Eleonora Beck, Lewis & Clark College
This video examines how art and music represented the difficulties of the Black Death in Tuscany in the fourteenth century.
Video
Primary Sources
Detail from The Triumph of Death, by Buonamico Buffalmacco, fresco, Campo Santo, Pisa, c. 1338-39
And full image with details The Three Dead and the Three Living (on the left) and The Triumph of Death, fresco, Campo Santo, Pisa, c. 1338-39
Effects of Good Government on the City Life, by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, fresco, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, 1338.
Digital Resource
Discussion Questions
- What kind of music did Florentines listen to as they battled the Black Plague?
- Why is music so prominent in Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Effects of Good Government and the Decameron of Boccaccio?
- What can we learn from the 14th century in our battle against the Corona virus?
Cite
Beck, Eleanora, “Music and the Black Plague in Tuscany,” Middle Ages for Educators, May 6, 2020. Accessed [date]. https://middleagesforeducators.princeton.edu/music-and-black-plague-tuscany