At the end of the 15th century, a new, poetic genre emerged in Spanish ‘cancioneros’: the confessions of daughters to their mothers. In these songs, the young women describe situations or feelings directly related to the transition from childhood to adulthood, the awakening of love and sexuality and also the dangers and betrayal of men. The songs offer insight into their secrets, told in hushed voices, which an audience five hundred years later might not be permitted to hear. The music comes from the Cancionero de Palacio, a songbook containing more than four hundred works from the entourage of the Catholic monarchs Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon.
Program
Songs from the Cancionero de Palacio (ca. 1480-1520) by Pedro de Escobar, Juan Ponce, Garci Sánchez de Badajos a.o.
Performers
Olalla Alemán, soprano | Luciana Cueto, mezzo-soprano | Jan van Elsacker, tenor | Romain Bockler, bass | Andrés Locatelli, recorder | Paulina van Laarhoven, Anna Danilevskaia, vihuela de arco | Emma Huijsser, harp | Adrián Rodríguez Van der Spoel, tenor, vihuela de mano, guitar & artistic leader