Musical diplomacy in a divided city: the Lassus-Mayrhofer manuscripts

Early Music ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-74
Author(s):  
Barbara Eichner

Abstract Gifts of music manuscripts continued to serve an important diplomatic function well into the 16th century. This article investigates the production, content and function of two choirbooks prepared by the Benedictine monk Ambrosius Mayrhofer of St Emmeram in Regensburg, which mainly contain sacred music by Orlande de Lassus. They were dedicated to Abbot Jakob Köplin of St Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg (1568) and the city council of Regensburg (1567) respectively. The programmatic opening motet and accompanying illuminations of the Regensburg choirbook suggest that it functioned as a politically motivated gift that helped to ‘harmonize’ the frictions within a city divided by ancient rights and new religious allegiances: Regensburg was a free imperial city with a predominantly Protestant population and council, but also harboured an episcopal see and several nunneries and monasteries (among them St Emmeram), with the Catholic Dukes of Bavaria as close and powerful neighbours. Mayrhofer’s music manuscript projects a conciliatory message that was particularly timely in the late 1560s, when the permission of Eucharistic communion under both kinds (with consecrated bread and wine) offered a short-lived hope of religious compromise.

1991 ◽  
Vol 105 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Truus Van Bueren

AbstractKarel van Mander's Schilder-Boeck was published in 1604. During this period the Haarlem city council was pursuing an active cultural policy in which painting played a central role. In 1603, the porter at the Prinscnhof was instructed not to refuse admission to people who wanted to view the paintings and other objects of art housed there. That same year Hendrik Goltzius, Cornelis van Haarlem and Hendrik Vroom were commissioned to paint pictures of their own choice to commemmorate their art. The paintings were to hang in the Prinsenhof. In 1605 the council cndcavoured to ensure the city's claim to a number of paintings from the Jansklooster. This monastery, unlike others in Haarlem, had not been seized when the city became Protestant. The monks were allowed to keep their property until the last one died, but not to adopt any more monks. In 1605 the council demanded an inventory of the immovables and of the paintings too. The majority of the paintings in the inventory, which was supplied a year later, proved to be the work of highly esteemed artists. Although by no means all the art in the monasterey was listed, the city council did not protest. The intention had simply been to secure the important paintings with a view to placing in the Prinsenhof when the time came. Karel van Mander and his friends Cornelis van Haarlem and Hendrik Goltzius undoubtedly contributed to the creation of a climate in which such an art policy was feasible. Van Mander had spent years preparing his Schilder-Boeck, and had paid a great deal of attention to Haarlem painting. In his efforts to gather information the had established numerous contacts. He had carefully described he paintings in the Prinsenhof, and had also seen works by Haarlem painters belonging to private individuals. One such man was Gerrit Willemsz. van Schoterbosch, a burgomaster who had been on the council when that body commissioned Cornelis van Haarlem to make four paintings for the Prinsenhof during the last decade of the 16th century, and also during the period discussed here, 1603-1605. What were the aims of the city council in pursuing this cultural policy? There are two possibilities, both of which are encountered in the Schilder-Boeck. Van Mander wanted to elevate painting to a higher status than a craft. In his praise of painting he therefore dwelt at length on art lovers who collected paintings for art's sake. May not the city council have desired to assemble such a collection? If so, something very special was happening in Haarlem. Perhaps there is more to be said for the other possibility, to which Van Mander also refers: the council could have enlisted the Haarlem painters to sing the praises of the city.


Author(s):  
G. Mirabella Roberti ◽  
V. M. Nannei ◽  
P. Azzola ◽  
A. Cardaci

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The historical and cultural relevance of the City Walls built by the ‘Serenissima’ Republic of Venice in the second half of 16th century was recognized in 2017 by the insertion of Bergamo, together with other Venetian Fortresses in Italy, Croatia and Montenegro, in the World Heritage List of UNESCO as transnational site. In the framework of the nomination to the WHL, the City Council together with the University of Bergamo started a campaign of studies and surveys aimed to prepare a conservation planning. The goal of this plan is to assure a constant monitoring of this artwork, so that a strict routine of controls, cleaning and small strengthening works would prevent more relevant interventions, which could corrupt the material integrity of the building.</p><p>This paper delineates the methodological and operational workflow applied to the preparation of the maintenance plan, now in progress, for the Venetian City Walls of Bergamo, where the photogrammetric survey by means of UAV plays an important role. The different working phases, the adopted instrumentation, the difficulties encountered and the choices made are described, and some case studies are also illustrated that represent well the typical problems encountered for the conservation of the Walls.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 149-161
Author(s):  
Tomasz Maćkowski

Beggar badges of Gdańsk In Gdańsk of the 16th century, due to the failure of medieval forms of aiding the poor based on Church institutions, the growing number of people seeking support in a port town which was quickly getting rich and under the influence of ideas spread by Martin Luther, the policy concerning beggars and people seeking aid changed. It was demonstrated by passing the first beggar ordinance in 1525, which introduced the supervision of the city council over the system of social welfare based on the existing hospitals in town. Special badges with the crest of Gdańsk had been known since the middle of the 16th century, which entitled their wearers to beg in the vicinity of the city as well as to receive aid from public funds. Those artefacts were cast from lead and apart from the crest also had a depiction of a beggar and a date specifying the annual validity of the symbol. They would most often be sawn to clothes or worn around the neck. There are four beggar categories known to us: 1) for the inhabitants of Gdańsk unfit for work and their children thus entitled to basic education; 2) badges for the poorest group of citizens having trouble making a living, which included their personal data and address; 3) badges for city visitors who needed aid and had not been admitted to hospitals, which entitled them to beg temporarily; 4) badges for the patients of the City Hospital (the Lazaret), which since the 17th century had become the main centre of medical care for the poorest. Artefacts registering those entitled to permanent or temporary hospital care are known dating even from the middle of the 18th century. With the popularisation of written documentation in the hospital, at the end of the 18th century artefacts of that kind became obsolete.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-103
Author(s):  
Dietmar Plajer

Abstract The Reformation in Transylvania, Lutheran in structure, has been from its very beginning in direct contact with representatives of the Orthodox Church. An Orthodox clergyman, Philippus Pictor (Filip Moldoveanul), had worked for decades in Hermannstadt in the service of the magistrate, with tasks – among other responsibilities – in the printing house; it was probably during his activity in office that the (now lost) Romanian catechism of 1544, the church-slavonic and the bilingual (Slavonic-Romanian) gospels were printed. There are good reasons to assume that these prints were made directly by the initiative of the city council; but this was not an attempt at the conversion of Romanians to the Evangelical faith, but rather an exercise of the duty – emerging from Luther’s theology – to make possible for all people the access to Scripture.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-352
Author(s):  
Patrycja Wiencierz

The article is devoted to the oaths related to the inauguration of the authorities in medieval Cracow. The paper is mainly based on Cracow’s two municipal codes: the Grabowski Codex (from the 14th and the 15th century) and the Balthasar Behem Codex (from the beginning of the 16th century).The oath played an enormous part in the legal and social relations in the Old Polish period. Cracow’s burghers took an oath of homage (Latin homagium) to every single Polish monarch. Moreover, the clerks, municipal workers and craftsmen yearly pledged their allegiance to the city and took a vow to diligently perform their professional duties. The Grabowski Codex contains oaths (Latin iuramenta) which were written down chaotically for about two centuries. Consequently, it allows one to follow even minor changes in the content of the vows which highlights the significance of the contents of theoath themselves. On the other hand, the Balthasar Behem Code, which was a dignified book and a municipal insignia (Latin insignium), gathered the contemporary oaths in an orderly fashion. As a consequence, it outlines the hierarchy of the municipal clerks and institutions. This further emphasizes the huge importance of a municipal scribe whose oath is inscribed right after the pledge of the town council which was the main municipal institution in town. This paper also undertakes the topic of the elections of new people to perform various functions, pinpoints the dates of these nominations and it outlines the issue of the ceremonies which accompany them. At the same time, it emphasizes the splendour connected with the election of new members of the city council.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 408-441
Author(s):  
Uwe Israel

Summary Defensio or The Art of Disparagement in the Upper-Rhenish Humanism In the first years of the 16th century two scholars from the Alsatian province, secular priest Jakob Wimpfeling and Franciscan Thomas Murner, the latter one generation younger than the former, started a quarrel in Strasbourg. Quickly, their friends and students, then the city council, and finally even King Maximilian I got drawn into the polemical debate. At first sight the controversial topic was only a highly charged issue in politically troubled times: Had the Alsace region and its capital always belonged to Germany or had they been part of France at some time in the past? But it was also a quarrel about the educational sovereignty. This was an issue important to humanists. Secular ond ordinary priests hotly debated the topic not only in Strasbourg, but also elsewhere. The literary feud involved not only arguments, but also sharp personal attacks, offences and defamations. Several publications included disparaging letters, poems, treatises and pictures which often hardly bore any reference to the issue in question. The question arises why humanists, who are generally thought to be concerned with language and education, resorted to such drastic and defamatory means in their personal conflicts. The paper addresses this question with the help of the theories and methods currently employed by the Collaborative Research Centre Dresden with the title „Invectivity“. It analyzes the constellations of the controversy, examines the dynamics and escalations of their process, and traces the emotions of those involved. This will deepen our understanding about the operations of social demarcation and the mechanisms of group formation among humanists and concomitantly the fundamental social potential for conflict.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-120
Author(s):  
Cecília Avelino Barbosa

Place branding is a network of associations in the consumer’s mind, based on the visual, verbal, and behavioral expression of a place. Food can be an important tool to summarize it as it is part of the culture of a city and its symbolic capital. Food is imaginary, a ritual and a social construction. This paper aims to explore a ritual that has turned into one of the brands of Lisbon in the past few years. The fresh sardines barbecued out of doors, during Saint Anthony’s festival, has become a symbol that can be found on t-shirts, magnets and all kinds of souvenirs. Over the year, tourists can buy sardine shaped objects in very cheap stores to luxurious shops. There is even a whole boutique dedicated to the fish: “The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines” and an annual competition promoted by the city council to choose the five most emblematic designs of sardines. In order to analyze the Sardine phenomenon from a city branding point of view, the objective of this paper is to comprehend what associations are made by foreigners when they are outside of Lisbon. As a methodological procedure five design sardines, were used of last year to questioning to which city they relate them in interviews carried in Madrid, Lyon, Rome and London. Upon completion of the analysis, the results of the city branding strategy adopted by the city council to promote the sardines as the official symbol of Lisbon is seen as a Folkmarketing action. The effects are positive, but still quite local. On the other hand, significant participation of the Lisbon´s dwellers in the Sardine Contest was observed, which seems to be a good way to promote the city identity and pride in their best ambassador: the citizens.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-317
Author(s):  
David McCrone
Keyword(s):  
The City ◽  

How did Edinburgh become ‘festival city’? Despite appearances, it was not always so, and it acquired the accolade by happenstance; in the view of one observer, a ‘strange amalgam of cultural banditry, civic enterprise and idealism’. The official Festival's survival was down to the City Council, and it was funded almost entirely by public bodies. This was the central structure around which The Fringe developed, and The Traverse prospered, along with smaller festivals and events to become Festival City. The story sheds considerable light on how Edinburgh ‘works’, its strengths and weaknesses combined.


Author(s):  
Daniel W. Berman

Foundation myths are a crucial component of many Greek cities’ identities. But the mythic tradition also represents many cities and their spaces before they were cities at all. This study examines three of these ‘prefoundational’ narratives: stories of cities-before-cities that prepare, configure, or reconfigure, in a conceptual sense, the mythic ground for foundation. ‘Prefoundational’ myths vary in both form and function. Thebes, before it was Thebes, is represented as a trackless and unfortified backwater. Croton, like many Greek cities in south Italy, credited Heracles with a kind of ‘prefounding’, accomplished on his journey from the West back to central Greece. And the Athenian acropolis was the object of a quarrel between Athena and Poseidon, the results of which gave the city its name and permanently marked its topography. In each case, ‘prefoundational’ myth plays a crucial role in representing ideology, identity, and civic topography.


Author(s):  
George Hoffmann

On a warm summer afternoon in 1561, Calvin’s chief editor donned a heavy stole, thick robes, and a gleaming tiara and proceeded to strut and fret his hour upon the stage in a comedy of his own devising. For little more than a century, Christians in the West had celebrated on August 6th Christ’s Transfiguration as the son of God in shining robes. But on this Sunday in Geneva, the city council, consistory, and an audience fresh from having attended edifying sermons at morning service gathered to applaud the transfiguration of the learned Conrad Badius into the title role of ...


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