The advent of solo ricercare in sixteenth century as a transposition of the voice in instrument: the discorso in Giovanni Bassano (c. 1560-1617)
Patricia Michelini AGUILAR
Original title: O advento do ricercare solista no século XVI como transposição da voz em instrumento: o discorso em Giovanni Bassano (c. 1560-1617)
Published in Music in Middle Ages and Early Modernity
Keywords: Bassano, Diminutions, Ricercare, Ricercata, Soggetto, Speech.
Throughout the sixteenth century, especially in some Italian cities, instrumental cult music began to develop with certain autonomy in relation to vocal music. The human voice was still considered the most expressive and perfect way for musical practice, but the instruments, constantly improved, became more valued, especially when they emulated the voice. In this paper we will demonstrate that the ricercare for melodic instruments came from the transposition of vocal into instrumental music. We begin with a brief history of this genre; we continue with a description of the main compositional procedures used at the time for vocal music, in order to find some paralells with the diminutions in Signor mio Caro (Cipriano de Rore) and with the Ricercate Terza and Quarta, musics from the manual Ricercate, passaggi et cadentie (Veneza, 1585), by Giovanni Bassano (c. 1560-1617). We try to demonstrate that Bassano uses certain devices present in vocal music of the period to create pieces that already indicate an instrumental character, such as the conscious choice of musical intervals and rhythmic figures for building soggetti (little themes) and subsequent development on virtuosic ornamentation. We conclude supposing that the lack of text on ricercatas does not eliminate the presence of a hidden voice, originated by pure intonation, without words that give it a literal meaning, but related to current expressions of some affetti.
The aesthetic anamnesis of Umberto Eco
Ricardo da COSTA
Original title: A anamnese estética de Umberto Eco
Published in Art, Criticism and Mysticism
Keywords: Anamnesis, Medieval Aesthetics, Middle Ages, Umberto Eco.
The purpose of this paper is to present and analyze the aesthetic ideas of Umberto Eco (1932- ) in his book Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages (1987), particularly the aesthetic sensibilities and interests of medieval themes in the metaphysics of light (claritas), symbolism and allegory, and the aesthetic vision of the universe. For this we will use the Anamnesis Eric Voegelin's concept, exposed in their work – ANAMNESIS - From Theory of History and Politics (2002) – in which the author applies his philosophy of consciousness to your retrospective existential dimension, added to the aesthetic's considerations by the philosopher Roger Scruton (1944- ).
The allegorical interpretation of myths: from origins to Plato
Loraine OLIVEIRA
Original title: A interpretação alegórica de mitos: das origens a Platão
Published in Manifestations of the Ancient and Medieval World
Keywords: Allegory, Interpretation, Myths, Philosophical discourse, truth.
The aim of this paper is to present some of the main aspects of allegory understood as hermeneutical practice. Allegory takes as certain that the text to be interpreted possesses some truth content. At the same time that the first allegorical interpretations of Homer and Hesiod appear, there also appear harsh criticisms of their poems. Such criticisms can be grouped under two main headings: the demythologization of the cosmos and the immorality of gods. Plato has behind him two centuries of disputes about the meaning of the poems, and clearly stands against allegorical practice, even though he does not abandon myths. What happens is that he displaces the truth content of the text: truth is not to be sought in poetry anymore, but in philosophical discourse.
The allegorical representation in the Bad Women by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828): narrative and iconological analysis
Alexandre Emerick NEVES, Sabrina Vieira LITTIG
Original title: A representação alegórica na obra Mulher Má de Francisco de Goya (1746-1828): análise narrativa e iconológica
Published in Art, Criticism and Mysticism
Keywords: Allegory, Francisco de Goya, Iconography, Sorceress.
We present a study about of allegorical elements of representation from female figure in the work Bad Woman by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. Through stemming images of popular imagination that throw themselves in time and serve to reinforce decadent social stereotypes, we propose a brief discussion of the allegory its significant and symbolic structures. The iconological approach of some narrative aspects of these artistic formulations indicates how the popular imagination contributed to the development of the witch myth, creature represented as evil reference by the artists of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, pernicious enemy of religious and moral structures. We emphasize the symbolic and conceptual relationships in the modern development of these figures in Goya's work.
The anagogical contemplation in Saint-Denis Abbey (XII century)
Ricardo da COSTA, Tainah Moreira NEVES
Original title: A contemplação anagógica na Abadia de Saint-Denis (séc. XII)
Published in Art, Criticism and Mysticism
Keywords: Medieval Art, Medieval Philosophy, Saint-Denis, Suger.
“Bright is the noble work; but, being nobly bright, the work should brighten the minds, so that they may travel, through the true lights, to the True Light where Christ is the true door”. This phrase was inscribe by orders of Abbot Suger (c. 1081-1151) in one of Saint-Denis Abbey’s bronze doors. It emphasizes the anagogical character, provided by Suger to art, at the basilica’s reconstruction. In this philosophical and religious process, described by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, in the fifth century, the medievals ascend from the physical light, the material, to the spiritual light, immaterial, guided by Art, and then reach elevation. It is a continuous, cyclical movement, produced by the arduous search of entitys towards the Being. In order to accomplish such aesthetic investigation, we propose to analyze three extracts from the Liber de Rebus in Administratione Sua Gestis, by Suger, in which the Abbot describes the reasons of his idealized and directed reedification at Saint-Denis. More specifically, the first addition to the church and the santuary’s doors (I, XXV – De ecclesiæ primo augmento, XXVII – De portis fusilibus et deauratis). Based on them, we intend to defend the hypothesis that, to reform the Abbey with a new aesthetic (later to be known as gothic), Suger used art to convey his interpretation of Christian theology, and so materialize, artistically, tangible means by which one could ascend from the material to the immaterial. By creating this anagogical atmosphere that, by the contemplation of the materials forms occurs the contemplation of the immaterial, of the immutable, Suger managed to express artistically, at the abbey, the celestial hierarchy.
The analogy and its forms on the Thomas’ de Vio (1469-1534) De nominum analogia
Nicolás ARIEL LÁZARO
Original title: La analogía y sus formas en el De nominum analogia de Tomás de Vio (1469-1534)
Published in The Medieval Aesthetics
Keywords: Analogy, Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Thomas de Vio Cardinal Cajetan.
This work studies the analogy’s estructure and its forms as was conceibed by Thomas de Vio on his Tractatus de nominum analogia. As it is well known, the Cardinal preferred the analogy of proportionality to be used in the fields of metaphysics, i. e. the notion of “ens”, and desestimated the analogy of intrinsic denomination (recovered later by Suárez). On the other hand, Cajetan writes a paper to offer a clear notion about the forms that the analogy should be understood according to Aquinas’ and Aristotle’s original doctrines. After we present the way that the Philosopher studied this topic, and after we had presented Aquinas’ ideas, we will go deeply into the differences between all the mentioned authors. Finally, our conclusions.
The art of deceiving: the Mandrake, as Machiavelli’s political lesson
Nilo Henrique Neves dos REIS
Original title: El Arte de engañar: la Mandrágora como lección política de Maquiavelo
Published in The Medieval Aesthetics
Keywords: Fraud, Machiavelli, Political thinking, The Mandrake.
The comedy The Mandrake is inserted in the role of the political writings of Niccolò Machiavelli in that it also maintains a relationship with the concepts of the corpus maquiavellicus, mainly approaching The Prince. This interlacing allows us to understand how fraud becomes an expedient in the actions of the characters for the achievement of their private projects. However, it is imperative that they construct virtuous discourses that legitimize their actions, for, insofar as their goals can sometimes be considered ignominious by tradition, such actions must be enveloped in illusions that must replace reality by staging for an actor, who seeks to gain collective acquiescence to legitimize the pursuit of his glory. The piece shows how fraud is used to achieve an end and, at the same time, without hurting dominant values. The plot arises under the pretext of causing the comical, but showing the tragedy of politics, and being perhaps an instrument of reflection to understand how well-hidden private interests can be pursued without offending collective interests. Thus, in this way, this writing intends to demonstrate that reading The Mandrake is another way of getting to know Florentino’s political thinking.
The awakening of Aragonese Humanism in Curial and Guelfa
Francis RASSELI
Original title: O despertar do Humanismo Aragonês em Curial e Guelfa
Published in Manifestations of the Ancient and Medieval World
Keywords: Curial and Guelfa, History and Literature, Humanism, Novel Cavalry, Representation.
When we glimpse the slow turning off of the medieval lights in the fifteenth century, we see the gradual transformation (and secularization) of the code values that guided that civilization (ethics, morality, courtesy, Christian education, etc.). In this sense, literature offers the historian, who focuses on transition time, a remarkable promontory where we can observe the interpenetration of different historical times, as taught Fernand Braudel (1902-1985). That is why the study of the cavalry novel (realistic) Curial and Guelfa allows this unveiling of life in the high layers of that century. Life in the courts, civilized life, polished life. Thus, it is in our interest to analyze how the author of the novel built a certain idealized image of their own past, as forged in a text (beautifully written) an ideal chivalrous – under the humanist guise – to take as paradigmatic model King Peter III, the Great (1239-1285) of Aragon and Valencia and Count of Barcelona. For this, we will use of the (first) translation into Portuguese made by Ricardo da Costa (by invitation of the Universitat d'Alacant) to the International project IVITRA, that was published in the University of Santa Barbara (California). Our theoretical framework is based on the concept that the real power of the Middle Ages was built by cultural advertisements of heralds that lived in the cuts, thesis defended by José Manuel Nieto Soria. Besides that, we use the concept of representation exposed by Roger Chartier (1945- ).
The body in the pedagogical philosophy of Ramon Llull (1232-1316)
GIUBERTI, Fabricia dos Santos
Original title: O corpo na filosofia pedagógica de Ramon Llull (1232-1316)
Published in
Keywords: Body, Doctrine for Children, History of Medicine, Ramon Llull.
Ramon Llull (1232-1316) in his work Doctrine for Children (c. 1274-1276) teaches his son Dominic that the human body is composed of four elements, an idea inherited from Greek medicine, and that such elements corrupt the man’s body. There are five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Through them, the man participates in external things. For the Mallorcan, bodily life is the actuality by which the body lives, and the spiritual life is to love God. From these principles, Llull teaches the child that he must love the bodily life and health because, through health, the soul and the body are convenient to each other, and the man lives by convenience.The purpose of this paper is to present the conception of Ramon Llull about the body as exposed on Doctrine for Children, methodologically combined with the historical perspective of Jacques Le Goff and Nicholas Truong in the work "A History of the Body in the Middle Ages".
The childhood in the painting of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Laura PASCUAL PACHECO
Original title: La niñez en la pintura de Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Published in
Keywords: Angels, Children, Murillo, Poverty.
Murillo’s figure is one of the most important figures in the Spanish art scene of our time. He created themes using the image of children as indisputable protagonists of their canvases. These themes ranged from the best known biblical episodes, the angels, and as novelty, the poor children as protagonists and witnesses through the art of that social situation that was lived in this century. The cultural and social context of the artist influenced his creative activity and also the art representations of these themes in previous centuries. So through Murillo’s work we can see the painter’s interpretation of these themes and the artistic differentiation of these 17th century children in painting.
