Organology
A.Y. 2020/2021
Learning objectives
The course aims to develop students' skill in identifying the musical instruments mentioned in scores and in historical sources of western music. Concurrently, it deals with the issues related to the preservation and conservation of the instruments from the past centuries still preserved in museums and private collections.
Expected learning outcomes
Students are expected to recognize and discuss typical issues of the discipline, such as the synonymity between different musical instruments' names, as well as to deal correctly with related identification methods. Awareness of modern study and conservation techniques for old musical instruments, those of the Western tradition in particular, is expected to be carefully treated.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Lesson period
Second semester
If the health emergency were to continue, the lessons will take place in mixed mode, partly in person, with simultaneous broadcasting in streaming, and partly electronically, according to the schedule that will be published by the teacher on the Ariel teaching website.
Students will be able to find all the information to access classroom or online lessons, any changes to the program and any changes in the reference material (bibliography, etc.) on the Ariel teaching website at the beginning of the 2nd semester.
If it is not possible to carry out the exam in the manner provided for in the Syllabus, the exam can be carried out electronically in the manner that will be communicated on the Ariel teaching site at the end of the course.
Students will be able to find all the information to access classroom or online lessons, any changes to the program and any changes in the reference material (bibliography, etc.) on the Ariel teaching website at the beginning of the 2nd semester.
If it is not possible to carry out the exam in the manner provided for in the Syllabus, the exam can be carried out electronically in the manner that will be communicated on the Ariel teaching site at the end of the course.
Course syllabus
Title of the annual course (2019-20): Volume II "on the musical instruments" of the Syntagma Musicum by Michael Praetorius (1618)
The course is divided into two parts (A and B)
The first part deals with the general issues of the organological research.
The second part is dedicated to the critical interpretation of the preeminent treatise on musical instruments of the Renaissance period. The illustrations accompanying the treatise will be interpreted analytically in the light of what is set out in the usually underestimated textual comment, a large part of which will be translated and commented.
The course is divided into two parts (A and B)
The first part deals with the general issues of the organological research.
The second part is dedicated to the critical interpretation of the preeminent treatise on musical instruments of the Renaissance period. The illustrations accompanying the treatise will be interpreted analytically in the light of what is set out in the usually underestimated textual comment, a large part of which will be translated and commented.
Prerequisites for admission
The course implies a general understanding of the main categories of musical instruments, of the fundamentals of the history of western music, as well as adequate basic musical knowledge.
Teaching methods
The course is based on class lectures and takes advantage also by printed, as well as audio and video materials. The Ariel platform is used for sharing materials, handouts and lectures notes.
Teaching Resources
Lecture notes and one or two texts relating to historical and technological organology will be supplied (part A). Similarly, examples and illustrations taken from the treatise, which will be discussed during the lessons, will be distributed in digital reproduction (part B). A series of examples will be taken into consideration for each of the three categories into which the book is divided.
Part A (same for attending and non-attending students)
- * R. MEUCCI, Organologia: definizione e contenuti di una recente disciplina, in "Rendo lieti in un tempo gli occhi el core". Il museo degli strumenti musicali del Conservatorio "Luigi Cherubini" di Firenze, a cura di Mirella
Branca, Livorno, Sillabe, 1999, pp. 108-119
- C. SACHS, Storia degli strumenti musicali, Milano, Mondadori, 1980 (ed. it. di The History of Musical Instruments, New York, 1940), n. ed. 1996, con pref. di Luca Cerchiari, pp. 305-555 only.
* this text will be made available on the course's website on Ariel platform
Part B (for attending students only)
- Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum ll: (A New translation from the edition of 1619) De Organographia Part I and II (Oxford Early Music Series) (Vol 2): De Organographia: Parts I and II, transl. and ed. by David Z. Crookes, Oxford, OUP, 1991
- * Ital. transl. by Renato Meucci made available as hand-outs to attending students and/or on the course's website on Ariel platform
Part B (for non-attending students only)
- P. RIGHINI, L'acustica per il musicista. Fondamenti fisici della musica, nuova ed. Milano, Ricordi, 1994, pp. 9-73.
- R. MEUCCI, Strumentaio. Il costruttore di strumenti musicali nella tradizione occidentale, 2a ed., Venezia, Marsilio, 2010
- *L. LIBIN, Progress, Adaptation, and the Evolution of Musical Instruments, "Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society", vol. XXVI (2000), pp. 187-214 (in trad. ital.)
* texts with the asterisk will be made available on the course's website on Ariel platform
Part A (same for attending and non-attending students)
- * R. MEUCCI, Organologia: definizione e contenuti di una recente disciplina, in "Rendo lieti in un tempo gli occhi el core". Il museo degli strumenti musicali del Conservatorio "Luigi Cherubini" di Firenze, a cura di Mirella
Branca, Livorno, Sillabe, 1999, pp. 108-119
- C. SACHS, Storia degli strumenti musicali, Milano, Mondadori, 1980 (ed. it. di The History of Musical Instruments, New York, 1940), n. ed. 1996, con pref. di Luca Cerchiari, pp. 305-555 only.
* this text will be made available on the course's website on Ariel platform
Part B (for attending students only)
- Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum ll: (A New translation from the edition of 1619) De Organographia Part I and II (Oxford Early Music Series) (Vol 2): De Organographia: Parts I and II, transl. and ed. by David Z. Crookes, Oxford, OUP, 1991
- * Ital. transl. by Renato Meucci made available as hand-outs to attending students and/or on the course's website on Ariel platform
Part B (for non-attending students only)
- P. RIGHINI, L'acustica per il musicista. Fondamenti fisici della musica, nuova ed. Milano, Ricordi, 1994, pp. 9-73.
- R. MEUCCI, Strumentaio. Il costruttore di strumenti musicali nella tradizione occidentale, 2a ed., Venezia, Marsilio, 2010
- *L. LIBIN, Progress, Adaptation, and the Evolution of Musical Instruments, "Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society", vol. XXVI (2000), pp. 187-214 (in trad. ital.)
* texts with the asterisk will be made available on the course's website on Ariel platform
Assessment methods and Criteria
For all attending and non-attending students the assessment method consists of an oral exam during which the topics covered will be discussed.
The oral exam will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:
1. mastery of acquired knowledge of historical and technological organology
2. ability to frame the knowledge acquired during lectures, and by the bibliography, in a historical and cultural context
3. formal presentation (precision, terminological consistency, coherence and fluency of the parlance)
4. analytical competence and personal interpretative understanding.
The oral exam will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:
1. mastery of acquired knowledge of historical and technological organology
2. ability to frame the knowledge acquired during lectures, and by the bibliography, in a historical and cultural context
3. formal presentation (precision, terminological consistency, coherence and fluency of the parlance)
4. analytical competence and personal interpretative understanding.
Unita' didattica
L-ART/07 - MUSICOLOGY AND HISTORY OF MUSIC - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica
L-ART/07 - MUSICOLOGY AND HISTORY OF MUSIC - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours