| Modern scholars of Spanish Renaissance music have discussed the romance and the villancico in terms of forms, history, and subject matter. However, few have mentioned, and none have explored, the unique Spanish practice in which a villancico was appended to a romance to create a more dramatic musical work. This song pair concept, in which the second work was known as the deshecha, developed during the generation of Juan del Encina and continued throughout the sixteenth century.;Although the deshecha was defined in the early seventeenth century as a short song used at the conclusion of another, and serving as a polite farewell, the deshecha, in fact, plays a much greater role than this definition suggests. The pairing of two songs, one with a refrain (villancico) and one without (romance), expands the musical contrast of the whole piece. Furthermore, the rhetoric of the deshecha may either enlarge or refute the sentiments of the romance. The result is a tiny drama unfolding in the guise of two songs. In addition, the villancicos that conclude many plays of the period also serve as deshechas, summarizing the dramatic action. There is no counterpart to these works in other European countries, for it is clear that the Spanish song pairs were created for a different purpose than the song pairs of France and Italy (responces and frottole pairs, respectively).;Although the deshecha practice has gone almost unmentioned in musicological literature, this study identifies hundreds of song texts, and theatrical works with their deshechas. Volume One examines the rhetoric of the pairs, analyzes the music when it is available, and locates the practice in its literary and cultural contexts. The result is a more finely focused view of native Spanish genres, showing that there was an interest in expanding the dramatic possibilities of music through the creation of song pairs. Volume Two Includes an appendix listing over 400 songs and theatrical works with their deshechas, sources, and genres, and when possible identifies the poets and composers. |
