Description
A comprehensive account of music in Florence from the late Middle Ages until the end of the Medici dynasty in the mid-eighteenth century.
Florence is justly celebrated as one of the world's most important cities. It enjoys mythic status and occupies an enviable place in the historical imagination. But its musico-historical importance is not as well understood as it should be. If Florence was the city of Dante, Michelangelo, and Galileo, it was also the birthplace of the madrigal, opera, and the piano. Music in Golden-Age Florence, 1250-1750 recounts Florence's principal contributions to music and the history of how music was heard and cultivated in the city, from civic and religious institutions to private patronage and the academies. This book is an invaluable complement to studies of the art, literature, and political thought of the late-medieval and early-modern eras and the quasi-legendary figures in the Florentine cultural pantheon.
About the Author
Anthony M. Cummings is the Eugene Howard Clapp II '36, LL.D. '84, and Maud Millicent Greenwell Clapp Professor in the Humanities at Lafayette College, where he is also professor of music and coordinator of the Program in Italian Studies. He is the author of Nino Pirrotta: An Intellectual Biography and The Lion's Ear: Pope Leo X, the Renaissance Papacy, and Music.
Reviews
"Cummings's history of music in Florence over a five-hundred-year period is a work of brilliant synthesis, bringing together in one place a vast array of sources that few readers could otherwise hope to access, much less encompass. Music in Golden-Age Florence, 1250-1750 succeeds in its author's goal of raising Florentine accomplishments in music to a status comparable to that enjoyed by the city's extraordinary achievements in arts, letters, and science, and in so doing it becomes a compelling argument for why music should be integrated into interdisciplinary considerations of Florentine culture. Specialists and nonspecialists alike will find this a highly readable narrative of this great city's vibrant musical life during the medieval and early-modern periods." * Blake Wilson, Dickinson College *
"Whether one is studying human endeavors in the areas of humanism, architecture, painting, or literature or evaluating musical inventions such as the Renaissance madrigal, opera, or pianoforte, the city of Florence emerges as a location in which pioneering work was valued. In the book's opening pages, Cummings situates readers in the city's buildings, streets, and public squares, then encourages readers to imagine the music heard in those spaces during past centuries. Cummings not only explores both well- and lesser-known musical genres and works but also introduces the individuals who commissioned, performed, and listened to music. This book is a valuable resource for historians of all stripes, whether musicologists, art historians, or scholars of Italian literature. It can also serve as a useful guide for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the history of this much visited and beloved city." * Kelley Harness, University of Minnesota *
"Cummings once again proves himself to be a specialist of the Italian Cinquecento. . . . This project was a complete success and cannot be valued highly enough. Only by looking at many such local music stories together does a multi-faceted overall picture emerge. The book should not only be useful for musicologists, as it also makes an important contribution to the cultural history of the city of Florence and beyond." * Sehepunkte *
Book Information
ISBN 9780226822785
Author Anthony M. Cummings
Format Hardback
Page Count 456
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 853g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 38mm
Florence is justly celebrated as one of the world's most important cities. It enjoys mythic status and occupies an enviable place in the historical imagination. But its musico-historical importance is not as well understood as it should be. If Florence was the city of Dante, Michelangelo, and Galileo, it was also the birthplace of the madrigal, opera, and the piano. Music in Golden-Age Florence, 1250-1750 recounts Florence's principal contributions to music and the history of how music was heard and cultivated in the city, from civic and religious institutions to private patronage and the academies. This book is an invaluable complement to studies of the art, literature, and political thought of the late-medieval and early-modern eras and the quasi-legendary figures in the Florentine cultural pantheon.
About the Author
Anthony M. Cummings is the Eugene Howard Clapp II '36, LL.D. '84, and Maud Millicent Greenwell Clapp Professor in the Humanities at Lafayette College, where he is also professor of music and coordinator of the Program in Italian Studies. He is the author of Nino Pirrotta: An Intellectual Biography and The Lion's Ear: Pope Leo X, the Renaissance Papacy, and Music.
Reviews
"Cummings's history of music in Florence over a five-hundred-year period is a work of brilliant synthesis, bringing together in one place a vast array of sources that few readers could otherwise hope to access, much less encompass. Music in Golden-Age Florence, 1250-1750 succeeds in its author's goal of raising Florentine accomplishments in music to a status comparable to that enjoyed by the city's extraordinary achievements in arts, letters, and science, and in so doing it becomes a compelling argument for why music should be integrated into interdisciplinary considerations of Florentine culture. Specialists and nonspecialists alike will find this a highly readable narrative of this great city's vibrant musical life during the medieval and early-modern periods." * Blake Wilson, Dickinson College *
"Whether one is studying human endeavors in the areas of humanism, architecture, painting, or literature or evaluating musical inventions such as the Renaissance madrigal, opera, or pianoforte, the city of Florence emerges as a location in which pioneering work was valued. In the book's opening pages, Cummings situates readers in the city's buildings, streets, and public squares, then encourages readers to imagine the music heard in those spaces during past centuries. Cummings not only explores both well- and lesser-known musical genres and works but also introduces the individuals who commissioned, performed, and listened to music. This book is a valuable resource for historians of all stripes, whether musicologists, art historians, or scholars of Italian literature. It can also serve as a useful guide for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the history of this much visited and beloved city." * Kelley Harness, University of Minnesota *
"Cummings once again proves himself to be a specialist of the Italian Cinquecento. . . . This project was a complete success and cannot be valued highly enough. Only by looking at many such local music stories together does a multi-faceted overall picture emerge. The book should not only be useful for musicologists, as it also makes an important contribution to the cultural history of the city of Florence and beyond." * Sehepunkte *
Book Information
ISBN 9780226822785
Author Anthony M. Cummings
Format Hardback
Page Count 456
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 853g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 38mm
