Article
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Presentation
André GABY
Original title: Presentación
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
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Saint Augustine and the definition of Music as Scientia (De Musica I, IV, 5)
Luís Carlos Silva de SOUSA
Original title: Santo Agostinho (354-430) e a definição de Música como Scientia (De Musica I, IV, 5)
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
Keywords: Modulation, Music, Order, Reason, Saint Augustine, Scientia, Transcendence.
The objective of this work is to analyse the use of the term Scientia in the definition of Music proposed by Saint Augustine in the work De Musica (I, IV, 5). The Music, one of the seven Liberal Arts, was understood by Augustine as a manifestation of th order of audible realities. The Music had as its object not exactly modulatio, but bona modulatio. Many animals are capable of modulation, they fellow numerical laws: but, for Saint Augustine, the Music was a Scientia bene modulandi, and it assumed a specific, transcendent telos (τέλος). The term Scientia could not be dispensed with, since ignorance of the bona modulatio, as an exercise of Reason, could cause disorder in the use of song.
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Between sins and virtues. A look at the feminine condition in medieval daily life through sacred and secular songs
Antonio Celso RIBEIRO
Original title: Entre Pecados e Virtudes. Um olhar sobre a condição feminina no cotidiano medieval a partir de cantigas sacras e seculares
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
Keywords: Eroticism, Female condition, Joglarezas – Soldadeiras, Middle Ages, Social class, Ŷawari.
The present work intends to briefly analyze the role of the medieval woman from her social class whether she is a well-born woman, or a slave, God fearing or mistress of her needs and desires, lover or loved one, courtesan, intelectual and artist and their interest-relationships with eroticism. Therefore, we will briefly discuss on these roles and their implications for society at the time, especially for the joglarezas/soldadeiras and ŷawari – slave-singers specially trained within Arab-Muslim culture, outlining the boundaries between public and private spaces and between the sacred and the profane.
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Toward a didactic of Music in two Carolingian treatises: Musica and Scolica Enchiriadis
Julieta CARDIGNI
Original title: Hacia una didáctica musical en dos tratados carolingios: Musica y Scolica Enchiriadis
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
Keywords: Didactic features, Discursive analysis, Musica Enchiriadis, Scolica Enchiriadis.
The present paper aims to analyze the didactic features present in two Carolingian writings about music: Musica and Scolia Enchiriadis, from 9th century. Traditionally transmitted and read together, these treatises contain some of the earliest medieval reflections on polyphony, modal theory, and musical training. In addition, Musica and Scolica Enchiriadis show how the Ars Musica turns into a performative notion, while still trying to be part –at least formally– of the tradition of speculative music and the harmonia mundi. In the context of the Carolingian reforms, Music seems to be acquiring a more practical dimension, according to the needs of homogenization of Liturgy accomplished throughout the Empire. This dimension, which of course had always existed as a performative aspect of Music, needs now to be theorized and systematized for its transmission. In his attempt to teach the –until then– oral knowledge about singing, the anonymous writer(s) of Musica and Scolica Enchiriadis needs not only to explain the new concepts, but also to create a common language to accomplish this task. The result of this intent is one of the first musical notation systems which, though not of great further impact as a means of transmission, gives us however a glimpse to the metalinguistic process of creating a musical language. Departing from Discourse Analysis, we will trace and analyze these didactic strategies and resources, with the purpose of delineating the didactic project of both treatises.
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Itaque sine musica nulla disciplina potest esse perfecta: musical iconography in hispanic romanic sculpture
Alicia MANSO SAN ISIDRO
Original title: Itaque sine musica nulla disciplina potest esse perfecta: la iconografía musical en la escultura románica hispana
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
Keywords: Instruments, King David, Last Judgement, Middle Ages, Minstrels, Music, Romanesque sculpture.
The presence of musical iconography in medieval art, particularly in Romanesque sculpture, is enormous. Thus, in this article we will focus on the chronology from the 11th to the 13th century, analyzing the most important examples on the most representented topics: the Final Judgement, King David, and profane scenes. Musical instruments are represented in both non-religious and religious scenes, included as a reflection of biblical texts with a profound theological content. Analyzing the representation of instruments gives us information about iconographic influences, that begin with the miniatures in the Beatos. Moreover, this analysis is useful regarding organology and musicology, assessing the verisimilitude of these representations with a multidisciplinar methology.
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Oh Fortune! Reminiscence of the Boecian Consolatio in the moral verses of Carmina Burana
Mariano OLIVERA
Original title: ¡Oh Fortuna! Reminiscencia de la Consolatio boeciana en los versos morales de Carmina Burana
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
Keywords: Consolatio, Fortune, Philosophy, Poetry, Therapeutic.
The purpose of this article is to present reminiscences of Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy in three goliard poems by Carmina Burana. To demonstrate the identity of rhetorical and philosophical style: consolatio, between the poems of Book I-II of the Consolation of Philosophy and the selected Goliard poems. From which we will glimpse their potential to awaken consolatory and therapeutic philosophical reflection. All this in an almost abysmal leap between the 5th century AD and the 13th century AD. The survival of the consolatio, not only as a rhetorical-poetic style but also as a spiritual exercise that continues to be present in monastic and clerical life, will be substantiated. To do this, first, we will justify in general the importance of the Consolation of Philosophy in courtly and monastic life, that is, its reception in the Latin Middle Ages. Then we will elaborate on the philosophical practice and the exercises that emerge around the speeches and consoling verses, which although they lack argumentation, in their entire poetic splendour, awaken the philosophical reflection of the present towards past goods, the loss of virtue and the deceptive nature of Fortune. Everything is resolved in four movements: aegritudo or perturbatio, lethargum, avocatio mentis, revocatio mentis that make up the consolation or recovery of what makes the soul and reason “sick”. To culminate our journey on such a therapeuo, we propose the key content that all the work signifies, a comparative analysis between the Boecian verses and the Burano verses.
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The musical esoterism of Francesco Zorzi (1466-1540) in the work De harmonia mundi totius (1525)
André GABY
Original title: O esoterismo musical de Francesco Zorzi (1466-1540) na obra De harmonia mundi totius (1525)
Published in Music in Antiquity, Middle Ages & Renaissance
Keywords: Christian Kabbalah, Esoterism, Philosophy of music, Pythagoreanism, Renaissance.
The humanism and the musical renaissance derived from it are both the result of Italian thinkers contact with the Neoplatonic and Hermes Trimegistus works – coming from Byzantium thanks to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 – and with Kabbalistic works brought by Jews definitively expelled from Spain. in 1492. Among so many names in Italian humanist thought, stands out in Venice the Franciscan friar Francesco Zorzi (Giorgi). He learned the Hebrew language and the teachings of Kabbalah, dedicating his intellectual efforts to the continuation of the synthesis work of ideas on spiritual elevation (Platonic, Aristotelian, Neoplatonic, Hermetic, Jewish, or Christian) initiated by Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola. Zorzi believed that Kabbalah could prove the truths of the faith of Christianity present in the Bible, that is, the numbers generated by the letters of the Hebrew alphabet would be related to the Pythagorean “Harmony of the Spheres” conception, and the truths of the cosmos reality would be described in the scriptures enterlines of Judeo-Christian religious tradition. Our work consists of presenting to the Portuguese language community the esoteric-kabbalist musical conception present in the work Harmonia mundi totius by Francesco Zorzi, together with some extract’s translation into Portuguese.
