A. Begin the anatomy at the head and finish it at the soles of the feet. Put in all the exits that the veins make in the flesh and their...

‘What Must be Observed when Improvising a Third Part on Two Given Parts: Skilled contrapuntists occasionally want to improvise a third...

‘As for the disposition of the words under the notes, it is necessary to take great care to set them so well, that not only no barbarism...

‘[Alemanno Benelli:] But because of the presumptuous audacity of performers who try to invent passaggi, I will not say sometimes, but...

'As for singing upon a plainsong, it has been in times past in England, as every man knows, and is at this day in other places, the...

'Among the compositions made above a cantus firmus by the masters of the art, those [made] above introits are unique, and are used...

‘I have no doubt at all that the counterpoints above a cantus firmus from the introits by Constanzo Porta and Giovanni Matteo Asola,...

‘The hundred passaggi above, all having been printed in various works by modern authors, have been assembled with much study and...

‘It should be noted that the [ancient] tonoi were not sung as we do [ours], that is, the bass [singer] intones re or ut or some other...

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

‘In honour of immortal God, the Supreme Pontiff Nicholas V filled the most sumptuous sanctuary that he had erected among the papal courts...

‘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,...

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

‘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...

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

‘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...