Bells and Trumpets, Jesters and Musici: Sounds and Musical Life in Milan Under the Visconti
Lorenzo Tunesi – Bells and Trumpets, Jesters and Musici 1 Bells and Trumpets, Jesters and Musici: Sounds and Musical life in Milan under the Visconti Or questa diciaria, Now [I conclude] my speech, perché l’Ave Maria since the Ave Maria sona, is ringing, serro la staciona I shut up shop nén più dico1 and I won’t talk anymore These verses, written by the Milanese poet and wealthy member of the ducal chancellery Bartolomeo Sachella, refer to a common daily sound in late Medieval Milan. The poet is quickly concluding his poem, since the Ave Maria is already sounding. When church-bells rang the Ave Maria, every citizen knew, indeed, that the working-day was over; thus, probably after the recitation of a brief prayer in honour of the Virgin, shops closed and workers went home. Church-bells were only one of the very large variety of sounds characterising Medieval cities. Going back over six-hundred years, we could have been surrounded by city-criers accompanied by trumpet blasts, people playing music or singing through the streets, beggars ringing their bells asking for charity, mothers’ and children’s voices, horses’ hoofs and many other sounds. All these sounds created what musicology has defined as ‘urban soundscape’, which, since the pioneering study by Reinhard Strohm, Music in Late Medieval Bruges (1985), has deeply intrigued music historians. The present essay aims to inquire into the different manifestations of musical phenomena in late Medieval Milan, relating them to the diverse social, cultural and historical contexts in which they used to take place. My research will focus on a time frame over a century, ca.
[Show full text]