Secretarios, música y diplomacia cultural: el inventario post mortem de Juan de Castro Laurel (Roma, 1709)
The secretaries of ambassadors and viceroys in Spanish Italy in the late seventeenth century were key agents of cultural mediation. Both they and lower-ranking officials, thanks to their command of languages, formed networks similar to those of ambassadors and viceroys, though subordinate to them. I...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Salamanca (USAL) |
| Repositorio: | GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:gredos.usal.es:10366/165769 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10366/165769 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Cultural diplomacy cultural mediation Italian Baroque music musical instruments inventories diplomacia cultural transferencia cultural música barroca italiana instrumentos musicales inventarios |
| Sumario: | The secretaries of ambassadors and viceroys in Spanish Italy in the late seventeenth century were key agents of cultural mediation. Both they and lower-ranking officials, thanks to their command of languages, formed networks similar to those of ambassadors and viceroys, though subordinate to them. In addition to acting as intermediaries between the Italian and Spanish spheres of scholarship, some developed notable poetic talents by composing musical poetry (such as cantatas and operas), translating works, or facilitating the transmission of sources and themes for operas. The cases of Gianvincenzo Gravina and Dean Emanuel Martí exemplify these roles in Rome at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. However, there are other, lesser-known figures tied to the fates of their respective patrons and to the period of instability that began for the embassy in 1696, such as Juan de Uriarte, secretary to the Count of Altamira, as well as other secretaries like Pedro Echenique y Aguirre or Diego Ortiz de Zárate. This article reevaluates these figures based on previously unpublished documentation. In this context, the case of Juan de Castro Laurel, a secretary associated with the music-loving Cardinal Giudice, offers new insights into the cultural practices of these literary figures and their emulation of their patrons' tastes. Laurel died in Rome in July 1709. This article publishes his post-mortem inventory, an unpublished document held in the Archivio Storico Capitolino. The inventory includes paintings and musical instruments that can be analyzed from three perspectives: musical patronage, material culture as framed by Renata Ago's concept of the gusto delle cose, and finally, the spatial distribution of music within Roman palaces and the audience involved. |
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