Dinko Fabris (Università della Basilicata), Chair
Elizabeth Elmi (Iowa State University), "Pasto... more Dinko Fabris (Università della Basilicata), Chair
Elizabeth Elmi (Iowa State University), "Pastoral Politics in the Lyric Song of Late-Fifteenth-Century Southern Italy"
Nathan Reeves (Northwestern University), "Locating Plebe Communities in Sixteenth Century Neapolitan Song"
Zoey Cochran (McGill University), "Scarlatti's Call to 'Arms': Resisting Spanish Rule in the Neapolitan Production of Comodo Antonino (1696)"
Bonnie Blackburn (Wolfson College, Oxford), Chair
Elizabeth G. Elmi (Indiana University), “Perfor... more Bonnie Blackburn (Wolfson College, Oxford), Chair Elizabeth G. Elmi (Indiana University), “Performing Culture and Community in the Kingdom of Naples: Italian-Texted Songs and Their Sources” Blake Wilson (Dickinson College), “The Shifting Landscape of Italian Song: Oral and Written Traditions in Florence and Beyond ca. 1500” Giovanni Zanovello (Indiana University), “Songs without Dukes: Singing Communities in Veneto Cities”
This paper investigates the complex relationship between oral and written practice in the song tr... more This paper investigates the complex relationship between oral and written practice in the song tradition of late-Quattrocento Naples by evaluating the contents of several musical manuscripts. The improvised tradition of sung poetry attained paramount importance in Aragonese-ruled Naples and permeated its diverse community of humanists, poet-improvisers, chapel singers, and composers. As an unwritten practice, the specific characteristics of this tradition have been lost; yet written sources of music and poetry from the period provide crucial information about how these performances might have sounded. Indeed, surviving examples of Neapolitan song in late fifteenth-century sources attest to a transitional process of transmission and preservation between oral performance and written record.
The sources for this study include four manuscripts, which Allan Atlas and others have identified as central to the musical tradition of Aragonese Naples: two anthologies of sacred and secular song (Montecassino N871 and Perugia 431); and two French-style chansonniers (Seville 5-I-43+Paris N.A.F. 4379 and Bologna Q16). In each of these manuscripts, the transmission of Neapolitan song seems to be incidental to the composition of the larger collection, and that repertoire’s importance has been consequently underestimated in earlier scholarship. Taken together, however, the four sources preserve a significant body of over a hundred Italian-texted songs whose varying musical, textual, and material qualities show evidence of their connection to oral culture.
This paper centers on two case studies of strambotti drawn from these manuscripts, which attest to different stages in the transformative process from oral to written practice. The first focuses on the song “Zappay lo campo”, which alludes more closely to the oral tradition in its material and compositional characteristics. In contrast, the second, “Sera nel core mio doglia e tormento”, exemplifies a song that has moved away from orality and has instead been diffused and concretized in the written tradition. These examples, framed within the larger Neapolitan corpus, reveal the manifold and evolving interactions between written and oral song traditions in the dynamic cultural milieu of Aragonese Naples.
During her 1465 journey from Milan to Naples, Ippolita Sforza’s nuptials to Alfonso II d’Aragona ... more During her 1465 journey from Milan to Naples, Ippolita Sforza’s nuptials to Alfonso II d’Aragona were celebrated by festive events in various cities throughout Italy. One of those cities was Siena, where a chronicler wrote that “a song that says «Non vol’ esser più monica»” was performed in honor of the young bride. The song in question (“Hora may che fora son”) was, in fact, a widely-disseminated barzelletta, which survives in both musical and literary sources. This performance, among the many others that took place during the 1465 wedding festivities, can be read as a celebration of Ippolita’s past and future patronage of music and poetry. This paper argues that the performances commemorating the union of Ippolita and Alfonso heralded a rich tradition of musico-poetic activities at their court at the Castel Capuano in Naples, which would ultimately become a central hub for the oral composition of Neapolitan song.
This paper investigates the oral performance tradition of singing vernacular lyric in late fiftee... more This paper investigates the oral performance tradition of singing vernacular lyric in late fifteenth-century Naples through a detailed study of Neapolitan literary anthologies and their relationship to musical manuscripts of the day. The practice of singing vernacular lyric attained paramount importance in late-Quattrocento Neapolitan life, spanning multiple levels of court and local aristocratic culture from the performances of humanist-improvvisatori like Serafino Aquilano and Benedetto Gareth to the community-based lyric creativity of Neapolitan aristocrats like Pietro Jacopo de Jennaro and Francesco Galeota. The existence of such oral practices within a largely literate culture, which included links to both the musical chapel and the intellectual elite, inevitably left traces in extant written sources from the period.
Three major literary anthologies of Neapolitan lyric allow us to construct a more expansive image of the poetic parameters of vernacular song that go beyond what musical sources transmit: Paris, BnF, f. it. 1035; Rome, BAV, Vaticano latino 10656; and Florence, Riccardiana 2752. This paper addresses poetic trends and their relationship to musical practice among all three manuscripts, but will focus particularly on Paris f. it. 1035 as an example of a carefully constructed songbook with clear connections to oral performance.
During the Aragonese reign of Naples in the second half of the fifteenth century, the improvised ... more During the Aragonese reign of Naples in the second half of the fifteenth century, the improvised tradition of sung poetry attained paramount importance in courtly life. In fact, singing Neapolitan lyric quickly emerged as a widely popular pastime. As an inherently unwritten practice, the specific characteristics of this tradition have been lost; yet numerous written sources of music and poetry allow us to gain some understanding of how these performances might have sounded .
This paper investigates the complex relationship between oral and written practice in the Neapolitan song tradition by evaluating the varied contents of several extant musical manuscripts from the period, including two mixed anthologies of sacred and secular song (Montecassino N871 and Perugia 431) and two French-style chansonniers (Seville 5-I-43 + Paris N.A.F. 4379 and Bologna Q 16). In each of these manuscripts, the transmission of Neapolitan song seems to be incidental to the composition of the larger collection. The four sources combined, however, transmit a significant body of 107 Italian-texted songs whose connection to oral practice may be understood through their varying musical and textual qualities.
The central focus of this investigation is on two case studies from among the four music manuscripts, which attest to different stages in the transformative process from oral performance to written record: "Zappay lo campo" and "Sera nel cor mio doglia e tormento." A deeper understanding of the musical and poetic characteristics, concordances, and material elements of these examples within the larger Neapolitan corpus provides a vivid picture of the local tradition of song performance in late-Quattrocento Naples.
In this dissertation, I examine the predominantly oral practice of singing lyric poetry among mem... more In this dissertation, I examine the predominantly oral practice of singing lyric poetry among members of the Neapolitan aristocracy in southern Italy during the late-fifteenth century. The tradition of singing Neapolitan lyric developed and gradually gained ascendancy in the Kingdom of Naples over the nearly sixty years of the Aragonese dynasty (1442–1501)—both in the capital city of Naples and at feudal courts throughout the Kingdom’s rural provinces. The surviving song repertory and its preservation in late-fifteenth-century musical and literary sources bear witness not only to these varied performance contexts, but also to the inherently communal aspect of the tradition as a whole.
Combining approaches in musicology, ethnomusicology, and literary theory, I question the fixity and purpose of this written repertory in preserving a fluid and dynamic oral practice that flourished as the artistic expression of a subjugated class—Neapolitan nobles and intellectuals living under Aragonese rule. The manuscript collections, historical descriptions, theoretical and literary works that preserve and transmit the records of this oral practice demonstrate how writing was used to record, recollect, recreate, and ultimately memorialize a communal practice of song-making—lending value and legitimacy to the Kingdom’s local aristocracy—during a tumultuous time in the history of southern Italy. Some copies, perhaps preserved on less durable media, have likely been lost while others preserve traces of orality with varying levels of fixity and transformation. How and why these records were created and preserved is the central question that this study seeks to answer.
Dinko Fabris (Università della Basilicata), Chair
Elizabeth Elmi (Iowa State University), "Pasto... more Dinko Fabris (Università della Basilicata), Chair
Elizabeth Elmi (Iowa State University), "Pastoral Politics in the Lyric Song of Late-Fifteenth-Century Southern Italy"
Nathan Reeves (Northwestern University), "Locating Plebe Communities in Sixteenth Century Neapolitan Song"
Zoey Cochran (McGill University), "Scarlatti's Call to 'Arms': Resisting Spanish Rule in the Neapolitan Production of Comodo Antonino (1696)"
Bonnie Blackburn (Wolfson College, Oxford), Chair
Elizabeth G. Elmi (Indiana University), “Perfor... more Bonnie Blackburn (Wolfson College, Oxford), Chair Elizabeth G. Elmi (Indiana University), “Performing Culture and Community in the Kingdom of Naples: Italian-Texted Songs and Their Sources” Blake Wilson (Dickinson College), “The Shifting Landscape of Italian Song: Oral and Written Traditions in Florence and Beyond ca. 1500” Giovanni Zanovello (Indiana University), “Songs without Dukes: Singing Communities in Veneto Cities”
This paper investigates the complex relationship between oral and written practice in the song tr... more This paper investigates the complex relationship between oral and written practice in the song tradition of late-Quattrocento Naples by evaluating the contents of several musical manuscripts. The improvised tradition of sung poetry attained paramount importance in Aragonese-ruled Naples and permeated its diverse community of humanists, poet-improvisers, chapel singers, and composers. As an unwritten practice, the specific characteristics of this tradition have been lost; yet written sources of music and poetry from the period provide crucial information about how these performances might have sounded. Indeed, surviving examples of Neapolitan song in late fifteenth-century sources attest to a transitional process of transmission and preservation between oral performance and written record.
The sources for this study include four manuscripts, which Allan Atlas and others have identified as central to the musical tradition of Aragonese Naples: two anthologies of sacred and secular song (Montecassino N871 and Perugia 431); and two French-style chansonniers (Seville 5-I-43+Paris N.A.F. 4379 and Bologna Q16). In each of these manuscripts, the transmission of Neapolitan song seems to be incidental to the composition of the larger collection, and that repertoire’s importance has been consequently underestimated in earlier scholarship. Taken together, however, the four sources preserve a significant body of over a hundred Italian-texted songs whose varying musical, textual, and material qualities show evidence of their connection to oral culture.
This paper centers on two case studies of strambotti drawn from these manuscripts, which attest to different stages in the transformative process from oral to written practice. The first focuses on the song “Zappay lo campo”, which alludes more closely to the oral tradition in its material and compositional characteristics. In contrast, the second, “Sera nel core mio doglia e tormento”, exemplifies a song that has moved away from orality and has instead been diffused and concretized in the written tradition. These examples, framed within the larger Neapolitan corpus, reveal the manifold and evolving interactions between written and oral song traditions in the dynamic cultural milieu of Aragonese Naples.
During her 1465 journey from Milan to Naples, Ippolita Sforza’s nuptials to Alfonso II d’Aragona ... more During her 1465 journey from Milan to Naples, Ippolita Sforza’s nuptials to Alfonso II d’Aragona were celebrated by festive events in various cities throughout Italy. One of those cities was Siena, where a chronicler wrote that “a song that says «Non vol’ esser più monica»” was performed in honor of the young bride. The song in question (“Hora may che fora son”) was, in fact, a widely-disseminated barzelletta, which survives in both musical and literary sources. This performance, among the many others that took place during the 1465 wedding festivities, can be read as a celebration of Ippolita’s past and future patronage of music and poetry. This paper argues that the performances commemorating the union of Ippolita and Alfonso heralded a rich tradition of musico-poetic activities at their court at the Castel Capuano in Naples, which would ultimately become a central hub for the oral composition of Neapolitan song.
This paper investigates the oral performance tradition of singing vernacular lyric in late fiftee... more This paper investigates the oral performance tradition of singing vernacular lyric in late fifteenth-century Naples through a detailed study of Neapolitan literary anthologies and their relationship to musical manuscripts of the day. The practice of singing vernacular lyric attained paramount importance in late-Quattrocento Neapolitan life, spanning multiple levels of court and local aristocratic culture from the performances of humanist-improvvisatori like Serafino Aquilano and Benedetto Gareth to the community-based lyric creativity of Neapolitan aristocrats like Pietro Jacopo de Jennaro and Francesco Galeota. The existence of such oral practices within a largely literate culture, which included links to both the musical chapel and the intellectual elite, inevitably left traces in extant written sources from the period.
Three major literary anthologies of Neapolitan lyric allow us to construct a more expansive image of the poetic parameters of vernacular song that go beyond what musical sources transmit: Paris, BnF, f. it. 1035; Rome, BAV, Vaticano latino 10656; and Florence, Riccardiana 2752. This paper addresses poetic trends and their relationship to musical practice among all three manuscripts, but will focus particularly on Paris f. it. 1035 as an example of a carefully constructed songbook with clear connections to oral performance.
During the Aragonese reign of Naples in the second half of the fifteenth century, the improvised ... more During the Aragonese reign of Naples in the second half of the fifteenth century, the improvised tradition of sung poetry attained paramount importance in courtly life. In fact, singing Neapolitan lyric quickly emerged as a widely popular pastime. As an inherently unwritten practice, the specific characteristics of this tradition have been lost; yet numerous written sources of music and poetry allow us to gain some understanding of how these performances might have sounded .
This paper investigates the complex relationship between oral and written practice in the Neapolitan song tradition by evaluating the varied contents of several extant musical manuscripts from the period, including two mixed anthologies of sacred and secular song (Montecassino N871 and Perugia 431) and two French-style chansonniers (Seville 5-I-43 + Paris N.A.F. 4379 and Bologna Q 16). In each of these manuscripts, the transmission of Neapolitan song seems to be incidental to the composition of the larger collection. The four sources combined, however, transmit a significant body of 107 Italian-texted songs whose connection to oral practice may be understood through their varying musical and textual qualities.
The central focus of this investigation is on two case studies from among the four music manuscripts, which attest to different stages in the transformative process from oral performance to written record: "Zappay lo campo" and "Sera nel cor mio doglia e tormento." A deeper understanding of the musical and poetic characteristics, concordances, and material elements of these examples within the larger Neapolitan corpus provides a vivid picture of the local tradition of song performance in late-Quattrocento Naples.
In this dissertation, I examine the predominantly oral practice of singing lyric poetry among mem... more In this dissertation, I examine the predominantly oral practice of singing lyric poetry among members of the Neapolitan aristocracy in southern Italy during the late-fifteenth century. The tradition of singing Neapolitan lyric developed and gradually gained ascendancy in the Kingdom of Naples over the nearly sixty years of the Aragonese dynasty (1442–1501)—both in the capital city of Naples and at feudal courts throughout the Kingdom’s rural provinces. The surviving song repertory and its preservation in late-fifteenth-century musical and literary sources bear witness not only to these varied performance contexts, but also to the inherently communal aspect of the tradition as a whole.
Combining approaches in musicology, ethnomusicology, and literary theory, I question the fixity and purpose of this written repertory in preserving a fluid and dynamic oral practice that flourished as the artistic expression of a subjugated class—Neapolitan nobles and intellectuals living under Aragonese rule. The manuscript collections, historical descriptions, theoretical and literary works that preserve and transmit the records of this oral practice demonstrate how writing was used to record, recollect, recreate, and ultimately memorialize a communal practice of song-making—lending value and legitimacy to the Kingdom’s local aristocracy—during a tumultuous time in the history of southern Italy. Some copies, perhaps preserved on less durable media, have likely been lost while others preserve traces of orality with varying levels of fixity and transformation. How and why these records were created and preserved is the central question that this study seeks to answer.
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Elizabeth Elmi (Iowa State University), "Pastoral Politics in the Lyric Song of Late-Fifteenth-Century Southern Italy"
Nathan Reeves (Northwestern University), "Locating Plebe Communities in Sixteenth Century Neapolitan Song"
Zoey Cochran (McGill University), "Scarlatti's Call to 'Arms': Resisting Spanish Rule in the Neapolitan Production of Comodo Antonino (1696)"
Elizabeth G. Elmi (Indiana University), “Performing Culture and Community in the Kingdom of Naples: Italian-Texted Songs and Their Sources”
Blake Wilson (Dickinson College), “The Shifting Landscape of Italian Song: Oral and Written Traditions in Florence and Beyond ca. 1500”
Giovanni Zanovello (Indiana University), “Songs without Dukes: Singing Communities in Veneto Cities”
The sources for this study include four manuscripts, which Allan Atlas and others have identified as central to the musical tradition of Aragonese Naples: two anthologies of sacred and secular song (Montecassino N871 and Perugia 431); and two French-style chansonniers (Seville 5-I-43+Paris N.A.F. 4379 and Bologna Q16). In each of these manuscripts, the transmission of Neapolitan song seems to be incidental to the composition of the larger collection, and that repertoire’s importance has been consequently underestimated in earlier scholarship. Taken together, however, the four sources preserve a significant body of over a hundred Italian-texted songs whose varying musical, textual, and material qualities show evidence of their connection to oral culture.
This paper centers on two case studies of strambotti drawn from these manuscripts, which attest to different stages in the transformative process from oral to written practice. The first focuses on the song “Zappay lo campo”, which alludes more closely to the oral tradition in its material and compositional characteristics. In contrast, the second, “Sera nel core mio doglia e tormento”, exemplifies a song that has moved away from orality and has instead been diffused and concretized in the written tradition. These examples, framed within the larger Neapolitan corpus, reveal the manifold and evolving interactions between written and oral song traditions in the dynamic cultural milieu of Aragonese Naples.
Keywords: Song; Fifteenth-century; Orality; Manuscript Studies; Improvisation
Three major literary anthologies of Neapolitan lyric allow us to construct a more expansive image of the poetic parameters of vernacular song that go beyond what musical sources transmit: Paris, BnF, f. it. 1035; Rome, BAV, Vaticano latino 10656; and Florence, Riccardiana 2752. This paper addresses poetic trends and their relationship to musical practice among all three manuscripts, but will focus particularly on Paris f. it. 1035 as an example of a carefully constructed songbook with clear connections to oral performance.
This paper investigates the complex relationship between oral and written practice in the Neapolitan song tradition by evaluating the varied contents of several extant musical manuscripts from the period, including two mixed anthologies of sacred and secular song (Montecassino N871 and Perugia 431) and two French-style chansonniers (Seville 5-I-43 + Paris N.A.F. 4379 and Bologna Q 16). In each of these manuscripts, the transmission of Neapolitan song seems to be incidental to the composition of the larger collection. The four sources combined, however, transmit a significant body of 107 Italian-texted songs whose connection to oral practice may be understood through their varying musical and textual qualities.
The central focus of this investigation is on two case studies from among the four music manuscripts, which attest to different stages in the transformative process from oral performance to written record: "Zappay lo campo" and "Sera nel cor mio doglia e tormento." A deeper understanding of the musical and poetic characteristics, concordances, and material elements of these examples within the larger Neapolitan corpus provides a vivid picture of the local tradition of song performance in late-Quattrocento Naples.
Combining approaches in musicology, ethnomusicology, and literary theory, I question the fixity and purpose of this written repertory in preserving a fluid and dynamic oral practice that flourished as the artistic expression of a subjugated class—Neapolitan nobles and intellectuals living under Aragonese rule. The manuscript collections, historical descriptions, theoretical and literary works that preserve and transmit the records of this oral practice demonstrate how writing was used to record, recollect, recreate, and ultimately memorialize a communal practice of song-making—lending value and legitimacy to the Kingdom’s local aristocracy—during a tumultuous time in the history of southern Italy. Some copies, perhaps preserved on less durable media, have likely been lost while others preserve traces of orality with varying levels of fixity and transformation. How and why these records were created and preserved is the central question that this study seeks to answer.
Elizabeth Elmi (Iowa State University), "Pastoral Politics in the Lyric Song of Late-Fifteenth-Century Southern Italy"
Nathan Reeves (Northwestern University), "Locating Plebe Communities in Sixteenth Century Neapolitan Song"
Zoey Cochran (McGill University), "Scarlatti's Call to 'Arms': Resisting Spanish Rule in the Neapolitan Production of Comodo Antonino (1696)"
Elizabeth G. Elmi (Indiana University), “Performing Culture and Community in the Kingdom of Naples: Italian-Texted Songs and Their Sources”
Blake Wilson (Dickinson College), “The Shifting Landscape of Italian Song: Oral and Written Traditions in Florence and Beyond ca. 1500”
Giovanni Zanovello (Indiana University), “Songs without Dukes: Singing Communities in Veneto Cities”
The sources for this study include four manuscripts, which Allan Atlas and others have identified as central to the musical tradition of Aragonese Naples: two anthologies of sacred and secular song (Montecassino N871 and Perugia 431); and two French-style chansonniers (Seville 5-I-43+Paris N.A.F. 4379 and Bologna Q16). In each of these manuscripts, the transmission of Neapolitan song seems to be incidental to the composition of the larger collection, and that repertoire’s importance has been consequently underestimated in earlier scholarship. Taken together, however, the four sources preserve a significant body of over a hundred Italian-texted songs whose varying musical, textual, and material qualities show evidence of their connection to oral culture.
This paper centers on two case studies of strambotti drawn from these manuscripts, which attest to different stages in the transformative process from oral to written practice. The first focuses on the song “Zappay lo campo”, which alludes more closely to the oral tradition in its material and compositional characteristics. In contrast, the second, “Sera nel core mio doglia e tormento”, exemplifies a song that has moved away from orality and has instead been diffused and concretized in the written tradition. These examples, framed within the larger Neapolitan corpus, reveal the manifold and evolving interactions between written and oral song traditions in the dynamic cultural milieu of Aragonese Naples.
Keywords: Song; Fifteenth-century; Orality; Manuscript Studies; Improvisation
Three major literary anthologies of Neapolitan lyric allow us to construct a more expansive image of the poetic parameters of vernacular song that go beyond what musical sources transmit: Paris, BnF, f. it. 1035; Rome, BAV, Vaticano latino 10656; and Florence, Riccardiana 2752. This paper addresses poetic trends and their relationship to musical practice among all three manuscripts, but will focus particularly on Paris f. it. 1035 as an example of a carefully constructed songbook with clear connections to oral performance.
This paper investigates the complex relationship between oral and written practice in the Neapolitan song tradition by evaluating the varied contents of several extant musical manuscripts from the period, including two mixed anthologies of sacred and secular song (Montecassino N871 and Perugia 431) and two French-style chansonniers (Seville 5-I-43 + Paris N.A.F. 4379 and Bologna Q 16). In each of these manuscripts, the transmission of Neapolitan song seems to be incidental to the composition of the larger collection. The four sources combined, however, transmit a significant body of 107 Italian-texted songs whose connection to oral practice may be understood through their varying musical and textual qualities.
The central focus of this investigation is on two case studies from among the four music manuscripts, which attest to different stages in the transformative process from oral performance to written record: "Zappay lo campo" and "Sera nel cor mio doglia e tormento." A deeper understanding of the musical and poetic characteristics, concordances, and material elements of these examples within the larger Neapolitan corpus provides a vivid picture of the local tradition of song performance in late-Quattrocento Naples.
Combining approaches in musicology, ethnomusicology, and literary theory, I question the fixity and purpose of this written repertory in preserving a fluid and dynamic oral practice that flourished as the artistic expression of a subjugated class—Neapolitan nobles and intellectuals living under Aragonese rule. The manuscript collections, historical descriptions, theoretical and literary works that preserve and transmit the records of this oral practice demonstrate how writing was used to record, recollect, recreate, and ultimately memorialize a communal practice of song-making—lending value and legitimacy to the Kingdom’s local aristocracy—during a tumultuous time in the history of southern Italy. Some copies, perhaps preserved on less durable media, have likely been lost while others preserve traces of orality with varying levels of fixity and transformation. How and why these records were created and preserved is the central question that this study seeks to answer.