The author deals with the theme of the celebration of the English Queen, studying her role both as a protagonist (whether symbolic or real), and as a figure evoked or allegorically interpreted by female monarchs, divinities, natural forces, astronomical or zodiacal symbols. It applies the tools of rhetorical analysis by focusing on a poet, John Davies, and especially on a poet-musician, Thomas Campion, whose encomia of the Queen appear undisturbed by political manoeuvring and the temptations of rhetorical ambiguity, finding more rewarding links with the wider debate on astrology and cosmology that contributed to set the icon of Elizabeth as the symbol of cosmic harmony within the larger theme of the music of the spheres, or 'musica mundana'. Analogies are found between the allusions of some of the Elizabethan eulogists, such as John Lyly or John Case, and contemporary musicological treatises such as Gioseffo Zarlino's Istitutioni Harmoniche. Intellectual and ideological developments in contemporary Italy and France (e.g. the French Academies) thus helped to shape the image of the Queen, offering to her self-fashioning a symbolic range transcending historical and geographic contingency. This essay shows to what extent the celebration of Elizabeth ranged across various disciplines and forms of expression, from literature to the visual arts, to music and science.
The Music of the Spheres, Cosmography, and the Cult of Elizabeth I: Thomas Campion and John Davies, Sympathetic Bystanders.
de SCARPIS di VIANINO, Valerio
2011-01-01
Abstract
The author deals with the theme of the celebration of the English Queen, studying her role both as a protagonist (whether symbolic or real), and as a figure evoked or allegorically interpreted by female monarchs, divinities, natural forces, astronomical or zodiacal symbols. It applies the tools of rhetorical analysis by focusing on a poet, John Davies, and especially on a poet-musician, Thomas Campion, whose encomia of the Queen appear undisturbed by political manoeuvring and the temptations of rhetorical ambiguity, finding more rewarding links with the wider debate on astrology and cosmology that contributed to set the icon of Elizabeth as the symbol of cosmic harmony within the larger theme of the music of the spheres, or 'musica mundana'. Analogies are found between the allusions of some of the Elizabethan eulogists, such as John Lyly or John Case, and contemporary musicological treatises such as Gioseffo Zarlino's Istitutioni Harmoniche. Intellectual and ideological developments in contemporary Italy and France (e.g. the French Academies) thus helped to shape the image of the Queen, offering to her self-fashioning a symbolic range transcending historical and geographic contingency. This essay shows to what extent the celebration of Elizabeth ranged across various disciplines and forms of expression, from literature to the visual arts, to music and science.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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