‘Cantar bem’: King Duarte’s Ordenança or Regimento and musical practice in the Portuguese royal chapel in the early fifteenth century

One of the most important and indeed earliest sets of documents concerning musical and liturgical practice in the Portuguese royal chapel is contained in King Duarte’s Livro dos Conselhos and Leal Conselheiro drawn up in the early fifteenth century, which precedes the majority of sets of ordinances for other court chapels in the Iberian Peninsula and elsewhere in northern and southern Europe. Comprised of an Ordenança or Regimento for the chapel and its officers, this source offers instructive insight into polyphonic ensemble singing and vocal production, as well as, uniquely, directives for the optimum length of liturgical services, both with and without musical elaboration. A description of recommendations and instructions in the royal chapel Ordenança of D. Duarte forms the basis of this paper, with a discussion of some of the more specific details concerning performance questions and liturgical integration included in it.