Alfons X the Wise (EN)

Alfonso X the Wise, Alfonso el Sabio, *23 November 1221 Toledo, †4 April 1284 Seville, King of Castile and León from 1252; Spanish patron of the arts, poet and composer. At his court, he provided talented poets and musicians with favourable conditions for artistic development. He patronised the flourishing of the University of Salamanca. He was the author of about 450 cantigas (out of about 2,100 known ones), most of which are Cantigas de Santa María, contained in four manuscripts located in libraries in Madrid, Florence and El Escorial. These songs, written in early mensural notation, are similar to the virelais and rondos of the troubadours, while retaining a certain local distinctiveness.

Literature: J.E. Keller Alfonso X, El Sabio, New York 1967; H. Anglès Die Cantigas de Santa María König Alfons’ des Weisen, in: Gattungen der Musik in Einzeldarstellungen, Festschrift for L. Schrade, ed. W. Arlt, E. Lichtenhahn, H. Oesch, M. Haas, Bern 1973; A. Dominguez Rodriguez Imágenes de un rey trovador de Santa María (Alfonso X en Las Cantigas), in: Atti del XXIV Congresso internazionale di storia dell’arte, vol. 2: Il medio oriente e l’occidente nell’arte del XIII secolo, ed. H. Belting, Bologna 1982; La lengua y la literatura en tiempos de Alfonso X, ed. F. Carmona, F.J. Flores, Murcia 1985; I. Fernández de la Cuesta Les traits d’acuité et de longueur dans le traitement musical de l’accent rhythmique des Cantigas de Santa Maria. Notes méthodologiques, “Revue de Musicologie” LXXIII, 1987; Mesa redonda Alfonso X El Sabio y la música, ed. L. Siemens Hernández, “Revista de musicología” X, 1987; España en la música de occidente, ed. E. Cesares, I. Fernández de la Cuesta, J. Lopez-Calo, Madrid 1987; Studies on the Cantigas de Santa María. Art, Music, and Poetry, ed. I.J. Katz, J.E. Keller et al., Madison 1987; I.J. Katz The Study and Performance of the Cantigas de Santa María. A Glimpse at Recent Musicological Literature, “Bulletin of the Cantiqueiros de Santa Maria” I, 1987; J. Gruber Porque tro bar é en que jaz entendimento, in: Zur Bedeutung von “trobar natural” bei Marcabru und Alfons dem Weisen, Festschrift for J.M. Piel, ed. D. Kremer, Tubingen 1988; I. Fernández de la Cuesta La monodía profana en la obra de Higini Anglès, “Recerca musicológica” IX–X, 1989–90; Emperor of Culture. Alfonso X the Learned of Castile and his Thirteenth-Century Renaissance, ed. RJ. Burns, Philadelphia 1990; Alfonso X of Castile. The Learned King (1221–1284), ed. F. Marquez Villanueva, Cambridge 1990.