Mediaeval Pilgrim Songs for the Veneration of St Mary:
Llibre Vermell de Montserrat
Cantigas de Santa Maria

Montserrat monastery had been a well-known place for the veneration of the Virgin in the 13th and 14th centuries, also being home of the Llibre Vermell, the “Red Book”, a famous collection of theological and liturgical texts as well as Marian chants in different languages as Latin, Occitan and Catalan. These very popular chants must have been destined to para-liturgical use between offices in the abbey church or in front of the church, sometimes clearly called round dances in the manuscript. Several musical influences can be found: simple pilgrim songs, plain chant, a Catalonian polyphonic tradition dating from the 11th c. as well as the quite modern style of ars nova. The French ensemble KANTIKA presents the total amount of songs from the Llibre Vermell, even the noted prayer and litany texts which have not been performed so far. KANTIKA is specialised in liturgical music and plain chant and compared to precedents recordings, proposes a new point of view – an interpretation avoiding any exaggeration and concentrating on the magnificent female voices of the ensemble accompanied by only a few instruments.

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utwory z kolekcji Llibre Vermell de Montserrat i Cantigas de Santa Maria