Abstract

Among tales of travel, none are so extreme and radical as those that narrate imaginary voyages, and that - as in the ancient literary tradition of the "romanzo" and the Menippean satire - touch remote wastelands and frequent unattainable worlds. The sonorous experiences of various natures that take place during the imaginary voyages are on the one hand a valuable material for analysing the ancient musical imaginary, the fantasy of virtual, divine and metaphysical musics (and their roots in concrete traditions and rituals of ancient music); on the other hand, the insertion of a musical experience at the heart of the account responds perfectly to the needs of Menippean "prosimetro" for formal variation. There are therefore two narrative trends of sonorous experiences in the imaginary voyage, in two preferred Menippean scenarios: those that take place in the voyage to the underworld (and that reveal close ties with the sonority of funeral rites and of the funeral home); and those that take place in the voyage towards heaven and the abode of the gods (and which are often tied to wedding rites and music).