Nuevo Corpus de la antigua lírica popular hispánica (Siglos XV a XVII) (review)

264ReviewsLa corónica 34.1, 2005 Margit Frenk. Nuevo Corjius de la antigua lírica popular hispánica (Siglos XV a XVII). 2 vols. Mexico City: El Colegio de Mexico. 2003. 1-108?)?).: 1081-2208 pp. ISBN 968-16-6783-4 " In 1989. I reviewed the first 1987 edition ofthe Corpus, and hailed it as "a unique and marvelous book ... an inclisjiensable Forschungsiiistritment for anyone concerned with earlv jioetrv" (506). .And so it has repeatedly proven to be a delightful companion over the last fourteen years, a constant and infallible presence, giving us massive control over the earlv lyric - a control of which we could hardly have dreamed before its ¡mblication. But now, Margit Frenk has given us something that is even better, if such a thing could have been imagined: a Muevo Corpus, which far surpasses the first edition in the breadth of its coverage and in the richness of its annotations while at the same lime maintaining the original organization and numeration, accomjianied by a user-friendlv sujiplemcntarv numbering system. Variant versions of jioems already present in the first edition bear the same number (preceded by a small diamond and followed bv bis. ter, and occasionally even by quattuor); where an added text qualifies as a "versión independiente", it keeps the original number, but is followed bv a letter (or an additional letter: A, B. etc.); when the small diamond follows the number, this indicates that, though the item was included in the earlv Corpus, "ha habido uno o más cambios en el texto". The amount of new material discovered bv Margit Frenk is nothing less than astounding. Just jihvsicallv each ofthe two volumes ofthe Nuevo Corpus is as thick as the single volume ofthe Coi¡tus. While the earlv Corpus included "onlv" 2,687 items, the Nuevo Corpus brings us more than 3.790: "o sea, que se han añadido más de 1,100 [textos nuevos]" (10-11). Frenk explains in a footnote (1 1, nO) that eight texts ofthe first Corpus have now been eliminated: Five were fragments that have now been comjileted and incorporated into the body ofthe text and three others thai "no debieron haberse incluido", for reasons explained in each case, and have consequently been omitted (nos. 913, 1390, 2009). The Bibliography has been greatly expanded, now to include, along with much new material, "todos los autores ? títulos citados", instead oí onlv those cited more than twice in the first Corpus. Newcitations in the Bibliograjihy are easily spotted, since thev also bear small diamonds. The indices have likewise been greatly augmented. To the first Corpus' four indices, another three have now been added: an index of first verses "en orden de aparición"; another of the names of "bailes y juegos infantiles" and yet another of proverbs, reflecting Frenk's ongoing attention La coros-ka 34.1 (Fall, 2005): 264-67 Reviews265 to paremiological sources as an important and integral component of the early lyric (Estudios sobre lírica antigua 154-71). The disaission of new sources searched in preparing the Nuevo Corpus, new perspectives, and editorial criteria makes for intensely interesting reading. More attention has now been paid to riddles and children's rhymes, along with proverbs. Frenk has also decided to "abrir un poco más la puerta a [la] cultura poética híbrida ... [y] hacer aun más justicia a elementos semipopulares.... El nuevo límite temporal de esta antología es, pues, el año 1700, aunque en las notas se recogen algunos datos posteriores" (16-17, 19). Such a time limit, obviously, does not apply to modern genetic survivals of the early lyric in the modern oral tradition, which, if they were abundant in the first Corpus, have now been further enriched in the light of subsequent field work and research. It would be impossible to discuss in detail all the attractive "new" villancicos (y rimas afines) now destined to become part of our standard repertoire, thanks to Margit Frenk's ground-breaking scholarship. I will list below a mere baker's dozen examples that, among many others, caught my attention as I read through the designated additions to the Nuevo Corpus...