Abstract
Many approaches have been devised to study the elusive art form known as the oral traditional ballad, to try to reach an understanding of the interplay between memory and creativity in its transmission from one generation to another over several centuries. This chapter adds yet another approach: a close analysis of two oral performances which the author recorded in rural Brazil in 1978. It describes the settings and analyzing two spontaneous performances, both versions of the ballad El conde Claros de Montalban (Count Claros of Montalban), whose first published texts date from sixteenth-century Spain. One woman performed the version known to collectors of Hispanic ballads as Conde Claros en hábito de fraile (Count Claros in Monk’s Attire), the other Conde Claros y la infanta (Count Claros and the Princess). The chapter comments on musical, linguistic, social, and aesthetic characteristics of each performance.
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