ABSTRACT
Scholars have searched for the musical origin of the cantigas in the Provenzal or Catalan conductus, in troubadour melodies, in Hebrew melody, in both secular and liturgical models. It was not until the turn of the present century and the research of Pierre Aubry that musicologists recognized that the musical notation of the cantigas was mensural notation and, therefore, decipherable, and musicologists are still at odd ends as to how exactly the music sounded. Alfonso X, el Sabio’s court was home to many troubadours and juglares and as such was torn by jealousies and rivalries among the musicians. Alfonso’s Cantigas de Santa Maria are surely the product of religious devotion, but first and foremost they reflect his keen delight in music and poetry and the diversity and excellence of his court. They are, like all great Gothic monuments, the product of a community of minds functioning as one.
