Tactus and Proportions around 1600

FOOTNOTES

1 [02:24] Dale Bonge, "Gaffurius on Pulse and Tempo: A Reinterpretation", Musica disciplina XXXVI (1982), 167-74.

2 [05:12] Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum III (Wolfenbüttel, 1618), p. [50-51] [link].

3 [05:20] Zacconi, Prattica di musica (Venice, 1592), bk. 1, ch. 33, fol. 21v. Quoted in DeFord, Ruth I. "Tempo Relationships between Duple and Triple Time in the Sixteenth Century." Early Music History 14 (1995), footnote 15 [link].

4 [05:50] Nicola Vicentino, L'antica musica ridotta alla prattica moderna, Book 4, Ch. 42 [link].

5 [07:32] See an example of sesquiatera maggiore in a motet by Giovanni Palestrina, "O Antoni eremita" from Liber Primus, Motectorum 5v (1569, Rome) [link].

6 [08:28] See an example of sesquiatera minore in a madrigal by Orazio Vecchi, "Qualla ch'in mille" from Madrigali a 5 voci, libro primo (1589, Venice) [link]

7 [10:40] DeFord, Ruth I. "Tempo Relationships between Duple and Triple Time in the Sixteenth Century." Early Music History 14 (1995) [link].

8 [11:22] Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum III (Wolfenbüttel, 1618), p. [52-53] [link].

9 [12:06] The example shown in the video is Girolamo Frescobaldi, “Capriccio sopra La, Sol, Fa, Re, Mi” from Il primo libro di capricci, canzon francese, e recercari (Venice, 1626) [link]

10 [13:27] Joachim Burmeister, Musica autoschediastike (Rostock, 1601), accessio 3, sectio 2, sig. Aa4. Quoted in DeFord, Ruth I. "Tempo Relationships between Duple and Triple Time in the Sixteenth Century." Early Music History 14 (1995), p. 34 [link].

11 [13:46] Among these writers: Nicolaus Listenius, Fredrich Beruhaus, Adam Gumpelzhaimer, Ambrosius Wilphlingseder, and Thomas Morely. See DeFord, Ruth I. "Tempo Relationships between Duple and Triple Time in the Sixteenth Cen tury." Early Music History 14 (1995), p. 32 [link].

12 [14:17] "nelle trippole, o sesquialtera, se saranno maggiori [sesquialtera maggiore], si porino adagio, se minori [sesquialtera minore] alquanto più allegre, se di tre semiminime, più allegre [,] se saranno sei per quattro [6/4] si dia il lor tempo con far caminare la battuta allegra." ("in triple time or sesquialtera, if they are major [sesquialtera maggiore], one must play adagio; if they are minor [sesquialtera minore], somewhat more allegro; if they show three semiminimas, more allegro; when one finds six against four [6/4], one must express the tempo through a battuta taken allegro."). Frescobaldi, Capricci (1624, Rome), preface [link].

13 [14:56] For example, Etienne Darbellay, "Tempo Relationships in frescobaldi's Primo libro di capricci", in Frescobaldi Studies, ed. Alexander Silbiger (Duke Uni Press: 1987), p. 301.

14 [15:22] Lodovico da Viadana, Cento Concerti Ecclesiastici, Op. 12 (Venice, 1602) [link]

15 [17:37] See for example this excepts from Monteverdi's Laudate dominum in sanctis eius for solo voice (No. 36 in Selva Morale, 1642 [link]). The repeated phrase "Alleluia" always ends three times with two minims, but when the meter changes there are two chrome (eighth notes). As in Viadana's example shown in the video, also here It would make musical sense that one minima of the triple meter will be equal to one eighth note of the duple meter.

Credits:

Created by Elam Rotem.

Special thanks to Federico Sepulveda, Ozan Karagöz and Anne Smith.