Resounding Ships: Sound and Music of Sacred Sea Travel between Venice and Jerusalem (c. 1450-1650)

Descripción del proyecto

Sonido y comunidad en las primeras peregrinaciones modernas

En los siglos XV y XVI, la ruta marítima entre Venecia y Jerusalén fue un crisol de comunidades diversas, multiétnicas y multirreligiosas, todas unidas por el sonido. Los diarios de los peregrinos describen cómo los fenómenos sonoros, desde las trompetas hasta los cánticos, creaban un sentimiento de comunidad entre los viajeros a pesar de sus diferencias. Sin embargo, se ha subestimado la importancia del sonido en el estudio de los viajes de la Edad Moderna. El objetivo del proyecto SOUNDSHIP, financiado por las acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, es cambiar esta situación. Su equipo examinará cómo el sonido configuró las identidades e interacciones de estas comunidades con una investigación innovadora en estudios sonoros, historia auditiva y musicología. El proyecto mejorará nuestra comprensión sobre el papel que desempeña del sonido en el fomento de la cohesión cultural.

Objetivo

The maritime route between Venice and Jerusalem testified to an incredible exchange of thousands of people in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Among these were pilgrimages, which gathered transregional, multiethnic and multireligious communities, brought together through sound in spite of their language, cultural and religious differences. Pilgrims’ diaries narrate a sense of community that was initiated and preserved by sound phenomena such as noise and silence, sonic practices such as sounding trumpets or whistles, and various music practices, including chanting. In the current time, marked by intensifying interethnic, intercultural and religious tensions, my project advocates for and fosters multicultural cohesion within modern society.

Despite being naturally prominent in general early modern travel, sound’s meaning for the travelling community remains under-researched, and has rarely been considered within in-between, transitional spaces of mobility and cultural exchange. SOUNDSHIP offers a new, far more more nuanced understanding of sound perception in early modern communities, their formation and preservation, and will be the first systematic study of sound and music in early modern travel. It will do so through an innovative application of sound studies, auditory history, historical musicology, religious studies, and performance practice research on pilgrims’ narratives, philosophical, music, medical treatises, and music practices.

With a strong track record in assessing music historiographies through sound studies, Dr Cugelj will work with Prof James Mansell, an international expert for sound methodology and innovative practices in sound research at the University of Nottingham. The MSCA will establish Dr Cugelj as an independent sound scholar with international reach, advancing the field of historical sound studies through the investigation of sonic identities.