Alma, svegliate ormai

Anonima Frottolisti Ensemble, a group specializing in Early and medieval music, confronts a little performed yet interesting repertoire: the “contrafacta”, compositions in which the lyrics and the melodies are a blend of the sacred and profane. Starting from the 12th c., these two seemingly opposed worlds diverged in the custom of secular text usage on sacred melodies. Later, the trend is the opposite: popular melodies in vogue at the time are filled with liturgical and spiritual texts, thus becoming an effective means of leading people to faith and knowledge of the scriptures.