21
«Let's sing out loud, / strongly and devoutly. / We'll see that child». («Cantemos a voz en grito, / con hemencia y devoción. / Veremos aquel garzón».) say Gil Vicente's shepherds in his Auto pastoril castellano [1996: 24].
22
As well as the influence of Virgilian eclogues and, concretely, the cantantes... eamus of the ninth bucolic (1.64), mention should be made of the parallel presented by the evangelical Transeamus usque Bethleem for the genuine Christmas compositions [González Ollé, 1967: 72, n. 847].
23
Tess Knighton [1992: 566] points out the record of fray Íñigo de Mendoza's Coplas de Vita Christi, «a work thought to have been written in 1467-68 and almost certainly known by the young princess Isabella». Mendoza draws on the imagery of polyphony to describe the joy and harmony of the birth of Christ: «Do fueron los convidados / a cantar, que no a yantar, / los nueve coros sagrados / de ángeles confirmados / en ya no poder pecar, / los quales con alegría / llevan de lo cantado / la boz y la melodía, / y los tenores María, / las contras su desposado» (see also Tess Kington's chapter in this volume). In the Farsa de los doctores by Diego Sánchez de Badajoz, there are also express directions issuing from the voices in the dialogues:
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Where the score has been preserved, it is sometimes possible to detect this alternation between soprano and tenor in certain villancicos in dialogue form, such as those in the CMP, as Robert Jammes reminds us [1983: 106-07, n. 24].
24
An idea expressed by McGinniss [1977; 1997]. In the latter source she notes: «In essence, the poet provides directions for the manner and style of dance that is to be performed» [1997: 21].