CD, стоящие на полке рядом : Sacred Music (Master Works)      

Rec. 1994

As was the case in other European countries, there were important places of pilgrimage in Spain such as Compostella, with the miraculous presence of the interred body of Saint James. Montserrat, with its miraculous Virgin, was another important centre. As its name implies, Montserrat was situated on a mountain whose striking shapes in a ring of pinnacles are visible from several miles around. The sacred character of the place was strengthened by the fact that it was situated at a height of 720 metres on the brink of an imposing precipice which had the further advantage of facing east.

In this place, from at least the ninth century, a group of hermits lived around a small chapel consecrated to the Virgin. Towards 1025, Abbot Oliba here founded a Benedictine community which depended on his own monastery, Santa Maria de Ripoll, and became a Benedictine priory in 1082. Finally, Montserrat succeeded in obtaining its consecration as an independent abbey and it was as such that it took on the architectural structure that we know today.

Its geographical situation, the presence of a statue of a Black Virgin and the fame of its miracles held great fascination and very quickly attracted large numbers of pilgrims to the monastery - this is still the case today. In order to foster such pilgrimages, the early monks spread the word about the miracles attributed to their Virgin, and to this end stories were written demonstrating the miraculous powers of Mary in her role as all-powerful mediator, an aspect characteristic of late medieval theology.

The Llibre Vermell (crimson book), which was copied out in the closing years of the 14th century, is one of the results of the desire to spread the cult of the Virgin of Montserrat. It is made up of nearly 150 in-folio pages which were bound in the 19th century in red velvet - whence its name derives - and contains a collection of religious writings in various genres. These include a number of theological treatises, privileges and indulgences for the monastery, the charter of the brotherhood on which the monastery depended, a collection of accounts of the miracles which had taken place thanks to the intercession of the Virgin of Montserrat, and a series of ten pieces or cantilenae also dedicated to the Virgin and intended for the pilgrims who wished to 'sing and dance' during the time they spent within the abbey walls. These pieces make up a unique collection of its type; moreover, they bear indications as to the type of dance to be performed and how the music was to be played.