Capella Sancta Maria

Dances, Villancicos, and Ensaladas

An ensalada is a type of music composition where different texts, rhythms, and melodies come together in a single piece. It is typical from the Spanish Renaissance. 

In this miscellanea, you will find villancicos from the Cancionero de Palacio, a collection of songs from the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic Monarchs. You will also hear solo instrumental pieces by Alonso Mudarra, the Sevillian vihuelist who wrote some of the most famous melodies of his century. We also perform medieval Cantigas de Alfonso X, written in the Galician-Portuguese language, which at the time was the principal language of lyric poetry.

There are also dances from the Codex Lerma, a Spanish manuscript now kept at the University Library of Utrecht, which is the only source for this music.

The undisputed master of the ensalada was Mateo Flecha el Viejo. He wrote La Guerra, inspired in part by Janequin’s La Bataille de Marignan, where he mixes languages and styles—Latin, Spanish, popular expressions—and uses many onomatopoeic and martial effects.

La Bomba, perhaps the most widely performed ensalada today, tells the story of a ship’s crew trapped in a violent storm that threatens to sink them. The sailors work desperately to manage the ship, cutting ropes, bailing water, and facing panic as the ship begins to break apart. In the middle of the chaos, they make promises to the Virgin Mary and various saints to save themselves, until finally another boat arrives to rescue them. Once safe, they celebrate the miracle with songs, guitar, and praises to the Baby Jesus, ironically reflecting on how the great promises made in danger are often forgotten once the storm has passed.

Sound in the Silence
The role of female monasteries in the creation and performance of a wide repertoire for women is still one of the least studied areas in the history of Spanish music. With the rise of mercantilism in the 16th century, the status of Spanish women worsened, as evidenced by, for instance, "La perfecta casada" by Fray Luis de León. Women were understood to have, in addition to domestic and reproductive tasks, an important additional responsibility: the deffence of their honour, which they could not maintain alone.

Therefore, for widowed or single women, the convent was the only alternative option. However, the truth is that paying the dowry required by the convent was not feasible for all families. As a result, there was an abnormally high representation of women from the upper and middle classes in women’s convents. Nevertheless, there was a requirement that could replace the payment of the dowry: musical knowledge.

The basic line-up of the ensemble for this program consists of four female singers, organ and harpsichord. Sackbuts and curtal may also be added. The program includes Gregorian Chant, polyphony and solo´s, by composers like Vaquedano, Galán, Beana and Morales, among others, and it has already been performed during the festival Espazos Sonoros (Santiago de Compostela, Spain 2023) and Via Musica (Emmeloord, The Netherlands 2024). 

Photo by Belén Bermejo

The Lerma Codex is a Spanish manuscript copied in Spain at the end of the 16th century. It once belonged to the music library of the Duke of Lerma, valido (favorite) of Philip III. It was discovered in the 1950s by Maarten A. Vente, lecturer and curator at the Instituut voor Muziekwetenschap at the University of Utrecht.  The codex contains Italian madrigals, French chansons, and instrumental dances. Some of the composers are virtually unknown, such as Jacopo Corfini or Giovan Primavera 

For most of the dances, Codex Lerma is the only source, including some by Clemens non papa. The madrigal "Pon fren al gran dolor,"which sets a text by Petrarch, is also a unicum, and never performed before in modern times. 

Codex Lerma "The Found Manuscript" was premiered in the Netherlands in with the support of the Utrecht University Library, the Instituto Cervantes of Utrecht, and the Spanish Embassy in The Hague. Since then, it hs been performed in numerous festivals, like Festival  Internacional de Arte Sacro (Madrid, Spain), Festival de Música Antigua (Sevilla, Spain), Musica Antiqua Nova (Groningen, The Netherlands) and Musica Antigua da Camera (The Hague, The Netherlands)

Photo by Juan Sebastian

Photo by Simon Cremer

Photo by Femas

Photo by Luciana Cueto