| Series |
Music and the early modern imagination
Musical meaning and interpretation. ^A589150
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| Contents |
Part one. Medicean theater: aesthetic and political underpinnings. The politics of dynasty. The Medici grand dukes: consolidating the duchy ; Princely magnificence ; Shoring up dynastic prerogative: precedent and continuity ; Shoring up dynastic prerogative: the prince as God ; The duke as theatrical arbiter -- The aesthetic of wonder. The currency of meraviglia: inside and outside the theater ; Francesco Patrizi and the experience of wonder ; Hidden meanings/hidden music ; The duke as neoplatonic magus ; Structural underpinnings: order restored -- Count Intermedi at Florence. Definitions and controversies ; "The wondrous show, alas, of the intermedi!" ; La varieta e l'unita ; The problem of musical humanism ; The performances in the Uffizi theater ; The commentaries of spectator-auditors -- Part two. Readings: the Pellegrina interludes in/as performance. Marshalling meraviglia: manipulating time, delineating space (Intermedio one). The mysterious source of sound ; Echo's rocky cave: an alternative reading ; Music and text ; Sound in motion -- Scenic metamorphosis and musical warfare (Intermedi two and three). Flux and transformation ; "Clothes make the man (or woman)" ; Vere e finte donne (real and feigned women) ; Marenzio's theatrical madrigals ; The Cavallino factor ; Intermedio three: the pastoral disrupted ; Musical warfare: the power of music and dance ; Women's voices incognito -- Diabolical bodies and monstrous machines: a cautionary tale (Intermedio four). Dangerous women and monstrous beasts ; Heaven and hell ; Melancholy madrigals: a tale to remember -- Singing the marvelous (Intermedio five). The siren's song ; Music on the printed page ; Music in performance ; "With the admirable attention of the listeners": Arion's echoes -- "O what new wonder" (Intermedio six). Framing the festivities: the heavenly descent ; Music, memory, and embodiment ; They sang, danced, and played guitars: but how? ; Audience perceptions ; The last word: memory and meaning ; Postlude: the duke's Ballo -- Appendix 1a-1f. Bastiano de'Rossi, Descrizione (1589), excerpts -- Appendix 2. (Anon.) Li sontuosissimi apparecchi (1589), title page and intermedi description only -- Appendix 3. Simone Cavallino, Le solennissime feste (1589), title page and intermedi description only -- Appendix 4. (Anon.) Li artificiosi e dilettevoli intermedii (1589), title page and intermedi description only -- Appendix 5. Text and translation of Laura Guidiccioni's "O che nuovo miracolo" -- Appendix 6. CD information. |
| Contents |
Content of sound disc: Ò begli Anni del Oro / Francesco Corteccia (2:52) -- Dalle più alte sfere / Antonio and Vittoria Archilei (6:14) -- Belle ne fe natura (1:31) ; Chi dal delfino (1:40) ; Se nelle voci nostre (excerpt) (:49) ; O valoroso dio (1:31) / Luca Marenzio -- Io che dal Ciel / Giulio Caccini (2:12) -- Io che l'onde raffreno (2:14) ; E noi con questa bella diva (2:30) / Cristofano Malvezzi -- Godi turba mortal (1:36) ; O che nuovo miracolo (excerpt) (:41) / Emilio de' Cavalieri. |
| Abstract |
On May 2, 1589, the Medici court staged the most costly and elaborate entertainment yet produced at Florence. In the Uffizi theater, the intermedi (interludes) performed between the acts of Girolamo Bargagli's comedy La pellegrina were the high point of a series of celebrations mobilized by the newly proclaimed Grand Duke of Florence - Ferdinando I de' Medici - for his wedding to Christine of Lorraine. These interludes were one of the major cultural events of their time and were central to the activities of the Florentine Camerata and the development of early opera. In a new approach to these works the author addresses directly the "ineffability" of the listener's experience and the sometimes contradictory accounts of the event as recorded by diarists and chroniclers. She takes these varied impressions as part of the meaning-making process surrounding these extraordinary performances, exploring in particular the role of musical sound in the creation of meraviglia, or wonder - an important aspect of Florentine politics. Treadwell also considers the bodily practices of musico-theatrical performance and how these influenced the audience's spatial and temporal perception to further convey the "mystery of the state" as proclaimed by Florentine absolutism. Finally, she uses the many first-hand accounts of the event to reveal how meraviglia sometimes functioned in unanticipated ways. |
| Local note | Joyner-JOYNER MUSIC LIBRARY BOOK ACCOMPANIED BY SOUND RECORDING LOCATED AT CALL NUMBER: MusicLib CD-10696. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-270) and index. |
| LCCN | 2008005575 |
| ISBN | 9780253352187 (cloth : alk. paper) |
| ISBN | 0253352185 (cloth : alk. paper) |
