Contextualizing Extant Music for Song-texts in Selected Plays by Lope de Vega

Abstract: In recent years, there has been an expanded effort to identify, rescue, and transcribe Iberian early-modern theatrical music scattered in Cancioneros––period anthologies of secular music and song-texts attributed to a range of named and anonymous composers. Some of these songbooks are the primary sources of songs that appear in composer Jesús Bal y Gay’s (1905–1993) Treinta canciones de Lope de Vega. Although the scores’ song-texts derive from various lyric, prose, and dramatic works, in honor of Donald R. Larson, this article will focus on the latter. The extant music in Treinta canciones cries out for analysis, particularly from a contextualized theatrical and performance perspective within the fabric of the plays. Therefore, centering on extant music whose song-texts are linked to some of Lope de Vega’s plays, this article will contextualize the relevant transcriptions as well as highlight potential performative aspects to demonstrate not only the overall significance of music on the early modern stage but also the songs’ possible contribution to how the musical component can enhance modern productions and maximize the genre’s structural and ideological significance for today’s audiences.