Anca Florea, Wind and percussion instruments in Romanian mural painting.

Three distinct styles intermingle in Romanian mural paintings: the Byzantine, the Gothic, and the Italian Renaissance, the first being the strongest. Four major themes of church frescoes are the Last Judgment, the Siege of Constantinople, the Hymn for the Dead, and the Tree of Jesse.

Hiroyuki Minamino, Where has Fortune gone: music-iconographical problems in Sultzbach’s viola da mano books.

Printing two books of Intavolatura de viola overo lauta ... della fortuna in 1536, Johannes Sultzbach became the first to publish instrumental music in Naples. The editions were pirated, with pieces mostly taken from the Intabolatura da leuto del divino Francesco da Milano, possibly published in 1535. Francesco da Milano’s intabulations and ricercari were originally composed for the lute, but Sultzbach re-enciphered the lute tablature to the so-called Neapolitan tablature for viola da mano. The change was influenced by the Neapolitan political and cultural environments, indicated by the editions being dedicated to Pietro de Toledo, the viceroy of Naples between 1532 and 1553. The emblem on the title page of Sulzbach's editions depicts an old man in the sea, holding a billowing sail and standing with one foot on a shell while the other touches the water. This is a reference to Fortuna, which was shown in a similar position in Andrea Alciati’s Emblemata. The motto printed with the emblem indicates that Sultzbach is challenging Fortuna’s power, and thus the old man illustration becomes an adversary of that of the goddess. He refuses to be victimized by Fortuna’s cruelty and tries to free himself from the endless turn of Fortune’s wheel, advocating control over one's own destiny and fate.

 

Rodolfo Baroncini, A mannerist angelic concert: The assumption of Santa Maria in Agro at Pallanza.

Situated near the towns of Suna and Pallanza, on the west bank of Lake Maggiore, the church of S. Maria in Agro (better known as Madonna di Campagna) was built in 1526 and consecrated in 1547. The frescoes in the presbytery and apse (1576-77), painted by Aurelio Luini and Carlo Urbino, show the Virgin surrounded by a group of flying angels in attitudes of prayer. Below, on each side, are depicted two choirs of angel musicians, of seven members each not counting a few secondary figures. The ensemble on the left consists of a lute, shawm, cornett, buccina, violin, bass violin, and organ; the ensemble on the right includes a trombone, lute, portative harp, flute, violin, and viol. It appears that the two ensembles are not so much naturalistic representations of instrumental practice as totally artificial groups. However, they consist of small homogeneous groupings and each of them, considered on its own merits, is very realistic and characteristic of contemporary instrumental practice. Though the representations of instruments are reasonably true to life, there are inconsistences and distortions such as the inverted order of the organ pipes or distorted dimensions of some instruments.

Marie Amélie Anquetil, Peintres et musiciens de concert, au temps des Nabis [Concert musicians and their painters in the time of the Nabis].

A survey of musical subjects depicted by the painters of the Nabis group, and of their involvment with music and musicians.

Paul P. Raasveld, The emblematic title page and frontispiece in music prints.

The emblematic title page of Philipp Jakob Baudrexel's collection of religious music «Primitiae deo et agno coelestis hierarchiae cantatae» (Innsbruck, 1664) was produced by the Augsburg etcher Mathäus Küsel (1629-81). The representation is structured on three levels: at the bottom are shown earthly sufferings and Christ's deed of redemption, in the middle is the title sheet, and at the top is a celestial orbit with the figure of Mary and the Holy Trinity. On each side of the title sheet are three shields with emblems. The group on the left represents a hierarchy starting with the redemption of man through Christ's suffering on the Cross and continues with emblems representing three groups of devotees of God: the virgins, the confessors-bishops, and the apostles. The right column starts with the images of plague, famine, and war at the bottom, above which is an image of black notation on a music sheet giving rise to the words "cantus durus" and ending with the words "va, va, va", representing an incantation to chase away the plague, famine, and war. The overall composition conceives a program of human life in its progression from earthly suffering, through redemption by Christ, to God.

Dorota Poplawska, String instruments in medieval Russia.

A survey of instruments in medieval Rus', based on iconographical and archaeological evidence: longitudinal, triangular, and symmetrical zithers, northern lyres, rebecs, fiddles, lyres, lutes, and harps.

Reviews:

• Catherine Homo-Lechner, Sons et instruments de musique au moyen âge: Archéologie musicale dans l’Europe du VII^e au XIV^e siècle (reviewed by Ann Buckley).
• Gjermund Kolltveit, Munnharpas tidlige historie i Skandinavia: En studie i et arkeologisk materiale (reviewed by Ann Buckley).

Alexandra Goulaki-Voutira, Pyrrhic dance and female pyrrhic dancers.

In the second half of the 5th century B.C. many scenes of the pyrrhic (ancient armed dance) performed by women appear on Attic vases, providing information about the history of a dance that is not known from other sources. Nude or in some cases dressed as Athena, pyrrhicists must have been the most interesting entertainers, along with other mimic dances, at banquets. The organizer choosing or employing the female pyrrhic dancer for a banquet or dancers training were the scenes most often depicted on vases of the period.

Cristina Santarelli, Due manoscritti appartenuti ai Savoia: L’Apocalisse dell’ Escorial e il Livre d'heures du Duc Louis [Two manuscripts owned by the Dukes of Savoy: The Apocalypse from El Escorial and the Livre d’heures du Duc Louis].

The Apocalypse of the Dukes of Savoy (E-E E.Vit.5) and the Livre d’heures du Duc Louis (F-Pn lat.9473) belonged to Duke Amedeo VIII of Savoy (1383-1451), known also as Antipope Felix V. They contain many miniature paintings of musical interest: in the former there are scenes of the Seven Trumpets and the Twenty-Four Elders; in the latter are images of angels as musicians belonging to such biblical scenes as the Nativity and the Coronation of the Virgin.

Michel Didier, Melody on a Mediterranean terrace: Alma-Tadema’s musical life and paintings.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s concerns with music were threefold: first, he surrounded himself with the famous singers and soloists of his day, who regularly performed in his salon; secondly, he designed two (possibly three) grand pianos for himself and for the Fifth Avenue mansion of the New York entrepreneur Henry Marquand, for whom he also designed a music chamber featuring paintings by fellow Victorian Olympians; and thirdly, he often integrated ancient musical instruments in his reconstructions of Roman and Egyptian times to give a suggestion of movement, rhythm, and harmony. His road to music diverged from that of the impressionists and postimpressionists. Alma-Tadema never wanted to be an iconoclast, preferring to keep the audience and his customers satisfied while pursuing his own artistic ideal: to put onto canvas the loves of his life – his family, flowers, art, good friends, empire, and perhaps above all, music.

Naomi Joy Barker, Parody and provocation: Parade and the Dada psyche.

Satie’s Parade embodies to a considerable degree the aims, outlook, and technical devices that have shaped avant-garde thinking in this century, especially the notion of concept art. Fundamental characteristics that define dadaism are brought into relation with the parodistic and provocative stance of «Parade». Analyses of the technical elements of dadaism, i.e., reductionism, displacement, and dissociation, all of which are also found in «Parade», substantiate the claim that this is a dadaist work.

 

Daniela Castaldo, Rappresentazioni dei kymbala nella ceramica attica [Representations of the cymbalum in Attic pottery].

An analysis of depictions of the cymbalum on one black-figure vase (ca. 560 B.C.) and six red-figure vases (5th century B.C.).

Dorthe Falcon Moller, Do Danish medieval mural paintings with musical motifs say something about medieval instruments?

Danish medieval wall paintings contribute little to organological knowledge. The selection of types of instruments is generally limited; their choice is ordinarily subordinated by a superior language of symbols. Many of the painted instruments seem to be simplified. It is therefore not wise to count their strings and pegs, or observe the soundholes, body designs, and other details. At the time of their creation, all of the decorations in the churches were viewed in a theological manner. Therefore the instruments first and foremost fulfilled a symbolic role.

Knud Arne Jürgensen, Bournonville in photographs: Photography as a source in ballet history.

Examines the ballet tradition in Denmark through the works of the choreographer August Bournonville (1805-79). The photographic sources for this tradition are presented and juxtaposed with the handwritten choreographic production notes by Bournonville for his 1853 Norwegian ballet «Brudefarden i Hardanger». The comparative analysis of ballet photographs from the last century provides an indespensable source for obtaining an iconographic glimpse of how ballet appeared to the spectator a century ago.

Koraljka Kos, Representations of the gusle in 19th-century visual arts.

Traditional music playing in the 19th century was represented by various artistic styles: romantic idealization, exoticism, realism, as well as works with distinct ideological messages. The gusle, a common instrument in several South Slav regions (Dalmatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia), is often depicted as played by an old man surrounded by listeners.

Beryl Kenyon de Pascual, Painting of a child with an accordion by Prosper Dumortier.

Dumortier’s portrait (dated 1839), which includes a French-style accordion with eight keys, may be the earliest oil painting that represents this type of instrument.

Reviews: 

• Ellen Hickmann, Musik aus dem Altertum der neuen Welt: Archäologische Dokumente des Musizierens in präkolombischen Kulturen Perus, Ekuadors und Kolumbiens (reviewed by Ann Buckley).
• Catherine Homo-Lechner & Annie Bélis, La pluridisciplinarité dans l’archéologie musicale: Iv^e rencontres internationales du Groupe d’études sur l’archéologie musicale de l’ICTM (Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 8-12 October 1990) (reviewed by Ann Buckley).
• Catherine Homo-Lechner, Matthieu Pinette & Christina Vendries, Le carnyx et la lyre: Archéologie musicale en Gaule celtique et romaine (reviewed by Ann Buckley).
• Marcel Otte, ed., Sons originels: Préhistoire de la musique (reviewed by Ann Buckley).

Ann Buckley, "A lesson for the people": Reflections on image and habitus in medieval insular iconography.

While the image of David as the model-setting pious musician was undoubtedly implicit in medieval Christian iconography, the question arises as to whether the inclusion of musician figures on 8th- to 10th-century insular (British and Irish) stone carvings should necessarily be interpreted as Davids in instances where no reference to music occurs in the Vulgate narrative. The presence of a string player in scenes such as the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, and the Judgment of Solomon, suggests the influence of local custom; the hypothesis is strengthened by examination of certain details in the seating position and clothing of musicians on the monuments.

Barra Boydell, The female harp: The Irish harp in 18th- and early-19th-century Romantic nationalism.

The harp in its winged-maiden form was the standard symbol of Ireland in the 18th century. With the rise of Romantic nationalism, the harp was increasingly personified as a female symbol of Ireland and her struggle for political independence. The iconography of the harp in the context of the united Irishmen of the 1790s formed the basis for the Romanticization of the harp symbol and the female personification of Erin (Ireland) in the poetry of Thomas Moore. While more realistic forms of the Irish harp emerge in nationalist iconography of the 19th century, Moore's imagery inspired paintings and other illustrations of the harp as a woman by artists including Robert Fagan and Daniel Maclise.

Mario Giuseppe Genesi, Utilizzazione manieristico-decorativa di strumentari standardizzati nelle pitture chiesastiche tra XVII e XVIII secolo: Quattro casi della provincia piacentina [The mannerist-decorative use of standard instruments in church paintings from the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries: Four cases from the province of Piacenza].

A discussion of instruments depicted in four churches in the Piacenza region: (1) frescoes showing King David and an angelic concert in the cupola of the Chiesa di San Giuseppe, Piacenza, attributed to Robert Longe; (2) an angelic concert by Bartolomeo Baderna in the Collegiata di San Fiorenzo, Fiorenzuola D'Arda; anonymous depictions of angelic musicians in the Collegiata di San Lorenzo, Monticelli D'Ongina; and (4) an anonymous angelic concert in the Cappella del Battistero of the Chiesa Collegiata Romanica, in Castell’Arquato.

Jordi Ballester i Gibert, Saint John the Baptist, Salome, and the feast of Herod: Three pictorial subjects related to musical iconography in the Kingdom of Aragon in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Examines 18 extant Catalano-Aragonese panel paintings from the 14th and 15th century that contain musical iconography depicting the Feast of Herod and the Dance of Salome, the Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist, and Salome offering the head of Saint John the Baptist to Herodias. Although neither the stories of the Saint nor the contracts drawn up with the artists required the depiction of musicians, the Aragonese painters chose to include them in their works. It is likely that the artists included music in these scenes because of the important role that it played in the courtly banquets during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

 

Emma Petrossian, Theatrical and musical features of Armenian manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.

The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, holds 11 Armenian MSS (13th-17th century), nine of which contain the Gospels and two of which are hymnals. T'oros Roslin's miniatures in MS W.539, showing masked dancers, are not mere artistic flights of fancy or decorative additions to the MS but a real reflection of theatrical entertainments in his time. The fact that they are included in the Canon Tables to the Gospels supports the hypothesis that these are the personnel of bygone pagan rites. In depicting the bestowal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the miniaturist always drew the participants in masks, which might mean that the wearing of masks was a ritual tradition. Animals depicted in MSS include monkeys and lions, shown in scenes from actual theatrical performances. Musical instruments are found mostly in connection with the following subjects: Christ’s nativity and the adoration of the shepherds, the marriage feast at Cana, the Last Judgment, the resurrection of the dead, and the dance of Salome.

Anca Florea, String instruments in Romanian mural paintings between the 14th and 19th century.

Three distinct styles intermingle in Romanian mural paintings: the Byzantine, the Gothic, and the Italian Renaissance, the first being the strongest. Four major themes of church frescoes are the Last Judgment, the Siege of Constantinople, the Hymn for the Dead, and the Tree of Jesse. String instruments often depicted include the cobza, gusla (gusle), violin, and Turkish keman and sine-keman (violin and viola types). The question of whether the lute, cobza, and kobuz are actually one and the same instrument is analyzed (there are reasons for doubt).

Reviews: 

• Sterling Scott Jones, The lira da braccio (reviewed by Igor Pomykalo)
• Pauline Rushton, ed., Catalogue of European musical instruments in Liverpool Museum (reviewed by Zdravko Blazekovic).

Maria Calderisi, Stephen Charles Willis in memoriam.

Emily-Jane Orford, A history of Canadian music in the arts: Paintings, prints, and drawings collection of the National Archives of Canada.

Among the 40,000 works of art in the National Archives of Canada, there are 536 images depicting musical instruments, choral groups, scores, and portraits of musicians. About half of these images are illustrations in The Canadian illustrated news (Hamilton, 1862-64, and Montreal, 1869-83), The Dominion illustrated (Montreal, 1888-91), and L’opinion publique (Montreal 1892-ca. 1896). The rest are found in books dealing with military history and military equipment, trade cards for instrument makers, cartoons, and sheet music. This material depicts the history of Canadian music from the first visit of Jacques Cartier to Hochelaga in 1535 to the present.

Daphne Overhill, Un concert intime: Alexis Contant and Georges Delfosse.

Un concert intime (ca. 1905, National Library of Canada) by Georges Delfosse (1869-1939) represents his later father-in-law Alexis Contant (1858-1918) – the French-Canadian composer, organist, and pianist – playing the organ for his wife and his daughters Aline and Cécile in the salon of his residence in St. Hubert Street in Montreal. Delfosse's «Musique de chambre» (before 1919, private collection) represents Fleurette Contant playing the harp, Edgar Contant with the cello, and Aline listening.

Maya Badian, Cycle d'inspiration: Peinture inspirée par musique et musique inspirée par peinture [Cycle of inspiration: Paintings inspired by music and music inspired by paintings].

An overview of music-inspired paintings by the Canadian artist Tibor K. Thomas, with consideration of the following works: Mademoiselle Sophie Rolland, Jeune violoncelliste (Mademoiselle Sophie Rolland) (1986), Le baryton Robert Savoie (1986), Monsieur Robert Savoie (1986), Quatuor en répétition, Étude (1986), Guitariste mexicaine, Jeune flûtiste (1984), Le musicien (1984), Le vieux Montréal (1986), and Dimanche, Place Jacques Cartier (1986). Also considered is the painting Harmony by Robert Harris (1886). The composer François Morel (b.1926), in his 1961-62 symphonic homage L’étoile noire: Tombeau de Borduas», sought to transform into music Paul-Émile Borduas’s 1957 painting L’étoile noire (Musée de Beaux Arts, Montreal).

Selima Mohammed, RIdIM documentation: A proposal for change.

Helen Dunn Grinnell, Yayue depicted on ancient Chinese bronzes.

About 20 existing bronze ritual vessels, dating from the Warring States period (480-221 B.C.), are decorated with miniature designs revealing human figures engaged in a variety of settings, including feasts, performances, and sports. Groups of musicians and dancers performing yayue (ritual music) on bronze bell-chimes, jade stone-chimes, and wind instruments occupy the central bands encircling the vessels. Several of these bronzes, held at the Musée Guimet in Paris, the Imperial Palace Museum in Beijing, and the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, are discussed in detail.

Katherine McIver, Music and the sixteenth-century painter: Lappoli, Brusasorci, and Garofalo.

The distinct approaches to self-portraits by three painter-musicians and their use of music and musical instruments as personal statements are explored. Giovanni Antonio Lappoli (1492-1552) presented himself in a straightforward portrait (Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi) holding the neck of a lute. Domenico (Brusasorci) Del Riccio (1515-67) included a writing implement in his right hand, a music or sketch book, and a cornett (Verona, Museo di Castelvecchio). The allegorical self-portrait of Benvenuto Garofalo (1481-1559) as King David (Channel Islands, private collection) shows the painter standing behind a parapet holding the neck of a viola da gamba in his left hand, and resting his right hand on a scroll of music. His portrait reflects a personal statement about his relationship with God.

Cristina Santarelli, Considerazioni su alcuni dipinti a carattere musicale delle collezioni torinesi [Paintings with musical subjects from the Turin collection].

The musical context of the following paintings, held at the Galleria Sabauda in Torino, are described: Maestro delle Mezze Figure Femminili, La suonatrice; Jan Bruegel, the elder, La vanità della vita umana; Antiveduto Grammatica, Il suonatore di tiorba, Antonio della Cornia, Erodiade suona il liuto; attr. to Luca Saltarello, Omero cieco detta i suoi versi; and a copy of Guido Reni’s Apollo scortico Marsia. Antiveduto Grammatica’s Musa (Torino, Palazzo Chiablese) and Cavaliere Mattia Preti’s, Riunione di musica e poeti or Il Tasso alla corte di Ferrara (Torino, Galleria dell'Accademia Albertina) are also considered.

 

Michael Pirker, The looped trumpet in the Near East.

Until the 14th century, trumpets with a cylindrical bore could be seen in iconographic sources with straight tubing. A bent tube with an S-shape developed by the end of the 14th century in Europe. This innovation was structurally necessary to extend the length of the tube, since a thin-walled tube would not bear the total weight of the instrument, and it would buckle under the weight of the bell. Soon after this innovation, a curvature in the form of a loop followed. Among the earliest iconographic evidence of the trumpet with an S-shaped tube in Asia is the MS from 1486 (Türk ve Islam Eserleri Müzesi, Istanbul, T1964).

Elena Ferrari-Barassi, Representations of paradise in seventeenth-century Italian art.

The Counter-Reformation strongly influenced religious art, especially representations of paradise. Italian painters of paradise followed either a relatively classical taste or a fully Baroque sensualist style. The assumption of the virgin (1626-29) by Pier Antonio Bernabei (della Casa) at the Chiesa di Santa Maria del Quartiere, Parma, falls under the first category. Two works at the Tirano Santuario della Madonna fall under the latter category: Carlo Marni’s The coronation of the virgin (1650-51) and Giovanni Battista Recchi's The immaculata conception (1634-37). They all represented contemporaneous instruments together with voices, although the musicians are not reproduced in realistic groupings.

Ivan Mirnik, A rare sixteenth-century coin depicting King David.

King David can be seen on a few coins from the Papal State, the German city of Lübeck, the Duchy of Pomerania, and the Bishopric of Utrecht. In 1533, the Austrian mint-master Sebastian Rieder cut the dies for Croatian silver coins representing King David. The coin was comissioned by Count Nikolas III Zrinski (ca. 1488-1534), and minted at Gvozdansko. On the reverse side of the coin, the half-figure of King David appears, standing behind a balustrade covered with a richly ornamented rug, and playing a harp with nine strings.

David Huckvale, Wagnerian visual imagery from France and Germany.

Wagnerian mythological drama attracted French and German painters. In Germany it was the attraction of a specifically nationalist mythology, while in France it was his Gesamtkunstwerk theory. Examples of the French art are selected from paintings by Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904), Odilon Redon (1840-1916), and Jean Delville (1867-1953). The German art is demonstrated in decorations by Wilhelm Hauschild and August von Heckel in the Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, and paintings and sculptures by Hans Thoma, Franz Stassen, and Arno Breker.

Maria Samokovlieva, Die bulgarische Tänze Racenica und Horo [The Bulgarian racenica and horo dances].

A discussion of Ivan Markvicka’s painting representing the Bulgarian traditional dance racenica (1894) and Nikola Obrazopisec’s painting of horo in Samokov (1892).

Elena Ferrari Barassi, Report from Italy (1992-93).

Ornella Volta, Les Archives d'Erik Satie [The Erik Satie archives].

Describes iconographical sources in the collection of the Archives de la Fondation Erik Satie, Paris.

 

Katherine McIver, "Vedere la musica": Depictions of music making in the sixteenth-century Italian villa.

The significance of daily musical activities in 16th-century Italy can be found in the letters, chronicles, dialogues, and treatises of the period. Villas, like those owned by the Boiardo and Costabili families, were decorated with musical imagery that parallels textual descriptions, such as that found in Cristoforo da Messisbugo’s cookbook of 1529 (published 1549). The visual imagery found on the walls and ceiling of the Palazzo Costabili in Ferrara (1518-20); Nicolò dell’Abate’s frescos from the Salone delle Feste in Rocca Nuova at Scandiano (1530s; Galleria Estense, Modena); and Marcello Fogolino's works in the Castello Buonconsiglio, Trent (1530s) are compared with the written documents, in order to determine the function of the painted imagery.

Gary Towne, Vivat nomen tuum: A motet from Gasparo Alberti's portrait.

Gasparo Alberti (ca. 1490-1560) was a priest, copyist, composer, singer, and chapelmaster at the «scola» of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, in Bergamo. In the late 1540s he received a number of honors, such as a benefice, a publication of his Masses, and, in 1547, a portrait painted by Giuseppe Belli (Bergamo, Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti, inv.no. 911). The piece of music painted on the portrait is identified as Alberti's last work, his four-voice motet Vivat nomen tuum, written to the text of Psalm 134. Full transcription of the piece is appended, along with an x-ray of the painting's section including the music. The x-ray analysis indicates changes made to the position of Alberti's hand, in which he holds the sheet with music, at which time some notes were overpainted.

Mario Giuseppe Genesi, Il dittico allegorico astrologico-musicale di Jan Soens della Pinacoteca del Museo Civico di Piacenza [Jan Soens's astrological and musical allegorical diptych in the painting collection of the Museo Civico, Piacenza].

An investigation of symbolism in Soens's allegories of astrology and music (ca. 1580-90).

 

Alexandra Goulaki-Voutira, Heracles and music.

Among thousands of depictions of Hercules on early vases there is a group of 40 Athenian vases (from 530-500 B.C.) upon which the hero appears not as a symbol known for his athletic spirit, but as a musician--a performer on a kithara or, less frequently, on a lyre or pipes. The most common scene, which is also the earliest one created, shows Hercules stepping onto a bema between Athena and Hermes. The bema and the other elements taken from real performances probably indicate that most of these scenes are taking place on earth rather than on Olympus. Once Hercules was shown as a performer of serious music, there was no obstacle to depicting him playing the kithara, the barbiton, or the pipes in different contexts, without the bema. Several iconographic sources portraying Hercules as a musician are from the gem collection of the Grimani family, founded by Domenico Grimani (1461-1523), and in the etchings by Enea Vico and Giovanni Battista Franco.

Nicoletta Guidobaldi, Il ritorno delle muse nel Quattrocento [The return of the muses in the 15th century].

Surveys representations of muses in the 15th century (Angelo Maccagnino, Cosmè Tura, Giovanni Santi, Filippino Lippi).

Victoria Von Arx, A musical "concert" and its symbols in revolutionary Paris.

In his painting O concerto a tarde no Palais Royal, Nicolas Antoine Taunay (1755-1830) recalls how street musicians entertained crowds during the 1790s with popular airs and songs of the Revolution. The musicians are positioned in two groups. The smaller group consists of a woman singing, a crouching girl, and two boys looking at music, a man (perhaps conducting with a rolled sheet of music), and a lutenist or guitarist partially obscured. The larger group of musicians is arranged on the floor, including four guitarists, four violinists, one bassoon or dulcian player, a double bass player, a flutist, a triangle player, a tambourine player, and a female singer. Although republican symbols and dress are richly represented, the tricolor cockade is conspicuous by its absence, which suggests that the work was painted in 1800 or thereafter. The symbolism of all instruments represented is discussed in detail.

 

Anahit Tsitsikian, The earliest Armenian representations of bowed instruments.

A discussion of a glass vase (10th or 11th century) with a depiction of a djut`ak and a ceramic plate with an image of the kamanche (9th or 10th century). Both items were excavated at Dvin, the Armenian medieval capital, and presently are kept at the Haiastani Patmutian Petakan Tangaran, in Yerevan.

Mario Giuseppe Genesi, Illustrazioni basso-medievali per un ristretto di teoria musicale tardo-antica nel Codex 65 della Cattedrale di Piacenza [Cattedrale di Piacenza Early medieval illustrations summarizing the music theory of late antiquity in Codex 65 of the Piacenza Cathedral].

Monika Holl, Die Katalogisierung von musikikonographischen Inhalten in der bildenden Kunst nach dem EDV-Programm MIDAS des Deutschen Dokumentationszentrums für Kunstgeschichte an der Universität Marburg [The cataloguing of music-iconographical content in the fine arts according to the computer program MIDAS of the Deutsche Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte at the Universität Marburg].

Anna Maria Di Giulio, The frame drum as a Dionysian symbol in scenes on Apulian pottery.

A great number of 5th- and 4th-century Apulian vases feature images of the frame drum. The scenes can be grouped into images related to the Dionysian thiasus and those depicting the funeral rites, which bring together burial objects and symbols and the playing of the frame drum. The Apulian frame drum is a highly original instrument and, compared to Greek instruments, demonstrates a level of cultural independence among the indigenous people of Apulia. All instruments have membranes decorated with geometric and floral motifs arranged symmetrically in a circle, following the circular shape of the drum.

Dinko Fabris, Presepi scultorei con strumenti musicali del Cinquecento in Puglia [Sculpted cribs with musical instruments from 16th-century Apulia].

A discussion of 11 Christmas cribs that include musical instruments.

Carla Bianco, Alcuni gruppi strumentali nell'iconografia musicale di area Saluzzese [Instrumental groups in musical iconography in the Saluzzo area].

A discussion of four musical instruments depicted in the fresco Ritorno dalla fontana della giovinezza (ca. 1420) in the Sala Baronale at the castle in Manta, by an artist from the school of Giacomo Jaquerio, and 15 instruments depicted in the fresco in the courtyard of the Villa del Maresco (1625), attributed to Costanzo and Francesco Arbaudi.

Antoni Pizà & Ramon Rosselló, The Llibre de franqueses i privilegis del Regne de Mallorca: A source of music iconography.

The margin illustration on f. 26v in the Llibre de franqueses i privilegis de Regne de Mallorca (also known as Códice de los Reyes (Palma de Mallorca, Arxiu del Regne de Mallorca, codex 1) displays a Moorish dance with eight naked men performing a round dance, accompanied by one dancer playing pipe and tabor.

 

Michael Pirker, Pictorial documents of the music bands of the Janissaries (Mehter) and the Austrian military music.

Pictorial material shows that in Austria, türkische Musik instruments could not become part of the military band until the Ottomans were defeated and had lost their image as the enemy. Images representing state visits from Turkey during the 18th century show that the bands of the Austrian hosts consisted of drums, pipes, kettledrums, and trumpets, and that Turkish drums and cymbals were not used. A change in the composition of Austrian bands occurred ca. 1800, when the jingling Johnny (Turkish crescent) was used for the first time and the number of instruments in bands was increased.

Mark Lindley, Helene Fourment as St. Cecilia playing the virginals.

Rubens’s painting of St. Cecilia playing the virginal (Staatliche Museen Preuáischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin-Dahlem) from 1639-40 is a portrait of his wife, Hélène Fourment. It is argued that the position of the player’s wrist is not unrealistically represented, because during the 16th and 17th century, keyboard musicians played with the wrist at a great variety of heights.

Review: 

• Helga de la Motte-Haber, Musik und bildende Kunst: Von der Tonmalerei zur Klangskulptur (reviewed by Marija Bergamo).

Jolanta T. Pekacz, Musical subjects in French painting of the Romantic period.

In French Romantic painting, music as a theme has reduced importance, its attributes being depicted through instruments. These are shown either in conventionalized form to symbolize Classical poetry and mythological beings, or as part of Oriental and Mediterranean scenes. The influence of the Académie Française and the tradition it fostered can be felt in musical scenes, for the prestige of an artist and his official recognition depended on obtaining the Prix de Rome, the subjects for which were designated by the Académie according to the hierarchy of genres.

Philippe Sorel, Dantan jeune (1800-1869) et les musiciens de son temps [Dantan the younger (1800-1869) and the musicians of his time].

The Musée Carnavalet in Paris has since 1888 housed a collection of about 550 sculptural portraits and 350 caricatures by Jean-Pierre Dantan, the younger. Among them are about 180 likenesses of 19th-century persons associated with music. Portraits of all music-related persons are listed in an appendix.

Danièle Pistone, L’Annuaire des artistes et de l'enseignement dramatique et musical (1887-1914): Quelques éléments iconographiques [The Annuaire des artistes et de l'enseignement dramatique et musical (1887-1914): Some iconographic elements].

The Annuaire des artistes et de l'enseignement dramatique et musical included, between 1887 and 1914, biographies for some 250 French musicians, accompanied by portraits. Portraits and the year they appeared are listed in appendix.

Caroline Sue Bell Flament, "Only angels see things in grisaille": A posthumous interview with Jean Bellegambe

An iconographic discussion of Bellegambe's Last judgment (Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preuáischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie, cat. no. 641) and the altarpiece of Anchin (Douai, Musée de la Chartreuse, cat. no. 2175). Both paintings include about 110 depictions of singers and musical instruments--fiddles, lutes, harps, flutes, pipes and tabors, shawms, trumpets, organs, and various percussion. Two instruments unknown elsewhere are the "procession bourdon" and "Bellegambe fiddle"; most likely these were special models played only in and around the Anchin abbey.

 

Anahit Tsitsikian, Bronze bowls of the Karmir Blur excavation

Description of 97 bronze bowls from the 9th-6th centuries B.C. found in the wine cellars of the fortress at Karmir Blur, Armenia. Each bowl produces a different sound when struck with a small stick around the rim. By adjusting the level of liquid in the bowl, the sound it produces can be changed. The timbre of the sound varies with the size and shape of the bowl. A 3rd-century mosaic from Hama, Syria, depicts a music-making scene where the bowls are played in an ensemble with a pneumatic organ and string and wind instruments.

Antoni Pizà, Musical inspiration as seen through the artist's eyes.

An examination of depictions of musicians being inspired to compose music, such as Pope Gregory I, Machaut, Cherubini, Wagner, and Liszt. Among the artists, the works of Gustave Doré, Matthias Grünewald, Andrea Sacchi, and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres are studied.

Zdravko Blazekovic A list of dissertations and masters theses related to music and the visual arts.

Ulrike Groos, Emanuel Winternitz, Nachlass.

A survey of the collection, housed at the Research Center for Music Iconography, New York.

Elena Ferrari Barassi, Music iconographic studies and cataloguing in Italy.

Report on music iconographic activity in Italy between 1984 and 1988. A list of dissertations on music iconography defended at the Università di Pavia, Cremona, during that period is appended.

Nicole Wild, Le fonds iconographique de l’Opéra-Comique à la Bibliothèque de l’Opéra.

Alice Tischler, Music iconography in Parisian churches.

A report on the completion of a project to photograph examples of music iconography in the churches of Paris. Two hundred fifty photos from 37 churches are deposited at the RCMI in New York. For each object is provided subject matter, medium, location in the church, and its size.

Music iconography: A new cataloguing project in Poland.

RIdIM report no. 18, Tokyo 1988.

Gregory Clark, The depictions of musical instruments in the Morgan Albumasar (M.785)

Gregory Clark & Earl Terence Ford, The Pierpont Morgan Library: Music and Music-making in the Renaissance and Middle Ages (September 6-November 6, 1988).

An annotated catalogue of manuscripts shown at the exhibited at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, showing images of singing, dancing, and playing.

 

RIdIM report no. 17, Amsterdam 1987.

Samuel Claro-Valdés, The Chilean music iconography catalogue.

The Proyecto de Iconografia Musical Chilena was started in 1979, and since 1983-84 the project has been associated with the Dirección de Investigación of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. A collection of 3,305 photographs has been created and a three-volume catalogue published.

 

Carmen Rodriguez Suso, The nursing madonna with angel musicians in the iconography of the Kingdom of Aragón.

Examines musical instruments depicted in representations of Maria Lactans (Galaktotrophousa), from the northeastern coastal area of the Iberian peninsula.

Helen Greenwald, Laurent de La Hire’s Allegory of music.

An analysis of the painting Allegory of Music (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art) by Laurent de la Hire from the musical point of view. The work is compared with similar paintings of the same tradition, its symbolism is investigated, and the three pieces of music depicted on the painting are transcribed.

 

RIdIM report no. 16, Stockholm 1986.

Earl Terence Ford, List of musical instruments.

A classification of Western instruments according to the Hornbostel-Sachs system used in a thesaurus for indexing artworks with musical subjects. The list is available separately in an annotated form.

 

Music iconography collections and projects in the world.

Jerzy Golos, The crucificed female and the poor fiddler.

A discussion of the cult of Volto Santo and St. Viliefortis in Poland and musical instruments appearing in painted representations of the legends.

 

RIdIM report no. 15, Berlin 1985

Music iconography collections and projects in the world (continuation).

Music iconography collections and projects in the world (continuation).

Dinko Fabris, Musical iconography in Italy

Checklist of the musical depictions at the National Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Elena Ferrari Barassi, Cataloguing of musical iconographical sources at the University of Pavia

RCMI’s new cataloguing project.

Barry S. Brook, In memoriam Emanuel Winternitz

Ingeborg Strauss, A statistical view of fiddle iconography.

RIdIM report no. 13, Washington, D.C., 1983

August Schmidhofer, Music iconography of an Austrian state [Vorarlberg]

Gabriele & Walter Salmen, Portraits of musicians in social history.

RIdIM report no. 12, Brussels 1982

Ninth International Conference on Musical Iconography, Mainz 1982 (summaries of papers):

• Josip Belamaric, Towards a history of the syrinx in Illyricum.

• Barry S. Brook, The musical ensemble in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

• Howard Mayer Brown, Saint Augustine, Lady Music, and the gittern in fourteenth-century Italy.

• Nancy van Deusen, Manuscript and milieu: Social history in medieval liturgical sources.

• Zoltán Falvy, Social history and instruments.

• Uta Henning, Musica Maximiliana: Musical graphics in the literary projects of Maximilian I.

• Daniel Heartz, Gaetano Pugnani and his trios, opus 1 (Paris, 1754).

• Monika Holl, From the musical life of Munich around 1890: Scenes of the society painter René Reinicke.

• Catherine Homo, Medieval musical instrument archeological find: A source for the meaning of the social function of musical instruments.

• Koraljka Kos, East and West in military music on the Turkish border in the Eighteenth Century.

• Lukáš Matoušek, Musical instruments at the burg Karlstein in Bohemia.

• Richard D. Leppert, Social-historical perspectives on amateur musicians in eighteenth-century England.

• James McKinnon, Canticum Novum in the late medieval psalter.

• Pierluigi Petrobelli, Musical caricatures and social music history.

• Alexander Pilipczuk, Ivory horns in the sacred African kingdom and their depiction in European sources from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

• Walter Salmen, Portraits of musicians in the course of social history.

• H. Colin Slim, Music, motto and meaning, c. 1520, in a masterpiece at Munich (formerly at Mainz).

• Heinrich W. Schwab, The violinist on the globe.

• Tilman Seebass, Late medieval harp-playing: Sociological observations.

• Petr Vít, Towards a definition of the social status of the Czech musician in the first half of the nineteenth century

Meeting of the Ad hoc Commission Mixte.

Jane Peters, The Illustrated Bartsch project

Terence Ford, Andrea Sacchi’s "Marc’Antonio Oasqualini Crowned by Apollo".

RIdIM report no. 11, Budapest 1981

Hellmuth Christian Wolff, Opernikonographie 1981.

RIdIM report no. 10, Cambridge, England, 1980

Winternitz elected to British Academy

Nicole Wild, Les collections iconographiques de la Bibliothèque de l’Opéra

H. Robert Cohen, et al., CIRPM, RIPM, RIdIM

New RIdIM cataloguing instructions

Vivaldi exhibition.

Eight International Conference on Musical Iconography, New York 1980 (summaries of papers):

• Genette Foster, The "Musikalische Neu-Jahrs-Gedichte" of the Zürich Gesellschaft am Musiksaal, and the emblem tradition.

• Koraljka Kos, East and West cultural traditions in Yugoslavia in the light of iconographical documentation.

• Frederika H. Jacobs, Music of the spheres: "The vision of St. Augustin" in the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni (Venice) and St. Augustine’s Theories of Music.

• Hélène S. Setlak, The iconography of the fourth mode capital in the Church of St. Lazarus, Autun.

• Richard D. Leppert, Music in the home in eighteenth-century England.

• H. Colin Slim, Paintings of lady concerts and the redaction of "Jouyssance vous donneray".

• Zoltán Falvy, Comparison of the Cantigas manuscript with instruments of the sculptures in southern France.

• Catherine Parsoneault, Music and the Elders of the Apocalypse in medieval art.

• Mary B. Shepard, Angelic consorts in Marian devotion painting of the trecento.

• Roger B. Larsson, Pictorial title pages and frontispieces to eighteenth-century music prints.

• Arnold Perris, Padmasambhava’s Paradise: The musical iconography of a Tibetan ritual painting.

• Bo Lawergren, A kithara common to Etruria, Greece, and Anatolia, 600-400 B.C.

• Edmund A. Bowles, Searching among the byways of iconography: Rewards from unexpected quarters.

• John H. Planer, Bosch’s bagpipes.

• Tom L. Naylor, Graphic arts as a tool in explaining the use of the trumpet and trombone, 1500-1800.

• Marianne Wurlitzer, Use and symbolism of musical instruments in English caricatures, 1775-1850

Meeting of the Ad hoc Commission Mixte.

RIdIM report no. 9, Salzburg 1979, with summaries of national reports

Musical iconography from Sweden

Musical iconography at the AMS conference, New York, 1979

Wurlitzer-Bruck and musical iconography

Proposed revision to the RIdIM cataloguing system

18th-century musical ensembles.

Seventh International Conference on Musical Iconography, New York 1979 (summaries of papers):

• Judit Kadar, Iconographical evidence concerning the use of the harp in the performance of fiteenth-century secular chansons.

• Tilman Seebass, Some remarks about sixteenth-century music illustrations.

• Ian Woodfield, Iconography of the viol as a research tool for the musicologists.

• Theron McClure, Single-instrument groups: The lack of iconographical evidence.

• William Monical, Iconography as a research tool in viol restoration and authentication.

• Peter Tourin, Iconographical sources of information for viola da gamba builders.

• Ruth Markowitz, An iconographic study of viola da gamba bow grips. Barbara Coeyman, Iconography of the baroque viol as an aid to performers and scholars

Report on the exhibition "Autour de la viole de gambe"

Proposed changes in the RIdIM catalogue card, to accommodate ethnomusicological data.

RIdIM report no. 8

Courses on musical iconography at the State University of New York, Buffalo

Claude LaPointe, Measuring the evolution of an instrument and reconstituting its major prototypes

Elisabeth Heckmann, Einige Erfahrungen beim Katalogisieren von Bildern

Meething of the Ad hoc Commission Mixte, 1978

• Barbara Russano Hanning, The laurel of victory: A context for Rinuccini’s "Dafne".
• Martin Micker, A canon in a cinquecento portrait.
• Emanuel Winternitz, Leonardo as a musician.
• Tomislav Volek, Czech musical life in pictures.
• Howard Mayer Brown, Pictures and social history.
• Richard D. Leppert, Iconography and the social history of music.
• James McKinnon, Church or temple?
• Christoph-Hellmut Mahling, Representations of musical ensembles and performance practice.
• Barry S. Brook, Remarks on "The musical ensemble".

Report on the exhibition "The musical ensemble, ca. 1730-1830".

RIdIM reports no. 6 & 7

Meeting of the Ad hoc Commission Mixte, 1977

Fifth International Conference on Musical Iconography, New York 1977 (summaries of papers):

• Richard D. Leppert, The didactic role of musical images: Toward a cultural and social history of music.
• Alexander Pilipczuk, The "Grand concert dans un jardin" by Bernard Picart.
• Claude V. Palisca, The authentic iconography of G.B. Doni’s Lyra barberina.
• Howard Mayer Brown, Trecento angels and the instruments they play.
• Genette Foster, French bestiaries as literary and iconograpgic sources for musical practice.
• James McKinnon, The illustration of Psalm 97 in The Isabella Book.

Jacques Thuillier, La musique et le temps

Howard Mayer Brown, Iconography and the study of particular repertories of music

Zoltán Falvy, Images, instruments, history of music = musical iconography

Richard D. Leppert, Musical iconography and visual perception: Knowledge as the delimiter of expectation

James McKinnon, Musical iconography: A definition

Walter Salmen, Ikonographie und choreographie des reigens im mittelalter

H. Colin Slim, Some thoughts on musical inscriptions

Werner Bachmann, Probleme musikikonographischer Forschung und der Edition von Bildquellen.

Meeting of the Ad hoc Commission Mixte, 1976

Fourth International Conference of Musical Iconography, New York 1976 (summaries of papers):

• Richard McGowan, The adoration of the mystic lamb reexamined.
• James McKinnon, Medieval and Renaissance mass scenes.
• Emanuel Winternitz, Further evidence of open strings in classical Greek music, 5th and 4th centuries B.C.
• Eva Smuoikowska, The symbolism of musical scenes and ornamental motives in organ cases.
• Richard D. Leppert, The distastefulness of the prodigal son paintings to upper class amateur musicians: The relation between music and unsavory sex

Addenda to the checklist of music iconography collections.

RIdIM report no. 5

Changes in the RIdIM card and cataloguing instructions

Barry S. Brook, La comtesse Hubert de Chambure

Edward Ripin, in memoriam

Addenda to the checklist of music iconography collections.

RIdIM resumé, a historical survey

Bibliography of literature about RIdIM and RCMI

Meething of the Ad hoc Commission Mixte, 1975

Third International Conference on Musical Iconography, New York 1975 (summaries of papers):

• Richard D. Leppert, Musical iconography and class attitudes, 1600-1789.
• H. Colim Slim, The produgal son at the courtesans.
• John Hollander, A damsel with a dulcimer and other matters.
• Dagmar Droysen, Structural hierarchies in medieval illuminations.
• Emanuel Winternitz, Origins, nature and prospects of musical iconography.
• Koraljka Kos, The symbolism of musical instruments in the crucifixion scene

A checklist of music iconography collections.

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