oa Towards an Understanding of Filippo di Monte’s Thoughts on Music

In a manner almost unique among composers in the late sixteenth century, Filippo di Monte often used the prefaces of his musical prints to articulate topics related to his personal life. The dedications sometimes reveal not only valuable biographical information, but also his strong interest in philosophy and musica speculativa. This article presents a reading of several of Monte’s dedications with regard to their music-theoretical content. At first sight Monte recapitulates common contemporary (neo-) Pythagorean and (neo-) Platonic musical concepts. However, closer investigation shows how Monte—by uniting musica speculativa and musica prattica—transforms these concepts into means through which to define his socio-cultural role as a composer at the imperial court.