Canciones españolas / Teresa Berganza
Songs from the Middle Ages and Renaissance

medieval.org
Deutsche Gramophon 2530 504
1974

CD: DG 477 6611 'Spotlight', 2007

SEITE 1:
1. Alfonso X. el Sabio (1221-1284). Rosa das rosas  [2:45]   Cantiga — Solo · CSM 10
2. Miguel de Fuenllana (ca. 1525-1579). Pérdida de Antequera  [2:51]
3. Anonymus (16. Jh.). Dindirindin  [1:39]  Villancico
4. Alonso Mudarra (1510-1580). Triste estaua el rey David  [2:27]  Romance
5. Anonymus (15. Jh.). Nuevas te traygo, Carillo  [0:56]
6. Anonymus (15. Jh.). Los hombres con gran placer  [1:13]
7. Francisco de la Torre (ca. 1483—ca. 1504). Dime, triste corazón  [0:51]
8. Enríquez de Valderrábano (ca. 1500-1557). De dónde venís, amore  [1:14]  Villancico
9. Luys Milán (1500 —1562). Toda mi vida hos amé  [4:54]  Villancico
10. Triana (15. Jh.). Dínos, madre del donsel  [2:20]
11. Alonso Mudarra (ca. 1510-1580). Si me llaman a mi  [2:16]  Villancico

SEITE 2:
12. Juan de la Encina (1468-1530). Romerico  [3:37]
13. Juan Vázquez/Miguel de Fuenllana (ca. 1500-1560/ca, 1525-1579). Vos me matastes  [2:05]  Villancico
14. Luys Milán (1500-1562). Aquel caballero, madre  [7:51]  Villancico
15. Alonso Mudarra (ca. 1510-1580). Claros y frescos ríos  [2:17]
16. Alonso Mudarra (ca. 1510-1580). Isabel, perdiste la tu faxa  [2:04]
17. Luys de Narváez (ca. 1530-1550). Con qué la lavaré  [2:22]  Villancico
18. Juan Vázquez/Diego Pisador (ca. 1500-1560/ca. 1500-1557). En la fuente del rosel  [0:56]  Villancico
19. Alfonso X. el Sabio (1221-1284). Santa Maria  [2:08]  Cantiga — Solo · CSM 100



Teresa Berganza, Mezzosopran
Narciso Yepes, Gitarre




Produced by Dr. Rudolf Werner • Recording Producer: Dr. Rudolf Werner • Balance Engineer: Heinz Wildhagen
Recording Engineer: Klaus Behrens
© 2007 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg
Project Management: David Butchart • Photo: (C) Julian Hann / DG (Berganza) • Art Direction: Merle Kersten

℗ 1974 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg

Mezzo-soprano Teresa Berganza has perhaps been best known in opera, but she was a no less remarkable recitalist throughout her long career, and a supreme interpreter of the magnificent song repertoire of her native Spain. Here, accompanied by the renowned guitarist Narciso Yepes, this great artist presents a superb anthology of Spanish song from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, all delivered "with exquisite tone and emotion" (Gramophone). This was Berganza's first solo recital recording for Deutsche Grammophon and dates from 1974.

Die Mezzosopranistin Teresa Berganza ist wohl am bekanntesten für ihre Opernarbeit. Während ihrer langen Karriere war sie jedoch stets eine ebenso bemerkenswerte Liedersängerin und insbesondere eine überragende Interpretin des herrlichen Liedrepertoires ihres Heimatlands Spanien. Zusammen mit dem renommierten Gitarristen Narciso Yepes präsentiert sie hier eine wundervolle Anthologie spanischer Lieder vom Mittelalter bis zur Renaissance, vorgetragen »mit erlesenem Ton und Kolorit:' (The Gramophone). 1974 entstanden, war dies das erste Solo-Recital, das Teresa Berganza für Deutsche Grammophon aufnahm.

Si la mezzo-soprano espagnole Teresa Berganza s'était fait une immense réputation à l'opéra, elle ne fut pas moins remarquable dans les récitals qu'elle donna au cours de sa longue carrière et s'avéra une interprète exceptionnelle du répertoire de son pays. On l'entend ici accompagnée par le célèbre guitariste Narciso Yepes dans un superbe florilège de chants espagnols du Moyen-Age et de la Renaissance, tous interprétés «avec une émotion et un timbre exquis» (Gramophone). Il s'agit du premier récital soliste que Berganza enregistra pour Deutsche Grammophon — en 1974.

TERESA BERGANZA
Canciones from the Golden Age of Spanish Song

Teresa Berganza has perhaps been most celebrated in opera, but she was no less remarkable as a recitalist throughout her long career, and a supreme interpreter of the magnificent song repertoire of her native Spain. Here, accompanied by the renowned guitarist Narciso Yepes, the mezzo-soprano presents a representative anthology of Spanish vocal music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

The two earliest pieces on this recording, [1] and [19], sung unaccompanied, are taken from the Cantigas de Santa Maria, one of the most important musical sources from the Middle Ages. They were compiled by Alfonso X "el Sabio", King of Castile and León (reigned 1252-84) and himself a poet and musician. With his 423 Cantigas in the Galician-Portuguese language, praising the Virgin or relating miracles done by her, the "Wise" king achieved a fusion of the disparate cultural trends then circulating in Spain.

One of the most important figures of the Renaissance, the poet, playwright and musician, Juan del Encina lived in the university city of Salamanca at the turn of the 15th century. Among his contemporaries were Francisco de la Torre, who served the Catholic monarchs and was chaplain of Seville Cathedral at the beginning of the 16th century. Rather later in the 16th century, alongside several charming anonymous pieces of popular inspiration, we find works by Juan Vazquez, an Andalusian composer who ranks with his more famous contemporaries Morales, Guerrero and Victoria among the supreme masters of Spanish polyphony.

Another field in which Spanish music of the 16th century made an outstanding contribution to European developments was that of the vihuelistas, composer-performers dedicated to the vihuela, a plucked viol closely related to the lute, which flourished mainly in Spain in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Vihuelistas are well represented in Teresa Berganza's anthology by some of the vocal pieces that formed the basis for their instrumental collections, including Enríquez de Valderrábano's Silva de Sirenas (Valladolid, 1547); Diego Pisador's Libro de música de vihuela (Salamanca, 1552); and the blind virtuoso vihuelist Miguel de Fuenllana's Orphénica lyra (Seville, 1554). Fuenllana's song "Pérdida de Antequera" [2] tells of a Moor who rides off to ask his king for help in defending besieged Antequera and is met by the monarch leading a force of 300 Moorish knights. "Toda mi vida hos amé" [9] is a song about unrequited love from Luis de Milán's collection El maestro (Valencia, 1536). In "¿Con qué la lavaré?" [17] from Luis de Narváez's Los seys libros del Delphin (Valladolid, 1538), the singer asks "With what should I wash my face? The wives wash theirs in lemon water. I wash mine in pain and grief."

Alonso Mudarra, who published his Tres libros de música de cifra para vihuela in 1546 in Seville, two months after becoming a canon at the cathedral, was probably the finest Spanish composer of songs of the 16th century. His "Triste estaua el rey David" is a moving setting of David's lament on the death of Absalom. The charming "Isabel, perdiste la tu faxa" ("Isabella, thou hast lost thy girdle — there it floats on the water") [16] is notable for its extended vihuela introduction; "Claros y frescos ríos" ("Cool crystalline streams") [15] is a cry of anguish amidst the beauty of Nature.

© 2007 Deutsche Grammophon