Dante, Music, and Lyric

Dante’s works contain a wealth of musical references, and his linguistic treatise, De vulgari eloquentia, is an invaluable source of knowledge regarding the performance practice of contemporary lyric poetry. Despite these indisputable facts, several scholars have cast doubt on Dante’s actual musical knowledge, and the extent to which we can interpret his references to musical performance as representing historical practice. This paper explores the issue of musical performance of lyric poems, both by Dante and as represented within Dante’s works. It addresses the question of Dante’s first-hand experience of melodic delivery of lyric poems, the meanings of musical terms in De vulgari eloquentia, Dante’s thoughts on sung performance and its relationship with texts, and every instance in which there is a suggestion that a poem by Dante was sung during his lifetime.