by Bernardino de Sahagún (1499 - 1590)
Translation by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
How to sing in ancient Mexico
Language: English  after the Nahuatl
The good singer of sound voice. Good sound his voice; well rounded his words. Of good, sharp memory, keeping the songs in mind; retentive, not forgetful. He sings, cries out, enunciates clearly; with well rounded voice, in full voice, falsetto. Softly; he tempers his voice, accompanies judiciously, gives the pitch, lowers, raises it. He reduces it to medium; he uses it moderately. He practices; he improves his voice. He composes, sets to music, originates. He sings songs, sings others' songs, provides music for others, instructs others. The bad singer hoarse, husky, coarse voiced; crude, dull, heartless, unintelligent. He revolts me; he is fraudulent, vainglorious, arrogant. Haughty, foolish, obstinate, avaricious, indigent, envious, absconding. He grunts, sounds husky, makes one's ears ring; he is restless, forgetful, violent, indigent; he absconds, he brags; he is presumptuous, vain.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, appears in The Florentine Codex [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Nahuatl by Bernardino de Sahagún (1499 - 1590), appears in La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Edward Rushton , "How to sing in ancient Mexico", 1999. [tenor and piano] [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Edward Rushton
This text was added to the website: 2012-03-31
Line count: 14
Word count: 134