Secret Music at Tordesillas by Marjorie Sandor
I was listening to the Harmonia radio show this fall, and heard of a collaboration between the Baltimore Consort and Marjorie Sandor [1]. I had not heard of Secret Music, but I was intrigued because the BC is certainly a premier early music group, so I was intrigued by their interest.
This story is a fictional account of the life of the real sixteenth century Spanish Queen Juana, who was declared "mad" and locked away in Tordesillas castle most of her life. As a potential heir to the throne, she was definitely inconvenient to other claimants. Whether she was mad, or was driven mad by abuse, is not known.
Sandor tells the story from the point of view of one of her musicians, who spent most of his life confined with her. (The narrative is in the form of a long confession to inquisitors at the end of the musician's life.) Juana played music and listened to music all her life, even when all other privileges were refused. The Baltimore Consort and other musicians have been inspired to imagine what that music was like.
The narrator tells of the secret music heard in between notes and in silences. I gather that his instrument, the Muslim oud, is similar to a ("Christian") lute, but has no frets. Where the lute plays only certain notes, the oud can play an infinite variety of subtly different notes. This is beautiful, if obscure metaphor, and no doubt excites musicians.
Sandor also weaves in the Reconquista of Spain, which saw the expulsion of Jews and Muslims, followed by the inquisition which spent years "uncovering" secret Jews, who were subject to arrest, torture, and death. This ethnic cleansing is a grim story, all too familiar from all too many times and places. So many things that could be a sign of your guilt, including singing the wrong songs. Neighbors turning on neighbors. Whole families, whole neighborhoods and villages disappeared.
Sandor ties the fate of Juana to the fate of the Jews and Muslims, suggesting that she had Jewish friends and sympathies. She also sees ancient Moorish and Jewish music 'hidden' in the music of Juana's court. These are old songs and phrases, folk songs, nursery songs, ballads from when the multicultural caliphate employed talented musicians from all over.
The whole story is all very sad. Poor Queen Juana imprisoned for life, robbed of her birthright, her family, or even a decent life. Everybody she loved was destroyed or imprisoned with her. Families disappeared, including the musician's secret lover. Lives wasted in pointless suffering. All for the simple crime of being an excess heir to the throne, potentially in the way of competing (mostly male) aspirants.
Juana's music is sad and dark.
But one of Sandor's themes is persistence in the face of even the worst adversity. The secret Jews and Arabs survived, if just barely. Songs learned as a child persist, carrying the hints ancestors and other cultures. Love is carried down generations.
There is always hope, however dim.
- Angela Mariani, Interview with the Baltimore Consort, in Harmonia. 2022. https://indianapublicmedia.org/harmonia/interview-with-the-baltimore-consort.php
- Marjorie Sandor, Secret Music at Tordesillas, Philadelphia, Hidden River Press, 2020.
Sunday Book Reviews
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