Hidden da Vinci symbols mark RI Center opening

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By Mary Louise Speer | Tuesday, October 7, 2008 11:18 PM CDT | () comments

Few people know Leonardo da Vinci was a musician.

The Satva Center for healing arts, spiritual teachings and retreats and meditation practices celebrates its grand opening in a three-day series beginning today.

Author and musician Giovanni Pala of Lecce, Italy, will speak on hidden music, symbols and letters in Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” in an event at Broadway Presbyterian Church, Rock Island.

“The theme is the ‘Last Supper,’ so it seemed the church was very fitting,” Rita Melissano, executive director of the center, said. “Within the presentation, there will be a world premiere of the notes Giovanni Pala has found in Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper.’ ”

Pala’s presentation on hidden music is based on several years of research into the famed 1498 painting of Jesus Christ and the 12 disciples eating their last supper together. His journey into discovering the musical notes interwoven into the painting began in 2003.

“I heard that some researchers believe that there was a musical message in Leonardo’s ‘Last Supper,’ ” he said, speaking through a translator.

Those scholars were art historians, not musicians, but the claim triggered his interest to know more about Leonardo and the music of the Renaissance period, he said. His wife, Loredana Mazzarella, is an artist who highlighted the historic and artistic side of the Renaissance man.

“I learned about Leonardo in school, but there was really no interest for me,” he said. “Not many people know that Leonardo played the lyre and wrote the music as well. This is the least known aspect of Leonardo’s work.”

Pala found musical notes in the painting using a five-line music staff, and people attending the event will hear that composition. Pala is not the first person to find hidden meanings in the “Last Supper.” The painting has elicited speculation, particularly after “The Da Vinci Code” movie debuted in 2006.

“In general when we evaluate an artwork, we look at the global artwork but not specifically to go into the symbols or specific references to Holy Scriptures,” Pala said. “Leonardo used a lot of symbols especially in the ‘Last Supper.’ ”

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