‘When I learned descant [1] from my master Bold he, seeing me so inclined and willing to learn, always had me in his company, and because...

‘I know of no musician today who has any idea what it means to sing on the book. It was an improvised and simultaneous melody [chant]...

The summary below is from Jean-Paul Montagnier, “Le Chant Sur Le Livre Au XVIIIe Siècle: Les Traités de Louis-Joseph Marchand et Henry...

‘... France, where musical taste has always been somewhat backwards, has never abandoned the mania for improvising on plainchant. The...

Ԥ 5. Every Air has (at least) three Cadences, that are all three final. Generally speaking, the Study of the Singers of the present...

I was recently flicking through an instruction book aimed at teaching modern singers how to ornament eighteenth-century repertoire, and I...

I become nauseated when I recall some singers I have heard, whether solo or accompanied by others, improvising on a choirbook, not caring...

‘The preceding examples receive their colouring from the discrimination of the singer; but a still nicer task remains for him to execute,...

‘Thus I say, that these voices are born from the matter of the tube [throat]; and by tube [throat] I mean all the parts mentioned above,...

‘Without a doubt, [Johann] Michael Vogl stands foremost among those who recognised and promoted Schubert’s genius early on. As far as...

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

‘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...

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

‘Moreover, simple as much as diminished counterpoint is made in two ways, that is, either in writing or mentally. Counterpoint...