454 Mele
Generally speaking, cultural contacts between Sardinia and the continent
remained largely anchored to the Italian peninsula—especially (but not only)
to Tuscany—at least until the end of the fourteenth century. Influence on art
and culture stemming from Iberian shores intensified by the end of the fif-
teenth century. After the Battle of Macomer (1478), which marked the end of
the marquisate of Oristano, Sardinia entered the orbit of Spanish civilization,
without, however, losing contact with the Italian world, which it maintained
until the first half of the eighteenth century. As a result of the dramatic short-
age of sources, the consequences of these changes in the field of music have
yet to be explored.84
Sources concerning secular music are extremely rare, but a few signifi-
cant examples exist. For instance, one of the capitals of the church of Saint
Peter of Zuri (1291–before 1336, Fig. 17.3) portrays some dancers in what has
been considered a Sardinian ballu tundu (round dance). However, the pres-
ence of stylized acanthus leaves, which indicated resurrection and eternal life
in Romanesque church decoration, suggests that this is actually an idealized
carol (ring dance) of blessed souls in heaven.85
pp. 699–760. On King John I and music, see Giampaolo Mele, “I cantori della cappella
di Giovanni I il Cacciatore, re d’Aragona (anni 1379–1396),” Anuario Musical 41 (1986),
pp. 63–104.
84 For an introduction to Sardinian music in the Spanish age see Giampaolo Mele, “La mu-
sica,” in La società sarda in età spagnola, ed. Francesco Manconi, 2 vols (Valle d’Aosta,
1992–1993), vol. 2, pp. 222–237. On medieval music in Spain, see Ismael Fernández de la
Cuesta, Historia de la música española. 1. Desde los origines hasta el “ars nova” (Madrid,
1988 [1983]); Samuel Rubio, Historia de la música española. 2. Desde el “ars nova” hasta 1600
(Madrid, 1988 [1983]); Gómez Muntané, La música medieval.
85 On the capital of Zuri, see Raffaello Delogu, L’architettura del medioevo in Sardegna (Rome,
1953), pp. 203–204; Roberto Coroneo, Architettura romanica dalla metà del Mille al primo
‘300 (Nuoro, 1993), pp. 252–253, fig. 144; Cannas, “Le lastre marmoree,” p. 95, fig. 20. The de-
piction of a heavenly carol—a mystical trepudium (rejoicing) of souls in paradise—which
is well documented in the medieval literature and iconography, does not exclude the fact
that in the churchyard of Zuri, as well as in those of other Sardinian churches, ring dances
of pilgrims were performed. Dances in churchyards and churches are documented in the
Middle Ages, in the Llibre Vermell; the famous fourteenth-century code of Montserrat
(Catalonia) contains captions, such as “Ad trepudium rotundum” (No. 2: Stella splendens);
“A ball redon” (No. 5: Los set gotx “Ballada dels goytxs de nostre dona en vulgar cathallan, a
ball redon”); “A ball redon” (No. 6: Cuncti simus concanentes); “A ball redon” (No. 7: Polorum
regina). On the Llibre Vermell, see Higinio Anglés, “El «Llibre Vermell» de Montserrat y los
cantos y la danza sacra de los peregrinos durante el siglo XIV,” Anuario Musical X (1955),
pp. 45–78, reprinted in Hygini Anglés, Scripta Musicologica (Rome 1975–1976), vol. 1,
no. 29, pp. 621–653; M.a Carmen Gómez Muntané, El Llibre Vermell de Montserrat. Cantos
y danzas, s. XIV (Sant Cugat del Vallès, 1990); Giampaolo Mele, “Ad mortem festinamus.