Ancient Music and Modern Practice

Ancient Music Adapted to Modern Practice by Nicola Vicentino; Maria Rika Maniates; Claude
V. Palisca
Review by: Bonnie J. Blackburn
Early Music, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Feb., 1998), pp. 139-141
Published by: Oxford University Press
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these treatises over a lengthy timespan is in some ways
puzzling, but they contain a number of seminal ideas
that perhaps counted for more than the details of a
flawed scale-system.
Who, then, were the authorsof these surprisinglypop-
ular works, and what are the works' correct titles?Erick-
son discusses these questions, though not in quite
enough detail. He argues cogently that ME and SE were
written by different people, though he is less convincing
in suggestingthat SE might have come first. He seems to
agree with Phillips that ME could be as early as 850, and
cites her provisional location of the source for the chant
melodies they both use as Lotharingia.Erickson thinks
that the Inchiriadon, a variant version of ME, might
derive from a still earlier model on the grounds that its
use of Boethius is less technical and assured than in ME
itself. The jury is still out on that.
The questions of title and authorship go together, for
the attribution is usually part of a titular formula. That
does not mean that the two pieces of information are
equally reliable. The formula 'Incipit Enchiridion Ob-
donis abbatis' has the most convincing title for ME
(which was only rarely called Musica enchiriadis,itself a
meaninglessexpression)but the least convincing attribu-
tion. 'Incipit Inchiriadon Uchubaldi Francigene'has an
almost equallyimpossible ascriptionand a title corrupted
by a form of metathesis:it is in any case attachedto the
variant version mentioned above, and while this could
conceivablyhave been done by Hucbald at an early stage
in his career, it is most unlikely. But the title has the
additional significance that it (or Enchiriadon)provides
the link with the mysterious word Enchiriadis,which is
presumably intended as its genitive. 'Incipit liber
Enchiriadis de musica', the best-attested title, makes
sense on these assumptions, even if 'the book of the
handbook' seems tautologous. 'Scolica Enchiriadis' is
explicablein this way, and 'Musica Enchiriadis'seems to
be a back-formation from it. Whether the latter is by
someone called Otger (or Hoger or Noger) is another
question again.
The translatoris occasionallya little carelessin report-
ing such details (for example, in footnote 13 of his Intro-
duction, where the readerhas to turn to Schmid for clar-
ification). He is also too sweeping, I believe, in
dismissing a link between the author of ME and
JohannesScotus, and he does not do full justice to Nancy
Phillips's carefully nuanced view. There are still many
unansweredquestions surroundingthese two fascinating
documents, but this book offers both a thoughtful review
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of the issues and a convincing translation of the some-
times obscure originals.
Bonnie J. Blackburn
Ancient music and modern
practice
Nicola Vicentino, Ancient musicadapted to modern
practice,translated,with introductionand notes, by
MariaRikaManiates,and edited by ClaudeV. Palisca
Music TheoryTranslationSeries(New Haven & London:
YaleUniversityPress,1996),?35
For many centuries music lovers marvelled at the leg-
endaryeffects of ancient Greekmusic that could rouse an
Alexander to war and pacify a jilted lover bent on
revenge; why, they lamented, was today's music inca-
pable of such wonders? Nicola Vicentino (1511-c.1577)
accepted the challenge, and after 15 years of hard labour
he produced not only the present treatise but also an
elaborate keyboard instrument with six ranks on two
manuals that could play all the notes in his system, com-
prising a 31-note octave. Alas, it did nothing for his
career:though fortunatefor many years in the patronage
of an eminent Ferrarese cardinal, Ippolito II d'Este,
Vicentino was never successful in finding a permanent
position; he died in obscurity,and most of his music has
not survived.
Vicentino is rememberedtoday chiefly for his attempt
to incorporate chromatic and enharmonic intervals in
the music of his time and for his famous debate with the
PortuguesemusicianVicente Lusitanoin 1551,on whether
a Regina caeli they had sung was pure diatonic (as Lusi-
tano claimed) or diatonic mixed with the chromatic and
enharmonic genera (Vicentino's position, since he con-
sideredthat minor 3rdsbelonged to the chromatic,major
3rds to the enharmonic genus). Vicentino lost, and this
defeat resultedin his treatise,designedto providea theor-
etical basis for the 'secrets'he had been teaching a group
of noblemen in Rome.
The treatise, long available in a facsimile edition, is
not easy to read and digest, and Vicentino presumes a
very patient reader who shares his passion for the sub-
ject. Pedagogically, he makes understanding difficult:
after the briefest introduction in a 'Book on music
theory' he plunges straightinto his great matter in 'Book
EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1998 139
 1 on music practice'.In the very last chapterof this book
(p.83) he remarks:'Experiencedsingers and players are
advised that they will not understand the first book
unless they read the entire work. In particular,they must
understand the fifth book, wherein the construction of
my instrument is described and illustrated.'The many
music examples bristle with sharps, flats, naturals and
dots (indicating enharmonic notes); Vicentino wisely
chose Antonio Barre,a specialistin music printing, to set
his work in type. Referenceis frequentlymade to the fifth
book, where Vicentino sets out a full description, with
measurements and diagrams, of his archicembalo.One
such instrument,made by Guido Trasuntinoin 1606,still
survivesin the Museo Civico of Bologna. Practically,the
music could hardlybe learnt without this instrument,on
which the singer is advisedto practisein orderto learn to
sing difficult leaps within and between the three genera.
He can also use it to play the compositions Vicentino has
included.
Maria Rika Maniates'stranslation is fluent and clear,
and it makes reading this treatise a pleasure. Moreover,
her extensive introduction is now the best overview of
Vicentino's thought available.I found very few technical
points where I believe she has misunderstood him. If I
have one real complaint, it concerns the index, which is
very deficient:entries do not occur under the expected
words ('tempo' is under 'pace') and there are few cross-
references('improvisation'is only under 'plainchant'),in
addition to which the extensive notes are not indexed. I
lost track of the helpful advice to use rests to imagine
intervals in order to reach a difficult note after a pause
(p.238): there is no entry under 'rests' (the subject of
chapter7 of book 4), 'pauses',or even 'intervals':I finally
found it under 'singing', but this entry does not give the
referencesto singing flat and sharp,discussed on pp.62-3
and 147.
Somewhatperplexingis the tuning Vicentino intended
for his instrument.From his labellingthe intervalA-A# a
minor semitone (p.38) it is clear that he is thinking in
terms not of Pythagoreanintonation but of meantone
temperament; he does not explain it technically but
remarks that 5ths are 'blunted' and 4ths enlarged. The
keys of the first manual will produce a 19-note octave,
while the second manual is tuned a diesis higher; com-
bined with the first manual, the 31 steps to the octave are
each a diesis apart,which produces a kind of equal tem-
perament.
By no means all the book has to do with ancient music
adapted to modern practice, and the great virtue of this
140 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1998
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translationis that it makes accessibleVicentino's import-
ant observationson current musical practice,which few
have probably read. The middle section has quite
detailed and valuable advice on composition, with indi-
cations of which intervals and progressionscan be used
in two (or more) voices and which are suitable for three,
four, five and more voices (including double-choir
pieces). It is an interesting question (not raised in the
introduction) to what extent Vicentino reflectsWillaert's
teaching;he studied with him as a young man, probably
in the 1530s,and proudly proclaimedhimself a disciple in
his madrigal book of 1546. Willaert was famous as a
teacher, and it is curious that no one claims to transmit
his teaching. Vicentino mentions no modern author
(apart from Gaffurius, once, although it is quite clear
that Gaffurius is one of his important sources) and
includes no musical examples by anyone else, unlike
Zarlino, who also studied with Willaert,and with whom
it is valuableto compare and contrastVicentino's recom-
mendations.
Vicentino was a firm believer in musical progress:a
student learns from and then surpasseshis master. 'My
argumentcan be proved by the musical works written by
former pupils who are alive today. Their compositions
are far superiorto those made by their masters thirty or
forty years ago' (p.lo8). He has interesting remarks on
signing cautionary accidentals 'to prevent the many
errors made by singers. When such mistakes occur in
performance,they can even ruin the intent of the com-
poser who wanted to representharshnesson a particular
cadential note, which singers have raised, making the
music sweet' (p.168).In his examples he calls a Phrygian
cadence on A, with B6marked in the lower voice, 'dubi-
ous'-dubious in the sense that the singer of the upper
voice is likely to sing G#; therefore the cadence can be
'saved'by leading the upper voice downward or making
it leap up, so there is no danger of inadvertentlycreating
an augmented 6th between B6 and G#. He also dislikes
cadencesthat may accidentallygive rise to an augmented
octave (i.e. the 'Englishcadence'):'then the resultingdis-
order will be too great a discord for the ear. Of this let
the student beware.'(p.184)
Chapter 42 of book 4 contains advice for singers, of
which the most important is to suit the delivery to the
type of text. Diminutions used within reason are good,
but support by instruments is advised, lest the harmony
be lost. Some aspects of performance'cannot be written
down, such as utteringsoftly and loudly or fast and slow,
or changingthe measurein keepingwith the words, so as
to showthe effectsand the harmony'(p. 301).He likens
musicaldeliveryto thatof an orator;for this reason'it is
much more pleasingif music is sung from memory'
(p.3o2).
Even if Vicentino'sobsessionwith chromaticand
enharmonicmusicbemusesor appalsthemodernreader,
thereis muchin his treatisethatis wellworthstudying;
we are greatlyin MariaRika Maniates'sand Claude
Palisca'sdebt for makingthis importantsourcemuch
moreaccessible.
BernadetteNelson
Music in 16th-century Toledo
La tolidane et son milieu
Francois Reynaud, polyphonie
des premierstimoignages aux environsde 16oo
Documents, Etudes et R6pertoires
(Paris and Turnhout:CNRS Editions/Brepols,1996)
This is a book for which many of us have been waiting:a
well-documented historical account of musicians and
music in Toledo (the seat of the primate of Spain). Its
principal focus is musical activity in the city from the
early 1500sto about 16oo;Reynaudprovides information
aboutmusicaltraditionsnot onlyin the cathedral,but in
a numberof otherinstitutionsin the city (witha strong
focus on the role of instrumentalists), including the
parish churches and monasteries. There is a wealth of
detailresultingfromthe author'sthoroughand system-
atic researchinto a wide range of historical,liturgicaland
musicaldocumentspreservedprincipallyin the various
archivesof Toledo.
Thearchivesof Toledo'sGothiccathedralboastprob-
ablythe richestcollectionof musicaland documentary
sourcesin Spain,if not in Europeas a whole.Thereis a
virtuallycompleteset of chapteractsfrom1466onwards,
and a similarand complementary collectionof fabric
accounts-the informationfound in these two sets of
recordsprovidesan indispensable tool for understanding
the acquisitionand compilationof muchof the valuable
collectionof choirbooks,as well as the musicalactivities
of the cathedral.Thereare some 26 manuscriptpoly-
phonic choirbooksextant,most of which were copied
duringthe 1540sand1550os. Thefirsthalfdozenor so are
dominatedby the music of Josquin,Mouton and the from his work on the life and music of Andr6s de Tor-
succeedinggenerationof Franco-Flemish composerswho rentes (MA thesis, U. of Sydney, 1992), Michael Noone
spenta significant
proportion of their careersin northern was the first to collate information found in the chapter
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Italy.Sourcesfromthe latterhalf of the 16thcentury-
a numbersent as gifts by such eminentcomposersas
Victoriaand FranciscoGuerrero-reflectthe taste at
that time for music by composersof Spanishorigin,
or workingin Spain.Takentogether,thesesourcesbear
testimonyto a once thrivingmusicaltraditionwhich,
certainlyin the 16th and early17th centuries,was period-
icallyled by some of the foremostSpanishmusiciansof
the day: Andresde Torrentes,Crist6balde Morales,
Bernardinode Ribera (possiblytutor to Victoriain
Avila),AlonsoLoboand the organistJuande Peraza,a
memberof the famousPerazafamilyof instrumentalists.
However,both the musicaland documentary sources
havebeen jealouslyguardedfor decades,and accessto
themhas alwaysbeen notoriouslydifficult.Reynaudhas
been one of the few scholarsthis centurypermittedto
studythesedocumentswith apparently little restriction.
Earlierpioneeringwork was undertakenby Francisco
AnsejoBarbieriin the 187os;Barbieri'sworkin Toledo
(in collaborationwith the cathedral archivist, F.
andelsewherein Spainresultedin the famous
Foradada)
set of BarbieriPapersnow preservedin the Biblioteca
Nacional,Madrid,andrecentlyedited(thoughnot with-
out error)as a two-volumecollectionby EmilioCasares
(Madrid,1986-8).Somewhatmysteriously, some of the
sourcesof documentaryinformationcopiedin Madrid
into the 'PapelesBarbieri'-including the 1604Memorial
(see below)-have since disappeared.In this century
FelipeRubioPiqueraswas the firstto makea studyand
catalogueof the musicalsources(C6dices polif6nicos and
Mtisicay mndsicos toledanos, 1922-5)-workwhich, far, so
standsas the only 'complete'guide to the contentsof
thesechoirbooks.RobertStevenson'sconsultationof the
musical archivesresultedin an article, 'The Toledo
manuscriptpolyphonicchoirbooksand some otherlost
or littleknownFlemishsources',Fontesartismusicae,xx
(1973),pp.87-107,whichprimarilyconsistsof an indexof
the piecespreserved in the collection.It alsotantalizingly
drawsattentionto a verypreciousandrichlyilluminated
manuscript(probablyof northern-European origin)also
preserved at Toledo Cathedral which had disappeared
from view for decades.After persistentefforts, this
manuscriptwas finallylocatedby RobertSnow, who
publisheda full descriptionof his findings in 1983
('ToledoCathedral Ms.Reservado 23',Journalof musicol-
ogy, ii (1984), pp.246-77). In 1982, and arisingprincipally
EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1998 141