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Ricardo Soto
Nina Gilbert(EDITOR)

Editor's note: I am proud to present the third installment in the Choral Journal Writing Fellows series: Ricardo Soto's research on Juan del Encina and the villancico. Ric says that his original interest in villancico was selfish, pursuing his own Hispanic background. He has uncovered music worth sharing--music that appeals on a variety of standards. Encina's villancicos offer folklike charm, madrigalistic sensibility, and historical significance. They are also a relatively untapped pool for scholars looking to edit performing editions.

Schoolchildren remember 1492 as the year of Columbus's voyage, sailing to the New World under the patronage of the king and queen of Spain. Choral musicians should also mark the date: composer/playwright Juan del Encina (1468-1529) entered the service of the king's nephew, the duke of Alba. In the Duke's service Encina was responsible for dramatic, poetic and musical entertainment for the court. For at least five years he provided original eglogas (eclogues; pastoral dialogues) each of which concluded with a sung villancico . Choirs that enjoy performing Renaissance music such as madrigals, chansons and frottole will find the same sort of artistic gratification in the villancico . Distinctly Spanish in character, the villancico has dance-like rhythms, expressive melodies and subject matter covering three main areas: courtly love, pastoral settings, and religious or proverbial exhortations.

Villancico Form

The villancico is a secular Spanish musical and metrical form cultivated during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries for the entertainment of the aristocracy. Renaissance court poets and musicians, such as Juan del Encina, integrated folk elements into a structured poetic and musical design. Music and verse were originally composed for each other, by the same author. This tradition recalls the medieval practice of the troubadour, where verse, melody, and performance were united.

Figure 1 illusrates classic villancico form with Levanta Pascual, number 184 from the Cancionero Musical de Palacio . Tables 1and 2show the text, poetic structure, and rhyme scheme of the piece.

As is characteristic of all villancicos, Levanta Pascual starts with a refrain-- estribillo, sometimes called the villancico . This refrain is followed by one or more stanzas-- coplas --each in two sections. The first section of the copla, called the mundanza ("change"),...

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