Villancico (Sp., Diminutive of Villano: ‘Peasant’)

Villancico (Sp., diminutive of villano: ‘peasant’). A term first applied in the late 15th century to a Spanish vernacular musical and poetic form consisting of several stanzas (coplas) framed by a refrain (estribillo) at the beginning and end, giving an overall ABA structure. The number of stanzas varied, as did the number of times the estribillo was repeated between stanzas in performance. Originally derived from a medieval dance lyric of the virelai or ballata type and associated with rustic or popular themes, the villancico was extensively cultivated in secular polyphonic music of the late 15th century and the 16th. In the second half of the 16th century devotional and religious themes gained in importance and the form became used increasingly for sacred compositions in the vernacular which were introduced into the liturgy on feast days. In the 17th century it became more important than the Latin motet, and although its artistic quality rapidly declined in the 18th and 19th centuries it remained popular in both Spain and Latin America. Since then ‘villancico’ has come to mean simply ‘Christmas carol’. 1. Origins to 1600. 2. After 1600. 3. Latin America. BIBLIOGRAPHY ISABEL POPE (1), PAUL R. LAIRD (2–3) Villancico 1. Origins to 1600. The term ‘villancico’ was first applied by Renaissance writers to a refrain taken from or modelled on a rustic or popular song, and then to a number of ‘closed’ poetic and musical forms based on such a refrain. The earliest evidence of the use of the term in connection with the poetic form is in the Chansonnier Espagnol d’Herberay des Essarts (c c 1463; ed. C. Aubrun, Bordeaux, 1951), where a little poem entitled ‘Villancillo’ has the form aabbba etc. (see Table 1(a)). At about the same time another poem with an analogous genre designation, a ‘Villançete’ ascribed to Carvajales, appeared in the Cancionero de Estúñiga (ed. N. Salvador Miguel, Madrid, 1977), but it is less closely related to the textual history of the villancico than the poem in the Chansonnier Espagnol is. The earliest known song (complete with music) designated ‘villancico’ is Andad, pasiones, andad by Pedro de Lagarto in the 15th-century Cancionero Musical de la Biblioteca Colombina (ed. in MME, xxxiii, 1971); the poem is a refined exercise in courtly love but the three-part music has the simplicity of a popular tune. Lagarto’s song also appears in the Cancionero Musical de Palacio (see below), in which most of the villancicos show a similar simplicity. The form is that of a typical villancico with introductory refrain of three lines and one stanza (Table 1(b)). The first description of the villancico is in Juan del Encina’s ‘Arte de poesia castellana’ from his Cancionero of 1496. His comments suggest that the villancico had no specific poetic form and was not necessarily based on traditional verse, though he might have taken for granted the use of a traditional melody: If the refrain has two lines we may call it a mote [motto] or a villancico or a letra usually of the poet’s invention. … If it has three complete lines and one half-line, it will likewise be called a villancico or letra of the poet’s invention. … And if it has four lines, it may be called a canción and sometimes a copla [stanza]. The texts of the villancicos in his cancionero have up to 12 stanzas of six or seven lines each. Such flexibility was indeed characteristic of the villancico (as of popular song in general), even as late as 1592 when Díaz Rengifo, in his Arte poética, attempted a precise definition, emphasizing that it was a song, not just a poem, that it was comparable to the Italian ballata, and that it had a ‘head’ (refrain) joined in a variety of ways to the ‘feet’ (the mudanzas with their vuelta forming the strophe). The tendency from the 15th century to the 17th was for the term ‘villancico’ to be applied to a refrain song of up to four lines that was popular in flavour, as well as to the refrain itself, while ‘canción’ was more apt to be used for a courtly song of more than four lines; but as the terms were used inconsistently during the period it is impossible to draw rigid distinctions. From Encina’s definition and the examples of the villancico in the musical and literary cancioneros of his day two basic types emerge, shown in Table 1; the schemes shown in Table 2 are less common. The following characteristics should be noted: a lack of symmetry, though not invariable (see Table 2), occurs between the metrical and melodic repetitions of the estribillo in the vuelta; the rhyme of the first verse of the vuelta links it with the mudanzas, but its music ‘returns’ directly to that of the estribillo; the last or last two verses of the vuelta often repeat wholly or in part those of the estribillo; frequently the mudanza melody incorporates by repetition or variation a phrase of the estribillo melody. This form, in its various patterns, already existed in medieval monophonic songs such as the French virelai, Provençal dansa, Italian lauda, ballata and Hispanic cantiga. All display with some consistency the curious ‘asymmetry’ between verse and music of the vuelta. The villancico’s direct prototypes appear in the great collection of semi-popular devotional songs, the Cantigas de Santa María, compiled by Alfonso el Sabio in the late 13th century. A usual though not invariable repetition of the estribillo between the coplas recalls responsorial dance forms from which all these ‘closed’ forms probably derived. A notably large proportion of the Cantigas present the apparently basic pattern shown in Table 1(a). Consequently the striking formal and metrical similarity of the 12th-century Andalusian–Arabic zajal (aa, bbba), although no music survives, raises problems of relationship still to be elucidated. The zajal often ended with a refrain in street language (a jarcha), another apparent link with the villancico, which early in its history was related to popular refrains. Spanish poetry of the 14th and 15th centuries exhibits numerous examples of the cantiga– zajal type, always in a popular context. However, the earliest polyphonic songs from the second half of the 15th century are settings, strongly influenced by the Franco-Flemish chanson, of the canción, an aristocratic lyric form with a four- or five-verse estribillo and symmetrical vuelta. Reacting against its musical and metrical complexities, Encina’s generation revived the simpler patterns of popular tradition in the villancico. Stylistically the villancico of this latter period is almost identical to the frottola, and its form very similar to the barzelletta, a type of frottola. Frottolas are found in the Cancionero Musical de Palacio, and villancicos by Encina appear in the second and fourth books of frottolas printed by Andrea Antico (RISM 1516 2, 15172). Considering the close relations between Spanish and Italian courts of the period, this association is not surprising. More than 300 villancicos appear in the famous Cancionero Musical de Palacio (c 1490–c 1520; ed. in MME, v, 1947; x, 1951; xiv, 1965). Two collections from the decades around 1500, Cancionero Musical de la Colombina ( c 1490; ed. in MME, xxxiii, 1971) and Cancionero Musical de Segovia [ed. V. Lama de la Cruz, 1994), contain numerous villancicos, although the older canción still predominates. However, of the 65 three-part courtly love songs in the Portuguese Cancionero Musical de Elvas (c 1500; also known as the Cancionero Musical de la Hortênsia, ed. M. Morais, PM, ser. A. xxxi, 1977) the majority are villancicos; important composers represented are Juan del Encina, Juan de Anchieta, Millán, Pedro de Escobar, Juan Ponce and Francisco de Peñalosa. The villancicos of this period, in three or four parts, are usually texted only in the superius, which carries the melody, and are predominantly homophonic in texture. The generally syllabic melody, of narrow range and set in simple contrapuntal style and often conjunct motion, matches the rhythm of the verse and frequently cadences at its close with brief ornamentation. Duple mensuration prevails, but triple metre is also common, often with jaunty use of hemiola. The normal octosyllabic verses are sometimes combined with a half-verse; shorter lines tend to occur in popular, lively pieces. These villancicos were composed for an aristocratic environment. Courtly love songs mix with pieces, often setting satirical texts, that reflect the lives of peasants. The freshness of the music complements the rustic poems, and brings genuine expression to the more artificial courtly love songs. Feasting songs and satirical and bawdy pieces were skilfully set for witty, realistic or dramatic effect. Devotional and particularly Christmas villancicos form a characteristic group, though most pieces in the Cancionero Musical de Palacio and in Encina’s Cancionero of 1496 are secular rather than sacred. In the 16th century a new generation of composers developed a new polyphonic style; all voices now share equally in the text and melody. The polyphony develops primarily through imitation, but homophonic style is not uncommon. The text, frequently reduced to an estribillo and one copla, often with a symmetrical vuelta, is treated expressively through repetitions distributed among the voices. Triple metre becomes more common, and irregular metres and simple tunes, though artfully treated, betray the continuity of a popular tradition; yet many imitative villancicos from the mid-16th century are in fact sophisticated compositions. Two collections illustrate this period: the manuscript Cancionero Musical de Barcelona with some 20 villancicos (c 1520–c 1534; ed. E. Ros- 30 Fabregas, 1992); and the print Villancicos de diversos autores (RISM 1556 ), now known as the Cancionero de Upsala (ed.

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