5 minutes with Dante – Maria Sofia Lannutti, “Il dolce suono di Dante (e di Landini)”

5 minutes with Dante is a project that is part of the wider initiative “UniBg per Dante 2021” organized by the University of Bergamo in collaboration with the Comitato di Bergamo della Società Dante Alighieri. The aim of the initiative is to complement the activities scheduled for Dante’s seventh centenary with brief thematic talks on Dante’s works. Maria Sofia Lannutti participates with a video on the words dolce suono, which Dante uses in the only ballata of the Vita Nova and for three times in the Commedia. But what does dolce suono mean exactly? We can find out by reading Dante’s De vulgari eloquentia: for Dante, as still for the Ars Nova polyphonists, the dolce suono is the music composed to perform poetry.