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- Title
RE-AWAKENING MERCURY'S CITHARA: A CLOSER LOOK AT FEDERICO'S CETRA.
- Authors
YOUNG, CRAWFORD
- Abstract
Among about a dozen of instruments represented on the intarsias once decorating the studiolo of Federico da Montefeltro (1422-1482) in Gubbio, there is a cetra. The intarsias were designed by the Sienese Francesco di Giorgio (1439-1501) and executed by the Florentine workshop of Giuliano (1432-1490) and Benedetto da Maiano (1442-1497) in about 1478-1482. Currently they are on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Rogers fund 39.153. The representation of the cetra is detailed and realistic, allowing us to make conclusions about a number of features of the instrument, otherwise known only from visual sources and literary references. The six wooden fret blocks are all of uniform height, and both nut-facing and bridge-facing edges of each block are perpendicular to the strings. Instrument's nine strings are grouped in four courses (2-2-3-2 strings). The tuning was possibly diatonic. As the instrument was likely of smallish size, diatonic frets on a short string length was easier to stop than narrower chromatic ones. Also the instrument's musical function may have been playing chords to accompany singing and playing simple dance tunes in a chordal texture, rather than playing elaborate melodies, voice parts in counterpoint or any kind of intabulated counterpoint. Still unresolved question is the purpose of the hook on the back of the neck, which does not facilitate playing the instrument, but rather impedes the use of the left hand in fretting the notes on the fingerboard. The discussion of the features of the instrument represented in the intarsia, is supported by data taken from its copy, built by the Umbrian luthier Luca Piccioni (2018).
- Subjects
NEW York (State); MUSICAL instruments; MUSEUM exhibits; LITERARY sources; FRANCESCO di Giorgio; MARQUETRY; REFERENCE sources
- Publication
Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography, 2020, Vol 45, Issue 1/2, p25
- ISSN
1522-7464
- Publication type
Article