90427 - Musical Heritage of the Ancient World

Learning outcomes

The course regards one of the most significant aspects of the wide cultural heritage inherited from antiquity: music. After completing the course students are able to contextualize the documents which transmitted the ideas and representations of the music of antiquity, to recognize the processes of transmission and modalities of reception from the Middle Ages to today. Students will also be able to manage a bibliography for a research project.

Course contents

First part

The general contents of the course will cover: the concept of sound event, the concept of musical knowledge, the musical heritage of the ancient world and its traces, in particular how this heritage was transmitted to the listeners and reading public of the Medieval and Modern Ages, the methodologies of research and textual analysis and the main bibliographical tools.

Second part

In the specific section, texts related to the reception of Greek musical treatises in some libraries of the early Modern Age will be considered, with particular reference to those belonging to musicians, such as Vincenzo Galilei, and scientists, such as Ulisse Aldrovandi.

Furthermore,  students will be guided in an individual exercise to recognize and focus on the aspects of the transmission of a text, manuscript or printed, recognizable as a witness of the musical heritage of the ancient world. The oral examination for students who have attended the lessons will start with the presentation of this individual textual research project.

Non-attending students may complete their preparation by studying the following audio-visual materials:

Echi di Vincenzo Galilei

1585, Edipo re al Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

F. A. Gallo, Introduzione, in: Musica e Storia dal Medio Evo all'Età moderna, Bologna, il Mulino, 1985, pp. 9-29.

D. Restani, L'eredità musicale del Mondo antico, in Musica e società, I, a cura di Paolo Fabbri e Maria Chiara Bertieri, LIM, 2019, pp. 229-297.

D. Restani, L'itinerario di Girolamo Mei, dalla "Poetica" alla musica, Firenze, Olschki, 1990.

Rediscovering Ancient Music: the Cultural Heritage of Mousike, in A Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Music, edited by T. Lynch and E. Rocconi, Blackwell-Wiley 2020, pp.447-488: articoli di C. Panti, D. Restani, D. Castaldo.

At the end of the course, all the bibliography will be available on the Virtuale platform, where the specific exam preparation methods are also available, for both attending and non-attending students.

Attending students will receive specific reading indications during lessons and can be tutored in an individual research project.

Non-attending students are not required to prepare the research project on the specific text, but they will read all the compulsory bibliography and will add the following audio-visual materials:

Echi di Vincenzo Galilei

1585, Edipo re al Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza

 

Optional reading to know more:

C.V. Palisca, Humanism in Italian Renaissance Musical Thought, Yale University Press, 1985.

 

 

Teaching methods

Teaching can be personalized and attending students will be able to practice an individual exercise that will allow them to combine "knowledge" with " know-how". In particular, the Malatestian library in Cesena will be visited if the situation allows it.

To take up the challenge of Education for Sustainable Development (ESS), methods that stimulate skills through active learning will be favored. Therefore, the student will be put in contact with different research strategies which imply interdisciplinary knowledge.

Assessment methods

The exam consists in an interview to assess the student’s critical and methodological skills. Both "First part" and the "Second part" will be considered during the exam.

Attending students will carry out an individual exercise, including the relevant bibliography, to be presented at the beginning of the examination. The content of the textual research project will be individual and agreed with the professor. It will concern a theme to be analysed in the light of the methodological indications provided during the lessons. 

Non-attending students will be tested on the full bibliography  indicated in the program and will add the two audiovisual materials.

Foreign students which will not attend to the lessons will be required to keep in contact with the Professor by email, phone call, office appointment, etc., to chose the examination texts one month before the exams at least.

The assessment will be based on: knowledge of the subject matter; concept analysis and synthesis; clarity of expression, proper terminology. Particular emphasis will be given to the students ability to manage sources and bibliography in order to obtain the necessary information and to illustrate topics and issues finding connections between them.

Students who show proficiency in knowledge and critical perspective, as well as proficiency in expression and technical vocabulary will be granted the highest marks.

Students who show they have studied, but in a mnemonic way, and are able of synthesis and analysis expressed adequately, will be granted of medium marks.

Students who show basic knowledge, but inadequate vocabulary, will have a pass.

Students who show insufficient knowledge, inadequate vocabulary and don't know appropriately the bibliography, will not pass the exam.

 

Teaching tools

Audiovisuals, pc, films and stereo.

Students with DSA are requested to contact the Professor for the activation of adequate support tools provided for the exam.

Students can take 2 more CFU attending the DIDACTIC LABORATORY “MUSICAL EXPERIENCES IN TRAVELOGUES”.

Responsible: prof. Donatella Restani, in collaboration with Dott.ssa Alessia Zangrando (PhD 37th cycle).

Content: The didactic laboratory “Musical Experiences in Travelogues” proposes to look at travel literature as a source for the study of music between ancient and modern times in order to gather new data for the study of communities that have no written musical tradition and are considered “distant” in a geographical, chronological or cultural sense.

The aim is to valorise the material and immaterial aspects of these types of sources and to reflect on the need to look at a still little-known musical heritage with an interdisciplinary approach through the analysis of manuscripts, iconographic representations and musical notation. Students will also be encouraged to consider the problems related to the musical terminology used in the travelogues and the classification of the reported sound experiences. Finally, an Excel file will be populated with the collected data, which will feed into a relational database.

Max number of students: 10

Running period: April-May 2023

Laboratory teaching: there will be 4 meetings (one per month) of 2 hours each

CFU: 2

How to access: send an email to donatella.restani@unibo.it and in cc to alessia.zangrando2@unibo.it  

Venue: Possible online and in presence teaching.

 

Office hours

See the website of Donatella Restani