thank you for that - i must have missed david's post.
i don't wish to set myself up as some sort of expert on the italian language
but the "musicale dolcezza" part of the quote could prove interesting as well.
i don't know in what sense castiglione used the word "dolcezza" - historically;
specifically relating to one instrument or a family of instruments or simply,
music in general - but keyboard instruments, in my humble opinion, do not lend
themselves to the description of "sweet" - whereas lutes do.
keyboard instruments suggest something solid and not so easily moved about -
the opposite of a lute. i would think it very uncourtier-like to ask your
patron to drop by your chambers to listen to something you've worked out on the
keyboard. going to him or her with lute in hand would seem more appropriate.
- bill
Jorge Torres <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dear List:
In a previous post, David van Ooijen provided the passage in Italian, which I
paste below. He also provided us with a link to the following
Sono ancor armoniosi tutti gli instrumenti da tasti, perché hanno le
consonanzie molto perfette e con facilità vi si possono far molte cose
che empiono l'animo di musicale dolcezza. (Second Book, XIII)
The troublesome word is "tasti," which both Mathias and Bernd have already
pointed out means either `keys' or `frets' in Italian. This double duty is
also found in other languages...take for example the word "tecla" in Spanish.
Although there is a tendency for us to want to believe that Castiglione meant
the lute, we must also consider the importance of other instruments with
`tasti,' most notably, viols and keyboards. The idea that proliferation of the
harpsichord does not occur until after 1580 is compelling. Yet, as others have
pointed out, several other types of keyboards existed in the 16th century that
were popular, though probably not as popular as the lute or even viol.
Nevertheless, Castiglione isn't addressing life among the `popular,' rather his
text is aimed at those aspiring to court life. Mass proliferation would not
matter as long as these instruments were available to those at court or on the
fringes of court society, which they undoubtedly were. Perhaps the keyboard
should not be ruled out on the basis of proliferation, although I would lean
toward the fretted instruments of lutes and viols.
Thank you all for you enlightened help.
Jorge
PS: The citation for `All keyed instruments also are pleasing to the ear,
because they produce very perfect consonances' is the old Opdycke translation.
Castiglione, Baldesar. The Book of the Courtier By Baldasar Castiglione (1528)
. Translated by Leonard Eckstein Opdycke. New York: Scribner, 1903. 89.
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