Hieronymus Bosch’s Butt Music
Say what?! What the Hell is Butt Music?
Well, if you’re into art you have probably seen or heard of Hieronymus Bosch‘s triptych oil painting called “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (finished in 1510). If you look closely there is one section of the painting depicting Hell, on the right side, where we see musical instruments (a lute, a harp a hurdy-gurdy and a couple of woodwind instruments). If you look even closer you can see a man bent over who has music written on his buttocks, and a pink monster who seems to have placed the notes there by whipping the man with its long tongue:
Wikipedia offers a very high resolution image file of the painting, available for anyone to download and someone has studied the music and has even recorded it! A Tumblr blogger named Amelia has done this and now there are various recordings of the “Butt Song” circulating around the Internet.
transcribed into modern notation by Amelia (tumblr user: chaoscontrolled123)
OK, so how does Hell sound according to Bosch?
Well, here are a few videos on YouTube to give you an idea:
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And a more simplified version:
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And another, very creepy, version:
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Which version do you think is the most “hellish”? ? Is there another version you’ve heard that you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments. This painting and many other masterpieces can be found in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain. Keep supporting art and music!
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George Milburn says:
It’s fascinating but I wish the use of that polite American word for arse, ie ‘butt’ hadn’t ruined Bosch’s original intent: Eine Kleine Arsch Musik!
Buddie Reed says:
The music was never supposed to represent hell, or even butts. It actually fits this painting as it would be something you would hear whilst out on a walk enjoying a garden albeit with an element of despair present. The painting is titled “The Garden of Earthly Delights” after all.
Joe says:
Good point, Buddie!
Isabelle McGill says:
Well I think The garden of Earthly delights, is still Hieronymous Boschs way of depicting hell, like something to be mocked or is ironic, because there aren’t many nice things going on in the painting if you look. It’s very delightful to look at, its beautiful, but not many nice things going on, it’s little demon/ gremlin like beings torturing humans, or lost souls, as music, epically back in the day wasn’t heralded as it is today, in times gone by, it was seen as scandalous, or demon magic, to be able to play such music. So maybe it’s also depicting how the people of his time, portrayed such things, so music in a garden of delight and the people receiving it badly. I also think there’s a homosexual relationship being covered up in place of where the notations are, symbolic to that maybe. Im not necessarily saying Hieronymous Bostch is gay im just saying maybe it was an ode to the individual who created the music.
Peter De Meyer says:
Which version do you think is the most “hellish”? when you let all three play together!