« Otro modo de no perecedera música » : de la théorie à la pratique, l’harmonie des sphères selon Francisco de Salinas et fray Luis de León

Abstract

Fray Luis de León’s Ode III A Francisco de Salinas and Ode VIII Noche serena deal with the topos of the Harmony of the Spheres. A cross-reading of these poems with De musica libri septem (1577) by the dedicatee of Ode III shows that Fray Luis develops an idea of cosmic harmony in line with the theoretical innovations of his friend: thus the harmony of the spheres is not caused by the sound created by moving celestial bodies, but by the rhythm of their movements. Salinas strives to build a coherent model in which harmony and rhythm (specifically metrics) are governed by the same mathematical relationships, and Fray Luis cultivates in the lira a strophic form consistent with Salinas’ thought because it articulates unequal lines into a whole organized by the number 12.

Keywords

• poésie
• métrique
• musique
• Pythagore
• Renaissance
• León (Luis de)