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'Quasi una taciturnit': the silence and salience of dissonance according to 16th-century

theorists
Authors(s): Simon Van Damme
Source: Early Music, Vol. 38, No. 2, Performing Bach (May 2010), pp. 237-247
Published by: Oxford University Press
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Simon Van Damme

'Quasi una taciturnit': the silence and salience of


dissonance according to 16th-century theorists
"' Tuch of the sweetness of Renaissance poly-

an articulation that is equivalent to, if not stronger

IV Aphony stems from the interplay of dissonances

than, that accomplished by the voice-leading of the


cadence itself.3

and consonances. The role of discordant sonori-

ties is crucial as they establish moments of musical

tension that are subsequently released by consonant resolutions. By attracting the listener's attention they adopt a structural function, emphasizing

expressive passages or announcing cadences. In


other words, dissonances 'spice up' the sounding
polyphonic texture in a meaningful way. The perceptual effectiveness of dissonance is demonstrated

prominently in certain performances of Renaissance polyphony nowadays. Many musicians seem


to share with their audiences an undeniable love

for the temporary discomfort of clashing notes,

enjoying the raised excitement provoked by the


harmonic friction of major and minor 2nds and
7ths. Given this almost natural inclination, it seems

only logical that Knud Jeppesen, in his thorough


description of the Galestrina style', already characterized at least one kind of dissonance as '"musi-

cal" dissonance in a conscious, deliberately-stressed


contrast to consonance'.1 As a principal example of
this type, Jeppesen refers to the well-known syncopated cadence formula, when the penultimate note
of a stepwise descent forms a 2nd or 7th against the

suspended note in the other voice.2 Suspensions


may be considered the most typical instances of
dissonance in early music. They are almost standard in cadences and their rhythmical outline allows
for dissonances to be inserted on accented parts of
the bar. Their perceptual significance in a 'seam-

less polyphonic idiom' has been acknowledged


by Michle Fromson, reviewing the 16th-century
cadence formulas from an analytical perspective:
'the accented dissonance in a suspension can create

This article focuses on indications in 16th-century

music theory concerning the sounding result of dis-

sonances, notably those caused by syncopated or


suspended note values. Although the first objective
of Renaissance music theory was to speculate about

music as a science and, on the practical side, to


inform composers about the making of well-formed

counterpoint, some passages explicitly touch upon


the performance of certain figures, including dis-

sonances and suspensions. One would expect the


musical intuition sketched above to be reflected in

those theoretical statements. The following remark


by Pietro Pontio (1588) is thus striking in its refer-

ence to some theorists' support for a manner of


singing dissonances that is contradictory to the
assumption of a certain intensification of the sound-

ing polyphony through discords:


Nondimento altri sono, i quali hanno opinione, che la met
della Semibreve fatta in elevatione della misura sia riputata come morta; ilche s'intende della parte seconda; perche
l'orecchia solamenta fa giuditio di quella parte prima della
figura, ch'essa sente per rispetto della percussione del moto;
& ancora perche hoggiadi dalla maggior parte delli cantori
si vede essere lasciata con la voce met della figura di Semi-

breve fatta in elevatione della battuta. Il qual abuso cos


malamente introdotto degno di riprensione; percioche
gli compositori pongano le lor figure ne'Canti, acci siano
cantate, & non tacciute.4

Nonetheless there are others who are of the opinion that

half of the note value of the syncopated semibreve is


deemed to be dead - whereby the second half is meant because the ear only judges the first part of the note which

it hears due to the percussions of the motion; and also


because one observes the majority of the singers to have
dropped the [second] half of the syncopated semibreve.

Early Music, Vol. xxxvm, No. 2 The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. 237

doi:10.1093/em/caq015, available online atwww.em.oxfordjournals.org


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This abuse which has been so unfortunately introduced


is worthy of reprehension, because the composers have
placed their notes in their works so that they may be sung
and not passed over in silence.

Pontio identifies a disturbing practice that seems


to have been widespread among singers of his time.
Apparently many of them did not sing through the
whole value of a note, especially when this was syn-

copated, and they are criticized for dropping the


second half of it. The theorist observes that if a com-

poser had wanted a silence, he would not have written

the rhythmical value of an entire note. However,


this passage also hints at certain theoretical grounds,

not sound together with the beginning of the longer

note against which they are dissonant:


Ma certamente la causa che lo audito non sente le medie et
ext[reme not] e de la diminutione nasce che solo el principio

et primo moto che fa la voce in la nota (per la in[tensit]


sumpta in cantando) solamente sentito et compreheso da
lo audito, et da poi quello stare suspeso et durare che fa la
voce sino a V altra percussione del tempo sumpto in cantando
sequente aceptato da lo audito in loco de taciturnit.6
But the true reason why the ear does not perceive the middle and end notes of the figuration is that only the begin-

ning and the first movement alone, given by the voice to


the note (by the intensity that is reached in singing), is
perceived and understood by the ear. What follows, the

although dismissed by Pontio, for this particular idea

suspension and holding-out by the voice until the next

that only the beginning of a syncopation is heard.


The present article examines this theoretical back-

beat of time reached in singing, is then accepted by the ear

ground and its possible implications for dissonance

Although his formulation is rather wordy and


convoluted, Spataro mainly relies upon the tradi-

treatment and performance. In the first section the


'theory of silence' is traced back to the letters of Spa-

taro and the writings of Tinctoris, Gaffurius and


Zarlino. Then, in the second section, passages from
the same and from other treatises in which the per-

as if it were a silence.

tional understanding of the production and perception of musical sound. Originating in Violent'
motion, sound consisted of percussions of the air,
travelling all the way to the human ear.7 These per-

ceptual salience of dissonance is emphasized, are

cussions were separated by short moments of sta-

opposed to this peculiar theory. With regard to Spa-

sis that did not, however, prevent the listener from

taro, his actual compositional practice in fact seems

hearing musical sound as something continuous.

to mitigate the strong position he adopts in his cor-

Taking this well-known theory as his point of depar-

respondence. Underlying aspects of this apparent

ture, Spataro distinguishes between the beginning of

gap between theory and practice are explored in the


final section. In this context, the nature of theoretical

a note, characterized by active movement and inten-

reasoning and musical judgement is considered and


a parallel is drawn between the idea of musical sound
and Aristotelian principles of physical motion.

sity ('primo moto', 'intensit sumpta in cantando'),


and the rest of it ('stare suspeso et durare'), perceived by the ear as a silence. In short, he claims that

only the beginning of a note is actually heard. Ex.i


reproduces one of the examples given by Spataro

in his letter. Two schematic representations are

A theory of silence

In the correspondence between the Bolognese

added here in order to demonstrate the implications

league Pietro Aaron, dissonances are discussed in

of his theory. The first one takes each note for its
entire duration, highlighting the dissonant 4th and

both a theoretical and a compositional context. In


one of the letters in which Spataro reviewed Aaron's

respectively. The lower scheme only accounts for the

musician Giovanni Spataro and his Florentine col-

treatise Thoscanello de la musica (first published


in 1523), the matter at issue is why dissonant notes

in the course of a figuration are allowed. According to Aaron, the ear is not offended because of the

quickness of those diminutions.5 Spataro, however,


argues that it is not so much because of the rapidity
of the notes, but rather because of their occurrence
in the middle or at the end of the figure. The discordant relations do not offend the ear since they do

2nd created by the second and fourth semiminims


beginning of each note so that those dissonances are
no longer present, the whole figuration except the
first d now sounding against an apparent silence.
With regard to the final concord, Spataro seems to
offer two possible endings for the second voice, and
not a (dissonant) triad.
Still according to Spataro, the prolongation after
the beginning of the note lasts until the next 'percussione del tempo sumpto in cantando'. This can

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Ex.i Spataro, Correspondence il

Ex.2 Spataro, Nativitas tua Dei genitrix, Correspondence yj

g- F

te i *
ii

Ex.3 Spataro, Hec virgo estpreclarum vas, Correspondence 39

ii
n

/
be understood as the new instance of movement

('primo moto') at the beginning of the following


note. In singing, then, the intensity of every onset
alternates with suspensions of the voice that make

accepted

IP " i" ^
jQ I.I

not accepted

T^T <!> a 1 ~ ~

f' I

out each note's duration. An alternative interpretation of this 'percussione del tempo', however, is the
next beat (of time) in a mensural context. In that

case, the perceptual markedness of the beginning


of a note is connected to its metrical placement and
the audible impact of stressed and unstressed beats.

not coincide with 'el primo et vivo moto che fa la


voce' but with the suspended part of the note, 'el

This view recalls the more traditional rule that

quale durare lo audito la accepta in loco de taciturnit'. The apparent silence of a written note

dissonances should preferably occur on unaccented

causes the ear not to take offence at this unusual

parts of the bar. Nevertheless, given the references to

contrapuntal combination. In contrast to the ear-

the actual perception of sound by the sense of hear-

lier account of this particular theory, this time the


additional importance of the mensural context is

ing, Spataro's theory seems to be more fundamental

and more original than merely an adoption of this

mentioned explicitly: the 'primo moto' should be

commonly held view. In correcting Aaron's assumption that figurative dissonances are allowed because
of their quickness, Spataro's answer is not that it is

consonant while the rest may be consonant or disso-

because of their metrical position. Instead, he explic-

per arsim et thesim'.8 It should be emphasized, how-

nant, as long as the parts of the tactus are observed:

'tenendo per sempre firmo l'ordine del procedere

itly states that they are not heard at all, because of

ever, that these metrical implications of 'arsis and

the silent part of the longer note against which they

thesis' do not substitute for Spataro's own theory of

In three other letters, written years later, Spataro

audible onsets and silent suspensions. In any case, if


problems arise on the first beat of the bar, Aaron's

would become dissonant.

demonstrates a similar kind of reasoning. The context, however, is different. After sending his col-

league Aaron some of his own compositions and


receiving critical comments about them, Spataro
goes on to attempt a defence of his compositional
choices. Discussing his motet Nativitas tua Deigenitrix, Aaron signals an augmented octave between
alto and bass, as can be seen in ex.2. Spataro comments that it will not be heard as such, since it does

objection to an accented 7th in Spataro's motet


Hec virgo est preclarum vas would seem pertinent
(ex.3). Spataro admits that the written succession
of intervals could indeed be problematic, but only

if the b in the lower voice were not 'tied over' and

thus 'repercussed' the moment that the dissonance


occurs. Once again, the silent suspension of the note
is called upon with the words that 'el quale durare da
lo audito intenso quasi come taciturnit'.9

EARLY MUSIC MAY 2010 239

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Two final statements of Spataro's argument can


be found in the discussion of still another Marian

motet, Ave Maria (exx.4 and 5). In both passages,


longer notes in the higher voice conflict with passing

notes in the lower voice, resulting in an augmented


octave c-d (similar to the case of Nativitas tua Dei

genitrix) and a diminished 5th b-f respectively. As


had been said ten years before, in the context of
Aaron's treatise, it is not the quickness of the figurations which causes the ear to take no offence at the

dissonances, but rather 'la taciturnit la quale cade


intra la percussione de uno tempo musico a l'altra
percussione': the stillness that falls between the percussions of music (which again are not unequivocally specified as mensural beats).10 As if he had
become tired of repeating his point of view over
and over, Spataro clinches his argument by quot-

Again, every sound arises in percussion, but not every percussion in time but in the termination of time. For in the

middle of a percussion created by a sound a silence occurs


by which the sound is distinguished.

Like Spataro, Gaffurius uses 'percussio in tem-

pore' without an explicit mensural connotation.


Again, the starting point is the traditional conception of sound, arising in movement: 'omnis sonus in
percussione'. It is then specified that this movement
is not continuous but only present 'in temporis ter-

mino'. The above translation is not very helpful at


this point, rendering this obscure delimitation as
'the termination of time'. Thinking of 'terminus'
as 'boundary' and the meaning of 'tempus' as 'the

time the note takes' (i.e. its duration), an understanding of 'temporis termino' arises that is in line

with Spataro's theory: actual percussion is only


present at the (first) boundary of each note's dura-

ing Franchinus Gafrurius as an authoritative source.


In his De harmonia instrumentorum opus (1518), the

tion, that is to say its beginning. Gaffurius's follow-

latter stated that between the percussions of sound


stillnesses occur to set off one sound from another.

sense that the remaining parts of the notes, between

This remark comes from the beginning of Gafrurius's

treatise, with its customary definitions of sound


and its components. The conclusion regarding the

question 'Sonus quid?' (found in the margin) and


introduced by the overarching 'Rursus' ('in short')
is reproduced below, although Spataro only refers to
the second part (from 'in medio enim' onwards):
Rursus: omnis sonus in percussione: non autem omnis percussio in tempore: sed in temporis termino. In medio enim
percussionum quae per sonos fiunt: quaedam eveniunt taciturnitates: quibus soni invicem discernuntur.11

Ex.4 Spataro, Ave Maria, Correspondence 49

ing statement, then, can easily be understood in the

their percussed onsets ('in medio percussionum'),


are perceived as silence ('eveniunt taciturnitates').
Originally, however, it seems that Gaffurius only
meant to allude to the small interruptions of sounding movement at a subconscious level, conceptually
separating one sound from another. Spataro took
his words as an argument in an entirely different dis-

cussion, transferring them from more or less metaphysical speculation to physical reality.

In addition to Spataro, some other 16th-century


music theorists also drew upon this idea of perceptual silence in order to underpin the idea that some
dissonances are allowed. Gioseffo Zarlino implicitly
follows Gaffurius in his Istitutioni harmoniche (1558)
when he discusses dissonant suspensions:

^^ '1. U T T T T
Ex.5 Spataro, Ave Maria, Correspondence 49

7 I I D Lu

^~ ' I D '

Tal dissonancza si potr sopportare, percioche nel cantare la


semibreve sincopata, si tien salda la voce, e si ode quasi una
sospensione, 0 taciturnit, che si trova nel mezzo della percussione, dalla quale nascono i suoni, e per essa si discerneno
Vun dall'altro, e consiste nel tempo. Onde Vudito quasi non
la sente, percioche da lei non mosso, di maniera, che la
possa comprendere pienamente.11

Such dissonance is tolerable, because in singing the syncopated semibreve the voice holds firm, and a certain
suspension is heard, a taciturnity that is noticed amid the
percussions that produce the tones and make them distinguishable from one another in time. So the ear barely
notices this dissonance, not being sufficiently stimulated
by it to comprehend it fully.

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Henricus Glareanus (1547) also briefly mentions


the silences between the notes in order to explain

treatment also relies on some kind of metrical

awareness. Particularly with suspensions, this seems

why the accented dissonance in a suspended cadence

to play a role, as they allow for dissonances on a

formula is tolerated. He puts it that the interval of a


whole tone is of course a dissonant one, but that it

stronger part of the bar. Therefore, it is important to

is allowed in syncopation 'where, however, it is not

is not as Violent' as the beginning of it.

heard'.13

specify that the suspended (second) part of the note

Unlike the passages in Spataro's correspondence,

Johannes Tinctoris, devoting the entire second


book of his Liber de arte contrapuncti (1477) to dissonances, may be considered the first theorist to

the others cited above stem from major music the-

have treated them separately. In the context of the

for Zarlino and Glareanus to fall back on the rather

present discussion, it is interesting to read in one of

drastic idea of actual silences between the notes is

the last chapters why discords, despite their unpleas-

not that they want to defend their own contrapuntal

ory treatises, published in print and accessed by a


relatively large readership. Furthermore, the reason

ant sound, are allowed in counterpoint:

idiosyncrasies; they do not argue in favour of com-

Ornatur enim cantus, quando fit ascensus vel descensus ab

positional choices they made and submitted to oth-

una concordantia ad aliam per media compatibilia et per


syncopas quae interdum sine discordantiis fieri non possunt.

Quaequidem discordantiae parvae ita vehementer se non


repraesentant auditui, quom supra ultimas partes notarum

ers, seeking their approval and admiration. Rather


they formulate general rules for very common musi-

cal figures such as cadences. Presumably, those are


the kind of opinions against which Pontio argued

collocantur, ut si supra primas assumantur. Soni nempe


musici violento notu fiunt. Unde si motus violentus eius

when he said that some believe that the second half

naturae sit, ut circa finem remittatur, consequens est secun-

of the syncopated semibreve is deemed to be 'dead'.

das partes notarum non tam vehementis soni esse quam


primas.14

For a song is ornamented when an ascent or descent is


made from one concord to another by compatible means
and by syncopations which cannot occasionally be made
without discords. These particular small discords, therefore, do not represent themselves so vehemently to the
hearing, since they are placed above the last parts of notes,
as if they were used above the first [parts]. Musical sounds,
to be sure, are made from violent motion; hence, if violent

motion is their nature, so it is abated near the end. The


consequence is that the second parts of notes are not of as

violent a sound as the first.

His complaint, however, went further in connecting an existing singing habit to this idea. In the next

section I examine whether theorists like Spataro and

Zarlino really expected singers to drop half of the


note. Even if it is hard to know their personal preferences, there may be some theoretical or circum-

stantial indications about actual consequences


for the aural perception of suspended and other
dissonances.

A practice of salience

his early account of the use of dissonances already

Despite the above statements, converging in


the claim that certain dissonances are perceived

incorporated the view that the end of a note is

as a silence, other instances in Renaissance music

Although the word 'silence' is not used by Tinctoris,

weaker than its beginning. Attempting to establish functional rules for musical composition, this
finding notably demonstrates that in regular counterpoint no discords exist at places where all participating voices have a new note together. In other
words, there is always one voice that remains on
the same note, either Accepting' a temporary discord from a passing note in another voice or 'realizing' that it has become dissonant and that it should

resolve (in the case of a suspension). Likewise, as


Tinctoris discusses the length and mensural position
of possible dissonances, it appears that his dissonance

theory imply that dissonances can be heard (as one


would expect). By themselves, dissonant sonorities
are said to offend the listener's ear by their harsh-

ness. Nevertheless, artfully combined with more


pleasing sonorities (consonances), they clearly have
their raison d'tre in counterpoint. This is obviously
why Tinctoris devotes the second book of his Liber

de arte contrapuncti to dissonances, acknowledging

that 'discords are not allowed in simple counterpoint, but in diminished [they are]', as can be read
from the heading of chapter 23. Zarlino's counterpoint instructions, rendered in the third book of the

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de arte contrapunt, he had stated some reasons to

Istitutioni, are based upon the composer's search for


harmonia' which, in the second book, is said to be

refute the above passage from the Lstitutioni (written

'born not only from consonances but also from dis-

nearly 80 years later), dedicating a chapter to 'those

sonances', allowing 'good musicians' to reproduce

saying that integral discords should be allowed,

most 'marvellous effects'.15 Furthermore, defining

because the following concord then would appear

counterpoint itself, Zarlino returns to the com-

more sweet'. With a considerable sense of irony,

pound nature of harmony, assuring that it originates

Tinctoris proclaims:

in the 'diversity of things joined together which are

O firmissima ratio! numquid vitium aliquod ah homine

mutually opposite'.16

praedicto virtute commitendum est, quo virtus ejus clarius


enitscat; numquid orationi distincte et ornate aliqua ineptia

The question remains, however, as to whether dissonances, and their special sonorous quality in par-

ticular, can and should be perceived aurally. Some


chapters before following Spataro in his argument
about the apparent imperceptibility of suspensions,
Zarlino discusses why a composition should contain
both consonances and dissonances. One of the main
reasons is formulated as follows:

La Dissonanza fa parere la Consonanza, la quale immediatamente le segue, pi dilettevole, e con maggior piacere
dall'udito compresa, e conosciuta; si come dopo le tenebre
pi grata, e dilettevole alla vista la luce, e il dolce dopo
r amaro pi gustevole, e pi soave. Proviamo per esperienza
ogni giorni ne i suoni, che se per alquanto di tempo, V udito

offeso da alcuna dissonanza, la consonanza che segue dopo se


li fa pi soave, e pi dilettevole}1
A dissonance causes the consonance which follows it to

sound more agreeable. The ear then grasps and appreciates the consonance with greater pleasure, just as light is
more delightful to the sight after darkness, and the taste
of sweets more delicious after something bitter. We daily
have the experience that after the ear is offended by dis-

sonance for a short time, the consonance following it


becomes more sweet and pleasant.

est in serenda ut caeterae partes ejus elegantiores esse videan-

tur. Et quis, obsecro; eruditorum pictorum visum delectare


nitensium viderit unquam alicui pulchrae formae quampiam

deformitatem admississe quo caetera membra for mosior a


appareant.19

O most valid reasoning! Never ought any vice be committed by a man of commendable virtue so that this virtue
may shine more clearly; never ought any inept ideas be
inserted into a distinguished oration so that the other parts

may seem more elegant. And which one of our learned


painters striving to delight the sight, I ask, has considered
introducing some kind of deformity into any lovely form
so that the other members may appear more beautiful?

Surely, Tinctoris is arguing specifically against


irregular dissonances ('integral discords', which are
too long in his opinion) while Zarlino's later account
praises the use of dissonances in general, but supposedly only those in accordance with the basic rules of

counterpoint. The kind of reasoning that compares


dissonance with temporal darkness or bitterness was

strongly rejected by Tinctoris. However, his objection did not stop Zarlino from drawing the effects
of dissonances in exactly those metaphorical terms.

It is remarkable how Zarlino adopts a sensory

Although in this respect, their arguments seem irrec-

discourse in this passage, connecting dissonance as


a contrapuntal feature to matters of sight and taste.

He also explicitly relies on auditory experience

oncilable, Bonnie Blackburn has connected the dissonance theories of Tinctoris and Zarlino because of
their shared concerns with dissonance as a vital and

('proviamo per esperienza') drawn from daily musi-

necessary aspect of genuine counterpoint.20

cal practice ('ogni giorni'). Providing a set of tangiactual aural perception, Zarlino emphasizes the role

Zarlino's description of the interaction between


dissonances and consonances approaches our intuitive view of discords as moments of relative tension,

of dissonances in order to obtain the diversity which

demanding resolution. In his schematic account of

ble arguments by linking the harmonious effect to

constitutes harmony.18 Advocating the alternation of

Zarlino*s ideas, Giovanni Maria Artusi goes even

different sounding qualities (consonances and dissonances), his account seems to meet the traditional

further. Introducing the elaborate treatment of dis-

predilection for 'varietas'. However, Tinctoris - for


whom variety counted as the soul of counterpoint -

discusses the way dissonances work in counterpoint.


Given the two voices that will form the dissonance

would probably have disagreed with the rationale


of Zarlino's argument. In the context of his Liber

together, he distinguishes one part as the 'patiente'

sonances in his Arte del contraponto (1598), he briefly

(suffering) and the other as the 'agente' (acting) of

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the contrapuntal figure: the former 'remaining

After these theoretical considerations, which

stable and receiving the percussion' while the latter


tion of two components, one active (the mover) and

report the perceptual function of dissonances, we


now return to Spataro and his idea that certain dissonances are not heard, a notion that he sells repeat-

one passive (the moved), implies a causal relation-

edly as an argument against criticized passages in his

ship between the initial discord and the subsequent


resolution. A similar relationship between 'agente'

and 'patiente' is applied elsewhere in Artusi's treatise to the distinction between the active ('colui che

own compositions. It should nonetheless be noted


that he does not dismiss Aaron entirely. In the letter from which the final citation is taken in the previous section (letter 49), he admits several errors

percota') and the material origin ('la cosa percossa')


of sound (p.9). Furthermore, rhythmical values that

and kindly asks his colleague to emend them. He


even provides a reason why his compositions are

are never influenced by the specific mensural con-

so disordered: 'I copied them fresh from my score


[cartella] and sent them off without having sung
them first'.24 Spataro refers to the fact that he usu-

'offends and makes the other move'.21 The identifica-

text (e.g. minimae) are defined as 'agenti' while the


ones whose duration always depends on (im-)perfection (e.g. breves, their duration being subordinate
to whether the mensuration has 'tempus perfectum'
or 'imperfectum') are 'patienti' (p. 69). It may be of
significance that for the latter two uses of the terms

'agent' and 'patient', Artusi replicates ideas that were


expressed in the writings of Zarlino22 (as he usually
does) but that the adoption of them in the context of
dissonance is new.

In his textbook Modal counterpoint, Renaissance


style (1999), Peter Schubert refers to Artusi's 'agent'

and 'patient' when he discusses suspensions. The


purposeful use of those terms suggests that one can

think of dissonance in physical terms of stasis and


movement: one voice remains firm while another

ally sang through the individual parts of his music in

pairs of two (aided by a disciple), checking it aurally

for contrapuntal errors. The fact that he had not


approached the compositions at issue from a practical perspective could explain why he got into such a
conceptual debate afterwards. Above all, it is telling
that, no matter how fervently he defended the passage in his letter, he changed the contested notes in
the alto of his Ave Maria when he copied the motet
into the Bolognese manuscript in which it is preserved (ex.7).25 Equally, the challenged passage from
Hec Virgo est preclarum vas was revised by Spataro,
replacing the syncopated b in the tenor against the a
in the soprano by a more standard solution (ex.8).26

makes it sound like a dissonance and seems to exert

pressure on the first note. The suspended note, then,


leaves its position as if it were forced to do so by the

other voice. Schubert underlines the metaphorical

Ex.7 Spataro, Ave Maria, amended version

effectiveness (equally adopted by Artusi) of this per-

spective on suspensions, admitting that 'one note


doesn't really push the other, causing it to resolve,

but even now that seems like a nice way to think


about this figure, called a suspension' (Schubert's
emphasis, cf. ex.6).23

T^' 1 -

K I il TTT
Ex.8 Spataro, Hec virgo est preclarum vas, amended version

Ex.6 Schubert, Modal counterpoint, Renaissance style, p. 74

- . patient I * agent

Q|I1
W=
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Could it be that these final versions arose from the

fact that Spataro's perceptual expectations eventu-

several seconds there is of course no way to perceive


silences between the notes: quite the opposite.27

ally conflicted with the actual sounding realization of


those fragments? Given that he served at the Basilica
of San Petronio from 1505 until his death in 1541, it is

Experience versus explanation

likely that the maestro discovered this 'per esperienza

A tension between theory and practice is almost

ogni giorni'. The city of Bologna intended San Petronio to be the largest church in Italy, outdoing even

inescapable when discussing matters like music.

the dimensions of St Peter's in Rome (see the plans for

the elevation, illus.i). Obviously, overwhelming acous-

Symptomatically, Zarlino devotes the very last pages

of his first major treatise to an age-old discussion:


whether music is to be judged on aesthetic or intel-

if the ambitious building plans were never fulfilled in

lectual grounds. The final chapter of his Istitutioni


is about the 'fallacia de i sentimenti': the fact that

their entirety (due to papal sabotage). With an echo of

the senses can err and that all knowledge should be

tics were one of the architectural consequences, even

1 Section of the intended realization of San Petronio in Bologna (Baldassare Peruzzi, 1522-3, Bologna, Museo di San Petronio)

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based on reason or at least a combination of Census'

and 'ratio'. The evaluation of the sense of hearing as

an epistemological tool had been debated ever since


the ancient Greek writers on music.28 It should be

The problem with Spataro and his argument is


that the methodological process is reversed: instead

of demonstrating how his practice builds on the

music theory in general. However, if knowledge

foundations of speculative theory, he is pressed to


invoke speculative principles in order to underpin
practical decisions of his own. The question arises of
whether Spataro came up with his theory of silence

could only arise from the combination of experience with reason, scientific explanations of actual

Aaron's criticism or whether he had genuinely com-

phenomena were valid only if they fitted in an over-

posed the given passages with this idea in his mind,

all framework of logic, or at least one of tradition


and authority. Examining the philosophical back-

the least). The fact that it is only in the end that he

noted that this discussion concentrates mainly on


intervals and tuning matters - as, in fact, does early

ground of Zarlino's musical thinking, Jairo Moreno


sketched this inevitable foundation of all knowledge

between the notes only when trying to counter

unaware of their peculiar sounding result (to say


comes up with the quotation from Gaffurius, admit-

(epistemology) in the fundamental (Aristotelian-

ting in the same letter that his compositions are


so disordered because he has not been able to sing

scholastic) ontology of things:

them before sending them, points in the direction of

Returning to Aristotelian language, the sort of empirical


knowledge of individual cases of musical composition or

theories like these were indeed tried out in practice.

of the matter of intervals (demonstratio quia - the discovery of causes through their effects) must be grounded on
the structuring demonstration propter quid of the effect by
its cause or form, for only in this way could a true rational
knowledge be ensured.29

In short, practical musical issues were inextricably bound up with the underlying speculative frame

work of metaphysical associations and mathematical arguments. With regard to the matter at
issue in this article, such a connection means that

sonorities fundamentally incompatible with the


system of harmonic numbers could not be justified otherwise than by considering them temporary deviations from the system. Instead of
occurring only by accident, however, dissonances
were included in compositional practice on a reg-

ular basis in cases such as cadential progressions.


The ontological reality did not allow theorists to
account for those instances by means of experiential factors only, so it was safer to marginalize the
occurrence of such dissonances, presenting them as
barely sounding. The inseparable nature of music

as both a speculative science and a daily practice


resulted in theorists like Zarlino and Glareanus

proclaiming the apparent silence of dissonant suspensions. That this view expressed the hierarchy of
reason and judgement, more than a sounding reality, is hinted at by passages such as Zarlino's comparison of discords with perceptual aspects from
other sensory domains.

the former. However, one could easily imagine that


If Spataro made such intellectual efforts in his letters

to Aaron, why would he not stick to the same argu-

ments when actually rehearsing those passages with

his colleagues at San Petronio? As Pontio would


remark later (see above), some singers did tend to
drop the second part of a suspended note - much to
the annoyance of the latter theorist, however.

In this article, a gap between theory and practice is encountered in the writings of several 16th-

century musicians. While compositional practice


allowed and even favoured a well-considered use of

dissonances, music theory, rooted in the perfection

of numbers and proportions, resorted to rather


twisted explanations. As a final element in this
discussion, I would like to draw a parallel between
music theory and Aristotelian physics, to a certain

extent two medieval systems on the wane at the


dawn of the modern era. As mentioned above,

sound was thought to originate in motion, then


travel through the air, all the way to the ear. This
last part of the mechanics of sound, its way from
source to hearing, is briefly described in the pseudo-

Aristotelian fragment De audibilius, a text that


appeared in Venice in 1562, translated into Latin by
Antonio Gogava:30
Cum enim spiritu aer, qui deinceps est, verberatur, hie
sane vi movetur unaque contiguum sibi aerem impeliti vox
similiter, quaetenus per aeris motionem licet?1

For when air, which in turn is struck by the breath, is


moved with force, it similarly impels any air that is next

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to it, so that the sound extends in every direction as far as

motion of the air allows.

After its inception by the voice or any instrument,

the motion which causes sound travels through the


air by continuously passing the movement on to the

air next to its origin. It does so 'as far as motion of


the air allows': within certain natural limitations to

do with the medium. Movement, here, should of

That is why sound is continuous, motive power continually succeeding to motive power, until the force is spent,
which results in falling in the case of bodies, when the air
can no longer impel the missile, while in the case of sound
the air can no longer impel other air. Continuous sound
is produced when air is impelled by air, while the missile
continues its progress as long as there is air to keep a body
in motion.34

Tinctoris's observation that musical sound is

course not be understood in anachronistic terms

'abated near the end' comes to mind. Renaissance

such as those of Galilean and Newtonian dynamics,

music theorists, with their broad intellectual back-

i.e. as resulting from physical forces which continue

grounds, found Aristotle balancing between con-

to act upon an object until they are overruled by


other forces (inertia). In the Aristotelian-scholastic

tinuous motion and the absence of its motive force

tradition, movement results from the inherent qual-

ilar way with regard to singing a long note: begin-

after its inception. They may have reasoned in a sim-

ity of objects to strive towards their natural position.

ning with an instance of motion ('percussio') and

For a stone, natural movement is such that it tends

subsequently letting it go to travel through the air


for a certain timespan. The absence of a perceptual

to be on the ground. Motion can challenge this (the

stone can be lifted, pushed aside or thrown away)


but eventually its natural inclination will take over
and bring movement to rest. The continued motion
of projectiles and their specific trajectories, however, always posed problems to Aristotelian physics
because the initiating force (i.e. the efficient cause
of the motion) is only present at the start of the
movement.32
It is possible to conceive sound in similar terms:
after its emission by the voice, it can be viewed as
something that is launched violently and then fol-

force in the further course of the note then results

in its failure to remain audible in a suspension, to


play a role in discomforting and delighting the listener or to act upon other notes, 'pushing' them to
consonant resolutions. From Zarlino's and Artusi's

descriptions, as well as Spataro's revisions or Pontio's


explicit comments, it appears that this view is mainly

a speculative one that did not wholly reflect actual


practice. The theoretical concerns gathered in this
article, however, can invoke further reflection about

the perceptual salience of dissonance. Musicians

lows its way through the air. Indeed, discussing

nowadays may be inspired to experiment, acknowl-

the continuity of sound, the Problemata (another


pseudo-Aristotelian text) present it as analogous to
missiles - a unique comparison:33

edging the different positions adopted by theorists,

composers and philosophers, in the present as well


as in the past.

Simon Van Damme is a postdoctoral fellow at the department of Musicology of the University of
Leuven (Belgium) and a staff member oftheAlamire Foundation. In 2009 he completed his PhD on the
ricercars of Adrian Willaert, after having worked as a fellow of the Research Foundation-Flanders for four

years. His research interests include Renaissance music theory and analysis of 16th-century polyphony.
simon.vandamme@arts.kuleuven.be
1 K. Jeppesen, The style of Palestrina
and the dissonance (Oxford, 1946),

Theory and practice, xvi (1991),


pp.179-213, at p.184.

P-94.

4 Pietro Pontio, Ragionamento di


musica (Parma, 1588), ragionamento II,

2 Jeppesen, The style of Palestrina,


p.225.

3 M. Fromson, 'Cadential structure in


the mid-sixteenth century: the
analytical approaches of Bernhard

Meier and Karol Berger compared',

p. 81. I have borrowed the translation


from Anne Smith, who kindly brought
this passage to my attention.

5 Pietro Aaron, Thoscanello de la


musica (Venice, 1523), bk II, ch.17.

6 Letter from Spataro to Aaron, 6 May


1524, letter 11 10 in A correspondence of
Renaissance musicians, ed. B. J.

Blackburn, E. E. Lowinsky and C. A.


Miller (Oxford, 1991), transcription
p.296, condensed translation p.299
(upon which my own full translation is
based). Spataro's idiosyncratic remarks
on dissonance are aptly discussed by

246 EARLY MUSIC MAY 2010

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Blackburn in one of the introductory


chapters to the Correspondence: 'The art

of composition' (esp. pp.105-6 and

pp.210-84, 4 (pp. 228-33). Zarlino's

111-14).

conception of harmony demonstrates,


according to Blackburn, how he
'understood very well the function of
dissonance' (p. 232).

7 A standard rendition of this view is


found in Boethius, De insititutione
musica [c. 505], bk I, ch.3: 'diffinitur

27 Examining performing
circumstances at San Petronio during

century', Journal of the American

Musicological Society, xl (1987),

the 17th and 18th centuries, Anne

Schnoebelen observed the blurring


effects of the acoustics; see

'Performance practices at San Petronio


in the Baroque', Acta Musicologica, xli
(1969), pp.37-55. In a footnote she even

sonus percussio aeris indissoluta asque

19 Tinctoris, Liber de arte contrapuncti,


bk II, ch.30; trans. Seay, p. 127.

attests that 'the echo is such that a

8 Letter from Spataro to Aaron, 30

20 Blackburn, 'On compositional


process', pp. 224-33 and 242-6. It

like an organ from the center of the

pp.458 and 461-2.

should be noted that she also

9 Letter from Spataro to Aaron, 5


April 1532, Correspondence, 39 2,

connected the resulting process of


harmony ('harmonia') to the writings
of Spataro.

28 This topic is treated extensively in


The second sense: studies in hearing and
musical judgement from antiquity to
the seventeenth century, ed. C. Burnett,

ad auditum'.

January 1532, Correspondence, 37 3,

pp.466-7 and 470.


10 Letter from Spataro to Aaron, 2
January 1533, Correspondence, 49 2-3,
pp. 609-11 and 613-14.

11 Franchinus Gaffurius, De harmonia


instrumentorum opus (Milan, 1518), bk
I, ch.2; trans. C. A. Miller,

Musicological studies and documents


33 (1977). P.38.
12 Gioseffo Zarlino, Le istitutioni
harmoniche (Venice, 1558), bk III,

ch.42; trans. G. A. Marco and C. V.

stando, Agente.' Giovanni Maria


Artusi, L'arte del contraponto (Venice,
1598), p.40. That the agent is seen as
the offending part is somewhat at odds
with the fact that in a suspension it is
the note of the patient which becomes
dissonant. However, it seems that the
dissonant relation between the two

polyphonic texture (in relation to


which the agent would indeed be
consonant).

excidit, nee admittur, nisi in syncopis,

ut vocant (nam id novae rei novum est


nomen) ubi tarnen non auditur.'
Henricus Glareanus, Dodecachordon
(Basle, 1547), bk I, ch.9.
14 Johannes Tinctoris, Liber de arte

che nelle Harmonie le dissonanze

accordino, et che con maraviglioso


effetto consuonino.' Zarlino, Le
istitutioni harmoniche, bk II, ch.12.

30 Gogava's publication included also


Ptolemy's Harmonics, Porphyry's
comments on Aristotle's categories,

and Aristoxenus's Harmonic elements.


The latter work had never been

identification of 'patienti' in the

translated and is said to have been

context of mensuration comes about

23 P. Schubert, Modal counterpoint,


Renaissance style (New York and

dissonanze ancora: percioche i buoni


Musici pongono ogni studio di fare,

2004), p. 26.

Istitutioni harmoniche, the

A. Seay, Musicological studies and


documents 5 (1961), pp.127-8.

15 'Et questa Harmonia non solamente


nasce dalle consonanze; ma dalle

Rameau, and Weber (Bloomington,

treated in ch.10 of bk II of the

inch.68ofbkIII.

judgement of the ears: a hidden


challenge in medieval and Renaissance
music theory' (pp.169-98) and M.
Fend, 'The changing functions of
senso and ragione in Italian music
theory of the late sixteenth century'
(pp.199-221).
subjects, and objects: the construction of
musical thought in Zarlino, Descartes,

22 The (Boethian) distinction between


'quel che percote' and 'il percosso' is

contrapuncti (1477), bk II, ch.3; trans.

See especially the contributions by


K.-J. Sachs, 'Boethius and the

29 J. Moreno, Musical representations,

notes is emphasized here, rather than

three of Le istitutioni harmoniche, 1558

13 'Tonus ex consonantiarum numero

M. Fend and P. Gouk (London, 1991).

che offende l'altra movendosi,

their relation to the rest of the

(New York, 1983), p. 97.

nave!' (p.41).

21 'Chiamer quella parte che sta &


riceve la percossa: Patiente, & quella

Palisca, The art of counterpoint. Part

harpsichord played in the apse sounds

requested by Zarlino. See C. V. Palisca,

Humanism in Italian Renaissance

musical thought (New Haven, 1985),


p.m.

Oxford, 1999)> P-73-

24 Letter from Spataro to Aaron, 2


January 1533, Correspondence, 49 5,
pp.612 and 615. On the interpretation

and consequences of this passage,

see Blackburn's introduction

(pp. 119-24), as well as Jessie Ann


Owen's review of the Correspondence

31 De audibilius, 800 a7-n; Latin


translation by Gogava, English
translation by Palisca, p.144.
32 See, for instance, the introduction
to Mechanics and natural philosophy
before the scientific revolution, ed.
W. R. Laird and S. Roux (Dordrecht,

16 'Conciosache l'Harmonia non nasce

in Journal of the American

2008), pp. 6-7.

da altro, che dalla diversit delle cose,

Musicological Society, xlvi (1993),


pp.316-18.

33 Observed by C. Burnett, 'Sound


in the Middle Ages', in The second
sense, ed. Burnett, Fend and Gouk,

che si pongono insieme, & sono tra


loro opposite.' Zarlino, Le istitutioni
harmoniche, bk III, ch.i.
17 Zarlino, Le istitutioni harmoniche,

25 Observed by Edward Lowinsky in


his witty commentary on letter 49 in
the Correspondence, p. 616.

p.56.

PP-53-4.

26 Compare bars 86-8 in Unknown

34 Problemata, 899 a37-b5; translation


by E. S. Forster, included in The

Italian cathedral music of the early 16th

complete works of Aristotle: the revised

18 See B. J. Blackburn, 'On

century, ed. K. Jeppesen (Copenhagen,

compositional process in the fifteenth

1962), i, p. 122.

Oxford translation, ed. J. Barnes


(Princeton, 1984), ii, p. 1394.

bk III, ch.27; trans. Marco and Palisca,

EARLY MUSIC MAY 2010 247

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