Metamorphosis Into Song

Abstract

In the years of transition between the medieval and early modern eras, the legend of the king and the whore found new life in performance. As principal source, Corral’s Crónica sarracina was fundamental to the development of the story, which evolved over two hundred years from about 1450 to 1650 in a cycle of ballads on the theme of Roderick and La Cava. The great collections of ballad songbooks known as romanceros are one of the treasures of the Spanish people, for the ballad tradition in the Hispanic peninsula is outstanding, if not unique, in its richness, variety, and longevity. Many ballads originating in the Middle Ages continue to be sung today, including some of those in the Roderick cycle, a good deal of their astonishing vigor being attributable to their popular appeal as poetry for everyone, as songs that were sung by all social classes from peasantry to royalty.