Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-304) and index.
Contents:
Music and the myth of Apollo's grove / John MacInnis -- The consolation of philosophy and the "gentle" remedy of music / FeĢrdia J. Stone-Davis -- And in England, there are singers : grafting oneself into the origins of music / Elina G. Hamilton -- The harmonious blacksmith, lady music and Minerva : the iconography of secular song in the late Middle Ages / Jason Stoessel -- Foolish Midas : representing musical judgement and moral judgement in Italy c. 1520 / Tim Shephard and Patrick McMahon -- Marsilio Ficino and Girolamo Cardano under Orpheus's spell / Jacomien Prins -- Origin myths, genealogies and inventors : defining the nature of music in early modern England / Katherine Butler -- How to sing like angles : Isaiah, Ignatius of Antioch and Protestant worship in England / Jamie Apgar -- In pursuit of echo : sound, space and the history of the self / Ljubica Ilic -- Ophelia's mad songs and performing story in early modern England / Samantha Bassler -- Dangerous beauty : stories of singing women in early modern Italy / Sigrid Harris -- "Fantastic spirits" : myth and satire in the ayres of Thomas Weelkes / Katie Bank -- Feeling fallen : a re-telling of the biblical myth of the fall in a musical adaptation of Marvell's "A dialogue between Thyrsis and Dorinda" / Aurora Faye Martinez -- "Armida's picture we from Tasso drew"? : the Rinaldo and Armida story in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century English operatic entertainments / Amanda Eubanks Winkler -- Translating myth through tunes : Ebenezer Forrest's ballad opera adaptation of Louis Fuzelier's Momus Fabuliste (1719-29) / Erica Levenson.
Summary:
"Myths and stories offer a window onto medieval and early modern musical culture. Far from merely offering material for musical settings, authoritative tales from classical mythology, ancient history and the Bible were treated as foundations for musical knowledge. Such myths were cited in support of arguments about the uses, effects, morality and preferred styles of music in sources as diverse as theoretical treatises, defences or critiques of music, art, sermons, educational literature and books of moral conduct. Newly written literary stories too were believed capable of moral instruction and influence, and were a medium through which ideas about music could be both explored and transmitted. How authors interpreted and weaved together these traditional stories, or created their own, reveals much about changing attitudes across the period. Looking beyond the well-known figure of Orpheus, this collection explores the myriad stories that shaped not only musical thought, but also its styles, techniques and practices. The essays show that music itself performed and created knowledge in ways parallel to myth, and worked in tandem with old and new tales to construct social, political and philosophical views. This relationship was not static, however; as the Enlightenment dawned, the once authoritative gods became comic characters and myth became a medium for ridicule. Overall, the book provides a foundation for exploring myth and story throughout medieval and early modern culture, and facilitating further study into the Enlightenment and beyond."-- Page [4] of cover.
Series:
Studies in medieval and Renaissance music, 1479-9294 ; 19
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.