Silent Music: Medieval Song and the Construction of History in Eighteenth-Century Spain.

Peters, Mark A.

Silent Music: Medieval Song and the Construction of History in Eighteenth-Century Spain. By Susan Boynton. (Currents in Latin American and Iberian Music.) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. [xxii, 208 P. ISBN 9780199754595. $39.95.] Illustrations, facsimiles, bibliography, index.

In Silent Music: Medieval Song and the Construction of History in, Eighteenth-Century Spain. Susan Boynton combines the crudities of expert musicologist with those of master storyteller in her engaging treatment of the history of the Mozarabic liturgy in Toledo from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. Silent Music will be of interest not only to scholars of the medieval period or the eighteenth century, but also to those interested in the history of Spain (particularly the ways in which its cultural and intellectual history intersected with political developments). the history of chant. or 'he history of liturgy.

Of additional interest is the way in which Mozarabic chant was appropriated at various points and multiple ways as a distinctive feature of national identity in Spain and as one of the unique glories of Spanish achievement (especially against cultural elements from France and Italy--most no-tably the Roman rite--that were brought to Spain and came to predominate over Spanish cultural elements). In light of this recurring theme in the monograph, Boynton 's Silent Alosie should be read by every musicologist, for it in concerns issues not only ol national identity but also of the ways in which history is told.

In fact, Silent Music focuses on two men Willi Were, in eighteenth-century Spain, carrying out what can be Seen ill WaN'S as modern musicological research: the Jesuit scholar Andres Marcos Burriel (1719-62) and the calligrapher Francisco Xavier de Santiago v Palomares (1728-96). Boynton explains: "The methods employed by Burriel and Palomares--paleographic analysis, historical criticism, textual criticism, and exact copying--had never before been applied to the Old Hispanic liturgical hooks in Toledo Cathedral and remained unusual for the study of Iberian liturgical sources until the twentieth century" (p. xx). Although neither was a musician, both Burriel and Polomares devoted significant all to musical notation and scholarly research in music.

Burriel and palomares conducted this work within broader projects in which they sought to promote the national identity and cultural glories of Spain. For them, the investigation or Mozarabic chant in Spain, and the recounting of its history, were inextricably linked to the promotion of the nation. Burriel clearly saw the Mozarabic rite as preserved in medieval manuscripts, as well as its re-creation in the sixteenth century (what Boynton labels the "nen-Mozarabic rite"), as distinctive features of a Spanish national identity. He was thus concerned both with the rite as a historical artifact and as a present practice, even after he discovered that these two were very ferent traditions; the medieval manuscripts clearly did not contain the chants of the neo-Mozarabic rite as it had been constructcd and published tinder Cardinal Francisco Ximenet de Cisneros in the early sixteenth century and subsequently practiced by the Mozarabs of Toledo. Although the Toledan manuscripts were retained in the archives, they contained only "silent music"--the Visigothic neumes could not be realized in actual performance and were not the basis of the neo-Mozarabic rite. which originated instead from adaptations of the Roman rite and from new compositions,

But Burriel and Palomares considered the medieval Mozarabic chant books and their notation important enough not only to transcribe manuscripts and copy samples of their text and notation, but even to produce a full-size, full-color parchment facsimile of Toledo. BC 35.7, a book of masses mid offices for Marian feasts and for the Chrisimas-Epiphany cycle that Burriel considered to be die earliest extant Toledan chant book (p. 87). Silent Music originated from, and focuses primarily on, Boynton's discovery of a manuscript (now B2916 in the library of the Hispanic Society of America in New York) that had been missing since the late nineteenth century. a medieval manuscript from Toledo that had served as model for Palomares's copy. The discovery led Boynton to a detailed study of the copy, as well as of the broader context that had led to its copying. particularly Burriers role in the transcription of the manuscript and the place of the copy within Burriel's and Palomares's broader activities with the Commission on the Archives of Toledo Cathedral beginning in October 1750.

Palomares's copy is remarkable for its nearly exact representation of both the text and the neumes of the medieval model at a time when few were studying liturgical books in Spain, much less their musical notation. Boynton notes: "This was an extremely unusual instance of a thorough and painstaking effort to reproduce medieval neumes by hand" (p. xiv). The precision of the manuscript was noted in its own time, as attested to by both Palomares and Burriel. In fact, Burriel reported: "One of [the liturgical books] ... not only has been copied, but also reproduced in Visigothic script with its colors and with the same Visigothic notation and rough parchment, so similar to the original that I was told it would be necessary to put a certification as to which is the original, and which the copy, so that later on there will be no doubt when the parchment of the copy becomes tarnished by time and handling" (quoted by Boynton, p. 94). Burriel went on to state, with due pride: "It is a gem worthy of the King [Ferdinand VI] for whom it was made" (quoted by Boynton, p. 94), and Boynton's insights into Burriel's motivations for dedicating such a volume to Ferdinand (pp. 98-107) from just one pant of this Fascinating story.

While much of Slient Music is dedicated to Burriels work with the Commission and Palomares's copying and transcription of Mozarabic chant manuscripts, Boynton explores a number of closely related topics with a similar keenness for both scholarly detail and historical significance. These include Palomares's copy of the "Toledo codex," a thirteenth-century collection of vernacular sacred songs attributed to King Alfonso X of Leon and Castile (chap. 4) and Palomares's later contributions to paleography, particularly his continued work with Visigothic neumes (chap. 5).

My criticisms of the volume are minimal and concern matters that may not have been under the author's control. First, the decision to use only short citations it) the endnotes makes the notes somewhat unwieldy, for it necessitates constant cross-referencing with the bibliography. Second, the volume would have benefited from additional color plates (which, on the other Ii and, would have increased its expense). Slient Music contains ample facsimile pages and illustrations, and readers would benefit from having more than two of these appear in color. Finally, the volume would be improved by a more complete index; for example, Cardinal Cisneros, a key figure who appears throughout the book, receives only one page reference in the index and no cross-reference with the liturgical volumes published under his direction (usually referred to as "Cisneros cantorales" in the text, but listed as "cantorales, Mozarabic" in the index).

Such minor criticisms aside, Silent Music is a masterful work of scholarship and well worth reading. In addition to those who may find interest in Slient Musicon the basis of some element of its subject matter, I commend Slient Music as a model text for graduate students in musicology (perhaps for use in an introduction to Musicology or Research Methods seminar). It provides an example of excellent research and writing while also demonstrating ways in which manuscript study and archival research can interact with contextual study and with questions of meaning and significance. Although the chants recorded in Visigothic notation must remain "silent music," Boynton has brilliantly recovered their story and its importance both for subsequent centuries of Spanish history and for us today.

MARK A. PETERS

Trinity Christian College