‘Ut cantus consonet cum verbis’: transformations of sound and sense in Paolo da Firenze’s Lena, virtù e speranza

Abstract

Abstract This article explores the topos of transformation/metamorphosis and its role in creating unusually fluid and ambiguous scenarios of musico-textual behaviour in Trecento and Quattrocento song. Examining Paolo da Firenze’s ballata Lena, virtù e speranza, I show how transformation spreads from the surface level of specific poetic motifs and musical gestures to the very core of music’s relation to its text and text’s relation to its music. In this analysis, my goal is to follow the trajectory of one specific word (‘mutatio’) as it passes through various theoretical filters on its way from the textual to the musical medium (or back), creating new and often unexpected meanings realized in a musical setting.