MUSIC AND SINGING AS THE SUBJECT OF PETRARCH’S DIALOGUE AND PINITIAN’S EPIGRAPH Cover Image

МУЗЫКА И ПЕНИЕ КАК ТЕМА ДИАЛОГА ПЕТРАРКИ И ЭПИГРАФА ПИНИТИАНА
MUSIC AND SINGING AS THE SUBJECT OF PETRARCH’S DIALOGUE AND PINITIAN’S EPIGRAPH

Author(s): Inna Ivanovna Devyataykina
Subject(s): History, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Cultural history, Music, Social history, Middle Ages, 13th to 14th Centuries
Published by: Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет
Keywords: history of music; Early Renaissance; flute; music in Petrarch's perception; Pinitian; city esthetics of the 14th century;

Summary/Abstract: The analysis of Petrarch’s dialogue “De dulcedine musica” (“On the Sweetness of Music”) allowed to show that the author’s position is inconsistent: from the rejection of music and singing to the metaphor anthem for the musical harmony of the Universe. Petrarch refers with equal respect to both antique and Christian authors; his examples appeal to persons of the pagan Rome and not Christian Medieval Europe. The realities of that time, such as the widespread passion for music and singing responding to the new needs of the society, especially in urban areas, are distinguished in the judgments of this famous humanist and Renaissance poet. The dialogue addresses various ethical subjects of the Renaissance: importance of education, personal nobility despite social class frameworks, and personal right to the satisfaction of esthetic needs. Pinitian’s epigraph narrows the meanings of the dialogue and “frames” it in everyday life, thereby depriving the text of historical space. At the same time, the epigraph does not distort or modify the dialogue. However, it maximally focuses the reader’s attention on its didactic component.

  • Issue Year: 157/2015
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 164-171
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: Russian