Classical Musical Imagery in Eugenius Vulgarius’ Carmina Figurata

At the beginning of the tenth century, Vulgarius wrote some poems for Pope Sergius III. One of these is set out in the shape of a psaltery and is followed by a short explanatory essay. This article reconstructs the cultural context of this pattern poem and sheds light on the presence and significance of music in this text. First, I shall address the visual appearance of this poem, since the shape of the text imitates a musical instrument. Secondly, I shall examine the textual content of the poem, which sings the praises of the Pope and ultimately reveals the true meaning hidden in the name ‘Sergius’. Subsequently, I shall examine the content of the explanatory essay, which clarifies the Boethian musical proportions on which the entire construction of the pattern poem is based. Finally, I shall address the political ‘double meaning’ of this poem, which seems to hide an invective against the Pope.

THE WRITINGS OF BOETHIUS AND THE COGITATIONS OF JACOBUS DE ISPANIA ON MUSICAL PROPORTIONS

Thirteenth-century music theory, which followed the ideas of Boethius, was very largely concerned with the numerical proportions associated with musical intervals. Numbers provided an intellectual foundation that did not suffer from the vagaries of the senses. In general neither Boethius nor his greatest exponent, Jacobus (writing c. 1320), explained how they obtained the numbers they used. In this essay I attempt to reconstruct their methods and show how they developed ideas from the first-century Nicomachus to achieve their aims. Jacobus is explicit in saying that the use of the relatively newly introduced methods of algorism – calculating with Arabic numerals – made his cogitations easier. I shall argue that the manuscripts we have of his Speculum musicae show that Jacobus did indeed use algorism in his work.

Linking The Musical Proportions Of The Renaissance, Modulor Of Le Corbusier, And Roman System Of Proportions

Three systems of architectural proportions will be discussed: the system of proportion based on the musical scale and used during the Renaissance; the Modulor of Le Corbusier based on the golden mean; and a Roman system of proportions based on the sacred cut. These systems will be shown to be manifestations of a unified theory of proportion based on geometric, arithmetic, and harmonic means. The three systems will be illustrated through abstract designs with reference given to architectural examples. It will also be shown that each of these systems can be described in terms of integer series.