musicain

Jesús Castañón __________________

Jesús Castañón Díaz (1928-1990)

DÚLSICA

Medieval and courtly music intended for duet of dulzainas

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This work is edited and distributed by Dial Discos, S.A. La Rosa Records

Cover of the compact disc with the image of the stained glass windows from the Cathedral in León. Agency based on Photographic Services Imagen M.A.S.

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Dúlsica has been born in 1994 in order to recover the lost sonorities from the medieval songs and musical evenings, from the celebrations and balls of the court, from the solemn processions and folk and religious life, and also -of course- from the old traditional Spanish and European music.

The dulzaina, wind instrument with a double tongue like the oboe, hasn’t disappeared from the folklore and the tradition of the people, keeping and creating a deep list during centuries.

Its high-pitched sound and deep timbre accompany and complement to the hornpipe’s and sacabuche’s (instrument made of metal, very similar to a trumpet) when it is announced the arrival of princes and the nobility in the solemn Marcha de los Reyes Católicos (The Catholic King and Queen’s March) and Dúo de clarines (Duet of bugles).

The courtly nature goes together with the balls and dances during the periods of Renaissance and Baroque, and it has left an unforgettable trace in the folklore -where it will be mainly till nowadays-. In this way, it is recreated in several situations in order to accompany on the dances of Tejido de Cintas (Texture of bands) and Tourdion, in songs of the court which are extended to several courts like Greensleaves, they are incorporated into Theater like The Willow’s song, or they imitate the Moslem sonority from the Moorish canon and folk songs like Tres morillas (Three little Moorish girls).

The religious presence is very important, mainly in the folk processions from which we have the version of Baile de procesión (Dancing of procession) which opens this compact disc, and also the solemn Procesión de Pasalodos (Pasalodos’ Procession). And, of course, it also accompanies on the organ in Christmas carols like A Belén llegar (To arrive at Belén), and in the patron saint-feast days, there are faithful signs of folk fervor, from which, of course, is representative the theme which pays homage to La Virgen del Villar (The Virgin from Villar).

In addition to the sonority from the dulzainas, we wanted to incorporate other wind instruments which share contrasted presence and sonorities, like flutes and bagpipes from Los Gozos a la Virgen (The Couplets in honor of the Virgin) and the two Cántigas de Santa María ( St. Mary’s Cántigas), Alfonso X; Cántigas are medieval poems set to music.

The instrumental adaptation of the polyphonic vocal opus named Christus Factus Est by Felice Aneiro, is a reinterpretation of the horizontal concept based on the counterpoint, when this concept was still dubbed instrumentally as basis and accompaniment which gave it a great depth.

This compact disc is intended to rescue the historic list based on instruments which nowadays are in the folklore, and whose sonorities and timbres were spread around ballrooms, courts and churches.

It is also a way of getting this kind of music may be known by everybody in a simple and cheerful way, with versions based on short compositions, as if we were again and for a moment in those ages where music was composed only for entertainment.

Finally, we want to recover the duet of dulzainas, the virtuous sonority from this instrument’s chamber music, which long time ago was the nobility and princes’ privilege from the courts in Spain and Europe and nowadays it is often forgotten sadly.

Members of the music group

Dúlsica Group I Repertory of compact disc