The lion's ear: Pope Leo X, the Renaissance papacy, and music

Abstract

For centuries, Renaissance papacy has been celebrated for its generous patronage of arts. Pope Leo X, son of legendary Lorenzo the Magnificent de'Medici, is widely understood to be one of greatest patrons of music in European history, and one of emblematic figures of Italian Renaissance. Lion's Ear is first full-length scholarly treatment of musical patronage of a Renaissance pope and provides an evocative picture of musical life of pre-Reformation papacy. The various uses of music in early modern Rome---music for public festivals, such as carnival; for liturgical ceremonies of Sistine Chapel; to accompany daily dining and festive banqueting; for celebration of saints' feast days; and for theatrical performances---are vividly described and analyzed and give a detailed understanding of place of music in life of one of its most important early modern benefactors. Anthony M. Cummings takes an interdisciplinary approach to his subject matter, bringing together history of music, art, philosophy, and ecclesiastical history to locate music in its broadest and deepest contexts. Through materials such as diplomatic correspondence, book aims to reconstruct atmosphere of musical life in Leo X's court, presenting subject matter in a way that will appeal to scholars and students of musicology and early modern history. Art historians, ecclesiastical historians, and specialists from many other disciplines have long produced scholarly findings useful for understanding pre-Reformation papacy, its alliance with Italian Renaissance, and extraordinary artistic legacy of that alliance. Anthony M. Cummings complements that scholarship with his thorough and imaginative account of music's relationship with that vibrant and fascinating culture, first by a specialist in musical life of early modern Europe.