"Anonymous, Llibre Vermell de Montserrat" has been added to your list of bookmarked artists
Anonymous, Llibre Vermell de Montserrat
Biography
On the top of a cliff in the Catalan region of northwestern Spain, not far from Barcelona, lies the pilgrimage abbey of Montserrat. The Benedictine monks of the abbey are custodians of a miraculous statue, the so-called Black Virgin of Montserrat. In the High Middle Ages, the fame of the statue's miracles spread throughout Europe. Songs and poetry celebrated the Virgin's actions of healing and grace; some of the Cantigas de Santa Maria of King Alfonso X narrate specific miracles. Montserrat thus became a popular destination for pilgrimages, and the abbey's monks profited from the increased fame and traffic. Several of the monks themselves wrote and collected poetry and music to honor and publicize the Black Virgin. One such collection of ten songs from the fourteenth century survives in the Llibre vermell de Montserrat (which is named for the brilliant crimson of a later, nineteenth century cover).
The pages between the Llibre's vermillion covers contain extraordinary evidence of the cultural mingling that took place in a medieval pilgrimage town. Popular dance tunes rub shoulders with "cultivated" polyphonic compositions; Moorish influence is evident throughout. The scribes labeled O virgo splendens, the opening piece, a caça, or "chace.
None of the "Similar Composers" are at all what I'd consider similar - they're all late 15th to 16th century. Llibre Vermell is 14th century, and has much more in common with works by Guillaume de Machaut, Johannes Ciconia, Francesco Landini. I'd even go so far as to to lump it with the 13th century Cantigas de Santa Maria, Codex Las Huelgas or Montpellier Codex since these works all pre-date the introduction of the intervals of the 3rd and 6th in the 15th century.
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