Music from the Codex las Huelgas

Burgos Cathedral Towers, chalk drawing ©eop

Late in 2011 Anonymous 4 issued its second CD of Camino related music, Secret Voices: Music from Las Huelgas c. 1300 (Harmonia Mundi USA HMU 807510). It is not my favorite among their recordings, and its review in BBC Music was nuanced and not entirely positive, but for anyone with an interest in the music of the Camino at the time of its apogee, the CD is a must have.

Several of the few great compilations of medieval and early renaissance music, collections crucial to our understanding of European musical culture in the high Middle Ages, have direct links to the Camino Santiago de Compostela and the pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James. Two of those collections were compiled for religious institutions adjacent and important to the Camino. One is, of course, the Codex Calixtinus usually held as a treasure in the archive of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. (Following its theft last year, its current whereabouts are unknown as far as I can determine.) Early in its career with its original personnel, Anonymous 4, the American female quartet specializing in medieval and renaissance vocal music, recorded a wonderful CD Miracles of Sant’Iago: Music from the Codex Calixtinus (Harmonia Mundi USA).

The second compilation of medieval liturgical music is the Codex las Huelgas assembled at the Convent (Monasterio) of the Huelgas, a lovely set of buildings the Camino Frances passes on its way out of Burgos. The Codex has provided material for numerous recordings, many with titles suggesting a link to the Camino and some quite good.  Small samples of the riches of the Codex are readily available, and mixed gender choirs and even all male groups have recorded some of the materials, though the convent was female and evidence suggests that at least some of the musical compositions in the Codex were written for female voices, perhaps, a rarity of the era, even written by women. It is thus a great pleasure to hear a female group of unparalleled technique and expertise in the music of the period record parts of the Codex in the voices the music was written for. Several of the selections on the CD are not included on any other recording I am aware of.

I am not working as their agent, but Ariama, an on-line supplier of  physical CDs as well as mp3 and flac downloads, currently has the new album on sale in all three formats. Ariama's website  allows one to listen online to samples of many of the albums it has for sale (like the record stores of my childhood with listening booths!), including both of those noted above.  

Loss of a Great Voice

Capital, Monasterio de Pedralbes, Barcelona

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For those of us who love the music of medieval and renaissance Europe, and especially that of Spain during the great age of pilgrimage to Santiago, November 2011 was a particularly sad month, for it witnessed the passing of a magnificent talent, the Catalan soprano Montserrat Figueras. With crystalline tone and great emotional intensity, Figuras brought to life the songs, and particularly the religious music, the lullabies and the laments, that were familiar to pilgrims on the route to Santiago in its great apex of the 15th and 16th centuries. In concert with her husband the inimitable master of early music Jordi Savall, her son and daughter and their several choral and instrumental groups including Hespèrion (later renamed Hespèrion XXI) and Capella Reial de Catalunya, Figueras performed and recorded some of the most haunting music of Spain's "Golden Age" (as I write I am listening to a gripping recording of Tomas Luis de Victoria's "Cantica Beatae Virginis" by those groups with Figueras as featured soloist). A multifaceted talent, she was also at home performing music by contemporary masters like the Estonian Aarvo Pärt. It will always be a regret that while I have had the great privilege of hearing her husband and her daughter Arianna Saval perform in concerts, I never had an opportunity to hear Montserrat Figueras live. 

Many of the world's major newspapers including the New York Times the Guardian and El Pais printed obituaries after her death. 

Her funeral was held in one of the most beautiful and beloved sites in Barcelona, the 
monastery of Pedralbes. 

While we no longer are able to hear her in concert, Figueras has left us with an extensive recorded archive in which she sang some of the most beautiful music ever written in Europe and around the Mediterranean Basin, and for that we must be thankful indeed.. 

Music

San Juan de Ortega, Burgos, Spain,  September 2011

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Sitting in the family waiting area of Sibley Hospital nervously awaiting the surgeon's report (thankfully for a fairly minor procedure) on my wife, it seems a good time to get back on track and pen a few words. I had intended to have a completed report on my September-October walk on the Camino Frances posted by now, but events, including some family medical issues and the holiday season, have made that impossible. The season was not without its pleasures, not least two performances by the Folger Consort. In December they collaborated with Piffaro (the Philadelphia based wind band of which I admit to being something of a groupie) and vocal soloists to present a wonderful concert of renaissance era Spanish Christmas music, "O Magnum Mysterium." Last Saturday we went to the (earthquake damaged and partially shrouded) Washington National Cathedral to hear the instrumental musicians of the Consort and the ethereal voices of Anonymous 4 perform music by Hildegard of Bingen and various 12^th century French composers, a stunning experience hearing the music in the type of venue for which it was composed, played and sung by true masters of early music. At some date in the not too distant future, I would love to hear live performances of some of the instrumental and vocal music associated with the Camino de Santiago played and sung by the Consort and Anonymous 4. Perhaps they can be persuaded to give such a concert. There is a fantastic CD of music from the Codex Calixtinus by Anonymous 4, but despite the wonders of modern audio recording, a live performance is still special.

I must get back to surveying Camino music as several good recordings have recently come to my attention. This is being written a few days after the last music store in Washington, DC carrying classical CDs announced it is closing. No more browsing, the serendipitous source of many CDs in my collection. Scrolling through lists on websites is just not the same. On-line one can listen to snippets of the recordings, recalling the record store booths of my childhood where one could sample records, but reading the album notes while holding the disc has been my avenue of serendipitous discovery. At various music websites, it is easy to find recordings advertised and promoted by major labels, but much recorded early music, including that linked to pilgrimage, is on small or private labels with budgets barely large enough to cover production costs. Only with a little luck and reports from a network of others who share the arcane taste for early music can one find these titles.

With the holidays over and medical issues under control, I hope, the usually grim weather of winter is a good time to get back to writing about pilgrimage issues, so I plan to write some additional postings in the next few weeks. At least I have managed to go through many of the 2,000+ photographs from my autumn pilgrimage and do a bit of editing, so I might even post a photo blog on Flicker or similar.

Meanwhile, what is the fate of the purloined Codex Calixtinus? While I was on the Camino no one seemed to know if it had been located and returned to the Cathedral archive, and many peregrinos were unaware of the theft. Since returning I have not had the opportunity to do research on the topic, another task for the next few weeks.

"The Way" and My Camino in 2011

Azuelos, house in El Burgo Ranero, 2011

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Yesterday I finally saw "The Way" with Martin Sheen, and it reminded me that I have not posted my promised post-Camino comments on this blog, so I shall use the movie as an introduction to my comments about the Camino in 2011. "The Way" was released in the US while I was still on the Camino, and catching somewhat obscure movies (anything that is not a Maul Movie--any film not made for 14-year old boys) in the slurbs of Northern Virginia, especially films more than a few weeks beyond their theatrical release date, can be difficult. Fortunately the local quasi-art house theatre (Cinema Arts Fairfax) opened it yesterday, and my wife and I were first in line to see it at its first show there.

The film was good entertainment, although like almost all movies a little implausible in places (the bag in the river, the gitano festival in Burgos, ...) and with at times a seriously deranged geography. It was redeemed by good acting, a good story line, attractive scenery and a number of details about walking the Camino that certainly rang true. The quartet of characters more or less randomly thrown together matched the demography I encountered with lots of Irish, Dutch, and Canadian pilgrims and rather few from the United States. I would have added a Scandinavian, French or German to the mix, but movies have neither the screen time nor the budget to do everything that might be interesting. Some commentators have objected to the brisk pace at which Sheen's character walked the Camino, but almost his age and probably in worse physical condition, I managed to walk from Pamplona in 32 days with few problems beyond the usual sore muscles. The motivations of those walking the Camino were cleverly addressed with the recognition that stated objectives and actual motivations are often not coincidental. The film is an entertaining and thought provoking two hours viewing for anyone who has walked or is contemplating a walk on the Camino Frances, and I plan to buy the DVD when it becomes available in order to show it to friends and to see it again.

In its penultimate act, "The Way" includes some scenes at the cathedral that are not presently possible including entry through the holy door, not until the next Holy Year, and a good view of Master Mateo's Portico of Glory. To see that magnificent sculptural assemblage in its original form was one of my motivations, knowing far more about it now than when I walked the Camino in 1998 and 2001. Alas, when I finished my Camino in October, the Portico was mostly covered with scaffolding and only small parts were visible as restoration work is in progress. Placing one's hand on the statue is not presently allowed, and I heard rumor that ancient tradition has been permanently halted due to damage to the carving. Ironically, when I was in London a year ago I made a special trip to the Victoria and Albert to view the cast of the Portico in that museum's famed plaster cast collection, but the exhibit hall was also closed for renovation, so for now I have to be content with pictures in books.

I ended my Camino with a bus trip to Fisterra (Finisterre) but did not go to Muxia. The scenes in "The Way" made me wish I had, for I had already been to the end of the earth in 2001 at the end of my Camino that year. A reason to make yet another pilgrimage!

Over the next several weeks I plan to post several additional brief commentaries about the Camino and my 2011 walk. Keep tuned!

Environment and Pilgrimage

Santiago Matamoros, detail of retablo, Iglesia Santiago el Burgo, Zamora, Spain

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The November 5th 2011issue of the weekly news magazine the Economist has a brief article "Pilgrimages: Hot Steps. Pilgrimages are booming. Time to make them less destructive" (p. 71), worthwhile reading and food for thought for anyone who feels that perhaps the pilgrimage to Santiago is becoming too popular. There are are environmental costs to pilgrimage, and with a world population now said to be 7 billion, there are huge numbers of potential pilgrims to all of the major (and minor) pilgrimage destinations. Perhaps it is time to asses the environmental costs and do something to mitigate them. Otherwise "pilgrims risk destroying the destinations they love."

Santiago to Fisterra

A brief posting for in an hour I am meeting a fellow peregrino for a last beer. He returns home tonight, and tomorrow I begin my way back to Madrid, via Zamora, Avila, and Salamanca to return to the real world next week.

Today was the obligatory bus trip to "fin del mundo." it was a glorious day for the long bus rides. Despite being mid-October, it looks and feels like beach weather. School is in session, and vacation season has ended, so the beautiful bits of beach between Noia and Fisterra were almost empty. A little hazy, it was still a nearly perfect day to walk to the lighthouse and look over the edge of the earth!

Fisterra itself was bustling with numerous peregrinos who made the trip by bus and many more who walked. Two weeks ago I debated walking, but after the climb to O Cebreiro, I decided that would be stretching my luck and my leg muscles too far. I am glad I took the bus and walked the final kms to the faro.

There will be no more postings until I return to the US.

Santiago!

Arrived early this afternoon in Santiago, and what a complicated set of feelings! Happy to have achieved the goal; glad I do not have to face any more 30 + km days anytime soon; relieved my knees will not need to make any steep descents for awhile; sad that I am unlikely to ever again encounter most of the fascinating and wonderful people who have walked on my schedule and been albergue, meal, and trail companions. Those who have never walked the Camino will never know the magnificence of the experience! The walking can be painful and occasionally difficult, but oh the rewards. It will take many weeks to sort my photos, notes and feelings to make full sense of the experience, but all complaints to the contrary, the rewards far exceed the time and effort expended.

An unexpected reward late this afternoon--in addition to seeing many of my Camino companions for a final time--was the swinging of the botafumier at the 6 pm mass. This is the second time my Camino has ended with that awesome display, a fitting coda to a fantastic month.