Montserrat Figueras (1942-2011)

I was very sad to learn that the singer of early music Montserrat Figueras had passed away at the end of last year.

 If you have ten minutes, you might enjoy her "Song of Sibil", composed in the 13th century, that was banned for several centuries because it was in Catalan. http://youtu.be/iF1VClOAeyE
 

It is a liturgical piece about that day when "the eternal king will come dressed in our mortal flesh...to pass judgment on the century", ending with: "You who have heard all this, pray passionately to God with all your heart and devotion to bring us salvation".

In this short interview she gave in 2010, she discusses how her music crosses cultures and boundaries, reflecting our common aspirations. In the background she plays and sings a piece from "Francisco Javier - La Ruta de Oriente" with Jordi Savall and the Hesperion XXI ensemble.

Ramon Llull on the Beloved

Ingredients:

Devotions to the Beloved by the great Spanish mystic Ramon Llull (1232-1315), who was also the first great writer in Catalan and was an extraordinarily prolific teacher, traveller and writer with over 265 books to his name.

The painting is the Madonna of Port Lligat by the famous Catalan painter Salvador Dali. The rectangular holes in this abstract depiction are supposed to symbolize transcendence.

Directions:

The Lover asked his Beloved if there remained anything still to be loved. And the Beloved answered that he had still to love that by which his own love could be increased.

~*~

The Lover was all alone in the shade of a fair tree. Men passed by that place and asked him why he was alone. And the Lover answered, "I am alone, now that I have seen you and heard you; until now I was in the company of my Beloved."

~*~

Said the Lover to the Beloved, "O you that love, if you have fire, come light your lanterns in my heart; if you have water, come to my eyes whence flow the tears in streams; if you have thoughts of love, come gather them from my meditations."

~*~

The Beloved instructed the Lover to go out into the world and not hide the marks of his love. The people saw him and asked, "Say, O Fool!, what is solitude?". He replied, "It is solace and companionship between Lover and Beloved." "And what are solace and companionship?" they asked. "Solitude in the heart of the Lover," he replied, "when he remembers naught save only his Beloved."
~*~ ... ~*~ ... ~*~

May grace come to my power from this great influence, that I may ever have power, knowledge and will to honour Thy power—to my knowledge that I may honour Thy knowledge—and to my will that I may honour Thy love.

~*~

Between the sun and its splendour there is a difference, and between fire and its heat. But between Thy Love and Virtue and Truth there is no essential difference; and all that Thy Love disposes in truth, It does with infinite virtue in love and in truth; whereas all that is done in things beside, is done with virtue finite in quantity and time.

~*~

Virtue, Truth and Glory met in the thoughts of Blanquerna when he contemplated his Beloved. Blanquerna considered to which of these three he would give the greatest honour in his thoughts and will; but since he could conceive in them no difference whatsoever, he gave them equal honour in remembering, comprehending and desiring his Beloved.