ACTIVIDADES

On 21 September 2019, at 13:00 pm, at the Royal Monastery of Yuste

We recover a selection of beautiful pages from the past, starting from the 15^th century till the beginning of the 18^th century. All of them include different themes: love, religion, celebration, war feats … of authors, such as Juan del Enzina, Mateo Flecha, Juan Vásquez, Tomás Luis de Victoria … and others who are anonymous. After the discovery of America the travel to and from the New World makes music and religion blend in with the native culture resulting in music jewels compiled in codices on the other side of the Atlantic.

A first set of works, Cantos de la Cristiandad, are inspired by Christianism. A furious dispute, a victorious parade that puts an end to the reconquest in Granada, but it is simultaneously a song of lament of King Boabdil as a cause of his defeat. This news was spread among all peoples and somewhere a group of shepherds sings Levanta Pacual, announcing this event. Ande, pues, nuestro apellido celebrates the coming of Jesus Christ symbolising victory over evil. Going forward in history, we move on to America’s colonial period with Sancta María, a popular prayer in Náhuatl (language of the Aztecs) to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Cantos de amor y desamor. These take us to palatial cultured settings of Renaissance Spain. Universal clichés are sang via poetry, such as love and lack of love in its most humane dimension. Al Alba venid and Con qué la lavaré, are two pieces included in Renaissance song books that include content dealing with abandonment and lack of love, with feelings that bring along sad destinies, thresh quiet fears and place hope in the light of dawn. De dónde venís amores and Teresica hermana, murmur about off time love, that goes against the norm, of furtive lovers hidden in the night …

Cantos de fiesta. Includes Hoy comamos y bebamos by the illustrious poet and musician Juan del Enzina, which calls upon carnal pleasures. Dances, such as the Folia Rodrigo Martínez, liven the celebration with humour in the most popular settings. Un sarao de la chacona will close the concert. It is a tribute to good life, a festive dance that sings to the amusement, makes everyone laugh, making fun of characters of the time and which is not exempt from certain social criticism.

Cantos por el qu’es nasçido is the title of a set of works, whose common denominator is the birth of Jesus and human expressions of happiness due to this divine event. An example of this is Serenisima una noche. A sample of the exchange with the New World are “Negrilla’s” carols: Eso rigor e repente, Convidando está la noche, Los coflades de la estleya and Ay andas, a tocar, a bailar, with syncopated rhythms that encourage dancing and whose text is the phonetic transcription of the native speakers; a sample of the artistic miscegenation between both continents.