I love music and I love Bosch. And here's Bosch polyphonic music did not approve, considered it an invention of the devil and sent all musicians to Hell. However, he also sent himself there. He must have secretly enjoyed music, especially when he was drunk. How can this be understood? From his paintings. But first things first. The drunken master will still appear in our story.
Jeroen Antonison van Aken that's actually called Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516). Even his real name remains a mystery to many today. What can we say about his paintings? The real names of the paintings have not survived to this day. And what about the symbols that we see on the works of the master?
Over time, many of them either changed their meaning or were lost. For most people, Bosch turned into a cool artist who depicted all sorts of psychedelic garbage. And that's just not the case at all. Hieronymus Bosch was very an educated person of his era. His paintings are the deepest text in terms of level.
Precisely the text, because Bosch, above all, belongs to book culture led by the Bible. Unlike many of his contemporaries, the artist was a literate person, well versed in scripture. the main task his creativity - to convey the content to the masses. It is natural to show people the whole meaning of the main book of Christianity.
Almost all of his paintings are triptychs. This is a multi-level text that we must perceive in stages, like a novel. Only then can its meaning be revealed to us. Let's celebrate Bosch!
Here I will allow myself a small digression. If you want to get acquainted with the paintings of the master, go to the museum in his native Hertogenbosch in Holland. Although there are copies of works, they can be touched. Open and close. The Prado won't let you do that. And there are no crowds of tourists, you can see everything in detail.
Let's start with his triptych "Hay Cart". The sashes are closed, and we see an image called "The Traveler". And this is the first inaccuracy introduced by time. Bosch was not interested in ordinary travelers. Here we are talking about something else. We see clear references to the biblical parable "The Good Samaritan".
He was the only one who stopped to help a man who had been robbed and beaten by robbers. But here we see another point. The decision has not yet been made. The person has stopped, but he is confused, does not yet know what needs to be done: help or go further.
By the way, the figure of the traveler in the picture is a portrait of Bosch himself. The artist was a constant character in his own canvases. The picture does not give any answers, the choice is yours, and you open the doors.
The left side is the story of Adam and Eve in Paradise. And again a choice, the consequences of which are the expulsion of the first people from Eden.
The story moves on. In the central part we see a cart of hay. This is perhaps one of the most interesting allegories of human life. We see how everyone strives to get on this cart. He is a reflection of human happiness, an ideal, the ultimate dream. For the sake of their goal, people kill each other, they fight, they are ready to be under the wheels, to be crushed. Everyone looks only at the top of the wagon, but no one sees that devils are harnessed to the wagon instead of horses. They roll her to Hell.
Bosch mocks kings and bishops, ordinary people over false prophets and thieves. They are all blind. They all fall for a simple trick. None of them can look higher to see the Savior above this whole world. Their choice is to choose what is closer and more understandable, not to notice the essence. Until the last, do not believe in a nightmare.
And the nightmare is very close. Life is short and they all go there. The cart with hay follows non-stop to the station "Hell". On the right wing is the final destination. Therefore, when we close the triptych again, then in our head there is already an answer to the question: “What should the Samaritan do: pass by or help?”. The path to salvation is selfless help to one's neighbor.
The fact that Bosch knew the Scriptures perfectly is confirmed by his unusual depiction of objects and animals mentioned in the Bible. Take, for example, his painting “St. John the Evangelist on the island of Patmos. What kind of incomprehensible figure is located in the lower right corner? What is its symbolism?
It becomes clear if you look at the source. We open, we read:
“In appearance, the locust was like horses prepared for war; and on her heads there are, as it were, crowns that look like gold, while her faces are like human faces; and her hair was like the hair of women, and her teeth were like those of lions. She was armored, as if iron armor, and the noise from her wings was like a knock from chariots when many horses run to war; she had tails like scorpions, and in her tails were stingers ... "
Here is your explanation. This is a locust. Hieronymus Bosch did not treat the biblical text as a metaphor. For him, it was the ultimate truth. It even came to funny facts related to the inaccuracy of the translation scripture into Latin. In two parts of the triptych "Garden earthly pleasures» in the middle we see a fountain. The fact is that St. Jerome, creating latin translation Bible, replaced the word "source" with "fountain". Bosch didn't know what the latter looked like, so he turned on his imagination. But this picture of the master definitely needs to be told in more detail.
Before us again closed sashes. This is the scene of the creation of the earth. In the upper left corner is God himself, his gaze fixed on the book. In the area - flat earth just created by him. The world is a book written by the hand of God. The two inscriptions above translate as follows: "He said and it happened", "He commanded - and it appeared". Before us is a clear reference to the gospel of John and the idea that everything began with a word. We open doors...
We see how animals are born and named Adam in Paradise, in the center - allegorical image the joys of life, and on the right - the result. The result is disappointing.
In the foreground we have musicians. I have already said that polyphonic Bosch music believed to be a creation of Satan. So he put me in hell whole orchestra. One note was written right on the fifth point. The rest of them are playing. Only now their game is no longer pleasure, but torture.
Above is the artist himself. Here it is big face looking straight at us.
Why is he acting like this? For drunkenness! The legs of the figure resemble dried tree trunks. The trunks rest on the ships - a symbol of a shaky drunken gait. Inside his body is generally a tavern, where devils feast. They feast, then to be born in his head, go in a round dance and get on the canvas. Ruthless to people, Bosch treated himself with all severity. But he, as the creator, manages this whole party at the very end.
His canvases were destroyed, they forgot about him for several centuries, but in the 20th century he again turned out to be his own, so bright, so vital. After Nietzsche announced that God was dead, only Bosch remained with us.
On the buttocks of a sinner from " musical hell» Hieronymus Bosch (triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights"), you can see the notes of a strange melody. An American student managed to decipher this music and perform it.
Amelia Hamrick, student at Oklahoma Christian University:
“I decided to rewrite this melody according to the rules of modern musical notation, assuming that the key of the lower voice is C major, as was customary in medieval chorales”.
Amelia writes that, together with her friend Luke, they studied the painting of Bosch, how “Suddenly, to our great surprise, we found hellish music on the bottom of one of the tortured sinners, which, without exaggeration, is already more than 600 years old”(the painting dates from 1490-1510). It took her about half an hour to record the track. After a Tumblr post garnered 50,000 likes, Amelia revealed that her transcript contained errors and is working with the University of Oklahoma Music Department on a new, more accurate interpretation of the music from the buttocks.
"The Garden of Earthly Delights" - the most famous triptych of Hieronymus Bosch, which got its name from the theme of the central part, is dedicated to the sin of voluptuousness - Luxuria. original name this work of Bosch is not known for certain. The researchers called the triptych the "Garden of Earthly Delights". In general, none of the interpretations of the painting available today is recognized as the only correct one. Most theories about the meaning of the painting developed in the 20th century. The right wing was called "Musical Hell" because of the images of the instruments used here most in a strange way: one sinner is crucified on the harp, below the lute becomes an instrument of torture for another, the “musician” lying face down, on whose buttocks the notes of the melody are imprinted. It is performed by a choir of damned souls led by a regent - a monster with a fish face. Wikipedia
Amelia Hamrick quickly developed a following. William Esenzo aka Wellmanicuredman, an independent artist and composer, choralized and composed lyrics for the infernal song, which includes, for example, the following line: "Our asses sing while we burn in purgatory".
Full version of William's poems:
Butt song from hell
This is the butt song from hell
We sing from our asses while burning in purgatory
The butt song from hell
The butt song from hell
british Daily Mail could not pass by such an intriguing event, the publication states that this is the first transcript of the melody in 600 years. This is wrong. Back in 2003, the composition De jordiska fröjdernas paradis, created on the basis of notes from the buttocks, was performed by the Swedish team Vox vulgaris. The composition was released on the ensemble's CD .
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“Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) has hitherto been known only as a painter, and for the first time Vox Vulgaris considers him as a composer. Five hundred years after the author's death, "Paradise of earthly joys" is performed for the first time, piece of music, based on a musical fragment, which this extraordinary medieval artist posted on a man's butt depicted on a triptych of the same name. Even though the music on the record - medieval, and the instruments are authentic, the chance that at least an approximation to how music could manifest itself in the Middle Ages is achieved here is vanishingly small. We are not looking for any historical truths, and some of them are impossible to find, even if they exist at all. Rather, in an attempt to find a place on a thorny imaginary scale between the shackled "authentic" and the tense "rock-like", we aim to find a third way, to create music that is both completely modern and completely medieval. We believe this is the only way to play live medieval music in our time, even if we see only a few preserved musical fragments and instruments, which we consider an inexhaustible source musical creativity. Of course, we were influenced by all the music and all the impressions that we get every day, some of this is heard in our music. Our interpretation also reflects knowledge about medieval life, art and religion. For many, the picture of the world of the Middle Ages is inhabited by pigs roasted whole, noble knights and chaste or not very chaste girls; our choice is rooted in the periphery of medieval society - among heretics, defrocked monks, flagellants and leaders of failed peasant uprisings. |
Hell - Hieronymus Bosch (Part of the triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights"). 1500-1510. Wood, oil. 389 x 220 cm
Hell is the right wing of the artist's most famous triptych called The Garden of Earthly Delights. Under this lyrical name lies a far from cute and idyllic picture. In fact, the triptych is made quite in the style of Bosch - terrible visions, grotesque figures, terrible images are almost everywhere here.
In the artist's vision, hell appears as a monstrous surreal place. The right wing of the triptych is often referred to by critics as the “Musical Hell” due to the fact that many different musical instruments. However, one should not hope that they are used for their intended purpose. In fact, they are not even played by the devils, as one might suspect. Bosch decided to use ways of using them that are completely far from the direct purpose of musical instruments. In most cases, they act as torture devices.
For example, the artist's harp plays the role of a cross for crucifixion or a rack - an unfortunate sinner is flattened on it. An innocent lute has become the subject of torture for another poor fellow, who lies face down. It is interesting that notes are printed on his buttocks, according to which an absolutely unimaginable choir sings - cursed, led by a conductor with a fish "face".
The foreground of the picture is able to shock even those hardened by "horror films" modern man. A rabbit is dragging a man with an open stomach, who is tied to a pole. At the same time, a stream of blood literally beats out of the poor fellow. The predatory rabbit looks very peaceful, and this is a truly monstrous contrast compared to what he does and what his action should imply in the future.
The abnormality of this place is emphasized by the incredible size of berries and fruits scattered here and there throughout the door. When you look at this, it is not clear who is eating whom here - people are berries or people are berries? The world turned upside down and became hell.
A frozen pond with a polynya, where a sinner rushes on a huge horse, people flying into the world like brainless midges, a man door lock- all these images are allegorical and, of course, were understandable to the artist's contemporaries. Some of what he saw is quite possible to interpret and interpret in our days, but already from the point of view of a person of modernity, and not of the late Middle Ages.
Interestingly, the researcher of Bosch's work was able to decipher the notes engraved on the fifth point of the sinner. It turns out that the artist recorded a quite coherent melody that can be played and listened to. But this is the only normal real element in the delusional world of his hell.
