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
-
Friday, July 18, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
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).
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).
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
More up-to-date to do
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).
Sunday, February 17, 2008
To do - again
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)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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)
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)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
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.
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.
5.
6. That dang sprezzatura piece (
7.
8. Paper on female vocality & dialect song (find out about conf proceedings for Angels & Devils)
9.
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.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
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....
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....
riccio - lassatemi morire
From the 1969 edition. Does the suprising lack of punctuation suggest that the editor couldn't decide how to interpret the text?
Lassatemi morire
importuni sospir ch'il miser core
mio soccorrete nel maggior dolore.
Se le lagrime mie, se tanta fede,
nanzi a questa crudel d'amor rubella,
o pietade o dolcezza
non mi ponno impetrar, ma sol fierezza,
forse mia cruda stella
avrà per morte ancor degna mercede.
Dunque non più soccorso al miser core,
ma di dolore
lassatemi morire.
Approximate translation
Leave me to die
tiresome/untimely sighs [of] my wretched heart
give succour in the great sadness.
If my tears, if such faith,
before this cruel of love [rebel?],
o pity, o sweetness
[if?] they [my tears?] are not able to [obtain with prayers/supplication], but only violence,
perhaps my cruel fate
will have for death still worthy reward.
Therefore no longer succour my miserable heart,
but from sadness
let me die.
Well, I don't see anything saucy in this text.
Lassatemi morire
importuni sospir ch'il miser core
mio soccorrete nel maggior dolore.
Se le lagrime mie, se tanta fede,
nanzi a questa crudel d'amor rubella,
o pietade o dolcezza
non mi ponno impetrar, ma sol fierezza,
forse mia cruda stella
avrà per morte ancor degna mercede.
Dunque non più soccorso al miser core,
ma di dolore
lassatemi morire.
Approximate translation
Leave me to die
tiresome/untimely sighs [of] my wretched heart
give succour in the great sadness.
If my tears, if such faith,
before this cruel of love [rebel?],
o pity, o sweetness
[if?] they [my tears?] are not able to [obtain with prayers/supplication], but only violence,
perhaps my cruel fate
will have for death still worthy reward.
Therefore no longer succour my miserable heart,
but from sadness
let me die.
Well, I don't see anything saucy in this text.
doni's dialogo
I do need to place an ILL, or maybe I'll just buy a copy as well as order one for the library.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
doni's dialogo
So, I need to look at the music for this again. I'm not sure I actually have a copy of it--time to place an ILL.
I am reproducing the works list from Haar's article on Doni's Dialogo; Haar identifies concordances and poetry sources where possible.
Texts by Doni available online:
Some poems at http://rasta.unipv.it/index.php?page=view_autore&idautore=131.
Given Doni's possible setting of a text by Lodovico Domenichi, the poem by Giovanni Antonio Clario (who?!) beginning 'DOMENICHI, se l'opere del DONI' (16th century edition online) might be of interest. Humanist friendship referenced.
DOMENICHI, se l'opere del DONI
Habbin mai sempre in lor favor le stelle,
E fra l'antiche, et le moderne belle
Piu che di squille il lor grido risuoni:
E t à le vostre il ciel tal gratia doni,
Che non l'habbin contrarie apre, et rubelle;
Quelle con voi vivendo, et voi con quelle;
Ne l'altro l'un mai con l'alma abbandoni.
In abbandon co'l corpo non mettete
(Quatunque indegno) dopò sua partita
Me da la vostra dolce compagnia.
Che in che modo trovar potrei mai via
Di poter sostener mie membra in viva;
S'egli è l'alma di me, voi il corpo sete?
Poem by same Clario to Doni is in same collection.
I am reproducing the works list from Haar's article on Doni's Dialogo; Haar identifies concordances and poetry sources where possible.
- Claudio Veggio, 'Donna per acquetar vostro desire' (Gottifredi).
- Vincenzo Ruffo, 'Ma di chi debbo lamentarmi hai lasso' (Ariosto).
- Pre Maria Riccio, 'Lassatemi morire'.
- This sounds promising on the innuendo/metaphor front.
- This sounds promising on the innuendo/metaphor front.
- Arcadelt, 'S'amante fu giamai di sperar privo' (Luigi Cassola).
- Arcadelt, 'Il bianco e dolce cigno' (Alfonso d'Avalos).
- Laura Macy wrote about this text and Arcadelt's setting; might be interesting to see how Doni's compares. This online translation appears to be Macy's but is not acknowledged.
- Laura Macy wrote about this text and Arcadelt's setting; might be interesting to see how Doni's compares. This online translation appears to be Macy's but is not acknowledged.
- Doni, 'Noi v'abbian donne mille nuov' a dire' (Doni).
- I'm sure Haar is right when he says the setting is terrible and he's not sure whether it's deliberately dreadful in a (failed?) attempt at satire or whether it's just unintentionally incompetent. The first line sounds like it might be a carnival song of sorts and so probably worth closer examination.
- I'm sure Haar is right when he says the setting is terrible and he's not sure whether it's deliberately dreadful in a (failed?) attempt at satire or whether it's just unintentionally incompetent. The first line sounds like it might be a carnival song of sorts and so probably worth closer examination.
- Doni, 'O conservi d'amor che cosi spesso' (Doni).
- Girolamo Parabosco, 'Pur converra ch'i miei martiri amore'.
- Parabosco, 'Giunto m'ha amor fra belle e crude braccia' (Petrarch).
- Paolo Iacopo Palazzo, 'Maledetto sia amore e quel che disse'.
- Tomaso Bargonio, 'Alma mia fiamma e donna' (Pietro Aretino).
- The context for this is probably suggestive even if the text itself is not. Haar references Aretino's Capricciosi e Piacevoli Ragionamenti (Amsterdam: Elzevier, 1660), ii, 3, p.385.
- The context for this is probably suggestive even if the text itself is not. Haar references Aretino's Capricciosi e Piacevoli Ragionamenti (Amsterdam: Elzevier, 1660), ii, 3, p.385.
- Michele Novarese (Doni?), 'Di tre rare eccellenze' (Lodovico Domenichi).
- C. Veggio, 'Madonna il mio dolor è tant' e tale' (Doni).
- Noleth, 'S'io potessi mirar quell'occhi belli'.
- Doni(?), 'Chiaro leggiadro lume che dal cielo' (Doni?).
- Perissone Cambio, 'Deh perchè com'è il vostro al nome mio'.
- Parabosco, 'Nessun visse giamai piu di me lieto' (Petrarch).
- Giacchetto Berchem, Canzone [=sestina], 'Alla dolc'ombra' (Petrarch).
- Anon., 'Ingenium ornavit Pallas, ornavit potentem'.
- Parabosco, 'Cantai mentre ch'io arsi del mio foco'.
- Perissone(?), 'Ave virgo gratiosa' and 'Rubicunda plusquam rosa' (verses from hymns for feast of Immaculate Conception).
- Willaert, 'Beatus Bernardus quasi vas auri solidum' and 'Factus est quasi ignis'.
- P. Cambio, 'Giunto m'ha amor fra belle a crude braccia' (Petrarch).
- Cipriano de Rore, 'Quis tuos presul valeat ritenti pileo' and 'Quin tenes legum'....
- C. Veggio, 'Madonna il mio dolor è tant' e tale' (Doni).
- Arcadelt, 'Amorosette fiore'.
- Jacques Buus, 'À tout jamais d'ung vouloir immuable'.
- C. Veggio, 'Madonna hor che direte' (Doni).
Texts by Doni available online:
Some poems at http://rasta.unipv.it/index.php?page=view_autore&idautore=131.
Given Doni's possible setting of a text by Lodovico Domenichi, the poem by Giovanni Antonio Clario (who?!) beginning 'DOMENICHI, se l'opere del DONI' (16th century edition online) might be of interest. Humanist friendship referenced.
DOMENICHI, se l'opere del DONI
Habbin mai sempre in lor favor le stelle,
E fra l'antiche, et le moderne belle
Piu che di squille il lor grido risuoni:
E t à le vostre il ciel tal gratia doni,
Che non l'habbin contrarie apre, et rubelle;
Quelle con voi vivendo, et voi con quelle;
Ne l'altro l'un mai con l'alma abbandoni.
In abbandon co'l corpo non mettete
(Quatunque indegno) dopò sua partita
Me da la vostra dolce compagnia.
Che in che modo trovar potrei mai via
Di poter sostener mie membra in viva;
S'egli è l'alma di me, voi il corpo sete?
Poem by same Clario to Doni is in same collection.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
eroticism and decorum
This is the beginnings of my eros and euterpe rough work--at the moment, it's more just notes and jottings than a consistent set of ideas or an argument. The draft is due to the editor at the end of August, but I'd like to finish it earlier so that I can send it to one or two friends for comments.
Introduction:
[Will not say the following, but will say something along the lines of what the thesis and the aims of the paper are.]
This paper explores the implications/significance for music-making of the erotic culture of Cinquecento aademies through examining two particular books: Antonfrancesco Doni's dialogo della musica (1545), and Filippo Azzaiolo's il primo libro de villotte alla padoana detto del fiore (1557). Doni's work is quite well-known to musicologists courtesy of articles by Einstein and Haar. My work differs from theirs in that I seek to understand the appeal of, significance of the bawdy and/or innuendo-laden humour that Haar claims is no longer funny (and he might be right there).
Section 1: Let's talk about sex (baby) - I might just use that as a subheading if I can!
This section will be about the previous academic discourse on sexually explicit or euphemistic texts (categories such as bawdy, pornographic, obscene, erotic), about how they are historically contingent--with a wee bit on the recent usage of pornography (the statement that the repeated showings of the collapsing twin towers was somehow porn; torture porn--would love to ref that bloody irritating ad for Tarantino's Hotel II running on the Guardian website just now). Then summary of Talvacchia on decency, onesta/disonesta. Della Casa on decency in language. Ref to Stras on decency in music.
Section 2: needs a title
Doni's dialogo is ostensibly an account of an amiable evening at the Accademia degli Ortolani (Gardeners) of Piacenza. Doni's academic nickname was 'La semenza' (the seed). Not surprisingly one of their icons was Priapus--god of gardens, fertility and famously blessed with a ginormous member. (Boy, I'm glad I'm not subscribing to blog-associated advertising.) The interlocutors/participants are all male at this first evening. Einstein doesn't mention the sexual humour; at least one reviewer also misses it (Denis Arnold); Haar glosses over it in the revised version of his article (i.e. he only mentions the existence of the double meanings)--his earlier published version lacks any acknowledgement of the double entendre. This results in some amazing misreadings, where Haar determinedly reads the literal meaning of passages that only make sense as double entendres. Important things to mention: playfulness, mockery of academic enterprise (even from beyond the grave).
I need to look at the music sung during the evening to see how that works in terms of double entendres or whatever.
Also need to take into account class, social status etc. What other info is there on the Ortolani?
Section 3: needs a title [Costanti, Rucellai and Azzaiolo I]
This will look at only three songs from the collection. Don't think the madrigals will be relevant.
Section 4: Performing decorum and erotics of performance
Conclusion
Introduction:
[Will not say the following, but will say something along the lines of what the thesis and the aims of the paper are.]
This paper explores the implications/significance for music-making of the erotic culture of Cinquecento aademies through examining two particular books: Antonfrancesco Doni's dialogo della musica (1545), and Filippo Azzaiolo's il primo libro de villotte alla padoana detto del fiore (1557). Doni's work is quite well-known to musicologists courtesy of articles by Einstein and Haar. My work differs from theirs in that I seek to understand the appeal of, significance of the bawdy and/or innuendo-laden humour that Haar claims is no longer funny (and he might be right there).
Section 1: Let's talk about sex (baby) - I might just use that as a subheading if I can!
This section will be about the previous academic discourse on sexually explicit or euphemistic texts (categories such as bawdy, pornographic, obscene, erotic), about how they are historically contingent--with a wee bit on the recent usage of pornography (the statement that the repeated showings of the collapsing twin towers was somehow porn; torture porn--would love to ref that bloody irritating ad for Tarantino's Hotel II running on the Guardian website just now). Then summary of Talvacchia on decency, onesta/disonesta. Della Casa on decency in language. Ref to Stras on decency in music.
Section 2: needs a title
Doni's dialogo is ostensibly an account of an amiable evening at the Accademia degli Ortolani (Gardeners) of Piacenza. Doni's academic nickname was 'La semenza' (the seed). Not surprisingly one of their icons was Priapus--god of gardens, fertility and famously blessed with a ginormous member. (Boy, I'm glad I'm not subscribing to blog-associated advertising.) The interlocutors/participants are all male at this first evening. Einstein doesn't mention the sexual humour; at least one reviewer also misses it (Denis Arnold); Haar glosses over it in the revised version of his article (i.e. he only mentions the existence of the double meanings)--his earlier published version lacks any acknowledgement of the double entendre. This results in some amazing misreadings, where Haar determinedly reads the literal meaning of passages that only make sense as double entendres. Important things to mention: playfulness, mockery of academic enterprise (even from beyond the grave).
I need to look at the music sung during the evening to see how that works in terms of double entendres or whatever.
Also need to take into account class, social status etc. What other info is there on the Ortolani?
Section 3: needs a title [Costanti, Rucellai and Azzaiolo I]
This will look at only three songs from the collection. Don't think the madrigals will be relevant.
Section 4: Performing decorum and erotics of performance
Conclusion
Monday, June 25, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
random writing thoughts on bodies/music
2210
Well, I'm thinking of my article on bodies in sixteenth century music and I'm thinking about how daily music practice does in fact shape the body. I remember when I practiced singing every day my cheekbones were well defined. So my music practice shaped my face, shaped my physical appearance. Plus there must have been other ways in which my body was shaped--things not so visible to the eye, like stamina, larynx, that vocal agility (if only I could get it back). So, I'm wondering how sixteenth-century musicians bodies were shaped by their practice and in fact whether that is even viable as research questions. Well, I'm sure it's viable, I'm just not sure it's do-able.
But what sources could I look at?
Music treatises - Zarlino, Ganassi, that other guy. These might be places I could look for information on how bodies were instructed in 16th c. But I wonder if I will find anything?
What other possibilities are there?
Bodies come up in motets--there was that one I was looking at a number of weeks ago, Amo Christum.
4 minutes gone and I'm already running out of ideas.
Alessia mentioned to me the idea of the medieval body in relation to flagellation--all about opening the body to society.
Work on vocalising and bodies by not Nina Treadwell, erm. what is her name, must keep writing but her name is on the tip of my tongue Bonnie Gordon, that's it. Bonnie Gordon wrote a great piece on talking back and the ballo delle ingrate in which I seem to remember she discussed the early modern equation between open throat and sexual availability. I wonder whether that is a possible starting point? Or has it been done to death already?
What about the dialogue on Tarquinia Molza that Laurie looked at? There was that interesting comparison between the castrato singer and Molza which I think had something on bodies.
There's that new book/research paper on castrati tjat I must get hold of. Can't remember who that's by right now.
Gosh, this is very disorganised and still only 7 minutes in.
OK, poetry on musicking bodies - hah, that reminds me, I wonder if there's any mileage in that book in relation to early modern italy.
also that business about the book as the body, and the metaphor for how music works--I guess that's a philosophical thing. McClary's idea that when you sing from written music, your body is penetrated (McClary? Gordon deals with this too, I think) and you can't control your physical response. This seems to be denying the performer's agency. Is there any thing in sixteenth-century music theory, poetry, instruction mauals etc that discuss (however obliquely), the performer's agency?
Book as body, held in the hands of friends who in singing take the music into their bodies, first internalising it and then externalising it all sounds pretty cool *but* I don't think really describes what is going on. Surely they are not taking the music into their bodies in the way McClary seems to imply, but rather they are realising the music with their bodies--the music would not exist without their bodies--surely their bodies, the positions of the mouths, the angle of the neck, their stamina and physicality all impact and alter??? no, not alter, because that implies that the music exists already, but all impact upon how the music will sound or is sounded through, by, within??? their bodies. That is a more complicated model and doesn't suggest the passive performer model that McClary slips in to.
Elisabeth Grosz--I need to read that properly this time and consider different intellectual models and feminist theories of bodies.
The obsession with anatomy and the theatre of the body, the display of the body in anatomical diagrams (Talvacchia again) might be of relevance somehow but I wonder how. You see, that's all visual and what I'm really interested in is bodily knowledge, I guess.
Almost out of time and I am certainly out of ideas. I can see I need to spend a lot of time in the library and looking over different primary sources. Zarlino we have, Vicentino we should have.
2225
References:
Silvestro Ganassi, Title in here.
Bonnie Gordon, “Talking Back: The Female Voice in ‘Il ballo delle ingrate,’” Cambridge Opera Journal, 11/1 (1999): 1-30.
Elizabeth Grosz, Volatile Bodies.
Susan McClary, Modal Subjectivities.
Laurie Stras, 'Recording Tarquinia,' Early Music. (I think.)
Bette Talvacchia, Taking Positions.
Nicola Vicentino, Title in here.
Gioseffo Zarlino, Le institutione harmoniche.
Well, I'm thinking of my article on bodies in sixteenth century music and I'm thinking about how daily music practice does in fact shape the body. I remember when I practiced singing every day my cheekbones were well defined. So my music practice shaped my face, shaped my physical appearance. Plus there must have been other ways in which my body was shaped--things not so visible to the eye, like stamina, larynx, that vocal agility (if only I could get it back). So, I'm wondering how sixteenth-century musicians bodies were shaped by their practice and in fact whether that is even viable as research questions. Well, I'm sure it's viable, I'm just not sure it's do-able.
But what sources could I look at?
Music treatises - Zarlino, Ganassi, that other guy. These might be places I could look for information on how bodies were instructed in 16th c. But I wonder if I will find anything?
What other possibilities are there?
Bodies come up in motets--there was that one I was looking at a number of weeks ago, Amo Christum.
4 minutes gone and I'm already running out of ideas.
Alessia mentioned to me the idea of the medieval body in relation to flagellation--all about opening the body to society.
Work on vocalising and bodies by not Nina Treadwell, erm. what is her name, must keep writing but her name is on the tip of my tongue Bonnie Gordon, that's it. Bonnie Gordon wrote a great piece on talking back and the ballo delle ingrate in which I seem to remember she discussed the early modern equation between open throat and sexual availability. I wonder whether that is a possible starting point? Or has it been done to death already?
What about the dialogue on Tarquinia Molza that Laurie looked at? There was that interesting comparison between the castrato singer and Molza which I think had something on bodies.
There's that new book/research paper on castrati tjat I must get hold of. Can't remember who that's by right now.
Gosh, this is very disorganised and still only 7 minutes in.
OK, poetry on musicking bodies - hah, that reminds me, I wonder if there's any mileage in that book in relation to early modern italy.
also that business about the book as the body, and the metaphor for how music works--I guess that's a philosophical thing. McClary's idea that when you sing from written music, your body is penetrated (McClary? Gordon deals with this too, I think) and you can't control your physical response. This seems to be denying the performer's agency. Is there any thing in sixteenth-century music theory, poetry, instruction mauals etc that discuss (however obliquely), the performer's agency?
Book as body, held in the hands of friends who in singing take the music into their bodies, first internalising it and then externalising it all sounds pretty cool *but* I don't think really describes what is going on. Surely they are not taking the music into their bodies in the way McClary seems to imply, but rather they are realising the music with their bodies--the music would not exist without their bodies--surely their bodies, the positions of the mouths, the angle of the neck, their stamina and physicality all impact and alter??? no, not alter, because that implies that the music exists already, but all impact upon how the music will sound or is sounded through, by, within??? their bodies. That is a more complicated model and doesn't suggest the passive performer model that McClary slips in to.
Elisabeth Grosz--I need to read that properly this time and consider different intellectual models and feminist theories of bodies.
The obsession with anatomy and the theatre of the body, the display of the body in anatomical diagrams (Talvacchia again) might be of relevance somehow but I wonder how. You see, that's all visual and what I'm really interested in is bodily knowledge, I guess.
Almost out of time and I am certainly out of ideas. I can see I need to spend a lot of time in the library and looking over different primary sources. Zarlino we have, Vicentino we should have.
2225
References:
Silvestro Ganassi, Title in here.
Bonnie Gordon, “Talking Back: The Female Voice in ‘Il ballo delle ingrate,’” Cambridge Opera Journal, 11/1 (1999): 1-30.
Elizabeth Grosz, Volatile Bodies.
Susan McClary, Modal Subjectivities.
Laurie Stras, 'Recording Tarquinia,' Early Music. (I think.)
Bette Talvacchia, Taking Positions.
Nicola Vicentino, Title in here.
Gioseffo Zarlino, Le institutione harmoniche.
Monday, June 4, 2007
New projects on the go
Since my last post, the conference has happened, I've finished my marking, and I've presented at another conference (all within two weeks of each other). It's been a busy fortnight indeed.
Projects on the go:
1. Revise friendship paper (asap)
2. Paper for Eros collection (by 1 aug)
3. Review of Courtesan's Arts for JSMI (by end June)
4. Review for M&L (by end Sept)
5. Revise Castellino paper to send to Linda, and to Libby (over summer)
6. That dang sprezzatura piece (quite urgent now)
7. Entry on gender in Irish pop for EMIR (negotiate new deadline)
8. Paper on female vocality & dialect song (find out about conf proceedings for Angels & Devils)
9. Conference version of friendship paper (by Aug 11)
10. Decide whether to produce collection of papers from my conf
That'll be enough to keep me going.....
Projects on the go:
1. Revise friendship paper (asap)
2. Paper for Eros collection (by 1 aug)
3. Review of Courtesan's Arts for JSMI (by end June)
4. Review for M&L (by end Sept)
5. Revise Castellino paper to send to Linda, and to Libby (over summer)
6. That dang sprezzatura piece (quite urgent now)
7. Entry on gender in Irish pop for EMIR (negotiate new deadline)
8. Paper on female vocality & dialect song (find out about conf proceedings for Angels & Devils)
9. Conference version of friendship paper (by Aug 11)
10. Decide whether to produce collection of papers from my conf
That'll be enough to keep me going.....
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Conference again
OK, I've done the round table.
Still to do:
Concert.
There's a problem with getting the chamber organ delivered and tuned in time for rehearsal; same issue w/ the harpsichord. I need to think about this some more.
Honan - too many weddings
ORH - not nice enough acoustic
St Vincent's Church poss alternative
I still don't have a script & am running out of time for this.
My Conf Paper.
I'll work on this from 3-5 today.
Keynote speaker's travel and accomm.
Need to contact the travel office again and remind them that I need quote urgently. Can't really make accomm reservation until the travel date is fixed.
Poster is done & ready to circulate.
Registration almost ready. Need quote for buffet lunch. Will go ahead with organising that anyway since I can do this even before venue is absolutely finalized.
Need to decide how many people we can take.
Think that's it for now.
Still to do:
Concert.
There's a problem with getting the chamber organ delivered and tuned in time for rehearsal; same issue w/ the harpsichord. I need to think about this some more.
Honan - too many weddings
ORH - not nice enough acoustic
St Vincent's Church poss alternative
I still don't have a script & am running out of time for this.
My Conf Paper.
I'll work on this from 3-5 today.
Keynote speaker's travel and accomm.
Need to contact the travel office again and remind them that I need quote urgently. Can't really make accomm reservation until the travel date is fixed.
Poster is done & ready to circulate.
Registration almost ready. Need quote for buffet lunch. Will go ahead with organising that anyway since I can do this even before venue is absolutely finalized.
Need to decide how many people we can take.
Think that's it for now.
Friday, April 6, 2007
my conference contributions
Conference to dos are rather longer than I made out.
I need to write & circulate the questions for the round table.
I need to write my own paper.
I need to write blurb to go with Deborah's concert.
So, let's start with the round table. I have Guido Ruggiero (history), Laura Macy (music), and Julia Hairston (literature). Only three. Art history isn't represented, but I guess it's too late now.
Kinds of questions I'm interested in:
1. Discussion over validity of the concept of sexuality/ies for this period. Obviously if same sex preferences and practices are historically contingent then different sex preferences and practices are also historically contingent. The term sexualities implies stable sexual identity but that might be inappropriate for the period. (What's that word, something about time/chronology??)
2. How do literature, art, & music contribute to these historically contingent sexual practices? (Regardless of whether they are sexualities?) We've heard (I hope) a fair bit about how they relate to practices of the time; do they have any regulatory function? How do they complement or undermine or otherwise relate to law?
3. What can the different disciplines learn from eachother? Is there an aspect of sexual practices that is (un)covered by examining literature/art/music, that isn't available any other way?
I need to write & circulate the questions for the round table.
I need to write my own paper.
I need to write blurb to go with Deborah's concert.
So, let's start with the round table. I have Guido Ruggiero (history), Laura Macy (music), and Julia Hairston (literature). Only three. Art history isn't represented, but I guess it's too late now.
Kinds of questions I'm interested in:
1. Discussion over validity of the concept of sexuality/ies for this period. Obviously if same sex preferences and practices are historically contingent then different sex preferences and practices are also historically contingent. The term sexualities implies stable sexual identity but that might be inappropriate for the period. (What's that word, something about time/chronology??)
2. How do literature, art, & music contribute to these historically contingent sexual practices? (Regardless of whether they are sexualities?) We've heard (I hope) a fair bit about how they relate to practices of the time; do they have any regulatory function? How do they complement or undermine or otherwise relate to law?
3. What can the different disciplines learn from eachother? Is there an aspect of sexual practices that is (un)covered by examining literature/art/music, that isn't available any other way?
April
1. My own conference to organize
i Suzanne Cusick's travel and hotel--waiting for reply from travel agent; hotel yet to be reserved
ii Coffee/tea - ask Carmel
iii Venue problems for concert - perhaps switch to music dept for Fri or whole event? (Would mean organising lunch(es).)
iv Press release (talk to UCC PR folk?)
v Registration / concert tickets
2. Body/music seminar
i. Email colleagues
ii. Arrange time/place
iii. First topic???
3. Encyclopedia article on gender in Irish pop - negotiate new deadline
4. Holiday. We need a holiday.
5. Write Med & Ren paper
6. Journal article on sprezzatura to submit by June/July (before well-deserved holiday)
7. Book chapter for eros & euterpe will be due in August.
8. Book review for JSMI now due end of June
9. Marking marking marking
10. Admin admin admin
11. Think about proposals for AMS 2008!
i Suzanne Cusick's travel and hotel--waiting for reply from travel agent; hotel yet to be reserved
ii Coffee/tea - ask Carmel
iii Venue problems for concert - perhaps switch to music dept for Fri or whole event? (Would mean organising lunch(es).)
iv Press release (talk to UCC PR folk?)
v Registration / concert tickets
2. Body/music seminar
i. Email colleagues
ii. Arrange time/place
iii. First topic???
3. Encyclopedia article on gender in Irish pop - negotiate new deadline
4. Holiday. We need a holiday.
5. Write Med & Ren paper
6. Journal article on sprezzatura to submit by June/July (before well-deserved holiday)
7. Book chapter for eros & euterpe will be due in August.
8. Book review for JSMI now due end of June
9. Marking marking marking
10. Admin admin admin
11. Think about proposals for AMS 2008!
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