Going on Pilgrimage…

…and I have nothing to wear!

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Pilgrim's outfit belonging to Stephan Praun (1544-1591). Germanisches National Museum

Greetings, and many thanks to all who have written to congratulate us on getting the services of that renowned designer of the finest haute couture pilgrimage-wear, Yves de St. Jaime-en-el-Cielo-con-Diamanté, who has sent some preliminary photos of the gorgeous smocks we will all be wearing on this and other pilgrimages.

All of his designs will be replete with staffs, rosaries, and scallop shells, which have traditionally been the symbol of a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James the Apostle in Santiago de Compostela. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

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Sadly, due to supply chain issues, we will not be able to supply everyone with their very own Tarta de Santiago, the traditional almond cake that is available for pilgrims at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Feel free to make and bring your own cake!

A veces se gana, se pierde algo. (You win some, you lose some.)

Don your most fashionable pilgrimage gear and come to our Medieval Pilgrimage concert! Details below.

—Danny

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Medieval Pilgrimage in Iberia

Saturday, May 13, 2023 at  7:30 pm
&
Sunday, May 14, 2023, 3:00 pm
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2111 Alexander Avenue

Hosted by Arts on Alexander on the campus of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 
2111 Alexander Ave, Austin, TX 78722.
Visit the Arts on Alexander 2022-2023 events on the AoA website.

Admission $35 general; $30 seniors (60+); $5 students with ID
Tickets available in advance online or by cash, check, or credit card at the door.

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message,
or email info@early-music.org.

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Map showing the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela.

There was never a more popular time for religious pilgrimage than during the Middle Ages. In those times, people made long and dangerous trips, lasting months or years, in a search for spiritual meaning or fulfillment or as an act of penance. Several of the most important sites of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages were located in what is now northern Spain. 

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Llibre Vermell: Stella splendens

The Llibre Vermell (it was discovered in a red binding in the 19th century, and therefore is called the Red Book) comes from the monastery at Montserrat in Catalonia. Some of the music is sophisticated, but some of it was intended to be sung by the pilgrims themselves and included chants, rounds, folk songs, circle dances, and polyphony. We will also perform music from the Cistercian convent in Burgos (Las Huelgas Codex), Las cantigas de Santa Maria from the royal court of Alfonso X, and selections from Codex Calixtinus, from the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.

Enjoy these two Llibre Vermell audio teasers from our related CDs: Stella splendens and Sacred.

A company of fourteen women singers explores the music of pilgrimage in Medieval Spain. This music celebrates the richly transparent timbre of treble voices in unison or in polyphonic settings, making the most of sweet consonances and pungent dissonances. Mary Springfels (vielle and citole) joins the ensemble and the TEMP Medieval orchestra of vielles, harps, recorder, and oud. Featured soloists include Jenifer Thyssen, Cayla Cardiff, Gitanjali Mathur, Page Stephens, Laura Mercado-Wright, and more! An an extra-special bonus, local luminary Tim O’Brien will provide a little background information and personal reflections from his pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago.

Click on the image above to buy tickets now!

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It's May, it's May, the lusty mont…oh, what?

Oh yeh, it’s still April. Cruelest month, and all. Sorry. On the other hand, it’s April 25 and your taxes are done or done’ish. Also, it means that it’s Pam Corn’s birthday! Yes, OUR Pam Corn, TEMP Treasurer and Board member! Join me in wishing her a Happy Birthday and in thanking her for all that she and Corn & Corn, L.L.P. do for TEMP! And my sister: It’s her birthday, too! What an auspicious day!!

So, we are preparing for our May concert of Medieval music from Germany, the Texas Toot workshop in June, the Amherst Early Music Workshop in July, and also the upcoming season, which we will keep to ourselves a little longer. Season tickets for 2019-2020 will be available at the May concert, so bring your calendar and grab those tickets while they’re hot!

Learn more about the May concert below and enjoy this audio sample from our 2012 concert “Living Waters: Works by Hildegard von Bingen” and recorded on our Sacred CD:

Hildegard’s music is unique and rare. Come for the 30-minute, pre-concert lecture by Sara Schneider, too, 1 hour before each performance.

More soon, featuring an exciting interview from this year’s SXSW! No more clues!
-Danny

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Mystic, Scientist, Scholar, Nun:
Music of Hildegard von Bingen

Saturday, May 11, 2019, at  7:30 pm
St. Louis King of France Catholic Church Chapel, 7601 Burnet Road, Austin, TX
Sunday, May 12, 2019, 3:00 pm
St. John’s United Methodist Church, 2140 Allandale Road, Austin, TX

Admission $30 general; $25 seniors (60+); $5 students (at the door only)
Tickets available in advance online or by cash, check, or credit card at the door.

Take advantage of preferred seating and other perks by sponsoring a concert!

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message,
or email info@early-music.org.

TEMP’s 2003 performance of Hildegard von Bingen’s liturgical drama Ordo virtutum won the Austin Critics Table award for Best Chamber Concert of the season. Now we return to the beautifully sophisticated and powerful music of the 12th-century German abbess with a performance of several of her compelling antiphons and sequences, performed by 15 women singers. KMFA’s Sara Schneider, host of the nationally syndicated program Early Music Now, will present a 30-minute lecture one hour before each concert.

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a composer, a writer of theological, botanical, and medical texts, a Christian mystic, and an abbess. She has become increasingly important in recent decades due to renewed interest in her visions, music, and holistic healing teachings. She has long been venerated within the Catholic Church, and she was canonized as Saint Hildegard in October 2012. For Hildegard, music was the sacred means through which we become tuned to celestial unity while we remain linked to the lowly vibrations of life on Earth. The melodies of her chants highlight the emotions of the texts through soaring melodic arches, creating an ecstatic aural atmosphere that is unique to her compositions. She compiled all her music into a cycle called Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum (The Symphony of the Harmony of the Heavenly Revelations), which includes antiphons, sequences, and hymns set to her own texts.

Featured soloists include Jenifer Thyssen, Meredith Ruduski, Gitanjali Mathur, Jenny Houghton, Laura Mercado-Wright, Cayla Cardiff, Shari Alise Wilson, and others. We will also present a few instrumental pieces by composers contemporary to Hildegard’s time, featuring a small instrumental ensemble of vielles, hurdy-gurdy, gittern, and psalteries, led by featured guest Mary Springfels.

Extraordinarily creative and remarkably relevant, Hildegard’s music resonates through the centuries. Please join us for a concert of rare beauty by an exceptional genius.

Click on the image above to buy tickets now!