News

The Instituto de Etnomusicologia - Centro de Estudos em Música e Dança, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Edition Reichenberger present the catalogue entitled Pliegos de Villancicos Portugueses, by Álvaro Torrente (UCM) and Rui Cabral Lopes (INET-md NOVA FCSH). The volume will be presented by Rui Vieira Nery (INET-md NOVA FCSH).

The range of textual sources systematised in the Catálogo Descriptivo de Pliegos de Villancicos, a project based at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, was extended in 2022 with the publication of the third volume, under the title Pliegos de villancicos portugueses (Edition Reichenberger). It catalogues and describes all the surviving villancicos printed by Portuguese centres of worship for religious celebrations such as Christmas, Epiphany and the commemoration of local saints and patrons. The catalogue describes 1218 pamphlets from 314 different editions corresponding to festivities that took place between 1637 and 1723, most of which were promoted by the Royal Chapel of Lisbon.

The most important collections come from the National Library of Portugal (502 pamphlets), the National Library of Brazil (266 pamphlets), the General Library of the University of Coimbra (173 pamphlets) and the Public Library of Évora (128 pamphlets). There are also collections from the Paço Ducal Library in Vila Viçosa (74 pamphlets), Harvard's Houghton Library (50 pamphlets), the Ajuda National Palace Library (13 pamphlets) and the British Library (12 pamphlets).

The catalogue witnesses the intensity of production of the religious vilancico in Portugal over almost a century, allowing us to explore the poetic forms, themes and typologies of the vilancicos, as well as the specific liturgical settings in which the vilancicos were heard, both in Lisbon's Royal Chapel and in other centres of worship in the country.