Hi lutenists, just in case someone thinks I am a madman, when writing about the world picture of the composers of our lute music, as I did (see below), I would like to add something. My list of "heavens" (should it be "spheres"?) is taken from the preface of one edition of Dante's Divina Comedia, Paradiso, written by Daniele Mattalia, ISBN 88-17-12033-2. That medieval view of the universe was still very much in the beliefs in the times of Campion. And perhaps something of that still is? At least in Finnish we still say "seventh heaven", when referring to something very wanted is achieved - well the seventh heaven is in between the most far off planet Saturnus and the Primus Motor, so very near the God... And so on. You'll find this kind of references here and there in our languages actually quite often ...
I think you HAVE to know the world picture of the 1500's and 1600's to be able to understand the songs and especially the song texts (=poems) of those times. One, perhaps humorous example is the word "humour" in the texts of Dowland songs (and also in the plays of Shakespeare!). It really does not mean "humor", no, it means the quality of the liquids in your body, which then also determine your attitude to the life, including your sense of "humor" in the modern sense. All the best, Arto ----------------------------------------------------- On 5/30/2008, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I would suggest underlights are the planets and perhaps also the Moon > > (and Sun?). In the world picture of those days all the stars were > > attached to the same, uppermost chrystal sphere, each planet had its own > > chrystal sphere, which were also lower, nearer to the center of the > > universe, our own Earth. > > More info: > There are 9 heavens (cielo): > I heaven: the Moon, > II: Mercurius > III: Venus > IV: the Sun > V: Mars > VI: Jupiter > VII: Saturnus > VIII: the Stars > VIII: Primus Motor > > As far as I understand, at least I-VIII are attached to a transparent > chrystal sphere... ;-) > > Arto To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
