abstract
- The butterfly flying around the flame was one of the most famous emblems of the Early Modern Period. It was used to express ideas and emotions associated with passionate love. This article analyzes this emblem through the cantada Mariposa de sus rayos by José de Orejón y Aparicio, whose manuscript belonged to the repertoire of the Cathedral of Lima in the eighteenth century. The piece serves as a starting point to explore the Greek myth that originates the emblem of the butterfly and the flame, its dissemination through printed images that circulated in European courtly environments, its reinterpretation according to Catholic mysticism, and finally, the emblem¿s transposition into the language of music based on the rhetoric of the affections. Thus, the study highlights this form of musical expression as a manifestation that still requires profound analysis. © 2024 University of Valencia. All rights reserved.