Atrium Musicæ de Madrid

Atrium Musicae was an early music ensemble from Madrid, Spain, founded in 1964 by Gregorio Paniagua, a Spanish monk. Perhaps the group's most famous recording is Musique de la Grèce Antique (Music of Ancient Greece), in which they performed ancient Greek music carefully taken from scattered extant fragments of papyrus. Performing the ancient compositions also meant they had to reconstruct an arsenal of ancient instruments. This ancient music was an important aspect of the group's live performances during a series of acclaimed international tours. Another well-known recording by the group is their 1976 disc Musique Arabo-Andalouse, which delves into the Hispanic-Moslem music of southern Spain and is credited with creating new interest in the genre. From the late 1970s to the early 1980s the group made a series of recordings dealing with 15th and 16th century popular Spanish songs, then shifted their attention to the New World for the album Las Indias de España, a recording of Pre-Columbian music collected from archives. The group dissolved in the early 1980s. Several members, including Eduardo Paniagua, began solo careers.