Piffaro to Perform Music from Historic Manuscript in HIDDEN TREASURE, 10/17-19

On October 17, 18 and 19, Piffaro, The Renaissance Band will perform music from a unique manuscript - one that was hidden inside the case of an organ in Spain for 400 years and not discovered again until 1980. For Renaissance wind players especially, its rediscovery was a soul-stirring windfall.

"A lot of the Renaissance music we play comes from manuscripts prepared for singers," says Piffaro's co-director Robert Wiemken. "The music in this manuscript was prepared for instrument players. We even know their names and how much they were paid. It's the oldest manuscript prepared for instrumental players anyone has uncovered and we only have it because an absent minded organist stored it in his organ."

The story of Archivo de San Pedro de Lerma ms. mus.1 ("Lerma DK2" for short) began in the early 17th century with Don Francisco Gomez de Sandoval y Rojas, the wealthy and powerful Duke of Lerma, who as First Minister to King Philip III arranged royal diversions. He produced grand dances, concerts, comedias and pageants and in so doing, established a great tradition of courtly patronage that gave birth to Spain's Golden Age. The Duke lavished resources on his ducal village, Lerma, one of the most magnificent small communities in Europe at that time. He endowed the Collegiate Church of San Pedro and hired musicians to provide music for the services there. The Lerma DK2 manuscript from which they performed was lovely, with parchment leaves finely copied by a practiced scribe and bound in blue velvet with red and straw-colored ribbons. From the church's dedication ceremony in 1608 (when the musicians played from the church tower) until the day an organist tucked the manuscript into his instrument instead of shelving it in the library, Lerma DK2 served generations of musicians well.

In the early 20th century, most of the San Pedro's music library was stolen by an unscrupulous choir director, Federico Olmeda, who was notorious for pillaging archives by posing as a church official. When Olmeda died, his collection was auctioned off, and nearly all of it has disappeared into private hands. But Lerma DK2 escaped that fate, tucked away in its hiding place. We owe much gratitude to that long-forgotten organist for inadvertently saving a priceless treasury of Spanish polyphony, full of beautiful canciones and motets by Spain's greatest Golden Age composers. Little of this music has ever been heard in Philadelphia, but it should be. The ancient music sounds fresh and unusual to modern ears, alternately lush and lively. Piffaro, The Renaissance Band will bring it back to life on October 17, 18, and 19th. Tickets for the concert are on sale now. Call 215-235-8469, email info@piffaro.org, or visit www.piffaro.org for more information.

Piffaro, the Renaissance Band Presents Music from Historic Manuscript

Hidden Treasure: The Lerma Codex

October 17, 2014 at 8PM at Trinity Center for Urban Life, 22nd & Spruce Streets, Philadelphia

October 18, 2014 at 8PM at Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia

October 19, 2014 at 3PM at Sts Andrew & Matthew Episcopal Church, 719 Shipley Street, Wilmington

Tickets & Info

www.piffaro.org

215-235-8469

info@piffaro.org

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