Che mi Giova Cantar*

First things first: Courtesy of the folks at SOTT, I tripped over an article this a.m. entitled "Italian musician uncovers hidden music in Da Vinci's 'Last Supper' wherein we find some rather fascinating facts:
"Pala, a 45-year-old musician...began studying Leonardo's painting in 2003, after hearing on a news program that researchers believed the artist and inventor had hidden a musical composition in the work....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.
"Alessandro Vezzosi, a Leonardo expert and the director of a museum dedicated to the artist in his hometown of Vinci, said...that the musician's hypothesis "is plausible....Vezzosi also noted that though Leonardo was more noted for his paintings, sculptures and visionary inventions, he was also a musician."
Then recalling some research into some of the mysteries to be found in the stone masonry of Rosslyn Chapel, as well as GoogleSearching music+notes+Rosslyn+chapel, I came across "Tune into the Da Vinci coda", which tells us among other things:

"ROSSLYN Chapel holds many secrets. For hundreds of years experts and visitors alike have puzzled over the carvings in the chapel. Whilst some debate whether they point to hidden treasure, Edinburgh composer Stuart Mitchell thinks he has cracked one part of the enigma.
"He believes that the ornate ceiling of carved arches, featuring 213 decorated cubes holds a code for medieval music. His father Thomas Mitchell spent 20 years cracking this code in the ceiling and now Stuart is orchestrating the findings for a new recording called The Rosslyn Motet.
"They hope that the music, when played on medieval instruments in situ, will resonate throughout the chapel unlocking a secret in the stone."

So, off went an e-mail with quotes and links to a couple of musicians/bloggers. One (a gorgeous blonde blogmistress) replied, "That's totally interesting! Why don't you post it?" The other, Minstrel Boy by name and trade, replied, "leonardo was a musician of note. no matter what other talents someone possessed they were expected while in court to hold their own on at least one instrument. leonardo's instrument was the viola de gambo (which is closer to today's cello than the viola we know). it's interesting stuff.
"don't forget that steve allen did the same thing with a photograph of the manhattan skyline back in the 50's." Which I did recall, once MB gave me the rap up alongside the head.

For even more esoteric symbolism in paintings, check out The Priory of Sion and The Shepherds of Arcadia (Chapter 32 of "The Wave" by Laura Knight-Jadczyk).

So, shall we file this under "Codebreaker Alert?" Oh! As long as we're discussing frequency, resonance, and vibration, there are a couple of interesting articles here and here.


*"What's the use if I sing?" from the art song Stornellatrice by Donini.

"I have a voice because I sing." -- PoLT