THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF MUSIC

KIRCHER AND MUSICA PATHETICA: A TRANSLATION FROM

MUSURGIA UNIVERSALIS

By
PEETER TAMMEARU

A thesis submitted to the

School of Music
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Master of Music

Degree Awarded:
Summer semester, 2000
The membersof the Committee approve the thesis of Peeter Tammearu,
defended on 15 June 2000.

Mh,
es Mathes

Professor Directing Thesis

[ecu Sime
UW
Peter Spencer
Committee Member

KY Dy
Charles Brewer

Committee Member
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

Kircher’s life and works

Musurgia universalis

Kircher’s musical authority

Music and Emotion 11

Musica Pathetica 14

Musical Affects 17

TRANSLATION OF MUSURGIA UNIVERSALIS, BOOK SEVEN,

PART THREE, CHAPTERS ONE TO FIVE 19

Chapter One: Concerning the theory of Musica Pathetica

and howitis to be well and rightly instituted 19

A deduction 28

Chapter Two: Concerning the tones, or modes, and harmonic

tropes, and their nature and usein exciting the affects 30

The properties of the twelve regular and natural

modes, demonstrated by examples 38

Examples of Musica Pathetica shown

in twelve modes
ili
 Chapter Three: Concerning the disposition of time and place
to be ordainedfor the stirring of emotions

1. Concerning the conditions just proposed as

being necessary to Musica Pathetica 45

2. Concerning the opportune place

for Musica Pathetica

3. Concerning the time when Musica Patheticais

to be performed so that it might obtain its effect 49

Chapter Four: Concerningthe skills of pathetic composition 51

Chapter Five: Concerning the varying artifice of harmonic

styles 52

Canonicstyle 53

Declaration for the above-mentioned

canon

For whattypesit is fitting to be singers, who

would be ideal for performing Musica Pathetica 62

CONCLUSION

APPENDIX: MUSICAL EXAMPLES 69

BIBLIOGRAPHY 107

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 108

lv
 ABSTRACT

The concept of Musica Pathetica figures significantly in the

encyclopedic Musurgia universalis published in 1650 by Athanasius Kircher

(1601-1680). Kircher, a German Jesuit who spent muchofhislife in Rome,

was a polymathic scholar, following in the tradition of Mersenne, and

attempted to form a systematic rationalization of the relationship between the

Baroque doctrine of the affections and practical musical composition.
Beginning from traditional concepts of numerical proportions and the

human temperaments and humors, his exposition of the subject puts a

particular emphasis on modal theory and the musicalliterature of the early

seventeenth century. A translation is provided for the Latin text of Book VII

(Part Three, Chapters Oneto Five), along with a transcription of the musical
examples.
 INTRODUCTION

Kircher’s Life and Works

The scholarly work of Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680) was very much

tied to the spirit and circumstancesof his time: the Catholic Counter-
Reformation and the rise of the Habsburg monarchyin Central Europe, and

the burgeoning musicallife of Italy in the early seventeenth century.

Born in 1601, Kircher received his earliest education—in the elements

of Latin, geography and music—from his father, a theology professorin the

service of Balthasar von Dermbach,the prince-abbot(Firstabt) of Fulda, a

town on the RhoneRiver. Kircher also studied Greek and Hebrew when he
entered the Jesuit school in Fulda in 1612, and in 1618, after deciding to take

holy orders, he continued his education in the novitiate of the Jesuit college
in Paderborn, concentrating on physics. Between 1622 and 1628, the events of

the Thirty Years War sent him to Cologne, Koblenz and Mainz, while he

pursued the study of physics, philosophy, languages and theology. In 1629,

after being ordained to the priesthood, he became a professor of mathematics,
philosophy and Oriental languagesat the University of Wiirzburg.
Again war intervened, and after the Swedish campaign and occupation
of Wiirzburg in 1631, Kircher was sent to France where he continued to teach

1
at the Jesuit college in Avignon.In 1633, having been called to Vienna to take
up a position as court mathematician to the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II,
Kircher traveled to Rome. Throughhis connection with Nicolaus Peiresc, a

scholarly collector whom Kircher had metin France, and with whom he

sharedan interest in Oriental languages, particularly Egyptian hieroglyphics,

and throughthe influence of Pope Urban VIII himself, Kircher stayed on in

Rome,taking a position at the Jesuit Collegio Romano, where he remained

until his death in 1680."

Kircher was extremely productive during these quieter years,
publishing more than 30 works, many of them being massive multi-volume

works of up to 2,000 folio pages. While he traveled very little—andaside

from trip to Malta in 1637-8, only within the confines of Italy—he

maintained a wide correspondence, and throughthis, a connection and

influence onintellectual life in Germany and Austria.

His works were highly esteemed during his lifetime and widely
circulated, some of them appearing in second andthird editions, others in

translation or abridged versions. The costs of publishing Kircher’s works were

very high (aside from musical examplesandillustrations, many required
special typefaces for citations from foreign languages, such as Coptic, Aramaic
and Arabic), and some of these costs were underwritten by the Habsburg

emperor FerdinandIII, and his son Leopold 17

The massive tomes of Kircher ... which must have been expensive
even whenprinted with the financial backing of dynasty and Church,

‘ Scharlau, Ulf. Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680) als Musikschriftsteller: Ein Beitrag

zur Mustkanschauung des Barock . Studien zur hessischen Musikgeschichte, vol. 2, ed. Heinrich
Hiischen, (Kassel, Marburg: Barenreiter Antiquariat, 1969), 12-15.

? Scharlau, 15, 18-21.

 were purchasedall over[the territories of the Habsburg] Monarchy....
Thelatest products of this scholarship would be discussed among
educatedcircles in Vienna, Prague, andall the smaller centers of the
Monarchy. Often they were interpreted and transmitted by lesser men
whothemselves wrotelittle ... And the outcome of such discussions
was a recognizable set of opinions and credences which,forall their
inconsistencies, for all the lacunae in our understanding of them, we
maycall an intellectual system.”

This system hadits foundationsin the traditions of Aristotelian

scholasticism—witha particular intellectual apparatusof logic, physics,

metaphysics, and various categories of matter, form and causation—which

had resulted for the mostpart in a “genre of utterly predictable accounts of the

physical world, of man’s placein it and his duties.”* And within this

tradition of scholarship, Kircher wrote asa scientist and natural historian, his

works reflecting a particular concern for systematic rationalization

characteristic of this period—and which he shared with his contemporaries

Mersenne, Kepler and Fludd—seeking “not to predict and interpret

relationships of general analogy andaffinity, but rather to investigate

measurable relationships of identity and diversity.””

Asa result, Kircher’s areas of interest and method of approach were

anything but predictable, by modern termsof inquiry. In addition to musical
matters, his works involve studies of philology, geology, physiology and even
alchemy and magic. From a modern perspective, the encyclopedicyet

; Evans, R. J. W. The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy 1550-1700: An Interpretation.

(Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1979), 317-8.

4
Evans, 318.

z Bianconi, Lorenzo. Music in the Seventeenth Century. (Trans. David Bryant;

Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987), 54.
3
discursive nature of such scholarship—which can pass “rapidly from
sunspots to the uses of rhubarb”—lacks methodandauthority, andreflects a

“deep-rooted polymathic habit which simply adds new knowledge more or

less mindlessly to received views... a classic instanceof the inability to select,

a sort of reductio ad absurdum of the Baroquestriving for completeness.”°

Indeed, the breadth of Kircher’s efforts as scholar poses a considerable

obstacle to any modern appraisal of his work. Thisis particularly the case in

considering the value of his studies in the area of music, wherescientific and
historical facts are generally still less easy to determine than theyare in

matters of natural science, where subsequentscholarship and hindsight can

uncover obvious misconceptions. Nevertheless, it does not necessarily follow
that Kircher wasanyless (or any more) incorrect about volcanoes than about
the Phrygian mode.
In considering Kircher’s Oedipus Aegyptiacus—a work described as
“his most preposterouserror: a flawed masterpiece ... devoted to the twin

theses that the hieroglyphics were occult representations of Christian truth,

and that the subsequenthistory of civilization has been a contest between two
faces of a single Egyptian coin, the black magic of superstition and the white
magic of the Church”—thehistorian R. J. W. Evansraises the question of
whether Kircher was an adequate spokesman fortheintellectual tradition he
represented, whether, in fact, Kircher was something of a charlatan, and notes
that

posterity has tended to judge his huge outputseverely, dismissing it as

unoriginal compilation, a grandiloquent pursuit ofthetrivial or the
misguided, even as a fraud perpetrated from mixed motives of piety
and ambition. The truth is far more complex, because Kircher wasas

. Evans, 322.
 greatly celebrated in his own time and amonghis own kind as he has
been decried since.’

Yetthis celebrity and disdain serve to defend a different reading of

Kircher’s scholarship. The very nature of Kircher’s scholarly compilations can
also be interpreted as a general and authoritative understanding of the
prevailing seventeenth-century conception of the subject of its inquiry. Its
factualnessis therefore secondary to its value and authority as a
contemporary interpretation (rendering Kircher’s appraisal of the Phrygian

mode therefore moresignificant than his errant theories of hieroglyphics).

Indeed, Evans maintains that in reading standard accounts ofthe intellectual

life in this period

one might well wonder whethererudition existed at all. Yet there was
nothing particularly crude aboutthe learned standards of seventeenth-
century Austria: they were just very different from our own. We can
distill a sophisticated set of views and discern surprising freedom of
thought, given the constraints willingly imposed on themselves by
contemporaries. Thefirst, of course, was confessional orthodoxy in
matters wheretheecclesiastical authorities laid down unambiguous
precepts. The second wasdeferenceto the constituted order, which
provided the tools and organization of scholarship. the third was
Latinity.®

The question of confessional orthodoxy within theintellectual life of

the Catholic Counter-Reformation is of considerable importance, andis in

fact the unifying principle responsible for the uneasy mixtureof natural

sciences and philosophiesto be foundin this type of scholarship.

Mathematics, physics, astronomy, even alchemy and the occult were subjects

for observation and experiment—an Aristotelian empiricism on the

! Evans, 433-5.

. Evans, 312.
authority of the senses.
Nevertheless, various conflicts arose in these observations, as

demonstrated in the Church's official condemnationsof Galileo and of the

Copernican astronomical system in 1616 and 1633 respectively; Kircher’s

Itinerarium Exstaticum (1656) was an example ofthe reconciliatory attempt to

offer “an orthodox general accountof planetary science... [and yet] stress its
experimental base and the great body of recent discoveries about the heavens

whichhaveradically altered older notions.”

Undersuch circumstances, observation and experiment were

considered valuable for their ability to prove known truths; the systematic

assumptions of Counter-Reformation Catholicism—bothin their larger

(theological) and smaller(political) orbits—depended oncertain conceptsof

universalism. For this reason, observation and experiment
served ultimately to prove old assumptions;it was part of a
preconceived harmony of knowledge. That may help us understand
why music, the embodimentof practical and theoretical harmony,
played such a greatrole in the seventeenth-century Austrian Baroque.
The achievements of composers and performers were underpinned
with deeperreflections on the purposeofart. ... Kircher devoted
perhapsthe bestof all his monumental treatises to the science of
music, and he counted as an international expert both onits actual
techniques and on its metaphysical foundations.It is hardly an accident
that Habsburg scholars were so interested in constructing an
“organum,” which mightbe just the kind on musical instruments...
and mightalso carry the connotation, familiar to generations of
schoolmen,of a logical or mathematical key to the universe. Notfor
nothing does the peroration to Kircher’s Musurgia describe the entire
world as an organ played by the Creator."”

? Evans, 330-332.
10 |vans, 339-340.
 Musurgia universalis

Kircher’s Musurgia universalis was published in Romein 1650, in an

edition of 1,500 copies. There seemsto be no definite evidence that this
edition was reprinted, although there are subsequent mentionsof this in the

bibliographical literature of Forkel and Fétis; but an abridged German

translation by AndreasHirsch (a Protestant clergyman) was published in 1662

in Schwabisch-Hall."!
The work was mostlikely begun in 1645 or 1646, and there is evidence
in his correspondencethat during the preparation of Oedipus Aegyptiacus,

which waspublished between 1652 and 1654, Kircher took up the study of

music as something of a diversion—hewrites that he prefers “curious music,

so that the deep study of Oedipus is somewhat tempered by the relaxation of

lt
music.

Musurgia universalis was published in two volumes, containing ten

books, whichare entitled according to their method,or discipline, of inquiry:

Physiologicus, Philologicus, Arithmeticus, Geometricus, Organicus,
Melotheticus, Diacriticus, Mirificus, Magicus, Analogicus —the tenth book
showing ten levels, proceeding from the elements and plants to angels and

God. This ten-fold organization is further echoed by a verse from Psalm 144:
“In decachordo Psalterio Psallam tibi” (“upon a psaltery and an instrumentof

Scharlau, 43, 47-50.

12 Zed ‘
Scharlau, 38: “Modo Musicam curiosam praefero, ut profundum Oedipi studium
musicae relaxatione tantisper temperetur.”
7
ten strings will I sing praises unto thee”).’’ Asa result of this method of

scrutiny, many topics are dealt with variously in several places, reflecting

different points of view and emphasis.

Its title and over-all intent obviously owe something to Marin

Mersenne’s Hamonie universelle, contenant la théorie et la pratique de la

musique, publishedin Paris in 1636-7, aspects of which Kircher discusses in

several places in Musurgia universalis.'* It is universal in Kircher’s

intention of dealing with all practical and theoretical aspects of music.

Musurgiais likely a word of Kircher’s invention: paralleling “liturgy,” which

has its origins in the Greek Aevtoupyoc, a compoundof the wordsfor “people”

and “deed.” This evocative neologism seemsto allude to music, the Muses,
the practice of art and sacred ceremony,all at the same time.

In its preface, Kircher acknowledges the help he received from other

musicians: among them, Abbatini, Valentini, Carissimi, and Kapsberger,

professional musicians of considerable reputation, mainly active in Romeat

that time. And there is evidence that Kircher prepared a synopsis of the work
which he circulated to various scholarly authorities, seeking opinions and

answersto particular questions; some of this correspondence has been

preserved.” In this same preface, he addresses the question of his own

- Athanasius Kircher, Musurgia Universalis. Facsimile edition of 1650 Romeedition,

with foreword andindices by Ulf Scharlau; Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1999, [vi]. (Aside
from the prefatory matter, page references will reflect the editor’s designation of the two
volumesas “A” and “B.”)

ie These references can be found in Scharlau’s wonderfully detailed and helpful indices
to Kircher, Musurgia.

e Scharlau, 38-39. This correspondence is mentioned in connection with the examples of

Book VII, Chapter 4 [A581] in the present translation below.
8
musical authority, answeringto criticisms that must have arisen during these
consultations.

Kircher as musical authority

By the time of Kircher, the traditional divisions of music—the Classical

metaphysics and ethics of Timaeus and the Dream of Scipio, the Boethian

musica mundana, humana, instrumentalis, the gap or even opposition

between theory and practice—had been further complicated by the

humanistic directions of the Renaissance, so that “the cosmological focus of
musica revealed in the numerological abstractions of musica theoretica

shifted to an anthropological focus revealed in the rhetorical powers of

musica poetica.”"® The consequencesof this shift were many andvarious, but

most importantto the consideration of Kircher’s work is a new emphasis on

the importance and authority of the musical theorist’s practical skills in

composition—an emphasis thatstill persists in modernbias.

That Kircher was awareof this problem of authority, as it applied to his

owngoal of treating both the theoretical bases and practical applications of

music in a comprehensive manner, is shown byhis remarksin the preface of

Musurgia universalis:
Amongstother things, I hear this cast at me: By what boldness does an
author, whois not a musician by profession, correct and setright
teachers who have been nourishedin that art almost from the cradle?
Andthat the main point is, how could he set himself up, with more

e Bartel, Dietrich, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque

Music (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997), 19.
9
 than moderate boldness, as a teacher holding forth to them?””

Kircher admits that music has never been the sourceof his livelihood,

but compareshis amateur status to that of Gesualdo and Ptolemy:

Therefore, even though I have never professed music for the
mentioned reason,it is well-known that from an early age, just as with
the more noble arts and sciences, thus also have I dwelt upon musical
practice with both the highest zeal and most steadfast effort. Nor was I
only occupied in speculative music. Let them be persuaded, as various
compositions of mine, printed in Germany, although under the names
of others, werecirculated to the greatest pleasure of listeners and were
worth something, and the specimens published in this book can testify
sufficiently whatI create and whatI do not know.'®

The details of Kircher’s practical musicianship are difficult to

determine. In an autobiographical sketch, Kircher indicated that as a child he

had been taught music by his father, and some experience of choral singing

can be inferred during his schooling andreligious formation, although the

Jesuit order putlittle emphasis on music, and did not include choral singing

in the observation of the canonical hours.’”

The matter of composition and contrapuntal training is not clearly

documented, although Kircher reveals a considerable knowledge of some

uw Kircher, Musurgia, [xxiii]: “Audio inter ccetera illud mihi obiici; Qua fronte Author
cum professione Musicus nonsit, Magistros in arte, ab incunabulis pené in eadem enutritos,
corrigere, emendare, & quod caputest, Magistrum se preebere iis, audacia plusquam modesta
constituere potuerit?”

f Kircher, Musurgia, [xxiii]: “Ego igitur tametsi musicam dicta ratione nunqua
professus sim; notum tamenest, me ab ineunte ztate uti preeclarioribusartibus, & scientiis, ita
& musice practice summostudio, & pertinacissimo labore incubuisse, neque speculatiue solum
modo musicz me occupatum fuisse, sibi persuadeant, cum & compositiones mez varie sub
aliorum tamen nomine impressz in Germania, summa audientium voluptate circumferantur, &
in precio habeant, & specimina in hoc libro edita quid faciam, quid nesciam,testari affatim
possunt.”

a Scharlau, 27.
10
standard works—Glarean, Galilei, Nucius, Sabatini—throughspecific

citations.”” He does not, however, identify the works of his which were

published in Germany(andit is very difficult to imagine Kircher hiding his

candle under the bushel of a pseudonym), noris he alwaysexact in specifying

which examples in Musurgia universalis are his own compositions; and even

though, in some instances, he does indicate his authorship, the truth of the

matteris not entirely clear.”’

Andall in all, some of these issues are irrelevant—as anachronistic

accretions of originality and authorship—to what Kircher’s musical
scholarship can reveal on the topic of Musica Pathetica.

Music and Emotion

The relationship between music and emotion has often seemedself-

evident, but the precise nature of that relationship has usually posed
considerable problemsin its defining.
Ancient Greek philosophy dealt with the metaphysical and ethical
aspects of music—in that music reflected a cosmological order, and had the
powerto affect man—and muchofthis speculation took a mathematical
form. The emotions themselves were considered, in varying degree,
constructive or destructive.

Christian scholasticism subsequently took up much the same

cy Scharlau, 333.

a Another reference to Kircher as composer (“2 nobis composita triphonia”) can be

foundin the translation below of Book VII, Chapter 5 (Musurgia, A585).
11
model—adding the categories of virtue and sin, also Augustianism to
Aristotelianism—andretained much of the same philosophical apparatus.

From this arose a system of effectus musicae, as described in Tinctoris’

Complexus effectuum musices (1475). This work, whichis considered to have

had an influence on German musical thought, even upto the timeofJ. S.

Bach, providesa series of summary expositions in which examplesof the

ethical and cathartic effects of music are described, and these examples are

considered to form a demonstration of the qualities of musical reality, of all

that music can achieve.

His effectus musicae round outthe picture of a musical ontology,in

which the heathen experiences of Greco-Roman Antiquity are mingled
with Christian religious values. This “moralitas” of music is a
harmonistic sum. With Tinctoris it obtains its practical, medieval
settlement, long since due.”

The mathematical basis of this medieval ontology can be found in the

musical divisions of Boethius: numerical proportions serve to explain the
workings of musica mundana, the metaphysical macrocosm of the stars and

planets, of musica humana, the related microcosm of body and soul, and of

the physical properties of sounds and intervals of musica

instrumentalis—reflecting a continuing intellectual preference in which

“scholasticism placed much more confidencein intellectual ratio than in the

a Damman,Rolf, Der Musikbegriff im deutschen Barock (Laaber-Verlag, 1984), 219:

“Seine summarischen Darlegungen beziehensich nict nur auf die ethischen und kathartischen
“Wirkungen”(effectus) der Musik. Sie sind iiberdies ein Aufweis der “Eigenschaften”
musikalischer Wirklichkeit iiberhaupt. Gerade darin verfahrt Tinctoris mittelalterlich, also
in abschlieSendem Sinn. Seine effectus musicae runden das Bild einer musikalischen Ontologie,
in der die heidnischen Erfahrungen der griechisch-rémischen Antike mit christlichen
Glaubenswerten vermischt werden. Diese “moralitas” der Musik ist ein harmonistisches Fazit.
Mit Tinctoris erhalt es seinen praktisch langstfalligen mittelalterlichen Abschlu8.”
12
emotional and consequently fallible sensus.””°

While this preference, to some degree, continued through the

seventeenth century in Germanic Europe, musical life in Italy had already

been colored by secular humanism a century earlier. For a variety of reasons,

the craft of musical composition came to be more valued than philosophical

speculation; and in many ways, the “human began to replace the Divine as

both object and subject of the disciplines.”~” 124 And while Italian musical theory

focused largely on practical matters of expression, this humanistic shift was

also reflected—at a slightly different angle—in seventeenth-century German

musical theory, in the emergence of another category of music, that of musica
poetica.

The term first appeared in the writings of Listenius (Rudimenta

musicae planae, 1553) and Dressler (Praecepta musicae poeticae, 1563), and

foundits full expression in Burmeister’s Musica poetica, published in Rostock

in 1606. Burmeister presents a systematic Figurenlehre—the terminology of

figures of speech used in Classical rhetoric, applied to musical
language—which reflects a different application of ratio: one in which an
orderedintellectual understanding of the affective qualities of the structural
components of music can “be used to discern the power of music, to structure
musical compositions, and ultimately to control the affections of the
: 25
listeners.”

As a result, therefore, Kircher, in approaching these matters of music,

“a Bartel, 11.

24 Bartel, 28
25 Bartel, 20-21.
13
emotion and expression—inhis choice of methodology,in his particular
intellectual environment—can be considered to have been in a rather curious

situation: a German Jesuit living in Catholic Italy during the time of the

Counter-Reformation in Central Europe; deeply connected to an intellectual

tradition which wasstill, in many ways, quite medieval; a cleric living nel
mezzo del cammin of a secular and humanistic Renaissance.

Musica Pathetica

In the musical literature, the term Musica Pathetica makesits first

appearancein Kircher’s Musurgia Universalis in 1650, roughly coinciding

with the publication in 1649 of Les passions de l’ame by René Descartes. Its

origin is in the Greek word xa@oc, which denotes suffering, in a passive

sense; it was translated as affectus by Latin rhetorical writers, and came to

have a broad meaning encompassing emotion, mood and passion.”°

Tinctoris’ medieval notion of effectus musicaeis largely metaphysical,

with music having a powerful and emotional effect on man becauseof a

relation to the external cosmological order. In the Renaissance, the
humanistic focus shifted to affectus (the human emotions) and affectus
exprimere (expressing emotions)—either through the Italian logocentric

sensus, concerned with the expression of the emotionsof the text in vocal
music, or the Germanratio of the rhetorical figures of musica poetica. (While

expression in both instancesis at first only connected with texted vocal music,

” Dammann, 217.
14
the matter is later extended to instrumental music as well.)””

In Kircher, the locus becomes physiological. The single purpose of

Musica Pathetica is “to movethe variousaffections according to the meaning

(ratio ) of the proposed and adopted theme,” and the objective nowis affectus

movere °° This subtle progression of ideas and terminology contains a

numberof semantic nuances and distinctions which are beyond discussion

here; but in broad terms, the progressionis one of internalization: from the
metaphysical cosmos, through the objective logocentric surface of text and

music, to the subjective affective interior of the listener’s emotions.

Musica Patheticais based on the conceptof a psychological doctrine of

affections, the “legacy of the natural magicof the sixteenth century, in

particular, of the musicae vis mirifica (the wondrous powerof music), itself
based on a supposed harmonyandaffinity between numerical proportion in

music, and the passions of the human heart.”*” It is physiological in the

sense that these passions are governed by a system of temperaments and

humors, which originated in the Greek medical theories of Hippocrates and

Galen, and wasstill considered authoritative in the seventeenth century. The

four human temperaments—sanguine, choleric, melancholic,
phlegmatic—wereeach associated with a humor, a bodily fluid, produced by
an internal physical organ (blood/heart, yellow bile/liver, black bile/spleen,
phlegm/brain).

= Dammann,219-221.

25 7 . : “ ; ae = Cram
Kircher, Musurgia, A564: “Cum pathetice musice unicusfinis sit, affectus varios iuxta
propositi assiptiq: thematis rationé movere.”
29
Bianconi, 51.
15
 An individual is movedto certain affections by a process which
involves a change in balance of the four humorsin the body. When
appropriately aroused by external stimuli, the affected body organ
producesits corresponding humor, whichenters the blood stream in a
gaseousstate. The vaporous humor then combineswith the spiritus
animalis ... the smallest subparticles in the blood, a kind of ether. The
“humored”spiritus animalis then rise[s] from the blood andenter[s]
the nerves ... travel[s] through the body,affecting all body functions and
parts, including the humor-producing organs andthe brain.... This
process would result in the corresponding affection, a physio-
psychological condition which wouldlast until another affection was
30
evoked.

The concept of individual temperament was important in explaining

the particular emotion that was evoked. The effect of music depended ona

rather sophisticated system of physics: musical intervals reflected the

numerical proportions intrinsicto all things; the air was set in motion by
musical sound in the same proportion, and these proportions “then enter the
bodyvia the ear, thereby setting the corresponding physiological functions in

process and resulting the appropriate affection.””"

Nevertheless, the individual reaction of the listener would be

determined byhis predisposition to one temperamentor another, and this

served to explain whytheeffect of music, the interpretation and reaction to

its affective content, was individual rather than universal.

30 Bartel, 37-38.
2 Bartel, 38.
16
 Musical affects

The first systematic rationalization of the affections occurs with

Descartes, whoestablished six fundamental states of mind in his Les passions

de l’ame: admiration, love, hate, desire, joy and sadness.” While some

subsequent writers make do with only twotypes of affect—pleasant and

unpleasant—Kircher,atfirst, proposeseight:

Thefirst is of love, the second, of sorrow or lament, the third, of

happinessor exultation, the fourth, of fury and indignation,thefifth,
of commiseration andtears, the sixth, of fear and affliction, the
seventh, of presumption and audacity, and the eighth, of admiration.
All the remaining passionsare easily applied to these affections.”

At anotherpoint, he states that these may be reducedto three basic

categories:

Moreoverthere are the three following general affects:thefirst is joy,

which comprisesthe affections of love, magnanimity, passion and
desire, which find their origin in the sanguine. If indeedjoyis
dissolute or intemperate, it especially generates the choleric affects, of
anger, hatred, indignation, revenge or fury. The second general affect of
remission, whenit rejoices in slow movement, generates the affects of
piety, love of God, also constancy, modesty,strictness, chastity, religion
and contemptof worldly things; indeed, it moves toward celestial love.
The third is the affect of compassion, under which remain all of the
affects which flow from the phlegmatic andblack bile, as do regret,
lament, commiseration, languor, and the similar ones which can be

2
: Bianconi, 51.

o Kircher, Musurgia, A598: “Primus est Amoris. Secundus Luctus seu Planctus.Tertius
Letitie & Exultationis. Quartus furoris & Indignationis. Quintus Commiserationis &
Lachrymarum.Sextus Presumptionis & Audaciz. Octavus Admirationis, ad quos omnia reliqua
pathemata facilé revocantur.”
17
 recalled in this class.?4

Forall of this, it can seen that such list-making reflects a concern with
the universal, and also the process of internalization mentioned above. As

the numerus is transferred—from the cosmos, through the practical surface

of the musical composition, to the interior perception and individual

reaction—that metaphysical descentcreates conflicts in rational ordering,

which will be demonstrated in Kircher’s text.

ve Kircher, Musurgia, B142: “Sunt autem hi tres affectus generales sequentes, primusest
letitia, que sub se continet affectus amoris, magnanimitatis, impetus, desiderii, qui ex sanguine
originem suam nanciscuntur,si verd lztitia dissoluta imtemperataquefuerit, generat affectus
proprié cholericos, ire, odii, indignationis, vindicte, furoris. Secfidus remissionis affectus
generalis cum tardo motu gaudeat, generat affectus pietatis, amoris in Deum, item constantiz,
modestiz, severtiatis, castitatis, religionis, contemptus rerum humanarum, ad amorem denique
czlestifi movet. Tertius est misericordiz affectus, sub qua manent omnesii affectus qui a
phlegmate & cholera nigra profluunt, uti sunttristitiz, planctus, commiserationis, languoris,
similesque, qui ad hanc classem revocari possunt.”
18
 TRANSLATION FROM MUSURGIA UNIVERSALIS

BOOKSEVEN,PART THREE, CHAPTERS ONE TOFIVE [A564]

Chapter One: Concerning the theory of Musica Pathetica and howitis to be

well andrightly instituted

Asthe single purpose of Musica Pathetica is to movethe various

affections according to the meaning(ratio ) of the proposed and adopted
theme, and as the first foundation of the variation or mutation of the

affections are the tones or modes—whichthe Greeks therefore not

incongruously called tropes—let us begin with them. [A565]

[Marginal heading] Different opinions concerning the number of
modes

Before we dothis, I can not marvel enoughat the vain and useless

labor of certain musical theorists in the correct determination of the modes.

To me, it seems they are perpetually occupiedin filling Greek vessels with
water. While they do nothing to demonstrate to the world that they have
discovered any great matter, they also find thatall other theorists, when
things are said and done,are in useless difficulties, empty of thought and

; Kircher, Musurgia, A564: The heading “Pars II Pragmatica” appears on A517, and
“Pars II” again on A564; this is corrected to “Pars Tertia” in the index at the end of the second
volume.
19
value. I have often dashed against this rocky shore, for I have compared

Greek manuscripts, as muchasit was possible to obtain them, with Latin

monuments concerning musical matters, and when I weigh the individual

elements, one against the other,I find so great a confusion in their opinions
concerning the modesand their extent, and such diverse opinions are

revealed in the different matters of the proceeding, that I do not come upon
even one agreeing directly with another.

Indeed, you will also marvel at this musical wrangling which I have
found to thrive most greatly amid the first classical authors, Aristoxenus,

Cleonides, Aristides, and others, whom I have cited above. While Ptolemy

respondstenaciously to Aristoxenus, and Bryennios to him, or Alypios to

Nichomachos,other theorists stubbornly oppose others. Ptolemy set up an

order and system of modes, a theory very different from those of the older

cited authors. Boethius did this in another way, even though one must
adheretohis illustrious authority more than to anyoneelse. The matter of

the correct definition of the modesflourishes, and up to now, no one has

been foundtofinishit.
Glarean, in his Dodecahedron, a work of twenty years of labor,

established himself as a ballot counter in the dispute, but he was inconsistent

and various in his methods, and differed so much from theancients that he
wasbarely able to avoid the fury. Somewhatbefore him, Franchino Gafori
differed completely from everyoneelse, though he madegreat efforts toward

newskills and devices. Vincenzo Galilei, while he had enoughto do in

establishing the modes, very much tore them downin his pursuit of modern
music. More recent followers, while they occupy themselves in making the

preceding theorists agree with ancient ones, disagree in the entire business,

20
and depart into different matters.
Theyarefirst of all entirely preoccupied with the matter of mere
names. Oneestablishes the Dorianas the first mode, while another chooses

the Phrygian, and another, the Lydian. Some have only three modes, others

haveeight, and yet others have 12, 13, 14, 15 or 24—andfinally, there are even

those whoestablish 72 modes.

This inconsistency and variety are not as astonishing as the disparate

judgments concerning the nature of the modes andtheir properties. Where

onesays the first mode is unrestrained, soft and wanton, to another,it is

serious, temperate and chaste. In viewing this ridiculousaltercation, I note

that the entire business in not in the true nature of the thing, which is

unchanging, but consists so much of the terms, words and namesused,

something whichI considerto be useless to the perfection of music, yielding

so little, and to be rejected. Of what distinction is it to our music whether the

ancients used such or other systems? Whether they established the Dorian as

the first mode, or the Phrygian or the Lydian, or whether someonebegins the

modes on mi, or on re? All these things bring nothing to our determination

of the modes, because they depend on human judgment, and have no other

reason than the goodintention of whoeverlaid the first foundations of their

possibility, indeed as it seemed to themselves.

The seeds of perfect musical knowledge are implanted in man by

nature, andit is certain that these contain principles of eternal truth and

unchanging considerations of the emotions, as above has been fully shown in

Book Two.Therefore, there will never be any endorlimit to the need to

refrain from all of the literary, frivolous and vain altercationsof this sort,

which derive from and depend on the inconstant human will.

21
 I have been earnestly intent on penetrating intimately into the nature
of the seven species of octave, as the entire matter of Musica Pathetica
revolves on this turning point.It is from the nature of their intervals thatI
hope—if I am led by wise nature through the causes concealed under the
different intervals of this sort—thatatlast I shall come uponthe nature of the
individual modes, andfinally connect the modes to their corresponding

affects, which is the entire aim of music, and showclearly that there was
nothing in the music of the ancients whichis not also contained in our own.
Its natureis notlacking in any respect, noris the vigorof its natural capacities

diminished in any way. In fact, at the present time, it is more lively and more

equippedbyall the things which previous ages have givento us as a legacy.

As we havedescribed fully the nature of harmonic intervals

previously in otherparts of this book,the intent is here to apply close

examination (evpe8odopwc) to practical composition. I compel no oneto agree

with me, but let each make his own judgmentas to the equity presented in

the matter. [A566] I do not intend tolisten to the sayings (autos eda) of

Aristarchus or Pythagoras, but I hopeto stir musicians with myfeebleeffort

so that they considerits nature and leave useless argumentsaside, so that

they grasp the flesh of the fruit and reject the useless rind.

Musicalscience being sonorous numbers (numeri sonori), everything

of the sounds, as has been said elsewhere, involves the motion ofair; this

affects the soul andthe listener well,if it is proportionate, and badly,if

disproportionate. From this comethefirst fundamentals of consonance and
dissonance. As the harmonic numberconsists essentially of the varying
ascentof intervals, the ascent and descent truly wonderfully alter the

harmonic motion so that whenit proceeds from low to high, and from there
22
once again to low,it necessarily follows that the soul, as through one or other

intervals here and there, is affected by the implanted spirit mentioned above,
whichis the immediate subject of the harmonic motion.
As certain minorintervals differ in their motion from other major

ones—asin the wonderful mannerof semitones from tones—it is also from

the different placement of minorintervals of this sort that the different

species of harmonic alteration are born. Indeedit is certain, as has been

shownin Book Ten concerning vibrations, that the interiorair, or spiritus

animalis, is roused in a similar proportion of motion to the exteriorair, so

much so that, if we able to see it with the eyes and perceive it by ear, we
would see and hear the motion of the sounds expressed aloud and the same

in the spirit. The sharpness and lowness, intensity and remission, the
quickness and slownessof the motion in sound, as they pursue softness and
hardness,alter the spirit through their proportion and temperament, and by

this samething, they alter the soul. If the motion is more acute and intense,
the spirit and soul will be sharper and similar to fire or anger. If the motion is
milder, spirit and soul will be milder, and similar to the earthy humor;if the
motion keepsto the middle, it produces intermediate affections.
Therefore, with this as an infallible supposition, we will examine the
nature and property of individual intervals, so thatit will be clear from our
discourse whateverpertains to the rousing of emotions.

In the preceding, it has been sufficiently shownthat three types of

diatesseron and four of diapente establish the seven octave species; indeed the

difference between these species does not consist of anything other than the
motion of the semitoneor its various placements. Indeed, when the

semitone is removed, every variety in musicis directly taken away. From this

23
it is clearly revealed that there is some poweror property to the semitone
which the other intervals lack. This power, moreover, as I said above,is

nothing other than the diverse and different proportion of motion in sound.
Indeed, all speculation aboutthe nature of music dependsonthis quality of
motion.

As wehavecorrectly shown in our study of the monochord

(chordosophia), to the extent that one elementof aninterval is higher,it

sounds moreacutely; and, to the extent it sounds moreacutely, it effects a
more rapid motion; the contrary is true in the descent of the tone. Moreover,

the closer any interval is to the unison, so much morewill that interval be

similar to the unison in the stirring of emotion; the more removedit is from

the unison, the more rousingly it proceeds(asall of these things have been
demonstrated elsewhere, we will not dwell upon them). Furthermore,just as

closeness to the unison induces softness, distance induces hardness. Thus the

chromatic genus, proceeding by semitones (whichare close to the interval of

the unison), and by semiditones,is called soft; and as something injurious to

youth,it is severely prohibited by the wise. Indeed, the enharmonic

genus—asit proceeds throughdieses, intervals which are even closer to the

unison—is said to be the softestof all.

Therefore, as the tone is by far more rousing and has a greater

quickness of motion than the semitone, the semiditone necessarily has a
greater quickness than the tone, the ditone than the semiditone, the

diatesseron than the ditone, the diapente than the diatesseron, the hexachord
than the diapente, the diapason thanall of the mentioned, and the
disdiapason morethan this.It is certain that from this quickness and
slowness of motion, along with the differing placementof the semitone,all

24
harmonic variations flow, as from some fountain.

Example 1 [Appendix,p. 69]

From this, it follows that the differences between mi-fa, the semitone,

and ut-re, sol-la and fa-sol, are so great. For mi-fa clearly possesses a certain

something of softness and languordistinct from the rest. The remaining

individual tones indeed present different properties in turn. For fa-sol, a little
more rousing thanthefirst interval, is somewhat serious; [A567] the

following interval, sol-la, even more rousing, is cheerful, happy, joyous. The
fourth, re-mi, the most rousing, brings some kind of choleric movementof
indignation.
Therefore the different intervals express different affects because one
will always have a higher constitution than the other, and from this, the

incited affections are augmented just as by steps. Whenthe spiritus animalis

is moved throughthis agitation—nowfaster, now slower—itis not
surprising that it is moved in this way and that, and also that different

emotions are expressed in the sensitive appetite.

Asthe semitonehasa notable difference, most greatly distinguished

from the tone, therefore, when the semitoneis putin place of the tone,it is

aveKpwvitov, or unpronounceable. For no other reason,the tritone is brought

forth with dread, unless the semitone is absent. If another interval is placed

in the initial position, a different one in the middle and anotherat the end, a

different emotion is produced by the different intervals. If it descends at the

beginning, something softer is incited; in the middle, whenthe note has a
higher position—either from its placement, or the surrounding intervals on

25
both sides—it acquires a differentaffect, a different form of the motion of the
sound.
This and what concernsit must be learned elsewhere. But so that the
curious reader mightsee the outstanding difference betweenthe notes in one
octave, I will place here the individual steps of the diatonic octave, along with
the speed of motion which each step has, compared with the precedingone.
Thereforelet there be eight strings, equal in length and thickness, extended

along the steps of the diatonic octave.I say thatthe first string, when struck,

produces 48 vibrations, and that the string re will make 54 vibrations, so that
the speedofvibration ofthe two strings expressing the major tone ut-re
would be as 48 to 54. The strings re-mi would be in velocity as 54 to 60; mi-fa
as 60 to 64; fa-sol as 64 to 72; sol-la as 72 to 80; re-mi as 80 to 90; mi-fa finally as

90 to 96. From this yousee that to the extent that the notes have a higher

placement, so much moreacutely and rousingly do they sound. Thus the

lower semitone, evenif it has an equal proportion with other semitones

aboveit, has, however, an altogether different speed from them in its motion

and impetus. Indeedthis pattern of mi-fa, fa-sol, re-mi, just as it is moved

higher and higher, consequently affects the spiritus animalis in one way and

another.”

Example2 [p. 69]

: Kircherrefers to the increasing numberof vibrations of the string as the pitches

ascend, and the methodof his arithmetic would be equivalentto the calculation of the cycles
per second(although this would require differentinitial values). He employs the syntonic
system of temperament(pure tuning), where semitonesare theoretically equal (in the
proportion of 15:16), but where there are two sizes of whole tone: the major (8:9) and the minor
(9:10), as indicated in Example 2. In this tuning, the minorthirds and perfect fourths andfifths
also occur in two forms. The following section on the colors of the intervals accordingly contains
both major and minor tones and semidiapente and diapente, but does not mention all the other
possible forms.
26
 Indeed, as we have demonstratedall these thingsin the section on

Musica Organica, we send the reader back there.”

Soundshavein themselves, in the same wayas to the auditory ability,

just so, too, colors to the visual sense. It is certain that objects, imbued with

one particular color instead of a different one, affect whatis seen in the
disposition of space, in one way or another; whoever would deny this must

be judgedto be lacking in eyes. From this, it follows that the semitone

corresponds to white, as the closest to the form ofall colors and light; [A568]

the semiditone correspondsintensely to yellow; the ditone to red; diatesseron

to flame-red; diapente to gold; hexachord to purple; the diapason to

green—composed,asit is, from gold and purple, and werefer to it as the most

beautiful and most charmingofall the colors.

The remaining colors, proceeding to black as the other color extreme,

we apply suitably to the dissonances. Thus,let black refer to the tone or

second; the tritone is tawny; the major hexachord, ashen; the seventh,

cerulean. From these dissonances, however, through blending and artful

syncopation, the most beautiful harmonic medicine (picra) flows out.

: Book VI of Musurgia Universalis deals with intervals, tuning and the problems of
instrumental music.
27
 r White Semitone

Yellow Semiditone

Red Ditone

g Gold Diapente
6 Flame-red Major Hexachord

Purple Minor Hexachord

r GREEN OCTAVE
Purple-red Diahepta
Blue Semidiapente
8 Tawny Tritone

6 Orange Diatesseron

Ashen Minor Tone

Z Black Major Tone

A deduction
[Marginal heading] Which intervals more greatly move the spirit.
From this discourse it becomes clearly apparent that the cause of

producing different emotions is nothing other than the differing

consideration of the spirit, which is stimulated in degrees by the different

increases and remissions of the harmonic motion impressed elsewhere in the

air. Cadences and incorporated major intervals possess a greater powerin the

soul, as thesestir the spirit with greater strength, just as the diapente can do

morethan the fourth, the diapason, more than the diapente, and so on,
concerning the rest. To the extent that the intervals more distant from the
unison, so much more unusual, more unaccustomed,is that which they

bring about in the soul. This is revealed by public speakers and orators, who,

28
in order to arouse emotion in the souls of men, are accustomedto raise and

strain the voice more than usual. The same thing exists in animal nature: the
dog, boiling over with rabies, amid the vehement excitementof the bilious
humor, produces the most acute sound.

For this reason, music is most greatly ornamentedbyintervals placed

irregularly and ordered with judgment.It is also clear from this that the
diatonic genusis the natural one to be used,andit is native to our soul. And

thus, it is most greatly suitable for the rousing of the affections, something

whichthe others can not do. The enharmonic and chromatic genera, on

accountof their small intervals, hardly express anything beyondsoftness, as

their intervals are close to the unison morethan is equal.

I say the diatonic, before the others, is natural, because I see that all the

peoples of the entire world bringit forth in their songs, as is clear from the
various examples I have drawn from the mouthsof the fathers of our

society, who weregathered together here in Rome in 1645 from across the

entire world. Indeed I consider it worth the labor to present some melodies
commonly usual with different peoples, for the sake of the reader’s gratitude.

From these indeedit will be clear that nature teaches man the diatonic genus.

Example3 [p. 70]

I hear that certain Turkish priests, solemnly intoning their “Allah,

Allah,” use this type of phrase, packed with astonishing, unusual and cut-up
intervals. Kepler made mention of it in his Harmonices mundi, but
nevertheless nothing occursin it, as some would propose, whichis not

i Jesuit priests.
29
diatonic.

Example4 [p. 70]

A volumeon the history of occidental India refers to this music, which

follows, which a people called the Toupinamavox employat their more

celebrated festivals—with such an exertion, as well as unusual bodily
movements, that you would say thatall of them are frenzied and taken in the

mind. Weaddthe notesof the authorin the faith which he brought back.
[A569]

Chapter Two: Concerning the tones or modes and harmonictropes, and their

nature and usein exciting the affects

[Marginal heading] The music of the ancients was not more perfect
than modern music

Here I can not marvel enoughat certain people, who—onlyso that

they might introduce novelty somewhere, and audaciously suppress the

splendor of modern music—assert that our modesare in no way the sameas

with the ancients. And indeed, they assert that the ancient modes were greatly
different ones, more august and moreaptfor stirring up emotions. But as

easily as they assert this, so easily can whatthey say be refuted. If the things
they say are true, let them show usany specimenofthis such great excellence,
or let them bring forth an author, from whom that incomparable music can
be drawn.As they do notdothis, they seem to stand outlike the forum

30
shopkeepers and mountebanks who,in orderthat they might moreeasily sell
their corrupt goodsto simpler people, display them mostinsolently in the
marketplace as having come forth from I know not what Indian paradise, and
possessing virtues quite unheard of, cures forall diseases, or for restoring

youth,all to the laughter of more experienced medical men.

Is it possible, as musical authorities of this sort can convince

themselves, that he who hasread the ancient authors for himself counts for
nothing? That he whohasrightly combined the method of the ancients with
the modern style is nothing? And wheredotheyreach the arroganceto be

able to think that the singular Aristarchus and the Dictators, and all the
others like these, the most distinguished men of music, stood outasblind,
ignorant and without judgmentin the musical business?
I can not consider, clearly by any stretch of the imagination, to what

extent this was or could have beenso, or that there was something so
unusual in the constitution of the modes in music, an artifice established in

the music of the ancients which is beyondall limits of human ingenuity,

which they so greatly proclaim, and extol with such praises, and in

comparison to which, they freely babblethat all of ours are shabby. Or is it

perhaps that they wouldbeselling us somesort of fantastic music brought

down bycelestial spirits from the hollow of the moon? Indeed, for apart from
that, it is not possible to find some other music which applies to every

combination. But who doesnotsee, putting one’s mindto it, that this is the
allegation of a vacuousor dull person? Theyerr, and therefore they are also

mistaken, who would make out the modes of the ancients to be different

from ours. It does not seem that such people have read—orif they did read,

that they have understood—Ptolemy and Boethius, both incomparable in

31
their command of music, when those twoclearly show usthat the difference
of the modesflowsout directly from the seven diapason species. They are
condemnedbythe authority of the ancients and by their own judgment; their
grasping at straws, just as some mockeries of schoolboys, must notbe listened
to. And it must be concluded, against these our modes,thatif they are notto
some degree the sameancient ones, that nothing can be contrived in the
music of the ancients whichis so noble that our own music does not possess

it, and possess it more abundantly, whereit is yet drawn by proportionate

ingenuity.

The modes, therefore—both ancient and modern—have,as has often

been said elsewhere, their origin and difference from nowhereelse but the

three species of diatesseron and four species of diapente. These consonances

are joined togetherin turn, as an octave, and the joined species of either type

then make up the seven octave species. Those seven species contain either

the diatesseron and the seven plagal modes, or the diapente, and constitute

the other authentic modes. All in all, 14 modesresult, varying on accountof

the differing placement of the semitone, though the difference between some
of them is so fine that they can hardly be distinguished. Of those 14—as two
are rejected as unsuitable because of the tritone occurring—12 modes remain,
in the judgmentof almostall the better musicians, which are employed
variously. Lest we seem so muchto be contending with words, our intention

is to place the matter as proven (axodetktikwcs) before your eyes.

The modestherefore, through the seven diapason or octave species,

constitute 14 tones, and with two of them rejected—as we have mentioned, as

unusable because of the tritone—there remain 12, of which six are plagal and
just as many, authentic; these then differ in the interval of the diapente and

32
diatesseron; their pitches (chordae) follow. [A570]

Example 5 [p. 70]

If you transpose these modesupa fourth, the same false modes(toni

ficti), or modes transposedin B-flat, result. The pitches of the transposed

modes:

Example [p.70]

Howthen, from these cardinal pitches of the tones, the 12 modes

result, mustbriefly be described.

As every octave or diapason is composed from a fourth and fifth, the

six diapason species can be considered on two accounts, either by harmonic or

arithmetic disposition. By the former, whenthe diatesseron is put above and

the diapente below in the individual six species , the six authentic modes are

born. With the latter method, when the diapente is above and the diatesseron

below in the six individual species , the six plagal modesarise. Therefore the

six plagal and six authentic forms joined together establish the 12 modes. As
all of the things here have been most extensively explained in Book Four, we
do not wish to be too long here; for this reason,let it be sufficient to have

declared our mind by the examplesplaced here.

Example 7 [p. 71]

[A571]

33
 With goodreason,thesecret of all music depends on this adopted

combination of modes. Indeed, here the differences are clearly seen between
the regular and natural modesandthe false or transposed ones. Given a
natural mode, you have immediately its corresponding transposition, which

is to be accomplished with the figuration or signs (semaeographia) of the parts

of each in the four principal voices. You see how the authentic modes always

have the fourth aboveandthefifth below, while the plagal ones have the
fifth above and the fourth below; so that they might be moreeasily perceived,

wehavedistinguished them with black notes. Finally, you see how two
individual modes—suchasthefirst and second, or third and fourth, and so

on with the rest—havea certain intermingling or closeness. Indeed, with

these things shown, nothing remains except that wealso briefly declare which
affections each mode favors, and to which feelings (pathemata) of the soul the

individual modesserve.

Thefirst thing that must be knownis that the nature of a modeis not
taken for the essence of the modeitself, but for a certain property (proprietas),

whateverthatis, so that its stronger reason for proceeding inclines toward

one affect rather than another. It hardly seems possible that any one mode

should be so constituted that it could excite everyone to the same affect when

its subjects are not disposed in the same way, and do notrejoice in the same

temperament.It is possible that one mode should seem sad to some and
joyful to others, and vice versa, nor indeed does the mode alwayspossess the
same powerin respect to the same subject matter. One and the same mode
can thusbealtered in the variety of time, and in both the color and measure
of the diminutions and cadences, the diversity of the phrases, so that it rouses
two different affects—of sadness and joy—in the same subject, as we have

34
shownelsewhere.
Becauseof this, I think that the variety of opinions, concerning the

nature of the modes, is not as much customary with the ancientsas it is with

the moderns. For apart from the fact that the ancients differ from us in

establishing the order of the modes, each mode can be renderedsothatitis

suitable to raise contrary affections according to the differing condition of the

subjects. But let us see what the ancients said concerning the property of the

modes.

Aristotle divided melodies into three types, being that some are moral

(nOiKa pen), some, practical (tpaxtiKa), and others, furious or Bacchic

(eS0pyuaotika or evOea). To the Dorian mode,heattributed melodies of the

first type. Indeed the Dorian mode, amongothers,is grave, constant and most
apt for moving various voices. Melodies of the second type he concedesto the

Phrygian mode, which—asit is practical, full of vigor and boldness—brings

about suchactions in the subjects which it imbuesin its way. Melodies of the

third type heattributes to the Lydian mode, whichis languid, soft and

effeminate, suiting Bacchus and Venus,asit is most greatly employed for

banquets, dances, weddings andreligious dance.

Plato divided melodies into four species, so that he assigned the grave

ones, and actionsfilled with majesty, to the Dorian harmony; to the Phrygian,

the lively and bellicose ones; to the Mixolydian, the piercing and mournful.;

andfinally, to the Myxolydian or Ionic and the Lydian (which later was called
Hypolydian), he assigned the languid and soft ones. From these four
categories, he admitted the first two into his Republic. He disclosed that the
first was for calming the conductandspirit, and for inciting honesty and the

desire for virtue, and the second, appropriate for kindling in souls the desire
35
for bellicose matters; thus he commended them as needful to the republic for
many reasons. The remaining twospecies were rejected and forbidden to the
republic because of the wantonness, softness, and effect of intoxication which

they incite, and which is harmful to youth. The Athenian clearly described

the Dorian modebeautifully with these words: [A572]

The Doric harmony,Plato says, seems to possess something virile and

magnificent, majestic, and has more severity and vehemence than

dissolution or gatety; indeed it is not various or wandering, and such were

the Dorian manners.

Andso Aristides Quintilianus also notes. To the Athenian witness,

Aeolian song was held to be arrogant and inflated, genuine, desirous and
liberal; however wanting to a certain degree, it is dry and plain, and such were

the Aeolian inhabitants of Thessaly. The Ionian song, indeed in the opinion

of Quintilianus, was harsh, dry, rough, reckless, contentious, stubborn and

severe, and such,too, were the Ionian people of Asia.

[Marginal heading] A comparison between the modern peoples of
Europe, and the ancient Greeks

It is possible for these nations to be compared with the Tuscans,

Romans, LombardsofItaly, and the southernmost inhabitants, the Abruzzi or

Calabrians. In Spain, there are the Castilians, the Lusitanians and the
Aragonese; in France, the Parisians, the Aquitaines, the Auxitaines; in
Germany, the Austrians, Belgians and Saxons.

But these things are incidental (mapepywc). Whateverit may be, the

ancients greatly called the Dorian mode the oepvov,that is sacred; the

Phrygian, ev@eov, that is possessed; and the Ionian, yAagupzov,thatis

36
Bacchic.” Through the Dorian mode, the Pythagoreans,rising early in the

morning and shakingoff sluggishness, were rendered ready for

contemplation. Through the Hypodorian mode, as Quintilianus witnesses, in

their evening cares, their labors settled, the Pythagoreans preparedthespirit

for sleep.
And these are the things concerning the nature of the modes which are
to be read in the monumentsof the ancients. I find, however, that in

determining thesethings, there are as many different premises and opinions

as there are writers. AsI also find this inconstancy among modern authors,
my intentis to bring the progress of the modestotask, to weigh the laws of

the single notes, ascents and descents more exactly, so that I can determine

what, according to their nature, belongs in them.

For this reason,I intend to exhibit here certain examplesof the

individual modes—in a symphonyof four voices—which have been

composedaccording to every strictness, and whereall diminutions and other

chromaticisms (whichare called coloratura) have been avoided. Theyare at

once aimedso that the simple nature of the mode is shown thoughthe even
tenor of the notes, for indeed I believe that the property of each will be better

apparentthan if I were to put it forth adorned in various diminutions.

AsI have indicated above,it is most certain that the same mode very

nearly excites different affects in two subjects of differing temperament,asit

seems throughthe sorcery of the consonant and the dissonant. In one and the
same mode,the tunes of the modesandtheir laws promote either sadness—if

the notes and the measureof time are languid and pathetic—orrejoicing and

: Kircher’s translations are somewhatdifferent from the more conventional meanings of

“holy” for cepvov, “religiously inspired” for ev@eov, and “polished or critical” for yAagupov.
37
sadness,if it is in triple time with more rapid jumpsof the notes. Therefore,

so that the nature of each modesanswers appropriately, they must be

expressed in the sametenor of notes and measureof time, which we have
shownin the following examples of the modes.In this, we have avoided as
much aspossible the mixture of different modes,lest, by this unsuitable
mingling of one with another, the tenor might lose its natural power and also
its pathos. As we dothis, we do not swear by the sayings of any teacher, but by

following the lead of nature, from the natural placement and progressof the
intervals we will discover this thing which we have described as the more
probable nature of the modes.If anyone discovers something better, we will
offer him our willing attestation.

Theproperties of the twelve regular and natural modes, demonstrated by

examples.

For each mode, wepresentits metathesis, or transposition, those which

are commonly called the false modes. From theseit clearly followsthat pairs
of modes—thefirst and second, the third and fourth, the fifth and sixth, the
seventh and eighth, ninth and tenth, eleventh and twelfth—are wholly

similar andasif the same. Hence,it is as if nature itself reveals them and this

order of the modes. But as these things have been mentioned on the way,let

us make a good beginning on the matter itself. [A573]

Examples of Musica Pathetica shownin twelve modes.

D Thefirst mode serves wonderfully for the affects of religion, piety and
the love of God; it has indeed something of a wonderful energy, through

whicha certain most sweettrust grasps the soulandfills it with the love of

38
heavenly things. In orderto illustrate this, we have composed the following

four-voice composition (tatrophonium), in which you will see the first words

responddirectly to the affect. In the phrase “Exaudi nos (Hear us),” where the
soul anxiously seeks something from God, an emotionfull of trust shines

through, which certain ardentraising of the mind toward Goddesigns. The

descent through B-flat in the same place shows a humble andpiouseffect; the
singer pursues these emotions in the gently syncopatedrise andfall of the
notes.

Example 8 [p.72]°

A The second modebrings forth a modest andreligious gladness, from

whichit is most suited for rendering the praises of God. It is cheerful and
satisfactory for solemn religious dance. It animates the emotion and displays

the joys of the heavenly kingdom.In the example attached here, the things

which wehave mentionedare easily apparent. You see how theglad ascentof
the notes at the sametime leadsthe soul to a certain bold trust in God, which

the fugues of the voices following each other, as in a procession of those

applauding God, express beautifully. The example follows. [A574]

Example9 [p. 73]

E The third modeespecially loves sadness, sighing, complaints andtears,

. These examples appearas unalignedparts in the original edition; they are presented
here in the Appendix in modern score notation. The inconsistencies of the musica ficta have not
been corrected; the placementof text reflects as closely as possible the printed underlay, which
is often very anomalous.
og
from whichit is most apt for dirges; and if it is instituted with artful
seriousness, it can hardly be said how mucheffectit hasin stirring the soul to

pain, tears and commiseration. Thus the lament of David, where he bewailed

the death of his son Absalom with the mostbitter anguish, can be applied
appropriately on this mode.

Example 10 [p. 75]

[A575]
[Marginal heading] The nature of the fourth mode
B The fourth modeto an extent is similar to the third, so that even

experienced composersare deceived by the similarity of the cadences, and for

that reason, confuse one with the other. However, he who examines well the

repercussions of the notes will easily observe the difference. Concerning these

matters, see what we havetreated at length in Books Three and Four.

Therefore, asit is so near to the third mode,it also serves to stir up similar
emotions. It loves melancholy and sorrow,and is accustomed to comeforth

with a certain indignation and effervescence of the blood, of the type released

by vehementpain in tears and lamentations. You see that this composition

obtains a certain something of bitter pain.

Example 11[p. 76]

[Marginal heading] The nature of the fifth mode

F Thefifth mode,full of majesty and merriment,lifting up the soul to
lofty things, obtains something of an efficacy to stir the soul toward heroic

40
virtues. It fills the soul with rest and yielding, by freeing it from laborious
things with cheerfulness andfortitude. In ecclesiastical songs, it is of great

dignity and majesty. [A576]

Example 12 [p.78]

[Marginal heading] Nature of the sixth mode

C The sixth modeis in part similar to the fifth, and partly differs in the

final cadences.It has in its repercussions something of the most harsh gaiety

and warlike vehemence. From this, it is most apt, with trumpets and drums,
for stirring the spirits to fierce dissolutions and warlike vehemence.

Example 13[p. 79]

[Marginal heading] Nature of the seventh mode

G The seventh mode, by nature, is rather sad, complaining, amorous,

jealous and voluptuous.It expresses beautifully the soft longing for and

clinging to the beloved.It has a great powerto soften the spirit. It can be
applied to divine matters and the love of heavenly things, particularly if it is
slackened, as has been donehere;if it is truly exerted, it obtains something of

worldly dissolution [A575bis].” Weexhibit it here in the words of the Song of

Solomon: “Liquefacta est anima,”etc.

Example14 [p. 80]

Incorrect pagination: the sequence is numbered 574, 575, 576, 575bis, 576bis and 577.
41
 [Marginal heading] Nature of the eighth mode
D The eighth modeis cheerful, wandering, agreeable, and expresses the
person of intent on honorable and beautiful things, andit is the guardian of

chastity and temperance. By natureinstituted to elevate very noble things to

the spirit, it is suitable for ecclesiastical things through its nature, which here
wehave expressed with every skill we could.

Example 15 [p.81]

[A576bis]
[Marginal heading] Nature of the ninth mode
A The ninth modebynatureis timid, full of cares and disquiet, joined

howeverwith hope andtrust; it beautifully expresses the spirit posed between

hope and fear. It easily moves those whoarestirred by some uncertain

consequence, and stirs the memory of danger and adversities. From this, a

certain rather sad gladness, where the soul is as if propped up,raises itself up

to a cautiously imposed proceeding.It is the guardian of prudence, and

expresses the lamentation of Jacob over the uncertain health of his son.

Example16 [p. 83]

[Marginal heading] Nature of the tenth mode

E The tenth modeis doleful, amorous andsoft, and expresses the person

yielding in soft conversation.If it is relaxed,it is apt for spiritual matters and

the works ofpiety;if it is exerted, it easily seizes the worldly passion in

lasciviousness and a weakening of the spirit.

42
Example 17 [p. 84]

[A577]
{Margin note] Nature of the eleventh mode
C The eleventh mode, similar to the eighth, is by nature wandering,

beautiful, harmonious, splendid andfull of regal majesty. It is apt for reciting

great things, and marvelously it forces the soul to a variety of emotions, and
opens the heart in those who havea hopeofgreat things. It offers the honors,
dignities and prizes of memory and fantasy. Such was the emotion of the
Blessed Virgin when, recognizing the infinite kindnesses of God in the favor
of the Incarnation, she burst forth in that rejoicing song.

Example 18 [p. 85]

[Marginal heading] Nature of the twelfth mode

G The twelfth modeis similar to the sixth, by nature, harsh, roving,
impetuous, and whereit is more intense, it easily inflames to the choleric.

From this it is most apt for bringing forth bellicose matters and a warlike
temper, or for a certain harshness.It has, however, a certain accompanying
suavity, suitable for stirring the soul to what mustbe done.
Andthese are the modes which wethink respondto the principal
emotions in their natural progress, with any mixture or chromaticismsleft
aside.

Example 19 [p. 86]

43
[A578]

Chapter Three: Concerning the disposition of time and place to be ordained

for the stirring of emotions

It has been stated in the preceding, and in various other places in this

work, towards which emotions music mostgreatly inclines, and we have

indicatedthatit is superfluous to deal with this more extensively. We will

show only one thing here: what Musica Pathetica is, and how it should be

brought aboutin practice. We will undertake the matter without further

digression.
[Marginal heading] What is Musica Pathetica
Musica Pathetica is nothing other than a harmonic

melothesia—musical composition—of an art and ingenuity, whichis

established by an experienced composerso thathestirs the listener to some
given affect of the spirit. Four conditions are required for this to be

accomplished properly. Thefirst of these is that the skilled symphonistselects

subject matter appropriate appropriate for the rousing of emotion; second,

that he adapts the subject to a suitable mode; third, that the rhythm,or the

measureof the words,fits together exactly in harmonic rhythm and measure;

fourth, that he presents the music, which has been composed under these
said conditions, in performanceat the appropriate time and place—andit

mustbe sung by the most skilled choristers. Indeed, let us examine these
conditionsa little more extensively in a few paragraphs.

44
1. Concerning the conditions just proposed as being necessary to Musica

Pathetica

Such is the powerandeffect of artful sound on the soul, that if the

soundis expressed with words appropriate for arousing a particular emotion,

the meaning truly manifests in the soul. The exterior sound has, as we have

mentioned, an arcane poweroverthe spiritus animalis, just as if the soul had

sometypeofstring in it, which, when plucked, directly stirs up the soul to the

emotion to which the string or spiritus animalis are accustomed to connect.If

someonehasperfectly discovered this correspondence, he can seize a person

in whatever emotion even by meansof a single voice. The ancient poets

learned this, and from this they adjusted their verses to the emotions, so that

whoeverreadstheir lines more attentively learns the emotions of the

characters even from the rhythm alone. Who doesnotsee, for example, the
distinguished restraint of the spirit in this line of Virgil: “Is it for you to
ravage seas and land, Unauthoriz’d by my supreme command”? Whothen

reads this—“The neighing coursers answer to the sound, And shake with
horny hoofs the solid ground”—anddoesnotsee the speed of the running

horse, as muchas seem to hear the sound itself?®

The orators learned this, and the comedians and tragedians as well. As

such matters have been treated elsewhere, we will not dwell upon them. But
if the metrical art obtains such a power, or even the voice alone, how much
greater a powercan be obtained in harmonic motion? Symphonists and

composers have discoveredat various times, while they exert themselves

with the greatest zeal, that when they wish to excite an emotion, they must

. Lines from Virgil’s Aeneid (1:135-6 and VIII:594-6)in the translation by John Dryden.
45
select a corresponding themeas the foundation andbasis for constructing the

entire fabric. This accomplished, just as poets select a type of poetic meter
appropriate to evoking an emotion, so, too, the musician selects the mode or

tone appropriate to accomplish the undertaking, a mode that corresponds

both to the subject at hand and the emotion. The musician accommodates
this mode to the harmonic measure, and to both the direct and appropriate

proportion of time for the condition of the subject, and so finally reaches both

the intended effect and emotion. [A579]

2. Concerning the opportuneplace for Musica Pathetica

It can hardly be said in a brief space whattheplaceis for presenting

Musica Pathetica. Indeed, if the location is not suitable, the music necessarily

and mostgreatly loses its vigor and effect.

First, therefore, a small and narrow spaceis inappropriate to this
business. Because of the strongerreflections of the walls and the undue

crowding togetherof the singers, their voices lose their power when jumbled

together. Second,a place filled with people, or provided with tapestries or a

variety of furnishings, filled with books and maps,is least suitable to our
purpose. The voices are variously in part weakened andreflected, and in part,

stifled, by impedimentsof this sort, and lose their splendor and energy.

Experience teachesthis. In a church, empty of people, devoid of tapestries and

other impediments, the music resonates better than in the sameplacefilled

with a jumbled multitude of people. A place filled with wool and chaff
absorbsthe voices so that they are poorly heard, even enfeebled.

[Marginal heading] Places of solitude provoke sadness as delightful

gardens provoke gladness

46
 Third, because of the dissipation of the voices, a place that is too

enormousis also not suitable. Accordingly, in open fields, public meeting

places and too enormous temples, music mostgreatly loses its grace.
Thereforelet the location be suitably between the vast and the narrow,andlet
it have flat walls neatly finished in rather hard plaster, a place built with
arches anda level floor so that the reflection is equal. Indeed, concerning the

design of places suitable for music, see our Echotechnica.’

Deserted places, too, in woods, bygreat cliffs and tranquil rivers, are
very suitable. The silence and reflection of the solitudes andcliffs, as also the

constitution of the place itself, wonderfully sharpen the powerof the music,
although a place luxuriant with more copious herbsandplantsis to be
avoided. In such places, the voices are dissipated to an extraordinary degree,
andstifled. A place of level rising at the base of a tranquil hollowisbestofall.
A place of lonely sadness, despising humanthings, suits the emotions best.

In gardens filled with greenery and flowers, a happy music, which is

cheerful and pleasant, gathers together all agreeable people to produce the
intendedeffect of rejoicing and happiness on the emotions—aslongasit
lacks the impediments mentioned. The sameis to be said of other places, for
just as the eye derives roughness from a wild place, and happiness and love

from a pleasant one, so the sense of hearing, in place of seeing, leads to a

certain emotion through music, and it is an appropriate thing to incite a

similar emotion which, through the eyes andears,stirs the soul to the

corresponding affect doubly augmented.

[Marginal heading] The threefold constitution of the theater
The ancient musicians knew this, and set up their theater in different

7 Kircher examines the acoustics of performance spacesin the fourth part of Book Nine.
47
waysfor the purposeofstirring different emotions in their listeners, so that
the threefold form of the theater—comic, tragic and satiric—would pour
forth. The comic was depicted in various palaces, in a varying disposition of
domiciles and crossroads. They provokedthe tragic through a dark showing

of pomp toward the sadness and mourningofthespirit, so that.throughits

plaintive aspect, and throughthe tragic history and event,it recalls in the

listeners’ memory the deed accomplished.

Asforthesatiric, in woods and gardens, by the pleasantnessof trees

and the bubbling of a stream, they inclined the soul to those emotions which
satiric poemsrepresented concerning the matters of pleasure and love, and to

the other enticements of the softer emotions in those involved.If the music

agreedin these things, it could hardly be said how muchenergy they obtained
to seize the listeners in whatever emotions. But there are more extensive

things elsewhere concerning these matters, and so, to our purpose.

[Marginal heading] The location of the musicians who come together
Let the placementof the choristers not be in a circle, for in such, the

voices are not equally perceived by the listeners; but rather let them be placed

in a straight line, or a curved one, opposite the listeners, so that the voices fall
better and more equally on the ears of the audience. The choristers, as much
as is possible, should keep an equality of voice, lest one should cover up

another. [A580] They should be in seemly dress and the best posture of the

body,lest there be anyone whoclashesor offends the eyes or ears of the

listeners. The remaining circumstances weleave to the consideration of the
prudent choirmaster.
The situation of the listeners (who should be few) should be at an

appropriate distance from the place of the singers, a distance which depends

48
on the intensity of the singers’ voices. Therefore, so that somethingcertain
can beestablished aboutthis, the singers should first try out what distance
producesthebesteffect for the relaxed voice, and which, for the more intense.
With this accomplished,the listeners will yield to the spirit prepared, thatis,
withall their cares and distractions dispersed, they can then consider more
closely the subject on which the composition has been written, and will quite
desire to excite themselves toward the emotions containedin it. In this way,

and through the previousdispositions, the spirit which has been madegentle

now reachesan easier impression of the music following, and these things
mustsuffice as to the question of location andsite.

3. Concerning the time when Musica Pathetica is to be performedso thatit

mightobtainits effect
There are especially four differences of times which are greatly of use to
the perfect discernment of music: the morning, evening, noondayand night.

The morning, swollen with vapors and thicker air—as also the noontime,

because of the more vehementstirring of the air—is less appropriate. The

evening, as it is devoid of the heat of the daytime sun, with the air cleansed,
just as the night, because of its untimely silence and thestable state of theair,

are absolutely commended, and concerningthis, if desired, consult our

Phonocamptica, in which we have dealt with this material more

extensively.” Furthermore to be considered are the four times of the year,

and the individual conditions of the prevailing winds peculiar to each

nation.

[Marginal heading] Which months are more suitable for music

0 ; ri ‘ .
. Also in Musurgia untversalis, Book Nine.
49
 The months of May, June, July, August, September and October,
because of the dry andthin constitution of the air, are far more suitable for

music than November, December, January, February, March and April,

months which are condemnedto perpetual vapors and rain, whentheair,

thick and impure, does not exhibit the voices as clearly. The northern winds
here in Rome, which dry the air and return the clarity, are most appropriate
for the voices. The southern winds, with their humidity and vaporous

breath, are most threatening to the voices.

[Marginal heading] As for the winds

I have spoken of Rome because winds, which are dry and warm forus,
are, in other regions, humid and cold. From this, each must direct himself

according to the nature of the winds peculiar to each nation, and this should
be the universal rule: a cold, dry wind, or a warm, dry wind, is always more

suitable for the performance of music than a humid one, whether warm or
cool. And while I speak of the winds, I do not mean the blowingitself (this
indeeddirectly dissipates the voices, and is altogether most unsuitable for this
business), but I mean a particular constitution of the air in some manner,

whichis caused by a particular wind of somekind.

From whathasbeensaid, if Iam not mistaken,it is sufficiently clear

how many things must be considered so that Musica Pathetica might exercise
its powers on the souls of men. Nothing therefore remains but that we make
ready to present the secrets of Musica Patheticaa little moreclearly.
 Chapter Four: Concerning the skills of pathetic composition

Since the moodsof mortals are various, particular objects do not

always arouse the same affects. To probethis discrepancy more deeply,I
selected certain themes from sacred scripture connected with specific certain
affects, containing particularly the moods oflove, sorrow, happiness,

indignation [A581] and anger, of weeping and lamentation, of vehement

sadness, presumption, arrogance, desperation andfinally, of admiration. This

accomplished, I chosetoselect eight or more of the most outstanding

musicians in the whole world, men of judgment and genius, greatly

distinguished moreoverin harmonic science, and asked pressingly, by means

of letters sent to diverse parts of the planet, if each, by whatever competence,

might put together examples of sympathetic music.
Through this communication with musicians, I hoped to be able to
arrive at an absolute acquaintance of Musica Pathetica. As the composers
selected were the mostskilled in all of music, outstanding ones from different
nations—Italy, Germany, England, France—they each in turn were asked to
produce compositions on the same eight themes which provethe principal

affects of the soul. I immediately believed myself about to learn toward what
sorts of things the character of each particular emotion would incline these
composers, and in turn, the listeners. I would learn whether different nations

are in agreementin the expression of these emotions, or differ, and in what

such discrepancy mightconsist. I was confident that from this unique labor I
would have an excellent aid in establishing the nature of Musica Pathetica.

Dl
 [Marginal heading] The author's efforts
Indeed, this plan of mine was wonderfully approvedbyall, and wasset
in motion. Nevertheless, while this effort would have accomplished great
strides, the composers weretardier in the business imposed upon them than
the hasteningof this labor of this book could sustain. And sothat by this
delay, it would not rush upon a notable detriment to the work at hand, we
have omitted these things from urgent necessity. May I however make

satisfaction, as soon as I come upon copyof the mentioned compositions,

and, God willing, I will publish them in a book. So that this book would not
be concluded without a specimen of Musica Pathetica, we have decided to
deal with variousstyles of composition, so that it would be possible to discern
through ingenious compositions whether they more suitably worthy than

othersin stirring up the emotions.

Chapter Five: Concerning the varyingartifice of harmonic styles

Musical style can be considered here in two ways, as either interior or

exterior. Interior musical style is nothing other than a certain habit of mind,
depending on the natural temperamentof man, through which the musician
is more inclined to pursue a composition through one device rather than

another. This, indeed, is equal in its variety to the diversity of temperaments

shining forth in men. Exteriorstyle is nothing other than a certain sure skill
and method, which is manifest in certain compositions. Of these styles, we
resume an accountof chiefly eight types.

De
 [Marginal heading] Various musical styles, and which they are

Let the first of these be the ecclesiastical, which is shown in the

compositions of masses, hymns, graduals and antiphons.This again is

twofold, eitherstrict or free. Thestrict is that which is accomplished exactly

according to a cantus firmus or chorale which it has for a subject. The freeis

that which resides in the freedom of the composer, restricted to no subject or

cantus firmus, andof both of these, the most apt examples are supplied by the
works of Palestrina, Morales, and ofthe earlier Josquin des Prez, Obrecht,
Cipriano di Rore, countless others, and in our time, by the most celebrated
pontifical musician Gregorio Allegri. Indeed, so that you might see an
absolute specimenof ecclesiastical music, we place here a Crucifixus,

composedby Palestrina, becauseit is such a workof most exquisite genius that

it is deservedly held in admiration byall musicians."! [A582]

Example 20 [p. 86]

[A583]
Canonicstyle. The canonic style is a harmonic process where more voices are

folded in with some single voice. As this has been dealt with fully in Book
Five, we send the reader there. The most opportuneplace forit is in the

composition of ecclesiastical song, or counterpoints, andit has always been

greatly valued byall musicians.It givesflavorto the great dexterity of an

ingenious musician. Among modern musicians, so noble a style haslately

goneinto decline, as there are hardly any who apply their spirit or talent to

such a praiseworthy style. Whetherthis is for the sake of avoiding labor, or

. From the Missa Pape Marcelli.

53
from ignorance,I leave, in fairness, for the readerto judge. However,so that
such an ingenious type of music should notfall into neglect over time, two of

the noblest Roman musicians have contributed to restoring its spirit. The
earlier of them, Micheli Romano,tried to restore canonic music through
various elevated small works, adorned with different and novel inventions,
and of this type is the canon which is singable by 36 voices distributed in nine
choirs, [A584] which wehave presentedin the frontispiece of this book, and
intend here to explain a little morefully.

Example21[p. 90]

Declaration for the above mentioned canon. Bass begins, as shown. Tenor, at

the same time with the bass, sings at the interval of the twelfth, but in

contrary motion. Alto indeed, after one beat, at the octave. Sopranoatthe
sametime withthealto, at the nineteenth, but by contrary motion. And thus

the first chorus is arranged.

The four parts of the second chorus, beingbass, tenor, alto and soprano,

go forth in the same wayasthe above,butafter two beats.

Third chorusafter four beats. Fourth chorus after six beats. Fifth chorus

after eight beats. Sixth chorus after 10 beats. Seventh chorusafter 12 beats.
Eighth chorusafter 14 beats. Ninth chorusafter 16 beats.

Example22 [p. 90]

The acute readerwill find in this canon of 36 voices whatis clearly

most worthy of admiration, that no voice concords in unison with another

54
(something which is accustomed to occur very often with other polyphonies).
Hewill also find many other things that are beyond the skill of vulgar
musicians, which I would wish the readerto note.

Anotheris the Roman Pietro Francesco Valentini, a man born to

advance music, who assembled the most vast tomes on the various practices

of music. He was not so much experienced in practical music as in the

speculative. At the end of Book Five, we cited the canon, which can be sung
by 96 voices, which he called “Solomon’s Knot.” He also contrived a new
method for constructing canonson oneline, as is revealed by the two

following canons, which I have presented here in order to explain them

briefly, and so that the man’s ingenuity and novelty ofartifice might more
brilliantly cometo light. [A585]
The following canon on oneline (which is A la-mi-re), for groups of

two, three or four voices, is realized moreoverin contrary motion. According

to the figures above and below,the parts enter in a numberof different ways
(many of which have been omitted here) at the consonances shown by the

numbers—whichhavetheeffect of signaling the entrance of the parts—in a

measure equal] to four semiminims.

Example 23[p. 91]

A canon on oneline, with words, to be soundedby a groupof four

voices,either as a pair against a pair, or a group of three voices against one
other; the parts proceed in contrary motion.

55
 [Marginal heading] Linear canon

Example 24[p. gi]

Moreover,all the artifices, which have been omitted for the sake of
brevity, must be noticed, for if this page is turned around, so that the upper

portion is changed with the lower, the present canon (which can also be sung
in different ways by groupsof two, three or four voices), proceeding from
finish to start, would be sungjustasif the page had notbeenturned,just as
either part of the canon may be undertaken through the same words and

notes delineated on the oppositeside.

Andthese are the things I have presented to describe the canonicstyle.

Whotruly desires more music of our invention concerning the composition

of canons, let him consider Book Eight, where he will find certain marvels

andrarities of material of this kind.

[Marginal heading] Motet style
The motetstyle is a harmonic process, weighty, full of majesty, florid in

the greatest variety, restricted by no subject. It is called the motet because the

modeor tone adoptedis covered by by a mixture of other sounds with such

artifice that it is entangled with an ingeniousvariety, and its meaning can

hardly be discerned before the end. Ingenious examples are supplied for your
astonishmentin motets by the mentioned authors, and above, in Book Five
(page 322, Domine vim patior, and the hymn Ave maris stella on page 316).

: In the original example, the clef and key signature are placed upside-down atthe
right-hand margin,andthe text is mirrored above the music, so that the result is the sameif
the exampleis read from either above or below.
56
 [Marginal heading] Fantastic style
Thefantasy style, suitable for instruments, is the mostfree and loosest

method of composing, restricted in no ways, neither by words nor harmonic

subject, andit is established for showing the ingenuity and changing methods
of harmony, the ingenuity of harmonic phrases, andthe related techniqueof
fugues.It is divided into what are commonlycalled fantasies, ricercares,

toccatas and sonatas. See compositions of this sort in Book Five (pages 343 and

311), and considerthe three-part inventions composed by us in Book Six

(pages 466, 480 and 487), whichare suited to different instruments. [A586]
[Marginal heading] Madrigalstyle
The madrigalstyle is a certain harmonic process most aptfor the

expression of the virtues of moralactions, of loves and of other inventive

allusions to stories and fables. See these in the distinguished works of Luca
Marenzio, Augusto Agazzari, Gesualdo and countless others; some will have

it that they obtain their name from Madrigallo,the first creator of the same,
and examples of the same can be seen in whatfollows.
[Marginal heading] Melismatic style
Whatis thus called the melismatic, from the sweetness of the melody,

is a harmonic style most suited to verses, and from consideration of the

meters, it usually applies to two parts, sometimesthree or at most four. The
individual parts are distinguished by the repetition of certain figures, by
whichthey signify the repetition of clauses or harmonicdivision. To this
style are recalled all those songs, commonly called ariettas and villanelles,
which aboundat homeorin the countryside, either for the private recreation

or exercise of singers. See examplesof this style in Giovanni Battista Ferrini,

and in BookFive, page 314 and page 317, and in Book Seven,along with

57
various examples of rhythmic composition.

[Marginal heading] Choric and theatrical style

The hyporchematic’® style, most apt for games,festivities or

celebrations is twofold: either theatrical or choral. The theatrical serves for the

exhibition of choral scenes, andis suitably established accordingto metrical

laws. The choral, or choric, is established according to the distinguished law of
musical measure, in proportionin its motion and gestures to the movements

of dancing. And from this, it answers that there are as many species of this

style as there are methods of moving in choral dance.

These are commonlycalled galliards, correntes, passamezzi,

allemandes and sarabandes, and examplesof these have been supplied to us

by the noble German musician Kapsberger, who is most famous for the
publication of countless musical volumes, both manuscript and printed, and
who, working with the greatest ingenuity through the powerof the other
sciences in which he wasskilled, happily penetrated the secrets of music.It is

he to whom posterity owesall those harmonic elegances, which are

commonlycalled strascina, mordents and gruppi, and which are customarily

used bylutenists on the theorbo andlyre, and if I may speak frankly, he

broughtforth the true method for playing and entabulating. Indeed, he
handled mostall types of harmonic styles with the greatest excellence.
In choral dance, the harmonic time and motion must correspond most
greatly to the gestures of the dance. Those two things seem by nature to be

placed in men:for just as soon as we hear the harmonic and measured

melody, we are incited by some concealed stimulusto a similar motion in

proportion to its time and harmony.Indeed to what proportion of musical

= From the Greek vxopxeonat, to dance with or to music.

58
 time this style has intervals most appropriate for choral motions, so much
doesit also presenta simplereffect on the dancing. Indeed,as all of these

things have been shownin part in Book Six, we direct the reader there.

Example 25 [p. 92)'4

[A587]
The present example teachescertainly how prettily and ingeniously

Kapsberger has turned outthe choral style in this, in which the choric laws
have been observedperfectly and to a nicety.

Example 26 [p. 93]

[A589]
The running dance, whichItalians call correntes and the French,

courantes, is a species of choric melisma, established however undera

different prior proportion; it has various motives of speed mixed with
slowness. Indeed, as the present example showsthe nature and property of
the said melisma,I have thusalso not found it necessary to describe it with

further words.

Example 27 [p. 95]

[A590]

- This example, and the three that follow (Exx. 26-28 in the Appendix), are presented
in an aligned open-score formatin the original, but have been reducedto short-score here. The
numbering as“Paradigma I, II, IV, V’ results because of the two sections of the second example.
59
 Thegalliard is another species of the choric style, anditis called by this
namebecauseof the incitement by whichit rouses dancers. Indeed,it has a

certain vigor, mixed with soft gravity, by whichthespirit is strongly stirred

up, bothto the particular affects, and to movements proportionateto the
measures. Consider indeed the following example by Hieronymus
Kapsberger.

Example28[p. 97]

[A592]
[Marginal heading] Symphonic style
The symphonicstyle is a certain method of composing those
symphonies where the concordsof various instrumentsare used in
harmony;anditis diverse, accord to the diversity of the instruments.
There is indeed one symphonicstyle in the ensemble of lyres, another

in the agreementsof lutes, another in the consonance of pipes andflutes, and

finally another in the accomplishing of symphonies for bugles and drums.
See examplesof all of these in Book Six, concerning instrumental music.
There are also such things which are simply called symphonies, as we place

here below a specimenofthis type by the authorcited just above.

Example29 [p. 99]

[A594]

Example 30[p. 101]

60
 This style pertains particularly to the ecclesiastical, and should be put
immediately below the Crucifixus by Palestrina.
[Marginal heading] Dramatic or recitative style
Finally, the dramatic style, or recitative, as in the type for comedies,

tragedies and dramas, adheresto the laws of meter. Becauseofthis, it is in

general as muchfree from harmonic clauses and the luxuriant dance of

voices, as it generally strives to express the intended feelings through related

material.
Amongthefirst to be famousfor this style was Claudio Monteverdi, as
his opera Ariadne showed. Following him, H. Kapsberger gave out various
things in the recitative style; these were composed with the greatest taste and
skill, and are certainly most worthy to be imitated by musicians. The
following example is one of this type, where it introduces the dialogueof the

reckonings of the eternal fire in the supplication of the sons and parents,
whichis truly shown there, through the ingenuity, taste and artifice of the

harmonic measure, so that it exhibits almost truly the laments of the

wretched.

Example 31 [p. 102]

[A597]
[Marginal heading] To which affects certain styles inspire the spirit
Certainly it must be noted that these individual enumeratedstyles are
suitable for different things, and for the rousing of different affects. In this

way,the ecclesiastical style, full of majesty, brings the spirit wonderfully over

61
to whatit describes. The motetstyle, florid in its conspicuousvariety, thus
also brings together the rousing of various affects. The madrigal style is most
greatly suitable for carrying the spirit toward love, compassion, and the
remaining softer affections. The hyporchematicis useful for gladness and
playful dances;if it is more vigorous for some particular reason, it leads to
dissoluteness. Finally, the recitative, in insisting on the subject matter, brings

the listeners back to the affects to whichit refers.

For whattypesitis fitting to be singers, who would beideal for performing

Musica Pathetica
Musica Pathetica may be composed according to every strictness of
rules; if, however, it does not happen upon singers whoare entirely excellent

in thisart, it will not be moving, nor will its intent be expressed. Forif it

obtains singers proportionate to this business—and as I should say, ones who

are truly experienced, dexterous and equipped with graceful voices—I do not

doubt that the pathetic harmony, woken from torpor and reaching vigor, will
begin to pinch the soul strongly. Andit will then acquire an even greater and
more excellent increase of its virtue [A598] on the theater stage, whenit is

adorned correspondingly with magnificence, and whenit enters upon the

selected subject matter, and is performed by musical actors clothed in scenic

costumes, who have learned to unite a grace of harmony and beauty with the

whole action by meansof the voice, motions of the hands andfeet, and other
apposite gestures of the entire body.
[Marginal heading] Praise of Roman musicians or singers
Forthe rest, singers instructedin all the things sought for moving
feelings today are very few, as these graces are seldom accustomedto occur

62
together in one person. Nonetheless, Romeatthis time (as I say nothing

aboutother places) does notlack for the truly most eminent musicians,
amongst whomrightly merits praise Domenico Palombi, whooriginates

from San Severino, and was once an imperial and now the most delicate
pontifical musician, and moreover, beyond his musical skill and other things,

being known for excellence of voice, he is possessed of especially ingenious

vivacity. Along with him can be mentioned Francesco Bianchi, similarly a

pontifical musician, and Giovanni Marciani, both tenors; also, the alto Mario

Savioni, and indeed the bass Bartolomeo Nicolini, equally a pontifical

musician, and countless others, whom it would be tedious to list here. And

finally, I shall say nothing concerning the distinguished singers of supreme

voice whoare to be found in the German college, and who are mostexcellent

in their suavity of voice and their skill in art. With such or similar

outstanding musicians, I am convinced that some skilled and diligent choir

leader, through his especially progressive, elegant and ingenious
composition, is able to excite in the spirits of the listeners the affects which
the writers of old histories once proclaimed and so much commendedto to

posterity.

63
 CONCLUSION

Kircher makes his substantive exposition of Musica Pathetica in these

five chapters of the seventh book of Musurgia universalis, although some of
these questions of affect arise again elsewhere in the work, in connection with

discussions of musical rhetoric and music therapy.’ The sixth chapter which

followsis largely concerned with further examples of a wide-ranging

repertory—sacred and secular works by Palestrina, Gesualdo and Carissimi,

among others—whichservetoillustrate the practical expression of particular

affects. The remainder of book then departs into more tangential matters:
musical license in the use of dissonances; the chromatic and enharmonic

genera in composition; modal mutation; white-note and black-note notation;

and finally, regal music—meaning music composed bykings, with examples

from Ferdinand II and Louis XII.”

Forall of the practical examples, Kircher’s examination of Musica
Pathetica remains a useful and significant construct, but one that is largely
theoretical (speculative rather than didactic). The notion of a systematic
Affektenlehre is a very attractive one (as muchin the presenttime, as in the

: Kircher, Musurgia: see B141ff, concerning rhetoric, which restates the descriptions of
the affects and modes; also B213ff, concerning the physiological and medicaleffects of music.

: Kircher, Musurgia, A620-690.

64
Baroque), but no suchsystem is to be found in Musurgia universalis—or
anywhereelse, for that matter. In this way, Kircher is unfortunately highly
representative of the musical theorists of his time.

Manywriters ascribed certain affective qualities to the various church

modes, although few agreed on specific details. Other suggested the
certain affections might be portrayed through specific dance genres,
types of rhythm orliterary forms. The generally accepted affective
nature of the variousintervals also led some writers to suggest certain
interval combinations for representing affections. While all of these
suggestions were no doubtlegitimate methodsof expressing the
affections, particularly for those writers who were suggesting them, a
generally valid doctrine or Lehre cannotbe discerned. What can be
established, however,is the general principle of expressing the
affections. The primary goal of Baroque music is defined by the
composer’s intent to objectively present a rationalized emotionalstate
: < 5 3
referred to as an affection, as diverse as this process may have been.

Kircher’s wonderful proposal—of commissioning a variety of

composers from different nations to write examples expressing the principal
affects, and comparing theresults, as if to determine a cultural bias in the
interpretation of emotions—also yielded no concrete results, and falls into

the category of imaginary things, so wonderful to contemplate, had they ever

existed. (It is interesting to note, too, that this idea was apparently not

entirely original to Kircher: Mersenne, after the publication of Harmonie

universelle in 1636-7, had arranged for a contest between the French

composer Antoine Boésset and his Dutch contemporary Joan Albert Ban,the

results of which formedthe basis for Mersenne’s extensive correspondence

: Bartel, 30.

m Kircher, Musurgia, A581.

65
with other scholars on the subjects of text-setting and musical expression.)

Andyet, for all of the subjectivity and idiosyncrasies, Kircher was a

highly regarded andhighly representative scholar in his time, and his

particular perspective between GermanandItalian musical culturesis

perhaps unique.Forall of the questions Kircher leaves unresolved, or for

which he providesneither concrete nor verifiable evidence, he can also be

interpreted as giving a normative and scholarly view of these matters in the

terms of their contemporary perception.

Musurgia universalis continued to have a certain prestige and

considerable influence on musical literature until the 1730s, after whichit

was regardedlargely as an antiquarian curiosity. Part of this was due toa

changing professional climate in music—someof the questions about
Kircher’s musical authority have been mentioned above—anda continuing
movement awayfrom Kircher’s reactionary, almost medieval, scholastic
frame of reference, one which had implicitly viewed such scholarship as
intended for an audience of interested, educated laymen, rather than
= 3 fo 6
practicing musicians.

This criticism of Musurgia gained considerable weight during the

course of the decades. In stronger measure, the new musical forms and
presentation influenced by Italian harmony became moreeffective in
Germany, andstood as a contradiction which could notbe bridged
against the Kircherian stress on the contrapuntalstilus gravis. Parallel
to this, a new attitude impresseditself on the question of composition:
that rational criteria should no longerbe the exclusive foundation of

5 ,
Bianconi, 56.

e Scharlau, 338.
66
 pps 7.
composition.

Asthe conceptsof affect and expression remained fundamental to the

music of the German Baroque, manyof his ideas were preserved through the
writings of Andreas Werckmeister (1645-1706), who transformed Kircher’s

thought and “built it up as his own musical philosophy determined through

his orthodox Protestantism.”* In time, proponents vanished, though Kircher

still received someattention in the late eighteenth century from detractors

such as Charles Burney, who described the Musurgia as a “huge book,” but
pointed out that “a muchlarger one might be composed in pointing outits
<i 9
errors and absurdities.”

In effect, a new sort of rationalism in eighteenth-century musical

thought cameto deny the rational basis for Kircher’s Musica Pathetica. The

conceptof a systematicarticulation of a doctrineof affections, and the attempt

to uncoverits illusionary methodology, could not be reconciled to this

enlightened subjectivity.
No more would a preconceived affect be presented as an objective type,
rather a sentiment would be expressed directly. The Baroquerelation of
distance between the composerand the “materia” of music has nearly
disappeared. At the sametime, resistance diminishes to admitting to a

_ Scharlau, 339: “Diese Kritik an der ‘Musurgia’ gewinn in Laufe der Jahrzehnte an
inhaltlichem Gewicht. In starkerem Mae wurden auch in Deutschland die neuen, vom
italienischen Wohlklang gepragten musikalischen Formen und Vorstellungen wirksam,die in
einem uniiberbriickbaren Widerspruch zur Kircherschen Betonung des kontrapunktischen Stilus
gravis standen.Parallel dazu pragte sich aucheine neue Einstellung zur Frage des
Komponierens: Rationale Kritierien sollen nicht langer die ausschlieBlich Grundlage der
Komposition sein.”

: Scharlau, 371: “In zahlreichen Schriften transformierte er Kirchers Gedanken and

bautesie in seine eigene, durch seinen orthodoxen Protestantismus bestimmte Musikphilosophie
ein.”

4 Scharlau, 362.
67
 further step, whichhassince then been as given concerning music:that
the “materia” of music has become more compliant and available to
the subjectivity of the composer. °

On this account, the theorist may be excused someofhis subjectivities,

too, in the spirit of the words of Kircher’s epilogue, prayerfully addressed to
his Creator: “For now I have accomplished the task of my profession, using as

manystrengthsof ability as You have given to me.”

= Dammann, 496: ”... nicht mehr ein vorgefaSter Affekt wird als Typusobjektiv
dargestellt, sondern eine Empfindung unmittelbar ausgedriickt. Das barocke Distanzverhiltnis
des Komponisten zur ‘materia’ der Musik ist nahezu verschwunden. Zugleich ist der
Einla@widerstand um einen weiteren Schritt vermindert, der bis dahin von der Musik her
gegeben war. Die musikalische ‘materia’ ist nachgiebiger und der Subjektivitat des
Komponisten verfiigbar geworden.”
11 . : hae .
Kircher, Musurgia, B462: “En nunc opus consumavi professionis meee, tantis usus
ingenii viribus, quantas mihi dedisti.”
68
 APPENDIX

MUSICAL EXAMPLES

Example1. [The differences between the steps]

oe

ul re re mi mi fa fa sol sol la re mi mi fa
48 54 4 CO 6a 64 64 72 72 80 80 99 90 96

8to9 9to10 15 to 16 8to9 9to 10 8to9 15 to 16

Example 2. The steps of the diatonic octave

69
Example 3. The Turkish "Allah, Allah"

Chuypd Chuypd

Example 4. The Chinese manner of singing before the idol called Confucius

Chorda 1 chorda 2 chorda 3 chorda 4 chorda 5 chorda 6

1&2 3&4 5&6 7&8 9&10 11 & 12

Example5. [The modes]

Chorda ficta chorda2 chorda3 chorda4 chorda5 chorda 6 (numberof the chorda)
1&2 3&4 5&6 7&8 9&10 11 & 12 (numberof the modes)

Example6. [The transposed modes]

70
Harmonic disposition of the authentic modes. The authentic modes have
the fifth below andthe fourth abovein the octave.

oO <r
=
$ ol <E T —oe T —_—— = T a 1)
met > C —s- T eo T {| —«¥ <1)
[oe
¢ o oe oO 4
First Third Fifth Seventh Ninth Eleventh
Fifth below

Arithmetic disposition of the modes.The plagal modes havethefifth above

and the fourth belowin the octave, as shown.

Metathesis or transposition of the modes in appropriate octaves by the

fourth, according to harmonic disposition. The authentic modes.

First Third Fifth Seventh Ninth [Eleventh]

Second Fourth Sixth Eighth Tenth [A?] Twelfth

Example 7. [Examples of the modes]

71
 Transposition of the mode a fourth above

Example 8. Example of the first mode D

72
Example 9. Example of the second mode A

73
Example 9. Continued A

74
Example 10. Example of the third mode E
75
 om - nes qui tran - si - - - tis vi - de -

Example 11. Example of the fourthmode B

76
 Transposition

do-lor me - us

Example 11.Continued B
Example 12. Example of the fifth mode F
78
 te for- tes in bel - lo a a - gha-te cum an- - quo ser-

pen - te

Example 13. Exampleof the sixth mode C

79
 a - ni-ma me - a qui- a a- mo - Te tw - i lan -

gue - o

Example 14. Example of the seventh mode G

80
Example 15. Example of the eighth mode D

81
 Transposition

Example 15. Continued D

82
 Transposition

cob la-men ta - ba-tr la -

cob la-men - ta - ba - tur Ia - cob

Example 16. Example of the ninth mode A

83
 Transposition

Example 17. Example of the tenth mode E

84
 Ma - gni - fi - cat ma - gn - - - - - - - - fi -

a-ni - ma me - - - a Do - ~ = 7
cat

——_~—s-—‘mii- num

Example 18. Example of the eleventh mode C

85
 ter a- gi-t et con - for - te - tur cor ves - tum

Example 19. Example of the twelfthmode G

86
 Ge - ad: fi = =e © - i = am po so -_ bis

Example 20. [Palestrina Crucifixus]

87
Example 20. Continued

88
Example 20. Continued

89
 Sanc-tus " " Sanc-tus " " Sanctus " " Sanc-tus" " Sanc - tus

Example 21. Canonto be sung by 36 voices, namely in nine choirs

Voice by contrary motion

2 oa I I <> I x I _
Enea Seem Ct Bee a. L dec | I
1 ac lace a 4 o— I 1 1.
1 eh cago Sisodicaml I ri 1 I B
wt

I - 1 I r I I
1 t 1 _ 1 J 4 1

sae”Ss”
I 1 I T ] i J aa t
4 I I I ik I I ua I
q|

Voice by contrary motion

e—5-- T = +7 ae T 7
et
atle et oe Tr
7m -
__ tt tt
Ss a r= ——e—F-— r t t
T

res t =@ +-#
Sanc-tus Sanc-tus Sanc-tus Sanc-tus Sanc-tus Sanc-tus Sanctus Sanc-tus Sanc - tus
Istchorus 2nd chorus 3rd 4th Sth 6th Th Sth Kh

Example 22. [Realization of the canon]

 12
10 10
a. So oe 35663 5 3; 3 3 66
eoee58vee oeoeeeeee eoeee ee

Ab mal} | 2 2 ~~. 2 2 | iy
bed | a Te
et | |

Be =- a <= es Vir go Ma a
eoee3e38ee eoeeeoeee3ee eoeeve ee
468 8 6 6 5 6 65 5 4 6 8 8 6 6 55
6 6

Example 23. [Canon on oneline]

esodsd
Chris-te spes a-ni-maeve-te di-li-gen - tis. Vi- va ig-nis flam-ma a-ni-mae a-man-tis
%
%

Example 24. [Linear canon]

91
 dad

Example 25. First example of dance composition by Kapsberger

92
 s

te

%
th

Example 26. Second example [Kapsberger dance composition]

93
Example 26. Continued

94
 io

* Tela
+++ 4

won
|

Example 27. Fourth example of dance composition [Corrente]

DS
 Ts

Example 27. Continued

96
Example 28. Fifth example [Galliard]

97
Example 28. Continued

98
 £26 .% 6 43# # 43 43# 6b#

Example 29. Symphony a 4, accommodated to all types of instruments

99
 43 65 43 b #

Example 29. Continued

100
 Ky-- =e e - lei - son Ky - n - e e -

le - i - son

Example30. [Ecclesiastical style]

101
 Da ques - to pet - to

- Te Sug-ges - t fi - glio il lat

pur son pur son tua mad - ; ti fui pad-re si ca-ro un

tem-po ond’ é con tan-to o bli - 0? Mi - ra fra-tel - loa ma-to

Example 31. Example of recitative style

102
 mi - cia - hi che do len - te sta

ogn' hor tra fiam-mear-den - ti

4#3

4#3 #

che mi la-scia-te fre

Example 32. Continued

103
 con-ta - cii miei mar -ti i chi mo-rir mi ve - de, e non m'a

ne cac - claem pio

gi - te-ne rat- toincie - Ja—_—

Example 32. Continued

104
 se pie-ta gli por - geil vos - to di

chiio non

ch'io non vor - 10.

Example 32. Continued

105
 I'Al - ma mia tio - - no-roincie -

bel - la, che co-tan-to a ma-i mo-ns-ti si,

non mor- ra gia} ma-i la/| fiam-ma che nel mio sen rac chi-ug-go, e ce -

# # # 43#

Example 32. Continued

106
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bartel, Dietrich. Musica Poetica: Musical-Retorical Figures in German

Baroque Music. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.

Bianconi, Lorenzo. Music in the Seventeenth Century. Translated by David

Bryant. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

Dammann,Rolf. Der Musikbegriff im deutschen Barock. Laaber-Verlag, 1984.

Evans,R. J. W. The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy 1550-1700: An

Interpretation. Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1979.

Kircher, Athanasius. Musurgia universalis. Facsimile of 1650 edition; preface

and indices by Ulf Scharlau. Hildesheim: Georg OlmsVerlag, 1999.

Lewis, Charlton T. A Latin Dictionary (Lewis and Short). Oxford: Clarendon

Press, 1897.

Liddel and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1871.

Lippmann, Edward. A History of Western Musical Aesthetics. Lincoln:

University of Nebraska Press, 1992.

Scharlau, Ulf. Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680) als Musikschriftsteller: Ein

Beitrag zur Musikanschauung des Barock. In the series Studien zur
hessischen Musikgeschichte, Vol.2, edited by Heinrich Hiischen.
Marburg, 1969.

Smith, Sir William and Sir John Lockwood. Chambers-Murray Latin-English

Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers, 1933.

107
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Peeter Tammearu wasborn in 1956, and received diplomas in piano

performance and composition (ARCT, 1978, 1979) at the Royal Conservatory
of Music in Toronto, where he was a memberof the faculty from 1981 to 1993.
Hereceived a master’s degree in composition from Southern Methodist
University in Dallas (MM, 1996), and held an Artistic Merit Scholarship at the

MeadowsSchoolof the Arts, where he was Acting Instructor of theory from

1994 to 1996. He received the doctorate in composition (DM, 1999) and
master’s degree in music theory (MM,2000) from TheFlorida State
University, where he held a College Teaching Fellowship, and wasa teaching
assistant in music theory and composition from 1996 to 2000.

108