The Latin translation of Plutarch's De musica, which Carlo Valgulio prepared at least in part before 1492, came out of Angelo Britannico's Brescian printing house on 1st of April 1507, preceded in the same opusculum by an extensive Prooemium, the final draft of which was certainly later than 1502. The double effort, of which no manuscripts are known, and which preceded by two years the editio princeps of the Greek text of De musica, within the Aldine of Plutarch's Moralia, was dedicated to Titus Pyrrhinus, the Latinized name of the young cleric Titus Perini da Gazzaniga. If the translation testifies to Valgulio's deep interest in music since the fifteenth century, the Prooemium documents his direct and in-depth knowledge of Greek musicological texts, something absolutely extraordinary for the time. Thanks to their editorial success, linked to the wide diffusion, throughout the sixteenth century, of translations of other works of the Plutarchean corpus, the two texts, whose critical edition is presented here, provided a valuable source of information on ancient Greek music, especially for contemporary and later treatise writers, music theorists and composers, who, with very few exceptions, were unable to read Greek. Certainly well known within the Camerata Fiorentina, they remained present in the thinking of both Vincenzo Galilei, who commissioned or prepared translations himself, and Gioseffo Zarlino, exponents, on opposing sides, of a well-known controversy on music theory that developed in the last quarter of the sixteenth century. It was certainly in consideration of all this that Valgulio's name was included in the entry Musique, written by J.-J. Rousseau for the Encyclopédie of D. Diderot and J.-B. d'Alembert, and later included in his Dictionnaire de musique, in a list of other intellectuals well-deserving of the discipline, from Zarlino himself to Mersenne, from Tartini to Rameau.
La traduzione latina del De musica plutarcheo, che Carlo Valgulio approntò almeno in parte prima del 1492, uscì dall’officina tipografica bresciana di Angelo Britannico il 1° aprile 1507, preceduta, nel medesimo opuscolo, da un ampio Prooemium, la cui stesura finale è certamente posteriore al 1502. La duplice fatica, della quale non si conoscono manoscritti, e che precede di due anni l’editio princeps del testo greco del De musica, all’interno dell’Aldina dei Moralia di Plutarco, è dedicata a Titus Pyrrhinus, nome latinizzato del giovane chierico Tito Perini da Gazzaniga. Se la traduzione testimonia il profondo interesse maturato da Valgulio per la musica fin dagli anni ’70 del Quattrocento, il Prooemium documenta la sua conoscenza diretta e approfondita di testi musicologici greci, cosa assolutamente straordinaria per l’epoca. Grazie alla loro fortuna editoriale, legata all’imponente diffusione, lungo il Cinquecento, delle traduzioni di altre opere del corpus plutarcheo, i due testi, dei quali si presenta qui l’edizione critica, costituirono una fonte preziosa di notizie sulla musica greca antica soprattutto per trattatisti, teorici della musica e compositori contemporanei e successivi, i quali, salvo rarissime eccezioni, non erano in grado di leggere il greco. Certamente ben noti all’interno della Camerata Fiorentina, rimasero presenti alla riflessione sia di Vincenzo Galilei, che ne commissionò o ne approntò egli stesso dei volgarizzamenti, sia di Gioseffo Zarlino, esponenti, su posizioni contrapposte, di una ben nota polemica in materia di teoria musicale che si sviluppò nell’ultimo quarto del secolo XVI. Fu certamente in considerazione di tutto ciò che il nome di Valgulio fu incluso nella voce Musique, redatta da J.-J. Rousseau per l’Encyclopédie di D. Diderot e J.-B. d’Alembert, e poi confluita nel suo Dictionnaire de musique, all’interno di una lista di altri intellettuali benemeriti della disciplina, dallo stesso Zarlino a Mersenne, da Tartini a Rameau.
Plutarchi Chaeronensis De musica Carolo Valgulio interprete
Angelo Meriani
2021-01-01
Abstract
The Latin translation of Plutarch's De musica, which Carlo Valgulio prepared at least in part before 1492, came out of Angelo Britannico's Brescian printing house on 1st of April 1507, preceded in the same opusculum by an extensive Prooemium, the final draft of which was certainly later than 1502. The double effort, of which no manuscripts are known, and which preceded by two years the editio princeps of the Greek text of De musica, within the Aldine of Plutarch's Moralia, was dedicated to Titus Pyrrhinus, the Latinized name of the young cleric Titus Perini da Gazzaniga. If the translation testifies to Valgulio's deep interest in music since the fifteenth century, the Prooemium documents his direct and in-depth knowledge of Greek musicological texts, something absolutely extraordinary for the time. Thanks to their editorial success, linked to the wide diffusion, throughout the sixteenth century, of translations of other works of the Plutarchean corpus, the two texts, whose critical edition is presented here, provided a valuable source of information on ancient Greek music, especially for contemporary and later treatise writers, music theorists and composers, who, with very few exceptions, were unable to read Greek. Certainly well known within the Camerata Fiorentina, they remained present in the thinking of both Vincenzo Galilei, who commissioned or prepared translations himself, and Gioseffo Zarlino, exponents, on opposing sides, of a well-known controversy on music theory that developed in the last quarter of the sixteenth century. It was certainly in consideration of all this that Valgulio's name was included in the entry Musique, written by J.-J. Rousseau for the Encyclopédie of D. Diderot and J.-B. d'Alembert, and later included in his Dictionnaire de musique, in a list of other intellectuals well-deserving of the discipline, from Zarlino himself to Mersenne, from Tartini to Rameau.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
