En Terras Despanya

“He who sings prays twice,” says a phrase attributed to Saint Augustine. Indeed, music transcends words and elevates the spirit, and it is also the voice of history and the memory of each era. Thus, this programme offers a journey through the longings, shadows, and concerns of medieval Hispanic society through medieval Iberian polyphonies preserved in the codex of Las Huelgas, Madrid, and the Calixtine. We will begin in the realm of piety, where Marian devotion became a symbol of purity and spiritual consolation, before descending into the warrior sphere, embodied in the veneration of Saint James, patron saint and banner of the Reconquest. We will then explore the concept of death and its omnipresence, reflected in music as both anguish and hope, and conclude with the constant duality that permeated the medieval mindset in the struggle between sin and redemption. This concert is a journey into the medieval soul, where music becomes prayer, refuge, and the echo of a humanity that, despite the passage of time, continues to seek transcendence

Programme
FAITH
Ihesu clementissime [Hu, f. 161]
Ave Regina / Alma redemptoris / [Alma] [Hu, f. 113v]
O Maria Virgo / O Maria maris stella / [In veritate] [Hu, f. 102v]
Mater patris et filia [Hu, f. 147v]
A madre de Ihesu Christu [CSM 302]

WAR
Regi perennis hodie [CC, f. 139]
Qui vocasti supra mare [CC, f. 134]
Congaudeant catholici [CC, f. 214]
Psallat chorus celestium [CC, f. 101v ]

DEATH
Audi pontus [Hu, f. 167v ]
Homo miserabilis/Brumas est mort [Hu, f. 127v]
Plange Castella misera [Hu, f. 160]
Muito faz grand’erro [CSM 209]

SIN 
Hoquetus In saeculum [Ma, f. 122v ] 
In veritate [Hu, f. 126] 
Da castitatis [Hu, f. 131-132v] 
Belial vocatur [Hu, f. 82-83] 

Hu: Codex de Las Huelgas | CC: Codex Calixtinus | CSM: Cantiga de Santa María | Ma: Codex de Madrid