Canto Toledano – Canto mozarabe
Canto Toledano – Canto mozarabe
Holy Saturday office and Easter Vigil at the cathedral of Toledo
Ensemble Organum
Direction: Marcel Pérès
Jean-Christophe Candau
Jérôme Casalonga
Raphaël Pérès
Pierre Poulard
Jean-Étienne Langianni
Antoine Sicot
Marius Peterson
The concert of the Niguliste Museum’s concert series “Art Sounds” based on the treasures of medieval art and the exhibition programme of the Niguliste Museum, will present ancient Mozarabic liturgical chants performed by Ensemble Organum (FRA). The concert is part of the public programme of the exhibition “Treasures of Toledo Cathedral from Medieval to El Greco“.
The Ensemble Organum is one of the world’s most renowned interpreters of medieval liturgical music, including the Mozarabic chant tradition. It was created in 1982 at the Abbaye de Sénanque, and then hosted at the Royaumont Foundation from 1984 to 2000, where Marcel Pérès founded the CERIMM (European Research Centre on Medieval Music). In 2001 it moved to Moissac where it helps run a new research structure, the CIRMA (Centre Itinérant de Recherche sur les Musiques anciennes).
Organum has performed most of the European repertoires written since the 6th century. Through the many concerts and shows held in Europe, on the American continent, in Africa and the Middle East, the recording of about forty records—most of which received the highest distinctions, including the Diapason d’or, Classical Awards, Choc de l’année du Monde de la Musique—and many radio and television broadcasts, Ensemble Organum has played a decisive role in the renewal of the music of the Middle Ages and revealed the rich diversity of the European musical heritage. In 2000, the New York Times ranked the recording of Machaut’s Messe by the ensemble Organum among the 100 essential records that revolutionized 20th century music.
Mozarabic chant is the ancient liturgical chant of the churches of the Iberian Peninsula. It was formed at the beginning of the evangelization of the provinces of Hispania Romana and asserted itself under the reign of the Visigoths (466-711) with a strong influence from the churches of North Africa. It continued to be practiced during the Muslim period and it was at this time that it received the denomination of Mozarabic song, a term which designated Christians who had preserved their faith while having adopted lifestyles close to the Arab-Berber culture.
The actions undertaken by the Carolingians in the 9th century to establish the Roman liturgy throughout the empire produced no effect on the Iberian Peninsula, except on the territories of the Marca Hispanica in the northeast controlled by Charlemagne. However, at the end of the 11th century, the opening of the policy of the kings of Castile beyond the Pyrenees modified the will of the bishops to maintain the old tradition. Thus in 1081, during the council convened in Burgos by King Alfonso VI, they decided to replace the ancient Hispanic chant with Gregorian chant. Under the impetus of the monks of Cluny, this Gregorian repertoire spread throughout the peninsula in a movement from north to south, to the rhythm of the re-conquest of the territories occupied by the Muslims. As musicians at the end of the 11th century used a system of notation, which did not indicate intervals and the oral tradition having gradually disappeared, the musical manuscripts of this period are for us hopelessly silent.
However, some churches, notably in Toledo, had preserved this song in oral tradition. At the end of the 15th century, it was noted thanks to the clairvoyance of Cardinal Cisneros. This institutionalized the Mozarabic rite by assigning it to a chapel of the cathedral, that of Corpus Christi. He entrusted Canon Alonso Ortiz with the task of reconstituting the liturgy.
Only three manuscripts transmit this song from Toledo to us, two for the mass and one for the office of vespers. They are currently kept in the Mozarabic Chapel
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