Méthode facile pour la viole d'amour (1777): the use of the viola d'amore in the 18th century

• Grant number: 23/07221-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 04, 2023
• End date: February 28, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Music
• Principal Investigator: Monica Isabel Lucas
• Grantee: Felipe Galhardi Rodrigues
• Supervisor: Emilio Moreno
• Host Institution: Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/04794-0 - A commented translation of 'Méthode facile pour la viola viole d'amour', by Louis-Toussaint Milandre, BP.MS

Abstract

This project aims to describe the plan of activities to be made over the course of internship at the Early Music Department of Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC), Barcelona. Since this proposal is fundamentally connected to the main study plan - a commented translation into Portuguese of the Méthode facile pour la viole d'amour, a treatise by the French composer Louis-Toussaint Milandre (floruit ca. 1756 - ca. 1776) -, our goal is to deepen our understanding about the usage and practice of the viola d'amore during the 18th century. This instrument had an undisputable presence throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, and several composers dedicated musical works to it. However, in the beginning of the 19th century, with the establishment of the symphony orchestra, its usage was gradually restrained until it almost fell into oblivion. We will particularly profit from the guidance of Professor Emilio Moreno, PhD, currently one of the leading musicologist-performers and researchers of period-performance practice, being a worldwide icon of the so-called Early Music field. The exchange with prestigious scholars, artists, and other graduate students, will make it possible for us to achieve important advancements in our studies. The purpose of this internship is to provide information and commentaries for chapter III of the main research, devoted to the usages and practice of the viola d'amore in the 18th century. The excellent library of ESMUC, which contains an important collection of primary sources, will provide us with a wide range of information about this instrument. By establishing an institutional dialogue between both universities, this internship will foster the promotion and publication of the works produced here and at ESMUC. (AU)