• Giovanni Battista Della Porta’s Experiments with Musical Instruments

    Author(s):
    Rebecca Cypess (see profile)
    Date:
    2016
    Subject(s):
    Musicology, Musical instruments, Science
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    natural magic, acoustics
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6ZS2KC5W
    Abstract:
    A section of Giovanni Battista Della Porta’s Magia naturalis (1589) celebrates the powers of musical instruments. Most of these powers are rooted in neo-Platonist natural magic: Della Porta explains that the materials of instruments retain their original properties, shaping the body and soul of the listener through their mutual sympathy or antipathy. In a series of three demonstrations presented at the end of this section on music, however, Della Porta uses musical instruments in a different fashion: like telescopes and other scientific instruments of the early modern era, his lyra—likely a lira da braccio, which held pride of place in Italian academies of the sixteenth century—becomes a vehicle for open-ended discovery and the creation of new knowledge.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.1080/01411896.2016.1180946
    Publisher:
    Informa UK Limited
    Pub. Date:
    2016-5-25
    Journal:
    Journal of Musicological Research
    Volume:
    35
    Issue:
    3
    Page Range:
    159 - 175
    ISSN:
    0141-1896,1547-7304
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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