Kok Sieng (Joshua) Chang

Music 402
Dr. Robert Zappulla
2019.02.18

Renaissance Treatises That Includes Singing or Vocal Music Studies

13th Century

Anonymous, transcribed by Jerome of Moravia. Discantus positio vulgaris.

Anonymous. De musica libellous.

Knapp, Janet. "Two Xiii Century Treatises on Modal Rhythm and the Discant: Discantus Positio
Vulgaris De Musica Libellus (Anonymous VII)." Journal of Music Theory 6, no. 2 (1962): 200-15.
Accessed February 14, 2019. http://www.jstor.org/stable/842910.

14th Century

Jacobus of Liége. Speculum musicae. Ed. Roger Bragard. 7 vols. Corpus scriptorum de musica (Rome,
later Stuttgart, 1950-)(CSM), vol. 3. American Institute of Musicology, 1955-73.

15th Century

Gaffurio, Francino. Practica Musicae (Milan, 1496/R; ded. Ludovico Sforza); Eng. trans., Musicological
Studies and Documents (MSD), xx (1969); ed. and trans. I.Young (Madison, WI, 1969)

16th Century

dal Fontego, Ganassi. Opera intitulata Fontegara (Venice, 1535/R1969 in Bibliotheca musica
bononiensis (Bologna, 1967-), section 2, xviii; Ger. trans., 1956, Eng. trans., 1959)

Coclico , Adrianus Petit. Compendium musices (Nuremberg, 1552/R; Eng. trans., A. Seay, Colorado
Springs, CO, 1973)

Ortiz, Diego. Trattado de glosas sobre clausulas y otros generos de puntos en la musica de violones
(Rome, 1553; also pubd in It. as: Glose sopra le cadenze et altre sorte de punti in la musica del
violone); ed. M. Schneider (Kassel, 1967)

Finck, Hermann. Practica musica … exempla variorum signorum, proportionum et canonum, iudicium
de tonis, ac quaedam de arte suaviter et artificiose cantandi continens (Wittenberg, 1556, enlarged
2/1556/R)

Abbreviation Guide:

R: facsimile reprint

2/xxxx/x: second edition

Kok Sieng (Joshua) Chang
Music 402
Dr. Robert Zappulla
2019.02.18
https://www.york.ac.uk/music/conferences/nema/bethell/#chapter2

I have two references for the Renaissance. The first is from Francino Gaffurio’s Practica
Musicae of 1496.

[Gaffurio said that singers] should avoid tones having a wide and ringing vibrato, since
these tones do not maintain a true pitch and because of the continuous wobble cannot
form a balanced concord with other voices. (Gaffurio 1496) (New Grove Dictionary of
Music and Musicians 2001)

The next quotes are from Hermann Finck’s Practica Musica of 1556, translated by F.E.
Kirby:

The tone should not be too soft or too loud, but rather like a properly built organ, the
ensemble should remain unaltered and constant. [Kirby then quotes Finck’s satirical
comments on performances he has heard:] Fine compositions were monstrously
distorted and deformed, with mouths twisted and wide open, heads thrown back and
shaking, and wild vociferations, the singers suffering from the delusion that shouting is
the same thing as singing. The bases make a rumbling noise like a hornet trapped in a
boot, or else expel their breath like a solar eruption, [thus depriving the composition of its
elegance, sweetness and grace. Instead of this, one should employ a quality of voice as
sweet, as pleasing, as smooth, as polished as can be produced. Equal attention should
be paid to all the parts.] The higher a voice rises, the quieter and more gentle should be
the tone; the lower it goes, the richer should be the sound, just as in an organ with
various sizes of pipes, both large and small, the larger ones do not overpower the
smaller, nor do the smaller ones with their bright tone swamp the larger, with the result
that the polyphony and harmony make their way evenly into the ear, in such a way that
each voice plainly sounds just as clear, as gentle and as smooth as any other and the
listeners enjoy the performance to the full and experience the appropriate emotion.
(Kirby 1961) (Finck 1556)

Two conclusions must be drawn from these sources. First, absolute clarity in
contrapuntal music is mandatory. Second, vocal vibrato is incompatible both with tonal
clarity and with this evidence. But Finck’s essential attributes are not always found
today. Vocal balance is often soprano heavy, and the texture infected by vibrato in one
or more parts. This ideal renaissance sound was still around in the late 19th century, at
least in UK Anglican cathedrals, according to a booklet Advice to singers by A Singer, in
Warne’s Useful Books series.

[After discussing the Cathedral Style, and noting that this style] for solo work is
detestable [the author goes on to define cathedral singing:] Its chief characteristics are a
sort of Passionless ‘statuesqueness’, a steadiness of tone akin to the notes of the organ,
which is only fit for accompaniment, an absence of all attempt at personal display on the
part of the singer. (Anon 1870).

Gaffurio and Finck would have concurred, but without the underlying slighting tone.

It can’t be denied that vibrato has always been around, at least as an ornament. The
existence of the Vox Humana stop is proof of that. Vibrato can be viewed as a kind of
‘Forbidden Fruit’, which was normally disapproved of, but which singers occasionally
resorted to. I accept that there may have been some continuous vocal vibrato around
Kok Sieng (Joshua) Chang
Music 402
Dr. Robert Zappulla
2019.02.18
1600, as suggested by Greta Haenen in her conference contribution on Zacconi’s
treatise. (Zacconi 1592)

Conference delegates will recall Phillip Thorby’s brilliant workshops. He injected his own
asides into the vibrato debate, noting Gerolamo Cardano’s fascination with recorder
vibrato. Cardano described how you can use a slightly opened finger hole to produce a
vibrato, which was probably similar to the ‘flattement’ technique used in French 18th-
century flute playing. He says:

A vox tremula that continues uninterruptedly on individual tones creates an unbelievably

sweet effect. [But, elsewhere, discussing the tone to be used in instrumental consort
playing, Cardano writes:] Therefore, evenness, accuracy, and smoothness produce a
tone that is not only more pleasant but also clear, sustained, and of the proper volume.
The opposite characteristics produce a tone that is harsh, uneven, fluctuating, and
lacking proper volume. (Cardano Active 1546 to 1576)

So, perhaps selective vibrato is acceptable for solo instrumental playing, but not in
concerted performance. While Cardano doesn’t comment specifically on vocal vibrato,
his 5th and 6th precepts for singing (quoted below) suggest that he might not have
approved of it.

[5] Let him take the greatest care to sing exactly on pitch and not let the note rise or drop
a diesis [semitone]; [6] also, let him produce a tone that is clear but not violent, for in this
way many singers suffer a ruptured blood vessel or a hernia. (Cardano)