Back To Medieval Times, Through Music

Today I'd like to take you back to medieval times, in every sense of the word. I've been posting about churches, fortresses and medieval walls, but today I'm going to show you something different. Medieval music played with medieval instruments, in a medieval church. I don't think it can get more medieval. Maybe by dressing up in medieval clothes :)

It's not a secret that in a way I'm a fan of medieval times. I like the architecture, some of the habits, dresses and sometimes music as well. This is the reason why I attended a medieval music concert at the St. Margaret Church in Mediaș a couple of days ago.

The church is a fantastic building, testimony of the past and medieval architecture in late Gothic style as it was built between 1437 and 1488. I'm inviting you to read my previous post to see the interior of the church. The post was created in May, when I visited the church during the night of the museums, the only time photographing was allowed.

Mediaș is a small town, if you're organized, you can visit everything in 2 days, including museums and churches and unfortunately cultural events are not so many. The medieval fortress is maybe the most important tourist attraction, including the church, so I'm sure no one wants to miss that.

What you have to know about the Lutheran St. Margaret church that they are hosting different concerts during summer, from May to September. The offer is abundant as there's a concert every single week, on Wednesday. This is why it worth planning a visit midweek and attend a concert at the church. The truth is, I've been to the city many times, but have never attended any concerts, till two days ago.

On the 20th of July, the church hosted the Flauto Dolce band and their two guest artists. Flauto Dolce has four members, Zoltán Majó (straight flutes), who's the head of the ban as well, Mária Szabó (straight flutes), Noémi Miklós (harpsichord, organ) and the guests were Gábor Hegyi from Köln (baroque trumpet) and Gerwald Maximilian Braisch (baroque bassoon).

The main goal of the Ensemble Flauto Dolce is to present works from the Baroque and Rococo. Besides the ensemble plays early music from Romania, from different old manuscripts and presents them to the public. The programmes are extraordinary, very special. source

These instruments are almost all new to me, except for the harpsichord. When I was in elementary school, we went to visit a museum, where there was a harpsichord, which in Romanian is called clavecin. We were told that this instrument was the ancestor of the piano and I still remember the scene, where it was and how it looked like, but have not seen one since. The rest of the instruments I've heard of, but have never heard them playing, till two days ago.

Usually the entrance to the church is not free, the ticket is around 2 euro for adults and 1 euro for kids. Concerts are also not free as I saw there's a 4 euro entrance fee, which is cheap, but on Wednesday we were all guests, there was no entrance fee, courtesy of the municipality.

A quick peek into the church, to show you how the altar looks like. As I mentioned above, the church is a beauty but because photographing is not allowed, I preferred to behave this time and focus on the instruments and the concert, rather than playing paparazzo. You can see the church here.

I keep saying how lucky I am, for various reasons and that wasn't any different the day of the concert. Usually when you go to a concert, you enter the concert hall, take your seat, enjoy the music but you can't get near the stage, to see the instruments from close. Roaming around the instruments is never allowed for a good reason. I was privileged at this concert, to see and take photos of almost all the instruments, so let's see them.

This is the copy of a 300 year old baroque trumpet. Some of you may be familiar with the modern time trumpets we have today and can notice the difference between the two. This baroque trumpet has no finger buttons, so the sounds are created only by mouth. It is not easy, it's actually more tiring that playing a modern time trumpet.

There are two organs in the St. Margaret church. This is the big one but only compared to what is coming after this. Otherwise I would say it's of a normal sized organ as most of the churches have organs like this one.

Again, lucky me!!! Last time when I visited the church, it was in the evening as it was the night of the museums. It wasn't a concert organized, the church was not properly lit and use of flash was not allowed. This time I was allowed to take a photo of this absolute beauty. I don't know about you, but I've been to a few concert halls with organs and churches as well, but have never seen such a beautiful organ, so nicely decorated. This is not just a musical instrument, but an artwork as well. Unfortunately I haven't got the chance to hear the sound of this organ, but no worries as I have a plan!

Here comes one of the most beautiful instruments, this organ. (Please note, I have zero knowledge about instruments, so I'm really trying my best here and just hoping I won't say something very stupid 😳. Very soon an expert will be here and I hope I hope she will not say I'm a a shame to artists 😂)

It was the first time I saw a small organ from this close. This is a beauty and the sound coming out of it is divine!

And this was the other most beautiful instrument for me, the harpsichord, which I call clavecin in Romanian and it turns out the proper Hungarian name of the instrument is csembaló!

When I saw this instrument, all I could do was thinking of @mipiano! She's a piano artist, so this is kind of her department. So @mipiano, I was thinking of you during the whole concert, just so you know :)

At first glance it's similar to a piano to some degree, but I know that's just for those who are not familiar with the two instruments.

My biggest regret is that I can't share with you how these instrument sound.

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The rest of the instruments were out of reach for me, so I could not take any photos of them, but I'm resourceful, so I'm going to show them to you anyway. These are professional photos though. What you see on the photo above are the straight flutes.

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And this is the baroque bassoon.

I took a few photos during the concert, but didn't want to bother anyone and I rather focused on enjoying the music. To give you an idea about what kind of music the Flauto Dolce is playing, here's a video from one of their concerts, but without the two guests.

If I were to describe the music, I should say that while I was sitting there listening to the wonderful music, I was also waiting for queens, kings, princesses and prices to come in and take the front row, or start dancing. This is the kind of music you listen to at medieval festivals, if you've been to any.

For me it was the first proper concert of this type as I've never been to one before, my only contact with medieval music has been through festivals (there are plenty of medieval festivals in Transylvania) and tv hows.

This is the program booklet we were given, but it turned out there was a mix up and some of the pieces we heard were not from the list. If you have a look, most of the authors are from the 17th, 18th century.

This type of music is not for everyone, but it's part of our culture and cultural heritage. I was very curious to see how many are going to attend the event and was quite surprised to see so many. The audience was a colorful one, as there were Saxons (Germans), Romanians, Hungarians and I heard Russians too.

Flauto Dolce is doing a Transylvanian tour with their guests, every year as far as I know and I hope the tradition will not only be kept alive but they can include new cities in their program. For me it was a wonderful evening that I won't ever forget and I'm looking forward to meet them again next year.

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Last, but not least, if you are a music lover and you're visiting Mediaș during summer, you know what cultural offer they have for you at the St. Margaret church, by accessing OrgelsommerMedias.

My next plan is to attend the organ concert in September, if possible. I'd love to listen to the big organ. The last organ concert I attended was a practice in one of the churches in Delft, the Netherlands (can't remember which one was, I suppose the new one, but I'm not sure).

@mipiano, I'm expecting you to correct me 😂