Open University Autumn Talks Series: 3

Monday 9th December | 6pm

Open University Autumn Talks Series: 3

A talk by Naomi J. Barker

Senior Lecturer in Music and Head of Department, The Open University

Music, Medicine and Religion at the Hospital of Santo Spirito Rome 1600-1650

In 1645 John Evelyn visited the Hospital of Santo Spirito in Sassia in Rome noting in his diary that the ‘Organs are very fine, & frequently play’d on to recreate the people in Paine’.

Evelyn’s observation is supported by at least three other documents from the first half of the seventeenth century, all of which suggest the existence of some kind of music therapy in action. However, none of these accounts identifies what was played, why it was played and how the music may have been integrated into the care regime of the hospital.

This presentation will offer some answers to these questions, exploring how music may have been understood as a cure for body and soul.

A LIVE Lit & Phil Event | FREE

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