McGee, Timothy J. <i>The Ceremonial Musicians of Late Medieval
Florence</i>. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2009. Pp.
352. $39.95. ISBN: 978-0-253-35304-7.
Reviewed by Giovanni Zanovello Indiana University
Timothy McGee's <i>Ceremonial Musicians of Late Medieval Florence</i>
is a welcome and original addition to the rich bibliography about
music in Medieval and Early-Modern Florence. As the author
acknowledges in the preface (xi, xv-xvi), the topic of instrumental
and ceremonial musicians working for the <i>Signoria</i> (and later
for the Duchy) has been extensively discussed since Giuseppe Zippel's
pioneering study of 1892. ...
The reader should be warned that the title is an unhappy compromise
between the need for brevity and the objective difficulty to pin down
a time period that does not precisely match any historiographical
category. If the first chapters--which focus on the 13th and 14th
century--fall comfortably within the label, describing 15th- and 16th-
century Florence as "late Medieval" appears highly problematic,
whatever value one attributes to this periodization. To be fair the
problem is mostly limited to the title, since the author presents the
14th-century change in ceremonial tradition as responding to a need
for a new, humanistic kind of public <i>decorum</i> and as a clear and
conscious break with the past, very possibly part of the same movement
that sanctioned the birth of the Renaissance (128). The happiest
solution would have perhaps been just to indicate the chronological
limits of the study (1282-1532), which at least McGee clearly states
at the beginning of the Preface.
The book's first chapter--"Ceremonial Florence"--offers a rich and
evocative description of the many occasions for ceremonial
celebrations in Medieval and Renaissance Florence. The list includes a
wide series of events, from the horse race, vigil procession, and
allegoric carts that crossed the city during the feast of its patron
Saint John to the Carnival season, from jousts to dancing
competitions, from spring-time celebrations to special political
events like visits of foreign ambassadors or rulers. In this chapter
McGee does not strive for a particular interpretive or critical stand-
-he essentially compiles a list of public events based on primary and
secondary literature. Through a direct narrative style and extended
citations of original documents, however, he achieves the goal of
plunging the reader in the midst of the noise, sounds, colors, and
frantic activity that characterized festive days in the Tuscan capital
 In chapters two and three McGee discusses 13th- and 14th-century civic
musicians. The chapters cover two main topics. The first are the
ensembles called <i>Trombadori</i>, originally composed of several
trumpeters, a player of cymbals, and a cennamellario, or shawn player,
and <i>Bannitori</i>, or city criers. As McGee observes, the creation
of such a ceremonial group in the late 13-century is hardly
exceptional. "What we are dealing with is a long-standing tradition
that would seem to be pan-European in its basic concept, with local
variations according to particular geographical areas" (44). He also
underlines the continuity of wind instruments and their association
with aristocratic prestige and military operations from the Ancient
world through the Middle Ages. I found very interesting the part
devoted to the political context of the <i>Trombadori</i>, which
reconstructs the progressive emancipation of Florence from the
imperial control and its new, consequent requirements of civic
prestige. The rest of the chapter offers a detailed reconstruction of
the instruments these groups used, and of the evolution of the groups
during the 14th century. The second main topic is the Civic Herald, an
office completely ignored by musicologists. McGee competently
clarifies the Herald's connection to the political world, but also his
peculiar identity as a master of ceremonies, narrator, and
practitioner of the Italian tradition of <i>Cantare
all'improvviso</i>, enthusiastically described in many sources
originating from Humanistic environments.
The most significant turning point in the book is the description of
the late 14th-century process of revision in the Ceremonial tradition,
linked to economical and political crisis and meant to realign
different components of the city's cultural and ceremonial world:
"Whereas the intellectual and literary part of the city had embraced
the advancing humanist movement, the artistic and musical world held
on to older images, and the official, ceremonial aspects of the
government had been slow to react to the changes adopted elsewhere.
[...] At some point it was decided that what was needed was not more
extension or enlargement of the traditional medieval models, but a
complete revision, aligning the civic rituals of the Florentine
society with changes that had taken place in other areas" (128). Among
the novelties, a new dignity was accorded to the herald, now the
Knight of the Curia (<i>Miles curialis</i>), the creation of new
instrumental ensembles, notably the <i>pifferi</i> and the
<i>trombetti</i>, whose goal was "to change dramatically the status of
the chief executives, setting them apart from the rest of the commune
by having them represented ceremonially in public by their own musical
groups" (132), and the new splendor added by these groups during
official meals at the <i>Mensa</i> of the Signoria. McGee also
explores the influences behind this change, possibly from the northern
Court of Burgundy--at the time the most important point of reference
for the aristocratic imagination--or from the papal court.
Chapter 5 deals with one of the central issues in Florentine cultural
history, the role of the Medici banking family. Although the Medici
did not have until 1514 any legal status to rule Florence, since the
early 15th century they managed to dictate political reforms and
influence the administration at various levels through a very skilled
propaganda operation and an incredibly powerful and efficient network
of clients and collaborators. .. The relationship
with the musicians is twofold: one of "political" patronage for
individuals petitioning for positions at the Signoria, the other
private, of public and private entertainments and the civic groups
that provided them. Particularly interesting is the part on the 16th
century, when the Medici, thanks to the newly-acquired Roman
protection linked to the election of Lorenzo's son Giovanni as pope
Leo X, became legally dukes of the city and had therefore full control
over all of the ceremonial aspects.
The book closes with an attempt at reconstructing of the lives of
ceremonial musicians and the repertories (now largely lost) that they
performed in Florence. Much attention is paid to the social status of
these highly specialized public servants, to their living conditions
and training. The last section is devoted to the repertories, through
a patient and very valuable work of comparison of documents and
musical collections from various places of Italy and Europe.
This book is an important tool for many scholars and music lovers.
Musicologists will acquire an informative and stimulating tool,
musicians interested in early music will find a wealth of information
and a very healthy corrective to many generalizations found in
textbooks. Political, social, and art historians will be grateful to
McGee for adding "a 'sound-track' to two and a half centuries of daily
life in Florence" (xv). |
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