The arts of sound
In the realm of music, the period of their rule has left us some of the greatest treasures of Spanish music. Yet the extraordinarily rich musical repertory bequeathed to us from the period of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella remains largely unexplored. How many recordings, for instance, are there of the works of Juan de Anchieta, Pedro de Escobar, Martín de Ribaflecha, Francisco Peñalosa, Francisco de la Torre, or Pere Joan Aldomar? And how often do we hear their music programmed in concerts? And then there is the music that is lost forever; much of the music heard during their reign in the court, chapels, cathedrals, and civic ceremonies was improvised. And most of the music heard in the taverns, streets, plazas and work places of the lowers classes is likewise lost forever. And while we may be amazed at the quantity and quality of music preserved in such monuments of Spanish music as the famous cancioneros and the manuscript polyphonic choirbooks, these represent but a tiny proportion of the music committed to paper and parchment by composers and scribes during this period.
In a recently-published study entitled Música y músicos en la corte de Fernando el Católico, 1474-1516, Tess Knighton presents us with a magnificent and fascinating examination of the soundscape that enveloped the reigns of the Catholic Monarchs with melody, harmony, rhythm, and poetry. For the arts of sound accompanied almost every aspect of the lives, both private and public, of these rulers. Indeed the court of the Catholic Monarchs became a focus for music making, attracting large numbers of instrumentalists, singers, and composers. Interestingly, the majority of these musicians were Spanish. This is remarkable and significant, because Ferdinand and Isabella modelled so much of their cultural patronage on the styles and magnificence of the Burgundian court, and in doing so employed a large number of foreign artists and artisans. The chief architect of San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo, for example, was Juan Guas. Born in Lyons, he travelled to Spain with a group of Flemish artists whose work defined the Hispano-Flemish Gothic style. Yet the overwhelming majority of the musicians employed by Ferdinand and Isabella were native Spaniards.
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Isabella was a wife, a mother, a Queen, and, of course, a devoted believer. She was also a warrior and a scholar. We find all these aspects of Isabella’s character in the songs, motets, masses, and other musical works that were played and sung in her court
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Power and piety were the twin pillars upon which the Catholic Monarchs based their new image of sovereignty. In a magnificent miniature from one of Isabella’s own exquisitely-illuminated Books of Hours, the queen herself is depicted kneeling in prayer at a prie-dieu, in adoration of the Virgin, who is crowned as Queen of Heaven. The presence of four angel musicians playing harp, lute, psaltery, and organ reminds us that no aspect of the Monarch’s lives went unattended by music. The illustration’s emphasis of Isabella’s personal devotion and piety legitimates her sovereignty and also underlines a feminine relationship with the Virgin that no male monarch or subject could achieve.
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