90427 - Musical Heritage of the Ancient World

Learning outcomes

The course regards one of the most significant aspects of the wide cultural heritage inherited from antiquity: music. After completing the course students are able to contextualize the documents which transmitted the ideas and representations of the music of antiquity, to recognize the processes of transmission and modalities of reception from the Middle Ages to today. Students will also be able to manage a bibliography for a research project.

Course contents

First part

The general contents of the course will cover: the concept of sound event, the concept of musical knowledge, the musical heritage of the ancient world and its traces, in particular how this heritage was transmitted to the listeners and reading public of the Medieval and Modern Ages, the methodologies of research and textual analysis and the main bibliographical tools.

Second part

The specific part will address the theme of the relations between musical and scientific knowledge in the early Modern Age, with particular reference to Latin translations and Italian vernacularisations of Greek musical treatises in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Three case studies will be analysed:
- the translations from Greek for Franchino Gaffurio;
- the Italian translations for Vincenzo Galilei;
- the music treatises in Ulisse Aldrovandi's library.

In addition, the attending students will be guided in an individual exercise, aimed at analysing aspects of the transmission of a text, whether manuscript or printed, as a witness to the musical heritage of the ancient world. The exercise will take place in collaboration with the Classense Library.
This in-depth study will constitute the exercise with which to begin the oral examination for students who have attended the lectures.

Non-attending students may supplement their preparation by studying the articles by C. Panti, D. Restani, D. Castaldo, in Rediscovering Ancient Music: the Cultural Heritage of Mousike, in A Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Music, ed. by T. Lynch and E. Rocconi, Blackwell-Wiley 2020, pp. 447-488, and the following audiovisual material:

Echi di Vincenzo Galilei

1585, Edipo re al Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza

 

Readings/Bibliography

First part

F. A. Gallo, Introduzione, in: Musica e Storia dal Medio Evo all'Età moderna, Bologna, il Mulino, 1985, pp. 9-29.

E. Rocconi, L’eredità greca e latina, in Il contributo italiano alla Storia del pensiero, Musica, Roma, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 2018, pp. 7-13.

D. Restani, L'eredità musicale del Mondo antico, in Musica e società, I, a cura di Paolo Fabbri e Maria Chiara Bertieri, Lucca, LIM, 2019, pp. 229-297.

Second part

D. Restani, Recezione del trattato di Polluce nelle traduzioni dei teorici musicali del Rinascimento, in Trasmissione e recezione delle forme di cultura musicale. Atti del XIV congresso dell'IMS, a cura di L. Bianconi, F. A. Gallo, A. Pompilio, D. Restani, II, Torino, EDT, 1990, pp. 157-165.

D. Restani, Aldrovandi’s Musical Legacy: not just Aristoxenus. Towards New Research Horizons, Aldrovandiana, III/1, 2024, pp. 48-57.

D. Restani, Musica per un naturalista: prime indagini sui libri di Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605), in Tientalora. per Francesco Luisi in occasione del suo 80° compleanno, Roma, IBIMUS - Istituto di Bibliografia Musicale, in corso di stampa.

At the end of the course, all the bibliography will be available on the Virtuale platform, where the specific exam preparation methods are also available, for both attending and non-attending students.

Attending students will receive specific reading indications during lessons and can be tutored in an individual research project.

Non-attending students, who are not required to do the individual research project, will read the bibliography indicated above, to which they will add the articles by C. Panti, D. Restani, D. Castaldo, Rediscovering Ancient Music: the Cultural Heritage of Mousike, in A Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Music, ed. by T. Lynch and E. Rocconi, Blackwell-Wiley 2020, pp. 447-488; and the following audiovisual materials:

Echi di Vincenzo Galilei

1585, Edipo re al Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza

  

 

 

Teaching methods

Teaching can be personalized and attending students will be able to practice an individual exercise that will allow them to combine "knowledge" with " know-how". In particular, if the situation permits, at least one historical library will be visited, such as the Classense library (Ravenna), the Archiginnasio library (Bologna) or the Malatestiana library (Cesena), where access will be gained to some of the texts in the ancient collections.

To take up the challenge of Education for Sustainable Development (ESS), methods that stimulate skills through active learning will be favored. Therefore, the student will be put in contact with different research strategies which imply interdisciplinary knowledge.

Students who, for reasons dependent on disabilities or specific learning disorders (DSA), need compensatory tools may inform the teacher of their needs so that they can be referred to the contact persons and agree on the adoption of the most appropriate measures.

Service for students with disabilities and SLD

Assessment methods

The exam consists in an interview to assess the student’s critical and methodological skills. Both "First part" and the "Second part" will be considered during the exam.

Attending students will carry out an individual exercise, including the relevant bibliography, to be presented at the beginning of the examination. The content of the textual research project will be individual and agreed with the professor. It will concern a theme to be analysed in the light of the methodological indications provided during the lessons. 

Non-attending students will be tested on the full bibliography  indicated in the programme and will add one more reading from the appropriate list.

Foreign students which will not attend to the lessons will be required to keep in contact with the Professor by email, phone call, office appointment, etc., to chose the examination texts one month before the exams at least.

The assessment will be based on: knowledge of the subject matter; concept analysis and synthesis; clarity of expression, proper terminology. Particular emphasis will be given to the students ability to manage sources and bibliography in order to obtain the necessary information and to illustrate topics and issues finding connections between them.

Students who show proficiency in knowledge and critical perspective, as well as proficiency in expression and technical vocabulary will be granted the highest marks.

Students who show they have studied, but in a mnemonic way, and are able of synthesis and analysis expressed adequately, will be granted of medium marks.

Students who show basic knowledge, but inadequate vocabulary, will have a pass.

Students who show insufficient knowledge, inadequate vocabulary and don't know appropriately the bibliography, will not pass the exam.

 

Teaching tools

Audiovisuals, pc, films and stereo.

Students who, for reasons dependent on disabilities or specific learning disorders (DSA), need compensatory tools may inform the teacher of their needs so that they can be referred to the contact persons and agree on the adoption of the most appropriate measures.

Service for students with disabilities and SLD 

Links to further information

https://www.moisasociety.org/

Office hours

See the website of Donatella Restani