ABSTRACT
In 1499, Aldo Manuzio printed Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, the most enigmatic and intriguing book of the Renaissance. Although it appeared anonymously, its author's name, Francesco Colonna, can be discovered through an acrostic of the first letter of each chapter. The book narrates the long dream of Poliphilo (Colonna himself), a journey from sensual to spiritual love through many different and bizarre adventures. The Hypnerotomachia was read all over Europe, as attested by the significant number of surviving exemplars of the first edition as well as several subsequent editions, among them an Italian reprint in 1545, a French translation in 1546 (Discours du songe de Poliphile, reprinted in 1561 and 1600), and a partial one into English in 1592 (The Strife of Love in a Dreame). The text is illustrated by 172 beautiful woodcuts, which, as art historians have demonstrated, had a significant impact on early sixteenth-century Venetian painting. Since sound and music play a fundamental role in the Hypnerotomachia, many woodcuts have sound and music in them. In this chapter, I discuss the most interesting musical woodcuts, focusing on the different functions played by music and sound in the narration: from the music/sound of natural elements and beasts, to singing, dancing, and playing, to music as a philosophical exercise. In conclusion, I analyse two compositions by Paolo Fonghetti (ca. 1572–1630), Polia and Polifilo included in his printed collection of two-voice Capricii et Madrigali (1598), an interesting case of musical homage to the Hypnerotomachia.
