‘Whether descant may be commendable in the divine service, and of certain things which ought to be eschewed in song. Like as it is...

‘...you would be compelled to be an imitator of the proficient and expert singer, and [this] would entail an instrumental performance...

‘The harmonic flower [flos harmonicus] is, however, an ornament of the voice or sound, and a very fast and storm-like vibration. Some...

‘I would say to you, in an entirely insinuated way, that you must make yourself sweetened [adoucir] by a mild [legere] operation, which...

This kind [the motet] of all others which are made on a ditty [text], requireth most art, and moveth and causeth most strange effects in...

‘On the difference between the syllables/voices [stimmen]. From the above mentioned six syllables two are called b molles, ut and fa,...

‘Now you shall have a general rule to grace it, as with passionate play, and relishing it: and note that the longer the time is of a...

Of the Several Graces Used in Music: The first and most principle grace, necessary to be learned, is the trill or shake; that is, to move...

‘All these things require aptitude, agility, and time, without which nothing can be achieved, and the singer, in using or adopting them...

Since we’ve already seen Zenobi’s comments on the requirements for a soprano (https://www.cacophonyhistoricalsinging.com/post/luigi-zenob...

§6 ‘Some persons believe that they will appear learned if they crowd an Adagio with many graces, and twist them around in such fashion...

‘In Rome...while singing [extempore] counterpoint, in the mind (alla mente) above the bass, nobody does that which his partner sings, but...

The extract below from William Babbel’s ‘Suits of the most Celebrated Lessons’ (1717) shows a transcription for keyboard of the famous...

‘The common singing-men in cathedral churches are a bad society, and yet a company of good fellows, that roar deep in the quire, deeper...

‘Many of us can remember (indeed in some few places it still exists) the old village choir, assisted by the double bass, bassoon, wheezy...

‘Among the old musicians it used to be customary to write a mere outline or suggestion of the voice part. Particularly was this the case...

‘All the singers of France have learnt the Italian style that they now call ‘French’, but cannot express perfectly the tremulous...

‘Sometimes there sung sixeteene or twenty men together, having their master or moderator to keepe them in order ; and when they sung...

‘Moreover, such diminutions should be used in [works for] more than four voices, because diminution always causes the loss of numerous...

‘In setting these vowels, composers are advised that some, such as a, o, and u, are amenable to runs in the low registers and support the...