One of the most relevant interpretations of the Song of the Sibyl at its time, due to the extensive documentation available, was the one performed at the Cathedral of Valencia. We need to go back to the 11th century to find the first documentation regarding the Sibyl at the Cathedral of Valencia. Manuscript 78 in the cathedral’s archive includes a Sermo de symbolo with the corresponding verses of the Sibyl, although it is not easy to justify the presence of this manuscript before the city was taken by King James I unless it was acquired after this event.

To trace the documentary trail left by the Sibyl in Valencia, we need to move forward to the year 1464, where the Sermo de symbolo occupied the Sixth Lesson of the Christmas Matins, according to a Breviary preserved at the Valencian Cathedral. Sanchis y Sivera recounted in 1909 that “in the second nocturn of the matins, Lesson VI was from Saint Augustine, where the testimony of the Eritrean Sibyl is found, repeating after each distich the first: Judicii tellus … as seen in a Valencian Breviary from 1464. Later, all the testimonies that prophesied the coming of Jesus Christ were added, which the reader announced in this way: December you, Jeremiah, Isaiah..”

Out of the many versions of the Song of the Sibyl that are preserved, and with the aim of restoring this tradition and reflecting on the coming of Christ to the world and the afterlife, Carles Magraner, director of Capella de Ministrers,restored in 2012 – due to its impact – the version from the Cathedral of Valencia based on historically documented criteria, with influences from the Toledo tradition and its connections with the Mallorcan tradition, declared in 2010 by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage.

A treasure of our musical and religious heritage lost for five centuries, and now restored in all its splendor to the Metropolitan See. A recovery that restored this Song of the Sibyl and adapted the entire para liturgical structure of the drama, using replicas of the instruments played by the angelic musicians depicted in the frescoes of the high altar of the Cathedral. For the restoration, Carles Magraner collaborated with several specialists, such as the medieval music professor MariCarmen Gómez Muntané (UAB) and especially the recently departed Josep Lluís Sirera, professor of medieval theater at the University of Valencia, responsible for rewriting the textual adaptation of the drama, especially the Sermon of the Prophets that preceded the Sibylline chant. These lines serve as a tribute to his valuable academic career.

On the Day of Judgment, you will see who has served

From a Virgin, God and man will be born, who will judge

Each one’s good and evil on the final judgment day.

He will show fifteen signs very general throughout the world,

The dead will resurrect, and all will tremble.

Jesus Christ will come down from the heavens and will show himself

In the Valley of Josaphat, where all humanity will be judged.

Each one will bear written on their forehead to their disgrace

The deeds they have done, from which each will have their due.

To the good, he will give eternal joy, and to the wicked, the fire of hell,

Where they will always suffer, for they have offended God.