The Civic Muse

The Civic Muse Music and Musicians in Siena during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

by Frank A. D'Accone

University of Chicago Press, 1997
Cloth: 978-0-226-13366-9 | Electronic: 978-0-226-13368-3
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226133683.001.0001

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ABOUT THIS BOOKTABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Siena, blessed with neither the aristocratic nor the ecclesiastical patronage enjoyed by music in other northern Italian centers like Florence, nevertheless attracted first-rate composers and performers from all over Europe. As Frank A. D'Accone shows in this scrupulously documented study, policies developed by the town to favor the common good formed the basis of Siena's ambitious musical programs.

Based on decades of research in the town's archives, D'Accone's The Civic Muse brilliantly illuminates both the sacred and the secular aspects of more than three centuries of music and music-making in Siena. After detailing the history of music and liturgy at Siena's famous cathedral and of civic music at the Palazzo Pubblico, D'Accone describes the crucial role that music played in the daily life of the town, from public festivities for foreign dignitaries to private musical instruction. Putting Siena squarely on the Renaissance musical map, D'Accone's monumental study will interest both musicologists and historians of the Italian Renaissance.

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

List of Musical Examples

Preface

Note on Sources, Citations, and Transcriptions

Note on Sienese Dating and Money

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part One: The Cathedral

1. The Cathedral and Its Administration, Personnel, and Liturgical Calendar

2. Chant and Improvised Polyphony in Later Medieval Times

3. Singers and Organists, 1380–1448

4. Building a Chapel, 1448–1480

5. Expansion and Retrenchment in the Chapel, 1480–1507

6. The Development of a Stable Chapel, 1507–1555

7. Decline and Transformation of the Chapel, 1555–1607

Part Two: The Palazzo Pubblico

8. Origins and Establishment of the Trumpeters’ Corps, 1230–1399

9. Pomp, Circumstance, and Security: The Trumpeters’ Corps as an Ongoing Institution in the Fifteenth Century

10. Diminishing Importance and Nostalgia for Times Past: The Trumpeters’ Corps in the Sixteenth Century

11. Establishment and Consolidation of the Pifferi in the Fifteenth Century

12. Triumph of the Wind Band in the Sixteenth Century

Part Three: Music in the Life of the Town

13. Beyond Cathedral and Palace Walls: Professional Musicians and Dancing Masters, Amateurs, Builders, and Repairmen, 1300–16

14. Music at Social Events, Public and Private

I. Cathedral Singers and Wind Players

II. Cathedral Organists and Organ Builders

III. Palace Trumpeters and Shawm Players, Town Criers, Drummers, and Singers

IV. Palace Pifferi

Bibliography

Index