Codex Las Huelgas
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The Codex Las Huelgas (E-BUlh) is a music manuscript or codex from c. 1300 which originated in and has remained in the Cistercian convent of Santa María La Real de Las Huelgas in Burgos, in northwestern Spain, then Castile. It was rediscovered in 1904 by two Benedictine monks. The manuscript is written on parchment, with the staves written in red ink with Franconian notation. The bulk of material is written in one hand, however as many as 12 people contributed to it, including corrections and later additions. The manuscript contains 45 monophonic pieces (20 sequences, 5 conductus, 10 Benedicamus tropes) and 141 polyphonic compositions, 1 of which doesn't have music. Most of the music dates from the late 13th century, with some music from the first half of the 13th century (Notre dame repertory), and a few later additions from the first quarter of the 14th century.
Johannes Roderici (Johan Rodrigues) inscribed his name in a number of places in the manuscript. He may have composed a couple of the pieces in the manuscript, as well as being scribe, compiler, and corrector, according to his own inscriptions.
The manuscript was intended for use in performance, which is interesting because it was used at a women's monastery, which leads to questions of performance practice of the pieces it contains, especially the polyphonic repertory. The monastery had a choir of 100 women at one point in the 13th century, and it is believed that this choir of women performed the polyphonic works in the manuscript, despite the Cistercian rules against the performance of polyphonic music.
[edit] Editions
- Higinio Anglès El Còdex Musical de Las Huelgas. Música a veus dels segles XIII-XIV, 3 vols., Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 1931; facsimile edition with commentary.
- Gordon Athol Anderson The Las Huelgas Manuscript, Burgos, Monasterio de Las Huelgas, 2 vols., Corpus Mensurabilis Musicæ 79, American Institute of Musicology, Hänssler Verlag, Neuhausen-Stuttgart, 1982; transcription into modern notation.
[edit] References
- Goldberg by Juan Carlos Asensio. Translated by Yolanda Acker.
- Ernest H. Sanders; Peter M. Lefferts. "Sources, MS, §V: Early motet 2. Principal individual sources.", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed May 20, 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
