| dc.description.abstract | The aim of this research was to investigate the emergence of opera in the second half of the sixteenth century from the perspective of the history of knowledge. This perspective allowed to contextualise the musical development as part of the pursuit of knowledge in sixteenth-century Florence. Vincenzo Galilei and the Camerata Fiorentina exemplified the need for the relatively new perspective of the history of knowledge. In this case study, the four central processes in the pursuit of knowledge (gathering, analysing, employing and disseminating), and the hypothetical site of knowledge of the Accademia degli Alterati and the Camerata Fiorentina as a locus for innovation, proved to be powerful tools to analyse the emergence of opera.
The fresh perspective allowed to highlight new ways that connect the early modern musical practice to the pursuit of knowledge. Two aspects proved to be important in this case, namely the social context and the interdisciplinary engagement of rhetorical actio. First, the locus of the Camerata Fiorentina and the Accademia degli Alterati as the social context for both musical innovation and rhetorical actio, allowed for intellectual and artistic exchange. Second, the connection between rhetorical actio and musical practice appeared to have a strong multidisciplinary nature. Philological research, literary discussions, musical aesthetic, musical practice, experimentation with affect theory, a three-century long oral performance practice, and individual ideals proved to be important factors in the emergence of opera.
Historiographically, this master thesis contributed to an ongoing debate on the nature of the Scientific Revolution by highlighting the significance of rhetorical actio and accordingly, the trivium in the early modern pursuit of knowledge. In addition, the consideration of practical knowledge allowed for a re-evaluation of the Scientific Revolution. Furthermore, the inclusion of the study and practice of music in the history of knowledge inevitably called for the reappraisal of music as part of Renaissance Humanism and of the Republic of Letters. The emergence of opera as a case study allowed to start thinking about these narratives in a different way. Music appeared as an important aspect of the sixteenth-century humanistic endeavour. The formal accademia and the informal camerata were both valuable sites of knowledge in studying the Italian culture of the academy as part of the Republic of Letters. | |
