From the 8th century, the Iberian Peninsula was subject to Muslim rule. Islam didn’t relinquish all power in Spain until the late 15th century.  But in 1088, Islamic hegemony was beginning to crumble, and Toledo was the first major Islamic stronghold to fall to the Christians.  

When the cathedral of Toledo was designed in the mid-13th century, the master architect’s first requirement was clear:  the footprint of the new construction must cover all of the sacred ground previously occupied by the former city mosque.  As a consequence, the building is particularly wide: the nave includes a central aisle along with four pillared side aisles.  And behind the high altar, there are two ambulatories, not the usual one.  (The ambulatory is the semi-circular walkway inside the curved east wall of the cathedral.)

For the text, I chose Dies Irae from the traditional Latin Mass. This brief and simple interpretation of the text is performed acapella by tenors and basses. A version of Dies Irae also appears in my Requiem Mass (2021), 2nd movement.

M.M. Ray and D. Ellicott Ray