Well, it’s the 11th day of Christmas by my medieval calendar, so I can get in another two posts on this before Christmas officially ends. And, purely by coincidence, it’s more medieval Christmas music, but from countries other than Germany. Actually, there are only a couple of them—France, Italy, the low countries, England—that’s pretty much it. There’s surprisingly little from Spain, at least that’s been recorded. One explanation is that there isn’t that much of it, largely because much has been lost. Another, and more likely, explanation is that when Moors and Jews were expelled from Spain in1492, they took their music with them—and much of it resurfaced elsewhere, particularly in Italy. The Catholic Church wasn’t particularly interested in multiculturalism at that time—quite the reverse, in fact.
But what we have is enough. Full story »
Pulitzer- and Emmy-winner 