Llibre Vermell de Montserrat (The Red Book of Montserrat)
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The Llibre Vermell de Montserrat is the remains of several manuscripts dating from around 1399, that were burned during the Napoleonic Wars. The remaining pages were brought together and bound into a single book that was given a red silk velvet cover (hence the name.) Included in the book are 10 songs. I was familiar with these songs from various recordings, had access to modern notation for roughly half of them, and then found a facsimile of the entire book on-line. Working from the facsimiles, referencing the modern copies I had to check the notation, and using the lyrics from another (now defunct) on-line source to check my (not especially good) reading of the original text, I transcribed the ten songs. I wanted to use them for a singing session at Rowany Festival in 2006; this is the text I had posted on the Lochac Entertainer's Guild website with the files at the time:
"About the Music
This collection of music is generally referred to as the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, or in English, the Red Book of Montserrat. The music is all medieval, although the title is not. Montserrat, in Catalonia (north-eastern Spain and part of southern France), is the site of a monastery which contains the famous shrine of the Black Madonna (so called because the wood used to carve the image of the Virgin Mary, sometime in the 12th Century, is black). In the Middle Ages this was, with Santa de Compostella, one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Spain.
Montserrat became a centre for learning, as well as pilgrimage, and the large number of pilgrims coming from all over Southern and Western Europe began to cause some problems with the monks of Montserrat. One of the biggest issues was the pilgrims habit of singing and dancing in the church and the area around the shrine. The monks recognised that this was an expression of the joy the pilgrims felt at achieving their goal, but the songs that were known in common to these large numbers of people who came from widespread locations tended to be secular and in some cases rather inappropriate for a sacred place.
Rather than try to prohibit the pilgrims desire to sing and dance with joy and exultation, the monks instead gathered a collection of music with suitable words for the pilgrims to sing. Most of the music is in the popular, secular style of the 14th Century, and it is likely that these were originally well known secular pieces that were assigned more suitable, religious lyrics.
Three of the songs (Polorum Regina, Stella Splendens, Los Set Goyts) are specifically described as dances to be 'done in the round' (and so can be compared to the caroles of England and France); three more (O Virgo Splendens, Laudemus Virginem, Splendens Ceptigera) are canons (rounds) for two or three parts; one song is actually two different songs that can be sung together (Inperayntz de la Ciutat Joyosa / Verges Ses Par). Most of the songs are in Latin, but Inperayntz de la Ciutat Joyosa / Verges Ses Par and Los Set Goyts are in Catalan.
There are only ten pieces surviving, although there were at least 14 originally in the collection. During the Napoleonic War, most of the precious manuscripts at Montserrat were destroyed. This collection survived in part, and in the 19th century was given a red velvet cover, which has given the name to the collection."
"About the Music
This collection of music is generally referred to as the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, or in English, the Red Book of Montserrat. The music is all medieval, although the title is not. Montserrat, in Catalonia (north-eastern Spain and part of southern France), is the site of a monastery which contains the famous shrine of the Black Madonna (so called because the wood used to carve the image of the Virgin Mary, sometime in the 12th Century, is black). In the Middle Ages this was, with Santa de Compostella, one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Spain.
Montserrat became a centre for learning, as well as pilgrimage, and the large number of pilgrims coming from all over Southern and Western Europe began to cause some problems with the monks of Montserrat. One of the biggest issues was the pilgrims habit of singing and dancing in the church and the area around the shrine. The monks recognised that this was an expression of the joy the pilgrims felt at achieving their goal, but the songs that were known in common to these large numbers of people who came from widespread locations tended to be secular and in some cases rather inappropriate for a sacred place.
Rather than try to prohibit the pilgrims desire to sing and dance with joy and exultation, the monks instead gathered a collection of music with suitable words for the pilgrims to sing. Most of the music is in the popular, secular style of the 14th Century, and it is likely that these were originally well known secular pieces that were assigned more suitable, religious lyrics.
Three of the songs (Polorum Regina, Stella Splendens, Los Set Goyts) are specifically described as dances to be 'done in the round' (and so can be compared to the caroles of England and France); three more (O Virgo Splendens, Laudemus Virginem, Splendens Ceptigera) are canons (rounds) for two or three parts; one song is actually two different songs that can be sung together (Inperayntz de la Ciutat Joyosa / Verges Ses Par). Most of the songs are in Latin, but Inperayntz de la Ciutat Joyosa / Verges Ses Par and Los Set Goyts are in Catalan.
There are only ten pieces surviving, although there were at least 14 originally in the collection. During the Napoleonic War, most of the precious manuscripts at Montserrat were destroyed. This collection survived in part, and in the 19th century was given a red velvet cover, which has given the name to the collection."
Sources:
- Stella Splendens transcription given to me by Duchess Nerissa (OL) as a photocopy of a hand transcribed version circa 1995
- Photocopies of other transcriptions with no source data on them in my files (Stella Splendens, Cuncti Simus Concanentes, Inperayntz de l Ciutat Joyosa/Verges Ses Par and I remember having 2 others, but can no longer find them and can't remember which ones they were.) I think I had these from Dame Joan Sutton from one of the Guild Days held in Stowe on the Wold many years ago.
Link to the original postings on the Guild Website (uploaded at the time by Master Crispin Sexi.)