Jordi Savall ( translated by Frank Dobbins )
Although thousand years have passed since the time when we find the first traces of this music, which took shape at the very beginnings of our civilisation, we must go much further back, to around the end of the sixth century before Christ, to find the first references to the Sibyls, those semi-divine beings who were able to foresee future events and who possessed prophetic powers bestowed upon them by Apollo.
In Greece and the oriental countries the most famous Sibyls were the one from Marpessus or Hellespontica, who lived on Mount Ida (south-west of Troy), the Sibyl Erythruea from Ionia (Asia Minor) and especially the Sibyl Delphica (from Delphos) who ousted the former Pythia, priestess of Apollo.
With the Romans the Sibyl Tiburtina was very well-known, but it was the Sibyl Cumana ( from Cuma) who became the great official oracle of the patricians until the beginning of the Roman Empire.
Through the centuries there remained such a profusion of sibylline prophecies that specialized priests went to Rome to study the different versions and to find, in the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline hill, solutions to difficult problems.
All the documents were destroyed during the Capitoline fire in 83 B.C., but the Senate ensured that a new collection was established on the basis of information coming from the stylistic research undertaken in Italy.
Greece and Africa. The accumulation of so many oracles compelled Augustus to make a selection by burning more than 2000 volumes and revising those which were to remain.
The influence of these prophesies was still felt under the first Christian Emperors ; but a catastrophe occurred in 389 A.D., when Theodosius decided to burn all the texts which would have allowed us to understand better the religion of the ancient world and its literary expression.
It is to this world and in particular to the Sibyl of Cuma that Virgil refers (Bucolics IV, 4-7 ) when he recalls the last age of the prophesy of Cuma : "This is when the great order of the centuries begins. Already the virgin too returns, the reign of Saturn returns- Already a new generation ascends from the high heavens".
It is not then very surprising that the early Christians retained the myth of the Sibyl, restoring it as an oracle for the second coming of Christ, for the last judgment and the end of the world.
What is, on the other hand, extraordinary is the presence of this mythology in some countries during the middle ages and Renaissance, and especially its uninterrupted existence until the present day in the Balearic Islands and in Algero ( Corsica ).
It is to St. Augustin that we have long attributed a homily which, from the early
Middle Ages, was read on Christmas Eve to convince non-Christians of the coming of the Messiah.
For this purpose the testimony of different characters from the Old and New Testament, as well as from the pagan world, were used : Virgil, Nebuchadnezzar and the Sibyl Erythraea.
These testimonies were all very brief, with the exception of the Sibyl's ( 27 exameters) , originally in Greek in the form of an acrostic on the words : JESUS CHRJST THE SON AND GOD THE SAVIOUR.
It was the verses of the Jedicii signum which were invoked in Greek by Constantine at the Council of Nicaea.
The Latin version was the basis for the performance of the Sibyl's chant during Christmas matins (between the sixth and ninth Lessons) in France, Italy. Castille and especially in the Catalan region, at least from the tenth century.
In the thirteenth century the Sibyl's Chant was also celebrated in the vernacular in France, in Provence and in the Catalan region and it is in the latter that it has lingered on until now, despite the ban imposed on it the end of the sixteenth century.
It is certainly the most ancient of the Catalan dramaturgy, the first known musical version dating from the tenth century ; Cordoba Cathedral, circa 960 A.D. ; Ripoll ; Barcelona; Paris, Bibliothéque Nationale, Lectionarium ; Montecassino, Lectionarium ; &c.
From the thirteenth century the vernacular sources are found at Montpellier (Lectionarium), the Escorial (Codex principis ) and at Toledo (manuscript) ; in the fifteenth century at Barcelona (Cathedral), at Palma in Majorca (Convents of the Conception and of Santa Margarita) &c.
It was at this time that the refrains of the Sibyl began to be sung in polyphony and the first known polyphonic versions are those of Tirana (Seville, Biblioteca Colombina), A. de Cordoba (Madrid, Palacio nacional), Anonymous (Barcelona, Orfe6 catala) Baptista Carceres (Gandia, Collegiata), Alonso (Gandia, Ctrllegiata), and Anonymous (Toledo Cathedral).
Realizing today an historical version of the Sibyl's Chant supposes that we are in a dynamic perspective in time, as if we were trying to grasp its coming into being at one moment without interrupting the source of its essence and of its mystery.
Our method consists of first cataloging in chronological order all the known versions of each chant in a way that allows us to proceed without a break, for example from the first little ornamented chants of the tenth century to the more melismatic versions of the twelfth centuries, without interrupting the continuity of the chant.
It was clearly necessary to determine the selection of the different versions according to the character of the text for each verse.
In general, we have opted to present three Sibyls :
1. The Latin [Sibyll, from the tenth / eleventh century, with its Judicii signum, with an accompaniment on the lyre, the refrains at the unison and at the octave. A sober and profound version.
2. The version with provençal reminscencies, from the thirteenth century, with the introduction of the 'ud for the accompaniments and the incorporation of faux Bourdons in the refrains. A version which seems perhaps to have been directly influenced by the poetic inflections of the troubadour language.
3. Finally, with the Catalan Sibyl, we come straight into the spectacle of the Mystery or paraliturgical sacred drama, a kind of autos sacrimentales from the Renaissance period. In the more ornate chant of this version we have recuperated some elements which derive from popular tradition - notably in the Balearic Islands - and, proceeding in the same way as in the Latin Sibyl, was have adapted the different versions according to the character of the different strophes. On the other hand, for the refrains, we have abandoned the monodic chant since the existence of numerous sources for three and four voices shows that polyphonic practice corresponded with the discoveries of the time : the melody - which we have heard in earlier versions - appears "harmonized" in a more or less alaborated manner according to the inspirations of the composers or the traditions of that place.
The participation of the minstrels is confirmed by different sources : they accompanied the Sibyl at the entrance or at the exit of the ceremony or they played between the different strophes. For the different instrumental sequences we have therefore used all the versions whose texts are not written in Catalan, and for this reason it is unthinkable that they should be mixed up as pieces that are sung with the Catalan text.
To decide whether to use a woman's voice or a boy's voice two historical approaches are possible. While it is true most of the time that it was a boy disguised as a woman who played the role of the Sibyl, we know that, in convents where there were sisters, it is recorded that, for the occasion of the Sibyl's Chant it was a nun who played this role.
There remains the question of the liturgical period in which the presentation of this Chant should be situated.
Traditionally linked to feasts of Christmas, it was in some places, notably in Barcelona, also performed during Holy Week, particularly on the night of Good Friday.
It is through this extraordinary melody, which has remained intact in its essential elements for centuries, that we have preserved the mythology of Virgil's prophetess.
A mythology full of drama with its impressive references to the last judgment and to the end of the world for the chaos of elements ( celestial fire, earthquakes, lunar and solar eclipse, etc.), which leaves open the hope of a new life for the just, through the birth and death of Jesus Christ.
It is clear that the musical realization must assume all these essential elements and show the significance of their content : a mixture of prophesies, oracles and curses on one of the themes nearest to the Middle Ages - the final destiny of our life and of the world in which we live, a subject, alas ! which has lost nothing of its currency, in fact quite the opposite - but which, thanks to the incantatory suggestion of these timeless melismas, puts us in a second dimension of reflection on the destiny of humanity, and this through a popular ceremony full of mystery and sensitivity which took place during the night of Christmas or of Good Friday, respectively the most magical and dramatic moments of the Christian year.
This recording would not have been possible without the work and earlier studies of Higini Anglès, Theodore Gerold, M. Sanchi Gasner, Miquel Dolg. Josep Baucels i Reig, and the assistance, in literary matters, of Josep Maria Pujol.
We would like to express our gratitude here to each of them.
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