stormin' for sprezzatura

But might sprezzatura and grazia have left traces in other aspects of 16th century music and musical discourse? Berger's understanding of sprezzatura as a process involving concealment and revelation means that other aspects of 'elite enclosure' open to reading two ways simultaneously might be seen as analogous to sprezzatura: Bette Talvacchia's work on I Modi certainly provides ample food for the art history side of things (succulent and saucy fruit and veg).

Check whether Talvacchia/Vasari discusses grazia.

Give example of Cambio piece: in this piece, the word setting reveals and then conceals hidden indecencies (ref Della Casa & rinculare).

- text is mildly erotic; susceptible to equivocal reading
- apart from that, the text has hidden obscenities which Cambio's word-setting reveals.

Not much grazia in this, though, one assumes.

Audience for Cambio - Venier's cohort? Check dedication/book etc etc.

Perhaps sprezzatura is not the main aspect of this paper; rather, the main aspect of the paper is to document the playfulness of the stylistic levels?

Get back on track again.

Not sure sprezzatura is at all useful for discussing Barges - seems to me that the Bembo stuff is more useful for that. But then, the issue is 1) using Bembo - trying to work from 16th century perspective to do something presumably distinctly un-16th century-ish and 2) using sprezzatura - working from a (modern) understanding of a 16th cen concept to again do sthg distinctly un-16th-c-ish.

Maybe what I need is a more solid theoretical and methodological foundation--perhaps that is why I am struggling with this. Is there such a foundation that I can pinch from elsewhere?!

Nothing in McClary that I can think of.

THe thing about the Cambio piece that I really want to stress, I guess, is that the indecencies really come out in performance. That his setting does depend upon time to understand what is going on--does that even make sense?

OK, so in remaining 2 mins let's plan

Sprezzatura, grazia & music

-what is it?
-why important?
-examples? - discuss Caccini???
-New takes on Sprezz - Berger vs saccone (not so new)
-elements of Berger's sprezz that are useful
-cambio example
-grazia in 16th century understanding?
-Zarlino
-Vicentino etc
-look at other examples - this is all new research.
-conclude what exactly?

article 1 - 16th C musical eroticism as part of aristocratic culture
-Venier's lot & what they got up to (Feldman et al)
-Cambio & Barges's relationship to Venier et al
-Barges's examples
-Cambio example
-how to understand?
-Bembo - playfulness with stylistic levels
-one thing read two ways - sprezzatura (Berger)

Is this then going to be too short? Is it arguing anything? Nothing really much going on there.
article 2)

music & eroticism as part of academic culture
-introduction
-academies and erotic outputs (salon-Venier; Piacenza-Doni)
-strophic song a part of this wider erotic context
-

May to-dos

1. Grading papers - one week to go! Hurrah!
2. Academies paper for Reading conference on 4 July: 'Lowering the Tone: Strophic Song & the Performance of Gender & Class in Italian Academies.'
3. Travel arrangements & registration for Med & Ren conference in Bangor (must attend launch of festschrift for Bonnie Blackburn).
4. Eros paper - need to send editor the revised version.
5. That dang sprezzatura piece (very urgent now).
6. Review of Courtesan's Arts for JSMI - still doing this....
7. Paper on female vocality & dialect song (find out about conf proceedings for Angels & Devils).
8. Review of Wistreich's book on Brancaccio (due end Sept '08).

More up-to-date to do

1. Friendship piece - need to respond to LHS's comments (17 Feb).
2. 800 words for UCC Arts Research Journal by 20 Feb 2008.
3. Title of academies paper for Reading conference by 25 Feb 2008; abstract by 3 Mar.
4. Paper on bodies and music for MA in Women's Studies seminar (12 Mar).
5. Eros paper - need to send editor the revised version.
6. SMI conference paper (9 May).
7. Reading paper (4 July).
8. That dang sprezzatura piece (very urgent now).
9. Review of Courtesan's Arts for JSMI - still doing this....
10. Paper on female vocality & dialect song (find out about conf proceedings for Angels & Devils).

To do - again

1. Friendship piece - need to respond to LHS's comments (17 Feb).
2. 800 words for UCC Arts Research Journal by 20 Feb 2008
3. Paper on bodies and music for MA in Women's Studies seminar in March (check date!)
4. Eros paper - need to send editor the revised version.
5. That dang sprezzatura piece (very urgent now)
6. Review of Courtesan's Arts for JSMI - still doing this....
7. Paper on female vocality & dialect song (find out about conf proceedings for Angels & Devils)

Another to-do update

1. 800 words for UCC Arts Research Journal by 20 Feb 2008
2. Eros paper - need to send editor the revised version.
3. Paper on bodies and music for MA in Women's Studies seminar in March (check date!)
4. That dang sprezzatura piece (very urgent now)
5. Review of Courtesan's Arts for JSMI - still doing this....
6. Paper on female vocality & dialect song (find out about conf proceedings for Angels & Devils)

Hurrah and update

Friendship piece has been sent off. Hopefully it will be published this year.

Now I'm down to the following writing projects--life is beginning to look manageable for a few weeks.

1. Eros paper - need to send editor the revised version.
2. Paper on bodies and music for MA in Women's Studies seminar in March (check date!)
3. That dang sprezzatura piece (very urgent now)
4. Review of Courtesan's Arts for JSMI - still doing this....
5. Paper on female vocality & dialect song (find out about conf proceedings for Angels & Devils)

There are others, but these are the ones I'd like to get off the back burner.

Work review

Ouch--a long time since I last published. Here's an update on projects that were on the go in November:

1. Friendship paper - needs RISM numbers for one of the footnotes, and I need to state editorial principles for Italian poetry.
2. Eros paper - need to send editor the revised version.
3. Review of Courtesan's Arts for JSMI - still doing this....
4. Review for M&L Contacted them to tell the truth which was that I didn't remember agreeing to do the review in the first place.
5. Revise Castellino paper to send to Linda, and to Libby (over summer)
6. That dang sprezzatura piece (quite very urgent now)
7. Entry on gender in Irish pop for EMIR (negotiate new deadline) - withdrew since there is not enough scholarship on the area to draw upon.
8. Paper on female vocality & dialect song (find out about conf proceedings for Angels & Devils)
9. Conference version of friendship paper (by Aug 11). Done, given; went OK. Probably giving another version in May.
10. Decide whether to produce collection of papers from my conf. - Still undecided.

whiteness/race in early music

This post at my other blog is relevant to one of my Jan 2007 posts. Evidently about once a year I think about race and whiteness in classical or early music.

oh dear

it's been a long time since i did anything on this.....

a wee story

So, on 104 and 105 the lads are sitting round telling stories, poking fun at 'la plebe' and at those who don't know things/them (Anton da Lucca and Domenichi?) and don't have good judgement ('chi non gli conosce, e non ha giudizio', 104).

105

O. [Hoste da Reggio?] vi vo' dire un'altra facezia salvatica. Messer Giovaniacopo Buzzino sonando di violone il soprano, come egli fa miracolosamente, un che pareva da qualcosa gli dice nel bel mezzo del sonare: o Signore menate le dita più adagio, che fa brutto vedere menare tanto le dita sopra il manico [neck - fingerboard?]. Ed egli sopportando la insolenzia sua cominciò a sonare senza diminuire; per che il goffo [awkward, clumsy, ungainly] sentendo mancare l'armonia, vergognandosi a dirgli che menasse pur le dita; o più tosto non sapendo che si fusse suono, disse presontuosamente: sonate un poco tutti, da ballare.

B. Chi sonava in compagnia?

O. Messer Lodovico Bosso, il Signor G. Battista, gentil'uomo di Monsignore Stampa, Pre Michele, Pre Bartolomeo, e 'l Doni.

B. Gli fu risposto?

O. Il Doni gli fece rider tutti co'l dirgli: se s'ha a ballare, V.S. segga qui per me, e suoni; ch'io vuo' essere il primo che balli: o se non, sì ve n'andate con dio senza spezzarci la testa; e levatosi in piedì, gli diede l'archetto e la viola, e incominciò a ballare.

M. Or non più di questo, cantiamo, e lasciamo la plebe in suo mal punto; ch'ella si dee fuggire da gli uomini virtuosi come la peste.

Then there's the bit about changing keys, then they sing 'Lassatemi morire' and then read bits of the letter.

Diminuire presumably is to do with not using passagi, not adding diminutions, rather than relating to decrescendo....