Music and Cats / Book of Abstracts - Catalog - Page 21
Abstracts
Panel 5: Historical Perspectives
15:10 – 15:25
Modal Tomcatting and
Catcalling
Analysis of Orlando di Lasso’s “O Lucia, miau, miau”
(1560)
Camilo Lozano Velasquez / Case Western Reserve University
In Orlando di Lasso’s morescha “O Lucia, miau,
miau” from 1560, Giorgio—feminized as Giorgia
through the Neapolitan dialect—serenades the
ever-dismissive Lucia, opening his declaration
with a meowing call that mimics a cat. Lucia
responds rudely, seemingly brushing off the
seduction, with remarks that function more as
teasing provocations than outright rejections.
Throughout the piece, the serenader employs a
series of rhetorical strategies to win Lucia’s favor
and, in her own words, “lick her pot.”
Across several languages, the word “cat” carries
strong sexual connotations, either referencing
female genitalia or women perceived as sexually
transgressive. Related expressions, such as
catcalling and tomcatting further emphasize the
association between feline imagery and sexually
aggressive behavior, typically directed at women.
In “O Lucia,” Lasso exploits these meanings,
intensifying their effect through the bawdy and
racialized context of the popular morescha genre.
Giorgio and Lucia, archetypal figures from the
commedia dell’arte, are mapped in this type of
works onto racialized, enslaved individuals. This
portrayal amplifies their sexualization and casts
their interaction in terms of gendered, racial, and
class-based tensions within a comedic framework
of
a
courtship
between
two
seemingly
irreconcilable characters.
Yet, Lasso offers more than an intelligible text
setting to dramatize the scene from “O Lucia”.
In this presentation, I explore how he
animates the morning serenade not just
through
text,
but
through
a
careful
manipulation of the modal dimension.
Through an analysis of cadential patterns,
shifts toward flat-oriented regions, and an
overarching trajectory from an ambiguous
C-mode to a clearer G-mode, I argue that O
Lucia presents not a simple narrative of
rejection, marked by arguing and insults, but
rather a dynamic negotiation of sexual desire.
While Giorgio may vocally “call” Lucia like a
cat, it is Lucia who, through the music’s modal
discourse, effectively catcalls him.
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