Johannes Caioni - Codex Caioni

Dracula's Castle

We don't have music from the era of Vlad Dracul, at least not from Transylvania where he spent his life fighting the Turks.  We really don't have music from the Turks from that era, although interestingly we do have a fair amount of music from Roman Constantinople before its fall.  All of that was going on at the same time in the Balkans, in a big mix of cultural clashing and mixing.

However, we do have music from Transylvania only a couple of centuries later, written by a Transylvania.  Well, a Wallachian, from the area on the north bank of the Danube where it flows into the Black Sea.  We think of Dracula has inhabiting a castle in the Carpathian mountains; those were the northern border of Walachia.  Vlad was the Prince of Walachia before he became the Prince of Darkness.

Johannes Caioni grew up in this area in the 17th century, 200 years after Vlad impaled his enemies.  A monk, he was educated by the Jesuits and became a composer.  His work survives because he set up a printing press to publish educational and religious books for the nearby villages and towns.  He also published his music, and some works went through multiple editions.

What is interesting about his music is that he used many themes from the folk music of the time.  And so while this isn't the music of Vlad Dracul, it might have the flavor of the music he would have recognized.