Os orfeos de Santa Cruz de Coimbra: Para uma definição das qualidades vocais dos cónegos cantores do Mosteiro de Santa Cruz de Coimbra nos séculos XVI e XVII e sua análise comparativa com fontes europeias

Abstract

The descriptions of singers in obituaries and chronicles from the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, Portugal from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are quite revealing of the vocal criteria appreciated by chroniclers and by the community at that time. A comparative analysis of several contemporary European sources allows us to evaluate this monastery’s musical activity in consonance with the vocal aesthetics developed in other European cultural centres. The present study leads us to encourage today’s performers of the repertoires arising from these contexts, through proximity to historical sources, to employ ornamentation with greater understanding.