1. [0:24] Of course, the role of a conductor often extends beyond this basic definition, ranging from artistic and interpretative decisions to administrative duties. In addition, the term itself does not appear in this usage in contemporary sources. As such, it has been common to replace the term ‘conductor’ with synonyms such as ‘time-beater’ in modern studies on the subject. However, we have chosen to keep the word ‘conductor’ in order to avoid the implications of artistic neutrality that are associated with the term ‘time-beater,’ which may not always be appropriate. See: Peter Holman, Before the Baton (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2020), p.xv [Henceforth, Holman (2020)]. 

2. [1:03] The concept of tactus appears under different guises in Renaissance musical sources, both theoretical and practical. Ruth DeFord differentiates between three different theoretical types of tactus: 1.) the performance tactus, the level on which the performance is organised metrically; 2.) the compositional tactus, the level on which the composition operates contrapuntally; 3.) and the theoretical tactus, the time-unit indicated typically by mensuration signs. One of the most important theoretical shifts in the later fifteenth century is the transition from the single ‘mensura’, typically embodied by a single tap, to a two-part ‘tactus’, which consists of both an arsis and thesis. This shift is significant both in terms of performance practices and theoretical understandings of proportions and tempo relationships. For more details see Ruth DeFord, Tactus, Mensuration and Rhythm in Renaissance Music (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015); and Alexander Blachly, “Mensura versus Tactus,” in Quellen und Studien zur Musiktheorie des Mittelalters 3, ed. Michael Bernhard, Veröffentlichungen der Musikhistorischen Kommission 15 (Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2001), p.445.

3. [1:12] Ornithoparchus, 1517: “Vnde Tactus est motio successiua in cantu, mensure equalitate[m] dirigens. Uel est quidam motus, manu precentoris signorum indicio formatus, cantum dirigens mensuraliter.” Andreas Ornithoparchus, Musicae activae micrologus (Leipzig, 1517), Bk 2, ch.6 [imslp].

4. [1:50] Philomathes, 1512: “De mensura moderanda. / Perpetuo motu tactum signare necesse est. / A metri puncto concentores alioqui / Mox declinarent: esset simphonia discors. / Absque manus motu quamvis cantare periti / Sint soliti: tamen intentatis difficile esto.” Václav Philomathes, Musicorum Libri Quattuor (Vienna, 1512) [Uni Freiburg] f. e ij, Liber 3, Caput 2 [transl. p.145] [translation]. 

5. [2:28] Zacconi, 1592: “Il debito de quelli che lo reggano è di reggerlo chiaro, sicuro, senza paura, & senza veruna titubatione […] & se bene per vaghezza del cantare, i cantori alle volte ritardano alquanto, egli non deue riguardar a quella ritardanza: ma attendere al officio suo [...] perche il cantore si piglia auttorità sempre di pronuntiar la figura dopo il tatto: per farla sentire con maggior vaghezza.” Lodovico Zacconi, Prattica di Musica (Venice, 1592), f.21v. Note that this is not a prohibition against changing or choosing different tempi which is widely documented. For more information see Domen Marinčič, “‘Now Quickly, Now Again Slowly’: Tempo Modification in and around Praetorius,” De Musica Disserenda 15, no. 1-2 (October 30, 2019), p.47–68.

6. [3:25] Bonnie J. Blackburn, Edward E. Lowinsky, “Luigi Zenobi and His Letter on the Perfect Musician,” Studi Musicali 22 (1993), pp.61–114.

7. [3:52] Such a practice is described by both earlier and later authors. See for example Václav Philomathes, Musicorum Libri Quattuor (Vienna, 1512) [Uni Freiburg] [translation]; and Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, De Institutione Oratoria, ed. Johann Matthias Gesner (Göttingen: Abram Vandenhoeck, 1738).

8. [4:23] Philomathes, 1512: “Plerique imitantur holorem / Neuma gubernantes, velut hic cervice reflexa / Drensat, ita soliti conquiniscunt modulando.” Philomathes, op.cit. [transl. pp.140-141]. 

9. [4:43] Bermudo, 1549: “Algunos olvidados estar delante de Dios, con una vara llevan el compas sobre el libro, y con golpes tan grandes, que se notan en la yglesia. De la deshonestidad de las palmadas que otros dan : no quiero hablar.” Juan Bermudo, Libro Primero de la Declaración de instrumentos (Osuna, 1549), Cap. 49, f.183v [imslp]. Kenneth Kreitner, ‘Minstrels in Spanish Churches, 1400-1600’ in: Early Music Vol. 20, No. 4, Iberian Discoveries I (Nov., 1992), pp.532-546, here p.546. 

10. [5:04] Burmeister, 1601: “Quò modestior fuerit motus, eò ornatior, & gratiorem aspectum merebitur.” Joachim Burmeister, Musica autoschediastike (Rostock, 1601), Accessio III, section II, “De antiphonis,” fol. Aa4r [imslp]. Eng. trans. in Ruth I. DeFord, Tactus, Mensuration, and Rhythm in Renaissance Music (Cambridge, 2015), p.76.

11. [5:26] Ercole Bottrigari, 1594: “Vltimamente la Maestra del Concerto assidersi dall'altro capo di essa tauola, & con una lunga, & sottile, & ben polita verghetta à lei già dauanti apparecchiata, poi che ha ueduto, & chiaramente conosciuto tutte le altre sirocchie esser in acconcio dar loro, senza strepito alcuno segno dello incominciare, & d'indi poi seguentemente dalla misura del tempo; alla quale esse hanno in cosi cantando, & sonando da obedire;” Ercole Bottrigari, Il Desiderio (Venice, 1594), p.48 [gallica, TMI]. 

12. [5:57] Philomathes, 1512: [Incipit liber tertius, Doctrina i:] "It is fitting for the director of Gregorian chants to hold a stylus with one hand and to disclose the series and the leap of the notes, and to touch the measure with an assiduous motion." [Gregorii cantum recturo congruit una / Ferre stilum palma: seriem. saltumque notarum / Pandere, & assiduo mensuram tangere motu.] Philomathes, op.cit. [transl. p.141.]

13. [6:00] As seen for example in our episode How to lose your music teaching job in one year: the trial of Pietro Pontio 1566 [YouTube, 03:42]. 

14. [6:07] It should be noted that beating the tactus in paintings might be an allegorical symbol of making music. However, combined with many textual sources that describe the practice, it is reasonable to assume that it was common. 

15. [6:11] Interesting exceptions are mentioned in the following sources: 1. Zacconi, 1592: "[Inexperienced conductors], if they wish to succeed in this with honor, should not sing, because the practice of singing makes them alter [the tactus] in syncopations and difficult passages when they hear others syncopate." ["I secondi se vogliano riuscirne con honore non hanno da cantare: perche l'vso che hanno di cantare fa che nelle sincope e ne i passi difficili ancor essi s'alterino sentendo gli altri sincopare."] Zacconi, op.cit., 21v.
    2. Zenobi, c1600: "Hence it is that many who cannot direct, either because they have not taught and trained themselves in singing improvised counterpoint with pupils, or because of a limited range of voice, but are nevertheless expert composers and first-rate in counterpoint in writing and in theory, are undoubtedly worthy of the name of true musicians and of men of merit; nor can it be held against them that either through circumstances of birth or social status, or through a defect of nature, they do not do and have never done such things." ["Di qui e, che molti, li quali non ponno rimettere, o per (non) haver tenuto scuola, et essersi essercitati a contrapunteggiare in voce con scuolari, o non han voce per andare alto, e basso; ma tuttavia sono intendentissimi della compositione, e del Contrapunto da maestro con la penna, e ragionando, sono senza dubbio degni del nome di Musici veri, e di Valent'huomini poi che non può esser colpa, ne nota di biasmo dove, o per qualita di nascimento, o di stato, o per diffetto di Natura, non fanno, ne fecero mai cose tali."] in: Blackburn and Lowinsky, op.cit., pp. 81 and 98. 

16. [6:38] Troiano on Lassus, 1568: “La cui alta virtù, con tanta fermezza, & ingegno d'arte, quando si canta, porta il tempo, giusto e saldo, che si come al suon delle Trombe gli animosi guerrieri, prendon coraggio, cosi gli esperti, Cantori, al moto di quella piglian vigore e forza, dimandar fuori, allegra, dolce, e sonora la voce.” Massimo Troiano, Dialoghi delli triomfi, giostre, apparati … (Munich, 1568), pp.64-65 [googlebooks] (Enlarged 2/1569, bilingual Italian-Spanish), f.39v-40: [googlebooks] – Clive Wearing, ‘Orlandus Lassus (1532-1594) and the Munich Kapelle’ in Early Music, Volume 10, Issue 2, (April 1982), pp.147-154, here p.149. 

17. [7:08] The score and choirbook shown in the video are of Orlando di Lasso’s motet for 6 voices “Laudate Dominum de coelis” [cpdl, MDZ]. An interesting exception regarding the practice of not using scores can be found in: Richard Charteris, Adam Gumpelzhaimer's Little-known Score-books in Berlin and Kraków (American Institute of Musicology, 1996).

18. [7:55] Maugars, 1639: “Le maistre Compositeur battoit la principale mesure dans le premier choeur, accompagné des plus belles voix. A chacun des autres il y auoit vn homme qui ne faisoit autre chose que ietter les yeux sur cette mesure primitiue, afin d’y conformer la sienne ; de sorte que tous les choeurs chantoient d’vne mesme mesure, sans traisner." André Maugars, Response faite à un curieux sur le sentiment de la musique d'Italie (Paris/Rome, 1639), pp.7-8 [bibnum]. Translated in Carol MacClintock, Readings in the History of Performance (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982), p.118. 

19. [8:17] Title page from Michael Praetorius, Musae Sioniae, Geistlicher Deutscher in der Christlichen Kirchen (Wolfenbüttel, 1607) [MDZ]. The same title page was used also on Praetorius's Musae Sioniae from 1605 as well as further publications afterwards, notably in the second volume of his Syntagma in 1619. For a detailed discussion of this title page see: Peter Holman, ‘A title page of Michael Praetorius,’ in: De musica disserenda XV/1–2 (2019) [link]. Similar descriptions to the above quoted Maugars are available from St Mark in Venice. For example, a source from 1607 states that: “...it is necessary that there be some accomplished person to stand next to the organ & indicate the beat as it is laid down by the maestro there. … At the organ played by [Giovanni] Gabrieli … is Giovanni Bassano, leader of the instrumental band [i concerti], who is given this duty on that side; on the other side the maestro is customarily assisted by … Fra. Agostin, singer of the chapel.” D. Bryant, ‘Liturgy, Ceremonial and Sacred Music in Venice at the Time of the Counter-Reformation’ (Univ. London, Ph.D. diss.), p.114. See also Charles Burney: “…in the lofts of St. Mark’s Church. I there met with Latilla who was beating time to the mass, opposite Galuppi who was in a toga and surplice doing the same on the other side but with a roll of paper: Latilla only beat with his hand.” Burney, 1770: Music, Men and Manners in France and Italy, 1770 (Charles Burney’s journal), ed. H. E. Poole (London, 1969), p.80. 

20. [8:44] Viadana, 1612:  [Viadana explains the forces he expects for the performance of his Psalms in four choirs. The first of them is a five-voice choir sung by five excellent soloists by the main organ. This is where the Maestro di Capella should stand.] “Il Maestro di Capella, starà nell'istesso Choro à Cinque, guardando sempre su’l Basso Continuo dell'Organista, per osservare gli andamenti della Musica, e comandar quando à da cantar’un solo, quando due, quando tre, quando quattro, quando cinque. E quando si faranno i Ripieni, volterà la faccia a tutti i Chori, leuando ambe le mani, segno che tutti insieme cantino.” Lodovico Viadana, Salmi a quattro chori (Venice, 1612), ‘Modo di concertare i detti salmi a quattro chori’ [gaspari].

21. [9:30] Michael Praetorius, Syntagma musicum III (Wolfenbüttel, 1619), p.144[124]-145[125] [imslp]. Eng. transl. by Jeffery Kite-Powell, Syntagma Musicum III (Oxford, 2004), p.134.

22. [9:50] Werckmeister, before 1707: “I have known several directors who copied their scores in German tablature and sang and directed from them.” (“wie ich dann unterschiedliche Directores gekennet, die ihre Partituren in teutsche Tablatur gesetzet, und daraus gesungen, und dirigiret”). A. Werckmeister, Musicalische paradoxal Discourse (Quedlinburg, [posthumous] 1707), p.72 [imslp]. 

23. [10:06] More about using German tablatures as conducting scores see Jeffery T. Kite-Powell, ‘Notating—Accompanying—Conducting: Intabulation Usage in the Levoča Manuscripts’ in Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, Vol. 27 (2021), No. 1 [jscm.org].

24. [10:35] John Alcock [under the pseudonym John Piper], The Life of Miss Fanny Brown (A Clergyman’s Daughter) (Birmingham, 1760), p.257 [imslp]. The quoted text is a footnote to an interesting passage, pp.256-259: "I have, divers Times, many profess'd Judges of Music, as well as several eminent Organists, declare, that nothing can be more difficult than to play to a Choir of unskilful, or perverse Singers, and it kerns reasonable to suppose that it should be so, for it must be morally impossible for any one Person, let him be the finest Performer that can be conceived, to keep with twelve Singers, unless they sing exactly together, which, I believe, no one, who has the least Regard for Truth, will venture to affirm ever to be the Case; and therefore, on the other Hand, I shou'd really think it much easier for the Singers to keep with the Organ, (if they please) as you own yourself that he is so true a Timeist, that he plays even like Clock-Work. [Here the quoted footnote.] But what wou'd you, and the rest of your discontented Brotherhood say, if, when ever any of ye sung wrong, he was to play the Full-Organ upon ye, as I know several Organists at this Time do, on such Occasions; and as soon as you left off Singing, they wou'd immediately stop the Organ (there being no Reason why it should play, if People are not in the Humour to sing) therefore, don't find Fault with fat Pigs. It cannot be denied, but that the original Use of an Organ, was to drown the bad Singers, and assist the good Ones, which naturally implies a sufficient Skill in the Organist, otherwise it cou'd never answer the Purpose."

25. [11:05] Beer, 1690: “In some places when organists are in charge they have a wooden stand with a wooden arm in it which they work up & down with their feet; this makes me almost laugh myself sick. Others tap their feet on the floor with a vengeance and the sound rings around the church most annoyingly. And when several people tap together it sounds not much different from a squeaking loom worked by master Michael the Weaver. Others beat time with the head, and if you see them from a distance & privately enquire: Are you perhaps a mouse’s head? They always say: Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Others hold a roll of paper in their fist and thus look like generals in battle commanding their squadrons with a regimental staff.” [Translation in Andrew Parrott, The Pursuit of Musick (2022), pp.396-7.] ["An etlichen Orten haben die Organisten / wann sie informiren ein höltzern Gestelle / vnd in demselben einen hölzernen Arm / diesen tretten sie mit dem Fuß auf und nieder / dabey ich mich dann fast kranck lachen müssen. Andere tappen mit dem Fuß wider den Boden / dass es pufft / und es mit grossem Aergerniss durch die gantze Kirche schallt. Vnd wann derer etliche zusammen tappen / klingt es nicht viel anders / als ein knappender Weber-Stuhl / darinnen Meister Michel Teppicht würcket. Andere tactiren mit dem Kopffe / und wann du von ferne stehest / vnd sie heimlich fragest: Bist du nicht ein Maußkopff? sprechen sie immer: Ja / ja / ja / ja. Andere nehmen zusammen gerolltes Papier in die Fäuste / und vergleichen sich also mit denen Kriegs-Generalen / die mit dem Regiments-Stabe ihre esquadronen commandiren."] Johann Beer, Musicalische Discurse [1690] (Nuremberg, 1719), p.172-3 [Link to the 1719 reprint]. 

26. [11:12] The device seems to have been taken from the 1685 organ made by Gerard Smith and installed on the 1878 Lewis organ. Holman (2020), p.54. Video of the device: [YouTube]. 

27. [11:25] The original text says: “In the Church also as Organist, [Blow] being engaged in beating time to both the Quires ([standing] by ye little organ)’. See Holman (2020), p.69. For the engraving see Francis Sandfor, The History of the Coronation of...James II...on 23rd April 1685 (London, 1687) [rct]. 

28. [12:20] Il Corago, o vero alcune osservazioni per metter bene in scena le composizioni drammatiche, P. Fabbri & A. Pompilio ed. (Firenze: Olschki, 1983), Chapter XIV. 

29. [13:10] Giovanni Battista Doni repeated a similar instruction: “even though the singer in stile recitativo is not accustomed to follow any beat, nevertheless when there are several instruments playing together for that purpose, he will be obliged to follow the meter.” [“sebbene in stile recitativo non suole il Cantore obbligarsi a battuta alcuna; tuttavia facendosi il concerto della sinfonia a posta, gli converrà seguitar la misura.”] Quoted and translated in Elena Abramov-Van Rijk, "Giovanni Battista Doni and his Vision of Performing Poetry", in: Min-Ad: Israel Studies in Musicology Online, Vol. 13 (2015-16), p.44. [academia.edu]. 

30. [13:20] Mersenne, 1636: “Ceux qui conduisent maintenant les concerts, marquent la mesure par le mouuement du manche des Luths ou des Tuorbes, dont ils ioüent, afin de tenir le ton ferme, qui regle les Chantres : il n'importe nullement de qu'elle maniere on la marque, pourueu qu'elle suffise pour conduire les Chantres à chanter dans la iustesse” Marin Mersenne, Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636), Pt. 2, p.324 (Traitez des Consonances, Bk 5, Prop.xi) [imslp] [Translation in Andrew Parrott, The Pursuit of Musick (2022), p.396]. 

31. [13:41] The three engravings are collectively known as “Les Divertissements de Versailles”: Versailles, représentation d'Alceste de Lully-Quinault : Alceste 1674 [BnF], Seconde journée. Concerts de musique sous une feuillée faite en forme de salon, ornée de fleurs dans le Jardin de Trianon [BnF], and Troisième journée. Le malade imaginaire, comédie représentée dans le Jardin de Versailles devant la Grotte [BnF]. See Holman (2020), p.34. 

32. [13:38] Numerous sources mention the use of paper rolls between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. See Holman (2020), pp. xiv-xv, 9-10, 12, 19-20, 34, etc. 

33. [14:37] Le Cerf, 1706: “Lulli n’avoit rien négligé à la composition de la Musique, & aux préparatifs de l’execution; & pour mieux marquer son zèle, il y battoit la mesure. Dans la chaleur de l’action, il se donna sur le bout du pied un coup de la canne dont il la battoit.” J.-L. Le Cerf de la Viéville, Comparaison de la musique italienne et de la musique Françoise, 2 vols. (Brussels, 1705), Vol. I, p.190 [BnF]. 

34. [14:51] For sources and discussion see David Charlton, “'A maître d'orchestre . . . Conducts': New and Old Evidence on French Practice,” in: Early Music, Vol. 21, No. 3, French Baroque II (August, 1993), pp.340-353 [jstor]; Jérôme de La Gorce, Jean-Baptiste Lully (Paris, 2002), pp.345-8; Philippe Beaussant, Lully ou le Musicien du soleil (Paris, 1992), pp.787-794; Holman, (2020), p.20. [Sardelli conducts Lully’s Te Deum with a stick on YouTube]. 

35. [15:08] Saint-Lambert, 1702: “Les mouvements qu'on fait de la main en battant la Mesure, ne doivent point être faits mollement ; Ils doivent au contraire être marquez sensiblement & distinctement. La main doit, pour ainsi dire, danser en les faisant, & representer aux yeux une image de la cadence que l'oreille doit entendre ; mais le premier temps de chaque Mesure doit être encore plus marqué que les autres.” [Michel] de Saint-Lambert, Les Principes du clavecin (Paris, 1702), ch.viii, p.20 [imslp]. 

36. [15:31] Johann Quirsfeld, Breviarium musicum (first ed. 1675), pp.16-17 [imslp]. For further sources see Elliott Galkin, A History of Orchestral Conducting: In Theory and Practice (New York: Pendragon, 1988), pp.261-274. 

37. [16:04] Weigel, 1720 “MUSIC-DIRECTOR. Ich bin, der dirigiert bey denen Music - Chören, / Zwar still, was mich betrifft, doch mach ich alles laut. / Erheb ich nur den Arm, so lässet sich bald hören; / Was unsern Leib ergötzt, und auch die Seel erbaut” Johann Christoph Weigel, Musicalisches Theatrum (1720) n/p [staatsbibliothek-berlin]. 

38. [16:33] A clear indication of this practice is given by Wolfgang Caspar Printz in 1678: “§ 35. If he notices that someone is missing, he should help them to come back as soon as possible; which will be easier to do if all the parts have been taken care of by others / and he only has a general bass, or even better a score or tablature in which all the parts are notated / at hand. § 36. For this sake, the chief director of the Chori Symphoniaci should aim to ensure that all pieces / that are to be played are written in a suitable score or tablature / with text underneath / and that the prefectus understands it and learns to sing from it if he did not know it previously.” [§ 35. Wenn er mercket / daß einer fehlet / sol er demselben als bald wieder zurecht helfen; welches erleicht thun wird können wenn alle Stimmen durch andere bestellet seyn / und er nur einen General Bass, oder welches noch besser eine Partitur oder Tabulatur, in welcher alle Stimmen untereinander abgesetzt seyn / zur Hand hat. § 36. Um dieser Ursach willen solte billich der Ober-Director des Chori Symphoniaci dahin trachten, daß alle Stücke / so musiciret werden sollen in eine schickliche Partitur oder Tabulatur gebracht würden / mit untergelegten Text / und daß der Praefectus selbige verstehen und daraus singen lernte so er es nicht schon könte.”] W.C.Printz, Musica Modulatoria Vocalis (Schweidnitz, 1678), p.8 [googlebooks]. 

39. [16:49] Gesner, 1738: “non vna forte voce canentem citharoedi instar, suasque peragentem partes, sed omnibus eundem intentum, et de xxx vel xxxx adeo symphoniacis, hunc nutu, alterum supplosione pedis, tertium digito minaci reuocantem ad rhythmos et ictus; huic summa voce, ima alii, tertio media praeeuntem tonum, quo vtendum sit, vnumque adeo hominem.” Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, De Institutione Oratoria, ed. Johann Matthias Gesner (Gottingen: Abram Vandenhoeck, 1738). Translation from The New Bach Reader [NBR], David, Mendel and Wolff ed. (New York, London, 1998), pp.328-9 (no.328). German in Bach Dokumente [BD] II, pp.331-333 (no.432). Read more on [cacophonyhistoricalsinging]. Another relevant account is given in Bach’s Obituary, by his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and his former student Johann Friedrich Agricola in 1750: “His constant practice in the working out of polyphonic pieces had given his eye such facility that even in the largest scores he could take in al the simultaneously sounding parts at a glance. His hearing was so fine that he was able to detect the slightest error even in the largest ensembles. It is but a pity that he was only seldom he had the good fortune of finding a body of such performers as could have spared him unpleasant discoveries of this nature. In conducting he was very accurate, and of the tempo, which he generally took very lively, he was uncommonly sure.” (Transl. NBR, pp.305-6, original in BD III, no.666) And in a letter to Forkel from 1774, Carl Philipp adds: “He heard the slightest wrong note even in the largest combinations. As the greatest expert and judge of harmony, he liked best to play the viola, with appropriate loudness and softness. In his youth, and until the approach of old age, he played the violin cleanly and penetratingly, and thus kept the orchestra in better order than he could have done with the harpsichord.” (NBR 397, no. 394, BD III, no. 801) 

40. [17:26] Mattheson, 1739: “§.16. …Ich bin allzeit besser dabey gefahren, wenn ich sowol mitgespielt, als mitgesungen habe, als wenn ich bloß des Tacts wegen nur da gestanden bin. Der Chor wird durch solches Mitspielen und Mitsingen sehr ermuntert, und man kan die Leute viel besser aufrischen.” “§. 14. Was von dem unnützen Geprügel, Getöse und Gehämmer mit Stöcken, Schlüsseln und Füssen zuhalten, davon ist in der Organisten Probe etwas erwehnet, und, wo mir recht nicht ohne Nutzen gelesen worden: weil man seit der Zeit von diesem Unwesen so viel nicht vernommen hat. Ich bin der Meinung, daß ein kleiner Winck, nicht nur mit der Hand, sondern bloß und allein mit den Augen und Geberden das meiste hiebey ausrichten könne, ohne ein grosses Federfechten anzustellen; wenn nur die Untergebene ihre Blicke fleißig auf der Vorgesetzten gerichtet seyn lassen wollen.” Johann Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg, 1739), p.482 [googlebooks]. 

41. [18:07] Scheibe, 1740: “[Dienstags, den 23 Februar, 1740] Ich verlange hierbey nicht, daß er ein ungeschicktes und polterndes Tacktschlagen [1745: und Stampfen] mit den Füßen anwenden soll. Es ist genug, wenn er die Mensur im Anfange der Sätze ein oder zweymal stark anschlägt, und dann mit der Hand, bis zum Schlusse, durch eine mäßige Bewegung bemerket. Wenn er endlich seinen Chor so gewöhnen kann, daß er das erste gar nicht nöthig hat, sondern daß er sich bloß nach dem letzteren beständig richtet, so wird es desto besser sein. Ueberhaupt aber muß er bey der Aufführung selbst das Tacktschlagen, so viel möglich, zu vermeiden suchen.” Johann Adolph Scheibe, Der critische Musicus, ii (Hamburg, 1740), p.412 [ismlp]; reprinted with an important addition in: Der critische Musikus, i & ii (Leipzig, 1745), pp.715–16 [MDZ]. 

42. [19:03] Veracini, c1760: “Quando il compositore sedesse al cimbalo per guidare qualsivoglia componimento, dopo aver detto ad alta voce Una, dovrà cominciare secondo la battuta, visibilmente colla vita e sensibilmente col piede, sintantoché l’orchestra siasi unita affatto al tempo che ei desidera.” Francesco Maria Veracini, Il trionfo della pratica musicale (c1760), p.239 [imslp]. Transcription in: Alberto Zanotelli ed. (2020), p.176 [academia]. 

43. [19:41] See above, note 39. C.P.E.Bach, letter to Forkel, 1774 (NBR 397, no. 394, BD III, no. 801).

44. [19:55] C.P.E. Bach, 1753: “Der Ton des Flügels, welcher gantz recht von den Mit-Musicirenden umgeben stehet, fällt allen deutlich ins Gehör. Dahero Weiß ich, daß sogar zerstreuete und weitläuftige Musicken, bey welchen offt viele freywillige und mittelmäßige Musici sich befunden haben, bloß durch den Ton des Flügels in Ordnung erhalten worden sind.” Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen (1753), p.7 [imslp]. transl. W. Mitchell (New York: Norton, 1949), pp.34-35. 

45. [20:16] Quantz, 1752: “§.3. Whether a leader plays this instrument or that may be of no importance. Since, however, the violin is absolutely indispensable in the accompanying body, and is also more penetrating than any of the other instruments most used for accompanying, it is better if he does play the violin.” Johann Joachim Quantz, ch.XVII, Section I “Of the Qualities of a Leader of an Orchestra.” [“3.§. Ob ein Anführer dieses oder jenes Instrument spiele, könnte allenfalls gleich viel seyn. Weil aber die Violine zum Accompagnement ganz unentbehrlich, auch durchdringender ist, als kein anderes von denen Instrumenten, die am meisten zur Begleitung gebrauchet werden: so ist es besser, wenn er die Violine spielet.” J.J.Quantz, Versuch über einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen (Berlin, 1752), XVII, I, pp.178-179 [imslp]. [“3. Celui qui guide un Orchestre, pourroit jouer de l'instrument qu'il voudroit. Cependant comme le Violon est tout à fait indispensable à l'accompagnement, & qu'il est plus pénétrant qu'aucun autre instrument qu'on employe pour cet effet; il est plus utile que celui qui guide, joue du Violon.” Essai d'une méthode pour apprendre à jouer de la flute traversière (Berlin, 1752), pp.182-183.]

46. [20:36] Kraus, 1779: “Der Komponist, der immer einen Flügel dabey spielt, und mit den Bässen, wie es sich von selbst versteht, in der Mitte des Orchesters sizt, gibt es auf demselben so an, wie er es im vollen Feuer dachte, als er das Stück komponirte; die Bassisten richten sich nach demselben, und der erste Violinspieler nimmt es ihm gleichsam ab, und theilt es unter die übrigen Mitglieder eben so aus, als er es vom Komponisten erhielt, und so geht jedes Stück in seinem Gange unverräckt fort. Diese Direktion ist eine sichre Direktion.” [p.46] “Da, wo das Orchester so eingerichtet, daß sich die Mitglieder desselben alle übersehen, und eins ander zu gleicher Zeit hören können, mit braven Virtuosen besezt ist; der Komponist sein Stück vollkommen richtig bezeichnet, daß Zeitmaaß angegeben, und vor der öffentlichen Aufführung sattsame Proben gehalten hat, braucht es weiter keiner Direktion; es dirigirt sich alsdann von selbſt, wie die Uhr, wenn sie aufgezogen worden ist. Dieses ist die wahre und freye Direktion eines Orchesters, wovon der Zuhörer wenig oder nichts gewahr wird.” [p.43] in: Joseph Martin Kraus, Wahrheiten die Musik betreffend (Frankfurt, 1779) [idb, imslp]. 

47. [21:21] See Holman (2020), pp.34-37, and Appendix I below for selected sources describing audible time beating in France. 

48. [21:49] See the full letter in Donald Burrows, Handel (New York: Schirmer, 1994), p.202. 

49. [23:32] Mrs Henry Bates, in a letter dated 7 June 1784, quoted in: Betty Matthews, "Joah Bates: A Remarkable Amateur," in: The Musical Times, Vol. 126, No. 1714 (1985), p.751 [jstor]. 

50. [24:04] Charles Burney, An Account of the Musical Performances in Westminster-Abbey, and the Pantheon, May 26th, 27th, 29th, and June the 3d and 5th, 1784: In Commemoration of Handel (London, 1785), p.14. Images: n/p [108 and 112 bis] [googlebooks] [MDZ]. 

1. A footnote in the English translation of Raguenet, 1709: "Some Years since the Master of the Musick in the Opera at Paris, had an Elboe-Chair and Desk plac’d on the Stage, where, with the Score in one Hand, and a Stick in the other, he beat Time on a Table put there for that purpose, so loud, that he made a greater Noise than the whole Band, on purpose to be heard by the Performer. By degrees they remov’d this Abuse from the Stage to the Musick Room, where the Composer beats the Time in the same manner, and as loud as ever. The same was observ'd in London six or seven Years ago; but since the Italian Masters are come among us, and the Opera's have been introduced, they have put a stop to that ridiculous Custom, which was Founded more upon an ill Habit than any Necessity there was for it, as doing more harm than good; for the Opera's are better Perform'd now without it that any Piece of Musick was formerly; because the Eye was too much Distracted, being obliged to mind the beating of the Measure, and the Score at the same time; besides, it kept the Singer and the Player in too much Subjection, and fear of Errors, by which means they were depriv'd of that Liberty so absolutely necessary to Musick and which gives a Strength and Spirit to the Notes." English transl. from François Raguenet, A Comparison between the French and Italian Musick and Opera’s (London, 1709), p.42.

2. Grimm [Attrib.], 1753: "'The Woodchopper.' And while I was saying this to myself (for I love to talk to myself when I have the time), I found that the orchestra had begun to play, without my having noticed it, and they were playing something which they called an overture. And I saw a man who was holding a stick, and I believed that he was going to castigate the bad violins, for I heard many of them, among the others that were good and were not many. And he made a noise as if he were splitting wood, and I was astonished that he did not dislocate his shoulder, and the vigor of his arm terrified me. And I reflected (for I love to reflect when I have the time), and I said to myself: Oh! how talents are misplaced in this world, and how genius displays itself none the less, even if it is out of its right place! And I said: If that man had been born in my father's house, which is a quarter of a league from the forest of Boehmischbroda in Bohemia, he would make as much as thirty farthings a day, and his family would be rich and honored and his children would live in abundance. And people would say: Behold the woodchopper of Boehmischbroda, behold him! And his talents would not be wasted, whereas in this booth he cannot earn enough to eat his bread and drink his water. And I beheld that they called that "beating the time," and although it was beaten most forcibly, the musicians were never together. And I began to regret the serenades that we sing, we pupils of the Jesuits, in the streets of Prague when night falls, for we keep together and we have no stick." in: Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in Music History (New York: Norton, 1950), pp.622-623. ["Chap. IV. 'Le bucheron.' Et pendant que je me parlois ainsi à moi-même (car j'aime à me parler à moi-même, quand j'en ai le tems), je trouvai que l'Orchestre avoit commencé à jouer, sans que je m'en fusse apperçu, & ils jouoient quelque chose qu'ils appelloient une ouverture. Et je vis un homme qui tenoit un bâton, & je crus qu'il alloit châtier les mauvais violons, car j'en entendis beaucoup parmi les autres qui étoient bons, & qui n'étoient pas beaucoup. Et il faisoit un bruit comme s'il fendoit du bois, & j'étois étonné de ce qu'it ne se démettoit pas l'épaule, & la vigueur de son bras m'épouvanta. Et je fis des réflexions, (car j'aime à faire des réflexions, quand j'en ai le tems) & je me disois à moi- même : Oh que les talens sont déplacés dans ce monde, & comme pourtant le génie se montre, encore qu'il soit mal à sa place ! Et je disois : si cet homme-là étoit né dans la maison de mon pere qui est à un quart de lieue de la Forêt de Boehmischbroda en Bohême, il gagneroit jusqu'à trente deniers par jours, & sa famille seroit riche & honorée, & ses enfans vivroient dans l'abondance : Et l'on diroit : voilà le Bucheron de Boehmischbroda, le voilà ! Et son sçavoir-faire n'y seroit pas de trop ; au lieu qu'il ne doit pas gagner de quoi manger son pain ni de quoi boire son eau dans cette boutique. Et je vis qu'on appelloit cela battre la mesure, & encore qu'elle fût battue bien fortement, les Musiciens n'étoient jamais ensemble. Et je commençai à regretter les serenades que nous faisons, nous autres Ecoliers des Jésuites dans les rues de Prague quand il fait nuit, car nous allons ensemble, & nous n'avons point de bâton." Attrib. to Friedrich Melchior Grimm, Le petit prophète de Boehmischbroda (1753), pp.9-11.] [imslp]

3. Rousseau, 1768: "[BEATING TIME] How the ears are shocked at the Paris Opera by the unpleasant and continual noise made by the person beating time with his stick, which the little Prophet pleasantly compares to a woodcutter chopping wood! But this is an inevitable evil; without this noise one could not feel the beat; Music by itself does not mark it: so foreigners do not perceive the movement of our Airs. If one pays attention, one will find that this is one of the specific differences between French and Italian music. In Italy, Measure is the soul of Music; itʼs the Measure well felt which gives it that accent which makes it so charming; itʼis the Measure also which governs the Musician in the execution. In France, on the contrary, it is the Musician who governs the Measure; he preserves it & disfigures it without scruple. What shall I say? Good taste itself consists in not letting it be felt; a precaution which, incidentally, it does not really need. The Paris Opera is the only theatre in Europe where the Measure is beaten without being followed; everywhere else it is followed without being beaten." ["(BATTRE LA MESURE.) Combien les oreilles ne sont-elles pas choquées à lʼOpéra de Paris du bruit désagréable & continuel que fait, avec son bâton, celui qui bat la Mesure, & que le petit Prophete compare plaisamment à un Bucheron qui coupe du bois ! Mais cʼest un mal inévitable ; sans ce bruit on ne pourroit sentir la Mesure ; la Musique par elle-même ne la marque pas : aussi les Etrangers nʼapperçoivent-ils point le Mouvement de nos Airs. Si lʼon y fait attention, lʼon trouvera que cʼest ici lʼune des différences spécifiques de la Musique Françoise à lʼItalienne. En Italie la Mesure est lʼame de la Musique ; cʼest la Mesure bien sentie qui lui donne cet accent qui la rend si charmante ; cʼest la Mesure aussi qui gouverne le Musicien dans lʼexécution. En France, au contraire, cʼest le Musicien qui gouverne la Mesure ; il lʼénerve & la défigure sans scrupule. Que dis-je ? Le bon goût même consiste à ne la pas laisser sentir ; précaution dont, au reste, elle nʼa pas grand besoin. LʼOpéra de Paris est le seul Théâtre de lʼEurope où lʼon batte la Mesure sans la suivre ; par-tout ailleurs on la suit sans la battre."] Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Dictionnaire de Musique (Paris, 1768), pp.52-53. [imslp] See also the entries BATON DE MESURE, pp.49-50, and MAISTRE DE MUSIQUE, pp.271-272.

4. Veracini, c1760: "The musical beat may be visible or invisible. The visible one is the one that judiciously measures time by the shaking of a sheet on the ground and in the air, from which the singers and the players take their rules. The invisible beat is guided by the tempo that the composer takes being at his harpsichord, or the head of the orchestra with his instrument. Either of these beats can be used (depending on the occasion) in church and chamber. In France the visible type is ostensibly used, even in the theatre, and it is very disobliging to hear that thumping during the entire opera." ["Visibile e invisibile puossi portare la battuta musicale. La visibile è quella che misura giudiziosamente il tempo coll’agitazione di un foglio in terra e in aria, dalla quale prendono regola i cantanti e i sonatori. La battuta invisibile è guidata dal tempo che prende il compositore stando al cimbalo o il capo di orchestra col suo strumento. Una e l’altra di queste battute possono adoprarsi (secondo l’occorrenza) in chiesa e in camera. In Francia si adopra visibile sensibilmente, anche in teatro, ed è disobbligante assaissimo quell’udir bastonare tutta l’opera."] Francesco Maria Veracini, Il trionfo della pratica musicale (c1760), p.239. [imslp] Transcription in: Alberto Zanotelli ed. (2020), p.176. [academia].

5. Burney, 1785: ‘Foreigners, particularly the French, must be much astonished at so numerous a band moving in such exact measure, without the assistance of a Coryphæus to beat the time, either with a roll of paper, or a noisy baton, or truncheon.” Charles Burney, An Account of the Musical Performances in Westminster-Abbey, and the Pantheon, May 26th, 27th, 29th, and June the 3d and 5th, 1784: In Commemoration of Handel (London, 1785), p.14. 

Section: 16th century

• Gerard van Honthorst, "A Music Party" [wikimedia] 

• Title page of Andrea Antico's Canzoni nove con alcune scelte de varii libri di canto (Rome, 1510) [imslp]

• Hans Sadeler, "David Playing the Harp" (1587) [boijmans.nl]

• Follower of Bonifazio Pitati, "Group of singers with sheet music" (ca.1515-1553) [harvard.edu]

• (att.) Niccoló Frangipane, "Satire on the performance of a madrigal" [MutualArt] 

• Jan Asselijn, "The threatened swan" (c. 1650) [wikimedia]

• Follower of Hieronymus Bosch, "Concert in the Egg" (1561) [wikimedia]

• Hendrick ter Brugghen, "Singing boy" (1627) [wikimedia]

• Anon. miniatures from Rodericus [Sancius de Arevalo], Speculum vitae humanae (Augsburg, c.1476) [uni-heidelberg.de], f. 83r, 135v.

• Anon., “Singende Scholaren”. Reproduced in Emil Reicke, Lehrer und Unterrichtswesen in der deutschen Vergangenheit (Leipzig, 1901) [archive.org] with the erroneous reference to Helius Eobanus Hessus’s De generibus Ebriosorum et ebrietate vitanda (1516). The real source of that image is not known to me.

• Jörg Breu d.Ä., painting on the small organ wing in St. Anna, Augsburg (c.1520) [wissner.com] 

• Hans Mielich, "Orlando di Lasso and the Bavarian court musicians of circa" (1563-70). Illumination from the second volume of Psalmi Poenitentiales (Busspsalmen), MS BSB Mus.ms. A II [MDZ]

Section: 17th-century

• Giovanni Battista Falda, "Santa Maria sopra Minerva" (1669) [wikimedia]

• Title page of Michael Praetorius’ Musae Sioniae, Geistlicher Deutscher in der Christlichen Kirchen (Wolfenbüttel, 1607) [MDZ].

• Detail from the title page of Johann Hermann Schein's Fontana d'Israel [imslp]

• Francis Sandford, engraving from The History of the Coronation of...James II (London, 1687) [ect.uk].

• Anon. engraving from Stefano Landi's Il Sant'Alessio (Rome, 1634) [yale.edu]

• Antonio Maria Zanetti, Caricature of a composer/harpsichord player and of a singer. Reproduced in Caricature di Anton Maria Zanetti (Milan, 1970)

• Giovanni Giorgi, "Caricature de Pier Leone Ghezzi" (1719) [wikimedia]

• François Puget, "Portrait of several musicians and artists" (1688) [wikipedia]

• Three engravings collectively known as “Les Divertissements de Versailles”: Versailles, représentation d'Alceste de Lully-Quinault : Alceste 1674 [BnF], Seconde journée. Concerts de musique sous une feuillée faite en forme de salon, ornée de fleurs dans le Jardin de Trianon [BnF], and Troisième journée. Le malade imaginaire, comédie représentée dans le Jardin de Versailles devant la Grotte [BnF].

Section: 18th-century 

• Engravings from Johann Christoph Weigel's Musicalisches Theatrum (Nürnberg, 1720) [staatsbibliothek-berlin]

• Title page of Johann Gottfried Walther's Musicalisches Lexicon (Leipzig, 1732) [imslp] 

• Johannes Voorhout, "Musizierende Gesellschaft" (1674) [wikipedia]

• Anon., "Orchestra" (c.1770) [previously attributed as a young Mozart in Concert painted by John Zoffany] [www.greifenberger-institut.de]

• Engraving and diagram from Charles Burney, An Account of the Musical Performances in Westminster-Abbey, and the Pantheon, May 26th, 27th, 29th, and June the 3d and 5th, 1784: In Commemoration of Handel (London, 1785), p.14. Images: n/p [108 and 112 bis] [googlebooks] [MDZ]