“Qué música divina” villancico by José [Sánchez de] Caseda [y Villamayor]

Que música divina is a 4-voice villancico from the late 17th century that alludes to Christ’s crucifixion as a vihuela/citara. It shows the continuing poetic legacy of the 16th-century vihuela. Vihuela is spellt “viguela” in the MS.

[Estribillo]
Qué música divina,
acorde y soberana.
Afrenta de las aves
con tiernas,
armoniosas consonancias.
En quiebros suaves,
sonoros y graves,
acordes y acentos
ofrece a los vientos.
Y en cláusulas varias
sentidos eleva,
potencias desmaya.

Coplas
1. Suenen las dulces cuerdas
de esa divina cítara y humana,
que a un son que es de los cielos
forma unida la alta con la baja.

2. De la fe es instrumento
y al oído su música regala,
donde hay por gran misterio,
en cada punto, entera consonancia.

3. Del lazo a este instrumento
sirve la unión que sus extremos ata,
tres clavos son clavijas
y puente de madera fue una tabla.

4. Misteriosa vihuela,
al herirle sus cuerdas una lanza,
su sagrada armonía
se vio allí de siete órdenes formada.

5. No son a los sentidos
lo que suenan sus voces soberanas
porque de este instrumento
cuantos ellos perciban serán falsas.

6. Su primor misterioso,
que a los cielos eleva al que lo alcanza,
no le come el sentido
porque es pasto su música del alma.

This villancico was drawn to my attention by Cesar Favila, Assistant Professor of Musicology, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, University of California, Los Angeles. It is being discussed by him in his PhD diss (in progress Jan. 2022). The text has been modernised by Cesar Favila..

My reading of the text is along these lines: The Estribillo indicates that the “musica divina” of the vihuela is more beautiful than the music of the birds, and that with its sweet qualities it robs the wind of its power. The coplas bring the literal images of the vihuela.
1. Focuses on the strings, which go from high to low and that, when they sound all together, it is as if from the heavens.
2. It is a tool (instrumento) of faith and, as becomes a mystery, every single note becomes a chord.
3. The rosette (as if a heart) unites its extremities (in the Spanish sense of arms and legs); the tuning pegs at one end of the strings, and the bridge at the other, the latter attached to the soundboard
4. This mysterious vihuela, its strings struck with a lance, make its sacred harmony, made from the seven courses of strings. There is word play between “herrir” on the one hand “to wound” [herrir al cuerpo] and at the same time “to strike” [herrir las cuerdas]. By the second half of the sixteenth century, vihuelas frequently had seven double courses of string, that it the “siete ordenes” (technically this would have required 13 tuning pegs, not three — but that’s poetic licence).
5. This is a bit more obscure. To me it is trying to say that this music penetrates beyond the senses, because they are deeper “voces soberanas”.
6. This seems to explain what is not so clear in the previous copla.

CSG.153
CSG.153
Compositor: Cáseda [y ViLLAmAyor], José [Sánchez de]
Título:
Qué música divina
Datación:
c) aprox. 1673-1720
Género o forma:
Villancico
Secciones:
Estribillo, Coplas (6)
Datos de la portada o encabezado:
[Tiple 1°:] A 4 D
n
Joçeph Caseda
Dotación: 4 voces, acompañamiento
Partes existentes: Tiple 1° (1) “Tomasita”; Tiple 2° (1) “ma de Jhs”; Alto (1) “Me Belona”; Tenor (1) “Rosa Ma de jhs”; bajo (2)
Observaciones:
CSCSS, f. 26, OC s. XVII, n. 2: “Coplas a 4 y a solo suenen las dulces cuerdas de esa divina cítara”, que corresponde a la
primera copla.
RBMSA, p. 168: “Sagrado pajarillo que musica divina”, reuniendo en un solo título esta obra y CSG.154.
CACMP
, p. 396,