Jeffrey Levenberg

Jeffrey Levenberg

Berenson Fellow
The Reception of Al-Farabi’s “Great Book of Music” in the Italian Renaissance
2016 - 2017 (January-June)
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Biography

Jeffrey Levenberg is an assistant professor of music history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.  He completed his Ph.D. at Princeton University with a dissertation on a neglected Neapolitan treatise by Giovanni d'Avella.  His research focuses primarily on Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, with an aim to illuminating the prince's post-Tridentine motivations and immediate reception history.  His work thus far has been supported by grants from the Medieval Institute of the University of Notre Dame, the Vatican Film Library of St. Louis University, and the NEH.  Levenberg is equally interested in cross-cultural exchanges during the Renaissance. 

Project Summary

This project concerns the reception of Al-Farabi's "Great Book of Music" during the Italian Renaissance.  It focuses in particular on a hitherto unknown Latin translation of this monumental Islamic Golden Age treatise commissioned by the archbishop of Milan and founder of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Federico Borromeo.