‘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...

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

‘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...

‘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...

‘But the greatest Difficulty is to sound every Note according to its due Measure of Time; and here it is that the Singers in most Country...

‘[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...

'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...

‘Singing on the book. A Plainchant or counterpoint in four parts, which the musicians compose and sing impromptu on a single [part]:...

‘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...

Question. How can one remedy the fault that a choir, when it sings a well-known church chorale without sheet music, as must often happen,...

In altering or re-arranging words, or syllables, care should be taken to retain and mark the measure or accent of a melody, and only...

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

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

‘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]...

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...