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Musica, cur siles? Of music and silence“
Musica, cur siles?” (Music, why are you silent?) This question is heard in the first part of the motet Quid dabit oculis and at first the situation seems paradoxical, as the words are sung and played. However, the realisation of what has been sung follows immediately, as the question is immediately followed by a pause in all four voices – the first general pause since the beginning of the piece. What is the reason for this silence? The motet, which waswritten by the Italian composer Costanzo Festa (around 1485/1490–1545), is a composi-tion of mourning for Anne de Bretagne, who died as Queen of France in January 1514. The mourning is expressed in its text by the mentioning of the mourning robe as well as the weeping and lamentation, but the emotional low point is the cessation of the music emp-hasised by the question. In addition to the silencing of the voices, this certainly also alludes to the music that functioned as an important means of representation in the Middle Age and the early modern period: the sound of trumpets and timpani, which loudly proclaimed the presence of the ruler. Conversely, the silence of the funeral procession symbolises the absence of the ruler, which can also be perceived acoustically.