This appears to be the earliest surviving work based on this tune, presumably from popular tradition. The cantus firmus, in red ciphers, is slightly different in each of the three stanzas. The simplified melody shown in the analysis frame is derived from the melody in the final variation. As can be seen, the theme appears to be based on two simple melodic phrases, indicative of its popular nature. The texture in each of the three variations places the cantus firmus voice in the superius, and adds two voices below it. Narváez’s music was reprinted by

The poem is apparently of popular origin, but appears to have given rise to other related versions in more elegant verse by composers such as: Gutierre de Cecina, “Como garza real, alta en el cielo..” (Nº 152 en la edición de López Bueno). Further versions are given in alonso2003. The text used here is the copla of a villancico that has the following text (Frenk237,238):
Mal ferida iva la garça enamorada;
sola va y gritos dava.
Si tantos halcones
la garça combaten,
¡por Dios que la maten!
Frenk shows that the song was cited among the refrains cited Correas y Núñez, it is mentioned in the entry for “garça” in Covarrubias, as well as appearing in the works of Iñiguez de Medrano, González de Eslava, and in several cancioneros now in Toledo, Modena, etc.

Narváez’s music is one of the oldest.
Valderrábano also set the music for vihuela (va137). Valderrábano also uses the opening theme as the initial theme of his Fantasia 25 (va112).
Other settings based on the same melody are in
• F-Pn Espagnol 219, Libro 2, Cap. 4, “Exemplo de como se puede echar un cantarzico sobre el kyrie”. It seems that this is an example of a Kyrie built from the popular melody, which is given in the tenor. casaresB1
• P-Ln CIC no 60, fols 48v-49, [no 38], Si tantos monteros (edited in moraisVCR) An independent work based on same popular tune. Opening counterpoint is similar.
• I-MOe alfa.q.8.21 “Odae alique hispanicae” , fols 18v-19v. Text with alfabetto. Text reproduced in aubrun1950 (myfile)
• I-MOe alfa.p.6.22 Odae aliaque carmina hispana – Text with alfabetto, the version used by o
• I-MOe alfa.r.6.4 Carmina hispana, fols 59r-60r – Text with alfabetto (myfile)
These last three MSS have largely the same repertory. The alfa,q.8.21 and alfa.r.6.4 are different copies of the same piece.
The chord progressions and text repetitions make it seem unlikely that these 17th century songs are sung to the same tune that is common to all the 16th-century versions.

REPRINT
• Phalèse in Des chansons reduictz en Tablature, fol. h1v-h2v (Brown 1546-18, nºs. 32-33).