These observations made, it is worth considering the degree of validity or perhaps, authenticity of a sound document from the past such as the Mystery Play of Elche, which has been heard uninterruptedly since its ‘premiere’ and is backed up by the added value of tradition. In theory its revival should not even have to be contemplated, being, as it is, a living testimony. On the contrary, it ought to provide information regarding the way musical documents from the past surviving only in written form should be performed.
The Mystery Play of Elche
The earliest manuscript or customary conserving the complete text and music to the Mystery Play of Elche is relatively modern. It dates from 1709 and is a copy of an earlier manuscript, dating from 1639, which presently seems to have been lost. In turn, this is supposed to be a copy of an original that has never come to light and from which a copy of the text was extracted in 1625, which only survives in a modern edition. In 1722, José Lozano y Roiz, who was responsible for the 1709 copy, made another copy that does not differ with respect to the former. From the second third of the eighteenth century and throughout the first half of the nineteenth, these two copies or other similar copies were used to extract parts, so as to help singers learn the Misteri. There are only slight differences between the majority of the parts conserved and the above-mentioned customaries. But this is not the case with the scores dating from 1895 to 1943, written by the maestros de capilla of the Church of Santa María of Elche, Alfredo Javaloyes and Salvador Román, whose musical versions of the Misteri are much more ornamented than the earliest ones. Similar to both these versions is that still heard today in the Church of Santa María in Elche on the vigil to Assumption and the day itself, a musical-dramatic masterpiece whose exceptional character has led to its recent addition to the UNESCO Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
The text to the Mystery Play of Elche has barely been altered over centuries. Divided over two days, it narrates the Assumption of the Virgin, based on Jacobus de Voragine’s famous narration of the theme in The Golden Legend (c.1264). The first day begins with the Virgin’s journey along the Via Crucis and continues until she reaches her deathbed. There she is visited by an angel holding a palm branch, who descends from heaven, or rather the church dome, transported by a unique aerial machine of medieval origin that is represented as a cloud. This machine is popularly known as a mangrana (pomegranate), as it resembles the form and colour of this fruit. Saints Peter, John and the other Apostles then visit the Virgin. The first day ends with the Virgin’s death and her soul’s ascent to heaven, transported by a second aerial machine, the Araceli, accompanied by five angels, four of whom are musicians. Traditionally, this part of the play is performed on 14th August, the Vigil of Assumption. The next morning, 15th August, the second day is performed. Firstly, it represents the preparations for the Virgin’s burial, followed by how the Jews want to defile her body and the miracle that occurred, leading them to convert to the Christian religion, and later her Assumption at the moment she is to be buried. The work ends with the Coronation of the Virgin after her body has arrived in heaven. This is a dramatically spectacular moment involving the suspension of the Araceli between heaven and earth and a third machine, the Trinitat, where the clergyman representing God the Father is seated, flanked by another two actors representing the Son and the Holy Spirit. According to the version given in the 1709 and 1722 customaries, the text to the Misteri consists of 255 lines written in old Catalan, without including the lines of the psalm In exitu Israel, sung on the second day, and those of the final Gloria, both in Latin.
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