By popular tradition, the holy dove descended to Pope Gregory and imparted to him the wealth of melody which we know as Gregorian chant. This performance is divided into two halves, the first devoted to monophonic music and the second to early polyphony. Although all these works could be performed unaccompanied, we have chosen to make sparing use of instruments in some of the secular monophonic pieces: pictorial evidence makes it clear that instruments were sometimes used in performing the Cantigas of Alfonso el Sabio.
