medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Thanks for all the helpful replies on this. The idea of an organ loft
stuffed with sixteenth- or seventeenth-century musicians has emerged from
several of the postings on the two lists I've sent this one to. This not
only appeals to me, but may actually help with the problem I'm trying to
solve, which is this:
In the building I'm working on (The Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, near) there's
a wooden grille placed very high on the nave wall, near the chancel arch.
It's not original, though it covers an original (14thC) opening which I
believe once gave onto a squint chamber. The grille has a hinged,
latticework front which could be lifted up, and the whole thing protrudes
from the wall slightly. The holes of the latticework front are too small
and to too close together to allow anyone to see through them, but around
the sides and bottom of the grille are larger holes. It seems to me that
it's not designed to facilitiate visibility but *audibility*. I imagine it
to have functioned as a 'speaker' with a clutch of musicians hidden behind
it in the former squint chamber. The hinging mechanism might act as a
primitive amplifier, opening to admit more sound into the chapel.
Not being that familiar with organ lofts, does this make any sort of sense
to those of you who are. Be honest!
----- Original Message -----
From: Bonnie Blackburn <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 10:56 AM
Subject: Re: [M-R] musicians in chapels and churches
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Laura Jacobus asks:
> > I have a vague impression, based on nothing in particular,
> that it was unusual for medieval church music to include
> musical >instruments, whereas by the seventeenth century
> there might be at least an element of orchestration. Is
> this even half right?
> >and if so, where were the musicians put?
>
> Despite the injunction of Psalm 150 (Laudate eum in sono
> tubae . . . psalterio et cithara, etc.), it was not usual
> for instruments (apart from the organ) to be used in
> medieval church music, though we know that they sometimes
> were on festive occasions (for example at Eugenius IV's
> consecration of the dome of Florence Cathedral in 1436), and
> increasingly so in the course of the fifteenth century.
> Instruments, especially wind instruments, are often
> mentioned in the sixteenth century, and were strongly
> objected to by humanists, for example Erasmus: 'We have
> introduced an artificial and theatrical music into the
> church, a bawling and agitation of various voices, such as I
> believe had never been heard in the theatres of the Greeks
> and Romans. Horns, trumpets, pipes vie and sound along
> constantly with the voices. Amorous and lascivious melodies
> are heard such as elsewhere accompany only the dances of
> courtesans and clowns. The people run into the churches as
> if they were theatres, for the sake of the sensuous charm of
> the ear.' (Annotations on the New Testament, I Cor. 14 n.
> 26)
>
> Or this from a letter of an Italian humanist, Bernardo
> Cirillo, in 1549: 'What should we say of the cornetts,
> sackbuts and other wind instruments that some religious
> houses permit? Their use ought to be extirpated. Monks who
> allow the glossing, embellishing and disfiguration that
> these and similar instruments frequently add, should blush
> for shame. To add to the abuses which polyphony engenders,
> the majority of the monks sit as mute as statues while a
> select few gargle their runs.'
>
> Where the musicians were put is difficult to say. A single
> wind instrument could be put in the organ loft, but a group
> would probably be on the ground.
>
> Bonnie Blackburn
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Bonnie J. Blackburn
> 67 St Bernard's Road, Oxford, OX2 6EJ
> tel. +44 (0)1865 552808
> fax +44 1865 (0) 512237
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
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