Open AccessClassical Musical Imagery in Eugenius Vulgarius’ Carmina Figurata
Author(s) -
P Dessì
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
greek and roman musical studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2212-9758
pISSN - 2212-974X
DOI - 10.1163/22129758-12341338
Subject(s) - poetry , musical , meaning (existential) , context (archaeology) , literature , invective , content (measure theory) , art , reflexive pronoun , politics , philosophy , history , epistemology , mathematics , law , archaeology , mathematical analysis , political science
At the beginning of the tenth century, Vulgarius wrote some poems for Pope Sergius III . One of these is set out in the shape of a psaltery and is followed by a short explanatory essay. This article reconstructs the cultural context of this pattern poem and sheds light on the presence and significance of music in this text. First, I shall address the visual appearance of this poem, since the shape of the text imitates a musical instrument. Secondly, I shall examine the textual content of the poem, which sings the praises of the Pope and ultimately reveals the true meaning hidden in the name ‘Sergius’. Subsequently, I shall examine the content of the explanatory essay, which clarifies the Boethian musical proportions on which the entire construction of the pattern poem is based. Finally, I shall address the political ‘double meaning’ of this poem, which seems to hide an invective against the Pope.