A Historical Overview of Musical Worship & Culture in Sardinia 455
Although not proven, it is possible that in the Middle Ages Sardinian rhythmic
songs from the oral tradition—presumably polyvocal—accompanied dances.
Of course, in the Middle Ages the tradition of the launeddas existed, and even
today this instrument is used to accompany dances. One possible test of this
supposition can be found in representations of two “tricalamo” players, such as
Pellegrini e una Danza della Morte di fine Trecento (Montserrat, còd. 1, Llibre Vermell,
sec. XIVex., ff. 26v–27r),” in Pellegrinaggi e peregrinazioni, ed. Giuseppe Serpillo (Cosenza,
2011), pp. 141–170. On the Carol, see Curt Sachs, Storia della danza, trans. Tullio De Mauro
(Milan, 1966 [1933]), pp. 304–307. Regarding the second half of the sixteenth century—
thanks to Sigismund Arquer, who in 1571 was burned alive by the Inquisition in Toledo—
we know that during the celebrations of the saints in Sardinia, it was customary to sing
and dance secular repertoires inside the churches. In his Sardiniae brevis historia et de-
scriptio (1550), the unfortunate scholar from Cagliari writes: “after the hearing of the mass
in the church, throughout the remainer of the day and the night, in the same church they
dance, sing profane songs, and the men with the women lead choral dances (audita missa
in ipsius sancti templo, tota reliqua die et nocte saltant in templo, prophana cantant, choreas
viri cum foeminis ducunt).” See Marcello M. Cocco, Sigismondo Arquer: dagli studi giovanili
all’autodafé (Cagliari, 1987), p. 414; Mele, “Ad mortem festinamus. Pellegrini e una Danza
della Morte di fine Trecento (Montserrat, còd. 1, Llibre Vermell, sec. XIVex., ff. 26v–27r),”
pp. 150–151.Figure 17.3 Zuri, church of Saint Peter (giudicato of Arborea; 1291–before 1336): capital,
southern flank.
Photograph by Sebastiano Piras.