. Carreira, Nuevos poemas, 4-6.
333
First six stanzas only. The poem is dated 1587. Carreira, Nuevos poemas. 85-86.
334
According to Carreira, the attribution to Gongora is incorrect. The poem had already been published as “si
pensara o si creyera” in Cancionero general de Hernando del Castillo (Antwerp: Martín Nuncio, 1557),
before Góngora was born. See Carreira, Nuevos poemas, 259.
335
Tomás Ximénez de Embún, Rimas de Pedro Liñán de Riaza (Zaragoza: Hospicio Provincial, 1876), 117-
18.
336
Strophic setting. It includes five stanzas although only the first three are attributed to Liñán, but does not
include the estribillo “norabuena bengáis abril,” cited in Frenk, Nuevo corpus, 861 (no. 1266). Ximénez,
Rimas, 116-17; Pedro Liñán de Riaza, Poesías, ed., Julian F. Randolph (Barcelona: Puvill, 1982), 231-32.
337
The four-verse refrain is cited in Lope’s comedy La niña de plata, act II, scene XIX, but no coplas are
given. The alfabeto song settings of the poem include three coplas. Félix Lope de Vega, La niña de plata, ed.
Colección austral no. 574, no editor, (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1958), 178-79; Frenk, Nuevo corpus, 2:1694.
338
La villana de Getafe, act I, scene XIV, lines 648-49. La villana de Getafe was printed in 1620, but it is
believed to have been written between 1609 and 1614. The specific passage is citing it as a very popular song
127
sexteto-lira I-Fr 2793
Hermosísima pastora
romance
Sanseverino (1616)

Llevan desconciertos
endechas
Pensamiento mío, caminad
redondillas
Si son para mirar
liras
Vestido un gabán leonado
339

romance
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
Gabriel López Maldonado (fl.
1586)
Ay amor perjuro, falso traidor
340

letrilla
E-Szayas A.IV.8
Vicente Martínez Espinel (1550-
1624)
Rompe las venas del ardiente pecho
341

Égloga / canción
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
Jorge de Montemayor
(ca. 1520-1561)
Al partir llaman partida

Sanseverino (1616)
Contentamientos de amor
letra [?]
Desdeñado soy de amor
villancico
Los ojos con que miré
redondillas-quintillas
No me quejo yo del daño
redondillas / canción
Olvidastesme señora
letra
Pasados contentamientos
canción
Quien entre mire bien como ha vivido
octava real
Alonso Pérez
(ca. 1560-1647)
Si mi tañer y canto
letra
Sanseverino (1616)
Francisco de Quevedo
(1580-1645)
Las cuerdas de mi instrumento
342

letrilla
I-Rli Cod. 625
Poderoso caballero es don dinero
343

letrilla
I-Fr 2804
¡Qué verdadero dolor! Sanseverino (1616)

about to be performed accompanied to a guitar. José María Díez Borque, ed., Lope de Vega: La villana de
Getafe (Madrid: Orígenes, 1990), 53-54, 101.
339
The poem first appeared in Séptima parte de Flor de varios romances (1595), subsequently circulating in
both printed and manuscript form. Félix Lope de Vega Carpio, Poesía selecta, ed. Antonio Carreño (Madrid:
Cátedra, 1995), 504; Labrador y DiFranco, Dos cancioneros, 335, 404.
340
Cancionero de López Maldonado (Madrid: Guillermo Droy, 1586), fols. 36v-37r.
341
The song text consists of the first fifteen verses of an eclogue by Martínez Espinel. It was published in
Espinel’s Diversas rimas (1595). The first verse of the poem is cited in Espinel’s novel Vida del escudero
Marcos de Obregón (1618), to recall the dramatic effect that its performance had on its listeners and
exemplify the affective capabilities of texts sung to a guitar. Vida del escudero Marcos de Obregón, Relación
tercera, descanso quinto, fol. 170v. Vicente Espinel, Vida del escudero Marcos de Obregón, María Soledad
Carrasco Urgoiti, ed. (Madrid: Castalia, 1972/2000), 2:146.
342
Only three of the seven stanzas included by Blecua appear in the alfabeto song setting. Dated before 1603.
José Manuel Blecua, ed., Francisco de Quevedo: Obra poética (Madrid: Castalia, 1969), 2:161-62.
343
Dated before 1603, with variants appearing in print until 1637. Quevedo, Obra poética, 2:175-182.
128
redondillas
Pedro de Padilla
(d. after 1605)
A una dama su amistad
344

letrilla
I-Fl Ashb. 791
I-MOe alpha R.6.4
I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
A unos ojos bellos
345

letrilla
E-Szayas A.IV.8
Con esperanzas espero
346

letrilla
GB-Lbl Add. 36877
I-Fl Ashb. 791
I-MOe alpha P.6.22
I-MOe alpha R.6.4
I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
De soledad y pena acompañado (att.)
347

octavas
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
Ya estarás contento
redondilla menor
Sanseverino (1616)
Garcilaso de la Vega
(1501-1536)
Cerca del Tajo en soledad amena
348

octava real
I-Fr 2774
I-Fr 2951
I-Fr 2952
Diego de Silva y Mendoza,
Conde de Salinas (1564-1630)
Yo he hecho lo que he podido
349

letra
GB-Lbl Add. 36877

Sanseverino’s El segundo libro de los ayres (1616) is unique among villanella
spagnola sources because several of its song texts can be traced to specific literary works
from the previous fifty years. Eight poems belong to a well-known pastoral novel by the
Portuguese writer Jorge de Montemayor (ca. 1520-1561) entitled Los siete libros de la
Diana. First printed in Valencia in 1558/59, Montemayor’s novel achieved almost
immediate popularity.
350
Over the following forty years, twenty-six editions were printed in

344
Fredo Arias de la Canal, Décimas reales, coplas y octavas de Pedro de Padilla (Mexico City: Frente de
Afirmación Hispanista, 2003), 51.
345
Ibid., 27.
346
Ibid., 67.
347
Attributed to Padilla in a manuscript dated 1585. Ralph A. DiFranco, José J. Labrador Herráiz, C. Zorita,
M. Ángel, eds. Cartapacio de Francisco Morán de la Estrella (Madrid, Patrimonio Nacional, 1989), 380.
348
Written for the wife of the Naples Viceroy Pedro de Toledo, María Osorio Pimentel. Tomás Navarro
Tomás, Los poetas y sus versos: desde Jorge Manrique a García Lorca (Esplugas de Llobregat: Ediciones
Ariel, 1973), 139-47.
349
Quevedo, Obra poética, 1:72. This is likely a recomposition of Silva y Mendoza’s poem. The two-verse
estribillo retains the opening line of the original refrain but develops into an amorous complaint to a character
named Roselia.
350
Antonio Alatorre, “El texto de la Diana de Montemayor,” Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica 46, no. 2
(1998): 407-418.
129
Spanish, along with eleven in French and one in English.
351
Another poem, “Si mi tañer y
canto,” comes from a sequel to Montemayor’s novel entitled Segunda parte de La Diana,
written by Alonso Pérez and first printed in Venice in 1585. Sanseverino’s poetic source for
these nine song texts was probably a 1616 Milanese reprint of La Diana by Juan Bautista
Bidelo.
352
Four more poems come from Félix Lope de Vega’s La Arcadia (1598), also a
pastoral novel.
353
Two additional ones are attributed in printed poetic collections to Pedro
de Padilla and Francisco de Quevedo.
354
The choice of poetry in Sanseverino’s collection
could be a result of the literary interests of Count Giulio Cesare Borromeo (1593-1638), to
whom the collection was dedicated. With the exception of Sanseverino’s collection, I have

351
Eugenia Fosalba, La Diana en Europa: ediciones, traducciones e influencias (Barcelona: Universidad
Autónoma, 1994), 77. The first edition appeared in Valencia (no date). A second edition by Andrea de Ferrari
in Milan is also undated but believed to be printed while Montemayor was still alive. New stories were
appended to subsequent editions of La Diana, including Montemayor’s own Historia de Alcida y Silvano
(1560). Most additions to the text, however, happened after Montemayor’s death in 1561. These include
translations of Petrarch’s Il Trionfo d’Amore ands Ovid’s Pyramus et Thisbe, the anonymous Historia de
Abencerraje y la hermosa Jarifa or Abindarráez, a second part to La Diana by Alonso Pérez, and various
sonnets by Montemayor, among others. Numerous additional editions appeared in the early seventeenth
century, including seven in German and one in Dutch. See Bruno M. Damiani, Jorge de Montemayor (Rome:
Bulzoni, 1984), 80. La Diana is considered by scholars as the work that initiated the vogue for the pastoral
novel throughout Europe. See Jacques Beyrie and Robert Jammes, Histoire de la litérature espagnole (Paris:
Presses Universitaires de France, 1994), 94-96; Francisco López Estrada, ed., La Diana de Montemayor
(Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1970), lxxxvii.
352
The first edition of La Diana that contains most of the texts in Sanseverino’s collection is a 1574 Venetian
print by Comenzini. The missing text, “Los ojos con que miré,” is an addition to book VII, found only in the
1568 Venetian reprint (which does not include Pérez’s second part of La Diana), and in the 1616 Milanese
reprint by Iuan Baptista Bidelo (which does). The poem “Si mi tañer y canto” belongs to the second part of La
Diana by Alonso Pérez (Book III, fols. 73r-74v), confirming the Bidelo as the source used by Sanseverino.
353
La Arcadia was written in imitation of Jacopo Sannazaro’s pastoral novel Arcadia (1504). It became one
of Lope’s most popular and oft-reprinted works. With twenty different printed editions between 1598 and
1675, it is likely that it was well known in Milan during Sanseverino’s employment. See Edwin S. Morby,
ed., Lope de Vega: La Arcadia (Madrid: Castalia, 1975), 41, 377-80, 313-15, 85-6, 298-99; Edwin S. Morby,
“La Arcadia de Lope: ediciones y tradición textual,” Abaco 1 (1969) 135-233; Beyrie and Jammes, 94.
Although largely in prose, a significant amount of poetry is interpolated in the narrative of pastoral novels.
The large variety of poetic genres in La Arcadia, part of the novel’s fictional setting circumscribed to the
topic of love, includes Italianate forms as well as popular Spanish meters. See Arthur Terry, Seventeenth-
Century Spanish Poetry: The Power of Artifice (Cambridge: University Press, 1993), 29-30, 99.
354
“Ya estarás contento” is attributed to Padilla in Segunda parte de las obras de Pedro de Padilla (Seville:
Andrea de Pescioni, 1582). See Aurelio Valladares Reguero, El poeta linarense Pedro de Padilla: Estudio
bio-bibliográfico y crítico (Jaén: UNED, Centro Asociado, 1996), 97-99. The first three verses of “¡Qué
verdadero dolor!” are attributed to Francisco de Quevedo in Las tres mvsas últimas castellanas (Madrid:
Imprenta Real, 1670), advertised as the second part of Quevedo’s collected works titled Parnaso español.
Blecua considers this attribution doubtful. Blecua, Quevedo: Obra poética, 1:49-50.
130
found no discernible pattern to suggest relevance of the poet’s name in the choice of texts
by any of the compilers, nor any direct connection between the poets and the repertoire
itself.
A similar situation occurs with the subject matter. The range of themes in Spanish
siglo de oro poetry is ample, and encompasses “love, moral, religious, mythological,
panegyrical and laudatory, epic, funeral elegiac, and satirical and burlesque” themes.
355
The
choice of subject matter in the repertoire, however, is largely circumscribed to the topic of
love, including aspects such as the exaltation of the body, emotional passion, or
disillusionment.
356
The amorous subject matter is amplified by different approaches in tone,
for instance, by the use of satire and mockery, or poignancy and sentimentality.
357
In
addition to love as the primary theme, celebratory and dance themes are also frequent in
villanella spagnola poems. Insofar as it is possible to judge from the harmonic sequences,
the alfabeto song settings are light compositions, in line with the staff notation examples
studied in Chapter 3. The representative musical forms strongly suggest a standardized
approach to setting Spanish poetry rather than careful consideration of subject matter. For
instance, a small but appreciable number of alfabeto songs set sexually explicit poetry.
With the exception of sarabandas and chaconas, which are well documented in Italy and

355
Maria Grazia Profetti, ed., L’età d’oro della letteratura spagnola: il Seicento (Florence: La Nuova Italia,
1998), 56-57.
356
Pedro Ruiz Pérez, Manual de estudios literarios de los Siglos de Oro (Madrid: Castalia, 2003), 219-20;
Maria Grazia Profeti, “La escena erótica de los siglos áureos,” in Myriam Díaz-Diocaretz and Iris M. Zavala,
eds., Discurso erótico y discurso transgresor en la cultura peninsular: Siglos XI al XX (Madrid: Tuero, 1992),
58-60.
357
According to Arthur Terry, although the “conventional Petrarchan lyric and neo-Platonic elements” that
were prevalent throughout the sixteenth century persisted into the seventeenth century, love, as a subject
matter, was “drawn more and more deeply into general considerations of human nature or, alternatively, to
become the basis of a more public type of court poetry.” The Petrarchan current viewed the loved object as a
symbol and placed emphasis on self-contemplation and introspection, whereas the Neoplatonist stressed the
validity of love and its use as a social behavioral norm. In the “more public type of court poetry,” love
remained the central tenet of texts intended for song, the letras or poesías para cantar. Terry, Seventeenth-
century Spanish Poetry, 22; Pedro Ruiz Pérez, Manual de estudios literarios de los Siglos de Oro (Madrid:
Castalia, 2003): 218-20.
131
Spain as musical vehicles for such poetry and which are amply discussed elsewhere, I have
found no settings in the alfabeto songbooks where such content is relevant to the musical
form.
358
Sexually explicit poetry is well documented as a vibrant current in Spanish siglo de
oro literature.
359
It is found primarily in contemporary poetic cancioneros such as those that
circulated in Italy and Spain, but no musically notated examples are known to survive in
contemporary Iberian sources, hence they represent another point of divergence between
the polyphonic cancioneros and the alfabeto songbooks.
360

The alfabeto songbooks as musical collections
Although their contents frequently overlap, alfabeto songbooks are distinct from
Spanish poetic anthologies. The distinction is best clarified by comparing their respective
layouts. A poem written as an alfabeto song precisely reflects the musical form of the
composition through a detailed repetition of words and/or full lines. This makes it possible
to establish, with a certain degree of precision, poetic-musical criteria for analysis and
comparison of text concordances. Two different manuscripts containing the poem “Con
esperanzas espero,” one a poetic cancionero, the other an alfabeto songbook, serve to
illustrate some of the major differences (see Illustration 4.1).

358
Daniel Devoto, “La folle sarabande,” Revue de musicologie 45 (July 1960), 3-43; Robert Stevenson,
Daniel Devoto, and José Castro Escudero, “A propos de la sarabande,” Revue de Musicologie 42 (July 1961):
113-125; Maurice Esses, Dance and Instrumental Diferencias in Spain During the 17th and Early 18th
Centuries (Stuyvesant: Pendragon Press, 1992), 526-536, 612-623, 735-747; Louise K. Stein, “Eros, Erato
and Terpsíchore,” Musical Quarterly 82 (1998): 654-77.
359
In addition to the anthology by Alzieu, Jammes, and Lissorgues, eds. Floresta; see more current studies by
J. Ignacio Díez Fernández, La poesía erótica de los Siglos de Oro (Madrid: Laberinto, 2003); and Adrienne L.
Martin, An Erotic Philology of Golden Age Spain (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2008).
360
María Teresa Cacho noted that “the great Spanish poets, even if they denied their paternity, entertain
themselves and enjoy creating these ingenious humorous games that exalt physical love.” María Teresa
Cacho, “Canciones españolas en cancioneros musicales florentinos,” Rime e suoni alla spagnola (Florence:
Alinea, 2000), 91.
132
Illustration 4.1. Poetic cancionero and alfabeto songbook comparison.
“Con esperanzas espero.”

Poetic cancionero
I-Rvat Ott. 2882, fol. 14v, detail.
Line Number Alfabeto songbook
I-Fl Ashb. 791, fol. 383r, detail.

1.

2.

3.

4.

The most noticeable difference in Illustration 4.1 is the length of the refrain. In the poetic
cancionero the metrical form is clearly laid out, showing a four-line refrain followed by a
six-line stanza. In contrast, the refrain in the alfabeto song is nine lines long. The increased
length is a result of partial and complete repetitions of verses three and four. The pattern of
repeats splits the musical setting of the refrain into two parts (verses one-two and three-
four), and more generally suggests that the refrain has a more prominent role in the
structure of the musical composition than the stanzas do. The six repetitions of the last line
in the refrain, “si me moriré primero,” point to an emphasis on the last verse of the refrain,
which in this case encapsulates the main idea of the poem. A large number of poetic
133
cancioneros, especially those that circulated in Italy, are considered by literary scholars as
compilations of poetry for song (poesías or letras para cantar), but it is important to
emphasize that such assessment stems from the type of poetry that is gathered rather than
any specific musical indication.
361
In the context of poetic cancioneros, the term letras para
cantar refers to poetry intended to be sung as much as it does to poetry to be recited,
although not necessarily sung, both of which are common in such anthologies.
362
By
comparison, alfabeto song manuscripts present complete musical compositions. Hence, the
alfabeto song sources of villanelle spagnole should be considered, first and foremost, as
musical sources, despite the limitations of their musical notation. Even in the absence of
alfabeto symbols they are immediately recognizable as such by their layout, which shows
the precise organizational scheme of the song, often complemented by other musical
indications in shorthand (see Chapter 5).

The romance as song text
Forty-four villanelle spagnole use romances as song texts, constituting around 16
percent of the repertoire. There is a preference in the repertoire for romances on pastoral
themes, especially of the early seventeenth-century type identified by literary critic José F.
Montesinos, where a “certain bucolic realism,” focused on life in an idealized village,
predominated over the earlier Arcadian images of abstract nature.
363
According to

361
Labrador and DiFranco put forth this consideration regarding a poetic collection in the Vatican Library,
manuscript Patetta 840. See Labrador and Difanco, Dos cancioneros, 32-33; Margit Frenk, “Curas y frailes en
el cancionero popular del siglo de oro,” in Pierre Civil, ed., Siglos dorados: Homenaje a Augustín Redondo
(Madrid: Castalia, 2004), 1:489.
362
Margit Frenk, “Curas y frailes,” 1:489.
363
José F. Montesinos, ed., Primavera y flor de los mejores romances recogidos por el licdo. Arias Pérez
(Madrid 1612) (Valencia: Castalia, 1954), xlviii-li. Philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal identified three main
themes that predominated in late sixteenth-century romances, historical, Moorish (rooted in earlier sixteenth-
century romances set during the wars between Christians and Moors in the Iberian peninsula), and pastoral.
134
Montesinos, whereas the Arcadian romance was emotional and often tearful, the bucolic
type was gleeful (see Illustration 4.3).
364
The poetic structure of the romance consists of a
series of octosyllabic quatrains (or less frequently hexasyllabic, known as romancillo),
characterized by an assonant rhyme pattern on even-numbered verses, maintained
throughout the entire poem; odd-numbered verses are not rhymed.
365
Three main types of
romances were characteristic of late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century poetic
collections: a) the simple romance, b) the romance with estribillo, and c) the romance with
final letrilla.
366
There is a clear preference in the repertoire for setting the first two types
(see Table 4.2).
367

Table 4.2. Romances by source and type.

Source Romances
simples
Romances
w/ estribillo
Romances
w/ letrilla
Total romances
/compositions
Modena MSS 1 3 - 4 / 64
I-PAp 1506/I 1 2 - 3 / 15
I-Fl Ashb. 791 - 1 - 1 / 22
I-Fn Magl. XIX 25 - 1 - 1 / 1
I-Fr 2774 2 1 - 3 / 27
I-Fr 2951 2 1 - 3 / 30
I-Fr 2952 2 1 - 3 / 20
I-Fr 2973/3 1 3 - 4 / 20

There are no historical romances in the repertoire, and only one Moorish romance (Góngora’s “Servía en
Orán al Rey”). See Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Romancero hispánico (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1953): 2:125-26.
364
Montesinos, Primavera y flor, l-li.
365
Arthur Terry notes that the arrangement in quatrains was “originally a concession to their musical settings,
but eventually a sign that they [were] conceived in purely literary terms, as poems intended to be read or
recited rather than sung.” The romance from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century was conceived as
sung poetry. Terry, Seventeenth-century Spanish Poetry, 70; Menéndez Pidal, Romancero hispánico, 2:121-
25, 158-59.
366
Montesinos, Primavera y flor, lxv, lxxviii-lxxxiii.
367
Only one romance includes a final letrilla, the poetic form of which is indistinguishable from other
letrillas in the repertoire. There are numerous other variants that combine the romance and letrilla forms. The
letrilla romanceada, for example, consists of a “seguidilla developed into a romancillo that continues the
assonant rhyme scheme, divided into three six-verse stanzas that each conclude with verses three and four of
the initial seguidilla.” Frenk also makes a distinction between the romance-villancico and the letrilla
romanceada, for example, on the basis of the full repetition of the estribillo found after every quatrain in the
first, only partial in the second. See Frenk, “Las letrillas romanceadas,” in 44 estudios, 637-38; Frenk, “Los
romances villancico,” in 44 estudios, 629.
135
Palumbi MSS 4 10 - 14 /63
I-Rli Cod. 625 1 1 - 2 / 32
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 5 15 - 20 / 58
I Rvat Bonc. M18 1 1 - 2 / 8
I-Nn MS XVII.30 - 1 1 2 / 11
E-Szayas A.IV.8 1 2 - 3 / 22
GB-Lbl Add 36877 - 1 - 1 / 17
PL-Kj Mus ms. 40163 - 4 - 4 / 17
Sanseverino (1616) - 1 - 1 / 18

The proportion of romances to total compositions in the repertoire, about one-in-six,
is misleading. Nearly half (twenty) are found in I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200, one of only two
pre-1600 sources, where they constitute one-third of the song texts and in most cases have
no concordances in the repertoire. If I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 is not taken into account, the
proportion of romances in the repertoire falls to one in ten (twenty-six in 256).
368
By
comparison, the number of romances in contemporary Spanish polyphonic cancioneros is
much larger, up to one-half of the song texts depending of the source.
369

There are fifteen romances of the simpler type (known as romances simples or
corridos) in the villanella spagnola sources, all of them in alfabeto song format. “Riéndose
va un arroyo” serves to illustrates the main characteristics (Illustration 4.2).

368
In the case of I-Nn XVII.30, only the two romances set to alfabeto are taken into consideration. A very
large part of the manuscript is a poetic compilation, and the number of romances (text only) in the source
(sixty-three out of 139) is much larger. See Bertini and Acutis, La romanza spagnola, 228-29, and
subsequent.
369
For instance, in E-PAbm 13231 (Tonos castellanos-B) nineteen out of sixty-five compositions (around
30%) are romances, whereas in D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2 (cancionero de Sablonara), 41 out of 75 compositions
(55%) are romances. See Margit Frenk and Gerardo Arriaga, “Romances y letrillas en el cancionero tonos
castellanos B,” in Poesía popular hispánica: 44 estudios (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2006),
252, 255; Etzion, Sablonara, xxxix.
136
Illustration 4.2. Romance simple: “Riéndose va un arroyo,” in alfabeto song format
and transcription. I-VEc 1434, fol. 156r (detail).

(A stream flows in laughter; / its grumbling
resembles teeth, / since it saw the bare feet /of
the fertile season of spring. /

It is accompanied by a thousand birds / that
were just by the laurels / making love to the
day / now rising by the hill.)

370
Use of the word “fértil” is probably a mistake by the copyist, as other sources of this text use “alegre,”
which fits into the rhyme scheme of the romance.
I-VEc 1434, fol. 156r
alfabeto realized as BC
Ryéndose
+
§
va
i
#
un_a
c
#
rro
a
- yo
+
- sus
c
#
gui
a
xas pa
d
§
- re
r
#
- cen
d
§
- dien
r
#
tes
+
-
des que
+
bio
c
#
los
r
#
piés
+
des
i
#
cal
+
- zos
i
#
- a la
i
#
pri
a
ma
c
#
- ve
+
- ra
c
#
- fér
d
§
til
r
#
-
a la
f
#
pri
i
#
ma
a
- ve
c
#
- ra
+
§
- fér
c
#
til
a
- fér
d
§
r
#
d
§
r
#
til.
f
#
- - -
?
Line 1
Line 2
?
alfabeto:
Line 3 Line 4
?
Line 4+
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
Line Number
1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.
8.

Ryéndose va vn arroyo;
sus guixas parezen dientes,
des que bió los pies descalsos
a la primavera fértil.
370

Mil páxaros l’aconpañan
que estavan a los laureles
aziend’Amores al día
que por vn mont’amaneze.
8-
8a
8-
8a

137
The verses of the first romance strophe (lines 1-4) are laid out as individual lines of text
that correspond to the poetic verse lines. The alfabeto sequences (realized in basso continuo
notation) represent distinct musical strains or phrases, and are unique to each of the lines.
371

Emphasis is given to the final verse of the quatrain by a full repetition of the verse plus an
additional repetition of the word “fértil,” set to (partially) different music. There are no
parallel musical strains, at least as it can be determined from the alfabeto sequences,
although a cadence at the end of line two (A minor-B major-E minor, or iv-V-i, as if in the
key of E minor) could imply an intention to set lines one and two as paired antecedent and
consequent musical phrases. Additional stanzas are presented without any written-out text
repetitions, in this case indicated by the symbol “#”. Repetition, whether partial or
complete, of a quatrain’s final verse to different music is a recurring compositional feature
of the romance in the repertoire, used in nine of the simple romance settings.
372
Isolated
word repetitions are less frequent. The chord sequence of “Riéndose va un arroyo” is fairly
syllabic, which is the general tendency in settings of romance quatrains.
Thirty musical settings of romances include a refrain (romances con estribillo).
Four of them survive in staff notation, which allows for corroboration of the structural
patterns derived from the alfabeto sequences.
373
Musical treatment of the romance stanzas
is similar to that described above, except for a slight tendency to avoid emphasis of the
verse.
374
Most estribillos are in a different meter and/or rhyme scheme compared to the

371
In some instances this manner of setting verses individually partitions a semantic line of text, for instance
in lines three and four of the quatrain, where the second part of the sentence consists of both verse lines.
372
One additional simple romance (“En que nieve no pisada”) repeats lines three and four. The four
remaining settings have no verse repetition.
373
“Cuidaba yo penas mías,” “Hermosísima pastora,” Inmortal debo de ser,” and the romancillo “Las olas del
Tormes.”
374
Fourteen romances with estribillo have no verse repetition of any kind, nine emphasize the fourth verse,
and the remaining repeat other verses.
138
romance stanzas they accompany; they are, in fact, musically and poetically separate
sections. Settings indicate repetitions of the refrain in full after every four, eight, twelve, or
sixteen verses, with a recurrence after every two stanzas being the most usual.
375

Infrequently, the estribillo is also placed at the beginning of the poem, but this is a rare
occurrence related to certain variants of the poetic form.
376
In all but six romances the
estribillo consists of a combination of lines with different numbers of syllables.
377
Their
metrical length varies from one to five verses, with a preference for two- and four-verse
schemes:
One verse 1
Two verses 19
Three verses 2
Four verses 7
Five or more verses 1

There is a considerable variety, however, in the musical length of the estribillos,
determined primarily by word and line repetitions. The internal text repetitions produce
refrain sections longer than what is suggested by their metrical form, in some cases more
than twice as long. The most noticeable effect on the musical form is a shift in the balance
of the composition from the narrative stanzas to the refrain.
378
This is immediately
discernible in an alfabeto song because the individual lines of text generally correspond to

375
Only in two romancillos does the musical form suggest an estribillo fragmented into two sections, with a
first section repeating the opening music of the refrain with a different text in the same rhyme scheme
followed by an exact repeat (music and text) of the second portion.
376
Four romances, “Encontréme un día con mi Leonor,” “Las olas del Tormes,” “Lo que me quise me
tengo,” and “Si aquel de la venda,” place the estribillo at the top but also indicate a recurrence after one, two
or three stanzas. They are romancillos (hexasyllabic verse lines), and their settings are closer to those of the
letrillas in the repertoire.
377
Verse lengths for the two-line refrains include 7|11-syllable verse pairings (8) and its variants,
characteristic of the earliest phase of the new romance, but also even-syllable verse combinations such as 6|8
and 8|8. See Frenk and Arriaga, “Romances y letrillas,” 255n9, 257n13. With one exception (“En su balcón
una dama,” estribillo 8|8), strophes of equal metrical length are found only in romancillos.
378
Miguel Querol has noted that the length of the refrains in Spanish polyphonic cancioneros increases as the
seventeenth century progresses. Miguel Querol, ed., Romances y letras a tres voces (Barcelona: CSIC, 1955),
113-20.
139
musical units. As a result, the total number of written-out lines in the refrains becomes a
more precise indicator of the structural balance between stanzas and estribillos in
romances:
Two lines 3
Three lines 4
Four lines 7
Five lines 5
Six lines 2
Seven lines 3
Eight lines 1
Nine lines 3*
Ten lines 1
In settings of romances with estribillo there is a clear preference for musical refrains with a
line length equal to or greater than a quatrain. The placement of the estribillo recurrence
does not affect the balance between sections because the stanzas are musically set as
quatrains. The estribillo of “En la villa de Segura” (see Illustration 4.3) illustrates some of
the more characteristic word and line repetitions encountered in the musical estribillos of
romances:

140
Illustration 4.3. Romance with estribillo: “En la villa de Segura,” in alfabeto song
format and transcription. I-VEc 1434, fol. 147r (detail).

Line Number
1.
2.
3.
4.
A Pedro y Antona
hoy los casa Amor,
# y aunque dos sagales
vno son los dos.
6-
6a
6-
6a

(Pedro and Antona / today are
married by Love; / even though
they are two youngsters / they
are becoming one.)

I-VEc 1434, fol 147r
alfabeto realized as BC
A Pe
o
!
dro y
l
!
- Antona
g
hoy los
h
casa,
o
!
hoy los
m
casa
p
!
Amor
o
!
hoy
l
!
los ca
g
sa
e
- hoy los
h
casa
g
Amor
h
y aunque
h
dos
o
!
sa
l
!
ga
g
- les
o
!
- uno
l
!
son
g
los
e
dos
h m
y aunque
l
!
dos
g
sa
[e] e
gales
h
-
uno
h
son los
o
!
dos,
m
son
p
los
a
§
dos
l
!
y aunque
l
!
dos
g
saga
h
les
o
!
-
u
m
no
p
!
- son
m
los
g
dos,
h
u
m
no
h
- son
l
!
los
c
#
dos.
o
!
?
Line 1 Line 2
Line 2+
?
alfabeto:
Line 3 Line 4 Line 3+
?
Line 4+ Line 3+
?
Line 4+
œ
œ
œ
œ b
œ
œ b
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ b
œ
œ b
œ b
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ b
œ b
œ
œ
œ œ
œ b
œ b
œ
œ b
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ b
œ
œ b
œ
œ b
œ
œ b
œ b
œ b
œ
œ
œ
141
To summarize thus far, there are two standard musical forms in villanella spagnola
settings of romances, which differ primarily in the presence or absence of a poetic refrain,
plus a smaller number of variations:
1. Non-estribillo musical forms, which set the poem in strophic form by
quatrain. Each verse is presented as a clearly articulated musical strain; repetition of
the fourth verse to different music is typical, but occasionally a different verse (or
none) is similarly repeated. All subsequent quatrains repeat exactly same structure.
2. Musical forms with estribillo, where the musical design is bipartite in
response to the presence of an added poetic refrain (estribillo). The total length of
the refrain is variable, independent of its poetic structure. Frequent text repetition
creates long musical refrains (up to ten lines); it also creates long text lines (longer
than determined by metrical length) still articulated as individual musical strains.
The romance stanzas are set in strophic form by quatrain, as described above. More
importantly, romance stanzas and corresponding estribillos are musically
independent (no shared musical strains).

The letrilla
At least 154 letrillas are set to music in the villanella spagnola sources, about 54%
of the repertoire.
379
As a metrical form, the letrilla consists of three large segments: an
estribillo of varying length and often irregular verse meter, a main body consisting of
stanzas labeled coplas or mudanzas frequently with an abba or abab rhyme scheme,
followed by two or more verses known as enlace and vuelta that transition back to a partial

379
This number does not take into account the thirty-two poems in I-Rli Cod. 625. Text incipits indicate at
least five letrillas, three romances, and nine strophic forms.
142
or full text repetition of the refrain (see Illustration 4.5).
380
The metrical form of estribillos
varies considerably, and they may consist of a metrically regular quatrain such as a
seguidilla or a redondilla (see below), although more often they are written in irregular
poetic meters.
381
The coplas or mudanzas are metrically regular quatrains, either
octosyllabic or hexasyllabic. The enlace is linked to the stanza verses via meter and rhyme
scheme, whereas the vuelta adheres to the rhyme scheme and meter of the estribillo,
whenever possible. The term copla is used in the sources to designated the individual
stanzas that always includes the mudanza as well as enlace / vuelta verses. The presence of
enlace / vuelta verses is a key element in the distinction between letrillas and romances
with estribillo.
382

Most villanelle spagnole set the three-part poetic structure of the letrilla as a
bipartite musical composition. The musical form of estribillo sections is comparable to
those found in romances in two principal ways: (1) their musical length is not determined
by metrical length and includes frequent text repetitions, and (2) there is an absence of
repeated musical strains within the section. The most significant difference is that in
letrillas the estribillo is generally repeated after every stanza and this repetition can be
either partial or complete. The musical structure of the coplas section (which consists of the
mudanza and the enlace / vuelta verses) is the determining component that establishes a

380
According to Robert Jammes, the letrilla and the villancico both designate a poetic form that was
fundamentally identical; he sees the use of these two terms linked instead to historical periods and literary
circles. See Robert Jammes, ed. Luis de Góngora: Letrillas (Madrid: Clásicos Castalia, 1980), 9-12; Frenk
and Arriaga, “Romances y letrillas,” 254. Antonio Carreira differentiates between one type of letrilla with
assonant rhyme in all verses, and a second type, similar to the romance, with changing assonant rhyme on the
even verses and no rhyme in the odd verses. Carreira, Nuevos poemas, 22-24.
381
The stanzas could also have the same six- or eight-verse structure found in a villancicos, or be quintillas
dobles, altered décimas, romances, etc. See Lapesa, Introducción, 118.
382
According to Jammes, the enlace and vuelta verses link the letrilla to the villancico, its predecessor. He
deemphasizes thematic aspects and the length of specific elements as differentiating factors. Jammes,
Góngora, 12-13.
143
distinction with romance settings. The approach to the musical form of letrillas can be
summed up in two basic procedures:
Type 1. Where the music for the coplas section is the same as or derived
from the estribillo. The first verse pair in the mudanza is set to the music of the
estribillo’s initial verse pair (A), or a variant (A’). The second pair can be set to the
same or to contrasting music (A / A’ / C / Cx). The enlace / vuelta duplicates the
music of the estribillo’s initial section, often with a new musical strain inserted (A
or Ax).
383
The estribillo’s return (text and music) can be a partial repetition of its
second half (B) or a complete repetition (AB). As a result of this parallel
construction, there is always a complete repetition of the estribillo music after every
stanza, even if the text repetition is only partial.
Type 2. Where the music for the coplas section is different from that of the
estribillo. The mudanza is set to contrasting music constructed through parallel
phrases (CC, the second verse pair replicates the first) or separate harmonic
sequences (CD). The enlace / vuelta portion may be set to contrasting music (less
common) or to the initial verses of the estribillo, as in Type 1.
The use of capital letters above is intended to label complete music strains (the
alfabeto harmonic sequences above the lines of text) so that they serve as points of
comparison for the music, rather than larger indicators of sections in musical form. Each
letter represents a pair of verses in the poetic form, which generally constitutes a musical
phrase or period. Figure 4.5 illustrates a typical musical setting of a letrilla Type 1:

383
A double letter indicates two complete strains (usually two verses). A letter followed by an “x” (as in Ax)
represents a familiar complete strain followed by new music.
144
Illustration 4.4. Letrilla type 1: “Frescos aires del prado.” Comparison of poetic and
musical form as derived from alfabeto harmonic sequences.
I-VEc 1434, fols. 135r-v (detail).

Music Text
Frescos ayres del prado:
se a Toledo váis,
dezild’a mi dueño
como me dejáis.

[Copla]
Pues aveis sabido,
ayre bolizioso,
el fuego amoroso
de ausenzia nazido,
y pues atrevido
en mi alma entrais
dezild'a mi dueño
como . . .

A

B

A’

C

A

B

Estribillo

Mudanza

-- Enlace
-- Vuelta

Estribillo repeat

(Refreshing breeze from the meadows, / if you go by Toledo / tell my beloved / how you’ve
left me behind. [Copla] Since you have known, / noisy wind, / the amorous fire / that is
born from longing, and so daring / you enter my soul / tell my . . .)

Estribillo Copla

(similar)

Mudanza

Enlace

Vuelta

Partial
estribillo repeat

145
There are a large number of variants to these two basic procedures that consist of
permutations of the musical strains used in the mudanza, enlace, and vuelta verses, and of
the type of estribillo repetitions. Complete repetitions of the estribillo (text and music) are
infrequent but not exceptional. When they occur, they sectionalize the musical form more
clearly, even in the presence of enlace and vuelta verses. Partial repetitions of the estribillo
(text and music) are far more common, but a similar degree of musical continuity is
achieved in the compositions through partial use of estribillo music to set the enlace /
vuelta (see Table 4.3 below). The open nature of the enlace / vuelta verses as an element of
transition contrasts with the closed nature of the estribillo or the mudanza, is the main
reason for considering the coplas and the enlace / vuelta as a single unit. Variants and
permutations are not exclusive to any poetic meter. Table 4.3 is a summary of the musical
forms of 119 letrillas, which can be broadly grouped into ten main patterns.
384

Table 4.3. Musical Forms for Type 1 and Type 2 Letrillas.

Estribillo Mudanza Enlace / vuelta Estribillo Repeat Total
Type 1.
a. AB | AA | A / A’ / Ax | B 26
b. AB | Ax | A | B 13
c. AB | AA / Ax / Cx | A / Ax | AB 5

Type 2.
a. AB | CC | A / A’ / Ax | B 33
b. AB | CC | C / D | B 3
c. AB | CC | Ax / AB | AB 2
d. AB | CC | CD / D / Dx | AB 13
e. AB | CD | A / Ax / B | B 13
f. AB | CD | C / D / E | B 4
g. AB | CD | C / E / Ex | AB 7

384
Thirty-three letrillas are not included for several reasons. Eleven do not include enlace / vuelta verses,
although their musical organization conforms to the letrilla patterns. For the remaining twenty-four it is
impossible to determine the musical form given the partial or almost complete absence of alfabeto. No items
from I-Rli Cod. 625 are taken into account.
146
Seguidillas and redondillas as estribillo structures
As previously noted, the estribillos of romances and letrillas generally have a looser
metrical structure than the strophic portion of the forms (the coplas), and this irregularity is
accentuated in the musical setting by the internal text repetitions. Two metrically regular
forms are also frequently used as estribillos. One of the most recognizable structures is
known as seguidillas, a four-line stanza structured around alternating paired heptasyllabic
and pentasyllabic verses, with an assonant rhyme scheme in the second and fourth verses
and no rhyme in verses one and three.
385
The 7|5|7|5 metric scheme predominates, but other
schemes with slight fluctuations in the syllable count are common (6|5|6|5, 7|5|6|5, or
6|6|7|5, among others), recognizable as seguidillas due to a ternary pattern of accentuation
in every couplet.
386
There are thirty-four seguidillas in the repertoire, used mainly as
estribillos for letrillas (twenty-three) and romances (two), but also in stand-alone series as
strophic compositions (nine).
387

Stand-alone series of seguidillas are strophic compositions. Their musical settings
are consistent with single seguidilla strophes and irregular estribillo forms used in settings
of romances and letrillas. Seguidillas often include amplification via text repetition and are
characterized by a lack of repeated musical strains within each stanza. Although there is a
great variety in the patterns of line repetitions, seguidillas remain primarily sequential (that

385
According to literary historians, seguidillas quickly rose to prominence as a musical and poetic form
around 1595 aided by the fact that they were “improvised, sung, and danced everywhere,” profoundly
changing forms such as the romance beginning around 1600. See Margit Frenk, Lírica, xxi; José María Alín,
ed., Cancionero Tradicional, 30-33; Montesinos, Primavera y flor, lxxiv-lxxviii. See also Margit Frenk, “De
la seguidilla antigua a la moderna,” in Poesía popular hispánica: 44 estudios (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura
Económica, 2006), 485-96.
386
As opposed to the expected four (two accents per verse). This ternary pattern of accentuation sets the
seguidilla apart from other Spanish poetic meters by virtue of the unique combination of stressed/unstressed
syllables: Mi zagala sus paños | enjuga_y tuerçe. Navarro Tomás, Tomás. Métrica española: Reseña
histórica y descriptiva (Madrid: Guadarrama, 1974), 181.
387
This total does not take into account each individual seguidilla stanza in the stand-alone series.
147
is, no text rearrangement).
388
A large number of repetitions of verses three and four implies
the structural division by two-verse units with emphasis on the second couplet also seen in
estribillos for romances and letrillas. The first verse is never repeated. The subject matter
of the different stanzas in stand-alone seguidillas are not necessarily connected. When used
in romances and letrillas, the seguidilla stanza is set as a separate, independent musical
section. In the specific case of the letrilla, the repetition of the refrain (text and music) is
always partial, occurring after strophes of six lines (mudanza plus enlace / vuelta). The last
two lines of each strophe are linked to verses three and four of the seguidilla by their rhyme
scheme and, more importantly, through the use of musical strains from the first couplet (see
Table 4.3, forms 2a and 2e). Seguidillas are most frequently used in conjunction with
hexasyllabic coplas.
The redondilla is not frequently used as an estribillo, but it is easily recognizable as
one of the metrical forms used in coplas of letrillas. Redondillas generally designates an
octosyllabic (or hexasyllabic) quatrain with an abab or abba rhyme scheme. It is
characteristic for a series of redondillas, whether coplas of a letrilla or a stand-alone
composition, to retain the scheme while varying the rhyme.

Other Poetic and Musical Forms
There are sixty-nine strophic compositions in the villanella spagnola sources,
excluding settings of romances simples. They form a third distinct group of musical forms,
albeit one with a more heterogeneous collection of metrical forms. The larger group of

388
In two stand-alone settings the second verse is repeated at the end, suggesting a final closing line, but with
a harmonic sequence that does not close the musical form. The reasons are unclear, although in at least one of
the examples (“Río de Sevilla”), it could imply a repetition of the second portion of the stanza ending at the
final repetition of the fourth verse, which contains a full “cadence” to close the musical form.
148
compositions (forty-five) sets poems based on series of four-line stanzas, such as
seguidillas, redondillas, dances such as the chacona, the españoleta, or the zarabanda; or
other octosyllabic or hexasyllabic quatrain schemes. They are characterized by the absence
of an independent musical estribillo, although in a few cases the first couplet, the first
stanza, or another line is repeated in the manner of refrain.
A handful of villanelle spagnole use poetic forms with verse lines larger than eight
syllables (known as versos de arte mayor and associated with Italian poetic forms). Most
frequently these forms utilize hendecasyllabic verses, whether exclusively as in the octava
real and the terceto, or in combination with heptasyllabic verses as in the lira and the
canción. These metrical forms have the absence of a poetic estribillo in common. In most
cases, musical forms will not adhere to metrical forms. For instance, the eight-line stanza
characteristic of the octava real is set to music strophically by quatrain, with few or no
verse-line repetitions.
389
The procedure is the same for tercetos, a poetic form consisting of
a series of three-line stanzas.
390
Settings of the sexteto-lira, identified in the sources as
liras, emphasize the final verse of the strophe in a manner similar to romances simples.
391

389
“Cerca del Tajo, en soledad amena,” “De soledad y pena acompañado,” “Quien entre mire bien como ha
vivido,” and “Quien no sabe callar no alcanza nada.” The latter is not a strophic setting. Written as a duet, it
includes partial and total text repetitions that suggest a declamatory setting with more complex interplay
between voices. The octava real is the Spanish equivalent of the Italian ottava rima. Each eight-line stanza
comprises six verses in alternating rhyme plus two with an independent rhyme (ABABABCC). See Navarro
Tomás, Los poetas y sus versos, 139-47.
390
“Ausente de mi bien y de mi gloria,” and “Yo solo soy a quien faltó ventura.” The terceto is similar to the
Italian terza rima, which consists of three-line stanzas characterized by a rhyme pattern that links the stanzas
by rhyming the middle verse of one stanza with the first and third verses of the following (ABA: BCB: CDC:
DED: etc.). The two tercetos utilize different rhyme schemes. The scheme for “Ausente de mi bien y de mi
gloria” is ABB CDD EFF etc.; whereas the one for “Yo solo soy a quien faltó ventura” is AAA BBB CCC
etc., known as terceto monorrimo. This setting also contains the recurring phrase “ay de mí,” which is added
to every third verse. It acts as a sort of estribillo, but does not affect the overall poetic form. It is possible that
the addition of this particle is specific to the musical settings. The coplas of the letrilla “Corre, corre, corre |
Gil y verás | la dama más bella,” are also constructed as tercetos, with an added vuelta verse.
391
“Aquí lloró sentado,”

“En esta larga ausencia,” and “Si son para mirar vuestra hermosura.” The sexteto-
lira consists of a six-verse stanza that utilizes a combined crossed/paired rhyme scheme (aBaBcC), whereas
the lira uses five-verse stanzas with an alternating rhyme scheme (aBabB). As a poetic form, the sexteto-lira
149
In the case of the sonnet, the musical form is bipartite.
392
The first eight lines are divided
into two strophic quatrains, with the remaining six lines treated similarly; the two musical
sections are independent. The single example of a canción, in reference to the Italian-style
poetic form (the Petrarchan canzone), is a through-composed duet for soprano and bass.
393

Despite some exceptions, the general approach in the repertoire to versifications larger than
octosyllabic is strophic.
394

To a great extent, the three larger groups of musical forms identified in the
villanella spagnola repertoire, those belonging to settings of romances and letrillas, and
strophic forms, remain consistent throughout the different sources. All three forms feature a
strophic portion that can have a larger or smaller structural role in the composition,
contingent on the presence and musical development of an estribillo. The preponderance of
metrical forms with estribillo suggests one key aspect of the interest of villanella spagnola
composers in Spanish poetic forms is found in the musical possibilities offered by the
recurring refrain, whether it is based on forms such as the seguidilla or the redondilla, or

is nearly identical to the Italian sesta rima, except for the use of heptasyllabic lines in the odd-numbered
verses.
See Navarro Tomás, Métrica, 207-208, 256-57. “Si son para mirar vuestra hermosura,” differs from the other
two examples in both the order of verse combination and the use of a paired rhyme pattern (AabBcC).
392
“Nací para morir, vivo muriendo.”
393
“Rompe las venas del ardiente pecho.” The through-composed nature of the composition can be
established from the alfabeto sequence. The stanza in a canción varied in length depending on the number of
verses, and consisted of two main sections. The first is composed of hendecasyllabic verses with accents in
the fourth and eighth syllables, whereas the second section alternates or interpolates heptasyllabic verses to
punctuate the stanza. The rhyme scheme is ABCBAC: cdeEFGfG. The alternation of the two different verse
lengths was not fixed. The rhyme pattern allowed for some flexibility, although the structure set in the first
stanza remained constant throughout the entire poetic composition. Profetti, L’età d’oro: il Seicento, 622.
The term “canción” is used regularly in some anthologies such as I-Rli Cod. 625 or the Modena sources in a
generic manner, to refer “to any composition in verse intended for singing,” rather than to designate a specific
poetic form. Juan Díaz Rengifo. Arte Poética Española, Chapter 59, p. 64. Diccionario de autoridades notes
that “among poets and musicians, [canción] is a composition which can be sung, by virtue of being [written]
in verse.” Diccionario de autoridades (Francisco del Hierro, 1729), 2:109.
394
Other instances of poetic forms with verse lines longer than eight syllables are rare. The refrain of
“Arrojome las naranjicas,” for example, consists of four nine-verse lines, followed by octosyllabic coplas.
The brief refrain of “Caracoles me pide la niña” consists of a ten-syllable line followed by an octosyllabic one
(the coplas are also octosyllabic). Neither refrain fits a specific poetic versification, but both song texts are
technically letrillas.
150
has a looser metrical structure. More importantly, the existence of standard forms shows
that the compositional approach to the poems was not bound by text, but rather by
structural aspects of the poetic forms.

Chapter 5
The villanella spagnola as alfabeto song
In contrast to the small number of villanelle spagnole surviving in full staff notation, there
are approximately 300 different alfabeto settings of Spanish poetry that can be grouped
under the villanella umbrella. The very low incidence of concordances with Iberian
repertoire or Spanish texts set to music elsewhere and the multiple surviving copies for a
large number of the songs are strong evidence for categorizing them as a separate practice,
distinct from other contemporary musical settings of Spanish poetry.
395
This chapter will
demonstrate that despite perceptions to the contrary, and despite the obvious limitations of
the notation, the alfabeto song nomenclature was highly detailed and often precise enough
to enable differentiations of style and performance practice linked to distinct regional
patterns. As it will be shown, the alfabeto song format was not a self-sufficient notation, at
least in most cases. It required memorization of the melody, whether from individual staff-
notation compositions or more generally known songs, thus effectively functioning as a
prod to memory.
The publication dates of the fully notated songbooks containing villanelle spagnole,
roughly 1606-1623, provide a useful time frame to situate chronologically the alfabeto song
manuscripts specific to this study. The earliest manuscript sources are I-Rvat Chigi
L.VI.200 and E-Szayas A.IV.8, both of which have the date 1599 inscribed on their covers.
They were probably compiled over the course of a few years, certainly in the case of E-
Szayas A.IV.8. The six Florentine manuscripts penned by guitarist Francesco Palumbi are

395
A small number of Spanish texts were set to music in France in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries by Guillaume Tessier (1582), Fabrice Marin Caietain (1587), Charles Tessier (1604), Antoine
Boesset (1617, 1624), and Etienne Moulinié (1626, 1629), and anonymously in the airs de cour collections
printed by Ballard between 1608 and 1614.
152
thought to date from around 1630, but by then no examples of villanelle spagnole had
appeared in print for at least five years, so it is possible that they were compiled in the very
early 1620s at the latest.
396
The retrospective nature of the printed collections compiled by
Giovanni Stefani, the last ones known to include examples of the repertoire, further
indicates that the later part of the 1610s was the period of highest popularity for the
repertoire.
397

Particular aspects of the alfabeto notation show that the technical level achieved on
the instrument was quite high at a very early stage.
398
In addition to extended harmonies
and moveable chord shapes, there are numerous examples involving complex strumming
techniques such as the repicco or the repicco doppio,
399
chains of dissonant harmonies or
false,
400
and movable melodic lines integrated into series of strummed chords.
401
There is,
however, a clear differentiation between the notational complexity found in what are
commonly denominated as alfabeto “solos,” and the series of chords used in the alfabeto
song format.
402
Strumming patterns akin to those found in the “solos” are rarely used in the
song settings. In most cases one finds only brief fragments with strumming indications that

396
The last publication to include villanelle spagnole was the 1626 reprint of Stefani’s Affetti amorosi (1618).
As noted in Chapter 2, Juan de Arañes’ Libro segundo (1624) belongs to a different practice, the continuo
duet, and is also stylistically closer to contemporary Spanish composition in the rhythmic profile of its
compositions. The 1610-1620 time frame for the Palumbi manuscripts was suggested by James Tyler. Richard
Hudson, “The folia Melodies,” Acta Musicologica 45 (1973): 114; Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its
Music, 78-80; Lazzi, Rime e suoni, 51, 55, 58-59, 62; Kirkendale, L’aria di Fiorenza, 81.
397
Gavito,”The Alfabeto Song” 130.
398
Zuluaga, “Matheo Bezón.”
399
For example, the passacaglie in I-Fr 2804 (fol. 37r) and I-VEc 1434 (fol. 26r); or the repicco and trillo
passages in the solo alfabeto guitar manuscript I-PEc 586 (fols. 54v-55r).
400
For example, the ritornelli con false in manuscript I-Bc v280 (fols. 28v-30r), dated 1614 on its cover
page.
401
See I-VEc 1434, fol. 28v, et seq. An explanatory note on the technique is found in the opening folios of I-
PEc 586. For an overview of the complexities of the alfabeto notation, see Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and
its Music, 56-61.
402
This term has been used extensively by James Tyler and Alexander Dean, among others. It is problematic
in the sense that many of the so-called “solos” are, in my opinion, written-out accompaniments for songs and
well-known grounds and dances rather than outright guitar solos.
153
were intended as annotations for the chord progressions that normally precede the songs.
403

There are some exceptions. The long strum patterns after the three alfabeto songs in
Spanish in manuscript I-Fn Magl Cl. VII 618, for example, are ritornelli intended to be
played between the strophic stanzas, although no additional texts are provided.
404
On the
opposite side of the spectrum, the song “Que os parece Antón,” in manuscript I-MOe alpha
R.6.4, has a few isolated short stroke patterns accurately jotted into the alfabeto chords
above the text (see Illustrations 5.1 and 5.2).
Illustration 5.1. “Es amor un no se qué” with strummed ritornello.
I-Fn Magl Cl. VII 618, fol. 20r (fragment).

Ilustration 5.2. “Que os parece Antón,” with isolated strum patterns.
I-MOe a.R.6.4, fol. 93v (fragment).

403
The most common heading markings in the alfabeto settings are “rit[ornello]” and “pas[sacaglio],” usually
followed by a four chord sequence, and “çhac[ona],” followed by a five- or six-chord sequence. This is a
typical feature of alfabeto song manuscripts used to establish the key of the song they precede. See Appendix
2, under “Heading.”
404
“Es amor un no se qué,” with the heading “Canzona alla spagniuola;” the letrilla “Haber mil damas
hermosas,” and the redondilla “Hombre que está sin amores.”
154
In the context of the villanella spagnola, manuscript PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 is the
most useful source in the analysis of alfabeto songs, on account of its extensive use of
alfabeto: fifteen of the three-part settings in Spanish in the manuscript include it. Most of
these settings are closely related to the Florentine alfabeto sources. The same hand that
copied the poems into the manuscript appears to have written the alfabeto symbols above
the two lower vocal parts (usually tenor and bass), confirming that they were not later
additions.
405
Since the manuscript is in choir-book format, there is the added benefit of two
separate lines inscribed with alfabeto, each with small variations on the placement of the
chords above the syllables.
How the notated examples relate to the alfabeto song sources is best exemplified by
the anonymous letra “Cuando yo me enamoré.” The only known setting in staff notation is
found in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163. The bipartite musical structure is comprised of an
unlabeled refrain and coplas, mirroring the poetic form. The refrain consists of two main
sections: a repeated eight-measure phrase where the melody descends from E to C, over a
harmony that moves from A minor to C major, followed by a considerably longer, twenty-
six-measure section alternating brief imitative passages with homophony, with major
cadences in C major and G major (see Musical Example 5.1). The music for the copla is
organized in three parts: the first and third phrases are exactly the same as the opening
eight-measure phrase of the refrain; the second phrase is similar, but it reverses the
rhythmic pattern of the other two phrases; an immediate repetition of the larger section of
the refrain is indicated. The resulting effect is a perception that the musical form is strophic
rather than bipartite. Imitative interplay is limited to the bass and tenor lines and to the
refrain section. The lack of independence of the terzera, in constant parallel thirds or sixths

405
Alto and bass in “Obras son de amores,” and “Como nada el cisne, madre.”
155
with the tenor, would suggest its addition could have been an afterthought, perhaps to
adhere to the three-part writing convention noted by Cardamone and Hill. Aside from an
unexpected final cadence in G major, the setting has no significant features.

156
Musical Example 5.1. “Cuando yo me enamoré,” estribillo only.
PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, fols. 42v-43r.
406

406
The alfabeto symbols have been omitted from the bass part, for clarity.
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
°
¢
™
™
™
™
™
™
T erzera
[T enor]
[Bajo]
9
16
23
29
&
B 3
Cuan do - yo me_en na - mo - ré, - fue so lo - de_un bel do nai - re. -
&
‹
B
3
Cuan
d
do - yo me_en na - mo
a
- ré,
g
- fue so lo
b
- de_un bel - do
e
nai
b
- re. -
?
3
Cuan do - yo me_en na - mo - ré, - fue so lo - de_un bel do nai - re. -
&
∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Y_aun que - me fun de_en - el ai re, -
&
‹
Y_aun
b
que - me fun de_en - el ai
a
re, -
∑
y_aun
e
que - me fun de_en - el ai
d
re, -
?
∑ ∑
Y_aun que - me fun de_en - el ai re, -
∑
y_aun que - me
&
en el ai re, - en el ai re, - en el ai -
∑
&
‹
en el ai
a
re, - en el ai
g
re, - en el ai
b
re, - no lle vo_el -
?
fun de_en - el ai re, - en el ai re, - en el ai re, -
∑
&
∑ ∑ ∑
no lle vo_el - ai re_a - mi fé,
&
‹
ai
a
re_a - mi fé,
e
∑
no
d
lle vo_el - ai
g
re_a - mi fé,
b
?
∑
no lle vo_el - ai re_a - mi fé,
∑
no lle vo_el -
&
el ai re_a - mi fe, no lle vo_el - ai re_a - mi fé.
&
‹
el ai
a
re_a
d
- mi fé,
f
no
b
lle vo_el - ai re_a
c
- mi fé.
a
?
ai re_a - mi fé,_el ai re_a - mi fe, no lle vo_el - ai re_a - mi fé.
Ó
˙ ˙ w ˙ ˙
w
w
™
Ó
w ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
˙
˙
˙ w
Ó
˙ ˙ w ˙ ˙
w
w ™
Ó
w
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
w
˙ w
Ó
˙ ˙ w ˙ ˙
w
w
™
Ó
w
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
w
˙ w
˙ ™ œ ˙ ˙ ™ œ ˙
˙ w
˙ ™ œ ˙ ˙ ™ œ ˙
˙ w
˙
™
œ ˙ ˙
™
œ ˙
˙ w
˙ ™ œ ˙ ˙ ™
œ
˙
˙ w
˙ ˙ ˙
˙ ˙
™
œ
˙ w ˙ ˙
˙
˙ w ˙ ˙
˙
˙ w
˙ ˙ ˙
˙ w ˙ ˙
™
œ
˙ w ˙
˙
˙
˙ w
˙ ˙
˙
˙ ˙ ˙
˙ w ˙
˙
˙
˙ w ˙
˙
˙
˙ w
˙ ˙
˙
˙ ˙
˙
w
™
˙ ˙
˙
w
™
˙ ˙
˙
˙ ˙
˙
w ™
˙ ˙
˙
˙ ˙
˙
w
™
˙ ˙
˙
w
™
w
™
w ˙ w
™
w
™
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
˙ ™ œ
w ™
w ™
w
™
w ˙
w
™
w
™
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
˙ # ™ œ
w
™
˙ ˙
˙
w ˙
w ˙
w ™ w ™
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
˙
™
œ
w
™
157
One concordant setting in alfabeto song format is found in manuscript I-Fr 2973/3.
There are some minor chord discrepancies between the two settings. The harmonies in text
lines six and seven of I-Fr 2973/3, C major, G major, D minor and A minor, are the same
ones found in the corresponding text in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 (measures 22-26), but
spread over two lines of text and placed differently above the syllables (see Illustration 5.3).
Some of the harmonies before the E-major chord that precedes the final cadence in PL-Kj
Mus. ms. 40163 (measure 32) are missing in I-Fr 2973/3 (text line seven), which can be
attributed to a slightly shortened text repetition. There are no repeat signs at the end of the
first line of text, but the symbol that precedes line three (#, encircled) represents the dal
segno indicated at the end of each copla.

158
Illustration 5.3. “Cuando yo me enamoré.” I-Fr 2973/3, fol. 44v.

Text lines

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Additional alfabeto song concordances for “Cuando yo me enamoré” are found in
the three manuscripts of villanelle spagnole currently held in Modena. The separate
alfabeto versions of the song in manuscripts I-MOe alpha P.6.22 (fols. 9r-10r), I-MOe
alpha R.6.4 (fols. 21r-22r), and I-MOe alpha Q.8.21 (fols. 39v-40v), are individual copies
of exactly the same setting, and will be examined as one. The layout of the text is exactly
the same as in I-Fr 2973/3, including the shortened text repetition noted at the end of text
159
line seven. The Modena setting, however, has the same signs of repetition used in the
refrain from PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163. The alfabeto is also the same, with the exception of
the first three chords in line seven.
407
While these chords (highlighted in Illustration 5.4
below) are not the same the harmonies suggested by the three-part setting, they represent an
alternate chord sequence that fits correctly with the tenor line from PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163
when it is isolated as a solo vocal line, a well-established practice in Spanish music of the
period.
408
It also aligns with the general characteristics of basso seguente duets, which by
virtue of their fairly consistent scoring were considered at the time closely related to solo
song, particularly by publishers.
409
The preceding chordal ripresa is different in both
alfabeto song sources even though the song is in the same key.
410

407
F major, A minor, and E major in Modena vs. A minor, F major and C major in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163.
408
John B. Trend, The Music of Spanish History to 1600 (New York: Krause Reprint, 1965), 105. The
specific passage is in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, tenor line, mm. 26-28.
409
Whenham, Duet and Dialogue, 106.
410
G major-C major-D major-G major (alfabeto: ABCA) in Modena; G major-D minor-E major-A minor
(alfabeto: Aefd) in I-Fr 2973/3. This is surprising given the normal function of the ripresa.
160
Illustration 5.4. “Cuando yo me enamoré.” I-MOe alpha P.6.22, fol. 9r (detail).

Text lines

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

The most interesting feature of the Modenese settings, however, is the presence of
the letters “T.” and “B.” repeated throughout the refrain. These letters do not represent
alfabeto symbols but are instead indications of scoring, “Tenore” and “Basso.” A close
comparison between PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 and the Modenese settings shows an exact
match between the tenore and basso indications in lines three and four of the Modense
manuscript and the short imitative passage “y aunque me funde en el aire” (measures 9-15)
in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163. The other imitative passage in the PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, “no
llevo el aire a mi fé” in measures 22-29, matches the scoring marks in the Modenese
source, although the “T.” and “B.” markings are reversed. The existence of alfabeto songs
that in some sources have duet markings and in others lack any such indications, while
161
being identical in the accompaniment, further supports the notion that these high-voice and-
bass duets are closely linked to solo song.
411
I will consider the alfabeto duets later.
Two additional alfabeto sources illustrate the type of accompaniment that one
would hear on a guitar when performing these songs. An almost exact concordance with the
refrain of “Cuando yo me enamoré” is found in Giovanni Ambrosio Colonna’s Il secondo
libro d’intavolatura di chitarra alla spagnuola (1620).
412
The alfabeto notation of the
composition entitled “aria spagnola che si suona con le viole” includes strumming patterns
to accompany the chords that are commonly found in the “solo” guitar prints and
manuscripts, but rarely seen with a text (see Illustration 5.5).
Illustration 5.5. “Aria Spagnola che si suona con le viole.” Colonna (1637/R), p. 53.
413

411
Whenham, Duet and Dialogue, 106. This occurs mostly in the Palumbi manuscripts.
412
Giovanni Ambrosio Colonna, Il secondo libro d’intavolatura di chitarra alla spagnuola (Milan: Erede di
Giovanni Battista Colonna, 1620). The title page is missing from the copy in I-Bc. According to Gary R.
Boye, there is another copy of this volume in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. See Gary R. Boye,
“Chronological List of Rasgueado Tablatures,” s.v. “Colonna 1620b,”
http://applications.library.appstate.edu/music/guitar/strummed.html (accessed 25 May 2013).
413
Intavolatura di chitarra spagnuola del primo, secondo, terzo, & quarto libro (Milan: Dionisio Garibaldi,
1637), p. 53. This volume is a reprint of the 1627 edition. This piece is also in the four-volume reprints from
1627 and 1637. There are no additional indications to clarify what is meant by “che si suona con le viole.”
162
As indicated by the repetition signs at the end of the first line (encircled), Colonna’s
aria spagnola is divided into two sections, which match the two-part refrain structure in the
other settings examined. Harmonically, the main discrepancy with other sources is in the
final measures: the unexpected final cadence in G major from I-Fr 2973/3 and PL-Kj Mus.
ms. 40163 has been replaced by a cadence in A minor with a raised cadential third, possibly
to allow for a strophic repetition of the piece in absence of a coplas section.
Musical Example 5.2. “Aria spagnola.” Colonna (1637/R).

There are no barlines or time signatures in the Colonna setting, but the alfabeto
stroke pattern clearly falls into groupings of three if the first two stroke signs are considered
Aria Spagnola che si suona con le Viole
G. A. Colonna
™
™
™
™
Alfabeto
Strum symbols
Basso continuo
9
19
27
3
4
3
4
/
S T D A G B E B
?
/
B A E D A
?
/
G B A E
?
/
D F B E F I
?
# # # #
Œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙
™
Œ
œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ
œ œ œ
˙ ™
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙
™
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
œ œ
œ œ œ œ
œ œ
œ œ œ ˙
™
163
as an anacrusis, as happens in the setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163.
414
The fairly simple
strumming pattern is a series of down-down-up stroke signs that represent an equal
subdivision of the pulse, with the chord changes mostly occurring every three or six beats.
The strumming pattern is not in homorhythm with any of the vocal parts from PL-Kj Mus.
ms. 40163, but rather provides a constant rhythmic pattern against which the vocal rhythms
interact. It is worth noting that the strum pattern is practically relentless; the only pause in
the continuous rhythm occur at the sectional cadences in measure 8 and measure 34, on the
downstroke marked with a dot that indicates a longer rhythmic value at the end of the
section. The piece is dedicated to the brothers Ieronimo and Antonio Scorpioni, of whom
nothing is presently known. According to Gary R. Boye, Colonna was active in Milan as a
guitarist and printer in the late 1610s, around the same time as Benedetto Sanseverino.
415

Colonna’s only surviving publications are his four guitar books.
The other source of alfabeto strumming patterns for “Cuando yo me enamoré” is
Benedetto Sanseverino’s Il primo libro d’intavolatvra (1622), a reprint of his earlier guitar
tutor Intavolatura facile (1620) with six canzonette in alfabeto song format added.
416

Unlike most alfabeto songbooks, Sanseverino’s 1622 printed collection does provide a full
strumming pattern under the texts, similar to the one presented in Colonna. The general

414
In the preface (p. 5), Colonna indicates that “. . . il tutto si deue sonare sussequentemente in vn tempo
stesso: eccetto le Sonate, quali sono segnate con segno di Tripola, quali vãno Sonate in Tripola, cioè più
presto, eccetuando le Gagliarde, quali vãno in Tripola maggiore, & più adaggio” (. . . in general they must all
be subsequently played in the same tempo. The only exceptions are the sonatas, which are marked with a
ternary sign (tripola), which means that they are played in ternary meter, that is at a faster tempo; except for
the galliards, which are in tripola maggiore and thus played slower.) According to George Houle, Lorenzo
Penna defines tripola maggiore as three semibreves to a tactus, and tripola minore as three minims to a
tactus. See George Houle, Meter in Music, 1600-1800 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987), 23.
415
Oxford Music Online, s.v. “Colonna, Giovanni Ambrosio” (by Robert Strizich and Gary R. Boye),
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/ (accessed 25 May 2013).
416
Il primo libro d’intavolatvra Per la Chitarra alla Spagnuola. De passacalli, ciaccone, saravande,
Spagnuolette, Folie, Pauaniglie, Pass’emezzi, Correnti, Et alter varie Suonate. Di Benedetto Sanseverino. Di
nuouo ristampato, con aggionta d’alcune Canzonette dal Istesso Autore per cantare in detto stromento. Opera
Terza (Milan: Filippo Lomazzo, 1622).
164
characteristics of Sanseverino’s setting of “Cuando yo me enamoré” (pp. 60-61), are the
same as in the other versions: a bipartite form consisting of a two-part refrain and coplas,
the similarity of the music in the coplas to the opening bars, and the overall harmonic
scheme. There are some chord differences towards the end of the refrain, the most
significant of which is the final cadence in A minor. A basso continuo rendering of the
alfabeto in the refrain sections is below, for a comparison of the different settings’
harmonic sequences (see Musical Example 5.3).

165
Musical Example 5.3. “Cuando yo me enamoré.”
Alfabeto accompaniments rendered as basso continuo.
417

417
The boxed numbers represent lines of text, for comparison with the other alfabeto song settings.
Sanseverino
(1622)
I-Fr 2973/3
PL-Kj 40163
Quan do
#
- yo me ena mo - re - fue solo de vn bel do nayre, - aunque me funde en el ayre,
1 2 3
Quando yo men'a mo - ré - fue sol de un bel do nayre, - aunque me funde'e nel' ayre,
Quando yo m'e namo - ré - fue solo d'un bel do nayre, - y aunque me funde en el ayre,
aunque me funde en el ayre, en el ayre, en el ayre, en el ayre, no llevó el ayre a mi fe,
4 5 6
aunque me funde'enel' ayre, e nel' ayre, enel ayre, e nel' ayre, aunque di al ayre mi fe,
y aunque me funde en el ayre, en el ayre, en el ayre, en el ayre, no llevo el ayre a mi fe,
no lleuo l'ayre mi fe, l'ay re mi - fe,
#
no
#
llevo
#
l'ay re - mi
#
fe.
7 8 9
aunque di al ayre mi fe, l'ayre mi fe,
#
aunque di al' ayre a mi
#
fe.
no llevo el ayre a mi fe, no llevo el ayre a mi fe,
#
no llevo el ayre a mi
#
fe.
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
œ
166
There are some obvious differences unique to the Sanseverino setting that suggest it
could be a recomposition of the piece found in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163. There is a change to
duple meter in the second part of the refrain that begins with the text “aunque me funde en
el aire,” unexpected but not surprising since it also occurs in other Sanseverino’s
compositions from the 1616 printed collection. Also, the opening eight-measure phrase in
PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 is shortened to seven measures. This results in a slight structural
asymmetry since all other phrases are eight measures in length.
418
Despite these differences,
it is clear that Sanseverino’s setting and the setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 are variants of
the same song.
419

Unfortunately, texted strummed patterns such as those available for “Cuando yo me
enamoré” are extremely rare.
420
Solo guitar alfabeto prints and manuscripts are full of
strumming patterns for arias and dance songs, but concordances have been found for only a
few of them. Sanseverino’s 1620 printed collection, for example, includes a complete
strummed “solo” entitled aria spagnola (pp. 70-71) that is not concordant with any other
material examined in this study but is most likely an accompaniment to an as yet
undiscovered song.

418
Sanseverino’s setting compounds mm. 4-5 from PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 into a single measure.
419
Sanseverino labels the refrain section as ayre, in line with the nomenclature he uses in his 1616 print. He
places the verses of enlace and vuelta as part of the refrain, although this has no musical consequence since in
all settings these verses are set to the same music. Sansverino’s initial copla text, “Una belleza subida” is not
found in any other of the settings. Given the little information available about the origins of PL-Kj Mus. ms.
40163 and the whereabouts of Sanseverino, there is no way of knowing at this point if he had access to this or
other version of the piece. It is worth noting that Colonna and Sanseverino were active in Milan around the
same time. Sanseverino’s choice to print the first refrain and the copla with strum patterns and additional texts
appearing in alfabeto song format is also interesting since it echoes Giaccio’s 1613 print.
420
Alexander Dean has recently examined the full strumming patterns contained in I-Fc CF. 108 (old
signature B. 2556), a manuscript anthology containing Italian vocal compositions in alfabeto song format,
selected from published anthologies by Stefani (1618), Giovanni Ghizzolo (Frutti d’amore, 1623), and Pietro
Paolo Sabbatini (Il quarto di villanelle, 1631; Prima scelta, 1652). See Dean, “Strumming in the void,” 55-72.
167
Musical Example 5.4. “Aria Spagnola.” Alfabeto rendered as basso continuo.
Sanseverino (1620), pp. 70-71.

It is possible to extrapolate from the settings of “Cuando yo me enamoré” and from
basic aspects of the five-course guitar’s technique to determine some guidelines that can
describe a typical alfabeto song accompaniment. First, the presence of sparsely arranged
chords above a text does not mean that the harmonies are meant to be played only once, but
rather, that a corresponding rhythmic pattern of chord repetitions has not been indicated.
Concordant strummed examples indicate that harmonically static moments in alfabeto
notation do not represent rhythmically static ones. This is particularly so in segments that
may appear declamatory as a consequence of equating individual alfabeto chords to the
long basso continuo notes typical of early monody. As can be seen in the slow harmony
changes in “Cuando yo me enamoré,” there is no recitative-like declamation even in places
where the vocal part consists of repeated notes. In such situations the guitar provides a
rhythmic base, either by playing homorhythmically with the vocal part or parts, or by
providing a continuous subdivided pattern underneath. The result is a reinforcement of a
composition’s rhythmic drive, whether its rhythmic profile is based on dance songs such as
the spagnoletta or the ciaccona, or not. This is a natural consequence of the instrument’s
technique: the rhythmic repetition is tied to the buoyancy of the strumming hand and arm,
[Stem direction
indicates
strum direction]
! ! # #
™
™
™
™
! # # ! !
5
™
™
# ! ! # # §
10
c
?
Aria Spagnola
B. Sanseverino 1622
?
3
?
œ œ
J
œ
j
œ œ
œ
J
œ
j
œ
J
œ
j
œ œ
J
œ
j
œ
J
œ
j
œ
J
œ
j
œ b œ
J
œ
j
œ œ œ
œ b
J
œ
j
œ b
J
œ
j
œ
J
œ
j
œ
J
œ
j
œ
J
œ
j
œ
J
œ
j
œ b
J
œ
j
œ œ
J
œ
j
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ b œ œ
œ œ œ
œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ
œ b œ œ
œ œ œ
œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ
168
so that an upstroke organically follows a downstroke.
421
The guitar’s chordal function,
expressed so concisely in the alfabeto notation, is tightly yoked to the instrument’s
rhythmic underpinning. In other words, it is not possible to dissociate one from the other.
422

Second, the idea of a constant strumming pattern as a fundamental technique of the
five-course guitar also stems partly from the peculiar tuning typically used in the
instrument’s early years, typically e’, bb, gg, d’d’, aa, from the first course to the fifth.
423

This tuning resulted in an absence of a bass range, a characteristic shared with the four-
course guitar and considered by theorists such as Scipione Cerreto as the main reason for
the instrument’s “imperfection.” It was, in practice, a defining feature of the instrument that
conditioned its technique. A long, sustaining sound typical of plucked instruments with a
low register, such as the lute or the theorbo, is non-existent on the guitar. As a result, the
effect of length and sustaining power in the guitar can only be achieved through rhythmic
repetition. In her study of the 1589 interludes for La pellegrina, Nina Treadwell addressed
this sonority in the context of the soprano trio sections in Emilio de’ Cavalieri’s “O che
nuovo miracolo.”
424
Singers Vittoria Archilei, Lucia Caccini, and Margherita della Scala

421
Extrapolating from guitar tutors such as those by Montesardo (1606), Sanseverino (1620), or any of the
solo sections in the Palumbi manuscripts, the basic strumming patterns used in the alfabeto solo literature to
subdivide a measure into equal beats can be described as a down-up-down-up in duple time segments and
either down-down-up or down-up-down in triple time.
422
My assessment differs from John Hill’s hypothesis of guitar accompaniments utilizing sparse chords in
examples of recitational style:

“In the Traetta manuscript one finds some homorhythmic and metrically
patterned accompaniments that follow the rhythms of the voices (as described by Bermudo) in part-song
arrangements of arie in stil cantativo, but also accompaniments with sparse chords (as shown by Amat) for
arie in stil recitativo.” Hill, Roman Monody, 70-72. Hill uses “Los raios del sol impiden” from the Spanish
manuscript known as Romanzes y letras (E-Mn M1370, 1371, 1372) for comparison with the alfabeto setting
in I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200.
423
This tuning was still widely in use in Rome in the 1650s, as noted by Gaspar Sanz, who studied there with
Lelio Colista. Gaspar Sanz, Instrucción de música sobre la guitarra española (Zaragoza: herederos de Diego
Dormer, 1674-75), fol. 8r. James Tyler and Monica Hall have written extensively on the tuning and stringing
of the five-course guitar. See Monica Hall, Baroque Guitar Stringing: A Survey of the Evidence (The Lute
Society Booklets; Albury: Lute Society, 2003); and Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 40, 54-56,
184-86.
424
Treadwell, Music and Wonder, 171.
169
accompanied themselves with a chitarrina alla spagnola, a chitarrina alla Napolettana,
and a tambourine, respectively.
425
The music was “characterized by the absence of a bass
voice” and “by a lack of accompanying bass instrument(s),” and is described by Treadwell
as having had a certain hypnotic

effect.
426
This effect was likely the direct result of the
instrument’s constant rhythmic patterns as much as it is a consequence of its peculiar tuning
with no bass notes. With the guitar’s particular stringing, every chord is perceived as if
sounding in root position. These chords give complete harmonic and rhythmic support, but
no melodic lines.
The tuning of the guitar, in the many variants that were used throughout the
seventeenth century, was a main source for the sonic ambiguity that resulted in the
instrument being labeled as imperfect.
427
As noted above, the imperfect nature of the four-
course guitar was for Scipione Cerreto a consequence of its lack of bass range.
428
Cerreto, a
Neapolitan lutenist and theorist writing in Naples in 1601, did not acknowledge the
existence of the five-course guitar, though it was well known by then throughout the Italian
peninsula (he only briefly mentions the four-course bordeletto).
429
He did address the use

425
Treadwell, Music and Wonder, 163. Malvezzi described this music as “of the gods.”
426
Treadwell, Music and Wonder, 171. The Neapolitan guitar was the common name given in Italy to the
four-course guitar or chitarra à sette corde, in use in Italy since the late 1540s. Melchiore di Barberiis’ 1549
print of lute music, Opera intitolata contina, contains four brief dances (fantasias) for a chitara da sette
corde. Tyler conjectured that the “chitarrina alla spagnola” was the newer five-course guitar, albeit a smaller,
higher-pitch version. Such instrument was possibly similar to the surviving Belchior Dias guitar from 1581
currently in the Royal College of Music in London. See Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 9-11, 30-
33.
427
Monica Hall, Baroque Guitar Stringing, 4.
428
“Per essere la Chitarra à sette Corde Strumento imperfetto, per causa che in esso non vi sono tutte le voci
graue, come habbiamo nel Strumento del Liuto” (Since the seven-string guitar is an imperfect instrument, and
such imperfection makes it impossible to include all the bass lines, as one can in the lute.) Cerreto, Della
prattica, 320.
429
Nor does he mention the theorbo, for that matter. Cerreto did address both instrument in his 1608 volume,
where he notes, “chiaramente veggiamo che à quello del Bordeletto li mancano le corde graui, e le medie, à
quello della Teorbia li mancano le corde acute, & sopr’acute, à quello dell’Arpa à vno ordine li mancano
alcune voci” (we can clearly see that the bordeletto lacks the mid- and lower-range strings, and the theorbo
170
of the strumming technique on the bordeletto, however, noting that, despite its difficulty, it
created a beautiful effect.
430
Treadwell hypothesizes that this strumming technique was the
one used by Lucia Caccini to play the Neapolitan guitar in La pellegrina, which Treadwell
labels as the “new style of strumming.”
431
As noted by Hall, the so-called imperfection was
in practice absolutely inconsequential, at least with respect to the strumming tradition and
the vast popularity of the instrument, corroborated by Cerreto’s own complaint from
1608:
432

There are also the players of the Spanish guitar, who belong to the same status [as
the players of the double harp and lute] – notwithstanding that [the guitar] has been
used by people of low class and little worth, not to mention by clowns, who have
used it at banquets– but that it was later used by cavaliers and by other important
people came about because of the ease in playing this instrument, whose technique
is learned rather for aria than for art.
433

The alfabeto song duet
Fifty-three of the approximately 300 alfabeto songs that comprise the villanella
spagnola repertoire have markings indicating their performance as duets.
434
They are found

lacks the higher and highets ones; the single-course harp is also missing some lines.) Cerreto, Dell arbore
musicale, 35. See also Tyler and Sparks, The Guitar and its Music, 33-36.
430
“E quando tale Strumento si sonarà arpiggiando con tutte le dita della mano destra, farà anco bello effetto,
ma questo modo di sonare si può imparare con lunga prattica.” Cerreto, Della prattica, 321. (Translation in
Chapter 1.)
431
Treadwell considers that “the physicality of the strumming technique...provided a striking contrast to the
more refined and controlled technique of playing required for the lute or chitarrone.” Treadwell, Music and
Wonder, 254, 254n36, 170.
432
Hall, Baroque Guitar Stringing, 4.
433
“Vi sono ancora gli Sonatori di Chitarra alla Spagnola, alliquali si ben li tocca l’istesso grado, nondimeno
per essere stata usata da gente basse, e di poco valore non dico da Boffoni, liquali se ne hanno servito ne i
conviti, ma che fusse poi usato tal suono da Cavalieri, & da altri persone principali l’hà cagionato la facilità
dello stromento, quale essercitio s’impara più tosto per aria, che per arte.” Scipione Cerreto, Dell’arbore
musicale (Naples: Sottile, 1608), 37. Quoted and translated in Hill, Monody, 68. Cerreto was a lutenist, which
colored his perception of the guitar, “chiamandolo Re delli stromenti ritmici, la qual cosa non si dice dell’atri
stromenti di corde di neruo, come sono Teorbi, Arpe, Bordeletti, & Chitarre alla Spagnola.” Ceretto, Dell
arbore, 35.
434
Listed in the inventory in Appendix 2. The dialogue, “Çe, Çe, mira lo que te digo” also has clear duet
indications (T, B) in the refrain, followed by the letters D and C in the coplas, representing “Dama” and
171
in ten manuscripts that can be grouped geographically by provenance: Florence
(manuscripts F-Pn esp. 390, I-Fr 2793, I-Fr 2804, and I-VEc 1434, all penned by Francesco
Palumbi), Modena (I-MOe alpha P.6.22, alpha R.6.4, and alpha Q.8.21), Rome, (I-Rli Cod.
625), and Naples (I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200). Although the origin of GB-Lbl Add. 36877 is
still unclear, its concordances indicate that it is more closely related to Florentine sources
than to Roman or Neapolitan ones (see Chapter 2).
435
The source with the largest number of
duets is I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 (30), followed by the Palumbi manuscripts (12, when taken
as a whole), I-Rli Cod. 625 (11),
436
the Modenese manuscripts (11), and GB-Lbl Add.
36877 (2). There is almost no overlap of duet settings outside of the distinct geographical
groups.
437
Usage of some of the markings, “B” or “B
o
” for basso, “T” or “T
e
”

for tenore,
438

“S
o
” for soprano, and “Ins
e
” for insieme, appears to be specific to the geographical groups,
although this could an accident of the survival of these manuscripts. “T” and “T
e
” are used
in the Modena and Palumbi sources, and “S
o
” in I-Rli Cod. 625, GB-Lbl Add. 36877, and I-
Rvat Chigi L.VI.200; “B” and “B
o
” are used in all sources.
439
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 is, to
my knowledge, the only one that uses “Ins
e
,” a marking that appears in only eight of the

“Caballero,” which indicate the stanzas are set as a dialogue. Three other villanelle, “Beso la mano di V.S.,
patrona mía,” and the closely related “Quiero asomarme a la celogía,” and “Señora queréisme a mí,” are also
dialogues, but have no markings indicating duet sections.
435
Hill connects some of the Italian alfabeto songs in the manuscript to monody sources in Cardinal Montalto
circle. See Hill, Roman Monody, 169-71, 394-402.
436
As noted in Chapter 2, I have been unable to personally examine a copy of this manuscript, but professor
Ralph DiFranco has kindly provided me some detailed notes on its contents.
437
The sole exception is “Si aquel de la venda,” marked as a duet in both in F-Pn esp. 390, and I-Rvat Chigi
L.VI.200.
438
Alexander Dean considers “T
e
” as an abbreviation of tiple, on the basis of its use in Spanish practice. The
word “tiple,” however, is not commonly used in Italian. Moreover, the alfabeto sources are Italian, not
Spanish, and the same abbreviations are used for songs in Italian and Spanish. See Dean, “The Five-Course
Guitar,” 89-90.
439
In some of the pieces in the Palumbi manuscripts the very florid “T
e
” will resemble an “S,” but a clear
examination of the settings and concordances shows that they are all indeed “T
e
.” For example, in “Al dolce
mormorar” in I-VEc 1434 (fols. 106r-v), the S-looking mark above the first line is confirmed as a “T
e
” in the
following folio.
172
alfabeto settings.
440
GB-Lbl Add. 36877, I-Rli Cod. 625, I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200, and the
Modenese manuscripts systematically use markings for both voices, whereas the Palumbi
sources will occasionally use “B
o
” in isolation.
441
The use of duet markings is not limited to
villanelle spagnole since at least thirteen alfabeto songs in Italian also include them.
442
The
presence of these markings reinforces the idea that the alfabeto song format mainly
functioned as a memory aid. As I will show below, duet indications (along with the full
poem and alfabeto chords) make the most sense as cues for an existing polyphonic model,
the main tune of which would have been memorized by the performer.
Five alfabeto duets are textually concordant with pieces in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163,
making it possible to examine the different markings against staff-notation examples. Three
settings of “Bullicioso era el arroyuelo,” and a single setting of “Airecitos del río de
Manzanares,” use the ‘B
o
” marking in isolation, as does one of the settings of “Oh, si
volasen las horas” (see Illustrations 5.6, 5.7, and 5.8). In all cases, the marking appears
followed by one or more alfabeto chords, outside the margins of the main text.

440
I am referring specifically to the alfabeto songs in Spanish. Outside of I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200, I have
encountered only one other example of the insieme marking, unabbreviated, in “Quando miro, il vago volto”
(GB-Lbl Add. 36877, fols. 15r-16r); this piece, however, is not a duet but a dialogue.
441
This is the case even when a concordant source uses both. For example, “Abreme esos ojos, bella morena”
appears in I-Fr 2793 with “Te” and “Bo” markings, but only “Bo” in I-VEc 1434. “Bo” is used in isolation in
I-Fr 2793, I-Fr 2804, and I-VEc 1434, but not in F-Pn esp. 390.
442
Italian alfabeto songs with duet markings are found in four manuscripts. GB-Lbl Add. 36877: “Chi vuol
fusa” (S., B.), “Da che vuoi” (B.), “Ecco la primavera” (S., B.), “La mia Clori Vezzosa” (S., B.), “Quando
miro, il vago volto” (S., B., Insieme.), “Occhi strali amorosi” (S., B.). In I-Fr 2793, “Anima dove sei” (a
dialogo without indications), “Al dolce mormorar” (B
o
, T
e
). In I-Fr 2804 “Al dolce mormorar” (B
o
, S
o
), “Filli
gentile” (B
o
, S
o
), “Pur da me si parte” (B
o
). I-VEc 1434: “Al dolce mormorar” (T
e
., B.), “Filli, Filli gentil,
piangea” (T., B.), “Filli serena” (B.), “In questo duro scoglio” (B.), “La mia Filli crudele” (B.), “Mille scherz’
è canti belli” (T
e
., B.), “O leggiadr’ occhi bell’ occhi miei” (T
e
., B.), “Perche non credi” (B.).
173
Illustration 5.6. Alfabeto duet, “Bullicioso era el arroyuelo.” I-Fr 2804, fol. 157v (detail).

Illustration 5.7. Alfabeto duet, “Airecitos del río.” I-VEc 1434, fol. 132r (detail).

Illustration 5.8. “Oh, si volasen las horas.” I-VEc 1434, fol. 151r (detail).

174
In the case of “Oh, si volasen las horas,” the alfabeto in the Palumbi settings
matches the one in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 exactly. The staff-notation pieces show that the
“B
o
” markings are placed precisely where a brief point of imitation begins.
443
The other
duet setting of “Oh, si volasen las horas” (in I-Fr 2793) uses both “B
o
” and “T
e
” but is
otherwise identical to the previous example (see Illustration 5.9). A comparison with the
setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 shows that “T
e
” functions as a cue for the vocal part (see
Chapter 3, Example 3.12). The marking is relatively inconsequential since most of the
alfabeto duet settings are seemingly intended for the solo singing voice: the “B
o
” marking
is used to indicate a passage where the staff-notation model has a brief imitative passage
begun by the bass voice.
444

Illustration 5.9. Alfabeto duet, “Oh, si volasen las horas.” I-Fr 2793, fol. 93v (detail).

The two-part staff-notation setting of “Entre todos los remedios” in PL-Kj Mus. ms.
40163 (discussed in Chapter 3) is partially congruent with the alfabeto duet setting in the I-
Rvat Chigi L.VI.200.
445
The “B
o
” marking coincides with the point of imitation beginning
in the bass voice in measure 5, but the “S
o
” marking is placed a measure earlier than the
high voice response in the PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 setting. Interestingly, it is placed after
two words of text and a chord change.

443
The frequency of the markings is related to the number of brief points of imitation. There are two in
“Bullicioso,” one on each of the other two.
444
There are no instances in any of the compositions in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 where the terzera, usually the
highest voice, begins a point of imitation.
445
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200, fol. 21v. The staff notation setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 has no alfabeto.
175
Illustration 5.10. Alfabeto duet, “Entre todos los remedios.”
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200, fol. 21v (detail).

The placement of the “S
o
” marking, along with the word repetitions of the text that
match the text layout in the bass voice of the setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163, would
suggest that the alfabeto setting in I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 was intended for a performer
strumming the guitar and singing the bass line. There is also a possibility that it
corresponds to a different two-voice model, given the differences in the mode of some
chords in the refrain. I am convinced, however, that the setting in I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 is
only a minor variant of the setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 (or viceversa).
446

In the alfabeto song setting of “Mozuela del baile” in one of the Palumbi
manuscripts (I-VEc 1434), there is a partially legible indication that precedes line five of
the song text that reads “dale, dale, dale, dale,” next to what appears to be a “T
e
”.
447
The
marking reads “un’uolta [--] uno.” Contrasted with the setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163,

446
The relationship between the alfabeto duet setting of “Las reliquias de la noche” in I-Rvat L.VI.200 and
the three-part setting of the same text in the Iberian polyphonic manuscript Romanzes y letras (E-Mn M1370,
M1371, M1372) is less clear. See Dean, “The Five-Course Guitar,” 90-95.
447
The alfabeto song versions in I-Fr 2793 and I-Fr 2804 have no duet markings. See Appendix 2.
176
the indication coincides with a short call-and-response passage between the tenor and bass
parts, leaving no doubt as to the meaning of the marking.
448

It is noteworthy that the heading for the setting of “Mozuela del baile” in I-VEc
1434 reads “Çiacona GBeHB,” as the use of this harmonic-metric scheme would suggest a
triple-time composition.
449
The setting in PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 is in duple time, however,
and its chord sequence has no relationship to the ciaccona pattern. This is a relatively
common occurrence in alfabeto settings.
450
Despite the absence of staff-notation
concordances, the initial chord sequences in the songs are enough to establish that in most
cases the settings are unrelated to the ciaccona harmonic-metric scheme. In the instances
where they are related, the alfabeto progressions are congruent with those in Italian triple-
time examples of arie sopra la Ciaccona such as Falconieri’s “Vezzosetta dalla chioma
d’oro.”
451
A few more settings have headings that suggest association with dance patterns.
Folia is indicated in only two alfabeto settings: “Si queréis que os enrame la puerta,”
labeled as aria spagnuola sopra la folia, is very similar to Stefani’s “No partáis mi dulce
vida.”
452
The chord sequence is that of the earlier guitar folia in a minor key.
453
The chord

448
The alternation is, of course, different than the more common points of imitation, and more complicated to
notate in alfabeto song format.
449
The ternary meter is a defining characteristic of the early ciaccona. See Richard Hudson, The Folia, the
Saraband, the Passacaglia, and the Chaconne: The Historical Evolution of Four Forms that Originated in
Music for the Five-course Guitar, IV, The Chaconne (Stuttgart: Hänssler Verlag, 1982), xiv.
450
The alfabeto song settings with ciaccona heading are: “Buena es la color morena;” “Dios me guarde;” “En
la corte esta una dama;” “En la cumbre, madre;” “Es amor un no se qué;” “Francisquito, me llama tu ama;”
Niña pues tienes edad;” “Préstame esos ojos;” “Secotor della vara;” “Todas las veces que veo;” “Una tarde fui
llamado;” “Vanse mis amores;” and “Vida, vida, la vida bona (Hasme preguntado vida).” See Appendix 2.
451
It is possible to use staff-notation examples such as “Vezzosetta” to set the Spanish texts to music,
although there are differences in poetic meter that require some adjustment, since Italian ciaccona texts are
often decasyllabic whereas the Spanish ones are always octosyllabic. A modern edition of this piece, without
alfabeto, is in Hudson, IV, The Chaconne, 12. Interestingly, while “Bella mia, questo mio core,” in Stefani’s
Affetti amorosi, p. 39, bears the indication Sopra l’Aria della Ciaccona, neither the bass line nor the alfabeto
chords match the common versions of the ground.
452
See Chapter 3.
177
sequence in “Cuando quise no quisiste,” marked simply as folias, is a major-key variant of
the folia harmonic pattern, similar to the one found in Montesardo’s 1606, where it is
identified as fedele.
454
The only other ground mentioned throughout the villanella spagnola
sources is the sarabanda. The strophic song “Como te pones amores” appears in the
different settings with the rubric sarabanda or sopra a sarabanda. The single-phrase I-IV-
I-V chord sequence is the same harmonic scheme labeled by Richard Hudson as a Spanish
Saraband, although the metric characteristics are probably closer to the strummed examples
that appear in the early sections of some of the Palumbi manuscripts or those in later mixed
guitar tablature publications such as Carbonchi’s Sonate di chitarra spagnola (Florence:
Amador Massi & Lorenzo Landi, 1640), which do not have a cadential hemiola pattern (see
Illustrations 5.11, 5.12, and Musical Example 5.5).
455

Illustration 5.11. Solo alfabeto Sarabanda (Palumbi). I-VEc 1434, fol. 7r.

Musical Example 5.5. Solo alfabeto Sarabanda (Palumbi), rendered as basso continuo.

453
Alfabeto sequence: eiebei | iebeic (Dm: i-V-i-VII-i-V | V-i-VII-i-V-I). See Richard Hudson, “The folia,
Fedele, and Falsobordone” in The Musical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (1972), 400. Stefani’s piece is in G minor, and
concludes with a iv-V-I cadential pattern that is a fairly common substitute for i-V-i.
454
Alfabeto sequence: acag gac | cag gbca (GM: I-V-I-bVII-I-V | V-I-bVII-IV-V-I).
455
Hudson, II, The Saraband, xvi-xviii, 1-2. Hudson’s reconstruction places a hemiola pattern in the second
bar of the phrase that is not typically found in most alfabeto solo guitar examples.
™
™
[Stem direction
indicates
strum direction]
# # # #
3
4
?
œ œ œ
œ œ œ
œ
™
œ
J
œ œ œ œ
178
Illustration 5.12. Sarabanda in guitar tablature with strum signs. Carbonchi (Sonate di
chitarra spagnola, 1640), p. 6.

The most significant point to be drawn from the use of these harmonic-metric schemes and
dance-songs in villanelle spagnole is that they represent a fairly small portion of the
existing song repertoire (of both the alfabeto songs and the notated examples). This stands
in contrast to the early alfabeto solo guitar repertoire, where the vast majority of pieces
consists of such patterns. Despite the formulaic approach to the composition of villanelle
spagnole (explained in Chapter 4), there is a clear preference for more sophisticated
musical structures over “simpler” dance-song or repeated bass patterns.
Returning to the presence of duet markings in the alfabeto songbooks, there is little
doubt that they were intended as a guide for the performer, indicating passages where the
composition veered from a strictly homophonic style into a short passage with points of
imitation that could begin on either of the voices. The evidence suggests that the performer
was singing the melody from a memorized staff-notation composition so that the text, the
alfabeto, and any other markings functioned as a memory aid.
456
Overall, the proportion of
duets to solo songs in the repertoire is relatively low, about one in five, but it must be taken

456
Adriana Basile’s “più di trecento opere a la mente” probably fall within the alfabeto song category given
that she was also well known as a guitar player, as noted by Gioseppe Fachoni in a letter to Vincenzo
Gonzaga. The letter, dated in Rome 9 May 1609, is translated in its entirety in Parisi, Ducal Patronage, 132-
33, 405-406. John Hill conjectured, on the basis of identifying the Duchess of Traetta as Isabella Gonzaga,
that Adriana Basile may have come into contact with I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 while under Isabella’s
employment. Tyler disagreed on the issue of the Duchess’ identity, suggesting instead Camilla Caetana
Caetana, based on the dedication in one of the dances in Fabritio Caroso’s Nobiltà di dame. Regardless of the
Duchess’ actual identity, I have found no concrete evidence that Basile came into contact with I-Rvat Chigi
L.VI.200. She is, however, connected to another Neapolitan alfabeto song manuscript, I-Nn XVII.30. See
Croce, “Illustrazione di un canzoniere.”
179
into account that nearly half of them can be found in concordant sources as solo songs. The
implication is that the format in actual performance was flexible to at least the same degree
suggested in fully notated basso seguente duets such as those by Radesca di Foggia or
Sanseverino, already examined in Chapter 3. It is possible that the presence of duet
markings in any particular setting was conditioned by the patron’s interest, the performing
forces potentially available, or mere familiarity with a staff-notation or memorized original.
The markings do not mean that the compositions were necessarily performed as vocal
duets, as evidenced by the number of solo versions of duet texts similar enough to be
considered the same composition. It is clear from the notation, however, that the guitar was
a fundamental element in their performance. The various indications in the alfabeto songs
also provide further corroboration that the staff-notation models for the villanella spagnola
were written most likely in the style of basso seguente duets, different from the
contemporary three- and four- part Iberian compositions.
Chapter 6
Concluding Remarks
Yo, la música presente,
doy querella criminal;
y del vulgo en general me querello,
porque tiende mas el cuello
al tin tin de guitarilla
que a lo qu’es por marauilla delicado.
457

I, modern music,
file a criminal complaint;
and with the common people I quarrel,
because [such] singers are more prone
to the plucking of a little guitar,
than to delicately crafted wonders.

There is a pervasive negative association throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries between guitar, poetry, and song, encapsulated as early as 1540 in the lines above,
which belong to an ensalada by Mateo Flecha (the Elder) entitled “La viuda” (The
Widow). The music sung to a guitar is negatively judged in part due to its association with
the common people. While the negative judgment on the taste of the commoner is not
surprising, the contempt in the phrase “el tin tin de guitarrilla” is, because at this early date
there are barely any known records of the guitar and its music (see Chapter 1). Several
decades later, in 1582, the Spanish religious poet Juan López de Úbeda, would expand the
criticism to the association between the guitar and more sexually explicit types of poetry for
song, stressing the extent to which the instrument was ubiquitous and how it was
exceedingly common to hear romances and other sort of “profane” (that is, secular) songs
sung to its accompaniment:
Pues qué dire de los niños que van de noche por las calles cantando cantares tan
ociosos y viciosos, que inficionan en ayre y hazen mala consonancia en las orejas de
los que les oyen. Y que diré del abuso, que ay tan universal el día de oy de cantar
cantares tan obscenos en guitarrillas, que no ay cosa más olvidada en el mundo que
el fin para el que se hizieron los instrumentos músicos, que fue para que con ellos
nuestro Señor fuesse alabado y glorificado con vihuelas, harpas, cítaras y otros

457
Mateo Flecha, Las ensaladas de Flecha (Prague: Jorge Negrino, 1581), fol. 24v (tiple partbook); facsimile
edition by Maricarmen Gómez Muntané (Valencia: Institut Valencià de la Música - Generalitat Valenciana,
2008). My translation.
181
instrumentos; y nosotros como arañas, todos los convertimos para nuestro daño en
aguisillos del Infierno.”
458

(What should I say of the children who at nighttime wander through the streets
singing songs so inane and depraved, [songs] that pervert with their tunes, creating
wretched dissonances in the ears of those who listen to them? And what can I say
about the abuse so commonly encountered today, that is to sing such obscene songs
to the accompaniment of little guitars? There is no thing more forgotten than the
purpose for which musical instruments were invented, and this is for our Lord to be
praised and glorified with vihuelas, harps, citterns and other instruments; and just as
spiders do, to out own detriment we turn everything into little compositions from
Hell.)

More than a century after Flecha’s ensalada, Severo Bonini raised very similar objections
in his Discorsi e regole from ca. 1650, albeit in a much harsher tone:
Se saranno poi personne idiote e di bassamano, ò d’ingegno grosso,
come bottegai vili, e Contadini, non haverano tanto diletto come i
sudetti: l’haveran ben magggiore à sentir cantar ciechi con la Lira,
chitarra, ò Zufoli, particolarmente le Donnicciuole ò altre
poverelle, e semplici creature.
(If they [the listeners] are ignorant and inferior or of obtuse mind,
as are lowly shopkeepers and peasants, they will not take as much
delight [in listening to music] as the others just mentioned: they
would do better just listening to the blind sing to the lira, guitar,
or pipes, particularly harlots and other poor and simple creatures.)
459

458
In this passage, part of the preface that opens his printed collection of sacred poetry, López de Úbeda
excludes the guitar from the list of instruments he considered to have been created for the glorification of
God. Perhaps reluctantly, López de Úbeda suggested replacing these with the sacred texts included in his
print, which he emphasized were written in “the same tone.” The precise meaning of this statement is unclear,
but my assumption is that while the tunes and musical style were equivalent, the style of the poetry was
not.Juan López de Úbeda, Vergel de Flores Divinas (Alcalá de Henares: J. Iñiguez de Lequerica, 1582;
reprint Alcalá: Gracián, 1588). A short fragment is quoted in Díez, Poesía erótica, 54. See also Pablo Villar
Amador, “Las antologías poéticas barrocas en sus prólogos,” in Geneviève Champeau and Nadine Ly, eds.,
Le phénomène anthologique dans le monde ibérique contemporain (Bordeaux: Presses Universitaires, 2000):
93. López de Úbeda continues: Pues ya que estas guitarrillas tan comúnmente se usan, y por de suyo no ser
malas no se pueden evitar; como cantas en ellas romances a lo humano y otras canciones profanas, procura
cantar a lo divino, pues se te ofrecen cosas compuestas al mismo tono. Y fíate de mí, y créeme que te digo
verdad que si pretendes complacer a otros con tu música, que más contento darás a todo género de gente,
como sea bien compuesto, a lo divino, que con canciones humanas llenas de ponzoña y veneno. Cited in
Bartolomé José Gallardo, ed., Ensayo de una biblioteca española de libros raros y curiosos (Madrid: Manuel
Tello, 1888), 3:508-11. The emphasis is mine.
459
Severo Bonini, Discorsi e regole sopra la musica (ca. 1650); modern edition and translation by Maryann
Bonino, Severo Bonini’s Discorsi e regole: A Bilingual Edition (Provo: Brigham Young University, 1979),
125.
182
These vituperations represent a small sample of the common complaints raised
against the instrument and its songs during this period, a criticism that hinges on the
(apparent) simplicity of the music itself. Of course, there are several layers of complexity to
each specific invective, determined by the individual interests and preferences of the critic
(as in the case of Scipione Cerreto, discussed in Chapter 1), but as a whole they also
constitute a testimony to the overwhelming popularity and influence of the guitar in song.
Modern scholars such as John W. Hill and James Tyler have observed that the guitar’s role
as an accompaniment instrument appears to have been crucial in the development of early
monody. This close relationship of the instrument to song is crystallized in its unique
notation, which, as a guide to performance practice, is undoubtedly more complex than
what is suggested by the nomenclature itself. In this sense, the earliest forms of alfabeto
notation, both in “solos” and in song, remain an area deserving greater scholarly attention,
however difficult it may be to satisfactorily solve its notational intricacies.
This dissertation was motivated by a question regarding the true nature of the
villanella spagnola repertoire. The stylistic delineations I have presented in Chapter 3
effectively suggest the response is a subtle, more complex reading of the term “Spanish
song,” which I avoided due to its implications of origin. There I argued that specific
rhythmic elements help differentiate the villanella spagnola from concurrent song in Spain,
stressing that the readily discernible differences do not imply two entirely separate musical
practices. Similar conclusions can be drawn from the concurrent repertoire of French airs
de cour that set Spanish poetry, a study of which is a logical extension of this project.
Chapter 4 focused on the relationship between metrical and musical form that could be
derived from the alfabeto song portion of the repertoire, a relationship that I argue
illustrates that the compositional approach to text setting of the villanella spagnola was in
183
essence formulaic. Subject matter was less relevant than poetic form, and poetic form itself
would often take second place to musical structures that articulated only salient aspects of
such forms, especially the use of a refrain.
In several instances, the discoveries made throughout the course of this study have
led to additional questions. For instance, in Chapter 1 I examined several disparate accounts
and documents relating to the guitar, its use in song, and the interest in sixteenth-century
Italian states for Spanish poetry, to demonstrate that the presence of villanelle spagnole in
alfabeto songbooks was not fortuitous, while simultaneously weaving these into the early
history of the guitar. This has underscored how little is known today of the history and
practice of the guitar in the sixteenth century. In Chapter 5, the other chapter that focuses
heavily on the guitar, I concentrated on performance practice in order to firmly establish
parameters of music making on the guitar that take into account the technique and sound
characteristics of the instrument. Yet, the rhythmic patterns deduced surely are but a
minimum common denominator that provided players a platform for complex rhythmic and
harmonic improvisation of the type suggested by the intricate alfabeto solo portions of the
manuscripts, the study of which is still in its early stages.
The fact that such a large portion of the villanella spagnola repertoire survives only
in alfabeto song format posits an interesting dilemma. Seen, for instance, against Basile’s
large repertoire of songs committed to memory, the alfabeto songs (and the handful of
concordant staff-notation examples that survive) may be more than just a prod to memory,
and could represent an effort at writing down either a song style coming from the Italian
south, or a new style happening in the north. Francesco Palumbi, for example, was a
travelling guitar player (much like guitarist Francesco Corbetta several decades later), and
it is tempting to entertain the notion that Palumbi had a significant role in the dissemination
184
of this repertoire. However, as noted in the Introduction to this dissertation, it would be
necessary to first examine in detail the much larger repertoire of alfabeto songs in Italian,
which constitute a significant portion of the songs tied to Palumbi. Additionally, present-
day location of sources and seventeenth-century usage and location are not necessarily
related, as was observed in Chapter 2, which in the case of manuscripts such as those once
property of Giovanni Casalotti (GB-Lbl Add. 36877), Filippo Roncherolle (F-Pn esp. 390),
or Valobre (NL-DHk 72J46), elicits questions regarding the repertoire’s seemingly
expansive geographical ties and the nature of its practice and performance. Then, there is
the question of how alfabeto songs bridged the gap on the Italian peninsula between written
and unwritten traditions, between the peasant class, where the guitar presumably originated,
and the nobility, where its popularity determined its relationship with early monody and
motivated one of the largest printed repertoires of secular song in the seventeenth century.
By their very nature, alfabeto songbooks are written records that reflect specific
interpretations of songs, as I point out in my analysis of the duet markings and the alfabeto
symbols for individual songs in Chapter 5. As written records, they were clearly linked to
the general literacy of the public that consumed them, that is, the nobility, though their
relationship to the lower classes is less clear. Ivano Cavallini pointed to the emergence in
late sixteenth-century Italy of low-class improvisers associated to street entertainments,
performers whose music was closely connected in spirit to popular song, and suggested
some of this music made its way into early seventeenth-century song anthologies with
alfabeto such as those by Stefani and Sanseverino (1622).
460
Just as shared repertoire (or
similar notational characteristics) between the different sources examined in this
dissertation do not necessarily indicate an actual historical connection, how close the

460
Cavallini, Sugli improvvisatori, 32.
185
alfabeto song repertoire popularized in such anthologies was to popular song or to
unwritten traditions remains a question to be addressed thoroughly. Nevertheless, there is
little doubt of the significant role the chitarra alla spagnola played in that relationship.

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Appendix 1
Index of First Lines and Concordances of villanella spagnola Settings, 1595-1625
This index with concordances is intended for use in conjunction with Appendix 2, which
contains detailed inventories of each source containing villanelle spagnole (contents in
Spanish, or in a combination of Spanish and other languages), and to accompany Chapters
3 and 5. This list comprises concordances of text and music. It includes concordances with
Spanish and French settings of Spanish poetry. Alfabeto duet markings and any headings or
other annotations have been included in square brackets next to the relevant source: S. or S
o

(soprano); T. or T
e
(tenor); B. or B
o
(basso); ins
e
(insieme). Poetic authors are indicated by
last name only below the title (see also Table 4.1 in Chapter 4). The compositions in
Spanish by Troiano, Wert, Lambardi, and Trabaci, are not included in this index because
they represent different compositional styles than the repertoire studied in this dissertation
(see Chapter 3).
In most cases, the title is the first verse of the estribillo. The first verse of the copla
is listed under “other incipit,” unless otherwise noted (in several instances, this structure is
reversed, so the first line of a song is the first verse of the coplas or the romance stanzas).
Additional lines of poetry in the title or other incipit, indicated by a vertical slash ( | ), are
used when the first line of poetry is not enough to differentiate settings. Spelling has been
modernized, including capitalization for proper names only.

202
Title

Other Incipit Concordances

Ábreme esos ojos, bella morena

Si por darme enojos | al
sueño te entregas

- GB-Lbl Add. 36877
- I-Fr 2793 [T
e
, B
o
]
- I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434 [B
o
]

Aqua madonna al fuoco

Es el agua que demando - I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4 [T., B.]
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
__
[In Italian and Spanish]

A fé pensamiento, a fé Subís con alas de cera

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
, Ins
e
]
Ahí mi tiempo mal logrado A mi fe señora distes - I-MOe alpha R.6.4 [T., B.]
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21 [T., B.]

Airecitos del río de Manzanares Ausencia tan dura - I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434 [B
o
]
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163
__
- I-Rvat Bonc. M.18 [no alfabeto;
different copla text: Frescas alamedas]

A la moza bonita, chiquita y
papigordita
La moza me da contento

- I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
- I-VEc 1434

A la niña bonita, chiquita y
papigordita
La niña me da contento

- I-MOe alpha P.6.22 [T., B.]
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
__
[See “A la moza”: coplas related]

Al arma, al arma, al arma, sierra El amor bien encendido - I-MOe alpha P.6.22 [T., B.]
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

A las espaldas de un monte - I-Fr 2774 [w/ strum pattern]
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952
- I-VEc 1434

A la villa pastor Que harán mis ovejas - I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

A la zambaranbé Bailaban negros y negras - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
203

Al bien de mi vida escribí una
carta
Díceme que tengo - I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Al espejo se toca el bien de mi
vida
La bella Amarilis - I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952
- I-Fr 2973/3
- I-VEc 1434
- NL-DHk 72J46
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163
__
Unrelated setting:
- E-PAbm 13231

Aliviad mis males, venid
corriendo
En la ausencia larga - I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434 [T
e
, B
o
]

Allá van mis suspiros, madre Caminos buscando

- I-VEc 1434
Al ladrón señores Téngale, no se resista - I-Fr 2951
- I-VEc 1434
__
Partially related setting:
- E-PAbm 13231
Unrelated setting:
- E-Mn M1370, 1371, 1372 [Al ladrón
amigos; a4; J. Pujol]

Al partir llaman partida
(Montemayor)

- Sanseverino (1616)

Al villano se le da - I-Fr 2793/3
__
Related setting:
- E-Mn M1370, 1371, 1372

A mi gusto me acomodo, madre
mía
Madre de que si alborota - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Ándalo zarabanda, que el amor te
lo manda

See “La zarabanda está presa”
A pesar de envidiosos he sido
fuerte
Aunque han procurado - I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434

Aquel pajarillo que vuela madre Yo le ví entre rejas - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

Aquí lloró sentado - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163
__
Related setting:
204
- E-PAbm 13231

Arrojome las naranjicas - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
- I-Rli Cod. 625

Atina, que dáis en la manta - I-Rli Cod. 625

A toda ley, madre mía
(Góngora)
Pues que tan ajenos son - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

A una dama su amistad
(Padilla)
Blandamente y con halago - I-Fl Ashb. 791
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

A unos ojos bellos
(Padilla)

Diles alma y vida - E-Szayas A.IV.8

Aunque amor me agravia Por constante y firme

- I-Nn XVII.30
Aunque nos despierte el gallo Si esperáis del gallo el
canto
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [B.]
[partial alfabeto in copla]
__
Partially related setting:
- E-Mn M1370, 1371, 1372

Aunque veis que muerto vengo No me aflijes la memoria - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
, Ins
e
]
[partial alfabeto in copla]

Ausente de mi bien y de mi gloria - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

Ay amor perjuro, falso traydor
(López Maldonado)

- E-Szayas A.IV.8

Ay corazón marmoreo Ay corazon | ay alma | ay
vida | ay ojos

- I-PAp 1506/I
Ay como las esperanzas Ay que quando las tenias - GB-Lbl Add. 36877 [S
o
, B
o
]
- I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Ay enemigo amor Das a todos los que siguen - E-Szayas A.IV.8
- I-PAp 1506/I

Ay que contento en el alma siento - F-Pn esp. 390
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]
- Stefani, Affetti (1618)

Ay que no oso Como los ojos - I-MOe alpha P.6.22 [T., B.]
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
- I-Rli Cod. 625

Ay, que pasión que sale del
corazón
Cuando çelos dan pasión - E-Szayas A.IV.8
205

Ay quien me quiera comprar

- E-Szayas A.IV.8
- I-Rli Cod. 625

Ay señor boticario, hágame un
virgo, um, um
- I-Fr 2774 (x2)
- I-Fr 2804 [B
o
]
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952

Barcos enramados, los remos
mueven
Sobre espumas canas - I-VEc 1434

Ben mi vedrai mio misero amante

Veráis mi corazón
enamorado

- I-PAp 1506/I
[Dialogue in Italian / Spanish]
Beso la mano di V.S., patrona mía - I-Fl Ashb. 791
[Dialogue in Spanish / Neapolitan]
__
See: Quiero asomarme

Bella pastorcilla, bella pastora Tal belleza vemos - Sanseverino (1616)

Bien merecéis, señora - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Boga marinero Marinero armado - I-Fl Ashb. 791
[No copla music]

Bona noche, señora mía - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
[in Spanish / Italian dialects]
__
See “Beso la mano”

Buena es la color morena - I-Rli Cod. 625

Bullicioso era el arroyuelo, y
salpicome
Volviendo madre corría - I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2793 [B
o
]
- I-Fr 2804 [B
o
]
- I-VEc 1434 [B
o
]
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163

Busca caminos y vías Son tantos ya los enojos - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

Caldera adobar, adobar caldera Llámame que aquí espero - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Caminad suspiros adonde soléis
(Lope de Vega)
En su mano fuerte - GB-Lbl Add. 36877 [copla: caminad
contentos]
- I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175
[alfabeto in copla only]
- I-Fr 2774 (x2)
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952
- I-VEc 1434
206

Cantos apacibles de ruiseñores Pintadillas aves - I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2973/3
- I-VEc 1434
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163
__
Unrelated setting:
- E-PAbm 13231

Caracol, caracol, caracol Dame gran congoja - I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Caracoles me pide la niña
(Góngora, att.)
De una vez que la tacaña - GB-Lbl Add. 36877
__
Unrelated settings:
- E-OL i.VIII [a3]
- D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2 [a3, Juan Blas]

Çe, ce, mira lo que te digo Cuando por aquí pasáis - I-MOe alpha P.6.22 [T., B.,]
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Celos importunos Si en atormentarme - Sanseverino (1616)

Celos por amores El alma despierta - I-Rvat Bonc. M.18

Cerca del Tajo, en soledad amena
(Garcilaso)
- I-Fr 2774 (x2)
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952

Como nada el cisne, madre

Quien pretendiere nadar - I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4,
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163

Como te pones amores - F-Pn esp. 390
- I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952
- I-VEc 1434
__
- I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175 [no alfabeto]

Con el aire que corre a orillas del
mar

Soplaba el aire quedito - GB-Lbl Add. 36877
Con esperanzas espero
(Padilla)
De esperanzas me
entretengo
- I-Fl Ashb. 791
- I-MOe alpha P.6.22 [T., B.]
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
207
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Con lon, dingile, dinguilín, dayna Una buena viejia - I-PAp 1506/I

Con saber que a Pedro Antón Entona la boz diziendo

- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Con suspiros y llorando

- E-Szayas A.IV.8
Contentamientos de amor
(Montemayor)

Va, no acabáis de venir - Sanseverino (1616)
Contra el amor nada vale Ninguno puede vivir - I-MOe alpha R.6.4,
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Corre, corre, corre Gil, y verás el
más grave caso
Verás una dama | y espejo
de Dama
- I-MOe alpha P.6.22 [T., B.]
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Corre, corre, corre Gil, y verás la
dama más bella
Cuando se halla entre
damas bellas
- I-Rli Cod. 625 [duet?]

Crudo amor, fortuna ingrata - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200

Cuando el pájaro canta Madre, un pajarillo - I-MOe a.Q.8.21

Cuando me prendieron Un tiempo vivía - E-Szayas A.IV.8

Cuando quise no quisiste - I-Fr 2951(folías)
- I-Fr 2952 (folías)

Cuando salen del alba los
arreboles

- I-PAp 1506/I
Cuando yo me enamoré Envidiosos de mi estado - I-Fr 2793/3
- I-MOe alpha P.6.22 [T., B.]
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4 [T., B.]
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21 [T., B.]
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163
- Colonna “aria spagnola che si suona
con le viole”
- Sanseverino (1622)

Cupidillo se arroja

- I-MOe a.Q.8.21
Cuidaba yo, penas mías Ay tiempos diferentes

- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163
Daba el sol en los alamos, madre Soñe madre que tenía - I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
__
Unrelated settings:
- E-PAbm 13231
- E-Mn M1370, 1371, 1372 [same as E-
PAbm 13231]

Dama angélica y divina - I-Rli Cod. 625

208
Dama ni flaca ni gorda Si el gusto que apetecemos - E-Szayas A.IV.8
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]
- GB-Lbl Add. 36877

De amarillo anda Belisa Sería notable agravio - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

De donde vienes Antón Dime la verdad Carillo

- I-Fl Ashb. 791
De la zarabanda No cantéis Antón

- I-Fl Ashb. 791
De mal de ausencia se queja

- I-Nn XVII.30
De mi mal nace mi bien - E-Szayas A.IV.8
- F-Pn esp. 390
__
Related setting:
- Ballard, airs (1609)

De mí se aparta el placer - I-Rli Cod. 625

De mis ojos a mi boca - I-Rvat Bonc. M.18

De mi tormento mortal - I-Rli Cod. 625
[no alfabeto in coplas]

De mis tormentos y enojos - I-PAp 1506/I
- Stefani, Scherzi (1619/22)

Desdeñado soy de amor
(Montemayor)

Soy del amor desdeñado - Sanseverino (1616)

De soledad y pena accompañado
(Padilla)

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
Dejad señora el temor Si el fuego en que arde mi
pecho

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
De hielo nace mi llama

Nacer mi llama de hielo - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]
Decía la moza al cura El cura que tanto amaba - F-Pn esp. 390
- I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175
- I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952
- I-VEc 1434

Decid cómo puede ser Muy tristes si no miráis - I-MOe alpha P.6.22 [T.]
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4?
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
__
Related setting:
- Ballard, airs (1609)

Dijo el gato mao La gata de Antón Pintado - I-Fr 2951
209
- I-PAp 1506/I [coplas only]

Dios guarde vuestra hermosura Señora si sois servida - F-Pn esp. 390
- I-Fl Ashb. 791

Dios me guarde, de puta que tiene
madre

- I-Rli Cod. 625
Domina mea dignare non potes
mereceros

Las damas quis vel qui - I-Fr 2973/3
Donde hay poco merecer - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Donde va mi morena con tanto
brio
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2973/3

Donde irá sin dineros el hombre El más noble que ha nacido - GB-Lbl Add. 36877
- I-Fr 2774 (x2)
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952
- I-VEc 1434

Don pintados, a la ventana - I-PAp 1506/I

Dos damas hermosas bellas [I] Con su gracioso mirar - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Dos damas hermosas bellas [II] Son de tal merecimiento - I-Fl Ashb. 791
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

Durmíase Cupido al son I-Fr 2793/3 [no coplas]
__
Partially related setting in E-Mn
M1370, 1371, 1372

Dulces aguas de Ebro Aguas cristalinas - PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163

Dura pensamiento [I] Pensamiento mío I-Fl Ashb. 791

Dura pensamiento [II] Pensamientos míos I-PAp 1506/I
[estribillo [I] cited as different setting]

Eas, señoras hermosas A muestrar a divinar - I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
- I-PAp 1506/I

El marido y la buena mujer Si fuere mujer hermosa - I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2951 [no alfabeto in copla]

El sin ventura mancebo Y tan penado y tan perdido
[estribillo]

- E-Szayas A.IV.8
210
Encontreme un día con mi Leonor Díjole mi vida - I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175
- I-Fr 2774 [x2]
- I-Fr 2793 [Basso]
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952
- I-Fr 2973/3
- I-VEc 1434 [T
e
, B
o
]

En el árbol madre En la cumbre madre - I-Rvat Bonc. M.18
[gloss of “En la cumbre madre”]
__
Unrelated setting:
- I-Rc 5437 [follia a3, Juan Pujol]

En el valle de Pisuerga vive entre
penas un ángel
(Liñán)

De nieve serrana | teneis la
color [estribillo]

- I-Fr 2804
En el valle Ynés Debajo de un pino - E-Szayas A.IV.8
__
Partially related setting:
- Ballard, airs (1609)

En el suelo alumbra - I-Rli Cod. 625

En esta larga ausencia
(Lope de Vega)
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Rli Cod. 625
__
Partially related settings:
- I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14
- E-Mn M1370, 1371, 1372

En la villa de Madrid - I-Fr 2973/3

En la corte esta una dama - I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175 - Chacona
[no alfabeto]

En la cumbre madre Subiome a la cumbre - I-Fr 2951 (Chacona)
- I-Fr 2952

En las bodas de Cornelio Échate mozo, que te toma
el toro
[estribillo]
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434

En la villa de Segura A Pedro y Antona
[estribillo]

- I-VEc 1434 [B
o
]
En los olivares de junto a Osuna - I-Rli Cod. 625

En que nieve no pisada hallaste
esa mano
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804

En sus bellos ojos vi Para aumentar sus hazañas - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
211

En su balcon una dama
(Góngora)

Echa acá la barca - I-PAp 1506/I

Entre mortales suspiros - I-Rvat Bonc. M.18

Entre todos los remedios [I] - E-Szayas A.IV.8

Entre todos los remedios [II] - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 [a2, partial
concordance]

Es amor un no se que - F-Pn esp. 390
- I-Fn Magl. Cl. VII 618 [ritornello w/
strum symbols]
- I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2951 Chac[ona]
- I-Fr 2952

Esclavo soy, pero el cuyo Mirad qué feliz estado

- I-Rli Cod. 625

Escóndete en tu cabaña Y en haciendo la presa - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

Esto que me abrasa el pecho - I-Rli Cod. 625

Estos mis cabellos Madre

- E-Szayas A.IV.8
Fenisa y Alvanio han hecho - I-Rli Cod. 625

Filida debéis premiar - I-Nn XVII.30

Francisquito, me llama tu ama Francisquito estaba
jugando
- I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175 [w/ chacona
strum pattern]
- I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434

Frescos aires del prado, si a
Toledo váis
Pues habéis sabido - I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952
- I-VEc 1434
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163
__
Unrelated settings:
- Boesset (1624) [a5; voice and lute
setting in Boesset/Ballard (1624)]

Fue a caza la niña | y cazó Fue a caza la niña | con
Pedro el bermejo
- GB-Lbl Add. 36877
- I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175
- I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951 [only last copla]
- I-Fr 2952
- I-Fr 2793/3
212
- I-VEc 1434

Fuego de Dios con el querer bien,
amén
Yo vi una mozuela - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
__
Related setting:
- I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14

Fugitivo río, | tu curso para Esas blancas guijas - I-VEc 1434

Funestos y altos cipreses - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200

Gasto la vida sirviendo

- I-PAp 1506/I
Gorogug, gorogug, goromet Tara Munçia está apantaná

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
[Guineo]

Haber mil damas hermosas - I-Fl Ashb. 791
- I-Fn Magl. Cl VII 618 [ritornello w/
strum symbols]
__
Unrelated setting:
- Ballard, airs (1609)

Hasta fenecer la vida Aunque vuestra condición - I-MOe alpha P.6.22 [T., B.]
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Hecho trompeta del sol Vete de mi vida
[estribillo]

- I-Nn XVII.30
Hermosísima pastora
(Lope de Vega)
Si os he ofendido
[estribillo]
- Sanseverino (1616)
__
Text in I-Fr 2973/3
[no alfabeto]

Hombre que está sin amores - I-Fn Magl. Cl VII 618 [ritornello w/
strum symbols]
- I-Rli Cod. 625

Inesilla, Francisquilla No sabe señor Antón - I-Fr 2774
- I-Fn Magl. Cl VII 646

Inmortal debo de ser Que el amor en mi pecho
[estribillo]
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
- I-VEc 1434
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163

Irme quiero madre La fe son despojos - I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
- I-PAp 1506/I

La dama que quiere a dos

Es moderada la dama - I-Fl Ashb. 791
La más linda niña de nuestro lugar
(Góngora)
Dejadme llorar, orillas de
la mar
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

213
La mar de Valencia es dulce y
suave
Los vientos le dicen - I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434 [no alfabeto in coplas]

La noche comenzaba - E-Szayas A.IV.8

Las cuerdas de mi instrumento
(Quevedo)

- I-Rli Cod. 625

Las olas del Tormes corren a
porfía
Las hermosas olas - I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2973/3
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163

Las reliquias de la noche Quando Albanio - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]
__
Unrelated setting:
- E-Mn M1370, 1371, 1372

Las tres de la noche han dado Venga la muerte - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200

La zagala más hermosa
(Liñán)

- I-Fr 2774
__
Partially related setting:
- E-PAbm 13231 [estribillo only]

La zarabanda esta presa NL-DHk 72J46

Llega Filis al Tormes - I-VEc 1434 [B
o
]

Llegamos a puerto, salté de galera Andando en el mar - F-Pn esp. 390
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2973/3
- I-VEc 1434
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163

Llegó a una venta Cupido
(Góngora)

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200

Llevan desconciertos
(Lope de Vega)
- Sanseverino (1616)
__
Text in I-Fr 2973/3 [no alfabeto]

Lo que me quise me tengo yo
(Góngora)
Ya que por mi suerte - I-PAp 1506/I
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

Los ojos con que miré
(Montemayor)

- Sanseverino (1616)

Los rayos del sol impiden Y entre las olas fieras
(fuga)
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
__
Related setting:
- E-Mn M1370, 1371, 1372

Madre mía, un zagalillo Un zagalillo de perlas - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
214
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Mal haya quien sufre - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

Más dichosa fuera Dichosa es la bida - GB-Lbl Add. 36877

Más ventura fuera Dichosa es la bida - I-Fl Ashb. 791
[related to “Más dichosa fuera,”
different estribillo music]

Matadores ojos tenéis, señora - I-Rvat Bonc. M.18

Mientras duermen los sentidos Que tocan alarma Juana
[estribillo]

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]
Mirando estaba Fileno - I-Fr 2793

Miraba la mar la mal casada - I-MOe a.Q.8.21

Mírome en tus ojos - NL-DHk 72J46
__
Text as a seguidilla stanza:
- I-Rvat Bonc. M.18
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200

Mi zagala sus paños enjuaga y
tuerçe
Pasé por allí | díxele
burlando
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
__
Unrelated setting:
Arañes 1624

Mozuela del baile, toca el
panderillo
A la bella reina - I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434 [B
o
]
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163

Nací para morir, vivo muriendo - I-Nn XVII.30

Naranjitas tira la niña De una huerta de Cupido

- I-MOe a.Q.8.21
Negra tengo la cara

De un rabioso fuego - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
Niña pues tienes edad Pues que a los doce has
llegado

- I-VEc 1434
[chacona with estribillo]
Niña de los cabellos Niña, que quando miráis

- I-Fl Ashb. 791
Niña que estas en el río, aunque se
me moje el pié
Niña que lavando estas - I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2793 [T
e
, B
o
]
- I-Fr 2804 [T
e
, B
o
]

No dejaré de quereros Como a firme enamorado

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
No huyas morena, duélete de mí No me huyas tanto - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

215
No lloréis señora No cubráis el suelo - GB-Lbl Add. 36877 [S
o
, B
o
]

No me pregunte mi mal Para que quiere sabello - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

No me quejo yo del daño
(Montemayor)

- Sanseverino (1616)
__
Text in I-Fr 2973/3
[no alfabeto]

No partáis mi dulce vida - Stefani, Scherzi (1619/22)

No se qué me haga mi señora
madre
- I-Fr 2793 [T
e
, B
o
]
- I-Fr 2804

No son todos ruiseñores los que
cantan entre las flores
(Góngora)
No todas las voces ledas - I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2973/3
- I-VEc 1434

Obras son de amores Si vuestra afección - PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163

Ojos negros, quando os vi

- I-Fl Ashb. 791 [basso]
Olvidada niña por quien me
muero

Llorosa vive la niña del
Tormes
- I-Fr 2793/3
Olvidada sois de mí Aventureme a jugar - Sanseverino (1616)

Olvidastesme señora
(Montemayor)

Sin ventura yo olvidado

- Sanseverino (1616)
Oh, que bien baila Gil Volviose Gil cortesano - I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
__
Unrelated setting:
- E-PAbm 13231

Oh, si volasen las horas del pesar Oh, si quisiere el amor - I-Fn Landau-Finaly 252
- I-Fr 2793 [T
e
, B
o
]
- I-Fr 2804
- I-MOe a.Q.8.21
- I-VEc 1434 [B
o
]
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163
__
Unrelated setting:
- D-Mbs Cod. hisp. 2

Óigame señor doctor - I-Rli Cod. 625

Para todos hizo Dios Es en mi naturaleza - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Partirse quiere Filis, y al monte
que se queja
- I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434
216

Pasados contentamientos
(Montemayor)

Memoria, queréis oírme

- Sanseverino (1616)
Pajarillo que vas a la fuente Pajarillo del amor - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

Pensamiento mío, caminad
(Lope de Vega)
- Sanseverino (1616)
__
Text in I-Fr 2973/3
[no alfabeto]

Pensamientos míos bien
empleados

Favoresca amor - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]
Perder por vos la vida, mi señora Serviros y adoraros noche
y día
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Periquito y su vezina Periquito que ha conocido - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
- I-VEc 1434

Pisaré yo el polvillo La que a menudo pisa I-Rli Cod. 625

Poco a poco el amor me ha vuelto
loco

Tan loco que ya no
entiendo
I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
, Ins
e
]
Poderoso caballero es don Dinero
(Quevedo)

Madre, yo al oro me
humillo

- I-Fr 2804
Por el prado verde del claro
Tormes

Suelta la madeja I-Rvat Bonc. M.18
Por la calle abajo madre - I-Fr 2793/3
[no copla]
__
Partially related setting:
- E-OL i.VIII [a3, J. Pujol, with copla]
Por la plaza de San Lúcar I-Rvat Bonc. M.18

Por las montañas de Jaca
(Argensola)

- I-Rli Cod. 625

Por vuestra linda hermosura Despues que vi la figura E-Szayas A.IV.8
[no alfabeto in copla]

Prestame esos ojos para esta
noche
Prestame essos ojos | bella
morena

- I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952
- I-VEc 1434
__
As seguidilla text:
- I-Rvat Bonc. M.18

Pues envidian mis dichas Perdí del bien que estimaba - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
217
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Pues matáis quando miráis, no
miréis, no miréis

Si el que mata ha de morir - I-MOe alpha R.6.4

Pues matáis quando miráis señora,
por vuestro gusto
Si quien mata ha de morir - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
__
Unrelated setting:
Moulinié, VII livre d’airs (1626)

Pues que me das a escoger - E-Szayas A.IV.8
- I-Fl Ashb. 791
__
Unrelated setting:
- Ballard, airs (1609)
Que no ay tal vida en esta vida La vida del cazador - I-Rli Cod. 625

Que no hay tan andar por el verde
olivico
Deja montes de imposibles - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Que no sabéis qué es

Mozuelas en mi lugar - I-Rli Cod. 625
Que os parece Antón decir

Por ser como un asujín

- I-MOe alpha R.6.4 [w/ strum patterns]
Que sean las mujeres inconstantes - Radesca, Terzo libro (1616/2)

Que si el barquero daba voces Solo en su barca - I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2793/3
- I-VEc 1434

Que verdadero dolor | y que
apurado sufrir [I]

- I-Nn XVII.30

Que verdadero dolor | y que
aparado sufrir [II]
(Quevedo)

- Sanseverino (1616)
__
text in I-Fr 2973/3
[no alfabeto]

Quién a tu valor se iguala A tu divina presencia - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Quién causa el desasosiego Si, pero de quién calla

- I-Nn XVII.30
Quién entre mire bien como ha
vivido
(Montemayor)

- Sanseverino (1616)
Quién llama, quien esta allá Porque buscáis a tal hora

- I-Fl Ashb. 791
¿Quién menoscaba mis bienes?
(Cervantes)
- Stefani, Scherzi (1619/22)
- Romano, Terza raccolta (1622)

Quién no sabe callar no alcanza
nada

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
, Ins
e
]
218
Quién quiere entrar | conmigo en
el barco
Es el barco de firmeza - E-Szayas A.IV.8
- GB-Lbl Add. 36877
- I-Fl Ashb. 791
__
Unrelated setting:
- Ballard, airs (1609)

Quiero asomarme a la celosía - E-Szayas A.IV.8
- I-Fl Ashb. 791
- I-Fr 2774
__
[dialogue Spanish/ Neapolitan]

Quiero dormir y no puedo No duerme como solía - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]
__
Unrelated setting:
Rimonte 1614;
text in I-Fr 2793/3
[no alfabeto]

Regalando el tierno bello Ay moro venturoso
[estribillo]
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

Riéndose va un arroyo, sus guijas
parecen dientes
- I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434
__

Related setting:
- E-Mn M1370, 1371, 1372

Río de Sevilla | quién te pasase - I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
__

Partially related settings:
- I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14
- Ballard, airs (1609)

Río Manzanares, detén las aguas Deten las [mudas]
corrientes
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434

Rompe las venas del ardiente
pecho
(Espinel)

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
, Ins
e
]

Rompiendo la mar de España Amaina la vela - E-Szayas A.IV.8

Saca niña las manos del regalillo - I-Fr 2793/3

Salen mis suspiros que al aire
encienden
Ved que efectos hacen - F-Pn esp. 390
- I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
219
-I-Fr 2793/3
- I-VEc 1434

Salió en los brazos del alba Y la bella Amarilis
[estribillo]
- I-VEc 1434
__
Unrelated setting:
- E-OL i.VIII

Secotor de la vara de San
Francisco
Alla cucurrucú - I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952 (Chacona)

Sentado en la seca yerba Filis me ha muerto - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200

Señor boticario, guarde su haja,
um, um
- GB-Lbl Add. 36877
[See also “Ay señor boticario”]

Señora mi fe os empeño Ay tanta desigualdad - GB-Lbl Add. 36877
- PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163 [no alfabeto]
__
Text in:
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [no alfabeto]

Señora, quereisme a mi Suplícoos, señora mía - I-Fl Ashb. 791
[dialogue, Spanish / Italian]

Señora yo bien podré - E-Szayas A.IV.8

Servía en Orán al Rey
(Góngora)

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
Si hay mayor mal que el morir No más, hermosos ojos
míos
[estribillo]

- GB-Lbl Add. 36877
- I-Fn Magl. XIX 25 [texted bass part +
alfabeto]
__
Partially related setting:
- E-OL i.VIII

Si a mi Leonor Dille que sabido

- I-Fl Ashb. 791
Si aquel de la venda Si no lo conoces - F-Pn esp. 390 [S
o
, B
o
]
- I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200

Si con tanto olvido - I-MOe alpha P.6.22 [lists coplas,
setting strophic]
- I-PAp 1506/I

Si de los ojos nace Si una dulce vista Radesca, Quarto libro (1610)

Siendo mi tormento tal y tanta
vuestra porfia
Si el contento y el dolor - I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434

Si la noche hazc oscura - E-Szayas A.IV.8 [fragment]
220

Si me picas picarte he Si retozas con el verde - I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Si mi tañer y canto
(Pérez)

- Sanseverino (1616)
Si negra tengo la cara

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
Si pensara, o si entendiera
(Góngora, att.)
Fue el primo amor tan
maño

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

Si queréis que os enrame la puerta - I-Fr 2793/3 (Aria spagnuola sopra la
folia)
- I-Rli Cod. 625
- NL-DHk 72J46 (folia)

Si se entiende el mal de amor Es verdad señor doctor

- I-Rli Cod. 625
Si son para mirar vuestra
hermosura
(Lope de Vega)

- Sanseverino (1616)
Si tantos halcones Ya la garza mía - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Si un verdadero amor, amor
merece
Ausencia tan terrible y tan
amarga

- I-Rli Cod. 625
Si vida darme queréis

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
Si vos me queréis a mí Quereros como yo os
quiero

- E-Szayas A.IV.8
Si vos pretendeis quererme

Radesca, secondo libro (1606)
Sombras de mi pensamiento Hacer un discurso igual

- I-Nn XVII.30
Son tus ojos niña Es tan grande el bien - I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Súbese tan alto

Cuando mi llanto - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
[no alfabeto]

Tal es la esperanza mía Es muy justo el porfiar - I-Rli Cod. 625 [S., B.]

Tan conejuelo y tal conegito Levanteme madre - I-Rli Cod. 625

Tanto Jerónima atiza

Dame amor tan cruda
guerra
- I-Fl Ashb. 791
Tantos daños y males he sufrido - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200

Tendido esta el fuerte Turno Tu nombre imfamas
[estribillo]
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
221

Tiene tan hermosa boca Los ojos negros rasgados - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

Tiros suenan y no es salva Quando el sueño a las
mañanas
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Todas las veces que veo - I-Fr 2793 (Çhacona)
- I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434 (Çhacona)
__
text in I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175
(Çhacona) [no alfabeto]

Toquen y tañen las campanas Pues ellas dan el aviso - I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Traesme fortuna, cada hora llena - I-Fl Ashb. 791

Tres niñas me dan enojos - Stefani, Scherzi (1619/22)
__
Text in I-Rvat Bonc. M.18 [no
alfabeto]

Triste y flaca esta Belilla Procura disimular - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]

Triste memoria enemiga Ay, horas tristes
[estribillo]

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
, Ins
e
]

Tus bellos ojos morena Que perder pensamiento
[estribillo]; dorar tu beldad
[copla]

- I-Nn XVII.30
Una batalla de Amor - I-Rli Cod. 625

Una flecha de oro me tiró el amor - I-MOe a.Q.8.21

Una hermosa niña de rubios
cabellos
Y se no te ablandas
[estribillo]

- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2793/3
Una jardinerica de Vanaya

- I-Rli Cod. 625
Una música le dan Antón, que está
bravamente
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
__
Unrelated setting:
Boesset/Ballard (1624) [a5; estribillo
text only]

Una pastora hermosa | más que
Venus y Diana
Socorred, ojos, con agua - I-Fl Ashb. 791
- I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
__
Partially related setting
C. Tessier, Airs (1604) [a5]
222

Una Pastora hermosa | más que el
sol del claro día

Más merece quien se fía - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
, Ins
e
]

Una tarde fuí llamado - F-Pn esp. 390
- I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2793
- I-VEc 1434
__
text also in I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175
(Çhacona);
I-Fr 2804 [no alfabeto]
Un pecacho que parte de Napoles
a Roma
- I-Rli Cod. 625
[Various songs in different languages]

Vaisos amores de aqueste lugar Aún no sabía | de amor la
afición
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
__
Related setting:
- I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14 [a2]

Válame Dios, que las ánsares
vuelan
En verdad, señor compadre - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [no alfabeto]
__
Unrelated setting (text):
- E-Mn M1370, 1371, 1372

Vanse mis amores | seguirlos
quiero
Seguidle suspiros - I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951

Ventecillo murmurador Hoy, ventecillo suave - I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
__
Unrelated settings:
- E-Mn M1370, 1371, 1372
- E-PAbm 13231

Vestido un gabán leonado
(Lope de Vega)

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200

Vida, vida, la vida bona Hazme preguntado vida - I-Fr 2793 (Çhacona)
- I-Fr 2804 (Çhacona)
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952 (Çhaçona)
- NL-DHk 72J46 [Chiqui morena mía]

Vida de mi vida - I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952

Vivan las damas y viva el Amor Vivan las Damas hermosas - I-MOe alpha P.6.22
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Viva la paçía viva | viva el ciego
amor
Es amor tan prodigo - I-MOe alpha P.6.22 [Tenor, Baxo]
- I-MOe alpha R.6.4 [T., B.]
- I-MOe alpha Q.8.21
223

Viviréis corazón, a fe, o yo moriré

Ya las tormentas pasaron

- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200
[no alfabeto]
Volved pensamiento mio - I-Nn XVII.30
__
Unrelated setting:
- I-Tn Ris. Mus. I-14

Vuestra belleza señora Siéntome gran consuelo - I-Fr 2951
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
]
- Stefani, Affetti (1618)

Vuestros ojos, Dama, | tienen no
se qué
Por qué me miráis - F-Pn esp. 390
- GB-Lbl Add. 36877
- I-Fr 2774 (x2)
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-Fr 2951
- I-Fr 2952
- I-MOe alpha P.6.22 [estribillo only]
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200 [S
o
, B
o
, Ins
e
]
- I-VEc 1434
__
Unrelated settings:
- Ballard, airs (1609)
R. Dowland (1610) (copy of Ballard)

Vuestros ojos me maltratan - E-Szayas A.IV.8

Ya esta el toro en la plaza |
miralde mozas
De unos ojos bellos - I-Fr 2774
- I-Fr 2793
- I-Fr 2804
- I-VEc 1434
__
Unrelated setting:
- G. Tessier, Premier livre (1582)

Ya estarás contento
(Padilla)

- Sanseverino (1616)
Ya pasaron madre | mis alegrías

Pasados contentos - I-Rvat Bonc. M.18
Yo he hecho lo que he podido
(Conde de Salinas)
Roselia, por contertarte - GB-Lbl Add. 36877
__
Unrelated setting:
E-Mn M1370, 1371, 1372

Yo solo soy a quien falto ventura - I-PAp 1506/I
- I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200

Zagaleja pues te vas Guárdate zagaleja
[estribillo]

- I-Rli Cod. 625
Appendix 2
Individual Inventories of Sources containing Villanella Spagnola Settings, 1595-1625
(Settings of Spanish Poetry Only)
The following inventories list the song settings of Spanish poetry in the manuscripts and
publications examined in Chapter 2, and are intended to be used with that chapter, as well
as Appendix 1. The sources appear in the same order in which they are studied in that
chapter, organized by geography and content. The modernized title of each song is
accompanied by incipits of the estribillo and coplas, where applicable. Their original
spelling has been retained, and only accentuation and punctuation have been added.
Vertical slashes ( | ) are used to indicate a new line of poetry or alfabeto symbols in the
sources. The initial sequence of alfabeto symbols is provided, when present, allowing for
an easy comparison of settings.
225
Table A.1.1. I-MOe alpha P.6.22

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

2r-3v Viva, viva la gracia, viva Viua viua la graçia viua
| viva uiua el ciego
amor

Es amor tan poderoso | que
aze imposibles cosas
Cancion primea.
Ripresa OBCO
OCOGHBCOCO 4 coplas; duet
[Tenor, Baxo]
4r-5r Aqua madonna al fuoco Acqua madona al foco Es el aqua que demando |
de fuente de vuestro amor
Cancion segunda.
Ripresa ABCA

CAFI | CABGBCA 3 coplas
5v-7r Hasta fenecer la vida Hasta feneçer la uida |
quanto pudiere haré
Aunque vuestra condición |
me mate por ser tan dura
Cancion tercera.
Ripresa GBHBG

GCBGAB | EFI 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
7v-8v A la niña bonita, chiquita A la niña bonitta,
chiquita, bonita,
chiquita, y papigordita

La niña me da contento | y
la uieja gran pesar
Cancion quarta.
Ripresa ABCA

ABGEAB | GEIE 4 coplas; duet
[T, B]
9r-10r Cuando yo me enamoré Quando yo me
enamoré, fue solo de un
bel donayre

Embidiosos de mi estado |
dizen que nel’ ayre quiero
Cancion quinta.
Ripresa ABCA

DAG | BEB 2 coplas; duet
[T, B]
10v Vuestros ojos dama Vuestros ojos dama |
tienen no se qué

Cancion sesta.
Ripresa DEFD
DAB | EFD No coplas
12r-13r Irme quiero madre Ir me quiero madre | a
la galera nueua
La fe sin despoios | muerta
la esperanza
Cancion settima.
Ripresa ABCA

AB | GAB | GAB 3 coplas
13v-14r Si con tanto olvido Se con tanto olvido |
pagáys tanta fe

Amor con amor | se suele
pagar
Cancion ottaba.
Ripresa ABCA
A | B | GBC 2 Coplas
14v-15r Toquen y tañan esas
campanas
Toquen y tañen estas
campanas
Pues ellas dan el auiso | del
bien que amor darme quiso
Cancion novena.
Ripresa ABCA

AF | B | AG 3 coplas
15v-17r Una pastora hermosa más
que Venus y Diana
Una pastora hermosa |
más que Venus ny
Diana
Soccored ojos con agua |
que el coraçón la demanda
[estribillo]
Cancion dezena.
Ripresa ahbg

GAIOIC | HBCA 4 coplas
226

17v-18v Río de Sevilla quién te
pasase
Rio de Siuilla quien te
pasasse
Rio de Syuilla de braços
lleno
Cancion onzena.
Ripresa ABCA

HDGOCLC 4 seguidillas
19r-20v Decid cómo puede ser Dezid como puede ser |
ojos que estando
mirando

Muy tristes sy no myrais |
y myrarlo estáys peor
Cancion dozena.
Ripresa CAIC

EBG | HBG 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
21r-22v Al bien de mi vida Al bien de my uida
escriuí una carta
Dízeme que tengo | acá
otros amores
Cancion terzena.
Ripresa gbhbg

GBEBHGHBG 3 coplas
23r-24r Ahí como las esperanzas Ahí como las
esperanças | de my bida
y mi contiento

Ahi que quando las tenía |
amor la sostentaua
Cancion dezena
quarta.
Ripresa abca

HMGH | GAB 2 coplas
24v-27v Ea, señoras hermosas Eas señoras hermosas |
antes que otro lo uenda
A muestrar a diuinar | y
allar lo que es perdido
Cancion dezena
quinta.
Ripresa bgab

BGAB | EFI 6 coplas
28r-30r Si aquel de la venda Si aquel de la uenda |
acaso topares
Sy no lo conoçes | yo te
diré el trage
Cancion dezena
sesta.
Ripresa ABCA

OCMCA | HGH 12 coplas
30v-31v Vivan las damas y viva el
amor
Viuan las damas y viua
el amor | y muera el
ynterés traydor

Viuan las damas hermosas
| que no sean ynteresables
Cancion dezena
settima.
Ripresa ABCA

OCAGH | EBGAG 4 coplas
32r-33v Con esperanzas espero Con esperanzas espero |
que galardón se me dé
De esperanzas me
entretengo | muchos días
ay no ueo

Cancion dezena
ottaba.
Ripresa eoic

EBG | AIHOIE 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
34r-v Ay que no oso Ay que no oso | miraros
y no es de medroso
Como los ojos | son
lenguas del coraçon
Cancion dezena
novena.
Ripresa ABCA

OC | OGH | GBO 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
35r-36v Caracol, caracol, caracol Caracol caracol caracol
| saca tus yjuelos
Dame gran congoja | berte
elado y frío
Cancion vigesima.
Ripresa abca

BAC | GB | AC 3 coplas; folio
placed out of
order
227
37r-38v Si me picas picarte he Sy me picas picarte |
Teressa, déxame star
Sy retoças en el uerde | a fe
que te picaré
Cancion vigesima
prima.
Ripresa CAIC

CACFR | FCA | IC 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
39r Oh qué bien baila Gil O que bien bayla Gil |
con las moças de
Barajas

Ripresa GBHBG

GEGOI | HGAB no coplas
43r-45r Al arma al arma al arma All’arma al arma al
arma sierra
El amor uiene encendido |
con cien mil llamas de
fuego
Cancion.
Ripresa ABCA

BGEAB | ABAB 4 coplas; duet
[T, B]
45v-46r Corre, corre, corre Corre corre corre | Gil y
verás
Verás una dama | y espejo
de dama
Cancion.
Ripresa BGAB

DAEG | BGAB 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
46v-47v Çe, çe, mire qué le digo Çe çe mira qué le digo |
tome mira qué le doi
Quando paraqui passais |
de que gustáis cauallero
Cancion postrera.
Ripresa ABCA

AA | BA | AFICA 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]; coplas
are dialogue

228
Table A.1.2. I-MOe alpha R.6.4

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

2r-3v Una pastora hermosa más
que Venus y Diana
Una pastora hermosa |
más que Venus ny
Diana

Soccored ojos con agua |
que el coraçón la demanda
[estribillo]
Cancion primera.
Ripresa ahbg

GAIOIC | HBCA 4 coplas
4r-5v Al bien de mi vida Al bien de my uida
escriuí una carta
Dízeme que tengo | acá
otros amores
Cancion segunda.
Ripresa gbhbg

GBEBHGHBG 3 coplas
6r-7r Ahí como las esperanzas Ahí como las
esperanças | de my bida
y mi contiento

Ahi que quando las tenía |
amor la sostentaua
Cancion tercera.
Ripresa abca

HMGH | GAB 2 coplas
7v-9r Con esperanzas espero Con esperanzas espero |
que galardón se me dé
De esperanzas me
entretengo | muchos días
ay no ueo

Cancion quarta.
Ripresa eoic

EBG | AIHOIE 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
9v-12v Ea, señoras hermosas Eas señoras hermosas |
antes que otro lo uenda
A muestrar a diuinar | y
allar lo que es perdido
Cancion quinta.
Ripresa bgab

BGAB | EFI 6 coplas; duet
[T, B]
13r-15r Viva, viva la gracia, viva Viua viua la graçia viua
| viva uiua el ciego
amor

Es amor tan poderoso | que
aze imposibles cosas
Cancion sesta.
Ripresa obco
OCOGHBCOCO 4 coplas; duet
[T, B]
15v, 17r-v Aqua madonna al fuoco Acqua madona al foco Es el aqua que demando |
de fuente de vuestro amor
Cancion settima.
Ripresa abca

CAFI | CABGBCA 3 coplas
16r-v,
42r-v
Caracol, caracol, caracol Caracol caracol caracol
| saca tus yjuelos
Dame gran congoja | berte
elado y frío
Cancion vigesima
tercia.
Ripresa abca

BAC | GB | AC 3 coplas; folio
placed out of
order
18r-19r Hasta fenecer la vida Hasta feneçer la uida |
quanto pudiere haré
Aunque vuestra condición |
me mate por ser tan dura
Cancion ottaba.
Ripresa gbhbg

GCBGAB | EFI 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
19v-20v A la niña bonita, chiquita A la niña bonitta, La niña me da contento | y Cancion nona. ABGEAB | GEIE 4 coplas; duet
229
chiquita, bonita,
chiquita, y papigordita

la uieja gran pesar Ripresa ABCA

[T, B]
21r-22r Cuando yo me enamoré Quando yo me
enamoré, fue solo de un
bel donayre

Embidiosos de mi estado |
dizen que nel’ ayre quiero
Cancion decima.
Ripresa ABCA

DAG | BEB 2 coplas; duet
[T, B]
22v-23r Río de Sevilla quién te
pasase
Rio de Syuilla quien te
pasasse
Rio de Syuilla de braços
lleno
Cancion
undecima.
Ripresa ABCA

HDGOCLC 4 seguidillas
23v-25r Decid cómo puede ser Dezid como puede ser |
ojos que estando
mirando

Muy tristes sy no myrais |
y myrarlo estáys peor
Cancion
duodecima.
Ripresa CAIC

EBG | HBG 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
25v-27v Si aquel de la venda Si aquel de la uenda |
acaso topares
Sy no lo conoçes | yo te
diré el trage
Cancion
terdeçena.
Ripresa ABCA

OCMCA | HGH 12 coplas
28r-v Çe, çe, mire qué le digo Çe çe mira qué le digo |
tome mira qué le doi
Quando paraqui passais |
de que gustáis cauallero
Cancion
quartedeçena.
Ripresa ABCA

AA | BA | AFICA 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]; coplas
are dialogue

29r-31r Al arma al arma al arma Al arma al arma al arma
sierra
El amor uiene encendido |
con cien mil llamas de
fuego
Cancion
quintadeçena.
Ripresa ABCA

BGEAB | ABAB 4 coplas; duet
[T, B]
31v-32v Corre, corre, corre Corre corre corre | Gil y
verás
Verás una dama | y espejo
de dama
Cancion
sestadeçena.
Ripresa BGAB

DAEG | BGAB 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
33r-34r Vivan las damas y viva el
amor
Viuan las damas y viua
el amor | y muera el
ynterés traydor

Viuan las damas hermosas
| que no sean ynteresables
Cancion
deçesettima.
Ripresa ABCA

OCAGH | EBGAG 4 coplas
34v-35r Ay que no oso Ay que no oso | miraros
y no es de medroso
Como los ojos | son
lenguas del coraçon
Cancion
ottabadeçima.
OC | OGH | GBO 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
230
Ripresa ABCA

35v-37r Irme quiero madre Ir me quiero madre | a
la galera nueua
La fe sin despoios | muerta
la esperanza
Cancion
nondeçima.
Ripresa ABCA

AB | GAB | GAB 3 coplas
37v-38r Periquito y su vecina Periquito y su vezina |
jugauan al esconder
Perequito que ha conoçido
| su vezina tan humana
Cancion vigesima.
Ripresa DEFD

DAB | AEF 4 coplas
38v-39r Toquen y tañan esas
campanas
Toquen y tañen estas
campanas
Pues ellas dan el auiso | del
bien que amor darme quiso
Cancion
vigesimaprima.
Ripresa ABCA

AF | B | AG 3 coplas
39v-41v A una dama su amistad A una dama su amistad
| le pedí; me ha
respondido

Blandamente y con alago |
le pedí que me quissiese
Cancion vigesima
2a.
Ripresa ABCA

CABGAB | HIC 4 coplas
43r-44v Oh qué bien baila Gil O que bien bayla Gil |
con las moças de
Barajas

Boluiose Gil cortesano | y a
Madrid se fue a olgar
Cancion
vigesimaquarta.
Ripresa GBHBG

GEGOI | HGAB 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
45r-46v Si me picas picarte he Sy me picas picarte |
Teressa, déxame star
Sy retoças en el uerde | a fe
que te picaré
Cancion vigesima
quinta.
Ripresa CAIC

CACFR | FCA | IC 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
47r-49r Ay mi tiempo malogrado Ahi mi tiempo mal
logrado | pues mortal
nunca se bió

Cancion
vigesimasesta.
Ripresa ABCA

ABDC | R+BD 5 coplas; duet
[T, B]
49v-50r Perder por vos la vida mi
señora
Perder por uos la bida
mi señora | el que os
ama y adora

Seruiros y adoraros nocche
y día | a uos señora
Cancion
vigesimasetena.
Ripresa ABCA

ABGABGAB 3 coplas; duet
[T, B]
50v-51r La más linda niña | de
nuestro lugar
La mas linda niña | de
nuestro lugar
Dexadme llorar, orillas de
la mar
[estribillo]
Cancion
vigesimaottaba.
Ripresa ABCA

ADABADAGBC 3 coplas
231
51v-53v Pues matáis cuando miráis Pues matáys quando
miráis | no miréis

Sy el que mata ha de morir
| vos no podéys escapar
Cancion
vigesimanona
Ripresa GBHBG

GBHGBG 4 coplas
54r-56v Donde hay poco merecer Donde hai poco
mereçer | escusado es
mucho amor

Cancion
trentadezima.
Ripresa DEFD

A | DAGF 12 coplas
57r-58v Madre mía un zagalillo Madre mya un zagalillo
| que más que mi uida le
ame

Un zagalillo de perlas | que
me quita mil enojos
Cancion
treyntezimaprima.
Ripresa EOIE

EDFD |
AGBEFEFD
3 coplas
59r-60r Si tantos halcones Sy tantos alcones | mi
garça combaten

Ya la garça mia | de color
trigueño
Cancion
treyntezima
segunda.
Ripresa EOIE

OHEO | EG 3 coplas
60v-61r A toda ley madre mía A toda ley madre mía |
lo demás es necedad
Pues que tam agenos son |
señora mis uerdes años
Cancion
treyntezima terçia.
Ripresa GBHBG

GBG | AIE | DAG 2 coplas
61v-62r A mi gusto me acomodo A my gusto me
acomodo | madre mía
en buena fe

Madre de que se alborota |
que más vale por su uida
Cancion
treyntezima
quarta.
Ripresa ABCA

AFBEB | DFDGF 3 coplas
62v-63r Vaisos amores Vaisos amores da este
lugar
Aun no sabía de amor
l’afición
Cancion.
Ripresa EOIC

EBDHG | BEI 2 coplas
63v-64r Dos damas hermosas bellas Dos damas hermosas
bellas | tienen prsa my
afición

Con su gracioso mirar |
abrasan pechos de yelo
Cancion.
Ripresa ABCA

BGAIC | GBEFD 2 coplas
64v-65r Son tus ojos niña Son tus ojos niña | más
bellos que el sol
Es tan grande el bien |
ojuelos, que siento
Cancion.
Ripresa DEFD

DABDFD | ABGF 1 copla
65v-66r Quien a tu valor se iguala Quien a tu ualor se
iguala | señora mía en el
A tu diuina presencia | se
rinde el sol y la luna
Cancion.
Ripresa ABCA
DAGEFD | BGAB 2 coplas
232
suelo

66v-68r Una música le dan Una musica le dan | a
Juanilla en este son
Anton que esta bravamente
| de Juanilla enamorado
Cancion.
Ripresa ABCA

A | BAB | GEA 3 coplas
68v-70r Caldera adobar Caldera adobar, adobar
caldera
Llamame que aqui espero |
lo que me gusta de my
traça

Cancion.
Ripresa ABCA

CABGE |
ABGCAB
4 coplas
70v-71v En tus bellos ojos vi En tus bellos ojos ui |
vna niña que tenía
Para aumentar sus azañas |
amor, con tus ojos pardos
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

ocolca | oghpab 2 coplas
72r-v Contra el amor nada vale Contra l'amor nada uale
| que si en el coraçón
toca

Ninguno puede biuir | en
amor tan auisado
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

acabca | bgaica 3 coplas
73r-74v No huyas morena No huyas morena
duélete de my
No me huyas tanto |
sosiega ya el pecho
Cancion.
Ripresa icfi

ieg | fb 3 coplas
75r-76r Bien mereces señora Bien mereçes señora |
que te haga estrado de
sus flores mayo

Cancion.
Ripresa defd

dedfd 3 coplas
76v-77v Aquí lloró sentado Aqui lloró sentado | un
pastorçillo solo
tristemente

Cancion.
Ripresa gbedhbg

gbebab 3 coplas
78r-79r Pues envidian mis dichas Pues embidian mis
dichas que dichas tengo
Perdí del bien que estimaua
| la prenda que el alma
adora

Cancion.
Ripresa bgab

bgohdega 2 coplas
79v-82v Que no hay tal andar Que no hay tal andar |
por el verde oliuico

Dexa montes de imposibles
| zagal myra que te pierdes
Cancion.
Ripresa bgab
b | eb | ad 6 coplas
83r-84r Tiros suenan y no es salva Tiros suenan y no es
salua |despertad, my
coraçón
Quando el sueño a las
mañanas | es de los
sentidos dueño

Cancion.
Ripresa gbedhbg

bodbo | dag+gab 2 coplas
233
84v-85r Cómo nada el cisne madre Como nada el cisne
madre | que en my uida
nadar le ui

Quien pretendiere nadar Cancion.
Ripresa defd

dbgaie | dbgab 2 coplas
85v-86v Arrojóme las naranjitas Arojome las naranjitas |
con los ramos del
blanco azar

De sus manos hizo un día |
la niña tiros de amores
Cancion.
Ripresa eoie

gb | eioi 4 coplas
87r-v Pues matáis cuando miráis

Pues matáys quando
myráis | señora por
vuestro gusto

Sy quien mata ha de morir |
vo no podeys escapar
Cancion.
Ripresa gbedhbg
gham | gabcaca 1 copla
88v-89r Periquito y su vecina Periquito y su vezina |
jugauan al esconder
Perequito que ha conoçido
| su vezina tan humana
Cancion.
Ripresa defd

dab | aef 4 coplas
90r-91r Para todos hizo Dios Para todos hizo Dios |
el plazer y la alegría
Es en my naturaleza | el
estar triste de modo
Cancion.
Ripresa bgab

bghbg | bhgaia 2 coplas
93v-94r Que os parece Antón decir

Que os pareze Anton
dezir | de aquellas
zagalas dos

Por se como un asusén | la
más pequeña zagala
__ dagbed | abca 2 coplas; brief
strum patterns
scattered
throughout

94v-95r A la zambarambé A la zambaranbe Bailaua negros y negras Cancion.
Ripresa abca

abdfdefd 1 copla

234
Table A.1.3. I-MOe alpha Q.8.21

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

1r-2r Periquito y su vecina Periquito y su vezina |
jugauan al esconder
Perequito que ha conoçido
| su vezina tan humana
Cancion.
Represa defd

dab | aef 4 coplas
2v-3r Cuando el pájaro canta Quando el paxero canta
| madre, en la aurora
Madre un paxarillo quando
entre las rosas
Cancion.
Represa BGAB

BAB | GAIC 2 coplas
3v-4v Para todos hizo Dios Para todos hizo Dios |
el plazer y la alegría
Es en my naturaleza | el
estar triste de modo
Cancion.
Ripresa bgab

bghbg | bhgaia 2 coplas
4r-5v Cómo nada el cisne madre Como nada el cisne
madre | que en my uida
nadar le ui

Quien pretendiere nadar Cancion.
Ripresa defd

dbgaie | dbgab 2 coplas
6r-7r Tiros suenan y no es salva Tiros suenan y no es
salua |despertad, my
coraçón
Quando el sueño a las
mañanas | es de los
sentidos dueño

Cancion.
Ripresa gbedhbg

bodbo | dag+gab 2 coplas
7v-8v Pues envidian mis dichas Pues embidian mis
dichas que dichas tengo
Perdí del bien que estimaua
| la prenda que el alma
adora

Cancion.
Ripresa bgab

bgohdega 2 coplas
9r-10v Caldera adobar Caldera adobar, adobar
caldera
Llamame que aqui espero |
lo que me gusta de my
traça

Cancion.
Ripresa abca

cabge | abgcab 4 coplas
11r-12r En tus bellos ojos vi En tus bellos ojos ui |
vna niña que tenía
Para aumentar sus azañas |
amor, con tus ojos pardos
Cancion.
Represa abca

ocolca | oghpab 2 coplas
12v-13r Contra el amor nada vale Contra l'amor nada uale
| que si en el coraçón
toca

Ninguno puede biuir | en
amor tan auisado
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

acabca | bgaica 3 coplas
13v-16r Donde hay poco merecer Donde hai poco Cancion. a | dagf 12 coplas
235
mereçer | escusado es
mucho amor

Ripresa defd

16v-18r Madre mía un zagalillo Madre mya un zagalillo
| que más que mi uida le
ame

Un zagalillo de perlas | que
me quita mil enojos
Cancion.
Ripresa eoie

edfd | agbefefd 3 coplas
18v-19v Si tantos halcones Sy tantos alcones | mi
garça combaten

Ya la garça mia | de color
trigueño
Cancion.
Ripresa eoie

oheo | eg 3 coplas
20r-21v Una pastora hermosa más
que Venus y Diana
Una pastora hermosa |
mas que Venus ny
Diana

Soccored ojos con agua |
que el coraçón la demanda
[estribillo]
Cancion.
Ripresa ahbg

gaioic | hbca 4 coplas
22r-23v Al bien de mi vida Al bien de mi uida
escriuí una carta
Dízeme que tengo | acá
otros amores
Cancion.
Ripresa gbhbg

gbebhghgbg 3 coplas
23v-25r Ahí como las esperanzas Ahi como las
esperanças | de my bida
y mi contiento

Ahi que quando las tenía |
amor la sostentaua
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

hmgh | gab 2 coplas
25v-27r Con esperanzas espero Con esperanzas espero |
que galardón se me de
De esperanzas me
entretengo | muchos días
ay no ueo

Cancion.
Ripresa eoic

ebg | aihoie 3 coplas; duet [T,
B]
27v-30v Ea, señoras hermosas Eas señoras hermosas |
antes que otro lo uenda
A muestrar a diuinar | y
allar lo que es perdido
Cancion.
Ripresa bgab

bgab | efi 6 coplas; duet [T,
B]
31r-v A toda ley madre mía A toda ley madre mía |
lo demás es necedad
Pues que tam agenos son |
señora mis uerdes años
Cancion.
Ripresa gbhbg

gbg | aie | dag 2 coplas
32r-v A mi gusto me acomodo A my gusto me
acomodo | madre mía,
en buena fe

Madre de que se alborota |
que más vale por su vida
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

afbeb | dfdgf 3 coplas
33r-34v Viva, viva la gracia, viva Viua viua la graçia viua
| viva uiua el ciego
amor
Es amor tan poderoso | que
aze imposibles cosas
Cancion.
Ripresa obco
ocoghbcoco 4 coplas; duet [T,
B]
236

35r-36r Aqua madonna al fuoco Acqua madona al foco Es el aqua que demando |
de fuente de vuestro amor
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

cafi | cabgbca 3 coplas
36v-37v Hasta fenecer la vida Hasta feneçer la uida |
quanto pudiere haré
Aunque vuestra condición |
me mate por ser tan dura
Cancion.
Ripresa gbhbg

gcbgab | efi 3 coplas; duet [T,
B]
38r-39r A la niña bonita, chiquita A la niña bonitta,
chiquita, bonita,
chiquita, y papigordita

La niña me da contento | y
la uieja gran pesar
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

abgeab | geie 4 coplas; duet [T,
B]
39v-40v Cuando yo me enamoré Quando yo me
enamoré, fue solo de un
bel donayre
Embidiosos de mi estado |
dizen que nel’ ayre quiero
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

dag | beb 2 coplas; duet [T,
B]
41r-41v Río de Sevilla quién te pasase Rio de Syuilla quien te
pasasse
Rio de Syuilla de braços
lleno
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

hdgoclc 4 seguidillas
42r-43v Decid cómo puede ser Dezid como puede ser |
ojos que estando
mirando

Muy tristes sy no myrais |
y myrarlo estáys peor
Cancion.
Ripresa caic

ebg | hbg 3 coplas; duet [T,
B]
44r-46v Si aquel de la venda Si aquel de la uenda |
acaso topares
Sy no lo conoçes | yo te
diré el trage
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

ocmca | hgh 12 coplas
46v-47r Çe çe mire qué le digo Çe çe mira que le digo |
tome mira que le doi
Quando paraqui passais |
de que gustáis cauallero
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

aa | ba | afica 3 coplas; duet [T,
B]; coplas are
dialogue
47v-49v Al arma al arma al arma Al arma al arma al arma
sierra
El amor uiene encendido |
con cien mil llamas de
fuego
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

bgeab | abab 4 coplas; duet [T,
B]
50r-51v Corre, corre, corre Corre corre corre | Gil y
verás
Verás una dama | y espejo
de dama
Cancion.
Ripresa bgab

daeg | bgab 3 coplas; duet [T,
B]
51v-52v Vivan las damas y viva el
amor
Viuan las damas y viua
el amor | y muera el
ynterés traydor

Viuan las damas hermosas
| que no sean ynteresables
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

ocagh | ebgag 4 coplas
237
53r-54r Ay que no oso Ay que no oso | miraros
y no es de medroso
Como los ojos | son
lenguas del coraçon
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

oc | ogh | gbo 3 coplas; duet [T,
B]
54v-56r Irme quiero madre Ir me quiero madre | a
la galera nueua
La fe sin despoios | muerta
la esperanza
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

ab | gab | gab 3 coplas
56v-57r Con saber que a Pedro Antón Con sauer a pero Anton Entona la boz diziendo Cancion.
Ripresa defd

[ ] 1 copla
57v-58r Toquen y tañan esas
campanas
Toquen y tannen estas
campanas
Pues ellas dan el auiso | del
bien que amor darme quiso
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

af | b | ag 3 coplas
58v-60v A una dama su amistad A una dama su amistad
| le pedí; me ha
respondido

Blandamente y con alago |
le pedí que me quissiese
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

cabgab | hic 4 coplas
61r-62v Caracol, caracol, caracol Caracol caracol caracol
| saca tus yjuelos
Dame gran congoja | berte
elado y frío
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

bac | gb | ac 3 coplas
63r-64v Oh qué bien baila Gil O que bien bayla Gil |
con las moças de
Barajas

Boluiose Gil cortesano | y a
Madrid se fue a olgar
Cancion.
Ripresa gbhbg

gegoi | hgab 3 coplas; duet [T,
B]
65r-66v Si me picas picarte he Sy me picas picarte |
Teressa, déxame star
Sy retoças en el uerde | a fe
que te picaré
Cancion.
Ripresa caic

cacfr | fca | ic 3 coplas; duet [T,
B]
67r-69r Ay mi tiempo malogrado Ahi mi tiempo mal
logrado | pues mortal
nunca se bió

Cancion.
Ripresa abca

5 coplas; duet [T,
B]
69v-70r Perder por vos la vida mi
señora
Perder por uos la bida
mi señora | el que os
ama y adora

Seruiros y adoraros nocche
y día | a uos señora
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

abgabgab 3 coplas; duet [T,
B]
70v-71r La más linda niña | de
nuestro lugar
La mas linda niña | de
nuestro lugar
Dexadme llorar, orillas de
la mar
[estribillo]
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

adabadagbc 3 coplas
238
71v-72r A mi gusto me acomodo A my gusto me
acomodo | madre mía
en buena fe

Madre de que se alborota |
que más vale por su uida
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

afbeb | dfdgf 3 coplas
72v-73r Vaisos amores Vaisos amores da este
lugar
Aun no sabía de amor
l’afición
Cancion.
Ripresa eoic

ebdhg | bei 2 coplas
73v-74r Dos damas hermosas bellas Dos damas hermosas
bellas | tienen prsa my
afición

Con su gracioso mirar |
abrasan pechos de yelo
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

bgaic | gbefd 4 coplas
74v-75r Son tus ojos niña Son tus ojos niña | más
bellos que el sol
Es tan grande el bien |
ojuelos, que siento
Cancion.
Ripresa defd

dabdfd | abgf 1 copla
75v-76r Quien a tu valor se iguala Quien a tu ualor se
iguala | señora mía en el
suelo

A tu diuina presencia | se
rinde el sol y la luna
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

dagefd | bgab 2 coplas
76v-78r Una música le dan Una musica le dan | a
Juanilla en este son
Anton que esta bravamente
| de Juanilla enamorado
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

a | bab | gea 3 coplas
78v-80r No huyas morena No huyas morena
duélete de my
No me huyas tanto |
sosiega ya el pecho
Cancion.
Ripresa icfi

icf | fb 3 coplas
80v-81v Bien mereces señora Bien mereçes señora |
que te haga estrado de
sus flores mayo

Cancion.
Ripresa defd

dedfd 3 coplas
82r-83r Aquí lloró sentado Aqui lloró sentado | un
pastorçillo solo
tristemente

Cancion.
Ripresa gbedhbg

gbebab 3 coplas
83v-86v Que no hay tal andar Que no hay tal andar |
por el verde oliuico

Dexa montes de imposibles
| zagal myra que te pierdes
Cancion.
Ripresa bgab
b | eb | ad 6 coplas
87r-88r Arrojóme las naranjitas Arojome las naranjitas |
con los ramos del
blanco azar
De sus manos hizo un día |
la niña tiros de amores
Cancion. Ripresa

gb | eioi 4 coplas
239

88v A la zambarambé A la zambaranbe Bailaua negros y negras Cancion.
Ripresa abca

abdfdefd 1 copla
89r-v Naranjitas tira la niña Naranjitas tira la niña |
ahi Dios y como las tira
De una gueta de Cupido |
naranjas la niña coge
Cancion.
Ripresa abca

[ ] 1 copla
90r, 95r Miraba la mar Miraua la mar (95r) Aunque es ancho el
mar
Cancion.
Ripresa

[ ] 1 copla
90v-91v Oh si volasen las horas O si bolassen las horas
del pesar

O si quisiesse el amor | en
el relox del engaño
Cancion.
Ripresa defd
[ ] 2 coplas
92r Cupidillo se arroja Cupidillo se arroja |
desnudo al agua

__ [ ] 1 copla
93r Una flecha de oro me tiró el
amor

Vna flecha de oro | me
tiró el Amor

__ [ ] 1 copla
94r-v A la villa pastor A la villa pastor | ya
que el lobo passa

Que haran mis ouejas | en
esta confusión
__ [ ] 3 coplas

240
Table A.1.4. I-PAp 1506/I

Pages Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

1-2 Yo soy áquel en quien faltó
ventura

Yo solo soy a quien
falta uentura
a+cabca | acic 5 tercetos
3-4 Irme quiero madre

Hir me quiero madre | a
la galera nueua
La fe sin despojos ab | gab | gab 3 coplas
5-6 Ay enemigo amor

Ay enemigo amor
enemigo
Das a todos los que
siguen
gbcb | hgmgm 3 coplas
7-8 Dura pensamiento

Dura pensamiento | que
me das contiento
Pensamiento estraño
| de my dulce
engaño
aba | gbeb 5+1 coplas [strophic];
includes estribillo from
alternate setting
9-10 Ay corazón marmóreo Ay corazon marmoreo
en pecho armido
Ay coraçon, ay
alma, ay uida, ay
ojos [estribillo]

gabghb | abgab 4 stanzas; estribillo is
line 4 of stanzas 2 and 4,
repeated as bordoncillo.
11-13 Lo que me quise me tengo
yo

Lo que me quise me
tengo me tengo
Ya que por mi
suerte
adbcfe | aicfcfi 9 coplas [romancillo]
14-15 Gasto la vida gimiendo

Gasto la uida gemiendo c | df | bc | ac | fgfi 4 coplas
16 Si con tanto olvido

Si con tanto oluido |
pagas tanta fe
Amor con amor | se
suele pagar
a | b | gbc | bca 2 coplas
17 Don pintado a la ventana

Don pintados a la
uentana
cic | bca | gfi 3 coplas
18-19 Cuando salen del alba | los
arreboles

Quando salen de l’alba |
los arebloes
h | gacic 4 coplas
20-21 De mis tormentos y enojos

De mis tormientos y
enojos | ganados porfia
ebg | hbg 3 coplas
241

y passion

22-24 En su balcón una dama

En su balcon una dama
| que engaño el traidor
bireno
Echa aca la barca au
| que nel mar d’amor
me anego
[estribillo]
caic | bi 6 coplas
25-26 Ben mi vedrai mio misero
amante

Ben mi vedrai ben mio
misero amante
Uerays mi corazon
enamorado | antes
muerto que mudado

aic | bia 4 stanzas [strophic];
Italian / Spanish
27-28 El gato de Antón pintado

El gatto d’Anton
pintado
Olanta y puf | mi
capana mi capuf
[estribillo]
cac | baic 3 coplas
29 Con lon dinguilidín
dinguilindaina

Con lon dingile
dingilindayna
Vna buena uieja | de
gloriosa fama
aca | ca | bca 1 copla [no alfabeto in
copla]
38-39 Ea señoras hermosas

Eas señoras hermosas |
ntes que otro lo uienda

A muestrar a diuinar bgab | efi 2 coplas

242
Table A.2.1. I-Fl Ashb. 791

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

382r Niña de los cabellos

Niña de los cauellos |
que al alma dais mil
enojos
Niña que quando
mirais | estando os de
amor burlando
gbghbg | ab 2 coplas
382v Dura pensamiento

Dura pensamiento | que
me das contento
Pensamiento mio |
pues que de uaçio
abagbeb | ad 4 coplas
383r Con esperanza espero

Con esperanças espero |
quel galardon se me de
De speranzas me
entretengo | muchos
dias ay no ueo
ebg | ahic 3 coplas
383v Si a mi Leonor

Si a mi Leonor | vieres
en la fuente
Dille que sabido |
que fortuna ordena
gfi | gaie 3 coplas
384r De dónde vienes Antón

De donde uienes anton |
dalla vengo dalla uilla
Dime la uerdad Carillo
| quando mi zagala
uiste
gbghbg | ab 2 coplas
384v De la zarabanda | no me la
cantéis

De la çarabanda | no me
la canteis
No canteis Anton |
aquessas letriglias
abab | aic 2 coplas
385r-v Quiero asomarme a la
celosía

Quiero asumarme ala
gelosia | per uer quien
canta a mi puerta a
talhora
Solo sciusciame n
canna lo Napolitano
[bordoncillo after
every copla]
abca | gbca 6 coplas [strophic];
Spanish / Neapolitan
[dialogue]
386r Quién llama, quién está
allá

Quien llama, quien esta
allà | es señora un
aflixido
Porque buscais à tal
hora? | el amor donde
no ha entrado
ghbg | hic 2 coplas [dialogue]
386v Ojos negros cuando os vi

Ojos negros quando os ui
| vi todo mi bien y gloria
Pues me allo bien ansi
| quiero para mayor
gloria
abcbic | ab 2 coplas;
Duet [Basso]
243

387r-v Tanto Jerónima atiza

Tanto Jeronima Jeronima
atiça | en mi pecho el
amor çiego
Dame amor tan cruda
guerra | con el fuego
que l’inflama
egbagb | gbc 2 coplas
387v-388r Una pastora hermosa | más
que Venus y Diana

Una pastora hermosa |
mas que Venus ni Diana
Socorred ojos con
agua | que’l coraçon le
demanda
[estribillo]
gaihie | hbca 8 coplas
388v Haber mil damas hermosas

Hauer mil damas
hermosas | discretas y
muy graçiosas
No puede ser / bien
puede ser
[bordoncillo]
cdc | dc | bci 5 coplas [strophic];
a bordoncillo follows
every couplet.
389r La dama que quiere a dos

La dama que quiere a
dos | ayudele Dios
Es moderada la dama |
que se saue conseruar
a | c | ab | agf 2 coplas
389v Mas dichosa fuera

Mas dichosa fuera |
morir en naçiendo
Dichosa es la vida |
quando es contento
aba | ca | cd 2 coplas
390r A una dama su amistad

A una dama su amistad |
le pedi y me respondio
Blandamente y con
alagos | le pedi que me
quisiesse
cabgb | hic 3 coplas
390v-392r Beso la mano de V.S.

Baso la mano di V. S. |
patrona mia
Quien es el que canta
en Italiano | a tal ora a
mi puerta
abca | c | gbca 9 coplas [strophic];
Spanish / Neapolitan
[dialogue]
392r-393r Pues que me das a escoger

Pues que me das a
escojer | fortuna de tu
poder
Y no quiero más
[bordoncillo]
g | hm | gh 8 coplas [strophic]; the
bordoncillo closes
every copla.
393r Traesme fortuna

Traesme fortuna | cada
ora llena
aca | gbe | eie | bca 6 coplas
393v Boga marinero

Boga marinero |
marinero boga
Marinero amado | que
el ciel te guarde
caei | c | bdgbe 1 copla
244

394r Dos damas hermosas bellas

Dos damas hermosas
bellas | tenen presa mi
fiçion
Son de tal
merescimiento | que
reinas meren ser
bgaic | gbaefi 1 copla
394v Quién quiere entrar
conmigo en el barco

Quien quiere entrar
conmigo nel barco |
Quien quiere entrar
conmigo en la mar
Es el barco de fermeza
| y el arbor de
suffrimiento
dxix | b | badagbe 2 coplas
395r-v Dios guarde vuestra
hermosura

Dios guarde uuestra
hermosura | dama gentil
y graçiosa
Señora si sois seruida |
quitais la mano del
guanto
fdca | bad 3 coplas
395v-396r Señora quereisme a mí

Señora quereisme a mi |
Maidesi
Suplico os señora mia |
oyais lo que stoi
diçiendo

gai | ea | bgab 3 coplas;
Spanish / Italian
[dialogue]

245
Table A.2.2. I-Fn Landau-Finaly 252 (1625)

Folio Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

56r Oh, si volasen las horas

Se uolas uolas las oras |
las oras del pesar

hb | olc | hmgh Estribillo only
[fragment]

Table A.2.3. I-Fn Magl. VII 618

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

19v Es amor un no sé qué

Es amor un no se | che
chi viene no se de |
donde i entrano
Canzona alla
spagniuola
G | HG | G 1 copla; ritornello
b !""# g !""#
e !""# h !""#
b !""# g !""#!"
b !"# g !"

20r Haber mil damas hermosas Hauer mil damas
hermosas | discretas i
mui gratiosas bien

G | HM | GhG 2 coplas; ritornello
G !"# H !""#
C !""# G !""#
e !""# H !""#
b !""# G !""#!"

20v Hombre que está sin amores Ombre che sta sin
amores | es como
fuente sin agua

GHbh | HGH 1 copla; ritornello
G !""# h !""#
b !""# G !""#
e !""# H !""#
b !""# G !""#

246
Table A.2.4. I-Fn Magl. VII 646

Folio Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

101v Inesilla, Francisquilla

Innessiglia, Franceschiglia
Catariniglia | Segnora
No saue sennor
Antón | como criuimo
a ghinea

abefbefd | dfd 2 coplas

Table A.2.5. I-Fn Magl. XIX 25

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

11v-12r Si hay mayor mal que el morir

S’hai maior mal ch’el
morir | s’in duda alguna
es el mío

Non mas ermosos
ogios mios | qu’ es de
couardes por seguir
rendidos
[estribillo, text only]

dbefeddedfd 3 coplas; Texted,
full notation basso
part with alfabeto
symbols

247
Table A.2.6. I-Fr 2774

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

15r-16r Quiero asomarme a la celosía

Quiero asomarme alla
ielosia | por uer quien
canta a mi puerta a tal
ora
So sussciame in
canna lo Napolitano
[bordoncillo after
every copla]
Dialogo fatto tra una
spagnola et vn
signor napolitano
OGH | BO 6 coplas [strophic];
Spanish / Neapolitan
[dialogue]
24r Cómo te pones amores Como te pones amores
| Ay vida como te
pones

Sarauanda caci |caci 4 coplas [strophic];
alfabeto strum
pattern above first
line:
c !""# a !""#
c !" i !"#""#

24v Una tarde fui llamado Vna tarde fui llamado |
d'un balcon de certa
dama

Alla uida uida bona |
uida bamos nos a
çhaçhona
Achacona GBEHBG

25r Encontréme un día | con mi
Leonor
Encontreme un dia |
con mille honor

d !""# e !""#
f !""# d !""#

dfdefd | dagef alfabeto strum
pattern at top of page

25r-v Cerca del Tajo en soledad
amena

Cerca del Taso en
soledade amena | de
berdes saucos ay un
alspessura

b !""# g !""#
A !""# b !""#
babgabefd 6 coplas [romance];
alfabeto strum
pattern preceding
first line
25v Es amor un no sé qué Es amor un no se que |
que biene no se de
donde

g !""# h !""#
b !""# g !""#

gh | hg | gb 6 coplas [strophic];
alfabeto strum
pattern precedes first
line

26r A las espaldas de un monte A las espaldas de un
monte | murmura una
fuente clara
A !""# B !""#
C !""# A !""#
ac+d\rf 7 coplas [romance];
alfabeto strum
pattern precedes first
248
line

26v-27r Dónde irá sin dineros el
hombre
Donde yra sin dineros
el ombre | no se
adonde

El más noble que
anasido
O !""# F !""#
O !""# D !""#

dfdfgab 3 coplas; alfabeto
strum pattern
precedes first line
27r-v Caminad suspiros Caminad suspiros |
adonde soleis

En su mano fuerte |
consiste mi uida
a !""# l !""#
c !""# a !""#

ogci | []hbca 3 coplas; alfabeto
strum pattern
precedes first line

27v Vuestros ojos dama Vestros ojos dama |
tienen no se che

Por que me miraÿs |
con tanta affeçión
d !""# e !""#
f !""# d !""#

bgb | befd 2 coplas; alfabeto
strum pattern
precedes first line

28r El marido y la buena mujer

El marido y la buena
mujer | ansi an de ser
asi en de ser

Se fuere muser
hermosa | di buen
tallo y pareçer
A !""# B !""#
C !""# A !""#
bdca | icaf 2 coplas; alfabeto
strum pattern
precedes first line

28v-29r Decía la moza al cura Dezia la moza al cura |
pasito que soy
donzella

Un cura que mucho
amaba | vna moza
que tenía
A !""# B !""#
C !""# A !""#
ada | aic 4 coplas
29r Secotor de la vara

Secotor de la vara |
dixo a su muser

A !""# B !""#
C !""# A !""#
dfd | dca 4 coplas [strophic]
29v Ah señor boticario | hágame
un virgo

A sennor bottigario |
agame un uirgo ù, ù, ù
B !""# G !""#
A !""# B !""#
bad | fgab 5 coplas [strophic]
45r Dónde irá sin dineros el
hombre

Donde ira sin dineros
el hombre | no se
adonde no se adonde

El más noble que a
naçido | se le faltan lo
dineros
dfdfgab | gbgeie 3 coplas
45v Encontréme un día | con mi
Leonor
Encontreme un dia |
con mi Leonor

Dícele mi vida | de
por cual razón
dfdefd | dagef 3 coplas
45v Frescos aires del prado | si a
Toledo vais

Frescos ayres del
prado | se a Toledo
vais
Si aveis sabido | aire
boliçioso
ghgagbg | goic 3 coplas
249

46r Préstame esos ojos | para esta
noche

Prestame essos ojos |
para esta noçhe
Préstame essos ojos |
bella morena
geogh | hdag 1 copla
48v Vuestros ojos dama Buestros ojos dama |
tienen no se que

Porque me miráis |
con tanta afición
[d]ab | befd 2 coplas
49r Ah señor boticario | hágame
un virgo

A sennor bottigario |
agame un virgo u u u
bad | dagab 1 copla
49v Fue a caza la niña Fue a caça la niña | y
caço y caço y caço

Fue a caça la niña |
con Pedro el bermejo
edag | gbei 1 copla
50r La zagala más hermosa La zagala mas
hermosa | que ha dado
honor a estos tiempos

ebeaca | abefdfd 5 coplas [strophic]
50v-51r Inesilla, Francisquilla Inesiglia franceschilla |
cadarinilla sennora

No saue sennor
Antón | como
criuimo ma ghinea

[ ] fbefddfd Guineo [?]
51v Caminad suspiros Caminad sospiros |
adonde soleis

En su mano fuerte |
consiste mi uida
[illegible] 3 coplas
61r Ya está el toro en la plaza

Ya esta el toro en la
plaza | miralde mozas

Pass[acalle] hmgh hmP | mPab 2 coplas
61r Cerca del Tajo en soledad
amena

Cerca del Tasso en
soledad amena | de
berdes sauces ay una
espessura

bgab babgabefd 4 coplas [romance]
61v Salen mis suspiros Salen mis suspiros |
que al ayre ansienden

Ved que efetos hazen
| los suspiros míos
ghgbogb 2 coplas
65v Bullicioso era el arroyuelo | y
salpicóme

Bollicioso bollicioso
era el aroyuelo | y
salpicome
Bolbiendo madre
corria | el arroyuelo
traidor
oghahbapao 1 copla
250

67v Vánse mis amores | seguirlos
quiero

Vanze mis amores |
seguillos quiero
Seguilda sospiros |
esta fiera ingrata
gebg | eobgab 2 coplas
68r Cantos apacibles de
ruiseñores
Cantos apasibles | de
ruysennores

Pintadillas aues | que
olbidando al buelo
dfd | abef 2 coplas
68r Niña que estás en el río Ninna que stas en el
rio | aunque se me
moxe el pie

Ninna que lauando
estás | las faltas de su
camisa
dbadf | deaicabefd 1 copla

251
Table A.2.7. I-Fr 2973/3

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

5r Al villano se le da Al villano sele da |
la ceuolla con el pan
Villano de
España
bgb | bab

text follows “Villano”
strum patterns
in D major and C major

29r Si queréis que os enrame la
puerta

Si quereis que yos
enrame la puerta | vida
mia de mi coraçon

Aria spagnuola
sopra la folia
eieb | ei | eb | eic 2 coplas
Second copla: “Arrojome
las naranjitas”
29v Durmióse Cupido al son |
de una fuente de cristal

Durmiase Cupido al
son | de vna fuente de
cristal
BGAB bgebgab | eded no coplas
30r Por la calle abajo madre

Por la calle auajo
madre | passar mis
amores vi

ABCA ahgabca | hbcmc no coplas
30v-31r Saca niña las manos del
regalillo

Saca niña las manos |
del regalillo
ABCA adhgagaoc 6 seguidillas
31v-32r Llegamos a puerto Llegamos a puerto |
salte de galera

Andando e nel mar GHBG ghdagb | dhbg 2 coplas
32v Una hermosa niña | de
rubios cabellos

Vn hermosa niña | de
rubios cabellos
Y se note ablandas
ablandas [estribillo]
GHBG ghololco | bdhie 1 copla; estribillo labeled
as copla
33r-v Fue a caza la niña

Fue a caza la niña | y
caço y caço y caço
Fue a caza la niña |
con Pedro el hermoso
EOIE edag | goei 2 coplas
34r-v Encontréme un día | con mi
Leonor

Encontreme vn dia |
con mi Leonor
Dixele mi vida
[romancillo stanzas]
DEFD dfdefd 2 stanzas
36r-v Las olas del Tormes |
corren a porfía
Las olas del Tormes |
coren à porfia
Las ermosas olas
[romancillo stanzas]
DEFD dfdcadrf 2 stanzas; final estribillo
repeat cited by full
252
alfabeto sequence

37r-v Que si el barquero daba
voces

Que si el barquero
daba bozes | y la
barquerilla las
damayores
Solo en su barqua | a
puesta de sole
[romancillo stanzas]
BGAB bgbegefd 2 stanzas
38r-v No son todos ruiseñores

Non son todos
ruyseñores | los que
cantan entre las flores
No todas las bozes le
das
OLCO olohpo 2 coplas

39r-v Cantos apacibles de
ruiseñores

Cantos apacibles | de
ruyseñores
Pintadillas aues DEFD dfd | abef 1 copla
40r-v Domine mea dinare

Domina mea dignare |
no potes mereçeros
Las damas quis uel
qui
ABCA aea | aic 1 copla; mixed languages
41r-42r Al espejo se toca | el bien
de mi vida

Al espexo se toca el
bien de mi vida | el sol
de mi vida
La bella Amarilis OLCO ocohmgh 2 coplas
42v Dónde va mi morena con
tanto brío

Donde ua mi morena |
con tanto brio
GHBG 2 seguidillas
43v Olvidada niña

Oluidada niña | por
quien mi muero
Llorosa biue la niña
del Tormes
ebobgbg 1 copla
44v-45r Cuando yo me enamoré

Quando yo men’
amore | fue sol de un
bel donayre
Embidiosos de mi
estado
AeFD dag | beb 3 coplas
45v En la villa de Madrid

En la billa de Madrid |
un lunes por la mañana
copla blank DeFD draca | aiegfd incomplete
47r-v Salen mis suspiros Salen mis sospiros |
que el ayre ençienden
Ved que efectos azen GHBG ghgboegb 2 coplas; final estribillo
repeat cited by full
alfabeto sequence

253
Table A.3.1. F-Pn ms. nuov. acq. espagnol 390

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

13r-v,
34v
[Dios guarde vuestra
hermosura]

[See 34v]

Sennora si soys serbida
| quitad la mano del
guande

ada | aic | cic 2 coplas; estribillo
on 34v

15r, 16v Salen mis suspiros Salen mis suspiros | que
el ayre ençienden

Ved que efetos haçen |
lo sospiros míos

hgboegb 1 copla; incomplete
[torn page]; alfabeto
strum pattern above
first line of copla;
complete copy in see
40r-v

33v-34r Si aquel de la venda

Si aquel de la benda |
acaso topares
Si no le conozes | yo te
diré [el tajo]
ogmco | ogh 2 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
34v Dios guarde vuestra
hermosura

Dios guarde vuestra
hermosura | dama
gentile y gratiosa
[See 13r-v] Pas[acaglio] ABCA

f[i]ca | abca coplas on 13r-v
35r-v Decía la moza al cura Deçía la moza al cura |
pasito que soi donzella

El cura que tanto amaba
| una moza que tenía
Pas[acaglio] ABCA

ada | aic | cic 2 coplas
36r-v Una tarde fui llamado Vna tarde fui llamado |
d’un balcón de zierta
dama

Vida, vida, vida bona |
vida bamos nos
açhacona
gbehb [with strum
pattern]
gbehb Alfabeto strum
pattern (2x) above
and preceding first
line: g !"#"
b !"# e !"
h !"#" b !"

37r Llegamos a puerto Llegamos a puerto salté
de galera

Andando e’nel mar |
cargado de pena
ghdagb 2 coplas
37v Ay que contento

Ay que contento | que
n’el alma siento
Abca abcabgab 3 coplas
254

38r Vuestros ojos dama

Vuestros ojos dama |
tienen no so qué

Por qué me miráis |con
tanta affettión
Defd bab | befd 2 coplas
38v Como te pones amores Como lo pones amores
haÿ | vida como lo
pones

caci 4 coplas; no alfabeto
[space provided]
40r-v Salen mis suspiros Salen mis suspiros |
qu’el ayre ençienden

Ved que efetos haçen |
los suspiros míos
Pas[acaglio] GHBG

ghbgoegb 4 coplas
41r-v Es amor un no se qué

Es amor un no se qué |
que uiene no se de
donde

Pas[acaglio] GHBG

gh | hg | gbab 6 coplas
42v De mi mal nace mi bien

De mi mal naçe mi bien
| el veros fue l’occasión

dagef | be+gfd 1 copla

255
Table A.3.2. I-Fn Landau-Finaly 175

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

48v-49r Una tarde fui llamado

Vna tarde fui llamado |
de vn balcon de zierta
dama

Vida y vida bona |
vida bamonos a
çhacona
Chacona __ No alfabeto [space
provided]
49v-50r Todas las veces que veo

Todas las vezes que beo |
que se sofalda mi niña
Vida y vida bona |
vida bamos nos
açhacona
Chacona __ No alfabeto [space
provided]
50v-51r A la moza bonita, chiquita

A la moza bonita
çhiquita | y papigordita
Dios me la guarde
La moza me da
contento | y la bieja
gran pesar

Pas[acalle] olco ohmgh | hgPab 3 coplas
51v-52r Fue a caza la niña

Fue a caza la niña |
y cazo ycazo ycazo

Fue a caza la niña |
con Pedro el
bermejo
Pas[acalle] eoie edag | bei 3 coplas
52v-53r Cómo te pones amores

Como te pones amores |
ay vida como te pones
Sopra asarabanda __ No alfabeto [space
provided]; 4 coplas
53v-54r En la corte esta una dama

En la corte esta vna
dama | muy discreta y
muy graziosa
Chacona __ No alfabeto [space
provided]
54v-55r Francesquito me llama tu
ama
Francesquito me yama tu
ama | u, u, u, u, aunque
masa me yama

Francesquito estaba
jucando

Çhacona GBEHB
Sopra vna mora y
vn moro
gbe | gbedhbg 2 coplas; heading
alfabeto sequence
includes strum pattern in
ternary meter
G !""#" B !"# E !"
H !"#" B !"#

55v-56r Decía la moza al cura

Dezia la moza al cura |
pasito que soy donzella
El cura que tanto
amaba

ada | aie 2 coplas
256
56v-57r Encontréme un día

Encontreme vn dia |
con mi Leonor
Dixole me vida

Pas[acalle] DeFD dfdefd | dagef 3 coplas
57v-58r Caminad suspiros

Caminad suspiros |
donde adonde soleis
En su mano fuerte |
consiste mi vida

dfb | befd
[copla]
No alfabeto in estribillo
[space provided]; 1 copla

257
Table A.3.3. I-Fr 2793

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial
Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

76v-77r A la moza bonita, chiquita

Ala moza bonita
çhiquita | y papigordita
Dios me la guarde

La moza me da contento |
y la bieja gran pesar
__

ohmgh | hPab 3 coplas
77v-78r Decía la moza al cura Dezía la moza al cura |
pasito que soy donzella

El cura que tanto amaba |
vna moza que tenia
Pas[acaglio] ABCA

ada | aic | cic 2 coplas
78v-79r Vuestros ojos dama

Buestros ojos dama |
tienen no se qué

Porque me meráis |
con tant’ afeçión
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dab | befd 2 coplas
79v-80r Encontréme un día con mi
Leonor

Encontreme vn día |
con mi Leonor
Díxole mi vida |
di por qual razón
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dfdefd | dagef 2 coplas;
Duet [Basso]
80v-81r Al espejo se toca, el bien
de mi vida

Al espexo se toca, el
bien de mi vida |
el sol de mi vida
La bell’ Amarilis |
cuya bizaría
Pas[acaglio] olco

ocohmgh |
hoPab
3 coplas
81v-82v Donde irá sin dineros el
hombre

Donde yra sin dineros
el hombre | no se
adonde
El más noble que ha
nazido | se le faltan los
dineros
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dfdfgab 3 coplas
83r-84r Caminad suspiros Caminad sospiros
donde adonde soleis

En su mano fuerte |
consiste mi vida
Pas[acaglio] olco oge | lc | hbco 3 coplas;
transposed version
of
I-VEc 1434

84v-85r Fue a caza la niña

Fué a caza la niña
y cazó y cazó y cazó
Fué a caza la niña
con Pedro el bermexo
Pas[acaglio] eoie edag | gbei 3 coplas
85v-86r Salen mis suspiros

Salen misospiros | que
al ayre ençienden
Ved que efetos hazen | los
sospiros míos
ghbgoebg 2 coplas
258
86v-87v Frescos aires del prado Frescos ayres del prado
| se a toledo vais

Pues haueis sabido
ayre boliçioso
Pas[acaglio] GHBG

gh | gagbg 2 coplas
Llegamos a puerto Llegamos a puerto
salté de galera

Andando e’nel mar |
cargado de penas
Pas[acaglio] GHBG ghg | agb |
dhbg
3 coplas
89v-90r Cómo te pones amores Cómo te pones amores |
ay vida cómo te pones

Póngome como galera |
cómo papifiguelo de fiera
Sarabanda

caci | icaci 4 coplas [strophic]
90v-91r No son todos ruiseñores No son todos
ruyseñores | los que
cantan entre las flores

No todas las bozes ledas Pas[acaglio] olco olohPo |
hgabab
2 coplas
91v-92r A las espaldas de un monte A las espaldas de vn
monte | murmura una
fuente clara

Pas[acaglio] ABCA

ac+rf |
ficabca
6 coplas
92v-93r Bullicioso era el arroyuelo,
y salpicóme

Bolicioso, boliçioso,
era el arruyuelo | y
salpicome

Bolbiendo madre coria | el
arruyuelo traidor

Pas[acaglio] olco ohgolhaPab 2 coplas;
Duet [Bo]
93v-94r Oh, si volasen las horas O si bolassen las horas
del pesar
O si quexere l’amor |
con en reloxo de su
engaño

Pas[acaglio] olco hgb | olc |
mgh
1 copla;
duet [Te, Bo]
94v-95r Cantos apacibles de
ruiseñores

Cantos apasibles
de ruyseñores
Pintadillas aues |
que olbidando el buelo
Pas[acaglio] DeFD

dfdabef 2 coplas
95v-96r Airecitos del río Ayreçito del ryo de
manzanares

Ausençia tan dura |
d'Amarilis y paso
Pas[acaglio] PKBP PbPmnmPb 2 coplas;
transposed version
of
I-VEc 1434

96v-97v Río Manzanares, detén tus
aguas

Ryo Manzanares
detén tus aguas
Detén las mudas
corrientes | sagrado y
diuino ryo

Pas[acaglio] DeFD debge | adgbe 2 coplas
98r-99r En las bodas de Cornelio En las bodas de Eçhate mozo | que te toma Pas[acaglio] HMGH hlgho | lalhgh 4 coplas
259
Cornelio | vbo fiestas y
vbo vn toro

el toro [estribillo]

[149v] Stribillo
99v-100r Vanse mis amores,
seguirlos quiero

Vançe mis amores |
seguillos quiero
Seguilde sospiros | esta
fiera ingrata
__ gebg | eabab 2 coplas
100v-101r Aliviad mis males Aliuiad mis males |
uenid coriendo

En lausenzia larga
| grande el sentimiento
Pas[acaglio] eoie

edhgbg | goic 2 coplas

101v-102v Mozuela del baile toca el
panderillo

Mosuela del baile
toca el panderillo
A la bella reyna
que del agu’asale
Pas[acaglio] GHBG gaihbgaihai | 3 coplas
102v-103r Las olas del Tormes corren
a porfía
Las olas del Tormes |
corren a porfía

Las hermosas olas | como
agradesidas
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dfd | cadrf 2 coplas
103v-104r Todas las veces que veo Todas las bezes que beo
| que se sofalda mi niña

Vida, vida, la vida bona |
vida vámonos açhacona
Çhacona

gbehb | gbehb
104v-105r Una tarde fui llamado

Vna tarde fui llamado |
de vn balcon de çierta
dama

Vida, vida, la vida bona |
vida vamos açhacona
Çhacona gbehbg |
gbehb

105v-106r Préstame tus ojos para esta
noche
Prestame essos ojos |
para esta noçhe

Prestame essos ojos | bella
morena
Pas[acaglio] GHBG

geogh | hdag 1 copla
106v-107r Abreme esos ojos bella
morena

Abreme essos ojos |
bella bella morena
Si por darme enojos |
al sueño te entregas
Pas[acaglio] LPAL lhoh | mhlPo 2 coplas;
duet [Te, Bo]
107v-108r Niña que estás en el río

Niña que stas en el río |
aunque se me moxe el
pié

Niña que labando estás |
las faldas de tu camisa
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dbad |
fdcaicabefd
1 copla;
duet [Te, Bo]
108v-109r Que si el barquero daba
voces
Que si el barquero daba
bozes | y la barquerilla
las da mayores

Solo en su barqua | a
puesta de sole
Pas[acaglio] BGAB bgbegefd 3 coplas
109v-110r Ya está el toro en la plaza Ya esta el toro en la
plaza | miralde mozas
De vnos ojos bellos |
en su linda plaza
Pas[acaglio] HMGH hmP | mPab 1 copla
260

110v-111r Mi zagala sus paños Mi zagala sus paños |
enjuia y tuerçe

Pasé por allí, díxela,
burlando
Pas[acaglio] olco ol | hoPab 1 copla
11v-112r No sé que me haga No sé que me haga | mi
señora madre

Vine por mis daños | al
carçel de amor
Pas[acaglio] olco oco | glado 2 coplas; duet [Te,
Bo]
112v-113r Daba el sol en los álamos,
madre
Daba el sol en los
álamos, madre | y a su
sombra me recoste

Soñé madre que tenía | y
no fue el sueño tener
Pas[acaglio] eoie edbabd 2 coplas
113v-114r La mar de Valencia es
dulce y suave

La mar de balençia |
es dulce y suaues
Los bientos le dizen |
muçhas alabanzas
Pas[acaglio] olco ogh | ghgoc 2 coplas
114v-115r En qué nieve no pisada En qué niebe no pisada
| allaste essa mano Inés

Pas[acaglio] PKBG PKPbP 4 coplas
115v-117r Hasme preguntado vida Hasme preguntado vida
| mil vezes estando
solas

Vida, vida, la vida bona |
vida vámonos açhacona
[estribillo]
Chaçona

gbehbg
[2nd line]
13 coplas; heading
alfabeto sequence
includes strum
pattern in ternary
meter: G !""#"
B !"# E !" H
!"#" B !"# ;
see “Vida, vida”

117v Mirando estaba Fileno Mirando estaua Fileno |
del Tvria las aguas frías

Pas[acaglio] ABCA acabghgh 5 coplas; different
hand

118r En esta larga ausencia

En esta larga ausencia |
donde tu desengaño y
mi memoria

ALCA acaglc 3 coplas; different
hand

261
Table A.3.4. I-Fr 2804

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

133v-134r Vuestros ojos dama Buestros ojos dama |
tienen no se que

Porque me meráis |
con tant’ afeçión
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dab | befd 2 coplas
134v-135r Decía la moza al cura

Dezía la moça al cura |
pasito que soy donzella
El cura que tanto amaba
| vna moza que tenia
Pas[acaglio] ABCA

ada | aic | cic 2 coplas
135v-136r Encontréme un día con mi
Leonor

Encontreme vn día |
con mi Leonor
Díxole mi vida |
di por qual razón
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dfdefd | dagef 2 coplas

136v-137r Al espejo se toca, el bien
de mi vida

Al espexo se toca | el
bien de mi vida |
el sol de mi vida
La bell’ Amarilis |
cuya bizaría
Pas[acaglio] olco

oco | hmgh | hoPab 3 coplas
137v-138v Dónde irá sin dineros el
hombre

Donde yra sin dineros el
hombre | no se adonde
El más noble que é
naçido | se le faltan los
dineros
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dfdfgab 3 coplas
139r-140r Frescos aires del prado Frescos ayres del prado |
se a toledo vays

Pues haueis sabido
ayre boliçioso
Pas[acaglio] GHBG

gh | gagbg 2 coplas
140v-141r Caminad suspiros Caminad sospiros donde
adonde soleis

En su mano fuerte |
consiste mi vida
Pas[acaglio] olco ogclc | hbco 3 coplas;
transposed
version of
I-VEc 1434

141v-142r Vanse mis amores,
seguirlos quiero

Vançe mis amores |
seguillos quiero
Seguilde sospiros | esta
fira ingrata
Pas[acaglio] GHBG

gebhg | eabab 2 coplas
142v-143r Fue a caza la niña

Fué a caza la niña |
y cazó y cazó y cazó
Fué a caza la niña |
con Pedro el bermexo
Pas[acaglio] eoie edag | gbei 3 coplas
143v-144r Aliviad mis males Aliuiad mis males |
uenid coriendo
En lausençia larga
| grande el sentimiento
Pas[acaglio] eoie

edhgbg | goic 2 coplas

262

144v-145r Ya está el toro en la plaza Ya esta el toro en la
plaza | miralde mozas

De vnos ojos bellos |
en su linda plaza
Pas[acaglio] HMGH hmP | mPab 1 copla
145v-146r No son todos ruiseñores No son todos royseñores
| los que cantan entre las
flores

No todas las bozes
ledas
Pas[acaglio] olco olhPo | hgabab 2 coplas
146v-147r Cómo te pones amores Cómo te pones amores |
ay vida cómo te pones

Póngome como galera |
cómo papifiguelo de
fiera
Sarabanda

caci | icaci 4 coplas
[strophic]
147v-148r Una tarde fui llamado

Vna tarde fui llamado |
de vn balcon de çierta
dama

Vida, vida, la vida bona
| vida vamonos a
çhacona
Çhacona __ No alfabeto
[space provided]
148v-149r Todas las veces que veo Todas las bezes que beo |
que se sofalda mi niña

Vida, vida, la vida bona
| vida vámonos
açhacona
Çhacona

gbehb | gbehb

Alfabeto begins
on line 3
149v-150r Salen mis suspiros

Salen misospiros | que al
ayre ençienden
Ved que efetos hazen |
los sospiros míos
Pas[acaglio] GHBG

ghbg | oebg 2 coplas
150v-151v Llegamos a puerto Llegamos a puerto
salté de galera

Andando en el mar |
cargado de penas
Pas[acaglio] GHBG ghd | agb | dhbg 3 coplas
152r-153r Río Manzanares, detén
tus aguas

Ryo Manzanares
detén tus aguas
Detén las mudas
corientes | sagrado y
diuino ryo

Pas[acaglio] DeFD debge | eadgbe 2 coplas
153v-154r Oh, si volasen las horas O si bolassen las horas
del pesar
O si quexere l’amor |
con en reloxo de su
engaño

Pas[acaglio] olco hgb | olc | cmgh 2 coplas

154v-155r Poderoso caballero es don
Dinero

Poderoso caballero
es don dinero
Madre, yo al oro me
humillo | y él es mi
amante y amado

Pas[acaglio] DeFD dfd | fgaic 2 coplas
155v-156r A la moza bonita, chiquita

A la moza bonita
çhiquita | y papigordita
La moza me da
contento | y la bieja
Pas[acaglio] olco

ohmgh | hPab 3 coplas
263
Dios me la guarde

gran pesar
156v-157r Cantos apacibles de
ruiseñores

Cantos apasibles
de ruyseñores
Pintadillas aues |
que olbidando el buelo
Pas[acaglio] DeFD

dfd abef 2 coplas
157v-158r Bullicioso era el
arroyuelo, y salpicóme

Bolicioso, bolliçioso, era
el arruyuelo | y
salpicome

Bolbiendo madre coria |
el arruyuelo traidor

Pas[acaglio] olco ohgoLhoPaL 2 coplas;
Duet [Bo]
158v-159r Francesquito me llama tu
ama

Francesquito me yama tu
ama | u, u, u, u, aunque
masa me yama
Francesquito estaua
jucando | con Francesca
retuzando
Pas[acaglio] GHBG

gbe | gbehbg 2 coplas
159v-160r En el valle de Pisuerga En el balle de Pisuerga |
bibe enter penas vn ángel

De niebe serrana |
tenéis la color
[estribillo]
Pas[acaglio] olco
(160r) Strebillo.
oihbabh | mhbco 2 coplas
160v-161r Daba el sol en los álamos,
madre
Daba el sol en los
álamos, madre | y a su
sombra me recoste

Soñé madre que tenía |
y no fue el sueño tener
Pas[acaglio] eoie edbabd 2 coplas
161v-162r Siendo mi tormento tal | y
tanta vuestra porfía

Siendo mi tormento tal |
y tanta vuestra porfia
Si el contento y el dolor
| mata con yqual poder
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dabef | fbef 1 copla
162v-163r No sé que me haga No sé que me haga | mi
señora madre

Vine por mis daños | al
carçel d’amor
Pas[acaglio] olco oco | glado 2 coplas
163v-164r Las olas del Tormes
corren a porfía
Las olas del Tormes |
corren a porfía

Las hermosas olas |
como agradesidas
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dfd | cadrf 2 coplas
164v-165r Airecitos del río Ayreçito del ryo de
manzanares

Ausençia tan dura |
d'Amarilis y paso
Pas[acaglio] PKBP PbPmnmPb 2 coplas;
transposed
version of
I-VEc 1434

165v-166r Mozuela del baile toca el
panderillo

Mosuela del baile
toca el panderillo
A la bella reyna
que del agua sale
Pas[acaglio] GHBG gaihbgaihai | 3 coplas
166v-167r A las espaldas de un A las espaldas de vn Pas[acaglio] ABCA ac+rf | ficabca 6 coplas
264
monte monte | murmura una
fuente clara

167v-168r Cómo nada el cisne,
madre
Como nada el sisne
madre | que mi vida
nadar le ui
Quien pretendiere nadar
| en el mar de Amor
cruel
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dbgcic 1 copla
168v-169r Préstame tus ojos para
esta noche
Prestame essos ojos |
para esta noçhe

Prestame essos ojos |
bella morena
Pas[acaglio] GHBG

geogh | hdag 1 copla
169v-171v Vida, vida, la vida bona,
vida vámonos a chacona
Vida, vida, la vida bona |
vida vámonos açhacona
Hasme preguntado vida
| mil vezes estando
solas

Chaçona

gbehbg
172r-173r Una hermosa niña de
rubios cabellos

Vna hermosa niña |
de rubios cabellos
Y se no te ablandas |
amor, que fuego es
[estribillo]

Pas[acaglio] GHBG
(172v) strebillo
gholco 5 coplas
173v-174r Donde va mi morena con
tanto brío

Donde va mi morena |
con tanto brío
Pas[acaglio] DHBG

goie | cabab 4 seguidillas

174v-175v En las bodas de Cornelio En las bodas de Cornelio
| vbo fiestas y vbo vn
toro

Eçhate mozo | que te
toma el toro [estribillo]

Pas[acaglio] HMGH
[175v] Stribillo
hlgho | lalhgh 4 coplas
176r-177r Partir se quiere Filis

Partir se quiere Filis | y
al monte que se quexa
Pas[acaglio] eoie

edgoi | ebab 9 coplas
177v-178r Abreme esos ojos bella
morena

Abreme essos ojos |
bella bella morena
Si por darme enojos |
al sueño te entregas
Pas[acaglio] LPAL lhoh | mhlPo 2 coplas

178v-179r Que si el barquero daba
voces
Que si el barquero daba
bozes | y la barquerilla
las da mayores

Solo en su barca | a
puesta de sole
Pas[acaglio] BGAB bgbegefd 3 coplas
179v-180r La mar de Valencia es
dulce y suave

La mar de balençia |
es dulce y suaues
Sale sin chapines | a
buscar veneras
Pas[acaglio] olco ogh | goclc 2 coplas
180v-181r Niña que estás en el río Niña que stas en el río | Niña que lauando estás | Pas[acaglio] DeFD dbad | 1 copla;
265
aunque se me moje el pié

las faldas de tu camisa fdcaicaiebefd duet [Bo]
181v-182r Mi zagala sus paños Mi zagala sus paños |
enjuga y tuerçe

Pasé por allí, díxele,
burlando
Pas[acaglio] olco ol | hoPab 1 copla
182v-183r A pesar de envidiosos | he
sido fuerte

A pesar de enbidiosos | e
sido fuerte
Aunque an procurado |
de tu dolçe Amor
Pas[acaglio] eoie edg | oihi 2 coplas
183v-184r En qué nieve no pisada En qué niebe no pisada |
allaste essa mano Inés

Pas[acaglio] PKBG PKPbP 4 coplas
184v-185r Riéndose va un arroyo

Ryendose va vn arroyo |
sus guixas parezen
dientes

Pas[acaglio] fBDrf +icaf | cadrdrf 3 coplas
185v-186r Ay señor boticario |
hágame un virgo

A señor botecario
hágame vn virgo u, u, u
Galadú, galadú
[bordoncillo]
Pas[acaglio] bGAB badfgab | ab 5 seguidillas

266
Table A.3.5. I-VEc 1434 (82.3)

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

122r-v Decía la moza al cura

Deçia la moça al cura |
pasito que soy donzella
El cura que tanto amaba
| vna moza que tenia
Pas[acaglio] ABCA

ada | aic | cic 2 coplas
123r-124r Al espejo se toca | el bien
de mi vida

Al espejo se toca, el
bien de mi vida |
el sol de mi vida
La bella Amarilis |
cuya vizaría
Pas[acaglio] olco

ocohmgh | haPab 3 coplas
124v-125r Encontréme un día | con mi
Leonor

Encontreme vn día |
con mi Leonor
Díxele mi vida |
di por qual razón
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dfdefd | dagef 2 coplas;
Duet [Te, Bo]
125v-126r Aliviad mis males

Aliuiad mis males |
uenid coriendo
En lausenzia larga
| grande el sentimiento
Pas[acaglio] eoie

edhg | gbg 2 coplas;
Duet [Te, Bo]
126v-127r Llegamos a puerto

Llegamos a puerto |
salté de galera
Andando en el mar |
cargado de penas
Pas[acaglio] GHBG ghd | agb | dhbg 2 coplas
127v-128v Salen mis suspiros

Salen mis suspiros | que
al ayre ençienden
Ved qu’efetos hazen |
los suspiros mios
Pas[acaglio] GHBG ghbg | cebg 2 coplas
129r-v Partir se quiere Filis

Partir se quiere Filis | y
al monte que se quexa
Pas[acaglio] eoie

edghi | ebab 3 coplas
[strophic]
130r-v Vuestros ojos dama

Buestros ojos dama |
tienen noso que
Porque me mirais |
con tant’ afezión
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dab | befd 2 coplas
131r-v Bullicioso era el arroyuelo
| y salpicóme

Bolicioso, boliçioso,
era el arruyuelo | y
salpicome
Bolbiendo madre coria |
el arruyuelo traidor

Pas[acaglio] olco ohgolhaPab 2 coplas;
Duet [Bo]
132r-v Airecitos del río Ayrecitos del ryo de
manzanares

Ausenzia tan dura |
d'Amarilis passo
Pas[acaglio] olco ocoghgoc 2 coplas
Duet [Bo]
267
133r-v Cantos apacibles de
ruiseñores

Cantos apacibles |
de ruy señores
Pentadillas aues |
qu'olbidand’al buelo
Pas[acaglio] DeFD

dfd | abef 2 coplas
134r-v Mozuela del baile toca el
panderillo

Mosuela del baile |
toca el panderillo
A la bella reyna
que del agu’asale
Çiacona GBeHB gaihb | gaihaiebgab 3 coplas
135r-136r Frescos aires del prado Frescos ayres del prado
| se a toledo vais

Pues aueis sabido
ayre bolizioso
Pas[acaglio] GHBG

gh | gagbg 2 coplas
136v-137r Ya está el toro en la plaza

Ya esta el toro en la
plaza | miralde mozas
De vnos ojos bellos |
en su linda plaza
Pas[acaglio] HMGH hmP | mPab 1 copla
137v-138r A las espaldas de un monte

A las espaldas de un
monte | murmura una
fuente clara
Pas[acaglio] ABCA

ac+rf | +icabca 6 coplas
138v-139r Cómo te pones amores

Cómo te pones amores |
ay vida cómo te pones
Póngome como galera |
como papigoyuelo de
fuera
sopra a sarabanda
CACi
caci | icaci 4 coplas
[strophic]
139v-140r Francesquito me llama tu
ama

Francesquito me yama
tu ama | u, u, u, u,
aunque masa me yama

Francesquito estaua
jucando | con Francesca
retuzando
Pas[acaglio] GHBG

gbe | gbehbg 2 coplas
140v-141r Periquito y su vecina

Perequito y su vezina |
jucauan al ensconder
Perequito que a
conozido | su vezina tan
humana

Pas[acaglio] olco

ogh | hgoc 1 copla
141v-142r Río Manzanares | detén tus
aguas
Ryo Manzanares |
detén tus aguas
Detén las mudas
corrientes | sagrado y
diuino ryo

Pas[acaglio] DeFD debgc | adgbe 2 coplas
143r-v A la moza bonita, chiquita

Ala moza bonita
çhiquita | y papigordita
Dios me la guarde
La moza me da
contento | y la bieja
gran pesar
Pas[acaglio] olco ohmgh | hPaba 3 coplas
144r-v Una tarde fui llamado Vna tarde fui llamado | Así uida vida bona Çhacona BGHBG gbehbg | gbehb
268

devn balcon de zierta
dama
así bámonos à çhacona
145r-v Todas las veces que veo

Todas las vezes que beo
| que se sofalta mi niña
Vida, vida, vida bona |
así vámonos açhacona
Pas[acaglio] GBeHb
Çhacona

gbehb | gbehb
146r-147r En la villa de Segura En la villa de Segura |
casó Pedro con Antona
A Pedro y Antona
oy los casa amor
[estribillo]
Pass[acaglio] olco
Romanza
[147r] Stribillo della
romanza

olghoda 4 coplas;
duet [Bo]
147v-148r Abreme esos ojos | bella
morena

Abreme essos ojos |
bella bella morena
Si por darme enojos |
al sueño t’entregas
Pass[acaglio] lPAl lhoh | mhlPo 2 coplas;
duet [Bo]
148v-149v En las bodas de Cornelio

En las bodas de
Cornelio | vbo fiestas y
vbo vn toro
Eçhate mozo | que te
toma el toro
[estribillo]

Pas[acaglio] HMGH
Romanza
[149v] Stribillo
della romanza

hlgho | lolhgh 4 coplas
150r-v Llega Filis al Tormes

Llega Filis al Tormes |
y de hermosura tanta
Pas[acaglio] eoie edagbg | hdagfcab 5 coplas;
duet [Bo]
151r-v Oh, si volasen las horas

O si bolassen las horas
del pesar
O si quezere la amor |
con en relox de su
engaño
Lettrilla
Pas[acaglio] olco
hgb | olc | mgh 1 copla;
duet [Bo]
152r-v Inmortal debo de ser

Ymortal debo de ser |
pues no me mata el
tormento

quel’Amor [en] mi
pecho | causa enfenitas
cosas mas no miedo
Romanza
Pas[acaglio] HMGH
hmg | hPo | obhg 4 coplas
153r-v No son todos ruiseñores

No son todos roiseñores
| los que cantan entre
las flores
No todas las bozes
ledas
Pas[acaglio] olco olhPo | hgabab 1 copla
154r-v Fugitivo río | tu curso para

Fugitibo río | tu curso
para
Essas blancas guizas | e
frágiles lirios
Pas[acaglio] olco oghg | goclc 2 coplas
155r-v Fue a caza la niña Fué a caza la niña Fué a caza la niña Pas[acaglio] eoie edag | gbei 3 coplas
269

y cazó y cazó y cazó con Pedro, el bermejo
156r Riéndose va un arroyo

Ryendose va vn arroyo |
sus guixas parezen
dientes

Pas[acaglio] fBDrf +ica+ | cadrdr+ 3 coplas
156v-157r Préstame esos ojos

Prestame essos ojos |
para esta noçhe
Prestame essos ojos |
bella morena
Pas[acaglio] GHBG

geogh | hdag 1 copla
157v-158r Siendo mi tormento tal | y
tanta vuestra porfía

Siendo mi tormento tal |
y tanta vuestra porfia
Si el contento y el dolor
| mata con ygual poder
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dabe+ | +be+ 1 copla
158v-159r Caminad suspiros Caminad suspiros
donde adonde soleis

En su mano fuerte |
consiste mi vida
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dafbegefd 3 coplas
159v-160r La mar de Valencia | es
dulce y suave

La mar de balenzia |
es dulce y suave
Los bientos le diçen |
muçhas alabanças
Pas[acaglio] olco ogh | ghgoc 2 coplas
160v-161r

Barcos enramados | los
remos mueven

Varcos enramados |
los remos mueven
Sobre spumas canas |
los remexos tienen
Letrilla
Pas[acaglio] eoie
ei | bgoie 2 coplas
161v-162r Al ladrón señores

A ladrón a ladrón
señores| tengan aquese
ladron

Téngale no se resista |
quando yo muerta le
sigo
Letrilla
Pas[acaglio] olco
ogmhPal 1 copla
162v-163r Que si el barquero daba
voces
Que s'el barquero daba
bozes | y la barquerilla
las da mayores

Solo en su barqua | a
puesta de sole
Pas[acaglio] BGAB bgbegefd 3 coplas
163v-164r A pesar de envidiosos | he
sido fuerte

A pesar de enbidiosos |
e sido fuerte
Aunque m’afaltado |
de tu dolçe Amor
Letrilla
Pas[acaglio] eoie
edg | oihi 2 coplas
164v-165r Donde irá sin dineros el
hombre

Donde yra sin dineros
el hombre | no se
adonde
El más noble que ha
nazido | se le le faltan
los dineros
Pas[acaglio] DeFD dfdfgab 3 coplas
165v-166v Niña pues tienes edad | Niña Niña pues tienes (cantar çhacona) Pues Romanza sobre gboehie | ebgab 4 stanzas
270
goza de tu libertad

edad | goza de tu
libertad
que a los dorehas
llegado | niña no me
seas perdida
çhacona

167r-168r Salió en los brazos de alba

Salio en los bazios del
alva | el sol que al
silençio rompe

Y la bell' Amarilis
entre las flores
[estribillo]
Pas[acaglio] DeFD
(168r) Strevillo
dfcacicic 2 coplas
168v-169r Allá van mis suspiros
madre
Allá ban mis suspiros
madre | allá ban dolos
lleba el ayre
Caminos buscando | al
engrato amante

Pas[acaglio] BGAB baedagefd 1 copla
[incomplete?]

271
Table A.3.6. I-Fr 2951

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

92r-93v Al espejo se toca | el bien
de mi vida

Al espexo se toca el brin
de mi uida | el sol de mi
uida
La uela amarilis Aire espannol
Rit[ornello]
abca
ocohmgh | hopab 3 coplas
94r-95r Ay señor boticario |
hágame un virgo

Ahi sennor uotticario |
agame un uirgo u, u, u
Alandón, galandón
[estribillo]
Rit[ornello]
bgab
bad | fgab | afb 5 seguidillas [strophic]
95v-96v A las espaldas de un
monte

A las espaldas de un
monte | murmura una
fuente clara
Rit[ornello]
abca
acdrf | ficabca 6 stanzas [romance]
97r-98r A la moza bonita, chiquita

A la moça bonitta
chiquitta | y pappigorditta
La moça me da
contento | y la biexa
gran pesar

Rit[ornello]
abca
ogh | hp | ab 3 coplas
99r-v Cómo te pones amores Como lo pones amores |
ahi vida como te pones

Póngome como galera Sarabanda caci | caci 4 coplas [strophic]
100r-101v Cantos apacibles de
ruiseñores

Cantos appassibles | de
ruisennores
Pintadillas aues | que
oluidando al uelo
Rit[ornello]
defd
dfdf | dbef 2 coplas
101v-102v Cómo nada el cisne madre Como nada el cisne madre
| que mi uida nadar le ui

Quien pretendene
nadar | en el mar de
amor cruel

Rit[ornello]
defd
dbgoie | edbgbab 2 coplas
103r-v Cerca del Tajo en soledad
amena
Cerca del Tajo en soledad
amena | de berdes sauces
ay una alspessura

Rit[ornello]
defd
babgabefd 4 stanzas
104r-105v Caminad suspiros Caminad suspiros |
adonde soleis

En su mano fuerte |
consiste mi uida
Rit[ornello]
olco
ogoc | mchbca 3 coplas
272
106r-107r Decía la moza al cura Dezia la moça al cura |
pasitto que soi donzella

Un cura que tanto
amaua | una moça que
tenía

Rit[ornello]
abca
aba | aic 3 coplas
108r-109r Encontréme un día | con
mi Leonor

Encontreme un dia | con
mi Llehonor
Díxelo colpa mi uida |
di por qual raçón
Rit[ornello]
defd
dfdefd | dagef 2 coplas
109v-110v Es amor un no sé qué Es amor un no se che |
que biene no se de donde

Chaç[ona]
gbehbg
gh |hg | gb | bhbg 5 coplas [strophic]
111r-112r Dijo el gato mao

Dyo el gatto mao | a la
gatta maramao
La gatta de anton
pintados
Rit[ornello]
abca
ada | abca | acic 2 coplas
112v-113v Vuestra belleza señora Vuestra bellezza sennora |
me tiene confuso en mirar

Siéntome gran
consuelo | quando ueo
a uestra cara
Rit[ornello]
eoie
ebg | ga | ihaic 2 coplas
117r-118v El marido y la buena
mujer
El marido y la buena
mujer | asi an de ser

Si fuere mujer
hermosa | di buen tallo
y pareçer

Rit[ornello]
abca
odca | icaf 5 coplas
[no alfabeto in copla]
119r-120v En la cumbre madre | tal
aire me dio

En la cumbre madre | tal
ayre me dio
Si obrome a la cumbre
| de la gentilezza
Çhaç[ona]
gbehbg
ghdag | bgab 4 coplas
121r-123r Vida vida vida bona |
vámonos a chacona

Vida uida la uida bona |
vida bamos nos a
chachona
Hasme preguntado
vida
Chaçona

gbehbg 13 coplas
126v-127v No son todos ruiseñores No son todos ruysennores
| los que cantan entre las
flores

No todas las boçes
quedas | son de serenas
com plumas
Rit[ornello]
abca
olohpo 2 coplas
128r-129r Préstame tus ojos | para
esta noche

Préstame tus ojos | para
sta noçhe
Préstame esos ojos |
uela uela morena
Chaç[ona]
gbehbg
geogh | hdag 2 coplas
129v-130v Cuando quise no quisiste Quando quise no quisiste |
y agoras que quieres no
quiero

Folias acag | gac | cag 6 coplas [strophic]
273
131r-132r Salen mis suspiros

Salen mi suspiros | que al
aire enzienden
Vez que efetos haçen |
los suspiros míos
ghgboe | ehbg 2 coplas
132v-134r Secotor de la vara

Secotor della uara | de san
Francisco ai, ai, ai,
Chaç[ona]
gbehbg
gbe | hbg | gb 6 coplas [strophic]
seguidillas [?]
134v-136r Vuestros ojos dama Buestros ojos dama |
tenen no se che
Por qué me mirais |
con tanta affeçión
Rit[ornello]
defd

bgab | befd 3 coplas
136v-137v Vida de mi vida

Vida de mi vida | gloria
de mi gloria
Rit[ornello]
abca
olco | ghoc 6 stanzas [romance]
138r-139v Dónde irá sin dineros el
hombre
Donde yra sin dineros el
ombres | no se donde

Y mas noble que a
nazido | se le faltan los
dineros

Rit[ornello]
defd

dfg | gab | gbg 3 coplas
140r-141r Vánse mis amores |
seguirlos quiero
Vançe mis amores |
seguillos quiero

Seguilde suspiros |
esta fiera engrada
Chaç[ona]
gbehbg
gebg | eobgab 2 coplas
141v-142v Al ladrón, al ladrón,
señores

A ladrón a ladrón
sennores | tengan aquese
ladrón
Tenganle no se resista
| quando yo muerta le
sigo
ogmhpol | mnhm 2 coplas
143r Fue a caza la niña [incomplete]

Tragoselo todo | con
su salmorejo

__ copla only; no alfabeto
143v-144v Frescos aires del prado | si
a Toledo vais

Frescos ayres del prados |
a Toledo uays
Pues haueis sabido |
ayre boliçioso
Rit[ornello]
abca
ab | adacadrf 2 coplas

274
Table A.3.7. I-Fr 2952

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

49r-50v Al espejo se toca | el bien
de mi vida

Al espexo se toca el bien
de mi uida | el sol de mi
uida
La uela amarilis Aire espannol
Rit[ornello]
abca
ocohmgh | hopab 3 coplas
51r-v Ay señor boticario |
hágame un virgo

Ahi sennor uotticario |
agame un uirgo u, u, u
Alandón, galandón
[estribillo]
Rit[ornello]
bgab
bad | fgab | afb 5 seguidillas [strophic]
52r-53r A las espaldas de un
monte

A las espaldas de un
monte | murmura na
fuente clara
abca acdrf | ficabca 6 stanzas [romance]
53v-54r Cerca del Tajo en soledad
amena
Cerca del Tajo en soledad
amena | de berdes sauces
ay una alspessura

defd babgabefd 4 stanzas
54v-55r Cómo te pones amores Como lo pones amores |
ahi vida como te pones

Póngome como galera Sarabanda caci | caci 4 coplas [strophic]
55v-57r Caminad suspiros Caminad suspiros |
adonde soleys

En su mano fuerte |
consiste mi uida
ogoc | mchbca 3 coplas
57v-59r Decía la moza al cura Dezia la moça al cura |
passitto que soi donzella

Un cura que tanto
amaua | una moça que
tenía

abca aba | aic 3 coplas
59v-61r Dónde irá sin dineros el
hombre
Donde yra sin dineros el
ombres | no se donde

El mas noble que a
nazido | se le faltan los
dineros

defd

dfg | gab | gbg 3 coplas
61v-62v Encontréme un día | con
mi Leonor

Encontreme un dia | con
mi Llehonor
Díxelo colpa mi uida |
di por qual raçón
defd dfdefd | dagef 2 coplas
275
63r-64r Es amor un no sé qué Es amor un no se che |
que biene no se de donde

gh |hg | gb | bhbg 5 coplas [strophic]
64v-65v En la cumbre madre | tal
aire me dio

En la cumbre madre | tal
ayre me dio
Si obrome a la cumbre
| de la gentilezza
Chaç[ona] ghdag | bgab 4 coplas
66r-67v Fue a caza la niña Fue a caza la ninna | y
cazzò y cazzò y cazzò

XX eoie
70v-71v Préstame tus ojos | para
esta noche

Préstame tus ojos | para
sta noçhe
Prestame essos ojos |
uela uela morena
Chaç[ona] geogh | hdag 2 coplas
72r-73r Cuando quise no quisiste Quando quise no quisiste |
y agoras que quieres no
quiero

Folias acag | gac | cag 6 coplas [strophic]
73v-74v Secotor de la vara

Secotor della uara | de san
Francisco ai, ai, ai,
Chaç[ona] gbe | hbg | gb 6 coplas [strophic]
seguidillas [?]
75r-76r Vuestros ojos dama Buestros ojos dama |
tenen no se che
Por qué me mirais |
con tanta affeçión
Rit[ornello]
defd

bgab | befd 3 coplas
76v-77r Vida de mi vida

Vida de mi vida | gloria
de mi gloria
olca olco | ghoc 6 stanzas [romance]
77v-78v Frescos aires del prado | si
a Toledo vais

Frescos ayres del prados |
a Toledo uays
Pues haueis sabido |
ayre boliçioso
Rit[ornello]
abca
ab | adacadrf 2 coplas
79r-80r Vida vida vida bona |
vámonos a chacona

Vida uida la uida bona |
vida vamos nos a
çhaçhona
Hasme preguntado
vida
Chaçona

gbehbg 13 coplas
80v-82r A la moza bonita, chiquita

A la moça bonitta
chiquitta | y pappigorditta
La moça me da
contento | y la biexa
gran pesar

Rit[ornello]
olco
ogh | hp | ab 3 coplas

276
Table A.4.1. I-Rli Cod. 625

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

1r-2v De mí se aparta el placer De mi se aparta el plazer

Canción primera
su passacalle GHBG
__ [quintillas]
3r-4r Esto que me abrasa el
pecho
Cançion segvnda
su passacalle ABCA

__ duet [S., B.]
4v-5r Esclavo soy pero cúyo Esclauo soy pero el cuyo
| esso no lo diré

Mirad que feliçe
estado | que soberano
fabor

Cançion terçera
su passacalle DEFD
__ 6 coplas
5v-6v Si un verdadero amor,
amor merece
Si un verdadero amor
amor mereçe
Ausençia tan terrible
y tan amarga
[bordoncillo]

Cançion qvarta
su passacalle DEFD
__
7r-8v Hombre que está sin
amores
Hombre que está sin
amores | es como fuente
sin agua

Cançion qvinta
su passacalle GHBG

__ 13 coplas [strophic]
9r-11r Por las montañas de Jaca Por las montañas de Jaca
| furioso baxa otra vez
Cançion sesta
su passacalle BGAB

__ 19 coplas [strophic]
11v-13r En el suelo alumbra En el suelo alumbra | del
cielo una estrella
Vna bella niña |
hermosa y discreta
Cançion setima
su passacalle OLCO

aglc | hlco 12 coplas
duet [S., B.]
13v-14v Zagaleja pues que te vas Zagaleja pues te vas | a
biuir entre las fieras
Guárdate zagaleja |
que allí salta la liebre
[estribillo]

Cançion otava
sv passacalle ABCA
abaefd | abebeb 10 coplas
duet [S., B.]
15r-16r Dama angélica y divina Dama angélica y diuina |
en quien toda virtud cabe
Cançion novena
sv passacalle BGAB

__ 4 stanzas
16v-17r Corre corre corre Corre, corre, corre | Gil y
verás
Quando se halla entre
damas bellas
Cançion dezena
su passacalle BGAB
ba | cg | bab Duet [S., B.]
277

17v-18r Si se entiende el mal de
amor
Si se entiende el mal de
Amor | es muy fácil de
sanar

Ya nos auisa el refrán Cançion 11
su passacalle GHBG
ghgogbg Duet [S., B.]
18v-19r Pisaré yo el polvillo Pisare yo el polvillo | tan
menudillo
Quando Atalanta
ygualare | con mis
passitos agudos

Cançion 12
su passacalle GHBG

gbe | edhbg 3 coplas
Duet [S., B.]
19v-20v Si queréis que os enrame la
puerta
Si quereis que os
enrrame la puerta | vida
mía de mi corazón

Cançion 13
su passacalle OLCO

__ 5 coplas
21r-v Fenisa y Albanio han
hecho
Fenisa y Aluanio ha
hecho
Cançion 14
su passacalle OLCO

oebgcdg Duet [S., B.]
22r-23v Tal conejuelo tal conejito Tal conejuelo y tal
conegito | y dizen las
damas

Leuanteme madre |
lunes norabuena
Cançion 15
su passacalle EOIE

eiebg [ ] 12 coplas
24r-v Que no sabéis que es Que no sabéis ques | tres
en el año
Mozuelas de mi lugar Cançion 16
su passacalle OLCO

__ 6 coplas
25r-v Ay que no oso Ay que no oso | miraros
y no es de medroso
Como los ojos | son
lenguas del corazon
Cançion 17
su passacalle OLCO

__ Duet [S., B.]
26r Arrojóme las naranjicas Arrojome las naranjicas |
en los ramos del verde
azar

En el jardin del amor
| la niña hermosa
estaua
Cançion 18
su passacalle PKBP

__ 3 coplas
27v-28v En esta larga ausencia En esta larga ausencia Cançion 19
su passacalle OLCO

__ 4 stanzas
29r-30v Hay quien me quiera
comprar

Ay quien me quiera
comprar | castañas que
yo os confiesso

No no os vendo aqui
patrañas
Cançion 20
su passacalle BGAB
__ Duet [S., B.]
31r-32v Una jardinerica de Vanaya Una jardinerica de Sigvidillas __ 4 seguidillas
278
Vanaya su passacalle GHBG

33r-42r Vn percacho que parte de
Napoles a Roma

__ vaiorus songs in
several languages
42v-44v Una batalla de amor Vna batalla de amor |
entre un galán y una
dama

Zaravanda __
45r-v Tal es la esperanza mía Tal es la esperanza mia Es muy justo el
porfiar | en esta rica
esperanza

Cançion [ ]
su passacalle GHBG

__ Duet [S., B.]
46r-48r Buena es la color morena

Chacona __
48v-50r Dios me guarde Dios me guarde Dios me
guarde | de putta que
tiene madre

Porque el amante se
rija
Chacona hordinaria
de G.Z
__
50v-55v Que no hay tal vida en esta
vida
Que no ay tal vida en
esta vida | señores como
el cazar
La vida del cazador Romanze de la caza
de Bracciano
passacalle IEOIE

__
56r-57r Oigame señor doctor Oyame señor Dialogo de vn
enamorado y vn
doctor en mediçina
su passacalle OBCO

__ Duet [S., B.] +
dialogue?
57v-58v En los olivares de junto a
Osuna
En los olivares de junto a
Osuna | pusoseme el sol
Quando mi esperanza
| lejos de mi tierra
Cançion
su passacalle GHBG

__
59r-60v Las cuerdas de mi
instrumento
punto en boca
[estribillo]
passacalle OLCO

__
61r-v De mi tormento mortal De mi tormento mortal |
la norabuena me den
Ynbidieme que
padezco | no me
consuelen si lloro

passacalle abca

__
279
62r-v Atina que dais en la manta Atina que days en la
manta
Cierto galán no
brioso

__

280
Table A.4.2. I-Rvat Chigi L.VI.200

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

12r Vestido un gabán leonado

Bestido un gaban
leonado | señal del
congoxa y lutto

lco | cg | ab 16 coplas
12v Regalando el tierno bello Regalando el tyerno
uello | de la boca de
Modoro

Ay moro uenturoso | que a
todo el mundo tyenes
umbidioso [estribillo]

pbpmpb | pkbp 4 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
13r Si pensara o si entendiera Si pensara o si
entendiera | que el amor
tanto mal fuera

Fue el primo amor tan
maño | luego que me
enamorare
g | hic | go 3 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
13v Dejad, señora, el temor Dexad señora el temor |
y socorred al ancia mía

Se el fuego en que arde mi
pecho
hmhgab 2 coplas;
duet [So, Bo, Inse]
14r Las reliquias de la noche Las reliquias de la
noche | huyan del sol
dorado

Quando Albanio | ny be sol
ny luz ny día
lgelh | golcoco 6 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
14v Busca caminos y vías Busca caminos y uias |
lágrimas para llorar

Son tantos ya los enojos |
que multipligan de contino

fdfdf | gadgf 2 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
15r Pajarillo que vas a la fuente Paxarillo que bas a la
fuente

Pajarillo del amor | que a
mi pensamiento ygualas
hgbacmgh 2 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
15v Si vida darme queréis Si vida darme quereys |
en pago de tantos daños

edfd | aicic 5 coplas

16r A la moza bonita, chiquita A la moça bonita
ciquitta y pappigordita
Dios me la guarde

La moça me da contento | y
la bieja gran pesar
ohmghpopab 6 coplas
16v Lo que me quise me tengo yo Lo que me quise me Ya que por mi suerte | el dabc | fcaccfgfd 9 coplas;
281
tengo yo

çielo ordeno duet [So, Bo]
17r Dama ni flaca ni gorda Dama ni flaca ni gorda |
de buen medio y buen
compás

Si el gusto que apetecimos
| esta en manos boca y
pecho

ada | ic | dag 4 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
17v Bona noche, señora mía Bona noche señora mía
| yo le quiero un
pochitto hablar

Beso las manos de V.S.
[estribillo]
dab | gab | efd 12 coplas [Spanish
/ various Italian
dialects]
18r De amarillo anda Belisa De amarillo anda Beliça
| color que byen le
pareçe

Sería notable agrabio | si à
Beliça se le diese
dag | bcb | bgh 2 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
18v Vuestros ojos dama Vuestros ojos dama |
tyenen no se que

Por que me miráys | con
tanta afiçión
bab | efd | dagbeb 2 coplas;
duet [So, Bo, Inse]
19r-v De soledad y pena
acompañado

De soledad y pena
accompañado
p | mpkb | b 4 stanzas
20r Aunque véis que muerto
vengo
Aunque ueys que
muerto uengo | no es
zelos ni disfauor

No me aflixes la memoria |
los contrarios embidiosos
bgbg | ogoghbg 3 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
20v Quiero dormir y no puedo Quiero dormir y no
puedo | que me quitta
l’amor el sueño

No duerme como solía | la
triste alma mía
adag | efd 3 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
21r Ventecillo murmurador Venteçillo murmurador
| que lo gozas y andas
todo

Oy ventecillo suaue | has
de dar reposo a quien
ieoie | boi 2 coplas
21v Entre todos los remedios Entre todos los
remedios que se hallan
al penar

Todo tormento se amansa |
con qualquiera tribulación
abadac | boeie 3 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
22r Sentado en la seca yerba Sentado en la seca
yerua | que abraso el
Filis me à muerto | que fue
muy blanda
pmpmpkb 8 coplas

282
rigor del yelo

22v Aquel pajarillo que vuela,
madre
Aquel paxarillo que
buela madre | ayer lo ui
preso

Yo le ui entre rejas | de
estrecha carçel
acacic | fd 4 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]; no
alfabeto in coplas
23r Las tres de la noche han dado Las tres de la noche han
dado | coraçón y no
dormís

Venga la muerte, uenga |
contra my
loghmhm 6 coplas
23v Gorogú, gorogú, goromet Gorogu gorogu
goromet | que yo te
adoro a su merçed

Taramurcia está apantana |
que tenemos goflaría
ada | bca | ic 3 coplas
24r Fuego de Dios Fuego de Dios | con el
querer byen

Yo ui una muzuela | de
buen pareçer
df | ac | efd 8 coplas
24v Vuestra belleza señora Vuestra belleza señora |
me tyene confuso en
mirar

Siento muy gran consuelo |
quando beo nuestra cara
ebgoi | oio 4 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]

25r Mal haya quien sufre Malaya quien çufre |
por tibias donzellas

Despliega sus ojos | a las
açoteas
mgh | pab | hdogm 6 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
25v Río de Sevilla, quién te pasase Rio de Sevilla quién te
passasse

hdgaclc | mgh 5 coplas
26r Una pastora hermosa Vna pastora hermosa |
más quel sol del claro
día

Más mereçe quien se fía
[bordoncillo]
o | gm | hbc 7 coplas;
duet [So, Bo, Inse]
26v Dos damas hermosas bellas Dos damas hermosas
bellas | tienen presa mi
afiçión

Son de tal mereçemiento |
que reynas mereçen ser
bgaic | dgefd 2 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
27r Tantos daños y males he
sufrido
Tantos daños y males
he zufrido

fda | bgef 5 stanzas
283
27v Escóndete en tu cabaña Escondete en tu cabaña
| çerrana, y çierra la
puerta

Y en haziendo la presa | el
arco y alas uate con
presteza
hpboe | hbcmgh 6 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
28r De hielo nace mi llama De yelo naçe mi llama |
ued el mal

Nazer mi llama de yelo | es
el milagro mayor
oglco | hgbohg 2 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
28v Yo solo soy a quien faltó
ventura
Yo solo soy à quien
falto uentura

aicfbca | ic 6 stanzas
29r Quien no sabe callar no
alcanza nada
Quien no sabe callar no
alcança nada

aicalca 4 coplas;
duet [So, Bo, Inse]
29v Poco a poco el amor me ha
vuelto loco
Poco à poco | el amor
me ha buelto loco

Tan loco que ya no
entiendo | si soy lo que ser
solía

eieg | bag 5 coplas;
duet [So, Bo, Inse]
30r Servía en Orán al rey Seruia en Oran al Rey |
un español con dos
lanças

agf | ic | agfi 12 coplas
30v No me pregunte mi mal No me pregunte mi mal
| la que no se duele del

Para que quiere sabello | la
que no ha de remediallo
fdagefd | abdef 2 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
31r Funestos y alto cipreses Funestos y altos
çipreses | frondosas y
berdes ayas

pmpmpKG 14 coplas
31v A fe, pensamiento, a fe A fe pensamiento a fe |
que si biuis moriré

Subís con alas de çera | à
los rayos del sol claro
fdfdrf | dabgbgab 3 coplas;
duet [So, Bo, Inse]
32r ausente de mi bien y de mi
gloria

Ausente de my byen y
de my gloria | sin
consuelo remedio ni
alegría

gab | gab 6 stanzas;
duet [So, Bo]
32v Mientras duermen los sentidos Mientras duermen los Que tocan alarma Juana fdabecf 8 coplas;
284
sentidos | y la uida los
engaña

duet [So, Bo]
33r Tiene tan hermosa boca Tyene tan hermosa
boca | mi pastora y ojos
bellos

Los ojos negros rasgados |
con que rasga el coraçón
ghbg | bca 2 coplas; no
alfabeto in coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
33v No dejaré de quereros No dexere de quereros |
si queréys conuersación

aca | bca | cic 4 coplas; no
alfabeto in coplas
34r Crudo amor, fortuna ingrata Crudo amor, fortuna
ingrata, mentirosa y fe
mentida

loghgag 5 coplas
34v Ay, que contento Ay que contento | en el
alma siento

agbcabagab 3 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
35r Llegó a una venta Cupido Llegó a una uenta
Cupido | en la mita del
inuierno

acacabgab 12 coplas
35v Triste y flaca está Belilla Triste y flaca está
Belilla | aue solía ser
hermosa

Procura dessimular | pero
su mal es de suerte
edogbeie 2 coplas
36r Rompe las venas del ardiente
pecho
Rompe las uenas del
ardiente pecho

ciaicaicic duet [So, Bo, Inse]
36v Si aquel de la venda Si aquel de la benda |
acaso topares

Si no le conoçes | yo te diré
el traje
ogmco | mgh 6 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
37r Tendido está el fuerte Turno Tendido está el fuerte
Turno | à los pies del
pío Eneas

Tu nombre infamas | tu
impiedad pregonas
[estribillo]
gohmpab 6 coplas
37v Triste memoria enemiga Triste memoria
enemiga | que sola en
mi daño uiues
Ay oras tristes | quando
otras soys [estribillo]
colclco 3 coplas;
duet [So, Bo, Inse]
285

38v Salen mis suspiros

Salen mis suspiros | que
al ayre ençienden
Ved que effectos hazen los
suspiros míos
ghbgoc 2 coplas
39r Pensamientos míos bien
empleados
Pensamientos míos bien
empleados

Faboresca amor | mi[s]
dulces intentos
pbpkompkb 2 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
39v Inmortal debo de ser Inmortal devo de ser |
pues no me mata el
tormento

Quel amor en mi pecho |
causa infinitas cosas mas
no miedo
hmg | hpo | bhg 5 coplas
40r-v Negra tengo la cara Negra tengo la cara |
negro el corazón

De un rabioso fuego | che
en el alma siento
Ritornello
BGAB
b | bei | ie 3 coplas
41r-v Los rayos del sol impiden Los raios del sol
impiden | espesas nuues
i negras

I, entre las olas fieras | sola
suena esta boz
Ritornello
BGAB
bgbaefd 3 coplas
42r Aunque nos despierte el gallo Aunche nos despierte el
gaglio | recordad mi
lindo amor

Si esperais del gaglio el
canto | recordad, dexal
dormir
Ritornello
DEFD
dbafaef 2 coplas
43r Súbese tan alto Súbese tan alto

Quando de mi glianto |
Diuirtir me chiero

Ritornello __ 3 coplas; no
alfabeto
44r Viviréis corazón, a fe, o yo
moriré

Vivireys coraçon a fe |
o yo morire

Ya las tormentas passaron |
aunque tan a costa mía
__ no allfabeto
44v Válame Dios,que las ánsares
vuelsn
Válame Dios, que las
ánsares buelan

En verdad señor compadre
| ya que a la vuestra
respondo

__ no allfabeto
45r [Mírome en tus ojos?] __ Assorted
seguidillas (7); no
alfabeto

46r Señora mi fe os empeño Señora mi fe os empeño
| que aunque os
Ay tanta desigualdad | en
esta mi passión ciega
__ 2 coplas; no
alfabeto
286
merezca mi fe

287
Table A.4.3. I-Rvat Bonc. M.18

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

2r-v Ya pasaron madre, mis
alegrías

Ya pasaron madre mis
alegrias
Pasados contentos |
rebuelben historias
__ oghgocbc | cab 3 coplas; alfabeto
ritornello between
estribillo and coplas
a !"#""# b !""#
c !""# a !"

3r-4r Ojos que no ven

Ojos que no ven | lo que
ver desean
Si essos bellos ojos |
ven que el corazon

Otra 4 coplas ;
no alfabeto [space
provided]
4v-5v Niña, vuestros ojos Niña, vuestros ojos | son
los que matan
No ay hombre que vea
| essos bellos ojos
Otra 3 coplas;
no alfabeto [space
provided]

6r-v De mis ojos a mi boca

De mis ojos a mi bocca |
mis lágrimas van a dar
Ya que mis ojos
mostraron | el
quebranto con su
mengua
Letra ebgoie | gxi 2 coplas; alfabeto
ritornello between
estribillo and coplas
e !"#""# o !""#
i !""# e !"
7r-8r Matadores ojos | tenéis
señora

Matadores ojos | teneis
señora
Seguidillas dxd | xdxex 10 seguidillas;
includes “Préstame los
ojos,” “Mírome en tus
ojos,” “Esos bellos
ojos”
10r-11v Airecitos de rio

Aireçitos del rio | de
Mançanares
Frescas alamedas |
umbrosos jarales
Letra 9 coplas;
no alfabeto [space
provided]

12r-13r Entre mortales suspiros Entre mortales suspiros |
muchas lágrimas
virtiendo

Rabiosa y terrible
ausentia | para sufrir
me falta la pacientia
Romançe olca | hgoclc 7 coplas
288
13v-14r A fuerza de agravios

A fuerça de agravios |
lágrimas lloro
Lloro viendo ingrata |
tu mucha dureza
Letra 3 coplas;
no alfabeto [space
provided]

14v-15r Tres niñas me dan enojos Tres niñas me dan enojos
| mientras más por ellas
muero

En aquesos bellos ojos
| gran sosiego puso
Dios
Letra 3 coplas;
no alfabeto [space
provided]

15v-16r Arrojome las naranjitas

Arrojome las narangitas |
con los ramos del blanco
azar
De sus manos hizo vn
día
Letra 2 coplas;
no alfabeto [space
provided]

16v-17v Pues de amor mi alma

Pues de amor mi alma |
cautiua se ve
Naide por mas que se
vea | libre del fuego
amoroso
Letra 3 coplas;
no alfabeto [space
provided]

18r-19v Bravonel de Zaragoza Brauonel de Çaragoça | y
esse moro de Villalba
__ 14 coplas;
no alfabeto [space
provided]

20r-21v Celos, por amores

Celos por amores |
sufrir no quiero
El alma despida | su
amoroso gusto

__ agh | gbab 6 coplas; alfabeto
ritornello between
estribillo and coplas
a !"#""# b !""#
c !""# a !"
22r-v Por el prado verde Por el prado verde | del
claro Tormes

Suelta la madeja | del
oro de Arabia
__ dxd | abab 3 coplas
24r-26v Por la plaza de san Lúcar Por la plaça de san Lucar
| galán passeando biene

Romançe 24 coplas;
different hand
27r-v En el árbol, madre

En el árbol madre | canta
el ruyseñor
En la cumbre madre
al caer del sol

__ abac | aic 2 coplas

289
Table A.4.4. NL-DHk 72J46 (1606)

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

88r Vida, vida, la vida bona

Chiqui chiqui | morena
mia
French five-course
guitar tablature with
strum symbols above
88v Mírome en tus ojos

Mírome en tus ojos | dos
sombras veo

89r La zarabanda está presa

La çarabanda esta presa |
por cierto que a mi me
pessa

French five-course
guitar tablature with
strum symbols above
89v Si queréis que os enrame la
puerta
folia French five-course
guitar tablature with
strum symbols above
90r-91r Al espejo se toca el sol de
mi vida
Al espejo se toca el sol
de mi vida

La bella amarilli letra French tablature
Duet [S. B.]

290
Table A.4.5. I-Nn XVII.30

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

59r-60r Quien causa el desasosiego

Quien causa el
desasossiego
Si pero de quien calla oegegb | mgoclo 3 coplas
60r-61r Sombras de mi
pensamiento

Sombras de mi
pensamiento
Hazer un discurso
igual
ocoglc | oghmhgh 3 coplas

62v-63r Aunque amor me agravia

Aunque amor me agrauia Por constante y ferme
| merezco la cura
dfd | afgfbefd 3 coplas
63v-64r Qué verdadero dolor

Que verdadero dolor | y
que apurado sufrir
gbeb | goi 7 coplas [strophic]
64v-65v Hecho trompeta del sol

Hecho trompeta del sol Vete mi vida | No
pierdas por un hora |
muchos días
[estribillo]
gbeioi | hgab 5 coplas
68r Vos miñamai

Vos miñamai

eie[i] | ebg 3 coplas [strophic];
in Portuguese
68v-70r Volved pensamiento mío

Bolued pensamiento mio afca | fgab 5 coplas [strophic]
71v-72v Tus bellos ojos morena

Tus bellos ojos morena Final letrilla: Que
perder pensamiento
[estribillo]; Adorar tu
beldad [copla]

goie | hgogbeo 6 coplas [romance]

81r-82r Filida debéis premiar

Filida deueis premiar | mi
pena pues saue ser

dafgf | gbab
125v-126r De mal de ausencia se De mal de ausencia se [ ]bedf | ab 2 coplas
291
queja

queja
131v Nací para morir vivo
muriendo

Naci para morir, biuo
muriendo
oemhgoclco [sonnet]

292
Table A.5.1. E-Szayas Ms. Mús. A.IV.8 (1599)

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

5r-6v A unos ojos bellos

A unos ojos bellos |
negros que mire
Diles alma y vida |
solo con mirales
__ gbabc | aic 2 coplas [?]
7r-v Dama ni flaca, ni gorda Dama ni flaca, nigorda |
de buen medio, y buen
compás

Siel gusto que
apetecemos | está en
manos boca y pecho
__ aba | aic |cdcagb 3 coplas
8r-v Quando me prendieron

Quando me prendieron |
buestros ojos bellos
Vn tiempo viuia muy
libre y contento
__ dfd | dab | bg 4 coplas
9r-10r Ay quien me quiera comprar Hay quien me quiera
comprar | castañas yo los
confiesso

__ dfd | dab 4 coplas [?]
12r-v Si vos me queréis a mi

Si uos me quereis a mi |
como a uos os quiero yo;
porque

Quereros como yo os
quiero | no se puede
más querer

__ dfd | dagbcacac 4 coplas
13r-v Vuestros ojos me maltratan Vuestros ojos me
maltrattan | gastigaldos
amor pue me mattan

__ dfd | dab | gab 3 coplas [strophic]
14r Ay amor perjuro

Ay amor perjuro | falso
traydor
__ oghhbc | bca 2 coplas [strophic]
14v De mi mal nace mi bien De mi mal naçe mi bien |
el uero fue l’ochasión

No seais tan desabrida __ dagf | begfi 3 coplas [strophic]
15r-v En el valle Ynés En el valle Ynés | la topé
riendo

Debajo de un pino | se
staua peynando
passacagli abc aca | acfcg 4 coplas
16r La noche comenzará La noçhe començara | a
gozar de la luz de su
abc aca | acbca 3 coplas [strophic]
293
luzero

16v-17r Por vuestra linda hermosura Por vuestra linda
hermosura

Despues que en la
figura
__ dfd | bca 2 coplas
17v Estos mis cabellos, madre Estos mis cauellos madre |
dos a dos

__ acbca | ac.cg 3 coplas [strophic]
18r-v Rompiendo la mar de España Rompiendo la mar
d’spaña | con una fusta
turquiesca

amayna la uela
[estribillo]
Passacalli ebg ebghg | goic 8 coplas [romance]
19r El sin ventura mancebo El sin ventura mançebo |
Leandro de amor herido

Y tan penado y mas
perdido | y menos
arepentido [estribillo]

Passacalli eoie eoi | ghbg 5 coplas [romance]
20r Beso la mano di V.S. Basso la mano di V.S.
patrona mia | quiero
asomarme a la selogia

Son sciugiame in cana
lo napoletano
__ acaac | gbca 5 coplas [strophic]:
Spanish / Neapolitan
[dialogue]
21r Ay, que pasión que sale del
corazón
Hay que passion / que
sale del corazón

Quando çelos dan
passion |causan a las
damas enojos

__ dfbgab | befic 2 coplas
21v-22r Pues que me das a escoger Pues que me das ascojer |
fortuna de tu poder

__ af | b | gaba 8 coplas
22v Periri, periri Periri, periri, que te como
la catelliniya

__ abag | bca 1 copla [language
mixture?]
23r Ay enemigo amor Ay enemigo amor | pues
das dolor

Das dolores a los que
sirven

__ acab | ac | bca 2 coplas
23v Si la noche hace oscura Si la noche haze oscura

__ ebg | goie 1 copla
24r Señora yo bien podré Senora yo bien podre |
más que el pelicano amar

__ a | b | gbc | bca 5 coplas [strophic]
294
24v Quien quiere entrar conmigo

Quien quiere entrar
comigo e nel barco
Es el barco de firmeza |
y el árbol de
sufrimiento

__ aca | oef 2 coplas
25r Entre todos los remedios Entre todos los remedios |
que se allan al pesar
Todo tormento se
amansa | en qual quier
tribulación
__ bagefi | gab 1 copla
56r-57v Con suspiros y llorando

Con suspiros y llorando |
su graue passion sentía

Di muerte porque no
uienes | y acabas la
uida mía

__ abgab | mhpa 4 coplas [strophic]

295
Table A.5.2. GB-Lbl Add. 36877

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

47r Si hay mayor mal que el
morir

S’hai maior’ mal’ chel’
morir | s’indud’ alguna
es el mio
No mas ermosos
occhos mios | que es
de couardes por seguir
rendidos [estribillo]
dbefededfd 3 coplas
47v-48r Más ventura fuera

Mas uentura fuera DIciosa es la bida |
quand’es con contento
aba | ie | b| ca 3 coplas
48r-49r Dama ni flaca ni gorda

Dama ni flacca ni gorda |
de buen’ medio y buen
compás
Si el gusto que
apetezemos | esta en
manos, bocca y peccio
ada | oie | dag | bca 5 coplas
49v-50r Quien quiere entrar
conmigo en el barco
Quien quiere entrar
comigo e nel barco

Es el barco de
firmezza | y el arbor de
suffrimiento

ax | b | adc | ada 2 coplas
50v-51r Ay como las esperanzas Ay como las esperanzas |
de mi bida y mi contento
Ay que quando las
tenías | amor me las
sustentaua
hmgh | gab | hm 2 coplas;
duet [So, Bo];
with bordoncillo
“Dingolón, dongolón”

51v-52r Vuestros ojos dama Vuestros ochos dama |
tienen no se que
Por que me mirais |
con tanta afficion

dab | exd | agbeb 3 coplas
52v-53r Señora mi fe os empeño

Sennora my fe os en
pegno
Ay tanta desigualdad |
en esta mi passion
ziega

ieie | bgoi | hdo 2 coplas
53r-v Con esperanzas espero

Con esperanzas espero |
que galardon se mi de
De speranzas me
retengo | mucchos dies
ay no ueo

ebg | odhoic 2 coplas
296
54r Fué a caza la niña

Fue a cazza la nigna, y
cazzò, y cazzò, y cazzò
Fue a cazza la nigna |
con Pedro, el Bermejo
edag | bei | eieiebg 1 copla
54v Donde irá sin dineros el
hombre

Donde irà sin dineros el
hombre | no se adonde
El más noble que ha
nazido | si le faltan los
dineros

dfdfgab | bgeie 1 copla
55r-v Yo he hecho lo que he
podido

Yo h’eccho lo q he
podido | tu ingrata lo que
has querido

Roselia por
contentarte | asta lo
impossible he eccho
dxbex | agb 3 coplas
56r-v Caracoles me pide la niña

Caracoles me pide la
nigna | y pídelos cada día
De una vez que la
picagna | los caracoles
comió

aedab | gbab 3 coplas
57r-v Menina formosa Menina Formosa | Naon
me podes ver

Quando uos seruia |
ese bein lograua
ocab | gbg 2 coplas;
in Portuguese
58r-59r No lloréis señora | de mi
corazón

No lloreis segnora | de
mi corazon
No cubrais el suelo |
de dulzes desprescios
ebgoie | xgfi 4 coplas;
duet [So, Bo]
101r-v Caminad suspiros adonde
soléis

Caminad sospiros
adonde soleis
Caminad contentos y
no os detengais
ogeogoe | hboco 2 coplas
102r-v Ábreme esos ojos, bella
morena

Abreme essos ochos
bella morena
Si por darme enochos
al sueño te entreguas
lhmhmhlpa | oghm 2 coplas
102v-103r Con el aire que corre a
orillas del mar

Con el aire que corre
orillas del mar | me
quede adormida

Soplaua el aire quedito
| que a sueño me
combidaua
dfdafef | bedfd 2 coplas
103v-104r Señor Boticario, guarde su
haja hum hum

Señor Boticario guarde
su haya, hum, hum
badabgab 4 seguidillas

297
Table A.6.1. PL-Kj Mus. ms. 40163

Folios Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

1v-3r Señora mi fé os empeño

Señora mi fe os enpeño |
guando meresca mi fe

Ay tanta desigualdad |
que en esta mi pasión
ciega

iebg | aihi 1 copla; a3 [C3, C4,
F4]
3v-5v Mozuela de baile, toca el
panderillo
Moçuela del valle | tocca
el panderillo

A la bella reyna | que
de l’agua sale
ihbga | ihaie [basso]
3g 5a 2i 2h b | ga
ihaie [tenor]

4 coplas; a3 [C2, C4,
F4]; alternate chord
positions / cifras
suggested by alfabeto
in tenor line

5v-7r Cuidaba yo, penas mías

Cuidaua yo penas mías |
antes que me uiera
ausente

Ay tiempos diferentes
| que siempre sois mas
tristes los presentes
[estribillo]

ogmcogc | mgh 6 coplas; a3 [C1, C2,
C4]
7v-8r Inmortal debo de ser Immortal devo de ser |
pues no me mata el
tormento

Que el amor en mi
pecho [estribillo]

hmghpa | hgmgh 4 coplas; a3 [C3, C4,
F4]; estribillo labeled
copla
8v-10r Untexted no. 1

R[ ] R[ ] no alfabeto; a3 [G2,
C2, C4]; estribillo +
coplas

10v-12r Untexted no. 2

P[ ] L[ ] no alfabeto; a3 [C2,
C3, C4]; estribillo +
coplas

12v-14r Untexted no. 3

P[ ] F[ ] no alfabeto; a3 [C3,
C4, F4]; estribillo +
coplas

14v-15r Oh, si volasen las horas

O si volassen las horas O si quisiere el amor mhgbo | cmgh 2 coplas; a3 [C3, C4,
F4]
298

16v-18r Cantos apacibles de
ruiseñores

Cantos apasibles | de
ruyseñores
Pintadillas aves | que
oluidando al vuelo
dfd | abef 2 coplas; a3 [C3, C4,
F3]
18v-20r Bullicioso era el
arroyuelo

Bulliçioso, bulliçioso era
el arroyuelo
Buliendo madre corria
| el arroyuelo traydor
oghalhapa 2 coplas; a3 [C1, C2,
C4]
20v-22r Untexted no. 4

S[ ] V[ ] no alfabeto; a3 [C3,
C4, F4]; estribillo +
coplas

22v-24r Obras son de amores

Obras son d’amores |
querida ingrata

Si vuestra affeccion |
queréis bien casalla
hal | hapab 1 copla; a3 [C1, C2,
C4]
24v-26r

Untexted no. 5 E[ ] H[ ] no alfabeto; a3 [C1,
C2, C4]; estribillo +
coplas

26v-28r

Untexted no. 6 P[ ] F[ ] no alfabeto a3 [C3, C4,
F4]; estribillo + coplas

28v-30r Untexted no. 7

V[ ] Q[ ] no alfabeto a3 [C3, C4,
F4]; estribillo + coplas

30v-31r Untexted no. 8

E[ ] no alfabeto; a3 [C1,
C2, C4]

31v-33r Untexted no. 9
[Al espejo se toca | el bien
de mi vida]

A[l espejo se toca | el bien
de mi vida]
L[a bella amarilis] no alfabeto; a3 [C3,
C4, F4]
33v-34r Aquí lloró sentado

Aqui lloró sentado 3 stanzas [strophic];
no alfabeto; a3 [G2,
C2, C4]

34v-36r Como nada el cisne,
madre

Como nada el çisne madre
| que en mi vida nadar le
ui
Quien pretendiere
nadar | en el mar de
amor cruel
dbgaic | edbgab 3 coplas; a3 [C1, C2,
C3]
299

36v-38r Untexted no. 10

Si acaso [ ] M[ ] no alfabeto; a3 [C1,
C2, C3]

38v-40r Las olas del Tormes

Las olas del Tormes
corren a porfía

Las alegres aguas |
como agradecidas
dfi | cadrf 2 coplas; a3 [C3, C4,
F4]
40v-42r Frescos aires del prado Frescos ayres del prado Pues aveis sabido |
ayre bulliçioso
ab | adaca 2 coplas; a3 [C3, C4,
F4]

42v-44r Cuando yo me enamoré

Quando yo m’enamoré Embidiosos de mi
estado

dag | beb 2 coplas; a3 [C3, C4,
F4]

44v-46r Llegamos a puerto Llegamos a puerto | salté
de galera
Andando en la mar |
cargado de pena

ghd | agb 2 coplas; a3 [C3, C4,
F4]

46v-48r

Dulces aguas de Ebro Dulces aguas d’Ebro | que
a la mar os vays
Aguas cristalinas | que
corriendo vays
ghdo | gebhg 2 coplas; a3 [C3, C4,
F4]

48v-50r Airecitos del río de
Manzanares

Ayrecillos del rio | de
Mançanares
Ausencia tan dura | de
Amarilis paso
ocog | hgoc 2 coplas; a3 [C3, C4,
F4]

53v-54r

Entre todos lo remedios Entre todos los remedios Todo tormento se
amansa

2 coplas a2 [C1, F4]

300
Table A.7.1. Il secondo libro delle canzonette, madrigali, et arie alla romana a due voci, per cantare, & sonare con il chitarone e la spinetta, del Radesca di
Foggia (Milan: l’herede di S. Tini & F. Lomazzo, 1606)

Page Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

16 Si vos pretendéis quererme

Sy vos pretendéys
quererme | quereros e
sempre yo

Querer bien y ser
querido | es un bien
muy celebrado
Canzonetta
spagnola, qui
scritta à gusto
d’un Cavaliero

__ 3 coplas; a2 [C1, F4]

Table A.7.2. Il terzo libro delle canzonette, madrigali, et arie alla romana, a due voci, per cantare, & sonare con la spineta, chitarrone, & altri simili stromenti,
del Radesca di Foggia (Venice: G. Vincenti, 1616/2)

Page Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

20 Que sean las mujeres
inconstantes

Que sean las mugeres
enconstantes | es vicio
natural

L’instabilità delle
donne. D’incierto.
All’Illustriss. Sig.
Conte di Rovigliasco

__ a2 [C1, F4]

Table A.7.3. Il quarto libro delle canzonette, madrigali, et arie alla romana, a due voci, con alcune à trè, & un dialogo à quattro nel fine, per cantare, & sonare
con la spinetta, chitarrone, & altri simili strumenti, del Radesca di Foggia (Venice: G. Vincenti, 1610)

Pages Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

20 Si de los ojos nace

Si de los ojos naçe | ver y
desear

Si vna dulve vista |
altera vn riposo
Canzonetta
Spagnola

__ 6 coplas; a2 [C1, F4]

301
Table A.7.4. El segvndo libro de los ayres, villançicos, y cancioncillas a la española, y italiana al vso moderno, a dos, y tres bozes, para cantar, y tañer en las
ghitarras, de Bendito Sanseverino (Milan: F. Lomazzo, 1616)

Pages Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

1 Pasados contentamientos Passados contentamientos |
que queréis
Memoria, queréis
oyrme | los días, las
noches buenas

A2. Ayre ABGBEOI | C 5 coplas; a2 [C1, F4]
2 Celos importunos

Zelos importunos | no me
persiguáis

Si en atormentarme |
buestro amor se
agumenta
A2. Ayre OCHDOG | BEBH 2 coplas; a2 [C1, F4]
3 Contentamientos de amor

Contenamientos de amor |
que tan cansados llegáys

Avn no acabáys de
uenir | despues de muy
desseados
A2. Ayre BAD | FBGAB 2 coplas; a2 [C1, F4]
4 Olvidada sois de mí Oluidada soys de my |
señora ¿que haré?

Abentureme a jugar |
el resto de my sosiego
Ayre. A2 ADABCA | GAIC 3 coplas; a2 [C1, F4]

5 Qué verdadero dolor Qve berdadero dolor |
y aparado sufrir

Ayre. A2 CAB | GH 5 coplas [strophic]; a2
[C3, F4]
6 Pensamiento mío Pensamiento mío |
caminad sin miedo

Ayre. A2 DAGEFD | BAEGB 12 coplas [strophic];
a2 [C1, F4]
7 Olvidastesme señora Olvidastesme señora |
mucho más os quiero agora

Sin ventura yo
oluidado | me veo no
se porqué
A2. Ayre

OCHBOCA | BOEHO 2 coplas; a2 [C1, F4]
8 Desdeñado soy de amor

Desdeñado soy d'amor |
guarde Dios tal dolor
Soy del amor
desdeñado | de fortuna
perseguido
A2. Ayre

ACB’ABCA 2 coplas; a2 [C1, F4]
9 Los ojos con que miré

Los ojos con que mire |
quebrados los veo yo
ABADFBEDFD 5 coplas; a2 [C1, F4]
10 Ya estarás contento Ya estarás contento | A2. Ayre ACABABAD 5 coplas; a2 [C1, F4]
302
tirano Cupido

11 Llevan desconciertos Lleuan desconciertos | el
sol de mis ojos

A2. Ayre

ABDABGABA 18 coplas; a2 [C1, F4]
12 Hermosísima pastora Hermosissima pastora |
señora de mis albedrio
Si os he ofendido |
mátenme zelos
[estribillo]
A2. Ayre

DAGEFD | GAHIC 8 coplas; a2 [C1, F4];
estribillo labeled as
copla

13 No me quejo yo del daño No me quexo yo del daño, |
que tu vida me causò

A3. Ayre AB’BEDFD | GADAB 5 coplas; a3 [C1, C1,
F4]
14 Bella pastorcilla, bella
pastora

Bella pastorçilla | bella
pastora
Tal bellezza vemos |
pastorçilla en bos
A3. Ayre ABDAB’CAC 2 coplas; a3 [C1, C1,
F4]
15 Quien entre mire bien
cómo ha vivido
Quien entre mire bien
como ha biuido

Ayre. A3
Ottaba
ACDBDAC 1 copla; a3 [C1, C1,
F4]
16-17 Si son para mirar vuestra
hermosura
Si son para mirar vuestra
hermosura | donayre, y
compostura

Ayre. A3.
A los antojos
de Diana
EOIOEOIC 3 coplas; a3 [C1, C1,
C4]
17-18 Al partir llaman partida Al partir llaman partida |
el que no sabe de amor

Canción de
Sireno. À tres
bozes

ACABAB’CEI 3 coplas; a3 [C1, C1,
F4]
19 Si mi tañer, y canto Si mi tañer y canto | atrás a
quel de Apollo se dexasse

Boçe sola.
Ayre
AB’BB’ICO 5 coplas; a1 + basso
continuo [C1, F4]

303
Table A.7.5. Affetti amorosi: canzonette ad vna voce sola, poste in musica da diuersi con la parte del basso, & le lettere dell’alfabetto per la chittarra alla
spagnola, raccolte da Giovanni Stefani (Venice: G. Vincenti, 1618)

Pages Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

50-51 Ay, que contento

Ay que contento | que e
nel’ alma siento

Amante felice GADHBG 3 coplas; a1 + basso
continuo [C1, F4]
52-53 Vuestra bellezza señora Vvestra belleza señora | me
tiene confuso el mirar
Sientome gran
consuelo | quando veo
a vuestra cara

Amante confuso EBGAIHAIC 2 coplas; a1 + basso
continuo [C1, F4]

Table A.7.6. Scherzi amorosi: canzonette ad vna voce sola, poste in musica da diuersi, e raccolte da Giovanni Stefani, con le lettere dell’Alfabetto per la chitarra
alla spagnuola...libro secondo (Venice: A. Vincenti, 1619 [lost]/1622)

Pages Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

24-25 No partáis mi dulce vida

No portáis mi dulce vida | ni
aquí sola me dexéis

L’Ausencia.
Cançión sobre
las folías.

OGAGOC 5 coplas; a1 + basso
continuo [C1, F4];
alternate text to
“Alma mia doue ten
vai”

26 Tres niñas me dan enojos

Tres ninnas me dan enosos |
quanto más por ellas muero

Amor incierto GADHBG 3 coplas; a1 + basso
continuo [C1, F4]
27 De mis tormentos y enojos De mis tormentos y enosos |
ganados por fe y passión
Osos en mirar
dañosos

OGHMGH 3 coplas; a1 + basso
continuo [C1, F4]
¿Quién menoscaba mis
bienes?
Qvién menoscabas mis
benes? | Desdenes, desdenes

Pruebas de amor
estrañas
ABCA | C+BCA 3 coplas; a1 + basso
continuo [C1, F4]
304
Table A.7.7. Terza raccolta di bellisime canzoni alla romanesca, per suonare, e cantare nella chitara alla spagnuola, con la sua intavolatura, con altre
canzonette vaghe, & belle, date alla stampa per il Sig. Remigio Romano (Vicenza: Salvadori, 1622)

Pages Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

101-103 ¿Quién menoscaba mis
bienes?
Qvién menosiaba mis bene?
| Desdenes, desdenes

Prvebas de amor estrañas.
Aria per cantare, e suonare
con la chitara alla
Spagnuola.

abca | c+bca 3 coplas

Table A.7.8. Il primo libro d’intavolatvra per la chitarra alla spagnuola, de passacalli, ciaccone, saravande, spagnuolette, folie, pauaniglie, pass’emezzi,
correnti, et altre varie suonate, di Benedetto Sanseverino (Milan: F. Lomazzo, 1622)

Pages Title Incipit Other Incipit Heading Initial Alfabeto
Sequence
Notes

60-61 Cuando yo me enamoré

Qvando yo me enamore |
fué solo de vn bel donayre

Vna bellezza subida |
en el myrar de tal
suerte
Canzonetta alla
Spagnola
DFDAG | BEB 2 coplas; alfabeto
includes full strum
pattern.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This study focuses on manuscript and printed sources of Italian vocal music from the period 1585-1630 that include poems in Spanish, defined as villanella spagnola. Its essential characteristics that this is a repertoire of Italian songs with Spanish texts that flourished in conjunction with the early practice of the guitar in the strummed style. Because most of this repertoire survives only as poetic texts accompanied by alfabeto symbols, the dissertation examines both the structural characteristics of the few surviving examples in full staff notation and the poetic and musical forms and detailed performance practice indications contained in the much larger body of alfabeto songs, narrowly defined as those consisting of a poetic text and alfabeto symbols only.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Zuluaga, Daniel (author)

Core Title The five-course guitar, alfabeto song and the villanella spagnola in Italy, ca. 1590 to 1630

School Thornton School of Music

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Music History and Literature

Publication Date 10/31/2014

Defense Date 06/19/2014

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag alfabeto,basso continuo duet,early modern Italy,five-course guitar,OAI-PMH Harvest,Spanish song,villanella spagnola

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Brown, Bruce Alan (committee chair), Demers, Joanna T. (committee member), Stein, Louise K. (committee member)

Creator Email chaconista@gmail.com,zuluaga@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-513695

Unique identifier UC11298548

Identifier etd-ZuluagaDan-3053.pdf (filename),usctheses-c3-513695 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-ZuluagaDan-3053.pdf

Dmrecord 513695

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Zuluaga, Daniel

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA