finding the harmonic convergence in florence

music in churches in florence....

last night, we had a very nice meal at a restaurant near the Duomo, called Hostaria Caminetto, first a plate of 3 appetitizers, 1) crostini topped with lardo, pecorino cheese and white beans 2) tuscan sausage seasoned with rosemary and 3) dried marinated tomatoes on fresh raddiccio. Then we had freshmade yellow tagliatelle with fresh porcini mushrooms, rabbit cooked with fennel and white wine with minced shallots and carrots, with an astringent chianti classico.

In the rain on the way home,we ducked into a small newish catholic church, and found, wow, this organist was performing amazing bach. now to me this seems like a big contradiction, how can J S Bach, the author of the best hymns for Martin Luther, play in a catholic church in italy. but craig says the catholic church embraces Bach, no problem. and he was transported, I could not budge him. he says the only thing that freed him was that after about 12 pieces the organist got him through the Dminor fugue and he had to pee. so we could actually emerge.

this is not the final time we have found unusual harmonics in a catholic church. This afternoon we hiked to a hill above florence, a pre renaissance benedictine church, san miniato, with mosaics of greek orthodox type saints, and a quartet of singers was doing unearthly palestrina and other medieval polyphony. I really loved it. and then later we were in a Bruneleschi church, more on this later, while the priest was doing the mass and we tourists were kinda coralled at the back of the church, and he started singing and the church had such majorly good acoustics, that he was creating every harmonic there could be... I swear to go there was a sweet voice singing an octave and a fifth above him, in harmonics. it was amazing. he did this 2 or 3 times in the course of the mass... the whole cathedral vibrated... and the harmonics sang.

OK I see Craig is blogging about lardo and how great it is. so I can move on to today and what I think is SO great about Bruneleschi.
He is the guy who created the Duomos dome, so we know he is cool. but today, I was in at least 4 chapels or cathedrals, that he invented. i swear he is the eichler of catholic church construction. His scenario is so clean and clear. its like a masonic design. the proportions are so perfect. the center aisle is tall and clear, flanked by two very tall rows of roman columsn. the center roof is always made of a pattern of squares, with great detailed inlay designs. The roof above the altar is a perfect dome, and in at least 2 of his cathedrals, painted midnight blue, it shows the layout of the stars on the night the dome was consecrated... where each constellation sat, that night. The side rows have perfect small niches filled with the best of renaissance sculpture and fresco. The total effect is one of scientific clarity, your mind can just float free and as I leaned today, so can the sound. it was really great. The vibrations of the voice, separate cleanly into the parts, they vibrate and compete with each other so you get LOTS of sound even from a single voice. It was very cool.

I just realize what Bruneleschi really reminds me of, it is Thomas Jefferson, its the proportions of monticello, and the University of Virginia lawn. it MUST be masonic. its very very cool, very pure.

I dont think we get enough pure music in this day and age to realize what music can do. last year we were in Bhutan, where the thibetan monks blow those long, long long horns in a deep almost toneless vibration you feel more than hear. thats what came out in all the music we heard today, the large churches create a room for the organ vibration or the voice, to create not only the high pitches but also the deep almost inaudible slow soundwaves that you can not help but respond to even if you do not know you hear them.

Anyway did Craig write yet about our dinner tonight. Tonight we went to a place Barbara Plautt suggested, called Restaurant di Mimmo. We had this amazing roast pork and stuffed squash blossoms. well now I do see he is writing about this so I can stop.

today we saw quite a lot. Close to dawn we went out to the Arno river near Santa Croce church where there is a large square in front of a huge white castle of a church in the florence renaissance style, lots of white and green marble in geometric shapes and castles. Immediately after breakfast we went out again to something totally different, the Bargello which is a medieval castle fortress, with gothic arches and stair cases to enormous halls with arched ceilings all in carved grey stone. There are so many white marble carvings on display on all 3 levels of the Bargello, which ultimately was a jail but in the 1800s was reconceived as a castle and repainted with every arch and ceiling inch with medieval herarldry and color checks and designs. veryconvincing. anyway it is a great place to see all the donatellos, della Robbia ceramic bas relief blue and white madonnas, and early michelangelos and other scultures you could want to see. The best michelangelo there, is the bas relief Pitti Tondo, mother and child half emerging from stone, she holds the squirming toddler with her left hand beneath his armpit, perfect strength in her curved left hand, each finger perfect in its motherly control.

From the Bargello which was totally pleasing we went to Santa Croce which was largely, not. You could totally give it a miss right now, as they want you to pay 5 euros for a large crowded cathedfral which at the moment is draped in gauze hiding all the basic structures while saws and planes and drills are heard, non stop. either you cant go into an area because it is supposed to be set aside for prayer (though no one could possibly pray due to the racket), or you cant see it due to the drapery and scaffolding. meanwhile the tour guide do not care, they bring their groups of 40 or 50 people through each with their private loudspeaker and talk about everything theycan see as if it is still experienceable art. big mistake. you can see a few faded giotto frescoes about the death of St francis, that is about it. Except for the one really great room-- the Pazzi Chapel, by Bruneleschi -- perfect symmetry, perfect tranquility, great sound and impressive sky.

after this we went to the central market, which was pretty fun. not really a cheap market, it is an expensive market where eager cooks can buy 12 kinds of raw proscietto, do you want sweet or salty madame, and about 15 kinds of pecorino sheeps cheeses, and things like that. lots of salamis, and their version of bacon, and whatever. it made for good snacking but costly.

The next cathedral we saw, was also a bruneleschi, the Basilica San Lorenzo, the Medicis home basilica. the best room, is also a bruneleschi chapel. its got polished mahogany color wood to a persons height then up to a perfect dome with its repeating squares and above the altar again the perfect astronomical dome observatory. and great acoustics. took a lot time before the chatterers and babies practicing their first shrieks left... then it was a really nice experience of well designed silence.

well then I got time to reconoiter, at home while craig climbed a big tower... then we both had a great long long walk across the river through pretty much non touristy old neighborhoods, the places where the english hung out in the 1880s, then up to the top of a little mountain, to see the town from a distance. thats where we went to San Miniato and hear the surprise renaissance singing. it was great... I just kinda ducked into the cathedral to see it, and suddenly it sounded no kidding like an entire Benedictine choir of monks was singing. but, actually, due again to the great acoustics, it turned out not to be so sacred or secret, just 4 really great vocalists up in the choir area, doing the work of thousands. I got it on our camera as a movie, hope the sound is as good.

we had a great coffee above town... then walked down into the ultrarno and had the great adventure of harmonic sound at the church of San Spiritu.. then we topped that off with a wine-bar visit in the open courtyard nearby.

Oh I also forgot all in this same day, day 2 of florence, we also went up to the monastery museum of San Marco, saw entirely too many Fra Angelicos, not enough Fra Bartolomeos I like him more, and saw Savonarolas cell. and pictures of his fiery death in the Plaza de la Signoria.

pretty full day... manana is the uffizi gallery ...