Guido Giglioni - Musicus puer

8/19/2019 Guido Giglioni - Musicus puer

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G u i d o G i g l i o n i

M U S I C U S P U E R .

A NOTE ON CA RDA NO' S HOUSEHOLD AND T H E DA NGERS OF MUSIC*

Ca r d a n o 's censure o f any form o f same-sex love, hom oerotidsm ,

or Socratic love is unambiguously clear. In his condemnation he

does not spare forms o f male friendship and intimacy. An d yet, for

all his reproofs he did not escape be ing the constant target o f innue ndo and

accusation. At least, this is wha t C arda no h im self tells us. A s he recalls in

his autobiography, bad rum ors always circulated about the num ber o f boys

he used to have in his house. «To those upbraiding me because 1brought

up so many boys I replied: My deserts in this are double: I do good, and hear

evil ofi t » .1In Proxeneta, in dealing with possible w ays o f eradicating slanders

spread amon g the populace, Cardano suggests the use o f many and po w er

ful friends, a honest lifestyle, and the display o f « opposite w ays o f life*. The

examp le given is significant: «if they charge y ou with being involved with

boys (si de pueris te accusant), have women in your house)).1 In the same

work , Cardano ch aracterizes the accusation o f sleeping w ith boys (concubi-

tus puerorum) as an extrem ely serious charge, as serious as the crime o f he r

esy. Both accusations «do not rely on clear eviden ce» and «no help comes

from the fact that one is innocent». Therefore, «it is better to hope in good

luck and not to fall in some suspicion, for things can be so evil and deadly

that even the th ought o f it seem s to destroy and pollute a man's life: as if

someone could bring himself to believe that he can think erroneously of

G od ».} In the course o f a trial, Carda no suggests to react with p romptitude

and nonchalance to the interrogation. App arently, a friend o f his, charged

with having corrupted a boy, did not fo llow his ad vice . W hen they asked

him when was the last time he had gone to bed with a woman, his friend

unfortunately answered by saying that he had stopped four years before.

In doing so he c onfirmed the alleged suspicions o f pede rasty,4som ething

* I would like to ihank Colin Homiski for his help and lively discussions.1.G. C a r d a n o , De propria vita, in Opera omnia, Lugduni, sumptibus Ioannis Antonii

Huguetan & Marci Antonii Ravaud, 1663,1, p. 48b; The book of my life, transl. by JeanStoner, New York, New York Review Books, 2002, p. 230.

2.Proxeneta, in Opera omnia, dt., 1, p. 454a.3. Ivi, p. 454b. It is worth remembering that at the time in the German-speaking ar

eas of Europe, “heresy" (Ketzerei), "heretic” or "to commit heresy" were expressionsfrequently used in the urban records of same-sex sexual contacts. See 11. P u f f , Sodomy in Reformation Germany and Switzerland 1400-1600, Chicago and London, The Universityof Chicago Press, 2003.

4. Proxeneta, in Opera omnia, cit., 1, p. 458b.



84 G U I D O G I G L I O N I

C a r d a n o k n e w v e r y w e l l. I n De Militate, he recalls his be ha viou r in the ten

years o f im p o ten ce b etw een ages rw en ty-on e and th ir ty w h e n he sta rt ed to

avo id in terc o urse w i th w o m en to escape th e embarrassment o f h i s d i sap

pointing perform ances. Th is had the unintended conseq uence o f start ing

so m any rum ors and suspic ions that «the ve ry m isfortune I w as trying to

escape turned into bad repute and an indication o f even greater turpitude ».s

T o b etter und erstand th e nature o f th ese rum o rs , we h ave tw o lo ng ac

counts deal ing with a m ixture o f infamo us accusations, portentous events ,

and paranoid persecutions - a c lassic o f Ca rdan o 's storytel ling - recounted

in tw o dif ferent versions, one in De propria vita and the other in Paralipom-

ena. Th e events h app ened in th e h o t sum m er o f 156 2 , just be fo re Card ano

w a s abo u t to m o v e to B o lo g n a , at a tim e w h en «al l h is affa ir s and h is s it u

ation as a wh ole w ere confused#.6 In De propria vita, the events are staged

like a tragico m edy in three acts and with three ma in villains: G iulio Delfi-

no , in th e ro le o f « th e W o l f» , C ard ano ' s unnam ed concursor at the unive rsity o f Pavia , as «the Fox», and Francesco F ioravanti , ano ther professor at

the university , as «the Sheep» .7 «In the course o f m y teaching at Pavia», he

w rit es in De propria vita, «I w as used to read ing at ho m e. A t that tim e I had

in th e h o use a w o m an w h o rend ered i r regu lar se rv ic e , th e yo u th E rc o le

V is co nti, m o y o u n g b o y s ,8 and a m an servan t, I th in k. O ne o f th e b o ys

w a s an am anuensis and a m u sic ian ; th e oth er, a fo ot- page». A c c o rd in g to

Ca rda no ’s reconstruction o f the events , h is ever-plott ing r ivals at the u ni

versity o f P av ia w e re p lan n in g to m u rd er h im in an extrem e attem pt to

get r id o f their ene m y after previous ef forts had been in vain . T he «deadly

sch em e» w as supp osed to be set into mo tion by a letter they said had been w rit ten b y C a rd a n o ’s son-i n-l aw . In it . C a rd a n o ’s m o ra l in tegrit y w a s b e

ing questioned with ser ious a l legations. A t th is cr it ical junctu re , Fioravanti ,

w h o , acco rd in g to C ard a n o , w a s part o f th e plan set up to fr am e h im , to o k

center stage. He wrote a letter in which he complained about Cardano ’s

l ifestyle , saying that «the rum or wa s being c irculated eve ryw he re that I

w a s u sin g m y b o ys fo r im m o ral pu rp o ses; and th at not satis fied w ith one,

I had added an other to m y h ousehold - a state o f a f fa irs absolutely un

precedented)). T h e letter ended w ith the w arning that «houses o f certain

cit izens where these infamies were being committed were to be publ ic ly

designated)). C ard an o suc cessfully foiled the p lot in this instance.

5. De Militate, in Opera omnia, cit., 11. p. 77a. For other places where Cardano speaks

about his impotence, see De propria vita, in Opera omnia, cit., 1, p. 51b; De utilitate, in Op

era omnia, cit., n, pp. 76b, 113b; Liber xu. geniturarum, in Opera omnia, cit., v, p. 517a.

6. Paralipomem, in Opera omnia, cit., x, p. 459b. Ivi, p. 460b: «nulla aestas fervidior aut

aridior mem oria nostra alia fuerat».

7. On the tendency to mistake Francesco Fioravanti with the much more famousLeonardo Fioravanti, see P. Camporesi, Camminare il mondo. Vita e awenture di Leonardo

Fioravanti medico del Cinquecento, Milan, Garzanti, 1997, p. 61.8. We know the name o f one o f the two young boys, the foot-page, from the ac

count in Paralipomena : Giacom o Antonio Scacabarozzi, o f age fifteen.



A N O T E ON C A R D A N O ’ S H O U S E H O L D A N D T H E D A N G E R S OF MU SIC 85

H aving failed to discredit him as «the m onstruous spouse o f all youn g

bo ys®, the «Fox» and the «Wolf» tried again. This time they w ent to great

length to make him a m em ber o f the Accademia degli Affidati at Pavia (an

offer which, in Cardano’ s eyes, was simply another sleight o f hand to am

bush him). Again, Cardano was able to survive the alleged assassinationattempt. The third act started again with Fioravanti, the «Sheep», asking

Cardano wh ether he wou ld allow «the two boy musicians® to sing in the

celebration o f a new mass. Since the boy s we re also in charge o f tasting

food and drink before they were served (praegustotores), Cardano got wind

o f a poisoning plot orchestrated by his enemies with the collaboration o f

his maid-servant. Cardano’s fears were confirmed two weeks later when

the plotters came to ask permission fo r the tw o b oys to take part in a com

edy leav ing him withou t his poison testers.9 Putting aside the question o f

wheth er the al leged murder at tempts were real or fits o f pa ranoia, wrhat

seems certain is Cardano’s insistence on the contended boys and the useo f them as tools o f pressure and defamation. In addition to co nfirming

Cardano’s paranoid tendencies, the remarkably garbled story emphasizes

the fears o f a man co nstantly threatened with public exposure.

Accordin g to the ac co unt in Paralipotnena, during exactly the same pe

riod o f time, a series o f extraordinary even ts occurred in his house, in vo lv

ing a lost and then m iraculously found ring and flames that spontaneou sly

lit up by themselves. Carda no pro m ptly interpreted all these unusual phe

nom ena as bad om ens. As a result, he decided to spend the follow ing days

at home without going out. But then he got news that his little nephew

had fallen seriously ill and he w as forced to go to Milan to treat him. T his was the beg inning o f an other series o f acc idents and mishaps: first a bad

tootha che, then a spread o f St. An tho ny 's fire on his face, and finally a fit

o f gout. No soon er had he thought that his tribulations might hav e finally

appeased «raging Fortune® than his «renown and honor», not to say his

«life», were again in serious danger. «I was looking for a young musician

to assuage so many misfortunes®, writes Cardano, «and actually I found a

goo d one. H is father permitted him to join m y household. Th e next day,

though, the father came back to m e to comp lain about wh at he had heard,

nam ely, that I had w elcom ed his son because o f sex and, having invented

an excuse, was determ ined to take him aw ay from m e® .10 As usual Cardano

seems to be able to extricate himself from the predicament, but the epi

sode is unquestionably another piece o f shady business invo lving you ng

musicians which contributed to rouse suspicions around his household.

Cardano often recognized his own «foolishness® in keeping domestics

w hom he knew «to be utterly use less®, «a ca use fo r shame® or w ho even

attempted to kill him for money." Chapter 39 in Proxeneta starts with the

9. De propria vita, in Opera omnia, rit., 1, pp. 20-21; The book ofmy life, cit., pp. 96-103.10. Paralipomena, in Opera omnia, cit., x, p. 460b.11. De propria vita, in Opera omnia, cit., 1, pp. 11, 21; The book of my life, dt., pp. 49,104.



86 G UIDO G IG LION I

str iking statement that , in order to «keep y ou ng b oys and adolescents as

servants , you must make them submissive to you». As he suggests , the

m eans to achieve th is are , in the tradit ion o f Socratic love , the passion for

w isd o m and th e stu d y o f m usic , o r, in a le ss nob le w a y , «gam es, h untin g,

m oney or gir ls». M ore speci f ically , with respect to you ng bo ys, s ince they

tend to run aw ay i f they are beaten or seduced, the m aster has to antic i

pate their movements and try to keep them in h is service by promising

gifts and favors. In extre m e cases, he can resort to threats or eve n corp oral

punishm ent. B ut the im portant th ing is a lways that one 's act ions must be

discreet and cautious in ord er not to dam age one 's reputation . 11 In chapter

73, he explains that it is better to have yo un g boys as servants than m en or

w o m e n b ecau se ad ole scents can be easily co n tro lled and m an ip u la te d .1’

Fur th ermo re , wh en o ne i s o ld and wi th o ut c h i ld ren , Card ano rec o m

m ends to adopt a you ng b oy as a son and to educate h im in a ll the l iberal

arts, such as reading, writing, sculpture, painting, singing, playing musical instrum ents, and so o n .14 Indeed, wh ile the pro ject sounds very c om

mend able , th e o utc o m e w as ano th er c ase o f am biguo us lo ve , bo rd er ing

on m istreatm ent and abandonm ent. O ne o f the mo st interest ing stor ies in

w h ic h C ard a n o dis pla ys h is in v o lvem en t w it h y o u n g b o ys is w h en h e d e

c id ed to "ad o pt" a yo u ng E ngli sh bo y , n am ed W i ll iam, c o m ing bac k f ro m

his tr ip to Scotland and England, in 1552. G iovan ni A quilecchia w rote that

Cardan o to ok a fancy to the idea o f br inging a puerA nglu s w i th h im b ac k to

Ita ly . ’5H ow ev er , he soo n started to neglect h im, u ntil he d ied o f hardships

and pr ivations. To assuage his gui l t he then wrote a Dialogus de morte, in

w h ic h h e rem em b ered W il li am as « lu cky W il h e lm in a» , becau se th is w asthe w ay he used to cal l h im « jokingly». 16

Finally, in a passage from Proxeneta a l l the var ious e lements that we

h ave been exam in ing so fa r - th e unsc rupu lo us and un inh ib ited beh av io r

o f yo u ng music ians , th e system o f fam i ly re la t io ns , th e use o f yo u ng bo ys

for both service and pleasure - seem to com e toge ther in a picture o f socia l

and family l ife written with C arda no ’s usual real ism. T he w ho le passage is

w o rth q u o tin g in fu ll : « T h e b o ys fr o m B o lo gn a are beautifu l, tastefu l and

for the m ost part excellent mu sic ians, so m uch so that they seem to stand

out from the rest o f the Ita l ian boys. H ow eve r , they do not gain the same

benefits as m any other Ital ian boys, o f m uch less merit , l ike the ones from

12. Proxeneta, in Opera omnia, cit., 1, p. 382b.

13. Ivi, p. 412b.

14- Ivi, pp. 402b-403a.

15. G. A q u i l e c c h i a , L'cspcricnza anglo-scozzese di Cardano e I'Inquisizione, in Girolamo

Cardano. Le operc, le fonti, la vita, ed. by M. Baldi and G. Canziani, Milan, Angeli, 1999.

p. 386.16. Dialogus de morte, in Opera omnia, cit., 1, p. 679a: «0 beata Guglielmina (nam scio

te adolescentem sincerum et optimum saepe te ita nominare ioci causa consuesse)

qui tui nominis gloriae talem nacrus est praeconem, qualem aliquando frustra deside-rabunt reges».



A N O T E ON C A R D A N O 'S H O U S E H O L D A N D T H E D A N G E R S OF MU SIC 87

Milan and Florence, usually get, such as to be appointed heirs by their mas

ters or at least to have some share in their inheritance, or to obtain rich

ecclesiastic offices or to be given highly rem unerative positions in political

adm inistration or in business, or to arrive to a rem arkable level o f virtue

or prestige. The se four benefits are the foundations o f a great happiness inthis life. The refo re, the first cause is the av arice o f their parents and teach

ers, for they usually rent these boys exa ctly as if they we re houses. As a

result, the masters, as if the debt we re extinguished, belie ve that they do

not ow e anything mo re and that the boys h ave no claim on anything else.

Th e second cause is the practice o f pleasure. Since they learnt from their

parents to live in the lap o f luxury, they cannot lov e their masters; indeed,

they think their masters should give them more freedom and pleasures

o f life than the ones pro vided by their parents. As a con sequence, their

masters, realising that they are not loved, but that everything is planned

in order to gain profit from them, cann ot love the boys.'7 Th e p roblem ,though , is that all this is just a m atter o f insane lo ve. T he third cause is that,

because their strength is already exhausted due to their musical studies,

the boy s are not capable o f obtaining any virtuous achievem ents. Th ere

fore, they cannot get into the master's good graces and keep their close

familiarity with him». This picture looks dreary, but it provides a series

o f strikingly revealing clues on aspects o f sixteenth-century Italian social

life: the opportunistic beh aviou r o f you ng m ale individuals competing

with each other fo r social reco gn ition and financ ial security , the elusive

nature o f the relationships both betw een parents and sons and between

masters and servants. Within such a disillusioned world, music seems tocontribute to the boy s’ mo ral decadence and to truncate their hop es to rise

socially o r to reach gre ater achievem ents in life.

Music could be extremely dangerous at the time, and not just because o f

the physical ailments caused by singing or the mental illnesses provoked

by the intense concentration required by the discipline or because o f the

allurements o f desire. Th e danger w as real because the association with

young sin gers and musicians cou ld lead to legal troubles ranging from im

prisonmen t, being sentenced to triremes, to the capital penalty. W e k now

this from Cardano himself, who in Theonoston writes that «Jacob Bonfa*

dius, a man otherwise not in the last place among the erudite, because of

copulation with boys (a most vile and sordid thing), was beheaded in pris

on and publically burned. T he French D om inique Phinot, a distinguished

musician, was killed in the same way for a very similar folly».’8The story

17. As Cardano explains in De Militate, «[n]ihil enim infelicius, quam eos, qui te nonamant, immodice amare* (Opera omnia, cit., 11, p. 5).

18. Theonoston, in Opera omnia, cit., ii, p. 354ab; transl. in C. A. M i l l e r , Hieronymus Cardanus (yoi-ixj6). Writing* on Music, [RomeJ, American Institute of Musicology, 1973,p. 211. On Phinot, see C. A. M i l l e r , Jerome Cardan on Gombart, Phinot, and Carpcntras, «The Musical Quarterly**, l v i i i , 1972, p. 416.



88 GUIDO CIGLIONI

of Nicolas Gombert, as is retold by Cardano, has at least a happy ending.

«The musician, Gombert», he reports, «was condemned to the triremes

for violation o f a boy in the service o f the emp eror»; bu t then, thanks to

both his coura ge and good fortune, he managed to rescue h im self from

the sentence by composing those «swan songs» with which «he earned

not only his pardon by the Emperor [Charles V], patron o f all illustrious

men, but also received a priest's benefice, so that he spent the remainder

o f his life in tranqu illity». O f course, Carda no does no t fail to rem ark that

«Gombert’s penalty was not a hard one, for he endured a punishment he

deserved*.19

In Cardano's Cosmos, An thon y Grafton has written that Carda no «did not

describe in identifiable detail the sexual inclinations that led him to pedo

philia and brought him legal penalties*.10 As far as I can gather from the

available documents and testimonies, Cardano never had legal problems

related to charges o f pedophilia. W hat w e k now is that he lived dangerously, coping with rum ors o f sexual depravity and surrounded by yo un g boys,

in an age when even whispers could be a reason for trial. What we cannot

say w ith certainty is that he w as a pedoph ile. As fo r the «legal penalties* he

incurred, they seem to be related to theological and m etaphysical matters

and not same-sex offences. I f it is true that there could be som e o verlap

ping between heresy and homosexuality, the available documents con

cerning C ard an o’s trial in 1570 (especially after the open ing o f the archives

o f the Sant’U ffizio in R om e)11 do no t seem to hint at same-sex sexual acts

on C ard ano 's part. As recent investigations in the field o f early-modern

legal history o f same-sex behaviour have show ed, innuendoes w ere parto f an inquisitorial strategy he avily based on libel and slan der11. A sim ilar

technique of allusive suggestions and oblique remarks cannot be applied

to historical investigation. (And in any case pedophilia does not exhaust

the whole range o f possible forms o f male sociability and hom oeroticism

addressed by Cardano in his oeuvre).

19 . Theonoston, in Opera omnia, cit., 11, p. 354b; De militate, in Opera omnia, 11, 214b;

transl. in M i l l e r , Hieronymus Cardanus, cit., pp. 210-211. See also M i l l e r , Jerome Cardan on Gombart, Phinot, and Carpentras, cit.

20 . A. G r a f t o n , Cardano’s cosmos. The worlds and works of a Renaissance astrologer, Cam bridge (M ass.) and Londo n, H arvard U niversity Press, 1999. p. 188.

21. See M. V a l e n t e , “Correzioni d’autore” e censure dell’opera di Cardano, in Cardano e la tradizione dei saperi, ed. by M. Baldi and G. Canziani, Milan, Angeli, 2003, pp. 437-456and U. B a l d i n i , L'edizione dei documenti relativi a Cardano negli archivi del Sant’Ufficio e dell’Indice, in Cardano e la tradizione dei saperi, cit., pp. 457-515.

22. See M. R o c k e , Forbidden friendships. Homosexuality and male culture in Renaissance Florence, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996; G. R u g g i e r o , The boundaries of Eros. Sex, crime and sexuality in Renaissance Venice, Oxford. Oxford University Press. 1985;P u f f , Sodomy in Reformation Germany and Switzerland, cit.

Guido Giglioni - Musicus puer

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