METAPOESIS IN TRECENTO SONG: ‘DIVISIO’ AT THE INTERSECTION OF LOVE, POETIC FORM, AND MUSIC

This article readdresses the issue of musico-textual relationships in trecento song, viewing them through the lens of ‘metapoesis’—that is, a poetic practice that implies the use of vocabulary in lyrics referring to the mechanics of the poetic structure. I first focus on some duecento and trecento lyrics that establish the links between the poetic topoi of separation and their positioning at the end of the poetic line, so as to perform the same kind of division structurally. The article then explores the further layers of meaning possible when such texts are set musically. In particular, music is able to articulate metapoetic ‘divisiones’ with sonic ‘cuttings’ defined as ‘divisiones soni’ in various treatises on music theory. Four case studies are adduced, which show that the musical metapoesis arguably provides a more powerful way of understanding the larger issues of musico-textual interaction in trecento song than has yet been acknowledged.