Concert by the Ensemble Sensus

Arianna Lanci - singing, clavisimbalum
Luigi Lupo - flutes, medieval crosses
Elisabetta Del Ferro - viella, lute, ribeca
Marco Muzzati - narrator, psaltery, bells, percussion

The Virgin of miracles, mercy and punishment, the one who looks at the earth and its men with benevolence and intransigence, sometimes pacifying and sometimes implacable, this is the Blessed Virgin told in the famous Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X of Castile. The Virgin Mary, is elected absolute protagonist in all 427 songs of this collection, whether they tell daily stories or exotic legends, deeds of warriors, struggles between Christians and Moors, unexpected truces or conversions, and her influence is accomplished, dispensing mercy and justice, through a supernatural action that amazes, trembles, exults, hopes and above all sing praises to herself, the mother of the Redeemer.

We are faced with one of the richest and most exciting music collections of the entire Middle Ages, which has fascinated crowds of scholars, musicians and spectators. These passages, written between 1250 and 1280, are all written in Galician.

The work had great diffusion precisely because of the Marian fervor that aroused in the faithful and the splendid manuscripts that have come down to us are rich in miniatures that, in addition to being an unparalleled source for the reconstruction of the musical instruments in use at that time, illustrating the history of each miracle, offer us a cross-section of life at the court of King Alfonso X "el Sabio", Said the wise, in fact, also by virtue of having commissioned the drafting of this great work.