Established by Aino Peltomaa, Amor Céu is an ensemble of specialists in Medieval music. Here, they transport listeners to the colourful and emotional world of Medieval love poetry. The programme includes poems and tunes from Cantigas d’Amigo, a rare collection exploring a woman’s thoughts, and songs praising the miracles wrought by the Virgin Mary. Cantigas d’Amigo is a collection of about 500 poems by troubadours in Galicia and Portugal in the 13th and 14th centuries. What makes this collection rare is that the narrator or speaker is almost always a woman: a young girl, a wife, a mother or a bride. It is the largest collection of love poems in a woman’s voice to survive from the Middle Ages.
The name of the ensemble, Amor Céu, literally means “love heaven” in Portuguese; it is an idiom referring to a loved one, a partner, a lover far away or heavenly love.
The duration of the concert is approximately 60 minutes, no intermission.
Artists
Aino Peltomaa – voice, Medieval harp, percussion
Eira Karlson – voice, fidel
Corina Marti – recorder, organetto, clavicimbalom
Programme
Quantas sabedes amare amigo (from the collection: Martin Codax)
Rosa das rosas (from the collection: Cantigas de Santa Maria)
De Santa María sinal qual xe quér (Cantigas de Santa Maria)
Ai Deus se sab óra meu amigo (Martin Codax)
Santa María léva (Cantigas de Santa Maria)
Da que Déus mamou o leite do séu peito (Cantigas de Santa Maria)
Como somos per conssello do démo perdudos (Cantigas de Santa Mari
Decendit de celis (anon.)
Plus bele que flor/Quant revient/L’autrier joer/Flos filius eius (from the collection: Codex Montpellier)
Ondas do mare de Vigo (Martin Codax)
Mandad´ei comigo (Martin Codax)
O Maria maris stella (Codex Montpellier)
Ductia (anon.)
Muit’ é ben-aventurado e en bon ponto naceu (Cantigas de Santa Maria)
Ai ondas que eu vim veer (Martin Codax)
Par Déus, muit’ há gran vertude na paravla comũal (Cantigas de Santa Maria)
Mia irmana fremosa (Martin Codax)
Los sept goxts (from the collection: Llibe Vermell de Montserrat)