The members of the Orlando Consort will intersperse the musical selections of this program with original readings developed by Orlando singer Angus Smith from historical research.  The texts purport to be from a contemporary letter, but it should be stressed that although all the facts mentioned are believed to be accurate and are taken from cathedral records and the writings of Gerald of Wales, no such letter ever existed.  Here are some sample excerpts:
 
 

A group of monks and servants sang sections of plainsong that were already familiar to me, but then, seemingly from nowhere, a harmony was created by the most virtuosic solo singers.  It was an inspiring and thrilling sound, so many voices raised to heaven, resonating and echoing off the walls and ceiling of the towering cathedral.  I was lucky enough to be assigned as my music teacher a man who had himself studied with the great master Perotin, and I must say that the lessons I had with him were an effective and necessary antidote to the grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy that constituted the rest of my studies.  On one occasion I was invited with my friend Bernard to sing a piece in two parts.  He volunteered to sing the chant part, known as the “tenor,” mainly, I suspect because he already knew the tune, leaving me to negotiate the upper part.  For a while I managed with tolerable success — the music had a smoothness and logic to it, and even hinted at a gentle dissonance.  My downfall came however, when I came to a section that had what my teacher called “rhythm” and I was confronted with the challenge of trying to place the notes into equal units.  Needless to say, I failed dismally. …

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My dear Leofranc, I wish you could be here with me to enjoy the peace and tranquillity of this beautiful place.  Of course, the cathedral dominates the surrounding area, but since it is built out of the beautiful local purple sandstone it blends in seemlessly with the picturesque countryside and farmland.  The present building was constructed during the bishopric of Peter de Leia some one hundred years ago, but already there have been changes.  Rather embarrassingly for the original architect who was still in residence at the time, the tower collapsed in 1220 and I understand that further considerable damage was done when the whole area was struck by a violent and terrifying earthquake on 19th February 1248.  However, a new shrine to St. David was completed just nine years ago, at which His Majesty King Edward offered up prayers earlier this year, and a fine new Lady Chapel is presently under construction.  A new bell tower will also soon be completed, but so that the sound of the bells will carry the greatest distance this has unusually been positioned a little way from the cathedral at the top of the valley.  There is also talk of enlarging the currently modest Bishop’s palace, but nobody here believes this will happen during their own lifetime. …

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The morning of 24th September, 1284.  I had the most enjoyable evening last night, Leofranc, with a splendidly convivial gathering at the house of a prosperous farmer named Richard Melin who lives in nearby Caerfai.  We ate in the “Welsh” style: there are no tables, let alone tablecloths and napkins, but everyone behaves quite naturally with no attempt whatsoever at etiquette.  You sit down in threes and the food is placed in front of you on a trencher resting on rushes and green grass.  I can report that the food was plentiful, albeit lacking a little variety, but I would like to commend to you for future reference a deliciously fresh thin bread called “lagana” and a tasty dish of stewed eel with parsley, mint, sage, garlic and cloves. …

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One of my fellow guests at the gathering was the cathedral physician, who is familiarly known to one and all as Ralph the Healer.  He is a grim fellow and is scathing of modern physicians, suggesting that they only possess three qualifications; namely, to be able to lie in a subtle manner, to show an outward honesty, and to kill with audacity! Despite his miserable temper I learned a few “cures” from him, including two for toothache.  He recommends the sufferer should take a candle of molten fat and mix it with sea holly from St. Non’s Bay.  This candle must be burned as close as possible to the tooth, holding a basin of cold water beneath it, so that the worms which are gnawing the tooth will jump into the bowl to escape the heat of the candle.  If that fails to work, he maintains that walking three times around a churchyard quite often does the trick.  For the treatment of stones, Ralph cuts off the heads of crickets and mixes them with beetles and oil in a pot.  After baking in a bread oven the mixture is blended and rubbed into the affected parts.  Lord, if it is thy will that I should fall ill, I beseech thee that I should at that hour be as far away from Brother Ralph as possible!