Cancionero de Upsala
Author: Blogger in Residence, Rory Johnston
It’s almost Christmas time, with the first Sunday of Advent coming up this weekend…Many of you will be singing in or attending carol concerts in the coming weeks and will experience that standard mix of carols from the Carols for Choirs series, probably #1.
If you’re lucky you might be doing some of the more adventurous ones from 100 Carols for Choirs. Or if you’re even more lucky you may get to do some of the contemporary carols from Carols for Choirs 5 – my favourites from that are in the listening at the end of the article! There may be the odd one or two of you who are singing the marvellous ‘Riu riu chiu’, a wonderful Spanish carol that was brought into mainstream choral knowledge after 1992 Kings College Cambridge’s Christmas Eve Broadcast. What some of you may not know is where that carol comes from.
Riu riu chiu is what is known as a ‘villancico’, which is a form of early Spanish and Portuguese song that has short verses and a refrain. They started as folk songs, but over the years were increasingly used in sacred and secular Christmas music.
During what we now call the Renaissance, this form and pervaded the Iberian peninsula, and were a form of more profane seasonal celebration. Churches were less likely venues for the performance of these songs as they are often very rhythmic and accompanied by instruments, such as vihuelas (a kind of predecessor to the guitar – kind of…), drums of all kinds, recorders, and viols. There are many sources of these villancicos, but one of the most well-known is the ‘Cancionero de Upsala’, from which Riu riu chiu comes.
The Cancionero de Upsala, named after Uppsala University where the unique copy survives, is filled with around 50 songs, many of them anonymous. Its real title is: ‘Villancicos de diversos Autores, a dos, y a tres, y a quatro, y a cinco bozes, agora nuevamente corregidos. Ay mas ocho tonos de Canto llano, y ocho tonos de Canto de Organo para que puedan aprovechar los que A cantar començaren. Venetiis, Apud Hieronymum Scotum, MDLVI.’ …. I’ll leave you to Google translate that yourselves. Inside is a treasure trove of beautiful and exciting songs that will give you a new perspective on what a Christmas carol is.
There have been many recordings of lots of these over the years, but one of the best and most authentic comes from Jordi Savall, master of all things Renaissance and Spanish (and a treble viol player), and his recording with La Capella Reial de Catalunya for their 25th Anniversary. This album features a wide selection of villancicos, some from the Cancionero de Upsala, some from the Cancionero del Palacio, and other pieces of Renaissance and early Baroque Iberian composers. To give you somewhere to start, my two favourites are ‘Yo me soy la morenica’ performed by Montserrat Figueras in an explosive and dazzling interpretation with lots of percussions, and ‘Ay luna que reluzes’ in a completely contrasting gentle and mysterious interpretation.
You can find many of the scores here, and if they take your fancy I know that there is a concert by the fabulous choir in London, Renaissance Singers directed by the brilliant Dr. David Allinson, who will be perfoming a mix of Spanish Christmas music including some of the songs from the Cancionero de Upsala.
What I’ve been listening to this week:
O virgo virginum – Josquin des Prez
A heavenly song – Cecilia McDowall
The Christ-Child – Gabriel Jackson
Written by Rory Johnston