Marchetto's Division of the Whole Tone*

By JAN W. HERLINGER

N HIS LUCIDARIUM IN ARTE MUSICAE PLANAE Of 1317/1 3181 Marchetto

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of Padua presented two innovations of extraordinary interest. He
became the first theorist to propose division of the whole tone into five
equal parts, which he called dieses, and to present musical examples
showing chromaticism and skips of an augmented fourth (see Example
I).2

Example I
Progressions from the Lucidarium

$0
ginI 0 m :ama T
W-V. • -• a
•.•• .

Once dismissed by scholars as out of touch with the musical reality

of the time,3 Marchetto's examples are now known to reflect Italian
practice at the dawn of the Trecento. Example 2 shows passages
* An abbreviated version of this paper was read at the annual meeting of the
American Musicological Society, Minneapolis, 1978, under the title "Marchetto of
Padua, Chromaticism, and a Revolutionary Tuning System."
' On the date of the
Lucidarium,see Oliver Strunk, "On the Date of Marchetto da
Padova," in his Essayson Music in the WesternWorld(New York, 1974), PP- 39-43
(originally published as "Intorno a Marchetto da Padova," Rassegnamusicale,XX
[1950], 312-15); Nino Pirrotta, "Marchettus de Padua and the Italian Ars Nova,"
Musicadisciplina,IX (0955), 57-71; Jan W. Herlinger, "The Lucidariumof Marchetto
of Padua: A Critical Edition, Translation, and Commentary" (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of
Chicago, 1978), pp. 2-15-.
2 de musica
Lucidarium2. 6 and 2. 8; see Martin Gerbert, ed., Scriptoresecclesiastici
sacrapotissimum,3 vols. (St. Blaise, 1784; rep. Milan, 1931), III, 73b, 74b, 75a. This
collection is cited henceforth as GS. Gerbert gives the tenor of the last example a third
too low; it is emended here through reference to the manuscripts. See Herlinger,
"Lucidarium," pp. 265-66.
3 See, for instance, Francois Joseph Fetis, Biographieuniverselledes musicienset
bibliographie ginirale de la musique,2nd ed., 8 vols. (Paris, i86o-65), V, 449: "Les
successions harmoniques presenties dans ces exemples sont des hardiesses prodi-
194 OF THE AMERICAN
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Example 2
(a) Anon., Quis est iste, mm. i-8

Quis est i - ste, qui ve - nit de E - dom..

i - ste, qui ve - nit de E - dom .

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Quis est

(b) Anon., Isteformosus,mm. i-6

I - ste for - mo-sus in sto - la su - - a...

I - ste for - mo-sus in sto - la su - - a...

similar to Marchetto's in two processional songs from a repertory

composed for the cathedral of Padua just at the time Marchetto was
active there as singer and master of the boy choristers.4 Not surpris-
ingly, the one composition-not a part of this collection-that can be

gieuses pour le temps oi0 elles ont ete imagindes. Elles semblaient devoir crier
immediatement une nouvelle tonalitd; mais trop prematurees, elles ne furent point
comprises par les musiciens, et resterent sans signification jusqu'a la fin du seizieme
siecle"; August Wilhelm Ambros, Geschichte derMusik, 3rd ed., 5 vols. (Leipzig, I887-
1911), II, 431: "Diese fruchtbaren Ideen [concerning chromaticism] blieben unbeach-
tet"; Hugo Riemann, Geschichteder Musiktheorieim IX.-XIX. Jahrhundert,2nd ed.
(Berlin, 1921; repr. Hildesheim, 1961), p. 136, corresponding to Riemann, Historyof
Music Theory,BooksI and II, trans. Raymond H.PHaggh (Lincoln, Neb., 1962), pp.
112-13: "Marchettus himself, incidentally, proves to be a daring innovator, because
he is the first to allow chromatic progression of the voices, which he defends
intelligently. In this he is far ahead of his time."
4 Kurt von Fischer and F. Alberto Gallo, eds., Italian SacredMusic, Polyphonic
Music of the Fourteenth Century, XII (Monaco, 1976), p. 1I4; originally published in
Giuseppe Vecchi, ed., Ufici drammaticipadovani, Biblioteca dell'archivum romani-
cum, Series I, XLI (Florence, 1954), pp. io8, IIo. The same examples are given by
Pirrotta, "Marchettus de Padua," p. 65. An additional chromatic example (which,
however, does not match Marchetto's progressions so closely) appears in Uffici
drammaticipadovani, p. 63.
F. Alberto Gallo reported the discovery of archival references to Marchetto's
activity at the cathedral of Padua between 1305 and 1307; see "Marchetus in Padua
und die 'franco-venetische' Musik des friihen Trecento," Archivfiir Musikwissenschaft,
XXXI (i974), 42-43.
 MARCHETTO'SDIVISION OF THE WHOLE TONE 195
attributed to Marchetto shows augmented melodic intervals (Example
3)-s Nino Pirrotta has called Marchetto's interest in chromatic alter-
ation "the reflection in theory of the taste for chromaticism which is
one of the most marked characteristics of Italian music of this time."

Example 3
Marchetto, Ave regina/ Materinnocencie,mm. 1-8, 73-78
(a) mm. I-8

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A-VE re - - - na .
gi

Ma - ter in-no - cen - ci - - e ...

(b) mm. 73-78

[tu chorum Regis dulci viel-] la, ET vin - cu - la de -

[Virga pu-] ri - - - - ta

lic - to - rum Fran - gis no - bis [rebella.]

S - -t - tis.
r

s Von Fischer and Gallo, eds., Italian SacredMusic, pp. 129-31. The editors
propose chromatic solutions for musicafictaproblems in mm. 46-49 and 59-62.
Gallo convincingly justifies his attribution of the piece to Marchetto with the
discovery of the acrostic "Marcum Paduanum" in the text of the duplum; see
"Marchetus in Padua," pp. 44-48.
196 SOCIETY
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Indeed,chromaticprogressionspersistin the musicof composersa

or
generation so later than Marchetto,thoughusuallybeneathan
overlayof ornamentation;and augmentedintervalsremaina part of
theirmelodicvocabulary(Example4).6
Example 4
(a) Giovanni da Cascia, "Sedendo all'ombra,"mm. 6-7

8. - - -

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...
[Sedendo all'ombra] d'u - na bel - la
" man- [dorla .. .]

[Sedendo all'ombra] d'u - na bel - la man- [dorla . . .]

(b) Piero, "Con brachi assai," mm. 50-52

[Eco la pioggia, il bosco, Enea e Di-] -i - - - - - do!

[Eco la pioggia, il bosco, Enea e Di-] -i - - - - - do!

(c) Anon., "L'anticodio Biber," mm. 4-6

L'an- ti - co dio Bi - ber ... l'an - ti-co dio Bi - ber...

L'an- ti - co dio Bi - ber ... I'an - ti- co dio Bi - ber . ..

Characteristic though they were of musical practice in the early
Trecento, chromatic progressions lay outside the scope of a melodic
theory confined to hexachords and mutations. Mutation is defined as
6 Pirrotta, "Marchettus de Padua," p. 64. For the examples, see Nino Pirrotta,
ed., TheMusicof Fourteenth-Century Italy, 5 vols., Corpus mensurabilis musicae, VIII
(Amsterdam, 1954-64), I, 40 (Ex. 4a); II, i (Ex. 4b); II, 44 (Ex. 4c). The underlying
progression o:•c~ seems almost a conflation of Marchetto's examples showing
chromatic descent.
Marie Louise Martinez [-G6llner] has suggested that in the early Trecento the
proscription of augmented intervals did not apply between a sharped note and the
note preceding it (Die Musik desfriihen Trecento,Muinchner Ver6ffentlichungen zur
Musikgeschichte, IX [Tutzing, 1963], pp. 69-70).
 MARCHETTO'S DIVISION OF THE WHOLE TONE 197

"the replacement of one syllable with another under the same letter
and on the same pitch,"7 a procedure that makes no allowance for
chromatic progressions; theorists, moreover, often proscribed such
progressions explicitly: "Thefa of Bb may not be mutated to the mi of
B4!or vice versa-on that particular note or on any other."' Retainring
the traditional definition of mutation, Marchetto coined a new term,
"permutation," to designate the chromatic change fromfa to mi on a
single note (e.g., Bb to B or FO to F#) or vice versa: "Permutationis a
change in the name of a syllable or note lying in the same space or on

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the same line but with a dfferentpitch."9Thus he brought the theory of
melody into closer accord with musical practice--as he did, indeed,
for the theories of church modes and mensuration.1
Marchetto's innovations won him a secure place in the history of
music theory. Indeed, the Lucidariumis one of the most influential of
medieval musical treatises, its wide dissemination indicated by the
twenty-seven manuscript copies (complete or partial) surviving to-

7 "Mutatio nihil aliud est quam dimissio unius vocis propter aliam sub eodem
signo et sub eodem sono." Johannes de Garlandia (?), Plana musica,Paris, Biblio-
theque nationale, MS lat. 18514, fol. 9or. From the subsequent discussion it is clear
that the word signummeans "letter" for the author of this treatise. The definition of
mutation in the IntroductiomusicaesecundumMagistrumde Garlandia,published in
Edmond de Coussemaker, ed., Scriptorumde musicamediiaevi nova seriesa Gerbertina
altera (this collection is henceforth cited as CS), 4 vols. (Paris, I864-76), I, I6oa, is
substantially the same.
8 "Fa, quod est in I fa acuto, non potest mutari in mi, quod est in ? mi acuto, nec e
converso (in his et in omnibus aliis clavibus)"; Hieronymus de Moravia O.P.,
Tractatusde musica,ed. Simon M. Cserba, Freiburger Studien zur Musikwissenschaft,
2nd Series, II (Regensburg, 1935), p. 49. Earlier prohibitions appear in "Odo,"
Musicaeartis disciplinae(GS, I, 268a), and Guido, Micrologus8. I 2 (GuidonisAretini
Micrologus,ed. Joseph Smits van Waesberghe, Corpus scriptorum de musica, IV
[Rome, 1955], p. 124).
9 "Permutatio est variatio nominis vocis seu notae in eodem spatio seu linea in
diverso sono"; Lucidarium8. 2 (GS, III, 89ab). Marchetto's definition of mutation:
"Mutation is a change in the name of a syllable or note lying in the same space or on
the same line and with the same pitch." ("Mutatioest variatio nominis vocis seu notae
in eodem spatio, linea & sono.") Lucidarium8. 3 (GS, III, 90oa).
0oConsidering that a melody may fail to achieve the prescribed limits of its mode
or may exceed them, and may show characteristics of its plagal or authentic
counterpart or of some other mode altogether, Marchetto devised a constellation of
terms to account for such cases: modes, he said, may be perfect, imperfect,
pluperfect, mixed, or mingled ("perfecti, imperfecti, plusquamperfecti, mixti, et
commixti"); Marchetto's treatment of the modes appears in Treatises IX-XIII (GS,
III, 95-119). On Marchetto's theory of modes, see Beate Regina Suchla, Studienzur
Provenienzder Trecento-Ballata,G6ttinger musikwissenschaftliche Arbeiten, VI (Kas-
sel, 1976), pp. 59-00oo;on the influence of these theories, which extended into the
sixteenth century, see Klaus Wolfgang Niem6ller, "Zur Tonus-Lehre der italien-
ischen Musiktheorie des ausgehenden Mittelalters," KirchenmusikalischesJabrbuch, XL
(1956), 23-32.
198 MUSICOLOGICAL
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day." (Theonlymedievaltreatisesknownto existin moresourcesare

the Musicaenchiriadis,
the Dialogusformerlyattributedto Odo, and
worksof Berno,Guido,andJehandes Murs.)Marchetto's influence
can be tracedin the workof Ciconia,Prosdocimo,GeorgioAnselmo,
Tinctoris, Gaffurio,Burzio, Bonaventurada Brescia,Aaron, Vicen-
tino, andlesserfigures.12
Practicalconsiderations,however, seem far removedfrom Mar-
chetto'sconcernwhenhe discussesdivisionof the wholetone. In a
passagethathaslongbaffledscholars,he arguesthatthetoneconsists

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in the number9 andthat,hence,it mustbe divisibleintofiveparts.
His argumentincorporatesabstrusePythagorean conceptsdrawn
fromsuchfiguresas Plato,Calcidius,Macrobius, Martianus Capella,
Boethius,Cassiodorus, Remid'Auxerre,andThomasAquinas."3
Marchettocreditsa BrotherSiffanteof Ferrara,a Dominican
otherwiseunknown,forthephilosophical arguments necessaryto the
Lucidarium. " the between the
Perhaps discrepancy luciditywith
whichMarchettodiscussesmusicalpracticeand the opacityof his
demonstration of thedivisionof thetonestemsfromSiffante's attempt
to clotheMarchetto's musicianly ideasin properphilosophical garb;
but in anycaseit is essentialto determinewhyMarchetto choosesto
includethesecomplicated arguments in his treatise.
I shallsummarize the argument Marchetto adducesto supporthis
divisionof the wholetone;outlinehis systemof tonedivision;show
why he takessuch painsto justifyit, andwhy he seemsto incline

Observing duple division of the breve, Marchetto not only developed a system of
notation for duple meter, but differentiated between French and Italian practice;
Pomerium(Marchetide Padua Pomerium,ed. Giuseppe Vecchi, Corpus scriptorum de
musica, VI [Rome, 1961], pp. 157-80). The Pomeriumis the earliest datable treatise
dealing with imperfect meter.
" For a list of these manuscripts see Herlinger, "Lucidarium," pp. 57-59.
12Some of these are discussed by Marie Louise Martinez-G6llner, "Marchettusof
Padua and Chromaticism," L'arsnova italiana del trecento,III (Certaldo, 1970), 187-
202. See also nn. 30, 43, 48, 49 below.
13 Marchetto's demonstration of the division of
the whole tone, Lucidarium2. 4-5
(GS, III, 70-73), is analyzed in detail, with specific references to the writers named,
in Herlinger, "Lucidarium,"pp. i6-40. See also Giuseppe Vecchi, "Primo annuncio
del sistema proporzionale di Marchetto in un passo del Lucidarium,"Quadrivium,IX
(1968), 83-86.
Marchetto shows his Pythagorean bias most clearly when he treats musical reality
as founded on numerical relationships and numerological considerations: "It is certain
that music consists in notes, and notes in numbers; therefore the relationships
obtaining among notes will be like those obtaining among numbers." ("Certum est,
quod ipsa musica est de notis, & ipsae notae sunt de numeris; ita erit ergo de ordine
ipsarum notarum, sicut est de numeris.") Lucidarium9 (GS, III, 96ab).
'4 Lucidarium,Epistola(GS, III, 65b); cf. Pomerium1. 6 (Vecchi ed., p. 36).
 DIVISIONOF THE WHOLETONE
MARCHETTO'S 199
towardPythagorean views;andexplainfinallyhowhisdivisionof the
toneintofifthsbecamea turningpointin thehistoryof musictheory.
"Truthis containedin numbers,"
astheninth-century
commenta-
tor Remi d'Auxerreobserved;this sentence,paraphrased
in the
Lucidarium,5sis the tenor on which Marchetto builds the argument
demonstrating his division of the whole tone. He begins that argu-
ment by positing an association between the generation of numbers
and the division of a continuum-here borrowing a passage from

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Thomas Aquinas:

Quantum ad primum, est scien- First, according to all philosophers

dum, quod secundum omnes philo-
sophos & doctores in istis ma-
terialibus, numerus causatur [GS:
in istis materialibus numeris (tonus)
causatur] ex divisione continui, & in
tot partes, in quot potest dividi con-
tinuum, & eo modo quo potest di-
vidi, tot possunt esse numeri, &
eodem modo etiam possunt augmen-
tari. Propter quod ipsi dicunt, quod
quia continuum est divisibile in infi-
nitum, ideo numerus est augmenta-
bilis in infinitum.16
and teachers of these matters, num-
ber has as its cause the division of
a continuum. Into however many
parts the continuum can be divided,
so many numbers can there be; and
they can be augmented in the same
way it can be divided. On account of
this they say that because a continu-
um is infinitely divisible, so is num-
ber infinitely augmentable.

15 "Veritas in numeris continetur." Remigii Autissiodorensis

Commentumin Mar-
tianum Capellam46. 8, ed. Cora E. Lutz, 2 vols. (Leiden, 1962-65), I,
I53. Cf-
Marchetto, Lucidariumi. 4 (GS, III, 67a): "Remigius: The truth of music lies in the
numbers of proportions." ("Remigius: Veritas musicae est in numeris propor-
tionum.")
16 Lucidarium 2. 4 (GS, III, 7 ia). For justification of emendations in Gerbert's text
here and elsewhere, see Herlinger, "Lucidarium."
Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentaryon Aristotle's"Physics"3. 12, trans. Richard
J. Blackwell, RichardJ. Spath, and W. Edmund Thirlkel (New Haven, 1963), p. i81,
corresponding to Sancti ThomaeAquinatis . . . Operaomnia,25 vols. (Parma, 1852-73),
XVIII, 320-21: "For it is clear that division causes multitude. Hence the more a
magnitude is divided, the greater is the multitude which arises. And thus the infinite
addition of numbers follows upon the infinite division of magnitudes .... The
division of continuous quantity causes number, . . . and this number can be multi-
plied to infinity just as magnitude is divisible to infinity. . . . This number which is
multiplied to infinity is not separated from the division of the continuous."
("Manifestumest enim quod divisio causat multitudinem: unde quanto plus dividitur
magnitudo, tanto major multitudo consurgit: et ideo ad infinitam divisionem magni-
tudinum sequitur infinita additio numerorum .... Divisio continuae quantitatis
causat numerum . . . et hic numerus multiplicabilis est in infinitum, sicut et
magnitudo divisibilis est in infinitum . . . Hic numerus, qui multiplicatur in
infinitum, non separatur a divisione continui.")
Cf. also Anicii Manlii TorquatiSeveriniBoetiiDe institutionemusicalibri quinqueI. 6,
200 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Marchetto further states that the perfect division of the continuum

and its parts is the ninefold division,17 and relates the ninefold
division of a particular continuum-the string of a musical instru-
ment-to the production of the whole tone, which he has earlier
defined as the "regular"distance from one pitch to the next. " Thus he
establishes the identity of the whole tone and the number 9.19 It is
from this identity that Marchetto finally demonstrates the divisibility
of the tone into five parts:

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Est sciendum, quod tonus habet
quinque partes, & non plures neque
pauciores: quod sic demonstramus.
Probatum est superius, tonum con-
sistere in perfectione numeri noven-
arii, quod ostendimus ad sensum in
corporibus sonoribus [GS: sonoris],
puta in monochordo & aliis. Nunc
autem ita est, quod novenarius nu-
merus numquam potest dividi in
partes aequales, est enim ibi unitas,
quae resistit divisioni, & per conse-
quens neque subdividi potest. Num-
quam enim potest dividi 9. per 2. 4.
6. & 8 [GS: 2. 4. 6. 7. & 8] aequaliter
ipsum dicimus dividendo; & tota ra-
tio est propter eius imparitatem. Re-
linquitur ergo, quod partes ipsius
The whole tone has five parts and
neither more nor less. We demon-
strate this fact thus: As proven
above, the whole tone consists in the
perfection of the number 9, a fact
that we substantiate with the aid of
musical instruments such as the
monochord and others. Now the
number 9 [i.e., the whole tone] can
never be divided into [two] equal
segments, for there is a unit in it that
resists division; consequently, it can-
not be subdivided either. Indeed, 9
[i.e., the whole tone] can never be
divided (by "divided" we mean
"evenly divided") by 2, 4, 6, or 8;
and the reason for this is that it is [an]
odd [number]. Therefore the only

ed. Gottfried Friedlein (Leipzig, 1867), p. 193: "A line that is continuous is always
divisible to infinity . . . wherefore number always increases to infinity, continuous
quantity is diminished to infinity." ("Linea enim, quae continua est, in infinita
semper partitione dividitur. .... Quocirca numerus semper in infinita crescit,
continua vero quantitas in infinita minuitur.")
For a history of the association of the generation of numbers with the division of a
continuous quantity, see Pierre Duhem, LeSystemedu monde, vols. (Paris, 1913-59),
io
I, 177-80;, VII, 20-88.
17 Lucidarium2. 4 (GS, III, 71b): "Quia in numero novenario consistat perfectio
divisionis continui et partium [GS: continuarum partium] . . . ." ("Because the
perfection of the division of the continuum and its parts consists in the number
9 . . .")
" In associating the number 9 with perfection, Marchetto stands in the
mainstream of Pythagorean numerology. Cf. for instance Martiani Minnei Felicis
CappellaeDe nuptiisPhilologiaeet Mercuriilibri IX , ed. Adolf Dick (Stuttgart, 1925),
p. 375, and Remi's comment on that passage, MartianusCapella375. Io, 12, 16, 19
(Lutz ed., II, i94-95).
18 Lucidarium2. I (GS, III, 70a): "Dicit enchiridion Ubaldi [i.e., Musicaenchiriadis
9 (GS, I, I59a)], quod tonus est legitimum spatium a sono in sonum."
19The association of the whole tone and the number 9 no doubt arose from the
fact that the string of the monochord is divided into nine parts-of which eight are
then taken-to produce the whole tone.
 MARCHETTO'SDIVISION OF THE WHOLE TONE 20I

esse debeant inaequales, ita quod
unus [GS: una] sit prima pars; de
uno ad tres, secunda; de tribus ad
quinque, tertia; de quinque ad sep-
tem, quarta; de septem ad novem,
quinta; & talis quinta pars est quin-
tus numerus impar totius novenarii.
Sic patet, quod tonus non potest
habere nisi quinque partes, neque
plures neque pauciores; ita quod
alternative remaining is that its [two]
segments must be unequal, so that
[the even numbers having been omit-
ted from consideration] I is its first
part; from I to 3, the second; from 3
to 5, the third; from 5 to 7, the
fourth; and from 7 to 9, the fifth; and
this fifth part is the fifth odd number
of the whole 9. Thus it is manifest
that the whole tone can have only

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quinque partes faciunt totum five parts, neither more nor less,
tonum.20 such that the five parts make up the
entire tone.
In this passage Marchetto first uses the identity of the whole tone
and the number 9 to demonstrate the indivisibility of the whole tone
into two equal parts, a cardinal precept of medieval music theory.21
This particular use of the number 9 Marchetto borrows from one of

20 Lucidarium2. 5 (GS, III, 72b-73a). Gerbert's punctuation has been altered in

accord with the emendation of una to unus.
This passage has proven a stumbling block for scholars.
Gerbert's unfortunate insertion of a 7 into the series of numbers by which
Marchetto says the number 9 cannot be divided (an error duplicated by Martinez-
G611ner,MusikdesfriihenTrecento,p. 57) results from a misreading of the tironian et
sign (7) in the Milan manuscript of the Lucidarium(Biblioteca ambrosiana, D. 5
inferiore,fol. 55V);the arabic 7 is always written A in this manuscript.
The RiemannMusik-Lexikon,12th ed., Sachteil(Mainz, 1967), p. 225, s. v. "Diesis,"
states that Marchetto's diesis is 1/9 or 2/9 tone, a judgment obviously based on the
section of this passage that begins with the words Relinquiturergo;but as the word ergo
shows, it is the two semitones that Marchetto says must be unequal, not the five
dieses. Indeed, Marchetto explicitly defines the diesis as one-fifth whole tone
(Lucidarium2. 6 [GS, III, 73b]): "Diesis quinta pars est toni." He measures other
intervals in multiples of the diesis (Lucidarium2. 5, 2. 7-8, 5. 7, and 12. 2 [GS, III,
73b, 74ab, 82b, and I i9a respectively]), a practice that makes no sense unless the
diesis is of a single, constant value. The author of the Riemannarticle evidently
supposed that Marchetto regarded the whole tone as consisting of nineparts whereas
what Marchetto actually claims is that it consists in the number9 (cf. Lucidarium2. 4
[GS, III, 72a]: "Ex hoc sequitur quod tonus est illud, quod est maius & perfectius in
tota musica; consistit enim in novenario numero." ["From this it follows that the
whole tone is that which is greatest and most perfect in the entire realm of music, for
it consists in the number 9."]) Marchetto is dealing here with numerological
considerations, not quantitative measurements.
21 The
proscription of equal semitones appears, for instance, in Boethius, Musica
i. 16-17, I. 33, 3. I, 4. 7 (Friedlein ed., pp. 202-204, 223, 269, 323 respectively);
Hucbald, De harmonicainstitutione(GS, I, Io9a); Remigius, MartianusCapella494.17
(Lutz ed., II, 329);Johannes Affligemensis, Musica8.8 (JohannisAffligemensis De Musica
cum tonario, ed. Joseph Smits van Waesberghe, Corpus scriptorum de musica, I
[Rome, 19501],pp. 68-69). For a study of the admission of equal division of the whole
tone in the Renaissance, see Edward E. Lowinsky, "Adrian Willaert's Chromatic
'Duo' Re-examined," TijdschriftvoorMuziekwetenschap, XVIII (1956), pp. 7-13.
202 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

the most important sources of medieval Pythagoreanism, Macrobius's

Commentarieson the Dream of Scipio (ca. 400):

Deinde tonus per naturamsui in
duo dividi sibi aequa non poterit:
cum enim ex novenarionumerocon-
stet, novemautemnumquamaequa-
liter dividantur,tonus in duas dividi
medietatesrecusat.22
Then the whole tone, by its na-
ture, cannot be divided into two
equal parts, since it consists in the
number9, and 9 can neverbe divid-
ed into [two]equalparts:it is impos-
sible to divide the whole tone into
equal halves.

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Marchetto speaks of a unit in the number 9 that renders such division
impossible; Remi tells us what that unit is, and his explanation also
shows why Marchetto can claim that the indivisibility of the tone into
halves rests on the fact that 9 is an odd number:

IMPARNUMERUS MARIBUS THE ODD NUMBER IS AT-

EST ATTRIBUTUS quia maioris
virtutis est quam par. Est enim in-
divisibilis, unitatem in medio sui
continens, quae resistit divisioni, et
ab arithmeticiseiusdem naturaevo-
catur, id est simplicis, atque ideo
fortiori sexui deputatur. Par vero
numerusinfirmiorisexui, id est fe-
mineo, quia mutabilis et divisibilis
est et ab arithmeticisalteriusnaturae
dicitur.23
TRIBUTED TO THE MASCU-
LINE GENDER because it is of
greaterstrengththan the even num-
ber, for it containsa unit in its center
that resists [bipartite]division. It is
said by mathematicians to be of that
samenature,that is, the simple,and
thus it is attributedto the stronger
sex. The even number,on the other
hand, [is attributed]to the weaker,
female sex, becauseit is changeable
and divisible;it is said by mathema-
ticiansto be of the other nature.

Having demonstrated the impossibility of dividing the whole tone

in half, Marchetto now resorts to what might be described as
numerological sleight-of-hand. If the tone is indivisible into two parts,
then it must also be indivisible into four, six, or eight, as he points
out-any of which presupposes division into halves; accordingly, he
eliminates the even numbers 2, 4, 6, 8 and employs the remaining five

22
MacrobiiAmbrosiiTheodosiiCommentariiin CiceronissomniumScipionis2. I. 22, ed.
Ludwig
23
Jan (Quedlinburg and Leipzig, 1848), pp. 135-36.
Remigius, MartianusCapella44. i i(Lutz ed., I, 149). The words in capitals are
from Martianus Capella, De nuptiisPhilologiaeet Mercurii,on which Remi comments.
Marchetto quotes this passage in the Lucidarium6. 3 (GS, III, 85a). Cf. Martianus
Capella370. 4 (Lutz ed., II, 188): "VIRILIS EST quia non potest dividi. Femineus
sexus recipit quasi sectionem. Omne quod dividitur in duas partes secabiles femi-
neum dicitur." ("IT IS MASCULINE because it cannot be divided. The female sex
admits division, as it were. Everything that is divided into two parts is said to be
feminine.")
 MARCHETTO'S DIVISION OF THE WHOLE TONE 203

odd numbers, I, 3, 5, 7, 9 to show that the tone must have five parts--
and thus to justify his own system of tone division.
Why does Marchetto need such a complex argument to prove that
the whole tone has five parts? What, indeed, is his purpose in dividing
the tone into five parts?

Marchetto's demonstration serves as prologue to a proposal for a

new tuning system showing four intervals smaller than the whole
tone. In reference to the five parts into which he has divided the whole

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tone, Marchetto continues:

Any one of these fifth-partsis called a "diesis"-the last reductionor

division,as it were. It is the smallestdivisionof the whole tone thatcan
be sung. Two of these five intervals joined together make up an
"enharmonic" semitone,which is the smaller.Platocalledit "limma";it
containstwo dieses. Three of these dieses form a "diatonic"semitone,
which is the larger;it is called the "majorapotome,"that is, the larger
partof a whole tone dividedin two. Fourdiesesconstitutethe "chromat-
ic" semitone.24

How do Marchetto's fourintervalssmallerthanthe wholetone

relateto the two semitonespreviouslyknownto musictheory?
The basicmedievalscaleconsistedof thesevendiatonicnotesplus
Bb, tunedin the "Pythagorean" mannerwith all perfectfifthsin the
ratio3:2. It showeda wholetoneof 204centsandsemitonesof 90 and
114 cents (TableI). The smallerof the two semitoneswas called
either"diesis" (notto be confusedwithMarchetto's diesisof one-fifth

24 "Quarumquaelibetquintaparsvocaturdiesis, quasidecisioseu divisiosumma,

hoc est maiordivisio,quaepossitin tono cantabilireperiri.Duaeautemsimuliunctae
ex istis quinque componuntsemitoniumenarmonicum,quod minus est, quod a
Platonevocatumest limma,continensduasdieses. Tres veroex istis diesibusfaciunt
semitoniumdiatonicum,quodmaiusest, quodquidemvocaturapotomemaior,id est,
pars maior toni in duas divisi. Quatuor autem dieses chromaticumsemitonium
constituunt."Lucidarium2. 5 (GS, III, 73b).The designationof one of the semitones
as "limma"stems not from Plato himself but from Calcidius's(fourth century)
commentaryon the Timaeus,section 45 (Timaeus a Calcidiotranslatus
commentarioque
instructus,ed. J. H. Waszink, Plato Latinus, IV [London and Leiden, 1962], p. 94):
"That which we call the 'hemitone,' and was called 'diesis' by older writers,
Pythagoras called 'limma'." ("Hemitonium quod dicitur, a ueteribus autem dihesis
appellabatur, limma [Pythagoras] cognominauit.") Post-classical and medieval writ-
ers, however, often attributed the designation to Plato himself. See Macrobius,
Somnium 2. I. 23 (Janed., pp. 136-37);"Odo,"Regulae
Scipionis derhythmimachia
(GS,
I, 288a);Regino,De harmonica institutione
Io (GS, I, 238ab);
JohannesAffligemensis,
Musica8. 8 (Smits van Waesbergheed., p. 68).
204 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

tone), "limma," or simply "smaller (minor) semitone"; the larger was

called "apotome"or "larger (major) semitone.,"25
TABLE I

The basic medieval scale in Pythagorean tuning, with intervals measured in cents
C 204 D 204
E F 204
G 204
A gB
90 B 90 C
90 xx4
There can be little doubt that Marchetto intends his enharmonic

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and diatonic semitones to represent the minor and major semitones of
the Pythagorean system--the limma and the apotome--respective-
ly.26 In the passage just quoted he links the term "enharmonic
semitone" with "limma" and "smaller (minor) semitone," "diatonic
semitone" with "apotome" and "larger(major)semitone." And when
he discusses the use of these semitones he places his $"diatonic"
semitone in the only position of the basic medieval scale where the
apotome occurs, between B'band Bt, and his "enharmonic"semitone
just where the Pythagorean limma should fall, between A and Bb and
between B4, and C:

The diatonicsemitoneoccurswhen a permutationis madefromBi to B ~

or vice versa, whether in ascent or descent, as here [Example5]; for
between A and Bb there is an enharmonicsemitone, which-as said
earlier-is the smaller;betweenBb and B'4 there is a diatonicsemitone,
which is said to be larger.In the second figurethere is a diatonicsemi-
tone between Bb and B?, and an enharmonic one between B4 and C.27

25 Table I is adapted from J. Murray Barbour, Tuning and Temperament: A

HistoricalSurvey(East Lansing, Mich., 1953), p. 90. A scale such as this results from
the tuning system proposed by "Odo," Dialogusde musica2 (GS, I, 253ab; translation
in Oliver Strunk, ed., SourceReadingsin MusicHistory[New York, 1950], pp. o05-o06).
For characteristic medieval references to the diesis and the apotome, see Jacques
de Liege, Speculummusicae2. 55, 2. 62 (JacobiLeodiensisSpeculummusicae,ed. Roger
Bragard, Corpus scriptorum de musica, III, 7 vols. [Rome, 1955-73], II, 130-33,
150-52); for a characteristic reference to the limma see Johannes Affligemensis, Musica
8. 8 (Smits van Waesberghe ed., pp. 68-69). See also the RiemannMusik-Lexikon,
Sachteil,pp. 44, 225 (s.v. "Apotome" and "Diesis").
26 Martinez-G6llner offers the same interpretation; see Musik des frihen Tre-
cento3p. 59, and "Marchettus of Padua and Chromaticism," p. 189.
"Semitonium diatonicum est, quando fit permutatio b. rotundi in- quadrum,
vel e contrario, propter ascensum vel descensum, ut hic. [Example 5.] Nam ab a.
acuto ad primum b., scilicet rotundum, est semitonium enarmonicum, quod, ut
praedicitur, minus est. A primo b. ad secundum r, scilicet quadratum, est semitonium
diatonicum, quod dicitur maius. In secunda figura a primo b. ad secundum 0
diatonicum semitonium est: a secundo vero 0 ad c. acutum, semitonium enarmonicum
est." Lucidarium2. 7 (GS, III, 74a). Gerbert includes only the superius of Example 5.
 MARCHETTO'S DIVISION OF THE WHOLE TONE 205

Example 5
Marchetto's enharmonic and diatonic semitones
A k L
• u u •

Traditionally, the whole tone was divisible only into limma and

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apotome. Marchetto's chromatic semitone and his diesis are intervals
new to medieval theory, and he explains their use as follows:

The chromaticsemitoneis that which includesfour of the five diesesof

the whole tone, and, as said earlier,it completesa whole tone when a
diesis is added to it. . . . The first part of a tone thus dividedwill be
largerif the melody ascends,and is calleda chroma; the partthatremains
is a diesis, as here [Example6].28

Example 6
Marchetto'schromatic semitone and diesis

--- -
N A'sNi
i

When is the division of the whole tone into chromatic semitone and
diesis preferable to the division into diatonic and enharmonic semi-
tones?

[The chromaticsemitone]resultswhen somewholetone is dividedin two

so as to colora dissonance[i.e., an imperfectconsonance]suchas a third,
a sixth, or a tenth striving toward a consonance.... The word
"chromatic"derivesfrom chroma;chromais "color"in Greek. Thus the
"chromatic" is calledthe "colorof beauty,"becauseit is for the sakeof
the eleganceand beautyof the dissonancesthatthe wholetone is divided
[into two parts] beyond the size of the division into the diatonicand

28
"Chromaticumsemitonium est id, quod de quinque diesibus, quas habet tonus,
quatuor comprehendit, &, ut praedicitur, semper cum diesi tonum perficit....
Prima pars toni sic divisi, si per ascensum fiat, erit maior, quae dicitur chroma: pars
quae restat, diesis est, ut hic [Example 6]." Lucidarium2. 8 (GS, III, 74b).
206 JOURNAL MUSICOLOGICAL
OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY

enharmonicgenera-so that the dissonancesmay lie closer to the

thatfollowthem,as bothvoicesmove.29
consonances

It is in caseswherethirds,sixths,andtenthsproceedto perfect
consonances,of course, that theoristsgenerallycall for musicaficta
to
introducea leadingtone and thus bringaboutthe closestapproach
froman imperfectconsonance to a perfectone. ButMarchettois the
firstwriterto advocatea leadingtoneraisedbeyonditsnormalpitch--
a practicepossiblyas commonin his timeas it is in ours.30

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Marchetto'sdivisionof thetoneintochromatic semitoneanddiesis
is notlimitedto hischromatic progressions, Example7, takenfrom
as
29
"[Chromaticum semitonium] fit enim, cum aliquis tonus bipartitur propter
aliquam dissonantiam colorandam, puta tertiam, sextam, sive decimam, tendendo ad
aliquam consonantiam.... Dicitur enim chromaticum a chromate. Est namque
chroma (Xprita) in graeco color: inde chromaticum [GS: chromaticus] color pulcritu-
dinis appellatur, quia propter decorem pulcritudinemque dissonantiarum dividitur
tonus ultra divisionem diatonici & enarmonici generis, ut a consonantia, quae
sequitur dissonantias, per minorem distantiam, per motum [GS: modum] utriusque
distet." Lucidarium2. 8 (GS, III, 74b-75a).
30 On the application of musicafictato bring about the closest approach to a perfect
consonance see, for instance, Petrus dictus Palma ociosa, Compendiumde discantu
mensurabili( 336; published by Johannes Wolf, "Ein Beitrag zur Diskantlehre des 14.
Jahrhunderts," Sammelbdnde der InternationalenMusikgesellschaft,XV [1913-14], 513-
14), and Prosdocimo de Beldemandi, Tractatusdecontrapuncto (1412) 3. I (CS, III, esp.
198-99). Later references to a diesis of one-fifth tone or a "chromatic" semitone
resulting in a high leading tone include Johannes Ciconia, Nova musica(early fifteenth
century), quoted in Suzanne Clercx, JohannesCiconia:Un musicienlidgeoiset sontemps,2
vols. (Liege, 1954), I, 102; Johannes Tinctoris, Dictionaryof MusicalTerms,trans. Carl
Parrish (Glencoe, Ill., 1963), pp. 24 (s. v. "Diesis"), 56 (s. v. "Semitonium maius,"
"Semitonium minus"); Tinctoris, Liberde arte contrapuncti2. 7-9, 2. 17-18 (Johannis
TinctorisOperaomnia, ed. Albert Seay, Corpus scriptorum de musica, XXII, 2 vols.
[n.p., 19751, II, 92, Io4-Io5, respectively); Bonaventura da Brescia, Venturina(1489;
Bologna, Civico museo bibliografico musicale, MS A 57, fols. 29r-29v);Bonaventura
da Brescia, Regula musicaeplanae 12 (Brescia, 1497; many subsequent editions).
Martinez-Gllner discusses the influence of Marchetto on Tinctoris and Bonaventura,
"Marchettus of Padua and Chromaticism," pp. 197, 199-200.
Marchetto justifies his exceptionally high leading tone as follows: "The question
thus arises why a dissonance acceptable to the ear [i.e., an imperfect consonance]
must lie at a smaller distance from a consonance. The reason is that a dissonance is
something imperfect; it requires something perfect by means of which it can be
completed. The consonance is its completion. The less distant the dissonance lies
from the consonance the less distant it is from its completion and the more it is
assimilated to it, and thus the more agreeable it is to the ear, as if it partook more of
the nature of the consonance." ("Ideo quaestio consurgit, quare scilicet oporteat
dissonantiam compassibilem auditui per minorem distantiam a consonantia distare.
Et respondemus, quod hoc ideo est, eo quod dissonantia sit quoddam imperfectum,
requirens perfectum, quo perfici possit; consonantia autem est perfectio ipsius:
quanto enim minus dissonantia distat a consonantia, tanto minus distat a sua
perfectione, & magis assimilatur eidem; & ideo magis amicabilis est auditui, tamquam
plus habens de natura consonantiae.") Lucidarium5. 6 (GS, III, 8ib).
 MARCHETTO'SDIVISION OF THE WHOLE TONE 207

theLucidarium,
shows.31Directchromaticism
andtheintroduction
of
an unusually narrow semitone are closely related, however: both
represent an intensificationof normal musicaficta practice. The
applicationof the "closestapproach"principleprovesstrongenough
to overridethe traditionalproscriptionof directchromaticprogression
and leads to the use of an interval smaller than the minor semitone so
that the imperfectconsonanceis yet more closely assimilatedto the
perfectone towardwhich it tends.32

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Example 7
Marchetto'sdiesisin a
diatonicprogression

lt--IP

Marchetto's originality does not end with the introduction of two

semitones new to music theory: his very manner of defining intervals
is so unorthodox that it might well be described as revolutionary.
Throughout the Middle Ages intervals had been defined through
proportions (the proportions of the lengths of the strings that pro-
duced their pitches), these being computed by means of Pythagorean
arithmetic-which dealt exclusively with integers and their ratios,
allowing no irrational numbers. The octave was represented by the
proportion 2:I, the fifth by 3:2. The fourth was represented by the
difference between the octave and the fifth (2:1 + 3:2 = 4:3), the
whole tone by the difference between the fifth and the fourth (3:2
-
4:3 = 9:8), the minor semitone by the difference between the fourth
and two whole tones (4:3 + [9:8]2 = 256:243), and the major semitone
by the difference between the whole tone and the minor semitone (9:8
+ 256:243 = 2187:2048). A principle of Pythagorean arithmetic
states the impossibility of inserting geometric means between the
terms of superparticular proportions (those in which the terms differ
by i), a process that would involve irrational numbers. It is this
principle that provides the arithmetic basis for the indivisibility of the

31For Example 7, see Lucidarium5. 6 (GS, III, 82a).

32Edward E. Lowinsky has pointed out that Marchetto's chromatic examples are
made to appear as resulting from a strict observance of musicafictarules. Foreword to
H. Colin Slim, ed., Musica nova, Monuments of Renaissance Music, I (Chicago,
1964), p. x.
208 JOURNALOF THE AMERICANMUSICOLOGICALSOCIETY

wholetone (represented by the superparticularproportion 9:8)into

two equal parts, or indeed into any numberof equal parts.33
Marchetto proposesdividingthewholetoneintofifths;clearly,he has
ceasedto regardthe tone as a proportion andregardsit insteadas a
quantity-and in so doing he hasabandoned thePythagorean basisof
the tuningsystem.
In the MiddleAges,Pythagorean numerology permeated science,
philosophy, and art. Numerical not
relationships only defined the
intervalsof the musicalscale but, throughthe pervasivepowerof

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music,governedthe humanbeing(musica humana)and the cosmos
(musicamundana).34 And on the basisof the Wisdomof Solomon-
"Thouhastorderedall thingsin measureandnumberandweight"-
Pythagorean theoryhad virtuallyachievedthe statusof theological
We
verity.35 mightexpect,then, thata revisionof the verybasisof
musictheoryas radicalas Marchetto's wouldmeetstrongopposition;
andwe wouldnot be wrong.
Earlyin the fifteenthcenturya Paduanastronomer and music
theorist,Prosdocimo de' Beldomandi, devotedan entiretreatiseto a
refutationof Marchetto's "errors,evils, andfalsehoods"-which,he
noted,hadspreadthroughoutItalyandevenbeyondits borders.It
wasfroma characteristically Pythagorean thathe attacked
perspective
Marchetto's divisionof the wholetone:

3 See Richard L. Crocker, "Pythagorean Mathematics and Music," Journal of

Aestheticsand Art Criticism,XXII (1963-64), 189-98, 325-35.
14 On Pythagorean numerology as expressed in medieval philosophy and the arts,
particularly through musical considerations, see Edgar de Bruyne, Etudesd'esthitique
m~idivale, 3 vols. (Brouges, 1946), especially I, 3-34, 62-73, 243-61, 306-38; II,
IO8-32, 260-79, 401-406; III, 121-52, I53-6I, I99-207, 227-38, 251-6, 269-7I,
297-310. On numerology and literature, see Edmund Reiss, "Number Symbolism
and Medieval Literature," Mediaevaliaet Humanistica,I (1970), 161-74. On Pythago-
rean cosmology in the Renaissance and its relation to the arts, see S. K. Heninger,
Jr., Touchesof Sweet Harmony: PythagoreanCosmologyand RenaissancePoetics (San
Marino, Calif., I974). On the history of Pythagorean cosmology from Plato to
Kepler, see James Haar, "Musica Mundana: Variations on a Pythagorean Theme"
(Ph.D. diss., Harvard Univ., I960). I should like to thank Professor Haar for lending
me a copy of his dissertation.
35 "Omnia in mensura et numero et pondere disposuisti"; Wisdom I 1:21.
Cassiodorus comments: "Thus, the science of arithmetic is endowed with great
praise, since God the Creator has arranged his dispensations by the use of number,
weight, and measure." ("Sic arithmetica disciplina magna laude dotata est, quando et
rerum opifex Deus dispositiones suas sub numeri, ponderis et mensurae quantitate
constituit.") Cassiodori
SenatorisInstitutiones,Liber II, Praef., 3, ed. R. A. B. Mynors
(Oxford, i937), pp. 89-90; English from Cassiodorus Senator, An Introductionto
Divine and Human Readings,trans. Leslie Webber Jones (New York, 1946), pp. 142-
43.
 MARCHETTO'S DIVISION OF THE WHOLE TONE 209

The whole tone . .. is not divisible into any numberof equal parts:
neither into two halves nor three thirds nor four fourthsnor five fifths
norsix sixths, andso forth. For no superparticularproportionis divisible
into equal parts;thereforethe sesquioctaveproportionis not so divisi-
ble and, consequently,neitheris the whole tone.36

Marchetto was right in feeling he had to take pains to "prove"the

divisibility of the tone into five parts. He had to justify a system that
contradicted Pythagorean dogma, the foundation of medieval musical
thought and of medieval aesthetics; but he could do so only by basing

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his proof on Pythagorean principles-on the propositions of such
unassailable authorities as Macrobius, Martianus, Boethius, Remi,
and Thomas.37 Is it any wonder, then, that his argument had to be
complex? Even if ultimately unsuccessful in reconciling his revolu-
tionary system with that of the Pythagoreans, that argument testifies
to his ingenuity and boldness in attempting to do so.

Entirely aside from the means by which he sought to justify it,

Marchetto's tuning system exhibits problematic inconsistencies. The
major sixth he places before an octave (as in Example 7), at 955 cents
(octave, I20o cents, minus the 9:8 whole tone, 204 cents, minus
Marchetto's diesis of one-fifth tone, 41 cents) is impossibly large-
closer to the modern minor seventh than to the major sixth.38

36 "Tonus . . nullo modo diuisibilis est in partes equales quoniam nec in duas
medietates nec in tres tercias nec in quatuor quartas nec in quinque quintas nec in sex
sextas et sic ultra. Nam nulla proportio superparticularisin discretis diuisibilis est in
partes equales quare nec nec [sic] proportio sexquioctaua et per consequens nec
tonus." D. Raffaello Baralli and Luigi Torri, "Il 'Trattato' di Prosdocimo de'
Beldomandi contro il 'Lucidario' di Marchetto da Padova," Rivista musicaleitaliana,
XX (1913), 743. The reference to Marchetto's "errors, evils, and falsehoods" ("mala
atque falsa et in musica erronea") is found on p. 731.
37 In a chapter entitled "On the proportions of the whole tone, the enharmonic
semitone, and the diatonic semitone" (Lucidarium2. 9; GS, III, 75ab) Marchetto
defines the enharmonic semitone/minor semitone/limma as the ratio 18:17 and the
diatonic semitone/major semitone/apotome as the ratio 17:16, definitions which
would produce semitones quite different in size from those based on fifths of tones. In
this passage Marchetto seems not so much to be describing the actuality of a musical
system as attempting in yet another way to justify his semitones on Pythagorean
grounds: he attempts to grant them a degree of legitimacy by founding them on
superparticularratios, which-along with multiple ratios-the Pythagoreans regard-
ed as having primacy over the others. Marchetto, in fact, here paraphrases the
staunchest representative of the Pythagorean tradition, Boethius (Musica I. 16;
Friedlein ed., pp. 202-203).
On the special properties of superparticularand multiple ratios, see Boethius, De
musica1. 6 (Friedlein ed., pp. 193-94) and Edward A. Lippman, MusicalThoughtin
Ancient Greece(New York and London, 1964), p. 154.
38 Marchetto defines the whole tone as 9:8 in Lucidarium 2. 3 (GS, III, 7ob), 2. 4
210 JOURNALOF THE AMERICANMUSICOLOGICALSOCIETY

Moreover,fivewholetonesof 204 centsandtwo minorsemitonesof

two-fifthstonedo notquiteaddup to a fulloctave:(5 x 204) + (2 x
2/5 X 204) = I 183cents. Evenwere we to definethe intervalbetween
E and F-about which Marchettosays nothingexplicitly-as the
minorsemitoneof 90 centsratherthanastwo-fifthstone
Pythagorean
the octave would still be too small: (5 x 204) + 90 + (2/5 =
x 204)
1192 cents. It appears that Marchetto'sproposalcannot be taken
literally.But how then is it to be taken?
Prosdocimo's explanation for what he called Marchetto's mathe-

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matical "errors"is instructive:

This man was a simple performer.Totally devoid of [knowledgein]

speculativemusictheory,which he erroneouslybelievedthathe compre-
hendedmost perfectly,he thus presumedto addresswhathe thoroughly
misunderstood.39

Medievalwriterson music,in a traditionreachingbackto Boethius,

had differentiated
betweenthe musicianand the singer.Guidoof
Arezzopennedthe quintessentialstatementof thatdistinction:
There is a great difference between musicians and singers. These
[merely]perform;those know what musicis. And he who sings what he
does not understandis consideredan animal.40

drewthe distinctionmoreacidly:
JohannesAffligemensis
Nor, it seems, shouldwe omit thatthe musicianandthe singerdiffernot
a little from one another. Whereas the musician always proceeds
correctlyand by calculation,the singerholdsthe rightroadintermittent-
ly, merely throughhabit. To whom then should I better comparethe
singerthanto a drunkenman who does indeedget home but does not in
the leastknowby what pathhe returns.Yet even a mill wheel sometimes

(7ia, 72b), 3. 6 (78a),4. ii (8oa),7. i (87b);andhe neverstatesotherwise.He further

definesthe perfectfourth by the ratio 4:3, the fifth by 3:2, and the octaveby 2:i
(Lucidarium 3. 1-3 [77ab], 4. 3-4 [78b-79a], 4. II [8oa]).
39"Fuit enim uir iste in scientia musice simplex praticussed a theoricasiue
speculatiuaomninouacuusquamtamenperfectissimeinteligeredeceptusse putauitet
ideo aggredipraesumpsitquaetotaliterignorauit."Baralliand Torri, "II'Trattato',"
p. 731.
40 "Musicorum& cantorummagnaest distantia,/ Isti dicunt, illi sciunt, quae
componitMusica./ Nam qui facit, quodnon sapit,diffiniturbestia."MusicaeGuidonis
GS, II, p. 25. English translationfrom EdwardE. Lowinsky,
regulaerbythmicae,
"RenaissanceWritings on Music Theory (1964),"Renaissance
News, XVIII (1965), 363.
 MARCHETTO'S DIVISION OF THE WHOLE TONE 21 I

gives fortha distinctpitch in its creaking,thoughitself unawareof what

it is doing, since it is an inanimatething.41

Erich Reimer has shown that for medieval theorists the essential
demarcation between musicians and singers was drawn not between
theorists and performers-as Boethius had it-but between perform-
ers whose practice is rationally founded and performers who proceed
by rote, lacking true understanding of what they do.42 By calling
Marchetto a "simple performer" Prosdocimo clearly meant to rank

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him with the latter. That Marchetto lacked a formal scholastic
education we may infer from the fact that he credited another for his
philosophical arguments-perhaps a unique instance of the acknowl-
edgment of such assistance in medieval music theory; but the
suggestion that he was "simple" or deficient in theoretical training is
belied by his sensitive treatment of the musical practice of his time
and the influence he exerted on music theory well into the sixteenth
century.43

41 "Nec praetereundum videtur, quod musicus et cantor nonparum a se invicem

discrepant. Nam cum musicus semper per artem recte incedat, cantor rectam
aliquotiens viam solummodo per usum tenet. Cui ergo cantorem melius compara-
verim quam ebrio, qui domum quidem repetit, sed quo calle revertatur penitus
ignorat? Sed et molaris rota discretum aliquando reddit stridorem, ipsa tamen quid
agat nesciens, quippe quae res est inanimata."Johannes Affligemensis, Musica2. 8-I I
(Smits van Waesberghe ed., p. 52). English translation from Hucbald,Guido,andJohn
on Music, trans. Warren Babb, ed. Claude V. Palisca (New Haven and London,
1978), p. 105.
42 "Uberblickt man die unterschiedlichen
Fassungen der musicus-cantor-Dichoto-
mie, so ist festzustellen, dass diese simtlich insofern von Boethius abweichen als in
ihnen die entscheidende Trennungslinie nicht mehr zwischen Theorie und Praxis
gezogen wird, sondern zwischen rational fundierter und gewohnheitsmassiger Musik-
ausubung." Erich Reimer, "Musicus und Cantor: Zur Sozialgeschichte eines musika-
lischen Lehrstiicks," Archivfiir Musikwissenschaft,XXXV (1978), 17. The reference to
Boethius concerns MusicaI. 34 (Friedlein ed., pp. 223-25; translated in Strunk, Source
Readings,pp. 85-86).
Edward E. Lowinsky earlier showed the same to be true of Renaissance theorists,
exemplified by Tinctoris; see his "Music of the Renaissance as Viewed by Renais-
sance Musicians," in TheRenaissance Imageof Man and the World,ed. Bernard O'Kelly
(Columbus, Ohio, 1966), p. 140.
43 Even Prosdocimo, who attacked Marchetto's mathematics so bitterly, found his
discussion of the practice of plainchant exemplary: "He wrote many things in the
Lucidariumthat he misunderstood, and that are false. From the beginning of the
Lucidariumto about the middle he designed to touch upon some points in the theory of
music, a theory he misunderstood completely; but from roughly the middle to the
end, where he turned to the practice of plainchant, he wrote uncommonly well, so
that there he was beyond reproach." ("Multa namque scripsit in suo Lucidario quae
ignorabat et falsa. A principio namque Lucidarii usque circa medium tangere voluit
aliqua in theorica musicae, quam theoricam totaliter ignorabat. Sed a circa medium
usque ad finem, ubi se transtulit ad practicam musicae planae, scripsit egregie, sic
212 OF THE AMERICAN
JOURNAL MUSICOLOGICAL
SOCIETY

What is Marchetto'sown attitudeon the relationshipof the

musicianandthe singer?He closesthe Lucidarium
with thesewords:
"Themusician,"accordingto Boethius,"ishe who possessesthe faculty
of judgingmodes, rhythms,and melodicgeneraby reflection,according
to the system of musictheory. Everyartor disciplinehas a naturemore
worthyof honorthanthe craftpracticedby the handandlaborof an
artisan."The musicianknowsthe powerandproprietyof the musical
proportions;he judgesaccordingto them, not accordingto soundalone.
The singeris, as it were, the tool of thatmusician--[whois] an artisanin

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thathe is occupiedwitha tool,buta musicianinasmuch
as he putsinto
practicewhat he has previouslyinvestigatedthroughrationalprocess.
Thus the relationshipof the musicianand the singeris like that of the
judgeand the herald.The judgesets things in orderand commandsthe
heraldto proclaimthem.So it is withthe musicianandthe singer:the
musicianinvestigates,perceives,discerns,selects, orders, and disposes
all things that touch on this science, and he commandsthe singer,who
servesas his messenger,to put themintopractice.44

ReimershowedMarchetto's attitudeto beentirelyproperto a teacher,

to the headof a choralorganization,who seeshimselfas the musician
wholeadsandthe choristersin his chargeassingers dependenton his
judgment.4s It is certainthat Marchettomeansto addresssingersas
well as learnedmusiciansin the Lucidarium-for
in his dedicatory
letterhe callsit "aworkby meansof whichall musiciansandsingers
might rationallyunderstandwhat they sing.'"46Indeed, Pirrotta
quod ibi in nullo fuit reprehensione dignus.") Prosdocimo, Tractatusplanae musicae,
Lucca, Biblioteca governativa, MS 359, fol. 5I'. I am grateful to Mr. Patrick
Gallagher, a student in my seminar on medieval theory at the University of Chicago,
for Pointing out this passage in Prosdocimo's treatise.
"Musicus dicitur ille, testante Boetio, cui adest facultas secundum specula-
tionem & rationem ipsius scientiae musicae, de modis atque rhythmis, deque
generibus cantilenarum (iudicare). Omnis enim ars seu disciplina honorabiliorem
naturaliter habet rationem, quam artificium, quod manu artificis atque opere
exercetur. Musicus enim cognoscit virtutem & rationem proportionum musicalium,
& secundum hoc iudicat, & non solum per sonum. Cantor vero est sicut instrumen-
tum quoddam ipsius musici. In quo instrumento operatur artifex, sed [GS: seu]
musicus practicando ea, quae iam per rationem cognovit. Est itaque musicus ad
cantorem, sicut iudex ad praeconem: nam iudex ordinat, & per praeconem praeconi-
zari mandat; sic & musicus ad cantorem. Nam musicus cognoscit, sentit, discernit,
eligit, ordinat & disponit omnia, quae ipsam tangunt scientiam: & per cantorem iubet
tamquam per suum nuntium practicari." Lucidarium16 (GS, III, 12 ab). Gerbert's
punctuation has been altered in accord with the emendation of seuto sed.For Reimer's
translation of Gerbert's text, see his "Musicus und Cantor," pp. 21-22.
45 Reimer, "Musicus und Cantor," pp. 21-23.
46 "Opus, quo universi musici & cantores scirent rationabiliter . .. quid cantar-
ent." Lucidarium,Epistola (GS, III, 65b).
Only a minor portion of the Lucidariumis devoted to numerological speculations
 MARCHETTO'SDIVISION OF THE WHOLE TONE 213

observes that Marchetto often seems to be speaking directly to

performers-as when he gives rules for handling the descending
chromatic progression D-CQ-CO:

This divisionof the whole tone shouldbe madewith "feignedcolor":let

whoeveruses it sing the firstdescendinginterval,which is a diesis, as if
he wished to returnupwardafter it; then let him descenda chromatic
semitone.47

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Is it not possible that Marchetto addresses his division of the whole
tone to performers also?
Mathematically accurate though it is, the Pythagorean system has
one great shortcoming: its ratios fail to provide ready indices for the
sizes of small intervals. Satisfactory though the ratios of its two
semitones-256:243 and 2187:2048-may be in theory, they are
meaningless to the performer who has neither time nor inclination to
reduce them to common terms. How much more readily would
Marchetto's definitions of the semitones as two-fifths and three-fifths
tone tell him-albeit in approximate terms-that one is a bit smaller
than half a tone, the other correspondingly larger. And how clearly
would Marchetto's definitions of the diesis and the chromatic semi-
tone as one-fifth and four-fifths tone tell him that these two semitones
show a greater discrepancy in size than do the first pair.
I suggest that this is exactly what Marchetto intends. Not only
does the assumption that he is speaking in approximate terms obviate
the objection to his major sixth as too wide and his octave as too
narrow-an objection that arose from a literal interpretation of his
words--but the notion of a conceptually simple system addressed to
practicing musicians conforms with both the tenor and the stated
purpose of the Lucidarium.
like those analyzed earlier in this essay: the fourth, fifth, and ninth chapters of
Treatise II and the whole of Treatise VI, a total of less than seven of the fifty-six
pages of the Lucidariumin Gerbert's edition. Five pages (Treatise I and the first three
chapters of Treatise II) are devoted to the philosophy of music, another five (Treatises
III, IV, and VII) to the proportions representing the basic musical intervals. The
bulk of the work is devoted to eminently practical matters-to the musical gamut and
its registers; to the notation of notes, rests, clefs, and chromatic signs; to solmisation
and mutation; to the handling of chromatic progressions; to musicafictaand the use of
the various semitones; to basic counterpoint; and to the theory of modes, including
construction and range, classification of chants by mode, melodic formulae, the use of
Bb and of other accidentals, and mixture of modes.
47 "Haec [GS: Hic] enim bipartitio toni debet fieri cum colore fictitio, et qui eam
profert, fingat in primo descensu, qui est diesis, ac si vellet post talem descensum
sursum redire: post haec chromaticum descendat." Lucidarium2. 8 (GS, III, 75a).
Pirrotta, "Marchettus de Padua," p. 64.
214 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Did musicians appreciate the simplicity of Marchetto's system?

When Bonaventura da Brescia, in his Venturinaof 1489, compared the
systems of Marchetto and of Nicol6 Burzio, he came to the following
conclusion: "This opinion [Burzio's]is good; but I hold with Marchet-
to's, because it is easy and clear."48

Marchetto described a system employing two pairs of semitones:

on the one hand, the minor and major semitones of traditional theory,
which he called "enharmonic" and "diatonic"; on the other, two

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semitones more markedly different in size, which he called "diesis"
and "chromatic semitone." In graphic, albeit approximate, terms he
expressed the diesis as one-fifth whole tone and the enharmonic,
diatonic, and chromatic semitones as two-fifths, three-fifths, and
four-fifths whole tone respectively. Since his conception of the whole
tone as divided into fifths violated a basic principle of sacrosanct
Pythagorean numerology, he prefaced the exposition of his system
with an elaborate argument in which he attempted to show that his
division of the tone rested on the most revered authorities.
Marchetto's greatest achievement was to propose a system in
which the whole tone is fractionally divisible. This proposition may
seem simple enough from the perspective of the twentieth century;
but the theorists of Marchetto's time conceived intervals as propor-
tional divisions of a string, and the notion that the whole tone was a
divisible quantity not only lay outside their conceptual system but
violated a fundamental principle of the numerological foundation on
which it was built. Had this limitation not been overcome it would
have blocked the road that led eventually to equal temperament and
modern harmony. It was Marchetto who took the first steps along that
road, and they were perhaps the boldest steps taken by any medieval
theorist. He prepared the way and provided the initiative for the

48 "Haec opinio est bona, sed ego teneo opinionem [MS:

opiniones, with -nes in
later hand]Marcheti, quia facilis et clara est." Bonaventura da Brescia, Venturina,fol.
30or. Burzio's system appears in his Musicesopusculum(Bologna, 1487; repr. ed.,
Bibliotheca musica bononiensis, Sezione II, IV [Bologna, 1969]) I. 2i, published in a
critical edition as Nicolai Burtii ParmensisFlorum libellus, ed. Giuseppe Massera,
Historiae musicae cultores bibliotheca, XXVIII (Florence, 1975), PP- 92-93.
The simplicity of Marchetto's system seems to have struck Tinctoris also, for he
adopted Marchetto's division of the tone into fifths for the simple, informal
definitions in his Diffinitorium(Dictionaryof Musical Terms, pp. 24-25, 56-57, s.v.
"Diesis," "Semitonium maius," "Semitonium minus"), whereas in the more rigorous-
ly conceived Expositiomanushe followed the traditional Pythagorean definitions of the
minor semitone as two diaschismas and the major as two diaschismas plus a comma
(Seay ed., I, 55).
 MARCHETTO'S DIVISION OF THE WHOLE TONE 215

ensuing centuries' manifold experiments with fractional divisions of

the whole tone.49

49 Most proposals for fractional division of the tone-through the mid-sixteenth

century, at least-were influenced directly or indirectly by Marchetto or show their
relatedness through transmission in manuscripts that also contain the Lucidarium.
Around 1375 the author of the Berkeley theory manuscript divided the tone into
thirds (see Oliver B. Ellsworth, "A Fourteenth-Century Proposal for Equal Tempera-
ment," Viator, V [1974], 445-53; but note that Ellsworth's arguments for extrapolat-
ing the principles of that treatise to a division of the octave into nineteen equal parts

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would just as readily prove Marchetto a proponent of dividing the octave into twenty-
nine); the same treatise, attributed to Goscaltus Francigena, appears along with the
Lucidariumin the MS Catania, Biblioteche riunite civica e A. Ursino-Recupero,
Fondo Ursino-Recupero, D. 39, fol. I8r), a southern Italian or Sicilian source of 1473.
In the Nova musica(early fifteenth century) Ciconia spoke of quarter- and third-
tones, attributing his knowledge of them to Aristoxenus and Boethius. The many
parallels between the Nova musicaand the Lucidarium,in both content and organiza-
tion, show that Ciconia knew the earlier work; and the two are transmitted together in
the fifteenth-century Italian MS Florence, Biblioteca riccardiana, 734 (Ciconia's
reference to fractions of tones appears on fol. Ior).
As seen above in n. 48, Tinctoris adopted Marchetto's division of the tone into
fifths in his Diffinitorium. Lucie Balmer points out similarities between the two
theorists' doctrines of church modes, Tonsystemund Kirchentone beiJohannesTinctoris,
Berner Ver6ffentlichungen zur Musikforschung, II (Berne and Leipzig, 1935),
pp. 221-22, 234, 240; there can be little doubt that Tinctoris knew the earlier writer's
work. Vicentino also divided the tone into five parts, in L'anticamusicaridottaalla
moderna prattica(Rome, 1555; repr. ed., Documenta musicologica, First Series, XVII
[Kassel and Basel, 1959]), fols. i7V-20'. Barbour points out the relatedness of
Marchetto and Vicentino, Tuning and Temperament, p. I20o, and "The Persistence of
the Pythagorean Tuning System," Scriptamathematica,I (1932-33), 291-92.
In his Theoricumopusmusicaedisciplinae(Naples, 1480), Gaffurio--who had copied
the Lucidariumseven years earlier-divided the whole tone, in a traditional manner,
into four dieses (each of these dieses being equal to half the minor semitone) plus a
comma, but then went on to report that some regarded the comma as equal to half the
diesis, a theory that implies division of the tone into ninths (Theoricumopus4. 3:
"Semitonium minus duas habet in se dieses. Apothome vero sive semitonium maius
duas dieses et unum coma, ex quo sequitur tonum ex quatuor diesibus et comate
perfici .... Coma enim, ut quibusdam placet, est dimidium diesis"). Burzio--the
student of Johannes Gallicus Carthusiensis, whose Ritus canendiincludes a bitter
attack on Marchetto (CS, IV, 298-421 ; especially 324-31, 345-50, 393-96)--copied
Gaffurio's words without acknowledging him as the source (NicolaiBurtii Parmensis
Florum libellus [14871, p. 93). Bonaventura de Brescia, as previously mentioned,
discussed both Marchetto's and Burzio's systems of tone division in his Venturina
(1489). Aaron (who elsewhere commented on the Lucidarium,and borrowed Marchet-
to's title for a treatise of his own) did not hesitate to define the comma straightfor-
wardly as one-ninth, the minor semitone as four-ninths, the major semitone as five-
ninths whole tone, Libri tres de institutione harmonica(Bologna, i516; repr. ed.,
Bibliotheca musica bononiensis, Sezione II, VIII [Bologna, 1970]) 1. 17. These
measurements (4/9 X 203.9o10 cents = 90.627 cents; 5/9 x 20o3910 cents = I13.283
cents) approximate the actual sizes of the Pythagorean semitones (90.225 cents,
I 13.685 cents) within one-half cent.
An anonymous fragment that seems to suggest division of the tone into thirty-four
equal parts appears along with the Lucidariumin the MS Brussels, Bibliotheque
216 JOURNAL MUSICOLOGICAL
OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY

It is significant,
too, thatMarchetto's
proposalseemsto havebeen
promptedby the desireof a to makeproblemsof tuning
choirmaster
to
readilycomprehensible performing musicians.EdwardLowinsky
has describedthe transitionfrom medievaltheoryto that of the
Renaissancein these words:

The stage moves from the quiet monasticcell, in which most medieval
workson music were conceived,to the noisy placesof musicalperform-
ance, the choirloft,the rehearsalroomsof town musicians,the houseof

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the boy choristers,the humanisticgymnasium,the privateconcerthalls
of nobles and patricians.For these are the places in which the new
writerson music, whetherthey be churchmenor laymen,areworking.50

Viewed from this perspective,Marchettoappearsas the spiritual

ancestorof the great Renaissancetheorists-Tinctoris,Gaffurio,
Vicentino,Zarlino-whoseviewsweretemperedby theiractivityas
chapelmasters.Could one not even suggestthat in abandoning
Pythagoreanmathematical computationsin favorof a simplersystem,
in subordinating
the receivedtruthof musictheoryto the exigencies
of musicalpractice,s5Marchettoof Paduabecamethe firsttheoristto
breathethe air of the new age?

Duke University

Royale, II 785, fol. 13v, an Italian source of the late fifteenth century. I discuss the
contents of this manuscript in an article, "A Fifteenth-Century Compilation of Music
Theory," to appear in Acta musicologica.
Fractional division of the whole tone had, of course, been proposed by Aristox-
enus (fourth century B.C.) in a system that Boethius transmitted with obvious
disapproval; theorists of the Middle Ages, inclining-with Boethius-toward the
Pythagorean view, typically rejected Aristoxenus' system. Marchetto never mentions
the name of Aristoxenus, though the great number of his references to Boethius
suggests that he knew the Greek theorist's system. On Aristoxenus, see Richard C.
Crocker, "Aristoxenus and Greek Mathematics," in Aspectsof Medievaland Renaissance
Music:A BirthdayOfering to GustaveReese,ed. Jan LaRue (New York, 1966), pp. 96-
i io. On the reception of Aristoxenus in the Renaissance, see Lowinsky, "Adrian
Willaert's Chromatic 'Duo' Re-examined," pp. 7-13.
50 Lowinsky, "Music
of the Renaissance," p. i30.
51 In this respect Marchetto anticipated Zarlino, who declared that the theoreti-
cian can never put into practice anything he has newly discovered without the help of
the artisan, or of a "tool": for such speculation, even if it should not be in vain, will
appear fruitless if it is not led back to its ultimate goal, which is the exercise of the
human voice and of instruments ("non pu6 lo Speculativo produrre cosa alcuna in
atto, che habbia ritrovato nuovamente, senza l'aiuto dell'artefice overo dell'istru-
mento: percioche tale speculatione, se bene ella non fusse vana, parrebbe nondimeno
senza frutto, quando non si riducesse all'ultimo suo fine, che consiste nell'essercitio de
naturali et arteficiali istrumenti"). Istitutioni harmoniche(Venice, I573; repr. ed.,
Ridgewood, N.J., 1966), p. 26, quoted by Reimer, "Musicus und Cantor," p. 24.