Commentary Par XVII 43-45

The first commentator to be clear about the problems of this passage is Fallani (DDP Fallani.Par.XVII.43-45) referring to his gloss on DDP Fallani.Purg.IX.144, in which he cites Casimiri's lecture of 1924.  Casimiri insisted that there were no instances of singing to organ accompaniment until the fifteenth century.  Fallani is of the opinion that some of the early commentators (e.g., Jacopo della Lana, the Ottimo, Francesco da Buti, the Anonimo Fiorentino), when speaking of "il cantare degli organi," probably were referring only to the harmony established by two or more voices singing different notes, not to the musical instrument, the organ.  For earlier discussion of this material, see C.Purg.IX.139-145.  And see Heilbronn-Gaines (Heil.1995.2), arguing that here the singular form organo clearly marks this reference as being to vocal polyphony, while the plural organi (as in [Purg IX 144]) refers to the musical instrument.  And for a substantial argument that coincides with the main point of Fallani's (the text refers to voices in contrapuntal harmony, not to the notes played on an organ), see Chiappo (Chia.1994.2), esp. pp. 135-147.

No matter how discordant the sounds of his great-great-grandson's coming travails may seem, Cacciaguida would seem to be insisting, they will eventually be heard as harmony, at least once Dante's task is completed.