Nero fiddling

[seminarist]

Оказывается, во времена ренессанса и барокко была такая фишка: древних музыкантов, которых мы обычно представляем с лирой (кифарой), часто писали с виолой.
Вот, например, царь Давид:

Орфей:

Гомер:

Интересно, почему? И не возникло ли известное выражение Nero fiddling as the Rome burned благодаря таким изображениям?

Comments

[utnapishti.livejournal.com]

Давид играл на "кинноре"; и что это такое, никому не известно; обычно считают, что лира или арфа; но в современном иврите это современная скрипка. Практически наверняка отождествление "киннора" с инструментами вроде виолы итп. произошло очень давно.
Поэтому Давид как пример - не очень убедительно: интересно, есть ли другие примеры предполагаемого явления. (Кого ещё мы представляем с лирой? Гомера? Нет ли, например, изображения Гомера с инструментом, похожим на виолу?)

[seminarist.livejournal.com]

Есть в посте :)

[utnapishti.livejournal.com]

А, точно :) Я, как обычно, увидел про Давида - и скорей строчить комментарий, недочитав до конца.

[baronvonm.livejournal.com]

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/CJ/42/4/Nero_Fiddled*.html

Although Nero was popular with Chaucer and others of the late Middle Ages, it is only with Shakespeare that he appears again as a musician. In Henry VI, Henry proclaims:

"Plataginet, I will; and like thee, Nero,
Play on the lute, beholding the towns burn."

Elsewhere, Shakespeare reveals that, in everyday parlance, a lutist was a fiddler. In The Taming of the Shrew, Katherine is represented as having taken a music lesson, after which her music teacher comes to her father in sad disarray. Upon being questioned as to what had happened, he said:

"I did but tell her she mistook the frets
And bowed her hand to teach her fingering,
When with a most impatient devilish spirit,
'Frets call you these?' quoth she, 'I'll fume with them.'
And with that she struck me on the head.
And through the instrument my pate made way;
And there I stood amazed for a while,
As on a pillory, looking through the Lute,
While she did call me 'rascal fiddler'
And 'Twanging Jack' with twenty such vile terms,
As had she studied to misuse me so."

In these two quotations are found two facts of the utmost importance for our purposes. One is that for the first time an instrument is placed in Nero's hands during the burning of Rome. The second is that Shakespeare doubtless considered Nero a "fiddler."

From the time of Shakespeare and the unknown author of The Tragedy of Nero, the trend is definitely established. Nero has become a fiddler, and in spite of the fact that every careful historian has refuted the statement, so he remains today.

The modern interpretation of "Nero fiddled while Rome burned" depends on the two general meanings of the word fiddle which were found fully developed in the seventeenth century. The first of these meanings, to play any stringed instrument, has continued in common use in England to the present day. Evidence of this may be found in Pepys' Diary, Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, an early music history, and an English Dictionary published in 1935. However, particularly in the United States, the term has come to be associated generally with the violin. This instrument, only one of the many fiddles in the seventeenth century, superseded the others in popularity and has practically appropriated the name to itself. But the word fiddle has never quite recovered from the implication of insult that Shakespeare made apparent, and the accomplished violinist, today, is never thought of as a "fiddler."

The second usage of fiddle persists with even less change. Its meaning is similar to that in Pepys' remark, "Where all the ladies walked, talking and fiddling with their hats and feathers." To all appearances, its attachment to "Nero fiddled while Rome burned" is comparatively recent. No written evidence has been discovered for this phrase. It seems likely that an impression has developed among the younger, educated group that, since the denial that Nero played a fiddle has been so insistent, the correct interpretation must be that "he fiddled around."

Etc., etc., etc.

[chaotic-sys.livejournal.com]

А еще на Беларуси и на Украине были бродячие (часто слепые) музыканты-лирники - играли на лире, вот такой:

Тоже струнный инструмент. Как она связана с обычной лирой - не знаю.

[valickyi.livejournal.com]

Оказывается, что царь Давид одет по флорентийски так это само собой?