Misteris del Corpus

Pope Urban IV established the feast of Corpus Christi in all of Christendom in 1264 after a series of Eucharistic miracles, one of which had taken place in Valencian lands: the Miracle of the Corporals of Llutxent-Daroca (ca. 1239). This original connection between the city of Valencia and the new feast was likely a key factor for the cathedral and municipality (the City) to establish one of the first general Corpus Christi processions on the Iberian Peninsula in 1355.

The Corpus Christi festival gradually became the most splendid and well-attended celebration in the annual festival calendar, earning a well-deserved fame that crossed the borders of the Valencian kingdom. By around 1700, the festive calendar was well established. On the morning of the eve, Wednesday, the invitation parade was held, and in the afternoon, the city transformed into a grand stage where people could enjoy traditional religious theater in Valencian (the Mysteries) in various locations, along with dances that the municipality had contracted for the next day’s procession. The general procession was the most crowded and colorful event, where colors, music, and aromas amazed locals and visitors alike. A broad representation of all Valencian society took part in it, from the people embodied in the guilds to the representatives of municipal power (jurors), royal authority (viceroy), and religious authority (archbishop). Music filled the entire procession, from popular tunes played on the dulzaina and drum with the dances, to musical passages in religious theater, the municipal music of trumpets, drummers, and wind bands, plainchant hymns from the clergy of parishes and convents, the singing of the blind accompanied by string instruments, up to the more elaborate polyphonic religious music performed by the cathedral chapel, which accompanied the central element that culminated the procession: the Eucharistic processional monstrance.

In 1672, a municipal musician from Valencia named Josep Gomar completed the handwritten copy of a book that compiled the texts, stage directions, and music for the religious plays that year after year were staged at the grand Corpus Christi festival, organized and funded by the Cap i Casal. This included the Valencian mysteries of Saint Christopher, Adam and Eve, and King Herod, as well as the Latin play of the Apocalypse of Saint John. These recovered musical pieces, presented in this concert, will transport the audience to Valencia of that time, recreating the rich soundscape that a Valencian of the era would have enjoyed as a spectator at the stunning procession that crowned the Festa Grossa.

magine you are on Caballeros Street at the end of the 17th century, listening to the various musical elements of the procession passing by in their order! Enjoy the Corpus Christi procession!

Francesc Villanueva

Francesc Villanueva
PhD from the Universitat Politècnica de València (2016) with highest honors, with a degree in History and Musicology and a teaching background in Music. His primary research field is the musical activity of the 15th–17th centuries in the city of Valencia and, more broadly, in the Crown of Aragon, with special attention to courtly settings. He has published numerous articles in specialized Spanish and European journals and is the author or editor of four books. He co-directed the first three conferences on the Musical Heritage of the Crown of Aragon, held biennially in Valencia.