Text-Music Mismatches in the Cantigas de Santa Maria

Abstract

The manuscripts of the CSM show many instances of text-music mismatch, in which the text copied under the staves proves difficult to align with the music supplied by the copyist. The mismatch may arise from miscopying of the text, or may point to atypical metrical structures. Some cases are resolved in the stave by emendation of the text or music; others are left unresolved or result in blank staves. These cases provide important pointers to the dynamics of the text and the workings of the musical notation. They show that text and music were not always indissolubly linked but were frequently brought together in the process of assembly of the complete manuscript pages, part of the compilation phase of the production of the CSM.