The Oar, the Trumpet, the Drum: Music and Galley Servitude in Spanish Naples (original) (raw)

Throughout the early modern period, Spanish overseers of the city of Naples maintained a fleet of galley ships that provided military protection to its busy harbor and patrolled the coasts of the wider kingdom. As was typical throughout the Mediterranean, these ships relied on labor from slaves (mostly North African and Turkish) and local convicts, identified collectively by contemporaries as galeotti. During the months the galleys were in harbor, many galeotti were expected to earn their daily bread through a trade, craft, or a skill like music. Significantly, galeotti who were musicians, or sonatori, supplied a form of specialized labor that was valuable both on and off the galleys. Thus, galeotti musicians were uniquely positioned to traverse social boundaries while remaining chained within the political confines of their state servitude. This paper argues that records of music-making among galeotti from the middle to late sixteenth century provide an archive that elucidates their movements within different types of public space as well as their shifting discursive and legal positions in Neapolitan society. Specifically, evidence from contemporary nautical manuals, civic chronicles, travel accounts, and the financial records of the galley fleet reveal the presence of musicians onboard the Neapolitan galleys and a culture of music that led many galeotti to be enlisted in musical forms of labor on the galleys and within the city itself. While musicologists have paid little attention to such ephemeral sounds, these records have much to tell scholars about the relationships between music, criminality, and the development of urban space in early modern Naples. This study pays close attention to the permeable position of galeotti musicians in Naples, contributing to a growing literature that emphasizes the diverse and complex nature of urban soundscapes in early modern Italy.