Italian Songs from the Time of Christopher Columbus: A Critical Edition

FAIN: FA-251898-17

Anne Elizabeth MacNeil
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC 27599-1350)

Completion of a digital edition of Italian frottole, popular songs of love, war, and politics from the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

Since the mid-18th century, scholars have been accustomed to thinking of music as embodied in its notation. The restrictions of print culture on the publication of critical editions has entrenched this line of thinking. But with the resources afforded by digital humanities, I am creating a multi-media critical edition of the repertory of Italian songs from the time of Christopher Columbus (known as frottole) that displaces this notion and relocates the object of study in music as a sounding work of art. These songs offer insight into human expression in an era of intense cultural change--a time of war, a time of scientific discovery and the exploration of the New World. Many frottole speak to these cultural anxieties, and the repertory as a whole represents a rejection of French domination over the Italian peninsula in favor of the Italian language, its ancient poetic forms, and traditional practices of singing and reciting to the lyre. These songs give expression to Italian humanism.