Naslov
Music in Medieval and Renaissance Astrological Imagery

Autori
Blažeković, Zdravko

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Ocjenski radovi, doktorska disertacija

Fakultet
Graduate School

Mjesto
New York

Datum
16.06

Godina
1997

Stranica
549

Mentor
Hanning, Barbara Russano.

Ključne riječi
music; iconography; Middle Ages; Renaissance

Sažetak
The "Introductorium maius in astronomiam" by the Arabic astronomer Abu Mas"ar (787-886) was twice translated into Latin during the 12th century, and eventually became one of the most important astrological treatises used in the West during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The translation done by Hermann of Dalmatia, between 1140 and 1143, was abridged and illustrated in the late 12th or early 13th century by Georgius Zothorus Zaparus Fendulus. Six preserved copies of this illustrated abridgment, produced between 1220-40 and ca. 1500 (Paris, BNF lat.7330, 1220-40 ; London, BL Sloane 3983, 1325-50 ; New York, Morgan M.785, ca. 1400 ; BNF lat.7331, 1450-92 ; BNF lat.7344, 1488-91 ; and Smith-Lesou=EBf 8, ca. 1500), = demonstrate the place of music in the astrological context and provide guides for the decoding of its symbolism. The first part of Fendulus"s abridgment illustrates Abu Mas"ar"s description of the three astrological systems related to the zodiacal signs: (1) the Greek firmament based on the writings of Ptolemy (sphaera graecanica) ; (2) the Indian system of decans by Varahamihira (sphaera indica) ; and (3) the system of Teukros (sphaera barbarica). Associated with music are the second and third decans of Gemini, the second decan of Cancer, and the first decan of Capricorn as well as the constellations of Perseus, Hercules, Amphion, Satyr, Idol, Musa, and Bridemif. The Ptolemaic sphera does not have musical associations because the constellation of Lyra is identified as the eagle (Vultur). The second part of the abridgment interprets the planetary influences, among which Venus and Mercury are associated with music. A total of 148 instruments depicted in all six manuscripts provides evidence of (1) the development of instruments from the early 13th to the end of the 15th century (harp, harp-psaltery, delta psaltery, rectangular psaltery, lute, hurdy-gurdy, fiddle, rabel, mandora, rebec, pipe, shawm, pipe and tabor, trumpet, tambourine, kettle drum, and cymbals) ; (2) their technical characteristics and variants in regions where the manuscripts were produced (southern Italy, the Low Countries, Paris) ; (3) performance practices (a rare image of the delta psaltery being played) ; (4) the terminology for instruments, as depicted instruments were labeled with their Latin names (Paris, BNF lat.7330 includes the earliest image of the harp accompanied with its name) ; and (5) the symbolic and mythological meaning of music in medieval and Renaissance astrological systems. The first chapter of this work introduces the cultural background of Fendulus"s manuscripts. The following three chapters discuss the music-related images and their symbolism found in the three astrological systems related to the zodiacal signs, as they are inherited from antiquity, transmitted to Indian and Arabic astrology, and finally developed in the West until the end of the Renaissance. In the fifth chapter the iconography of Venus and Mercury in the Arabic sources is explored, along with the roles which Fendulus and Michael Scotus played in the development of the Western iconography of the planets, and the artistic genres which originated from the iconography of the planets (the planets" children, the garden of love, and the occupations of the months). The final chapter considers the cultural and organological significance of the illustrations in Fendulus"s abridgment and demonstrates how medieval astrological and mythological traditions were not a direct extension of antiquity, but a newly created conglomerate concept rooted both in Eastern and Western sources.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Povijest

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