Altar frontal from Cardet (Vox in Ramà)

There are often small details within the scene of an altar frontal that are magnified by the repertoire of the Gregorian chant and collocated in a key moment for the meditation: the procession to receive the communion.  After the killing of the innocent, a mother, Raquel, laments it.  It is an anguished cry that is perfectly described with a simple word painting using semitone intervals for the wordsploratus et ululatus (crying and moaning) and in other moments of the piece.

The scene is visible in the bottom right-hand part of the frontal at the same time as it shows the flight to Egypt.  The choice of the seventh mode, the sharpest of the repertoire, is in connection with the cries and moans of a distraught mother.

Listen to the Vox in Ramà

Text: Juan Carlos Asensio

Artwork: Iohannes. Ribagorça workshop,  Altar frontal from Cardet. Second half of 13th century