XIV Early Music Morella
18 – 24 July 2025
CARMINIS
Early Music Morella celebrates its 14th edition with Carminis. The usual translation of carminis from Latin is song and in its formal gender classification, according to what is known in Latin and Greek as neuter, we find an abstract manifestation that encompasses a much broader concept than that designated by the masculine or feminine, so that the appropriate translation would not so much be song as a set of songs and all that is linked to them. In this world of songs and all that is linked to them we enter into this new edition of Early Music Morella, obviously delimited between the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the dawn of the Baroque.
Medieval musical composition was mainly based on monody. Although precise musical notation techniques for pitches existed from the 11th century onwards, these compositions were rarely written down at the time of their creation due to the prevalence of oral tradition in musical transmission. Many of these works were only transcribed when they became sufficiently widespread and well-known to justify their inclusion in songbooks. Sometimes, up to a century and a half could pass between the composition and its transcription, and in many cases, only the lyrics were transcribed, the musical part being lost forever. In this edition of the EMM, this monodic repertoire linked to lyrical, dramatic or narrative poetry is approached from the perspective of the troubadours, whose art was cultivated in Provence and spread internationally from the 11th century, especially in Occitania, Navarre, the kingdom of Aragon and northern Italy. Also included is the work of the trovers, lyrical poets in the d’oïl language, who were active in northern France between the 12th and early 14th centuries.
Galician-Portuguese lyric poetry developed in the 12th century, inspired by troubadour lyric poetry. In addition to the amorous, scornful and sacred genres, it introduced an original theme: the cantiga de amigo, in which the poem is expressed by a woman. Most of these cantigas have not been preserved with their music. However, the Cantigas de Santa María from the 13th century, with 427 pieces, do preserve their melodies. These texts, composed or partly compiled by Alfonso X the Wise, narrate miracles of the Virgin Mary, who is extolled as a lady of troubadour poetry, making the Castilian king the ‘troubadour of the virgin’. In parallel, the Minnesänger (German troubadours) developed their art in the Germanic courts during the 12th and 13th centuries, although few of their melodies have survived, mainly in 15th century manuscripts. From the perspective of religious monody in Latin, the Laudario di Cortona and the Carmina Burana stand out, as well as tropes, sequences and hymns. Examples of this repertoire can also be found in the Codex Calixtinus (12th century) in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, a collection of chants for Jacobean ceremonies, and in the musical work of Hildegard von Bingen, composed for the nuns of the monastery of Rupertsberg, where she was abbess.
During the Renaissance, secular polyphonic song underwent a remarkable expansion and stylistic development in the 16th century with forms such as frottola, villancico, villanella, chanson, madrigal and ensalada. This period marked a progressive emancipation of the civil from the religious sphere, influenced by the courtly ideal described in Baldassarre Castiglione’s Il Cortegiano (1528), emulated throughout Europe. In addition, there was an interplay between aristocratic and popular genres. The 16th century abandoned the fixed forms of medieval music, adopting genres with popular roots and homophonic style, such as the frottola and villanella in Italy and the villancico in Spain. The invention of the printing press, beginning with the publication of Ottaviano Petrucci’s ‘Odhecaton’ in 1501, facilitated musical dissemination and allowed the existence of the first European hits, such as the song Mille regretz by Josquin (ca. 1520), a favourite of Emperor Charles V. The influence of these songs was also reflected in religious music with the Parody Masses, where composers used pre-existing polyphonic compositions (such as motets, chansons or madrigals) to unify the five movements of the Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei).
We celebrate in 2025 the 500th anniversary of the birth of the great Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594). The commemoration proposal centers around the program that AvocalCdM, the Capella de Ministrers academy, will premiere, focusing on the Song of Songs (Cantica Canticorum) by the great Italian master. We also commemorate with the Llibre Vermell the millennium of Santa Maria de Montserrat, founded in 1025 by Abbot Oliba, Bishop of Vic and Abbot of Ripoll, which has such a strong connection with the Dance of Death of Morella.
All of this without ceasing to delve in this musical adventure into instrumental practices, measurement, theory and composition techniques in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the beginnings of musical writing and its notation techniques, oral and written music and their mutual influences, as well as music of an instrumental or religious nature. The combination of elements of historical music together with those of oral tradition form the essence of Early Music Morella, music to understand, communicate, listen to, interpret and enjoy from its knowledge and reasoning. In this edition, in addition to the Festival concerts and the instrumental and/or vocal improvement course, you will be able to enjoy a multitude of parallel activities: guided tours, exhibitions, conferences, Med_Ren Jamsessions, instrument building workshops and we will pay special attention to international promotion activities, social activities and the dissemination and promotion of early music for young people, the elderly and disadvantaged groups. It will be a pleasure to share it with all of you.
