27. Ottobre 2011: Play That Funky Music

Today I attended a very interesting lecture about musical instruments. We attended a special exhibit in the Galleria dell’Academia which held many old musical instruments (some which were connected with the Medici family). The first instruments we saw upon entering the exhibit were three cellos from 1650 (made by Niccolo Amanti), 1667, and 1696. The cellos got wider as time went on, supposedly to give it a bigger sound. Next we saw a bass lute with strings that were strung to the side of the fingerboard. These were played as drone notes, giving the lute a multidimensional sound. It was very popular to play accompanying vocalists—Verdi even wrote a part for it in his opera Orpheo. Next up: a bass with real gut strings! Apparently dried sheep gut was the common gut-of-choice for stringed instruments. Oh there were so many cool instruments!! I’m sad I couldn’t take pictures but I will continue to name each of them, forgive me. We visited some Stradivari violins and I learned that originally, violins were not very popular; they were used mostly for dancing, like a fiddle. It wasn’t until the late 17^th century when music was first composed specifically for the violin that the status of the instrument was elevated. Then, a truly fascinating instrument showed up: the Hurdy Gurdy! One cranks a wheel so that the string rubs against keys that you press to play melodies while the constant tone sounds. Now, I know I said that we weren’t allowed to take pictures but…I snuck one.

The next case wasn’t too impressive—an old timpani and some triangles (though they are good for something! You know how to see if the stage if level? Make sure drool is coming out of both sides of the percussionist’s mouth.)—though there was a pair of cool castanets that someone behind me thought were an ancient form of the spoons (that elegant musical instrument). The lecturer made some offhand comment about castanets never really being important anyways. I mentioned that they were actual a pretty central instrument in the opera Carmen and a visiting professor suggested that we replace those castanets with spoons. I told her we could set it in Appalachia and dress the gypsies in flannel. I think it’s a brilliant idea.

The next instrument is one that I urge you all to google-image-search. It’s a brass instrument called a serpent. It has a mouthpiece like a trumpet and makes several S-curves, like a mutated French horn. It was apparently played to accompany men’s voices in church choirs around 1802 and is mentioned in a Thomas Hardy book.

Then, we turned to the piano and I learned that the piano was actually invented in Florence. A renowned harpsichord maker named Cristofori was commissioned to make a new, more expressive instrument. So Cristofori changed the mechanism that plucks the string on a harpsichord to a hammer that hits the string, adding different dynamic possibilities. This was all around 1711 but the piano didn’t really catch on in Italy. It wasn’t until 1726 in Germany that another harpsichord maker, Silvermann, tried his hands at Cristofori’s new piano. When it was finished, Silvermann asked J.S. Bach to try playing it, but Bach did not like it one bit. Frederick of Austria, on the other hand, loved the new instrument and bought fifteen from Silvermann. Around 1746, Bach visited Frederick and was asked to try this new, amazing instrument! From that point on, the piano was a hit. A pretty cool history, if you ask me.

After this very interesting lecture (and taking a peek at Michelangelo’s David) I ran across town to my final day of my second figure drawing session. This time we were drawing a standing pose and I think that the technique is starting to grow on me. We were only given three days for this sketch, but here are my progress shots from the end of each day.

I came home to a Festa di Halloween! We all dressed up (I was a ninja) and were joined by Massimo, the grandson of my host-parents for dinner. Then we sent Massimo trick-or-treating to each of us and we all gave him a handful of chocolate. Of course, he asked in Italian, “dolcetti o schiretti?” Molto carino!

This weekend, however, there will be no parties for me. I have a midterm to study for and a paper to write! Wish me luck, ciao!