Music As We Know It

This famous medieval composer who was born in Toledo in 1221 and died in 1284 in Seville had become one of the most outstanding intellectuals of the Middle Ages. From 1252 Alfonso X king of Castile, Leon and Galicia was not just a distinguished composer, musician, poet and writer. He also created advanced code of laws, founded universities of Salamanca and Toledo, gained considerable fame in astronomy and established Castilian as a language of higher learning. His scientific achievements earned him a nickname throughout Europe - people of different nations called him El Sabio, which means “The Wise”.

Alfonso X commissioned or co-authored numerous works of music during his reign. Yet, the most important of his works is the vast compilation Cantigas de Santa Maria (”Songs to the Virgin Mary”). Luckily for us, The Cantigas collection is one of the largest musical treasures that survived from the Middle Ages. It consists of about 420 poems that are for the most part on miracles attributed to the Virgin Mary.

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