Cantare super librum

• FOOTNOTES

• APPENDIX I - Historical techniques of adding voices to a cantus firmus as shown in the video

• APPENDIX II - Translation of Ippolito Chamaterò's preface to his Li introiti fondati (Venice, 1574)

• APPENDIX III - Selected bibliography

FOOTNOTES

1. [01:05] The notion of improvised counterpoint being performed super librum is first expressed by theorist Johannes Tinctoris in his 1477 treatise on counterpoint. However, the act of adding extra voices to chant extempore is first described in the tenth-century theoretical source Musica Enchiriadis. For an overview of the early history of counterpoint see Rob C. Wegman, “What Is Counterpoint?,” in Improvising Early Music: The History of Musical Improvisation from the Late Middle Ages to the Early Baroque (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2014): 9–69. For discussion of Tinctoris’ use of the term cantare super librum see Margaret Bent, “‘Resfacta’ and ‘Cantare Super Librum,’” Journal of the American Musicological Society 36, no. 3 (October 1983): 371–91 and Bonnie J. Blackburn, “On Compositional Process in the Fifteenth Century,” Journal of the American Musicological Society 40, no. 2 (1987): 210–84. For a list of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French sources on chant sur le livre see Jean-Paul Montagnier, “Le Chant Sur Le Livre Au XVIIIe Siècle: Les Traités de Louis-Joseph Marchand et Henry Madin,” Revue de Musicologie 81, no. 1 (1995): 37–63 and Jean-Paul Montagnier, “Les Sources Manuscrites Francaises Du ‘Chant Sur Le Livre’ Aux XVIIe et XVIIIe Siecles,” Revue Belge de Musicologie 49 (1995): 79-100. 

2. [02:06] ‘neminem prorsus cognovi qui si a vigesimo anno etatis eius aut supra sive componere sive super librum canere inceperit eminentem aut clarum inter musicos locum sibi vendicaverit.’ Johannes Tinctoris, The Art of Counterpoint (Liber de arte contrapuncti), trans. Albert Seay, Musicological Studies and Documents 5 (American Institute of Musicology, 1961), 141. Comfortingly, the notion that adults are unable to learn certain skills after childhood is outdated, as noted in Catherine Motuz, “Orality and Composition Alla Mente,” Rivista Di Analisi E Teoria Musicale 2 (2017): 77–104.  

3. [02:33] ‘En la extremada capilla del reverendísimo arcobispo de toledo, Fonseca de buena memoria vi tan diestros cantores hechar contrapunto, que si se puntara se vendiera por buena composición.’ Juan Bermudo, El Libro Llamado Declaración de Instrumentos Musicales (Osuna: Juan de Leon, 1555), fol. 128r. 

4. [02:52] ‘Il sentir da ciascuno di quegli eruditi cantori sovra il canto piano, ò chorale, componer’all’improvviso, e come si dice far contrappunto alla mente con nobile armonia,come se fusse scritta e composta per l’avanti, rende meraviglia, e dolcezza insieme.’ Antimo Liberati, Epitome della musica, ca. 1666, ms. I-Bc, D92A, 45. 

5. [03:18] ‘Cependant il y a des musiciens d'église si versés dans cette sorte de chant, qu'ils y commencent et poursuivent même des fugues, quand le sujet en peut comporter, sans confondre et croiser les parties, ni faire de faute dans l'harmonie.’ Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Dictionnaire de Musique (1764; repr., Paris: Chez la veuve Duchesne, 1768), 84., [complete definition in English here]. 

6. [04:48] Exceptionally, Johannes Tinctoris describes several more complex rhythmic possibilities for the performance of the chant melody when functioning as a cantus firmus. See Jeffrey J. Dean, “Johannes Tinctoris — Complete Theoretical Works — de Arte Contrapuncti Lib. 2 & 3,” earlymusictheory.org, November 27AD, https://earlymusictheory.org/Tinctoris/texts/dearte23/ for a side-by-side translation and Johannes Tinctoris and Albert Seay, The Art of Counterpoint : (Liber de Arte Contrapuncti) (Rome: American Institute Of Musicology, 1961) for a modern transcription of the musical examples. 

7. [05:21] The historical practice of memorising and regurgitating individual contrapuntal motions for an added voice against the common motions of a plainchant melody is known today as Klangschrittlehre. See Klaus-Jurgen Sachs, “Zur Tradition Der Klangschritt-Lehre. Die Texte Mit Der Formel ‘Si Cantus Ascendit...’ Und Ihre Verwandten,” Archiv Für Musikwissenschaft 28, no. 4 (1971): 233–70. 

8. [05:31] ‘Having learned these species [of intervals] and the method, here is how we ought to use them. The boy should provide himself with a slate on which one may easily write and erase; he should take a Tenor from plainchant and begin to write note against note, through the intervals. Whenever he has gotten used to making note against note by improvisation and has become practiced in it, then he can go on to florid counterpoint. When he has become trained in this too, he should put aside the slate and learn to sing in improvising on plainchant or on figured music from a book or a sheet of paper. But in this there is need for continual exercise.’ ‘Cognitis his spetiebus & doctrina, quomodo his uti debeamus: Comparet sibi puer, tabulam lapideam, in qua facile scribitur, & deletur, ac sumat Tenorem ex cantu Chorali, & ita per speties primo faciat notam contra notam. Cum autem utcunque fuerit assuetus notam contra notam ex tempore facere, & practicus fuerit, tune poterit ad contrapunctum fractum accedere. In hoc ubi etiam exercitatus fuerit, reliquat tabulam lapideam, & discat ex tempore canere, super Choralem cantum, aut figuralem ex libro aut scedula. Sed hic continua exercitatione opus est.’ Adrianus Petit Coclico, Compendium Musices (Nuremberg: Joannis Montani & Ulrici Neuberi, 1552). Translation Albert Seay, Musical Compendium (Colorado Springs, 1973) with revisions from Jessie Ann Owens, Composers at Work : The Craft of Musical Composition, 1450-1600 (New York ; Oxford Oxford University Press, 1998), 67. 

9. [05:42] While the term ‘Sighting’ most likely originates in England in the fourteenth century, the concept is by no means restricted to English sources, with synonyms such as ‘contrapunto ad videndum’ or ‘consonantiarum ocularem’ appearing in Spanish and Italian sources even into the seventeenth century. The theorist and composer Vincentio Lusitano describes those who do not use this technique when singing counterpoint as ‘wandering blindly.’ Vicente Lusitano, Introduttione facilissima (1553), fol.D. 

10. [06:22] See our episode “Cadences in the 16th and 17th centuries” [link]. 

11. [06:36] For example, see Jean Lebeuf, Traité historique et pratique sur le chant ecclésiastique (Paris: J. B. et J. T. Hérissant, 1741), 111. 

12. [06:45] Johannes Tinctoris describes the practice of singing simple counterpoint as ‘childish,’ except for when the chant is sung quickly, in which case it produces ‘much sweetness’ because the words are pronounced ‘distinctly.’ Jeffrey J. Dean, “Johannes Tinctoris — Complete Theoretical Works — de Arte Contrapuncti Lib. 2 & 3,” earlymusictheory.org. 

13. [07:39] Adriano Banchieri, Cartella Musicale Nel Canto Figrato, Fermo, & Contrapunto, Third Edition (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1614), 67. See Peter Schubert, “From Improvisation to Composition: Three 16th Century Case Studies,” in Improvising Early Music: The History of Musical Improvisation from the Late Middle Ages to the Early Baroque (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2014): 93–130. See the full example in the appendix below. 

14. [08:19] For an interesting commentary on musicians who repeatedly improvise on the same subjects see Bruno Nettl, “Thoughts on Improvisation: A Comparative Approach,” The Musical Quarterly LX, no. 1 (1974): 1–19. 

15. [08:42] See our episode “Falsobordone, the Miserere of Allegri, and a most bizarre musicological error” [link]. 

16. [09:03] For more information see Brian Towell. "Fauxbourdon." Grove Music Online. 2001; Accessed 14 Sep. 2022. 

17. [10:32] Nicola Vicentino describes fauxbourdon as an old-fashioned technique that ‘seems strange to our ears’, and says that it should only be used when setting harsh words. Nicola Vicentino, L'antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica (Rome, 1555), Cap. VII, 31 [imslp; transcription]. Gioseffo Zarlino, also discussing an example of fauxbourdon, wrote that such an incorrect use of parallel fourths ‘does not deserve praise’, that it leads to false relations and ‘brings no pleasure to the ear’. Gioseffo Zarlino, Le Istitutioni Harmoniche (Venice, 1558), Cap. 61, 247 [imslp]. 

18. [14:23] ‘En la fiestas solemnes siempre echan contrapunto sobre los salmos y suelen los músicos competir unos con otros sobre esto imitandose y añadiendo cada uno o quitando según su habilidad conformándose con su voz y garganta y según prudencia que cada uno tiene y toman esto con tan eficacia que se olvidan la letra de los versos y aun la debida atención y así debe el sochantre estar muy sobre aviso para que se diga enteramente.’ Javier Suárez Pajares, La música en la catedral de Sigüenza, 1600–1750 (Madrid: Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales (ICCMU), 1998), vol. 1, 64. The Directorio del Coro de la catedral de Sigüenza was written by Juan Pérez in 1596. Quoted and translated in Philippe Canguilhem, 'Toward a stylistic history of Cantare super Librum', Studies in Historical Improvisation: From Cantare Super Librum to Partimenti, ed. Massimiliano Guido (New York: Routledge, 2017). 

19. [15:00] We mentioned this practice in our episode about Solmization [link]. To learn more see Philippe Canguilhem and Alexander Stalarow, “Singing upon the Book according to Vicente Lusitano,” Early Music History 30 (September 8, 2011): 55–57. 

20. [15:12] Adriano Banchieri, Cartella Musicale Nel Canto Figurato, Fermo, & Contrapunto., Third Edition (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1614), 230. [transcription and translation]. 

21. [15:47] Ippolito Chamaterò, Li introiti fondati (Venice, 1574) [imslp]. See the translation of the preface in the appendix below. 

22. [17:44] ‘Ratio canendi non valde probatur eruditis’. Heinrich Faber, Musica poetica (1548), f. 97. Quoted and translated into French in Olivier Trachier and Simonne Chevalier, eds. Gallus Dressler, Praecepta musicae poëticae (Paris-Tours: Minerve, 2001), 62. 

23. [18:07] ;Modo di comporre alla mente sopra i canti fermi. Cap. XXIII. Il cantar alla mente sopra il canto fermo nelle chiese, fà buono udire quando i compagni sono bene concertati, & che tutte le parti tengono i suoi termini, cioè, che i soprani faciano i suoi passaggi, & i Contr'Alti, & Tenori sopra il Basso, che sarà il canto fermo, & ogni parte dè osseruare i suoi ordini: & sarà difficil cosa che non naschino de gli errori, & non pochi. Il uero contrapunto, ò per dir meglio la uera compositione sopra il canto fermo sarà che tutte le parti, che si cantano alla mente, siano scritte, & anchora il Compositore che comporrà quello, non haurà poca fatica à far quella compositione, corretta, & senza errori.’ Nicola Vicentino, L'antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica (Rome, 1555), 83 [imslp; transcription]. 

24. [18:30] ‘Et ciò mi conferma l’essermi hora sovenuto di haver udito simil discordanze, & delle confusioni, esser fatte da cantori nelle chiese contrapunteggiando alla mente sopra i canti fermi de gli Introiti, che tal volta diviene quasi odiosa, & ridicolosa insieme.’ Ercole Bottrigari, Il Desiderio, Overo, de Concerti Di Varij Strumenti Musicali (Venice: Ricciardo Amadino, 1594), 51. 

25. [18:44] Thomas Morley, A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (London: Peter Short, 1597), fol. unnumbered, see The Annotations Upon the second Part. 

26. [19:37] ‘... France, where musical taste has always been somewhat backwards, has never abandoned the mania for improvising on plainchant. The changes which have occurred in those dioceses where the use of the Roman breviary has been discontinued have not ceased this habit, and if today the combat has stopped, it is only for a lack of combatants; I say ‘combat,’ and for good reason: because it was indeed a perpetual battle, a massacre where all the soldiers seemed to butcher one another. It was indeed a battlefield in the cathedral choirs, where one heard the cantors dully dragging the hoarse sounds at the bottom of their voice, then the haute-contres crying out as loudly as they could, and the tailles [singing] their response as well as possible. All these good men had no other rule for this than habit; they tried to start on one of the notes of the chord, and for the rest they abandoned themselves to chance.’ ‘... la France, où le goût musical a été de tout temps plus ou moins arriéré, n’a jamais abandonné la manie d’improviser sur le plain-chant; les changements qui survinrent dans les diocèses où l’on quitta l’usage du breviaire romain ne firent point quitter cette habitude, et si aujourd’hui le combat a cessé, ce n’est que faute de combattants; je dis le combat, et pour cause: car c’était bien une bataille perpétuelle, un massacre où tous les soldats semblaient s’égorger; c’était bien un champ de bataille que ces choeurs de cathédrales, où l’on entendait des chantres traîner sourdement les sons rauques du grave de leur voix, puis les hautes-contres criant à tue-tête, et les tailles leur correspondant du mieux possible. Tous ces braves gens n’avaient pour cela d’autra règle que l’habitude; ils tâchaient de partir sur une des notes de l’accord, et pour le reste ils s’abandonnaient à la providence.’ Alexandre Choron and Juste-Adrien De La Fage, Manuel Complet de Musique Vocale et Instrumentale...Partie 2, vol. 3 (Paris: Roret, 1838), 196. Translation by Tim Braithwaite.

APPENDIX II - Translation of Ippolito Chamaterò's preface to his Li introiti fondati (Venice, 1574)

APPENDIX III - SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary sources

• Banchieri, Adriano. Cartella Musicale, Third Edition (1614) [LINK] [TRANSLATION]

• Coclico, Adrianus Petit. Compendium Musices (1552) [LINK] 

• Lusitano, Vicente. Introduttione facilissima (1553)  [LINK] [TRANSLATION]

• Lusitano, Vicente. Tratado de canto de organo (c.1550) [LINK] 

• Monarchus, Guilielmus. De preceptis artis musice (c.1470) [LINK] [TRANSLATION]

• Tinctoris, Johannes. De Arte Contrapuncti (1477) [LINK] [TRANSLATION]

• Zarlino, Gioseffo.  Le Istitutioni Harmoniche (1558) [LINK] 

Secondary sources

• Canguilhem, Philippe. L’ Improvisation Polyphonique à La Renaissance (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2010).

• Ferand, Ernest. Improvisation in Nine Centuries of Western Music (Cologne: Arno Volk Verlag, 1961).

• Janin, Barnabé. Chanter Sur Le Livre : Manuel Pratique d’Improvisation Polyphonique de La Renaissance (XVe et XVIe Siècles) (Lyon: Symétrie, 2014).

• Schubert, Peter. Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style (New York ; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). 

Credits:

Created by Elam Rotem, Tim Braithwaite, Catherine Motuz, and Peter Schubert.

Singing by: Ivo Haun, Loïc Paulin, Doron Schleifer and Elam Rotem.

Special thanks to Lisandro Abadie, Enrico Correggia and Anne Smith.

September 2022.