Archived translations from Galician to English of poems by Rosalía de Castro

Translator: Eduardo Freire Canosa

I grant all the translations appearing on this website to the public domain

A few words about Rosalía de Castro

Rosalía de Castro (b. 1837, d. 1885) is the unquestioned poet laureate of Spanish Galicia (also known as Galiza). Highly educated, expected to speak and write in Spanish only, she took the bold, unconventional step of writing her early poems in the Galician language. Her defiance earned her the contempt and spite of that segment of the population for whom Galician was a dialect fit only for the illiterate and the churlish; but De Castro's gallant gesture won her the love and admiration of the rest. Streets, schools, libraries, cultural associations, prizes, public parks, folklore groups, choirs, music albums, compositions of her poems, including a classical score for soprano and piano written by Joaquín Rodrigo entitled "Rosaliana," a Galician morning song, sports teams, monuments, a theater, restaurants, a label of white wine, hotels, rural lodgings, a banknote, a postage stamp, a FS98 Iberia Airbus A340 and a sea rescue plane have been named after her.

The poetry of De Castro's Galician volumes, "Cantares Gallegos" (1863) and "Follas Novas" (1880), at times poignant, others assertive, affirms the fullness of the feminine personality and champions the overlooked plight of the disadvantaged, the emigrant, the widow and the orphan. Her volume of poetry written in Spanish, "En las orillas del Sar" (1884), is a brooding reflection about the inherent tragedy of living, a discourse reminiscent of existential pessimism.

De Castro was the lone figure around whom prudent opponents of Franco's regime could express their love for Galicia openly. The striking tolerance shown for thirty-six years by the military dictatorship toward the public profile of Rosalía de Castro discredited her in the eyes of the Galician Left. The Left realized their error at length and finally paid her overdue homage.

All the while the Rosalía de Castro Foundation, born with the express purpose of purchasing De Castro's last residence and of perpetuating her memory and literary legacy, embarked on the arduous task of the real estate acquisition. Success demurred from 1947 until 1971. On July 15, 1972, the house in Padrón opened to the general public as a restored house-museum.

An amateur enthusiast filmed the literary pilgrimage organized by the Rosalía de Castro Foundation during the hard days of 1951 (videos below). The document shows how some of the places cited in De Castro's poetry looked in the summer of that year. By organizing literary pilgrimages, conferences, seminars and other commemorations the Foundation throughout the years helped to preserve Galicia's cultural and national identity in a politically hostile environment.

The video on the right has extraordinary footage of De Castro's last surviving daughter Gala (b. 1871, d. 1964) on min. 2:10-2:35 and 5:48-6:20.

The first time that Franco's government tolerated the exclusive use of the Galician language in a public ceremony after the Spanish Civil War was the votive mass held for Rosalía de Castro in Santiago de Compostela on July 25, 1965.

The city of Santiago de Compostela, quintessence of the Galician territory (in days of yore it was usual to dub her "Santiago of Galicia"), is an administrative, cultural and religious capital. Her patron saint [Saint James] is also Spain's, and as a result, the city's festivities combine the sacred with the profane. The date of the offering to the saint [July 25] coincides with the date of the most important country fair in the Autonomous Community and with the Day of the Emigrant. Moreover it is the festivity of the Day of Galicia, established in 1920 by Galician nationalists, many of whom were devout Catholics, who made this day their rallying banner. It was in Santiago de Compostela on July 25, 1965, that Jesuit father Xaime Seixas said the first Roman Catholic mass spoken in the Galician language dedicated to Rosalía de Castro at the request of the writer's Foundation, the same institution that repeats this rite in honor of the other "saint" of the city every year and which also lays a wreath of flowers at the foot of her tomb in the Pantheon of Illustrious Galicians.

(Ramón Blanco. "'Gaudeamus, Exultemus' y 'Ultreia.'" ABC D Las Artes y Las Letras. No. 913. July 25, 2009)

Although the bitter division persists that Rosalía de Castro triggered in Galician society by her rebellious, loving use of the native language, the resilience—the growing amplification—of her reputation together with the affection lavished on her memory by many at home and abroad portends that in a not too distant future she will cease being a foreigner in her own land (this is the title of a poem in Follas Novas and also the title of this book on Rosalía de Castro by Francisco Rodríguez, year 2011, publishers AS-PG; presentation of the book here).

Federico García Lorca and Rosalía de Castro

Federico García Lorca travelled to Galicia at least three times: in 1916 to Santiago de Compostela with fellow undergraduates and twice in 1932 when he with other members of an "Intellectual Cooperation Committee" laid a bouquet at the foot of the monument to Rosalía de Castro in that city.^1,2 The visits inspired him to write six poems in Galician privately between 1932 and 1933. At the insistence of a friend he acceded to publish them in 1935. Their translated titles are: (1) Madrigal to the City of Santiago, (2) Festive Pilgrimage in Honour of Our Lady of the Barge, (3) Song of the Shopkeeper Boy, (4) Nocturne of the Dead Adolescent, (5) Lullaby for Dead Rosalía Castro, and (6) Dance of the Moon in Santiago.³

Lullaby for Dead Rosalía Castro (Canzón de cuna pra Rosalía Castro, morta)

(Seis poemas gallegos, 1935)

	From Asturias (Spain)
	From Argentina
	Cristina Pato and Laura Alonso Padín

Miguel de Unamuno and Rosalía de Castro

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (1864-1936) the Basque poet, novelist and playwright was an ardent Spanish-nationalist intellectual who did not admit a better vehicle for the loftier poetic expression than Castilian (September 18, 1931, address to the Spanish Congress). Nevertheless he contributed to the dissemination of the literary stature of Rosalía de Castro. The main criticism he levelled against hers and Galician poetry in general was its proclivity to lament, sentiment for which he saw no justification. Unwittingly the following excerpt from his essay, "Spanish wanderings and perceptions," begs to differ.

That very sea, which takes refuge there, in the Southern Firths of Galicia, between green arms of the country, is it not inspecting them for something that it has lost, or possibly for a way to forget its nagging woes? There, cuddled beside its eternal spouse, it slumbers and perchance dreams. And perhaps it longs to be a river once more, a humble stream, a secluded creek. Who knows! Maybe the broad Bay of Arousa dreams about the [river] Ulla that renders its waters, or about the unfortunate [river] Sar sung by Rosalía. And all of that is thirst—the sea is thirsty, it thirsts for the fresh water of the streams which descends from the summits—an unquenchable thirst, thirst that made Rosalía say: "O land, fertile and beautiful yesteryear, today and forever! / Seeing how sadly there shines our ill-fated star / From the banks of the Sar, / As I near the end I feel the consuming thirst, / Never allayed, that drowns all feeling, / And the hunger for justice that fells and crushes / When our complaints are snapped away / By the wind of a mad tempest."

(Miguel de Unamuno. "Junto a las Rías Bajas de Galicia." Andanzas y Visiones Españolas)

José Martínez Ruíz alias Azorín and Rosalía de Castro

José Martínez Ruíz alias Azorín (1873-1967) the Alicantine journalist, playwright, poet and writer was the prime example of that group of Spanish authors nicknamed "the Generation of 1898." His style was terse, concise, full of short sentences, far removed from the traditional grandiloquence of Spanish prose. His contemporaries tagged him a master of the language. He entered politics and was appointed Undersecretary of Public Education twice, first under Prime Minister Manuel García Prieto (November 13, 1917) and again under Prime Minister Antonio Maura (April 19, 1919). The Royal Spanish Academy inducted him on October 26, 1924.

Azorín paid homage to Rosalía de Castro in an article that he wrote for the conservative newspaper ABC.

Rosalía has a lively, clear bearing and an expression of indefinite, sweet sorrow. She has sung of her country's scenery—so beautiful—and has seen pass by her door, "when the north wind blows hard and the fire burns in the hearth," the unending caravan of farmers who abandon their native land and go looking for the sea to travel to faraway places; the "gaunt, naked and hungry" farmers who leave the poet "distressed and saddened, as comfortless as they" ("How much they must suffer here, O homeland! If presently your sons depart without sorrow!"). Rosalía has crossed in swift journey the desolate and scorched Mancha; she has toured plentiful Extremadura; she has contemplated the fine and clear landscapes of Alicante; she has let her eyes rove through the orchards of Murcia. All this has its beauty and charm; but the poet glances backward—with so much love!—to her beloved Galicia. "The ground covered with dear grasses and flowers all year round; the hills full of pines, oaks and willows; the brisk winds that blow; the fountains and cascades discharging frothing and crystalline summer and winter over the smiling fields or in deep, shadowy hollows...Galicia is always a garden where one inhales pure aromas, cool and poetry."

She was born on February 21, 1837; she died on July 15, 1885. Her last sigh was reserved for the open sea; the vision of the unceasing surf and the infinite horizon was her last vision. "When I saw her confined between the four boards which await us all"—her companion has written—"I exclaimed, Rest at last, poor tormented spirit, you who have suffered so much in this world!"

Rosalía: You have not died; your image lives on in our hearts, we who love the pure, delicate lyric and detest the bombast of officialdom and the evils which cause the good to leave the Motherland. Rosalía: One can read on your kind, sad face, as you have said in one of your poems, the vague promptings, the secret endearments...

(Azorín. "Rosalía de Castro." ABC 8 Jan 1914: 3-4, Leyendo a los poetas)

Manuel Curros Enríquez and Rosalía de Castro

Manuel Curros Enríquez (1851-1908) was born in Celanova (Ourense). A runaway teenager, a city hall clerk in Madrid, a journalist, a war correspondent (wounded), a failed university student of Law, bohemian, Mason, Republican, scourge of the Roman Catholic Church (excommunicated), director of a failed newspaper in Havana—his was an eventful life. A renowned writer and poet, sometimes satirical, others sentimental, he like De Castro wrote in Galician and in Spanish. Some poems from Curros' tome Aires d'a Miña Terra (1880) became very popular ballads and songs: Once Upon a Night in the Wheat Fields (Cántiga), The Month of May (O Mayo), How Did It Happen? (Ai!...), Those Eyes of Yours (Cartas Perdidas, fragment).

On May 25, 1891, the mortal remains of Rosalía de Castro were exhumed and carried in solemn procession from Adina Cemetery in Padrón to the Pantheon of Illustrious Galicians in Santiago de Compostela; the funereal train arrived in Santiago at 6:00 PM sharp. Two long rows of candle-bearing children and the orphéons of Galicia with their ensigns preceded the hearse. The ribbon-adorned hearse was flanked by city hall officials and by representatives of the Galician community in Cuba. After the hearse went business organizations, political associations, writers, professors and teachers. Then came a second car and the city's fire truck followed by a multitude of students, newspapermen, bureaucrats, presidents of financial, legal, educational and business institutions, the dean of the university, construction workers and ordinary citizens.¹

Manuel Curros Enríquez delivered an eloquent eulogy as the cortege paused beside the entrance to the university and he recited the following poem in her honour.

To Rosalía (A Rosalía)

(1891)

	From Italy
	From Brazil
	Camerata Vivace (2010)
	Quico Obelleiro and Malo Será (2010)
	Cantar Delas (2009)
	Luis Emilio Batallán (1975)

Courtesy of  Ramón José Rey Lage

Source: Wikipedia Commons

1.   At the Tomb of British General Sir John Moore     (Na tomba do xeneral inglés Sir John Moore)

To my friend Maria Bertorini, a native of Wales. Coruña, 1871
(Á miña amiga María Bertorini, nativa do país de Gales. Coruña, 1871)

(Follas Novas, 1880)

Historical Background

"At the tomb of British general Sir John Moore" is an elegy to Scottish-born Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore who died on January 16, 1809, in the Battle of Elviña at A Coruña fighting the French army of Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult during Napoleon's invasion of Spain. Among John Moore's last words were these to 24-year-old Major Charles Stanhope, "Remember me to your sister, Stanhope," a reference to the notable Lady Hester Stanhope.^1,2 For a long time it was said that every sixteenth of January a ship from the Far East called at Coruña's harbour and that a young woman in mourning disembarked, went to weep over Moore's grave (another beautiful photograph here) and left a poppy lying there.³

On July 14, 1927, the City Hall of A Coruña placed in the Gardens of St. Charles where John Moore lies interred two marble plaques flanking the gate to the lookout over the harbour. One plaque reproduces the poem of Reverend Charles Wolfe, "The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna"; the other displays an abridged version of De Castro's poem.⁴

De Castro dedicated this poem to Welsh-born Maria Bertorini (née Mary Margaret Jones)⁵ who was the wife of Camilo Bertorini a business partner of John Stephenson Mould the Lancashire-born (1836) engineer and builder of the first railway in Galicia.^6,7,8 The Bertorinis would become great-grandparents of Camilo José Cela. John Stephenson Mould's father George Mould died from apoplexy in the village of Padrón in 1874 at the age of 61.⁹ De Castro too died there eleven years later. It is natural to surmise that the poetess was as acquainted with the Moulds as with the Bertorinis. This poem "Na tomba do xeneral inglés Sir John Moore," a token of personal friendship, is perhaps also a demonstration of her gratitude for some timely favour received (e.g. a small sum of money to tide her over).

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Source: Amaianos' photostream. flickr

2.   Bells of Bastabales     (Campanas de Bastabales)

(Cantares Gallegos, 1863)

Spelling Note

Another acceptable way of spelling Bastabales is Bastavales; the name derives from the Latin "vasta vallis" meaning "vast valley."

Typographical Error in the Original

The original line, "Non me roubaron, traidores," (1.5.1) carries a typographical error (underlined vowel). Left uncorrected the error makes stanzas 1.5-1.6 translate thus: "Treacherous loves, sweetly mad, alas!/Sweetly mad loves, alas!/Did not abduct me./For love has fled/And loneliness arrived.../Consuming me with grief." This compound sentence is incongruous and begs the question, "Then who abducted the protagonist?" Changing one crucial vowel in line 1.5.1. removes the confusion. What Rosalía de Castro actually wrote was this: "Non me roubaran, traidores," and the typesetter mistook the second "a" (underlined) for an "o" and the error is understandable because this video demonstrates that De Castro's caligraphy sometimes produced a's that look like o's when joined to a consonant.

Historical Background

De Castro was the daughter of Father José Martínez Viojo and María Teresa da Cruz de Castro e Abadía. Father Viojo was born in 1798 in the hamlet of Ortoño and he died at the age of seventy-three in the small parish of Iria Flavia on the outskirts of the town of Padrón which is 10 km away from Ortoño. María Teresa was born in 1804 in Iria Flavia and she died at the age of fifty-seven in the city of Santiago de Compostela, 20 km away.¹ This family background explains why De Castro spent some time in Ortoño, Padrón and Santiago de Compostela.

The bells of Bastavales are audible in Ortoño, 3 km away. They are not audible in Padrón or in Santiago de Compostela. Hence De Castro must have lived in Ortoño long enough to retain a conscious remembrance of the bells. It is certain that she was cared for there until the age of four. Then she was sent to live with her mother and go to school in the town of Padrón. This poem certifies that she returned to Ortoño during the summer holidays and her frequent allusion to the river Sar in the Galician poems testifies that De Castro the child had a wonderful time playing on its banks. Moreover the Viojo family hailed from Bastavales, guaranteeing that the child went there on family visits to relatives. Indeed the conviction persists among some of the neighbours that De Castro eventually took up residence in two houses of the place called Soigrexa located immediately downslope from the church (xensboy, uploader of a Youtube video entitled "The ringing bells of Bastavales in the summer of 2010" since removed by Youtube).

Father Viojo and María Teresa kept seeing each other after the birth of their illegitimate daughter De Castro. He lived in the presbytery and was chaplain of the Collegiate Church of Iria Flavia, 2 km from Padrón where she lived. Without a doubt they charted their daughter's future together. The following excerpt from a letter written in 1923 demonstrates that De Castro knew her father. The author of the letter cites his old aunt who was also Father Viojo's niece,

When she [the writer's aunt] was 19 years old, in the spring of 1859, my aunt returned from school at noon and as usual went into the house where she lived with her uncle, and she bumped into Rosalía chatting with her father in the living room. She retired prudently—it was the first time that she had seen her cousin. She told me that her first impression [of De Castro] was that of a good-enough girl, neither very pretty nor homely, tall and charming.²

To plot the trip taken by the protagonist of the poem the reader must accept the direction that "yonder" (1.4.2-3) is Ortoño or more generally the valley known as Val da Mahía which encompasses both Ortoño and Bastavales. The protagonist no longer dwells there and she must cross hillocks to reach the valley (2.1.2). Where does she dwell now? Section V provides the important clue that the clouds rush toward her house (5.1.2-3) The usual direction of strong winds accompanied by cloudy weather in Val da Mahía is southwesterly or westerly. Therefore her home must lie east of Bastavales, be within walking distance and beyond a range of hills. The city of Santiago de Compostela is the only one of De Castro's known addresses that fits. Thus the poem depicts a journey from the city of Santiago de Compostela to the hamlet of Bastavales. The first video embedded in the Foreword unwinds a similar excursion undertaken in 1951; minute 1:54 to 2:33 of the video shows the participants leaving the city in the morning, minute 2:45 to 3:32 shows them gathered in front of the Viojo family house in Ortoño and minutes 3:50 to 6:00 show them listening to a seminar outdoors in Bastavales.

The poem has the following script. Section I voices De Castro's regret at having left Bastavales lured by her "treacherous, sweetly mad love" for Manuel Murguía; they married in 1858 in Madrid and settled down in Santiago de Compostela the following year.³ Section II starts her real or imagined walk from the city to her beloved hamlet. In sections III and IV the protagonist exudes happiness as she strolls toward Bastavales. Surprisingly she does not reach her destination: nightfall finds her on the trail, seated on a small boulder, a cue that the trip is partly fictitious. Section V reflects De Castro's anguish at having been left alone in her new home. Her neighbours are uncaring ("without a friend"), her husband is away ("for whom I live pining") and her mother is dead ("everyone has departed"): María Teresa da Cruz de Castro e Abadía died in Santiago de Compostela on June 24, 1862,¹ suggesting that this sad, sad poem was written shortly afterward. Under this script the Ave María of the last two stanzas hails from the bells of St. James' Cathedral, an argument buttressed by the dashed line which splits the stanza and which surely adverts to a change of locale.

Translator's Notes

"Campanas de Bastabales" as do most poems of "Cantares Gallegos" makes extensive use of the affectionate diminutive form peculiar to the Galician language—singular termination iña (feminine) or iño (masculine).

All the words in "Campanas de Bastabales" that end in iña or iño are listed below together with a short explanation of the translation made. Galician affectionate diminutives offer the translator an opportunity to add alliteration, internal rhyme and lyrical sharpness to the text. The objective is to find the best adjective, adverb or noun which conveys smallness, frailty, concern or affection depending on the context.

• airiños. Dim. of "aires" (breezes, winds) translated "kind breezes" to personify the comfort they bring to the protagonist. Other options: caring breezes, light winds.
• camiño (path, route, trail, way). Not a diminutive.
• campaniñas. Dim. and pl. of "campana" (bell) translated "dear bells." Other options: beloved bells, cherished bells, darling bells, precious bells, wonderful bells.
• casiñas. Dim. and pl. of "casa" (house) translated "little houses" (see paxariños).
• fontiñas. Dim. and pl. of "fonte" (fountain) translated "dear fountains." Other options: good fountains, little fountains, popular springs, refreshing fountains. A typical "fountain" of the Galician countryside consisted of a pipe incrusted in rock to serve as a spout for human consumption and a sink underneath to serve as a watering hole for the cattle. Modern embellished versions here (Besteiros, Portugal).
• lixeiriña. Dim. of "lixeira" (brisk, fast, nimble) translated "fleet-footed" to anticipate the comparison to a she-goat made on the next line of the poem.
• mañanciña (early morning hours). Not an affectionate diminutive.
• paseniño (leisurely). Not an affectionate diminutive.
• paxariños. Dim. and pl. of "paxaro" (bird) translated "little...birds." The phrase connotes size and affection (cf. "Chaveleh" from "A Fiddler on the Roof").
• pedriña. Dim. of "pedra" (boulder, rock, stone) translated "small boulder." Ambiguous. It could also refer to a capstone on a wall of piled stones marking out the boundaries of a small plot of land. These stone fences are ubiquitous in parts of the Galician countryside.
• tiña (past tense of "ter," to have). Not a diminutive.
• toliños. Dim. and pl. of "tolo" (crazy, disturbed, mad) translated "sweetly mad." Other options: blissfully naive, delightfully droll, innocently foolish, laughably ludicrous, pitiably insane.

Explanation of some words, terms or expressions

Soidades (refrain, line 3). The best translation may be "to have the blues." Soidá, saudade is dejection triggered by solitude, separation or frustration. At the beginning of the poem "soidades" bespeaks her longing to see Bastavales; at the close her loneliness.

As laradas das casiñas (5.3.2). It was customary to kindle a small blaze (larada) by the gate of a house to protect the place from evil spirits or natural dangers.¹

Musical Adaptation

Troubadour and songwriter Amancio Prada arranged sections I, III and V of the poem in the 1991 album Trovadores, Místicos y Románticos. Entry 1 presents the arrangement of section I.

The second entry is the rendition of the main theme by the Casablanca Choir of Vigo.

The time-honoured Coral De Ruada, which came into being between 1918-1919, sings a mixture of stanzas under a different arrangement on the third entry below.

	Section I: Campanas de Bastabales. Soundtrack of the two videos below
	Ibid. Casablanca Choir (live performance)
	A mélange of stanzas from sections I, II and V set to a distinct melody. Coral De Ruada (live performance; the recital starts on min. 0:30)

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Source: Sebastián Vizoso Salagui, txebas. Resultados del concurso fotográfico de julio 2009. Meteored

3.   Black Shadow     (Negra Sombra)

(Follas Novas, 1880)

Theme

The poem reflects De Castro's apprehension at the recurrence of sudden misfortune in her life.

Historical Background

"Negra Sombra" was probably written shortly after the death of two of her babies, twenty-month-old Adrian who died from a fall in November of 1876 and Valentina who was stillborn three months later (Marina Mayoral. "Biografía de Rosalía de Castro." Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes).

Translator's Notes

Negra sombra que me asombras (1.2) and Sombra que sempre me asombras (4.4). The verb asombrar has four definitions in the Galician language: (1) To give shade. (2) To instill dread or fear; to haunt. (3) To amaze, to astound. (4) To be amazed or to be astounded. Only the first two are appropriate here, De Castro dreads the recurrence of sudden misfortune, an apprehension clearly expressed in her poem A Disgracia (Misfortune). Therefore these two lines could equally well be translated, "Black shadow that haunts me" (1.2) and "Shadow that always haunts me" (4.4).

At the foot of my head pillows (1.3). Probably depicts the laying of Valentina's dead body beside the mother after giving birth. An equivalent expression, To the hem of my head pillows, is more beautiful poetically because of its alliteration but a little less precise. Although it was not the selected translation "To the hem of my head pillows" tantalizes for its calculated ambiguity because it permits the abstraction of De Castro's personal motive for sorrow to universal motives like depression, painful memories or fear. Whereas "at the foot of my head pillows" can only tab the midwife's act of reclining Valentina's body beside De Castro, the translation "to the hem of my head pillows" is vaguer and can tab mental distress for any other motive.

From the very sun you taunt me (2.2). The literal translation is "On the very sun you show yourself to me"; but this sentence is awkward and it foils the ambition of preserving the poem's meter and musicality. The chosen translation transmits the emotional pitch spot-on and molds the English text to the arrangement of Juan Montes Capón.

And you are the river's rumour (3.3). The literal translation is "And you are the river's murmur"; but this option forfeits the alliteration present in the Galician "marmurio do río" which the chosen translation reproduces somewhat.

And the night and the dawn (3.4). The literal translation is "And you are the night and you are the dawn." The removal of the inflection better adapts the translation to the melody of Capón.

Musical Adaptation

The Provincial Museum of Lugo holds the score of the musical adaptation of "Negra Sombra"; the sheet of music dates from 1890-1892.

This poem, "Negra Sombra," became one of the most emblematic Galician ballads ever when composer Juan Montes Capón (b. 1840, d. 1899) fused it with an alalá written down in Cruz do Incio (Lugo). The musical arrangement had its debut in Havana's Grand Theatre in 1892. The ballad is arguably one of the most beautiful and principal in the Galician repertoire; its lyrics so blend with the melody that it is no longer possible to conceive them apart.

(Apuntes de "Negra Sombra." Casavaria)

Many, many artists interpret or have interpreted this ballad, among them Antonio Campó (b. 1922, d. 1998), Luz Casal in collaboration with Carlos Núñez, Galician-Portuguese singer of fados María do Ceo, veteran Italian singer Al Bano Carrisi, the Galician hard rock band Astarot, the long-established Celtic group Milladoiro, the venerable Real Coro Toxos E Froles, the Catalan Joan Baez María del Mar Bonet, aspiring Galician singer-songwriter Xoán Eiriz, the professional Galician-Russian string quartet Mijail Moriatov, the long-established Casablanca Choir of Vigo, the tyro brass quartet Vindur Málmur and the Galician fiesta band Orquesta Canadá.

	Baritone Antonio Campó (vintage recording from the fifties)
	Luz Casal and Carlos Núñez from the soundtrack of the movie Mar Adentro (2004)
	Fadista María do Ceo
	Italian singer Al Bano Carrisi
	Milladoiro from the 1989 album Castellum Honesti (Celtic)
	Astarot from the 2008 album O Sentir dunha Terra (rock)
	Sung in the Catalan language by María del Mar Bonet
	Real Coro Toxos E Froles (warning: preload attribute may delay start of video)
	Xoán Eiriz (singer-songwriter)
	Amassed choirs from Santiago de Compostela and the Galicia Philharmonic (November 2, 2008)
	Bibiano Morón Giménez (progressive folk)
	Taru (reggae)
	Casablanca Choir of Vigo from the 1995 album As Cantigas da Terra e do Mar
	Mijail Moriatov String Quartet (Note: The playing of Negra Sombra starts on min. 2:12)
	Fusioon from the 1972 album Fusioon I (eclectic prog)
	Orquesta Canadá
	Dúo Vecchio (accordeon and guitar)
	Vindur Málmur Brass Quartet
	ilovewendysulca (voice and piano)
	Mosev from the 2009 album Cantos a Mis Tierras (synthesizer)
	Toni Hernández (Theremin)
	Moncho do Orzán and Ricardo Morente (accordeon and violin)

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Source: Lois Dapena. No Balcón do Sil

4.   I Was Born When the Seedlings Sprout     (Nasín cando as prantas nasen)

(Cantares Gallegos, 1863)

Is There a Typographical Error in the Original?

María del Carmen Sánchez Martínez in her recital (below) reads "Mouro" instead of "Mauro" (4.1). It was seen that the reverse vowel substitution is mandatory on the line, "Non me roubaron, traidores," (1.5.1) of the poem "Campanas de Bastabales" (main, poem #7). The convenience of substituting the "a" in "Mauro" for an "o" exists because a "mouro" is in Galician folklore a member of a legendary prehistoric race of giants who moved and arranged huge boulders on the hilltops and who built underground tunnels, caverns and palaces housing immense riches. The possible typographical error in the man's name, "Mauro," is made more plausible by the fact that one of the hills which surrounds Val da Mahia and which borders on Bastavales has a large plain called "Field of the Mouros," a remote, slightly eerie hilltop so named for the mouros believed to dwell underground in the neighbourhood. Line 4.1 would thus read, "¿De que, pois, te queixas, mouro?" and the word "mouro" would be a colloquialism for "Neanderthal."

Translator's Note

"Nasín cando as prantas nasen" belongs to the 1863 tome of poetry Cantares Gallegos. Uncharacteristically "Nasín cando as prantas nasen" employs the affectionate diminutive once only.

• mainiña. Dim. of maina (agreeable, gentle, soft) translated "gentle, gentle" to accentuate through repetition the positive form of the adjective.

Musical Adaptation

Galician-Argentinian composer and violinist Andrés Gaos Berea (b. 1874, d. 1959) set "Nasín cando as prantas nasen" to music under the title "Rosa de Abril" (April Rose). Soprano María Bayo and the Galicia Symphony Orchestra and Choir performed the piece as part of the 2007 Christmas Concert in the city of A Coruña (entry 1).

Celia Varela of the Cantabile Youth And Children's Choir of A Coruña sings the romanza with piano accompaniment on the second entry.

	María Bayo and the Galicia Symphony Orchestra and Choir
	Celia Varela

Recital

María del Carmen Sánchez Martínez (Centro Gallego de Palma de Mallorca)

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Source: Caspar David Friedrich

5.   Misfortune     (A Disgracia)

(Follas Novas, 1880)

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Source: Josillou. Hans Baluschek, pintor alemán

6.   My Sweet Kitchen Maid     (Miña carrapucheiriña)

(Cantares Gallegos, 1863)

Translator's Notes

Conventional etymology holds that the word "carrapucheira" comes from "cara" (face) and "pulchra" (beautiful) hence "beautiful face." I submit that the word is more likely a contraction of "carrea" (carries) and "pucheiros" (pots) hence a "pot-carrier," a kitchen maid. This opinion agrees with the slant of the traditional quatrain reproduced below whose first two lines are the italicized closing lines of De Castro's poem,

All the words in "Miña carrapucheiriña" that end in iña or iño are listed below together with an explanation of the translation made. Galician affectionate diminutives offer the translator an opportunity to add alliteration, internal rhyme and lyrical sharpness to the text. Usually there is no one rigorous translation of an affectionate diminutive. A translator then picks the adjective, adverb or noun which conveys smallness, frailty, concern or affection, depending on the context, and which simultaneously pleases him (or her) most.

• borralliña. Dim. of "borralla" (ash, cinders) translated "warm...embers" to stress the maid's caring for the old woman whom she will allow to sleep overnight in the kitchen "beside the stone oven that will keep you warm" (14.5).
• caldiño. Dim. of "caldo" (broth) translated "hot broth" to duplicate the logic used in the translation of "borralliña."
• cociña (kitchen).
• coitadiña. Dim. of "coitada" (hapless, unfortunate, unlucky) translated "ill-fated" to indulge the beggar's self-pity.
• copriñas. Dim. and pl. of "copra" (quatrain) merely translated "quatrains" because the nature of the rhymes is unspecified.
• cortiña (grazing yard). A refashioned diminutive of "corte" (stable).
• dañiñas. Pl. of "dañiña" (baneful, harmful).
• estreliñas. Dim. and pl. of "estrela" (star) translated "twinkling stars" to project affection surreptitiously through a subliminal recall of the much-loved nursery rhyme "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Other options: little stars, pretty stars.
• feitiña. Dim. of "feita" (well-rounded) translated "lovely." Other options: beautiful, cute, pretty.
• meniña. Translated "little girl." Not an affectionate diminutive except when used figuratively. Other options: baby, child, lassie.
• miña (my).
• niñas. Pl. of niña (pupil of the eye).
• orfiña. Dim. of "orfa" (orphan) translated "poor orphan child" to underscore the tragic life story of the elderly beggar.
• palliña. Dim. of "palla" (straw) translated "comfy...straw" to underline the charitable action of the maid.
• paxariños. Dim. and pl. of "paxaro" (bird) translated "little...birds." The phrase connotes size and affection (cf. "Chaveleh" from "A Fiddler on the Roof").
• pitiño. Dim. of pito (chick) translated "little chick."
• pombiñas. Dim. and pl. of "pomba" (dove) translated "darling doves."
• santiña. Dim. of "santa" (saint) translated "dear...saint."
• sereniña. Dim. of "serena" (serene, undisturbed) simply translated "undisturbed" devoid of affection because this serene water "settled enveloped by murk" and "dwelled shrouded in gloom" (9.9-10). Another option: gently flowing.
• todiñas. Dim. of "todas" (all) translated "every one" to accentuate the maid's surprise at the eloquence and wisdom of the old woman.
• velliña. Dim. of "vella" (old woman) translated "dear old woman." Other options: dear grannie, granny.

Explanation of some words, terms or expressions

Gárdevos Santa Mariña (2.2). Most likely the Galician St. Marina de Aguas Santas.²

Yet clear pupils has till now lent you blessed Saint Lucy (8.2-4). St. Lucy is the patron saint of the blind.³

Folklore

Ramón Cabanillas (b. 1876, d. 1959) explored the same theme in the poem "Probiña da Tola" (Poor Crazy Woman) part of his book of poetry "Da Terra Asoballada" (1917).

Probiña da Tola (Poor, Poor Crazy Woman)

"Miña carrapucheiriña" three times (10.8, 12.13-14, 13.4) mentions a respected, sometimes feared, figure of the Galician countryside, the meiga: a witch, hag or sorceress, who is on occasion beautiful, desirable and benevolent for her knowledge of herbal remedies, psychology and magical powers of healing, at others ugly, fearsome and evil for her curses and for her ability to cast spells. There is a legendary Galician retort to skeptics that says, "I don't believe in witches myself, but exist they do exist."

The only Galician woman processed for sorcery was a wealthy widow of the seaside town Cangas do Morrazo. Her name was Maria Soliña and the year was 1617. The trial is today seen as a frame-up by the Spanish Inquisition and unscrupulous local officials eager to steal her wealth and properties.

Today the "meiga" is broadly speaking a lovable figure across Galicia, and so the wistful, sweet tune, "A Bruxa" (The Witch), composed by Antón Seoane and performed below by the Argentinian Celtic folk group Xeito Novo.

Xeito Novo

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Source: flickr

7.   Pharisees     (Tembra un neno no húmido pórtico)

(Follas Novas, 1880)

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Source: Todo Colección

8.   Sweet Dream     (Dulce sono)

(Follas Novas, 1880)

Musical Adaptation

The Provincial Museum of Lugo holds the arrangement of "Dulce Sono" by composer Juan Montes Capón with the title Doce Sono, one of his Six Galician Ballads. The musical score of the Six Galician Ballads is available from agapea.com.

Capón entered his compositions of Doce Sono and Negra Sombra in the Musical Competition of Pontevedra organized by the Economic Society of Friends of the Land and held in Santiago de Compostela in the year of 1892. To his submittal of Doce Sono he attached the motto, "Simplicity and melancholy monotony are the attributes of Galician popular music." The jury awarded the first prize of the competition to Doce Sono and the second prize to Negra Sombra, yet today the melody of the first is practically unknown.¹

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Source: Hai que casarse. Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez Castelao. All Paintings Home

9.   Though It Be a Sin     (Díxome nantronte o cura que é pecado)

(Cantares Gallegos, 1863)

Translator's Notes

"Díxome nantronte o cura que é pecado" could not be an exception and it too contains many affectionate diminutives. The affectionate diminutive peculiar to the Galician language ends in iña (feminine) or iño (masculine).

All the words in "Díxome nantronte o cura que é pecado" that end in iña or iño are listed below together with a short explanation of the translation made where useful. Galician affectionate diminutives offer the translator an opportunity to add alliteration, internal rhyme and lyrical sharpness to the text. The goal is to find the best adjective, adverb or noun which conveys smallness, frailty, concern or affection according to the context.

• almiña. Dim. of "alma" (soul, spirit) translated "poor soul."
• cadiñas. Dim. and pl. of "cadea" (chain, fetter) translated "tiny fetters"; tiny because these chains are invisible (i.e. allegorical) and "fetters" to alliterate with "fastened" on the following line (23.3-4).
• camiño (path, route, trail, way). Not a diminutive.
• corazonciño. Dim. of "corazón" (heart) translated: "aching heart" because the protagonist is lovesick (16-19). Other options: dear heart, poor heart, precious heart.
• deitadiño. Dim. of "deitado" (lying down, lain) translated "lain gently" because the object of the simile is a baby (14). If the diminutive referred to an adult lying down the pertinent adverb might be "quietly, peacefully, relaxed."
• froliñas. Dim. and pl. of "frol" (flower) translated "pretty...flowers." Other options: colourful flowers, darling flowers, fresh flowers.
• mainiño. Dim. of "maino" (gentle, soft, tranquil) translated: "softly soft," an amplification of "breathing softly" (13.3).
• miña (my). Not a diminutive.
• mociñas. Dim. and pl. of "moza" (girl) translated "lassies." Another option: young girls.
• paseniño (gingerly, leisurely). Not an affectionate diminutive.
• pretiño. Dim. of "preto" (close to, near) translated: "snuggly close to." Another option: cuddly close to.
• rapaciña. Dim. of "rapaza" (girl, teenage girl) translated "dear girl." Another option: lassie.
• tiña (past tense of "ter," to have). Not a diminutive.
• toliña. Dim. of "tola" (crazy, disturbed, mad) translated "adorably daffy" because the protagonist is madly in love.

Explanation of some words, terms or expressions

Jacinto (5.3). Hyacinth, not a common first name in English.

Cara de pote fendido (10.1). "Cara de pote" was slang for an object of dark complexion (an overcast day, a face) because the cooking pots of Rosalia's day were ironwork. The modifier "fendido" (from fenda: slit, crack, chink) may tab the light-coloured areas of Jacinto's face (teeth, white of the eyes) or a scar. Thus the tempting translation, "crackpot face," is wrong: Jacinto is not a nutter, he is probably a gypsy.

Tan contento (23.2). Although the literal translation is "so merrily" the best interpretation is colloquial, meaning "without a second thought" or "without a care in the world." The first option, "without a second thought," serves to contrast Jacinto's thoughtlessness with the infatuated girl's constant dwelling upon him.

Folklore

The Galician countryside regarded a parish priest with ambivalence. He was highly respected when he helped the poor, assisted them in their dealings with the law or looked after the basic education of the children. He was the butt of prudent jokes otherwise. In any case the Galician countryside did not expect a parish priest to be celibate; celibacy was deemed unnatural. Instead the rural priest is a stereotype of covert profligacy in many traditional songs; for example the refrain of the xota de Soutomaior states:

Pandereteiras de Soutomaior

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Source: Imágenes del recuerdo. Azagra (Navarra)

10.   Why?     (¿Por qué?)

(Follas Novas, 1880)

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Source: Xelo2004. Wikimedia Commons

11.   Winter Months     (Meses do inverno)

(Follas Novas, 1880)

Folklore

The Celtic band Milladoiro captured the spirit of a normal Galician winter in their piece "Invernía" (track 11 of the 1989 album "As Fadas de Estraño Nome").

Milladoiro

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