"The Last Supper" Contains Musical Notes!!

This is an older article, and I couldn't find a thread about it.

I find it Fascinating....DaVinci was apparently also a composer (what couldn't the guy do?)....And there is a theory he placed musical notes in the famous painting-

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/38b05cdfe2c2.jpg[/atsimg]

The Source Article

ROME — It's a new Da Vinci code, but this time it could be for real. An Italian musician and computer technician claims to have uncovered musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper," raising the possibility that the Renaissance genius might have left behind a somber composition to accompany the scene depicted in the 15th-century wall painting.

Pala first saw that by drawing the five lines of a musical staff across the painting, the loaves of bread on the table as well as the hands of Jesus and the Apostles could each represent a musical note. This fit the relation in Christian symbolism between the bread, representing the body of Christ, and the hands, which are used to bless the food, he said. But the notes made no sense musically until Pala realized that the score had to be read from right to left, following Leonardo's particular writing style. In his book — "La Musica Celata" ("The Hidden Music") — Pala also describes how he found what he says are other clues in the painting that reveal the slow rhythm of the composition and the duration of each note. The result is a 40-second "hymn to God" that Pala said sounds best on a pipe organ, the instrument most commonly used in Leonardo

Here is the youtube version, give it a listen-



Sounds like a song. Thoughts?

Hmmm, DaVinci Code???

Very Interesting, maybe I'll rent the movies now

double post

[edit on 26-1-2010 by Quickfix]

triple post

[edit on 26-1-2010 by Quickfix]

Those with an ear - or eye - for music can see it everywhere:

www.youtube.com...

Why play them backwards???

An interesting discovery, I do not think there was any intent behind the music because frankly -- it sounds pretty arbitrary and discordant.

Genius he may have been, but a musician he was not (if it was his intent)

Very interesting. Thanks for pointing this out. But as I was watching the video, I had a random thought. Would it not make sense for the note length to be equivalent to the distance between notes?

Also, the entire composition seems to be lacking any meaningful depth. If DaVinci were to go through so much effort to encode a song, you'd think it would be a grander composition. Maybe there are similar clues in his other works that, when joined together, form a more complete song.

Just my thoughts.

I can see why anyone would think it is music, but suppose the notes indicate certain frequencies that are needed for some secret combination lock. A key to a locked secret that can only be obtained by knowing all the frequencies and notes that the picture depicts. Just a thought.

Originally posted by Atlantican
Why play them backwards???

Yea, why is it backwards?

Originally posted by SeeingBlue

Originally posted by Atlantican
Why play them backwards???

Yea, why is it backwards?

I have no idea, no musical background really.

Originally posted by killuminati2012
Very interesting. Thanks for pointing this out. But as I was watching the video, I had a random thought. Would it not make sense for the note length to be equivalent to the distance between notes?

Also, the entire composition seems to be lacking any meaningful depth. If DaVinci were to go through so much effort to encode a song, you'd think it would be a grander composition. Maybe there are similar clues in his other works that, when joined together, form a more complete song.

Just my thoughts.

Thanks for adding this...I'm off to do more research, fascinating!

Signals, thank you for posting this. Interesting. I also wonder why they decided to play it backwards.

reply to post by Signals

You learnt about this off cracked, didn't you?

I'm not sure of the importance or significance of this, I guess Leo just felt like doing weird things

Well if DaVinci stays true to form you can take the note and place them in a line then it will become a anagram, one you find the code to desirer the anagram you may unlock the meaning of the picture.

That is possible I would not put that pass him.

Any chance of playing it upside down and backwards?

Maybe flipping it around a few times might change something

hmmm....



[edit on 26-1-2010 by Quickfix]

Originally posted by babloyi
reply to post by Signals

 

You learnt about this off cracked, didn't you?

I'm not sure of the importance or significance of this, I guess Leo just felt like doing weird things

No, not Cracked. A way more obscure & insignificant site...

But he may have seen it there...

[edit on 26-1-2010 by Signals]

reply to post by SeeingBlue


if you read the OP you will find it to say that writing from right to left was the preference of or dear friend leo. true or not idk but thats all there in black and white in the OP

reply to post by SeeingBlue


Da Vinci wrote many of his notes backwards so if you looked at it in a mirror it would make sense.

Unfortunately for a person such as Leonardo who understood Musical Theory (his 'Theory on Musick' is only partially preserved but echoes the principles laid down and re-iterated from antiquity by persons such as Johannes Tinctoris whom DaVinci had read (especially his theoretical tractates such as Liber de Natura et Proprietate Tonorum from around 1475 and his Liber de Arte Contrapuncti from around 1485) show that these alleged notes (per the YouTube performance) does not follow the correct procedures for strict two and three part harmony & counterpoint viz.

l. According to Tinctoris and others before and after him (e.g. Fux, followed by most composers since the time of Fux's musical hero 'Palestrina') the composer must never write notes that approach a perfect Consonance by ('Motus Rectus') Direct Motion (i.e. Unisons, Octaves, 5ths and 4ths can ONLY be approached in two and three part harmony by indirect motion, i.e. only by Oblique Motion (motus obliqvvs) or Contrary Motion (motus contrarivs).

Otherwise what will result will be what is known as 'consecutive octaves' or 'consecutive' fifths (sometimes called 'parallel fifths' &tc.) whose sound was considered a particularly ugly;/hollow and un-pleasing cacophony (and therefore unfitting for the ears of any god in 'divine' service &tc.)

2. All 'dissonances' must first be 'prepared' before being sounded, then 'resolved' back into a Consonance (e.g. a 3rd or a 6th or an Octave or a 5th &tc.) thereby incurring a sense of 'rest' on the ears of the listener.

3. Melodic vocal composition should follow the 'natural flow of the human voice', i.e. deliberately avoiding un-natural leaps or intervals, especially to be avoided is the TRI-TONE (a step of 3 FULL intervals, whether UP or DOWN, say between an E and a B-flat, otherwise known as the Devil's Tone, cf. the main 'theme' of Lon Chaney Jr's The Werewolf movie series brought out by Universal Studios in the early 1940s which deliberately made use of the TriTone as a 'mark of evil intent' to do with the curse &tc.

For the most part, vocal leaps / intervals (apart from Octaves and 7ths) larger than a perfect 5th were avoided as being 'difficult' to sing in perfect tune or 'unnatural'.

It does not take a musical theorist to see that the 'notes' here in DaVinci's Il Cenacolo ('The Supper') Fragment that we see to-day on the Refectory Wall of the Santa Maria Delle Grazie in Milano do NOT conform to any musical rules, nor do they make any real musical sense from an aesthetic point of view (i.e. following anything like the rules of voice leading).

In other words, there is no discernable Melody in the transcription as stated in the YouTube, and the Rules (1-3 above) are certainly not being followed.

If there is an encoded Musical Theme in this Secco-Fresco of Leonardo's it is certainly not being read correctly as stated in the diagram. It might be fun to see if the melody would work better 'backwards' or whether one could posit other positions as 'notes' but for now, the answer is....um...unfortunately....No.