Mr. DaVinci's Music
Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 11:13 pm
As I may have mentioned once or twice, I have been studying music so I can become a better composer. Sometimes when my brain gets filled up with too many notes, I take a break and look at paintings. Today, I was looking at the super-high-resolution internet version of The Last Supper, painted by Mr. DaVinci. I have to look at it on the internet because, even though I ask nicely, my mom won't drive me to the Sistine Chapel. If you want to look at the painting, too, it's here:
http://www.haltadefinizione.com/en/
So, an Italian musician says he found secret music in the painting, by recognizing that the table formed a staff, with loaves of bread and the Apostles' hands forming the notes, and reading from right to left, the way Mr. DaVinci liked to write his backwards code. It's a sacred hymn or requiem, according to the Italian.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/11/0 ... 02-ak-0000
I have not played this music myself, because I do not have a pipe organ, upon which the hymn supposedly sounds best. If Mr. DaVinci felt highly enough about his song to hide it for more than 500 years, he deserves the best possible performance. I've started wondering, though, if any other painters have hidden music in their work.
I'm going to check out Mr. Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on La Grand Jatte." I like that painting because it has dogs, and lots of heads that might form musical chords, and ladies holding parasols that might represent musical slurs. Furthermore, I always did think there was something fishy about that monkey on a leash. In my experience, reasonable two-footers simply do not let their monkeys hang out with loose dogs at the park. Now I think that monkey is a clue!
/:P\
http://www.haltadefinizione.com/en/
So, an Italian musician says he found secret music in the painting, by recognizing that the table formed a staff, with loaves of bread and the Apostles' hands forming the notes, and reading from right to left, the way Mr. DaVinci liked to write his backwards code. It's a sacred hymn or requiem, according to the Italian.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/11/0 ... 02-ak-0000
I have not played this music myself, because I do not have a pipe organ, upon which the hymn supposedly sounds best. If Mr. DaVinci felt highly enough about his song to hide it for more than 500 years, he deserves the best possible performance. I've started wondering, though, if any other painters have hidden music in their work.
I'm going to check out Mr. Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on La Grand Jatte." I like that painting because it has dogs, and lots of heads that might form musical chords, and ladies holding parasols that might represent musical slurs. Furthermore, I always did think there was something fishy about that monkey on a leash. In my experience, reasonable two-footers simply do not let their monkeys hang out with loose dogs at the park. Now I think that monkey is a clue!
/:P\