‘Although manuscript collections of solfeggi were centerpieces in the training of musicians in the days of Bach and Mozart, today the...

‘Although they are set only in the system of the cantus, these examples of accentus and variation of intervals can be used in the other...

'The Strascino [slide] (which is the continued plasma of the Ancients, and which is done by raising or lowering continuously the voice,...

III. Diminution Diminution occurs when larger notes are broken into many parts by the smaller ones in motion. The which must not...

‘A great defect into which some of the best modern singers have fallen is that of having introduced florid ornaments into recitative,...

‘Now let us proceed to teach a man to Trillo, and what he must do, for to come to do it well. The first Trial is as follows. Let any...

[fol. 22r.] Chapter two: of the definition and the division of melodía Melodía is to adorn and to grace the sounds of plainchant. Melodía...

The time table of daily duty was, 9 to 9.45, scale practice; 10 to 11, morning service; 11 to 12.30 or 1, music practice; 2 to 3.45,...

‘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...

‘To sing with fidelity... is to sing so that anyone of those singing together should remain in the form of those notes that were...

‘Then out the People yawl an hundred Parts, Some roar, some whine, some creak like the Wheels of Carts; Such Notes the Gam-ut yet did...

‘Today, music has such great license in churches that even along with the canon of the mass certain obscene little ditties sometimes have...

‘To teach the art of singing well and elegantly to a boy, I advise first that he choose a teacher who sings pleasantly and sweetly with a...

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

‘Now let us take notice, of singing long Notes Gracefully. Note the following Example. The first Note must begin softly, and then...

Davids Psalms sung in our English Meeter differ much from Cathedrall singing, which is so abominable, in which is sung almost every...

‘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]...

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...