Source title | Conde Claros. |
---|---|
Title in contents | Conde Claros en doze maneras |
Text incipit |
Category variations
Genre conde claros
Fantasia type
Mode 7/8
Voices 4
Length (compases) 79
Tuning G
Courses 6
Final IV/0
Highest I/10
Lowest VI/3
Difficulty not specified
Tempo medium
Language
Vocal notation
A set of 12 variations on the theme associated with the romance Conde Claros. It comprises a rhtythnic pattern of 12 beats divided into three groups of two and two groups of three: 2 + 2 + 2 | 3 + 3 |, harmonically to the progression I-IV-V: I-I / I-I / I-I / IV-IV-IV / V-V-V. Pujol maintains that Mudarra’s variations are conceived in increasing difficult (pujoll1949, 66). While this observation is fundamentally correct, it should not be implied that this is done for didactic purposes, it is more because that is what naturally tends to happen in sets of variations.
While the mode of the piece may be described as either 7 or 8, it is more easily described as being in a major key, given its harmonic set up.
The full text of the Conde Claros romance is In Binkley Spanish Romances (with English translation), 120-30. “Conde Claros” (Don Claros de Montalbán) was the protagonist of a popular Carolingian romance. See diaz1978
wallace05 Delphín Frank Wallace solo Milán Fuenllana Narváez Mudarra Daza
rooley01 Renaissance Fantasias Anthony Rooley solo Milán Mudarra Narváez
smith06 Alonso Mudarra - Tres libros de musica en cifras para vihuela Hopkinson Smith solo Mudarra
mito01 Music for vihuela 2: O gloriosa domina Shigeo Mito solo Milán Mudarra Narváez
cherevko01 Silva de Vihuelas Dimitry Cherevko Milán Narváez Mudarra Valderrábano
Media noche era por filo,
los gallos querían cantar,
Conde Claros, con amores
no podía reposar.
(1st stanza. from Trend, The Music of Spanish History to 1600, p 104)