Events
GIEHCM Seminar | Pliegos de Villancicos Portugueses: Genesis and development of a transdisciplinary research project
PERMANENT SEMINAR IN HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES IN MUSIC
The Permanent Seminar of the research group Historical and Cultural Studies in Music of INET-md intends to be a forum where all its members (integrated and collaborators), as well as other invited researchers from the academic, cultural and artistic circles, may present their work and discuss ongoing projects and research.
21-02-2025 | 4 PM | NOVA FCSH, Colégio Almada Negreiros (Campolide) | Room 209 | Online
Free access, in person and online.
Zoom Room
Meeting ID: 985 5869 2740
Pass code: 031424
Pliegos de Villancicos Portugueses: Genesis and development of a transdisciplinary research project
Rui Cabral Lopes | INET-md / NOVA FCSH
Since its foundation by Álvaro Torrente in 2000, the project entitled Catálogo Descriptivo de Pliegos de Villancicos (CDPV), based at the Complutense University of Madrid, has become the main instrument for locating and describing hundreds of villancico libretti belonging to Iberian cult centers, spread across libraries and archives around the world. The range of textual sources of the CDPV was enlarged, in April 2022, with the release of the third volume of the series, under the title Pliegos de Villancicos Portugueses, by Reichenberger. This publication describe all the surviving vilancico libretti printed by Portuguese centers for religious celebrations such as Christmas, Epiphany and the commemoration of local saints and patrons. The catalogue brings together 314 different editions corresponding to festivities that took place between 1637 and 1723, most of which promoted by the Royal Chapel of Lisbon. The total number of 1218 libretti demonstrates, in itself, the role of the vilancico as a dominant musical genre, beyond the vocal music in Latin.
A retrospective of the project will be carried out in this seminar, from its genesis, through the field research and reconstruction of the chronology of the sources, until the final stages of revision and edition. Coming from several Portuguese and foreign libraries, the textual sources of the vilancicos offer relevant information both on the thematic and catechetical message underlying the various feasts, as well as on the languages and living habits that emerged in the contemporary society, or even on the concrete musical structure of the villancicos. For this reason, its study requires an transdisciplinary approach that encompasses several areas of knowledge, with an emphasis on Theology, Linguistics and Musicology. All these topics will be discussed during the seminar, highlighting the informative potential of the catalogue in regard to musical and cultural tendencies of the period.
Rui Cabral Lopes | Graduated from the Departamento de Ciências Musicais of Universidade Nova de Lisboa where he took his Master's degree in Portuguese sacred Polyphony. In 2007 he completed his doctorate at Universidade de Évora under the supervision of Rui Vieira Nery, with a study on the villancico repertoire from the Royal Chapel of Portugal. He worked at Gulbenkian Foudation and National Library of Portugal and published widely on Portuguese music. He teaches history of music and orchestra at Metropolitana Academy, Universidade Lusíada and Jean Piaget Institute. He is also a member of the INET-md.
