Conferences by Laura Stefanescu
For music to come to life, one needs the space to place musicians with or without their instrumen... more For music to come to life, one needs the space to place musicians with or without their instruments and to place an audience that might savour the musical delights. Yet music can blossom even in the most unwelcoming environments if one transcends the barrier towards the spiritual realm. In the Ducal Palace of Federico da Montefeltro, facing the deep valleys of Urbino, two narrow and almost claustrophobic chapels have managed to contain in their limited space the sound of heaven. One is dedicated to the muses and one to the Christian God, and both use the means of visual representations of music in order to evoke sounds that were physically impossible to create within their walls.
My paper aims to explore these peculiar soundscapes, if they might be called such, for the sound is inaudible though its visual evocation is strong and which are suitable only for the static visions of heavenly sound. I will explore through an analysis of the humanistic intellectual and spiritual culture surrounding the court of Urbino, how the muses singing their pagan chants and the seraphim their sacred tunes, each in their own chapel, created spaces that glimpsed paradisiac bliss, antechambers to the afterlife. I will try to uncover the spiritual function within the devotional and sensorial experience of the duke exercised by such peculiar chapels in which music was only for the eyes and the inner ears of the devotee.
The frescoes representing the adoring angels in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi ar... more The frescoes representing the adoring angels in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi are an invitation into a heavenly space of great beauty that appeals to all of the senses of the viewers, including that of hearing. The angels' halos are inscribed with the words of the Gloria in excelsis Deo, an angelic hymn, emanating from the angels' heads almost as an allusion to an inner form of music. By considering the implications of depicting music as words and the tradition of spiritual inner perception, I would like to interpret these frescoes from the perspective of the sensorial and devotional experience of the viewers, as they embark on an inner journey through a musical heaven in order to mirror themselves into its inhabitants and unite their prayers with the angelic choir above.
Two paintings of the Madonna and Child by the Italian Renaissance artist Giovanni Boccati displa... more Two paintings of the Madonna and Child by the Italian Renaissance artist Giovanni Boccati display luxurious scenes with angels picking flowers, tasting fruits and making music in heavenly choirs and orchestras. The present paper intends to analyse their iconography from the perspective of the sensorial bounty that they offer to the viewer in order to understand how such a visual display, appealing to all of the five senses was supposed to be experienced in the devotional context of the Italian Renaissance.
This paper will argue that the scenes are set in a garden and therefore meant to evoke the heavenly realm, through the allusion to actual contemporary spaces. By analysing the sensory context and theology of the Song of Songs and its relation to the Virgin, as well as the musical associations that connect her to the idea of courtly love, it will be shown that Boccati’s paintings are meant to inspire divine love in the hearts of the devotees. Therefore, the sensorial richness in these paintings represents an instrument through which a spiritual experience was to be rendered understandable and accessible through metaphors of worldly sensations, among which music played a central role.
In the Marian cult, the sacred and the secular have often been interspersed, giving birth to hybr... more In the Marian cult, the sacred and the secular have often been interspersed, giving birth to hybrid forms such as polyphonic Mass settings derived from mundane love songs (see e.g. Rothenberg 2011). This paper intends to show that a similar connection between the two realms can be found in Italian paintings (c. 1420-1540) that place the Virgin in a garden surrounded by musical angels. By analyzing the theological background that links the Virgin to the Song of Songs and the musical associations that connect her to the idea of courtly love, this paper will argue that the iconography of the Virgin in the garden represents a visual counterpart to sacred appropriations and interpretations of secular songs.
This paper presents the first detailed case study undertaken with the three-year project ‘Music i... more This paper presents the first detailed case study undertaken with the three-year project ‘Music in the Art of Renaissance Italy, ca.1420-1540’, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and based at the University of Sheffield, UK.
This joint paper considers the musical features in the decoration of a book of hours made by leading illuminators in Ferrara ca. 1469 for Andrea Gualengo and his wife Orsina d’Este. Music notation features in the marginal decoration accompanying three of the book’s full-page miniatures, and a fourth miniature depicts a musical episode in the life of Mary Magdalene. Given that the images appearing in books of hours are widely accepted to have had an exemplary and meditative function in relation to the reader’s devotional practice, this paper asks what the reader was intended to learn from these musical images.
Our analysis will start with an outline of the context for the ensuing visual analyses by comparing the roles of the senses of sight and hearing in devotional practice in 15th-century Italy, as revealed by a range of written sources. Central to the discussion will be an auditory ‘vision’ experienced by the celebrated nun St Catherine of Bologna and reported in several popular texts contemporary with the Gualenghi-d’Este Hours. St Catherine’s vision exemplifies a number of important aspects of the devotional role of music, especially the relationship between human song and the bodily auditory sense, and celestial song and the ‘inner ear’.
This will be followed by an analysis of four of the decorated openings featuring music: the beginning of the Office of the Virgin featuring an Annunciation miniature, miniatures showing St Catherine of Alexandria, St Mary Magdalene and St Gregory the Great in the Suffrages section. The first three images prompt the reader to engage in a musical performance of their devotions, but do not offer any ‘real’ music to perform. The reader’s recitation of the accompanying texts will be connected with the ‘inner ear’ and St Paul’s requirement that devotees sing ‘in their heart’. It will be suggested that this practice of conceiving of religious texts and song without actually performing them as such may have played an important role in contemporary devotion. The fourth musical image, which depicts St Gregory very explicitly as the inventor of plainchant, is unusual in the extent to which it foregrounds Gregory’s musical associations. By reminding the reader of the supposed origins of liturgical chant in an auditory ‘vision’ of St Gregory, it will be argued that the book of hours points out to the origins of many of the included texts in liturgical chant.
Our paper aims to emphasise the lessons concerning musical devotion presented by this book of hours to its readers, and their implications for our understanding of the role of music in contemporary devotional practice in the Italian Renaissance.
In the Marian cult, the sacred and the secular have often been interspersed, giving birth to hybr... more In the Marian cult, the sacred and the secular have often been interspersed, giving birth to hybrid forms such as polyphonic Mass settings derived from mundane love songs. This paper intends to show that a similar connection can be found in Italian paintings (c. 1420-1540) that place the Virgin in a garden surrounded by musical angels. By analysing the theological background that links the Virgin to the Song of Songs and the musical associations that connect her to the idea of courtly love, this paper will argue that this iconography represents a visual counterpart to sacred interpretations of secular songs.
The visual representation of angelic music will be examined from the perspective of its relation to the audience and its function. A scroll of visible music notation or inscriptions of familiar hymns sung in the church might have had an impact on the sonic perception of the viewers. Through the sense of sight, their hearing might have been connected to the silent heavenly music. Equally, such visual mechanisms might have triggered an emulation of the divine by the earthly beholders, especially when the musical notation was realistic and the painting displayed close to the eyes of the worldly singers.
This paper will argue that the iconography of the Virgin in the garden represents a space of encounter between the earthly and the divine due to it being modelled on secular realities and to its call towards the devotee to experience a higher love and be united with the heavenly choir.
The Senses and Visual Culture from Antiquity to the Renaissance – University of Bristol
Paper ... more The Senses and Visual Culture from Antiquity to the Renaissance – University of Bristol
Paper on the senses of sight and hearing in devotional practice, as part of the presentation organized by Dr Tim Shephard
Articles by Laura Stefanescu
Although it is common in the musicological literature to compare decorated music books with books... more Although it is common in the musicological literature to compare decorated music books with books of hours, studies addressing the musical features of books of hours are rare. This article considers musical features in the decoration of a book of hours made by leading illuminators in Ferrara ca. 1469. Images appearing in books of hours are considered to have had an exemplary and meditative function in relation to devotional practice; therefore, this study asks what the reader was intended to learn from musical images, drawing conclusions about the alignment of the senses and the significance of music in fifteenth-century religious experience.
Books by Laura Stefanescu
Music in the Art of Renaissance Italy 1420-1540 (London: Harvey Miller), 2020
Visual representations of music were ubiquitous in Renaissance Italy. Church interiors were enliv... more Visual representations of music were ubiquitous in Renaissance Italy. Church interiors were enlivened by altarpieces representing biblical and heavenly musicians, placed in conjunction with the ritual song of the liturgy. The interior spaces of palaces and private houses, in which musical recreations were routine, were adorned with paintings depicting musical characters and myths of the ancient world, and with scenes of contemporary festivity in which music played a central role. Musical luminaries and dilettantes commissioned portraits symbolising their personal and social investment in musical expertise and skill. Such visual representations of music both reflected and sustained a musical culture. The strategies adopted by visual artists when depicting music in any guise betray period understandings of music shared by artists and their clients. At the same time, Renaissance Italians experienced music within a visual environment that prompted them to think about music in particular ways. This book offers the first detailed survey of the representation of music in the art of Renaissance Italy, and in the process opens up new vistas within the social and cultural history of Italian Renaissance music and art.
Uploads
Conferences by Laura Stefanescu
Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/music/research/conferences/music_and_visual_culture_in_renaissance_italy/index
My paper aims to explore these peculiar soundscapes, if they might be called such, for the sound is inaudible though its visual evocation is strong and which are suitable only for the static visions of heavenly sound. I will explore through an analysis of the humanistic intellectual and spiritual culture surrounding the court of Urbino, how the muses singing their pagan chants and the seraphim their sacred tunes, each in their own chapel, created spaces that glimpsed paradisiac bliss, antechambers to the afterlife. I will try to uncover the spiritual function within the devotional and sensorial experience of the duke exercised by such peculiar chapels in which music was only for the eyes and the inner ears of the devotee.
This paper will argue that the scenes are set in a garden and therefore meant to evoke the heavenly realm, through the allusion to actual contemporary spaces. By analysing the sensory context and theology of the Song of Songs and its relation to the Virgin, as well as the musical associations that connect her to the idea of courtly love, it will be shown that Boccati’s paintings are meant to inspire divine love in the hearts of the devotees. Therefore, the sensorial richness in these paintings represents an instrument through which a spiritual experience was to be rendered understandable and accessible through metaphors of worldly sensations, among which music played a central role.
This joint paper considers the musical features in the decoration of a book of hours made by leading illuminators in Ferrara ca. 1469 for Andrea Gualengo and his wife Orsina d’Este. Music notation features in the marginal decoration accompanying three of the book’s full-page miniatures, and a fourth miniature depicts a musical episode in the life of Mary Magdalene. Given that the images appearing in books of hours are widely accepted to have had an exemplary and meditative function in relation to the reader’s devotional practice, this paper asks what the reader was intended to learn from these musical images.
Our analysis will start with an outline of the context for the ensuing visual analyses by comparing the roles of the senses of sight and hearing in devotional practice in 15th-century Italy, as revealed by a range of written sources. Central to the discussion will be an auditory ‘vision’ experienced by the celebrated nun St Catherine of Bologna and reported in several popular texts contemporary with the Gualenghi-d’Este Hours. St Catherine’s vision exemplifies a number of important aspects of the devotional role of music, especially the relationship between human song and the bodily auditory sense, and celestial song and the ‘inner ear’.
This will be followed by an analysis of four of the decorated openings featuring music: the beginning of the Office of the Virgin featuring an Annunciation miniature, miniatures showing St Catherine of Alexandria, St Mary Magdalene and St Gregory the Great in the Suffrages section. The first three images prompt the reader to engage in a musical performance of their devotions, but do not offer any ‘real’ music to perform. The reader’s recitation of the accompanying texts will be connected with the ‘inner ear’ and St Paul’s requirement that devotees sing ‘in their heart’. It will be suggested that this practice of conceiving of religious texts and song without actually performing them as such may have played an important role in contemporary devotion. The fourth musical image, which depicts St Gregory very explicitly as the inventor of plainchant, is unusual in the extent to which it foregrounds Gregory’s musical associations. By reminding the reader of the supposed origins of liturgical chant in an auditory ‘vision’ of St Gregory, it will be argued that the book of hours points out to the origins of many of the included texts in liturgical chant.
Our paper aims to emphasise the lessons concerning musical devotion presented by this book of hours to its readers, and their implications for our understanding of the role of music in contemporary devotional practice in the Italian Renaissance.
The visual representation of angelic music will be examined from the perspective of its relation to the audience and its function. A scroll of visible music notation or inscriptions of familiar hymns sung in the church might have had an impact on the sonic perception of the viewers. Through the sense of sight, their hearing might have been connected to the silent heavenly music. Equally, such visual mechanisms might have triggered an emulation of the divine by the earthly beholders, especially when the musical notation was realistic and the painting displayed close to the eyes of the worldly singers.
This paper will argue that the iconography of the Virgin in the garden represents a space of encounter between the earthly and the divine due to it being modelled on secular realities and to its call towards the devotee to experience a higher love and be united with the heavenly choir.
Paper on the senses of sight and hearing in devotional practice, as part of the presentation organized by Dr Tim Shephard
Articles by Laura Stefanescu
Books by Laura Stefanescu
Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/music/research/conferences/music_and_visual_culture_in_renaissance_italy/index
My paper aims to explore these peculiar soundscapes, if they might be called such, for the sound is inaudible though its visual evocation is strong and which are suitable only for the static visions of heavenly sound. I will explore through an analysis of the humanistic intellectual and spiritual culture surrounding the court of Urbino, how the muses singing their pagan chants and the seraphim their sacred tunes, each in their own chapel, created spaces that glimpsed paradisiac bliss, antechambers to the afterlife. I will try to uncover the spiritual function within the devotional and sensorial experience of the duke exercised by such peculiar chapels in which music was only for the eyes and the inner ears of the devotee.
This paper will argue that the scenes are set in a garden and therefore meant to evoke the heavenly realm, through the allusion to actual contemporary spaces. By analysing the sensory context and theology of the Song of Songs and its relation to the Virgin, as well as the musical associations that connect her to the idea of courtly love, it will be shown that Boccati’s paintings are meant to inspire divine love in the hearts of the devotees. Therefore, the sensorial richness in these paintings represents an instrument through which a spiritual experience was to be rendered understandable and accessible through metaphors of worldly sensations, among which music played a central role.
This joint paper considers the musical features in the decoration of a book of hours made by leading illuminators in Ferrara ca. 1469 for Andrea Gualengo and his wife Orsina d’Este. Music notation features in the marginal decoration accompanying three of the book’s full-page miniatures, and a fourth miniature depicts a musical episode in the life of Mary Magdalene. Given that the images appearing in books of hours are widely accepted to have had an exemplary and meditative function in relation to the reader’s devotional practice, this paper asks what the reader was intended to learn from these musical images.
Our analysis will start with an outline of the context for the ensuing visual analyses by comparing the roles of the senses of sight and hearing in devotional practice in 15th-century Italy, as revealed by a range of written sources. Central to the discussion will be an auditory ‘vision’ experienced by the celebrated nun St Catherine of Bologna and reported in several popular texts contemporary with the Gualenghi-d’Este Hours. St Catherine’s vision exemplifies a number of important aspects of the devotional role of music, especially the relationship between human song and the bodily auditory sense, and celestial song and the ‘inner ear’.
This will be followed by an analysis of four of the decorated openings featuring music: the beginning of the Office of the Virgin featuring an Annunciation miniature, miniatures showing St Catherine of Alexandria, St Mary Magdalene and St Gregory the Great in the Suffrages section. The first three images prompt the reader to engage in a musical performance of their devotions, but do not offer any ‘real’ music to perform. The reader’s recitation of the accompanying texts will be connected with the ‘inner ear’ and St Paul’s requirement that devotees sing ‘in their heart’. It will be suggested that this practice of conceiving of religious texts and song without actually performing them as such may have played an important role in contemporary devotion. The fourth musical image, which depicts St Gregory very explicitly as the inventor of plainchant, is unusual in the extent to which it foregrounds Gregory’s musical associations. By reminding the reader of the supposed origins of liturgical chant in an auditory ‘vision’ of St Gregory, it will be argued that the book of hours points out to the origins of many of the included texts in liturgical chant.
Our paper aims to emphasise the lessons concerning musical devotion presented by this book of hours to its readers, and their implications for our understanding of the role of music in contemporary devotional practice in the Italian Renaissance.
The visual representation of angelic music will be examined from the perspective of its relation to the audience and its function. A scroll of visible music notation or inscriptions of familiar hymns sung in the church might have had an impact on the sonic perception of the viewers. Through the sense of sight, their hearing might have been connected to the silent heavenly music. Equally, such visual mechanisms might have triggered an emulation of the divine by the earthly beholders, especially when the musical notation was realistic and the painting displayed close to the eyes of the worldly singers.
This paper will argue that the iconography of the Virgin in the garden represents a space of encounter between the earthly and the divine due to it being modelled on secular realities and to its call towards the devotee to experience a higher love and be united with the heavenly choir.
Paper on the senses of sight and hearing in devotional practice, as part of the presentation organized by Dr Tim Shephard