Tra corni e corna: morfologia di un espediente semantico-musicale

Abstract

Among the myriad of extra-musical references typical of the language of opera, the relationship between the sound of the French horn and marital infidelity is, although relatively rare, one of the subtlest topoi of opera. This is based on the etymology of the Italian word: this verbal joke denotes the attention that authors such as Cimarosa, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi (and even Stravinsky) devoted to musical imagery, a field in which the relationship ‘corni’ (horns) vs ‘corna’ (cuckoldry) is frequently adopted. With the purpose of proposing a taxonomy, this hilarious gimmick can be interpreted according to the dictates of modern linguistics and semiotics.