11207 - Musical Iconography

Learning outcomes

The course provides the basic theoretical and methodological assumptions of Musical Iconography and introduces to the understanding of the 'images of music' as sources for the cultural history of music and its representations from antiquity to our day. At the end of the course, the student should acquire the critical skills necessary to contextualize the main iconographic themes attested in Western artistic production and should be able to independently set up a research, identifying figures and musical contents referable both to the performance practices and to the ideal and symbolic sphere.

 

Course contents

1. Introduction to Music Iconography : History, Methods and Perspectives

The first part of the course will shortly discuss the main theorethical and methodological principles of Musical Iconography and will specifically focus on the recent scholarly research and on the main research projects currently underway at an international level.

2. Realism and idealism in  representations of notated music in Early modern paintings

This section of the course willtake into consideration the role of notated music in the context of various iconographic themes, with particular reference to the concert scenes and the portrait. Through the analysis of some significant examples, including the famous 'Luth player' and other Caravaggio's musical paintings, it will be highlighted how the identification of the music included in figurative representations can significantly contribute not only to our knowledge of musical repertories and performance practices of past eras, but also to highlight the cultural orientations and musical tastes of the environments for which they were intended. 

The course also includes iconographic-musical analysis and cataloging exercises.

The course will take place in the second semester, starting from Tuesday 27 January 2026

Readings/Bibliography

 

- N. GUIDOBALDI, Prospettive dell'Iconografia musicale all'inizio del terzo millennio, in Prospettive di iconografia musicale, Milano, Mimesis, 2007, pp. 7-37;

- C. SLIM, Painting Music in the Sixteenth century. Essays in Iconography, Brookfield & Alderscott, Ashgate, 2002;

- F. CAMIZ-A:ZIINO, Caravaggio : aspetti musicali e committenza, "Studi musicali", XII (1983), pp. 67-90

- N. GUIDOBALDI, Percorsi musicali nel nucleo Natura morta della Fototeca Zeri, in La natura morta di Federico Zeri, Andrea Bacchi, F. Mambelli & Elisabetta Sambo eds., Fondazione Federico Zeri, 2025, pp. 247-261.

 

SUGGESTED READINGS :

T. SEEBASS, article Iconography, in The New Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, London, Mac Millan, 2001, pp.54-71;

E. PANOFSKY, Meaning in the Visual Art. Paper in and on Art History, New York, 1955;

F. SAXL, Lectures, London, The Warburg Institute-University of London, 2 voll., 1957;

E. WINTERNITZ, Musical instruments and their Symbolism in Western Art, New Haven & London, Yale University Press, 1979.

- La musica al tempo di Caravaggio, a cura di Stefania Macioce e Enrico De Pascale, Gangemi, 2012.

 

 

 

Teaching methods

Readings, seminars. and cataloging exercises.

 

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral interview aimed at assessing the critical and methodological skills and knowledge acquired by the student, who will be invited to confront the texts, the themes and the methodological issues faced during the course and during the seminars.

Attending students will be required to elaborate an individual job, to be agreed with the teacher and presented in seminar form during the last lessons of the course.

Students non attending to the lectures are required to know all the texts listed in the bibliography and are invited to contact the teacher to agree an individual in-depth study to be presented for the examination.

The assessment of the exam will take into account, in particular, the student's ability to use readings, sources, and exam bibliography to illustrate contents and issues, and to establish links between them .

The examinator will therefore assess the student's mastery of the contents, the ability to analyze and synthesize the concepts and the ability to express themselves in a language appropriated to the subject matter.

The student’s achievement of an organic vision of the themes dealt within the lessons, together with their critical use and good expressive mastery and specific language will be evaluated with excellence marks; formative gaps and / or inappropriate language, will lead to votes that will not exceed the sufficiency.

 

Teaching tools

Teaching tools

PC, CD Player.

Students affected by learning disorders (DSA) and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible, so that they can propose acceptable adjustments.

The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the Lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.”

Office hours

See the website of Nicoletta Guidobaldi