Augustinian Soundscapes: The Church and Monastery of San Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples
Chair(s): Evan MacCarthy (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Founded in 1343 by Augustinian monks and completed in the early 15th century near the city dump–an area historically troubled by poverty, neglect, and crime–the monastery of San Giovanni a Carbonara is one of the richest examples of Renaissance art in Naples. With its unique architectural plan, with multiple chapels and levels, it houses sculptures and paintings by famed fifteenth- and sixteenth-century artists (Leonardo da Besozzo, Perinetto da Benevento, Giorgio Vasari, Girolamo Santacroce, Lorenzo Vaccaro among others). The monastery soon became an august center of learning that attracted intellectual elites (such as Giovanni Pontano, 1426-1502, Benet Garret, 1450-1514, and Jacopo Sannazaro, 1458-1530) and also housed a school for the poor and slaves. Its library was seized in the 18th century to be incorporated into the imperial holdings of the Austrian regime and repatriated from Vienna in 1919 when it finally entered the Biblioteca Nazionale “Vittorio Emanuele III”.
Notwithstanding its historical and artistic prominence, scholars had devoted little attention to the soundscapes of this monastery and church, the music iconography of the Cappella Caracciolo del Sole, and the musical significance of the book collections. Most studies on the library, for instance, have focused on the formation of the fund, its architectural history, and the books’ literary content and iconographic apparatus. To date there are no analyses of the liturgical manuscripts as witnesses of the sacred traditions of the monastery and of the city of Naples, and on their influence to post-Tridentine liturgical reforms as well as on the role of the monks as curators and conservators.
Part of a larger project on the soundscape of San Giovanni a Carbonara and on its cultural and political role within the Italian and European context, this session highlights the unique musical testimony of this institution, including the depiction of musical instruments, the manuscripts’ musical content, and the role of the Augustinians in the larger European context. One of the final goals of our research team is also to initiate an open dialogue with the local community, currently challenged by the explosion of tourism and gentrification.
Presentations of the Symposium
The monastery in the context of Neapolitan and European history
Luisa Nardini
University of Texas at Austin
The monastery of San Giovanni was placed in the area of the Carbonara (charcoal kiln) outside of the north-east walls of Naples, a malodorous area destined to the collection and burning of city waste. Its patron was King Ladislaus of Durazzo (1370-1414), who was also buried in the majestic funerary monument placed behind the main altar that Queen Joan II (1371-1435) commissioned to sculptor Andrea da Firenze. The soundscape of the monastery must have been unique: the alternation between silence and chanting that characterized the monks’ life sharply contrasted with the crackling of waste burning, the gurgling of the nearby river, and the crowds’ clamor, especially during the recurring tournaments organized by the monarchs and that a horrified Francesco Petrarca described in a letter to cardinal Giovanni Colonna.
In spite of its prominence, the monastery’s musical culture has not been examined extensively. Studies on the library collections, for instance, have paid very little attention to their musical content, notwithstanding the rare occurrence of music notation in two tenth- and eleventh-century literary manuscripts and the rich collection of liturgical manuscripts displaying several remarkable features. Similarly, the rich musical iconography of the Cappella Caracciolo del Sole has been generally overlooked by scholars, except for the depiction of the clavichord—the earliest of its kind from medieval Europe.
After introducing the history of the monastery and its library, the paper will take the audience through an imaginary tour of the site: from the surrounding neighborhood, to the spaces of the church and monastery: the library (located first in the Seripando Chapel outside of the main church and later in the Torre del Salvatore) and the Cappella Caracciolo del Sole, whose music iconography can be interpreted in light of Augustinian piety. A special attention will be given to the liturgical books that allow us to reconstruct liturgical practices between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, to uncover unique improvisatory practices in chant performance, and to suggest the possible influences on post-reformation liturgical uses.
Plainchant and Its Local Context at the Monastery of San Giovanni Carbonara
Bibiana Vergine
University of North Texas
The chants in the notated liturgical codices from the collection of San Giovanni Carbonara date from the thirteenth through seventeenth centuries and reveal local, Neapolitan liturgical practices. Those used at the monastery, characterize its soundscape , and highlight the importance of considering Neapolitan sources when tracing chant circulation. The melody for the offertory Domine Iesu for the Mass of the Dead in a thirteenth-century Franciscan missal predating the foundation of the congregation at San Giovanni but kept at the monastery is found most often in manuscripts of Roman origin, indicating a particular connection between Franciscan and Roman liturgical practices and showing that Rome’s influence on plainchant did not cease in the eighth century. A fifteenth-century liturgical miscellany contains melodies for the Mass of the Dead not found in other sources and represents a local chant tradition. Moreover, rare antiphon texts for the feast of the Holy Cross in this codex may have influenced Plantin’s Antiphonarium Romanum, published in Antwerp in 1571-73 during the counter-Reformation, which supports Marianne Gillion’s hypothesis that an Italian exemplar was brought to Flanders for the creation of the Antiphonarium. Chants for four sanctoral feasts in a seventeenth-century choirbook from San Giovanni that are rare in coeval southern Italian sources but found in those of other regions suggest that Neapolitan monasteries played an important role in the expansion of the liturgy and the circulation of plainchant. Finally, the variety of musical scripts exhibited by the notation of these codices, including the combination of neumatic and square notation within one manuscript and relating to a possibly rhythmicized performance of the Easter vigil Exultet shed light on both the scribal and performative contexts of plainchant at the monastery, and on the different meanings ascribed to notational symbols. The present research joins other investigations that seek to rebuild a historical context for the performance, notation, and circulation of liturgical chant in a particularly important region often under-examined in musicological studies but that reveals unexpected insights to plainchant scholars and to historians of the Neapolitan historical soundscape.
Performance as Pedagogy: Neumes in the Aeneid and the Metamorphoses at San Giovanni a Carbonara
Catherine Heemann1, Kyrie Ekaterina Bouressa2
1University of Texas at Austin, 2McGill University
This paper explores the significance of neumes in two tenth and eleventh-century manuscripts, Vindobonensis Latin 5 and 6 (Vind.Lat.5, 6) and evaluates their impact on the learning and performance of classical texts, specifically Virgil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Thanks to the conservation efforts of the monks of San Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples, through these manuscripts, we have a unique glimpse into the pedagogical techniques of a medieval Neapolitan classroom.
Neumes, a medieval form of musical notation, are found in both interlinear and marginal positions in Vind.Lat.5 & 6, enhancing sections of high pathos, such as Dido’s lament and the death of Orpheus. While the practice of adding neumes to classical texts was common from the ninth to twelfth centuries across western Europe, the placement and methodology of their assignment in these manuscripts suggest a specific Neapolitan practice. The Aeneid as a topic is not unusual, though Horace’s Odes and Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy are neumed more frequently, distinguishing these manuscripts not only in their rarer geographical origins, but their focus as well.
The presence of neumes in Vind.Lat.5 & 6 reflect a glossing tradition as well as the use of musical notation as a pedagogical tool for learning Latin prose and its oratorical delivery. This highlights the educational practices of the time, particularly in monastic settings where the manuscripts were likely used for study and contemplation. The unique neume styles in these manuscripts, confirmed to be mostly Beneventan in origin, emphasize their significance in establishing the literary and musical content of the library of San Giovanni.
The manuscripts not only shed light on the cultural exchanges and influences in Naples but also showcase a blend of French and Italian neume styles, reflecting the region’s diverse cultural and artistic heritage. Their seizing by the Austrian crown in the eighteenth-century testifies to the richness of Neapolitan manuscript collections, and while we will never know what these neumed passages meant to the monks of San Giovanni, their role as curators of the library has allowed us a glimpse at older medieval practices.
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