Ensemble für Frühe Musik Augsburg - Camino de Santiago: Musik auf dem Pilgerweg zum Hl. Jacobus

"There were three reasons why someone would undertake a pilgrimage in the Middle Ages: 'voluntarie' - of his own free will; 'ex voto' - because he had vowed to; and 'ex poenitentia' - as an act of atonement for his sins. There were then three holy shrines which he visit: Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela - St. James in Sternenfeld. Yet according to Dante, only someone who journeyed to Santiage was a real 'peregrino', a pilgrim, since the route leading there, the 'Camino de Santiago', was by far the most difficult and the longest.

"This judgment indicates the enormous upswing with which the pilgrimage to Santiage was made since the alledged grave of St. James was rediscovered in the first half of the ninth century in Galicia, the most northwestern part of Spain. Very soon thereafter pilgrims from Germany as well set off for Santiago, and numerous churches dedicated to St. James dating from the 11th-15th centuries bear witness still today to the reverent homage paid to the saint.

"Yet there is something else which has come down to us from this period: a language with which the pilgrims of different nationalities could communicate with one another on the way to Santiago, namely music. And thus the 'ensemble für frühe musik augsburg' ('Ensemble for Early Music - Augsburg') undertakes on the present recording a unique type of pilgrimage, a musical pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Performed are pilgrim songs, 'Cantigas de Santa Maria' - which relate stories of the miracles experienced by pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago, and 'sacred' music, as it resounded in the Romanesque church in praise of God. But there are also songs to be heard from the trobadors and trouvères, who in that period displayed their art at the royal courts, as well as Tanzlieder and Estampiten, as they were performed by the travelling minstrels at the numerous festivities along the pilgrimage route." (From the liner notes.)

Performers: Ensemble für Frühe Musik Augsburg

1. Anonymous - Wer Daz Elend Bauen Wil (Str. 1, 2, 3)

2. Anonymous - Deus In Adiutorium

3. Anonymous - La Quinte Estampie Royal

4. Anonymous - El Mois D'avril – Al Cor Ai Unse Alegrance – Et Gaudebit

5. Anonymous - Prendés I Garde

6. Anonymous - Wer Daz Elend Bauen Wil (Str. 4, 5)

7. Wilhelm IX von Aquitainien - Pos De Chantar M'es Pres Talenz

8. Anonymous - La Tierche Estampie Royal

9. Anonymous - Clara Sonent Organa

10. Anonymous - Annus Novus In Gaudio

11. Wilhelm IX von Aquitainien - Farai Un Vers Pos Mi Sonelh

12. Anonymous - Wer Daz Elend Bauen Wil

13. Anonymous - Razon An De Seeren

14. Anonymous - Resurgentis Domini

15. Anonymous - Non E Gran Cousa

16. Anonymous - En Todo Tempo

17. Anonymous - Wer Daz Elend Bauen Wil (Str. 6, 7)

18. Anonymous - Congaudeant Catholici

19. Anonymous - Wer Daz Elend Bauen Wil (Str. 8)

20. Anonymous - Dum Pater Familias

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