Song Mozarab

The song Mozarab , which should be known like Hispanic Wisigothique or , is the musical expression associated with the Hispanic Liturgie, clean of the Spanish Wisigothe Church and which survives until our days.

History of the Hispanic song

The history of this musical system is closely plain with the development of the Liturgie which it serves.

Origin of the Hispanic song

One knows little about the origin and the formation Hispanic liturgy and about the song associated with it. Obviously, the origin is related to the expansion of the Christianisme in the Iberian peninsula during the first centuries of our era. The province of Hispanie was one of the first of the Western part of the Roman Empire with being chistianized, made favoured by three important causes:

the existence of rich person old Jewish communities.
many population of origin Roman.
the prompt évangélisatrice activity in Hispanie

The influence of the liturgy sinagogale

The importance of the worship sinagogal in the Christian liturgy and its musical expression is obvious, especially, in two aspects:

the Chant (recitation of the Psalm S).
the Lectio (reading of the Bible).

Relationship to other Christian musical systems

Separately the Jewish liturgy, there were other factors which influenced the formation and the configuration of the liturgy and the Hispanic song. Among those one can quote elements préromains and Romans. The various religious liturgies of Antiquity contînrent, all, of the systems of recitation and tonal organization. The cultural interrelationship produced in the territory of the Roman Empire makes very difficult tries it to distinguish from/to each other, especially when come into contact Christians of the other areas of the East and the Occident. Consequently can appreciate a common substrate in the Christian liturgies of the various areas of the Empire, especially among the Western ones which arrived to us more complete: the Roman-Gregorian , the Milanese woman or ambrosienne and the Hispanic one. This substrate common is seen considered, especially, in the evolution of the Responsoire S, songs psaumodic of origin Jew which were syllabic and which in cettes three liturgies transform very into melodies Mélismatique S and decorated.

Another example is the common evolution of the Récitatif, which in the three liturgies starts from a “cord mother” on Ré, according to a design of ascent-descent Do-Ré, D-C.

The fixing of the Hispanic song

After the wisigothic introduction of the Kingdom of Tolède in the major part of Hispanie and in the extremity of the south-east of the Gaulle, the unit and the specificity of the Spanish Church, attached to the Latin tradition and in perpetual fight with the Arianisme of the new leaders Visigoths, consolidated itself. The filiation of the Hispanic catholic clergy to the Roman population, vis-a-vis the clergy arrien, of Germanic origin, fixes the cultural traditions of the empire in the Iberian peninsula, rather than in any other place of Occident. Actually, the Spanish case is an exception of cultural development in these disturbed times, which finishes by a success during the the Third Council of Tolède, when the king Recarède converted, with his noble Visigoth S, with the Catholicisme.

The fixing of the Hispanic song is found in the royalties Consiliaires and the ecclesiastical documents. The musical system gréco-Roman is incorporated definitively through works of Boèce, Cassiodore and Marciano Capella, popularized in the Étymologies of saint Isidore of Seville. The organization of the distinct songs is assumed in the various missals, codices liturgical and in the monastic rules.

This period crystallizes also the influence of other Christian liturgies: of Ambrosien one takes again of it the Hymne, of which many are composed by the Spanish fathers; traditions are incorporated, like the Schola , of the Roman liturgy; and the melismatic melodies of Eastern origin multiply by the Byzantine presence on the Eastern coast of the Peninsula.

Hispanic song with the Middle Ages

After the Moslem conquest of the Iberian peninsula in 711, the originality of the Hispanic liturgy and song which is associated to him, is curiously safeguarded as well in the Christian cores remained isolated in north as in the Christian communities which remain Moslem authority. Soon, the Pyrenean marks adopt the models prégégoriens, with for implication already in IXe century, of the Gregorian chant in many churches. This phenomenon does not occur in the other Christian cores, mainly Navarra and Asturies, which maintain for sign of identity the heritage Visigoth and which are reticent to assimilate the Roman rite, always associated with the imperial capacity of the Carolingians and later with the German ones.

Although the dynamism of the Andalusian company makes it possible to the Christians to take part in the civil culture by assuming Arabic like language worship; they maintain Latin like language of communication and preserve intact the liturgical and musical legacy of the time visigote. For these reasons, the influence of the musical systems of the Arabs and Berbères remain minimized: on the other hand, one can detect the influence of the Hispanic song on the music developed in the Andalusian companies, especially during the time califale.

The progressive pressure on this Christian population causes a migratory movement growing towards north. The transfer of this population and the creation of new payments Mozarabs in Christian zone create two liturgical and musical traditions which evolve/move differently:

the tradition of Tolède , more preserving, in Moslem territory.
the tradition of Castille-and-León , with important centers in the principal monasteries: Frómista, Sahagún, and in cathedrals like León, Oviedo, Pampelune and Burgos.

Decline of the Hispanic song

In the middle of XIe century, the Hispanic rite was seen gradually replaced by the Roman Rite . Alphonse VI of Castille convened a general advice of its kingdoms of Burgos (1080), and declared officially the abolition of the Hispanic liturgy and its substitution for the Roman liturgy. On the other hand, during the reconquest of Tolède (1085), six parishes obtînrent like concession in the pact of conquest, the license to preserve the old liturgy. Thus starting from this date, the Hispanic song was maintained only in the Christian communities under Moslem authority (they are called Mozarabs), although in progressive decline.

The reform of Cisneros

In full reforming process of the Church Castilian, the cardinal Cisneros (archbishop of Tolède) created in 1495, with the support of the catholic queen, a vault in the Cathédrale Santa María de Tolède - that of the Corpus Christi - in order to preserve the old liturgy by equipping it with income for its maintenance and priests of the municipal council even of the cathedral. It also carried out an important liturgical work of collection and order - each parish celebrated the mass and the offices in a different way and the oral tradition which supported the song lost small with small and joined together a great quantity of Codex coming from all the kingdom: it sent a rebuilding of the texts and a study of the liturgical resources which culminated in an impression again Missel and of a Bréviaire (catholic). On them, one transcribed the melodies which one still preserved at the quarrée notation: the old texts which were preserved allowed the approximate rebuilding of the liturgy as it existed at the time visigote. On the other hand, one could not make the same thing for the song. We preserve manuscripts of IXe and XIe century with practically all the song Mozarab or Hispanic; but unfortunately, they are written in a pneumatic notation which does not indicate the intervals and consequently they cannot be read. Only 21 of the great quantity of preserved songs can be read, because they are found transcribe in Aquitanian notation in a later manuscript of XIIe century. However, not even the melodies restored by the Cisneros cardinal are not really authentic, with the exeption of certain recitations preserved by oral way.

The reform of González Martín

In 1992, left the first volume the Missal Hispano-Mozarab, fruit of a hard work of investigation and restoration of the old rites. This work was completed under the order of the cardinal of Tolède, Marcelo González Martín, and lasted more than nine years. The musical restoration was extremely thorough, returning many texts, circumvented or reduced during the reform of Cisneros, with their original splendor. Moreover, to maintain the survival of the rite, the pope Jean-Paul II increased the licenses of use of the Hispanic liturgy and his song in all the places of Spain which require it. Thus, of the vaults Mozarabs reinstalled themselves in the cathedrals of Cordou and Salamanque. Celebrations were carried out with this worthy rite with Madrid, Seville and even with Rome, in the Basilique Saint-Pierre.

Musical characteristics

The Hispanic song is a song monodic, of kind diatonic and free Rythme.

It is a song because it is a primarily oral music; what means that the musical instruments can accompany it but not interpret the melody. The instruments which accompanied this song followed the model traced in the psalm 150,3-6: Laudate eum in sound system tubae, laudate eum in psalterio and will cithara, laudate eum in tympano and choro, laudate eum in chordis and organo, laudate eum in cymbalis benesonantibus, laudate eum in cymbalis iubilationis, omne quod spirat, laudet Dominum. Alleluia. Its forms can result from the miniatures of (the beatos ??? = medieval handwritten codes which reproduce the text of the comments of the Apocalypse) and of the representations of Romance scupture.
It is monodic because they develop in only one line of melody; although like the other Christian liturgical songs, they can be interpreted using developments parralèles in fifth downward, fourth ascending and eighth, according to the situation of the person who sings it.
It is diatonic because it does not allow a Cromatismes in its composition, i.e. it builds in scales formed by tons and fixed semitones those in the intervals semi-F and if-C.
It is du' rate/rhythm libre' because to the difference of the illustrated music, one does not give mathematical succession of various sources subjected at preceded intervals. “free” is equivalent saying “not measured”. In the Hispanic song it is the initial arranger (called arsis) followed by a final rest (called thesis) which forms the fundamental rhythmic cell. Thus, it is a rate/rhythm in which exists a quantitative irregularity of duration between the elements which compose the melody, with a free turn, not isocrone at the first time, so that are established a variable succession of binary and ternary times.

Moreover, as the remainder of the system musical diatonic, it has a modal structuring, inherited the gréco-Romance music.

Musical forms

As in any liturgical song, the musical forms, on the literary point of view , depend directly on the type of stroffe, situation and contained texts in the various liturgical acts since the mass with the Community prayer in the divine office. From this talk one can distinguish the following forms:

AD accedentes
AD pacem
AD Sanctus Répon which introduces the Sanctus.
Agios
Alleluia
Alleluiaticum
Apostolus
Benedictiones
Clamores
Creed
Doxología
Evangelium
Gloria in excelsis
Graecum
Himno
Laudes
Lectio
Missa '

Oratio admonitionis

Lord's Prayer Noster

Preces

Prelegendum

Psallendum

Repletum or Refecti

Responsorium

Sacrificium

Salmo

Sancta Sanctis

Sanctus

Sound system

Threni

Versus

See too

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