The cloister of Saint Cugat, a Romanesque abbey north of Barcelona, is surrounded by seventy-two inter- columns , eighteen on each of the four sides that enclose the small central garden The one hundred and forty-four capitols (two orders of columns for seventy- two column positions) bearing engravings depicting religious and profane narrative scenes are well visible for those who walk along the passage-ways. More than two thirds of the icons are zoomorphic motifs: ferocious beasts, meek domestic animals, harmless or rapacious birds, insidious snakes, fearsome uroburos, mythological and fantastic monsters. It would seem onerous to seek logical links and connections amongst the abundance of the descriptive fragments set along the passage-ways used by the monks at every canonic hour for their meditation on the Scriptures. The architecture is simple and chaste as prescribed by Saint Bernard of Chiaravalle. The order of the internal façade is determined by the structural requirements of bearing the load of the roofing and counterbalancing thrust: long and ample barrel vaults cover the lateral galleries transmitting their thrust to the external solid masonry wall on three groups of equal arches each consisting of five small round arches separated by a pair of buttresses and sustained by a double order of slender columns resting on a continuous base interrupted only where there was , at one time, the only entrance to the garden. In contrast to the idea that the sculptures are a n ensemble of bizarre products inspired only by the vivid imagination of the engraver there is the hypothesis that they are the result of careful planning. Several considerations support the latter point of view, in particular, the austerity of the “Benedictine rule” after the Clarveaux reform which abolished from coenobitic life everything that did not have a specific purpose or that was not rigorously pragmatic. But, perhaps even more vehemently, the prescriptions deriving from Saint Bernard’s sermons. His view on such matters was clearly stated In a letter he wrote to his cousin Robert (1124): the monk defined all decorations as “ridiculous monstrosities”, to be considered “shameful pleasure for the eyes” of those who were to devote their time to the meditation of the Scriptures in those sacred places. Bearing in mind such considerations and the interpretations of the scholars who based their research on them, the column positions of the old garden entrance were numbered proceeding along the direction of apparent sun path. The number of columns and the variety of animal species portrayed, possibly only slightly inferior to what, by order of Yahweh, was brought to Noah’s ark, could not. Hypothesis. Marius Schneider, musicologist, archaeologist and art historian, studied natural philosophies and by comparing and contrasting was able to deduce a sort of code which enabled him to identify a univocal and consequential link between the succession of zoomorphic motifs engraved on the Romanesque capitols of three different abbey cloisters in Catalonia and their musical astrological and narrative rhythm . Hailed, but also scorned, the book Singende Steine , was written in 1955 and then revised in 1972 and in 1976 it was translated into and French. It was the result of years of well documented thorough work . The anastatic copy made for the SE types of Milan, later followed by a new edition of the anthology selection of essays which had been collected in 1970 by Elemire Zolla attest to the unwavering interest his theories attracted and which to date can still may still challenge consolidated beliefs Well beyond the overcritical assessment expressed in the recent “overview” on mediaeval music, Marius Schneider’s work . Is still a factor to be reckoned with in the debate on the unsolved mysteries of Romanesque art: like a spear of light it pierces the shadows of mediaeval history . Thesis and antithesis. In discussing the above mentioned themes the objective is not to prove or confute the musical nature of the capitols or the architecture of the cloister, but rather to make the experiencing of sounds and images simultaneous. In this perspective it is easier to understand the author’s interest and to follow certain lines of reasoning. The “ drawing of space” is the description of relationships obtained according to pre-set aims and then re-presented to carry out a critical study, whereas” the space of drawing” entails following the methodology to construct a logical framework so that one can compare the rules of composition as phases in the evolution of the ideas and canons of an epoch Compared to its first version, which is too dated to be mentioned , the text has been modified in several ways, but has retained an organization that offers the reader an approach to a culture that “saw” through “hearing” and ascribed to this sense very high perceptive value: «Modern man, wrote Marius Schneider, can hardly grasp at the acoustic world, the polychromic, polyrhythmic and linear force from which ancient cosmologic legends derived the origins of the visible and tangible world. In seeking adequate means to guide the observer through this sensory experience and thus stating that something more than words were needed, the author to extend the iconographic study to the environmental characteristics of the cloister to identify systems that could be compared in terms of material and non material quality indicators. The capitols fulfill a structural requirement but they also mark the rhythm of the cloister shifting the attention from the distance between one architectural element and the other to the time of fruition. From this point of view it is possible to envisage the creation of “ethical spaces”: the cloister environment orients the synesthetic experience of the monks, who at every canonic hour follow a path of prayer and penitence. The hypothesis that the was a well pondered plan to prompt the monks to visually navigate amongst the biblical scenes guided by the sunlight, symbol of the divine grace, or better yet, by the music audible by the ears of the hear, allows to interlace religious, profane lyrical and moral themes Some are classical model handed down and transferred, others are the result of the contamination of customs occurred in the complex and contradictory Middle Ages. Amongst the most interesting aspects of this interpretative analysis there is a sort of parallel discourse within the criteria of order pertaining to the organization of the “actual “ spaces, which can be traced to a consolidated theory, and the configuration of “affective spaces, which can be verified only by de-constructing experience to isolate permanent concepts.” In the first case the episteme to look for lies in the mathematical ratios that link intelligible music to the normative-inductive logic handed down by the Greek tradition and adapted by the Neo-platonic school of Chartres to the needs of the Christian world, while, in the second case it lies in the possibility to compare actions in order to deduce a posteriori the permanent characteristics: in this sense music governs the laws of rational pleasure. Musical theory and practice allow therefore to link faith and reason and thus obtain a new way of conceiving and practicing doctrine. So starting from a rigorous relief of the elements the configure the cloister, the first chapter of Sounds of stone proceeds to extract themes that connect the “visible” harmonies to those perceivable in other ways. There is brief reference to the scientific and cultural context in which Saint Cugat was conceived , realized and engraved. In fact the forma mentis of the master masons directs the analysis towards an ideal model which in the present work evolves into the portrait of the period in which the discussion on the origin of the “Sounds of stones” arises. The zoomorphic language which survived the archaic era and was re-discovered during the Middle Ages is interwoven with the contradictory events of those centuries and to date still retains some of its founding elements In the third and last chapter, the rhythm of the prose of Marius Schneider is transcribed. Some considerations concerning the digital re-presentation of the musical, astronomical and narrative rhythms Inspired, by analogy the transcription of an informatics rhythm. In conclusion the question of which will be the “harmonies” of the third millennium remains unanswered. Nevertheless, observing the healthy complexity of the essential , rigorous and repetitive space of Saint Cugat trough the semantic richness prospected by Schneider is significant for those who are called upon to intervene in the world of today to defy its laws and to guide its developments.
M E L O D I E D I P I E T R A. Il quadrato claustrale e il disegno del chiostro di Sant Cugat. Prefazione di Cesare DE SETA. Nuova definitiva redazione con allegati speciali (www.edizioniesa.com). Estratti in lingua inglese. Recensioni in riviste classe A : D I S E G N A R E idee, immagini, n.48 (2014), p.93; E G A, n.26 (2015), p.4; N N J ,n.17 (2015), p. 567-572 DOI: 10.1007/s00004-015-0284-2
ROSSI, Adriana
2014
Abstract
The cloister of Saint Cugat, a Romanesque abbey north of Barcelona, is surrounded by seventy-two inter- columns , eighteen on each of the four sides that enclose the small central garden The one hundred and forty-four capitols (two orders of columns for seventy- two column positions) bearing engravings depicting religious and profane narrative scenes are well visible for those who walk along the passage-ways. More than two thirds of the icons are zoomorphic motifs: ferocious beasts, meek domestic animals, harmless or rapacious birds, insidious snakes, fearsome uroburos, mythological and fantastic monsters. It would seem onerous to seek logical links and connections amongst the abundance of the descriptive fragments set along the passage-ways used by the monks at every canonic hour for their meditation on the Scriptures. The architecture is simple and chaste as prescribed by Saint Bernard of Chiaravalle. The order of the internal façade is determined by the structural requirements of bearing the load of the roofing and counterbalancing thrust: long and ample barrel vaults cover the lateral galleries transmitting their thrust to the external solid masonry wall on three groups of equal arches each consisting of five small round arches separated by a pair of buttresses and sustained by a double order of slender columns resting on a continuous base interrupted only where there was , at one time, the only entrance to the garden. In contrast to the idea that the sculptures are a n ensemble of bizarre products inspired only by the vivid imagination of the engraver there is the hypothesis that they are the result of careful planning. Several considerations support the latter point of view, in particular, the austerity of the “Benedictine rule” after the Clarveaux reform which abolished from coenobitic life everything that did not have a specific purpose or that was not rigorously pragmatic. But, perhaps even more vehemently, the prescriptions deriving from Saint Bernard’s sermons. His view on such matters was clearly stated In a letter he wrote to his cousin Robert (1124): the monk defined all decorations as “ridiculous monstrosities”, to be considered “shameful pleasure for the eyes” of those who were to devote their time to the meditation of the Scriptures in those sacred places. Bearing in mind such considerations and the interpretations of the scholars who based their research on them, the column positions of the old garden entrance were numbered proceeding along the direction of apparent sun path. The number of columns and the variety of animal species portrayed, possibly only slightly inferior to what, by order of Yahweh, was brought to Noah’s ark, could not. Hypothesis. Marius Schneider, musicologist, archaeologist and art historian, studied natural philosophies and by comparing and contrasting was able to deduce a sort of code which enabled him to identify a univocal and consequential link between the succession of zoomorphic motifs engraved on the Romanesque capitols of three different abbey cloisters in Catalonia and their musical astrological and narrative rhythm . Hailed, but also scorned, the book Singende Steine , was written in 1955 and then revised in 1972 and in 1976 it was translated into and French. It was the result of years of well documented thorough work . The anastatic copy made for the SE types of Milan, later followed by a new edition of the anthology selection of essays which had been collected in 1970 by Elemire Zolla attest to the unwavering interest his theories attracted and which to date can still may still challenge consolidated beliefs Well beyond the overcritical assessment expressed in the recent “overview” on mediaeval music, Marius Schneider’s work . Is still a factor to be reckoned with in the debate on the unsolved mysteries of Romanesque art: like a spear of light it pierces the shadows of mediaeval history . Thesis and antithesis. In discussing the above mentioned themes the objective is not to prove or confute the musical nature of the capitols or the architecture of the cloister, but rather to make the experiencing of sounds and images simultaneous. In this perspective it is easier to understand the author’s interest and to follow certain lines of reasoning. The “ drawing of space” is the description of relationships obtained according to pre-set aims and then re-presented to carry out a critical study, whereas” the space of drawing” entails following the methodology to construct a logical framework so that one can compare the rules of composition as phases in the evolution of the ideas and canons of an epoch Compared to its first version, which is too dated to be mentioned , the text has been modified in several ways, but has retained an organization that offers the reader an approach to a culture that “saw” through “hearing” and ascribed to this sense very high perceptive value: «Modern man, wrote Marius Schneider, can hardly grasp at the acoustic world, the polychromic, polyrhythmic and linear force from which ancient cosmologic legends derived the origins of the visible and tangible world. In seeking adequate means to guide the observer through this sensory experience and thus stating that something more than words were needed, the author to extend the iconographic study to the environmental characteristics of the cloister to identify systems that could be compared in terms of material and non material quality indicators. The capitols fulfill a structural requirement but they also mark the rhythm of the cloister shifting the attention from the distance between one architectural element and the other to the time of fruition. From this point of view it is possible to envisage the creation of “ethical spaces”: the cloister environment orients the synesthetic experience of the monks, who at every canonic hour follow a path of prayer and penitence. The hypothesis that the was a well pondered plan to prompt the monks to visually navigate amongst the biblical scenes guided by the sunlight, symbol of the divine grace, or better yet, by the music audible by the ears of the hear, allows to interlace religious, profane lyrical and moral themes Some are classical model handed down and transferred, others are the result of the contamination of customs occurred in the complex and contradictory Middle Ages. Amongst the most interesting aspects of this interpretative analysis there is a sort of parallel discourse within the criteria of order pertaining to the organization of the “actual “ spaces, which can be traced to a consolidated theory, and the configuration of “affective spaces, which can be verified only by de-constructing experience to isolate permanent concepts.” In the first case the episteme to look for lies in the mathematical ratios that link intelligible music to the normative-inductive logic handed down by the Greek tradition and adapted by the Neo-platonic school of Chartres to the needs of the Christian world, while, in the second case it lies in the possibility to compare actions in order to deduce a posteriori the permanent characteristics: in this sense music governs the laws of rational pleasure. Musical theory and practice allow therefore to link faith and reason and thus obtain a new way of conceiving and practicing doctrine. So starting from a rigorous relief of the elements the configure the cloister, the first chapter of Sounds of stone proceeds to extract themes that connect the “visible” harmonies to those perceivable in other ways. There is brief reference to the scientific and cultural context in which Saint Cugat was conceived , realized and engraved. In fact the forma mentis of the master masons directs the analysis towards an ideal model which in the present work evolves into the portrait of the period in which the discussion on the origin of the “Sounds of stones” arises. The zoomorphic language which survived the archaic era and was re-discovered during the Middle Ages is interwoven with the contradictory events of those centuries and to date still retains some of its founding elements In the third and last chapter, the rhythm of the prose of Marius Schneider is transcribed. Some considerations concerning the digital re-presentation of the musical, astronomical and narrative rhythms Inspired, by analogy the transcription of an informatics rhythm. In conclusion the question of which will be the “harmonies” of the third millennium remains unanswered. Nevertheless, observing the healthy complexity of the essential , rigorous and repetitive space of Saint Cugat trough the semantic richness prospected by Schneider is significant for those who are called upon to intervene in the world of today to defy its laws and to guide its developments.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
