The music of Capella de Ministrers transports Benidorm to the 14th century

The Church of Sant Jaume i Santa Anna hosted the commemorative concert of the 700th Anniversary of the Town Charter yesterday, Sunday, by the Capella de Ministrers group. Under the title "Peregrinatio. El Llibre Vermell", conducted by Carles Magraner, the group filled the church with worshippers and fans of the unusual musical genres of medieval compositions and Gregorian chant.

The Capella de Ministrers is primarily dedicated to the performance of Spanish music prior to 1800, using authentic interpretation criteria from each period and historical instruments. Yesterday's concert, based on the Llibre Vermell (Red Book), included pilgrimage songs familiar to the people of the 14th century, as explained in the program, which also indicated that most of the pieces in the book were of a popular nature.

The Mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, welcomed the musicians and, before the concert, described the Capella de Ministrers' presence as "extraordinary and sensational" and a "magnificent way to keep the spotlight on the 700th anniversary." The mayor noted that the music performed yesterday "is music from the 14th century, when Bernat de Sarrià granted the Carta Pobla to Benidorm" and highlighted the "good relationship" that unites Carles Magraner with Benidorm. The program consisted of the following pieces: ‘O virgo splendens in monte celso’, ‘Stella splendens in monte’, ‘Laudeamus Virginem Mater est’, ‘Los set goyts recomptarem’, ‘Splendens ceptigera’, ‘Polorum Regina omnium nostra’, ‘Cuncti simus concanentes: Ave Maria’, ‘Mariam Matrem Virginem’, ‘Morir, ffrares, nos convé’, ‘Imperayritz de la ciutat joyosa’, and ‘Ad mortem festinamu’.

The majority of the works in the ‘Llibre Vermell’ are dedicated to the Virgin Mary and are part of the Marian fervour that swept Europe from the 13th century onwards, promoted especially by the Franciscan order, to which the origin of some fragments of the ‘Llibre Vermell’ is linked.