International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music - June 2013 [antikvár]

M. Juric: Paideia and the Neo-Platonic Ideas on Music Education and Culture in Renaissance Dubrovnik in the Works by Niccolo Vito di Gozze (Nikola Vitov Gucetic, 1549-1610) IRASM 44 (2013) 1: 3-17 Paideia and the Neo-Platonic ideas on Music Education and Culture in Renaissance Dubrovnik in the Works by Niccolo Vito di Gozze (Nikola Vitov Gucetic, 1549-1610) 1. Introduction Investigating culture and the arts in Renaissance Dubrovnik would undoubtedly be incomplete without taking music into account. Namely, music played a specific role then, which is best proven in texts left by Dubrovnik Renaissance thinkers. One of the most outstanding personalities among them was Niccolo Vito di Gozze (the modern Croatian version: Nikola Vitov Gucetic; Dubrovnik, 1549-1610), who spent his entire life in his home town. Thus his oeuvre offers genuine Dubrovnik Renaissance thought, reflected from and projected into the Dubrovnik intellectual milieu. Taken generally, the Gozze era, i.e. the second half of the 16th and the begirming of the 17th century, was characterized by high artistic maturity. Research done up to now has shown that this was the time of blossoming in literature, philosophy, sciences, the visual arts and music. The Dubrovnik Renaissance intellectuals displayed vivid interest in various areas of culture and the arts covering a broad spectrum of topics and Monika Juric University of Zagreb Academy of Music Department of Musicology Luciceva 5 HR-10000 Zagreb Croatia [email protected] UDC: 78.01 "15"Gozze/Gucetic Research Paper Izvorni znanstveni rad Received: September 27, 2012 Primljeno: 27. rujna 2012. Accepted: March 5, 2013 Prihvaceno: 5. ozujka 2013. Abstract - Résumé Music played a specific role in Renaissance Dubrovnik and this is best proven in texts left by Dubrovnik Renaissance thinkers. One of the outstanding personalities among them was Nicolo Vito di Gozze, who was held in high esteem by his contemporaries, being elected seven times to the position of the Dubrovnik Duke. Thus, his ideas on music and culture in general could be considered as widely shared and accepted among the Dubrovnik intellectuals of his time. Gucetia treated music subjects in shorter passages of three among his works: Dialogo della bellezza (Dialogue on Beauty, 1581.), Governo della famiglia (The Governing of the Family, 1589.), Dello stato delle republiche (On the state of the Republics, 1591.). In analysing the three above-mentioned works, it is obvious that his thoughts on music had been mostly influenced by Plato's Republic and Laws, as well as Aristotle's Politics. Namely, when writing about music, Gucetic always put it into the context of paideia - an ancient Greek notion that referred not only to learning and education, but also to the totality of the cultural and ethical experience. Keywords: Music • Renaissance Dubrovnik • Niccolo Vito di Gozze • Culture • Paideia • Neo-Platonism • Neo-Aristotelism