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The mufical fcieiice of Zarlino, who died in 1599, may be 

 traced in a right line from the Netherlands : as his mafter 

 Willaert, the founder of the Venetian fchool, was a dif- 

 ciple of John Mouton, the fcholar of the great Jofquin. 



A commentary upon the voluminous writings of this 

 author would occupy too large a portion of our work ; 

 and to refer the reader to the analyfis of his feveral treatifes 

 by Artufi would be doing him little fervice, as the writings 

 of Artufi would be difficult to find. There are few 

 mufical authors whom we have more frequently confulted 

 than Zarlino, having been encouraged by his great reputa- 

 tion, and the extent of his plan, to hope for fatisfaftion 

 from his writings concerning many difficulties in the mufic 

 of the early contrapuntifts ; but we muft own, that we have 

 been more frequently difcouraged from the purfuit by his 

 prolixity, than enlightened by his fcience : the mod trivial 

 information is involved in fuch a crowd of words, and the 

 fufpenfe which it occafions is fo great, that patience and 

 curiofity muft be invincible indeed to fupport a mufical 

 inquirer through a regular perufal of all his works. 



He begins his Inftitutes with a panegyric upon mufic, 

 in the ufual ftrain ; then we have its divifion into mundane 

 and humane, faithfully drawn from Boethius ; after this, 

 there is a great wafte of words, and parade of fcience, in 

 attempting to explain the feveral ratios of greater and lefs 

 inequality, proportion, and proportionality, &c. where, in 

 his commenting on Boethius, we have divifions of mufical 

 intervals that are imprafticable, or at leaft inadmiffible, 

 in modern harmony. 



In his account of the ancient fyftem, he difcovers much 

 reading ; and that is what he chiefly wifhes the reader 

 fhould know. > 



In defcribing the diatonic genus, in which the tetrachord 

 is divided into tone major, tone minor, and major femitone : 

 4, '-^t and -J-J, for which divifion, commonly called the 

 fyntonou?, or intenfe of Ptolemy, he conftantly contends, 

 we have the fubftance of his difpute with Vincenzio Galilei, 

 which will be mentioned hereafter. The fecond part of 

 his Inl\itutes is chiefly employed in meafuring and afcer- 

 taining intervals by means of the monochordy and an inftru- 

 ment called the mefolabe, which is faid to have been invented 

 either by Archytas of Tarentum, or Eraftohenet, for the 

 purpofe of halving an interval. Whether the praftical mufi- 

 cians of antiquity applied thefe calculations or imaginary divi- 

 fions to their flutes and lyres, we know not ; but of this we are 

 moft certain, that the greateft performers of modern times 

 are Ariftoxenians, and make the ear the only inftrument of 

 calculation ; which, by means of harmony, and the con- 

 ftant opportunities of comparifon which the bafe or other 

 accompaniment affords them, during performance, is ren- 

 dered a much more trufty guide than it could be in playing 

 a fingle part. It feems, however, as if the ancient inftru- 

 ments, upon which all the tones zrcjixed, had more need of 

 the affiftance of calculation and mathematical exaAnefs in 

 regulating their intervals than thofe of the violin -tribe at 

 prefent ; which, except in the open llrings, which often 

 lead the performer to erroneous intonation, depend on the 

 ftrength and dexterity of the mufician's hand, and accuracy 

 of his ear, during ptrformance. See an ingenious and ufeful 

 work, called " Eflay upon Tune," publifhed at Edinburgh, 

 1781 ; where the imperfeftions in the fcales of modern in- 

 flruments are clearly fhewn, and remedies for correfting 

 them prefcribed. 



The elements of counterpoint, and fundamental rules of 

 compofition, which chiefly concern the praAical mufician, 

 are given in the third part of the Inftitutes ; and thefe are 

 more ample, and illuftrated with more examples, than in any 



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preceding writer ; particulariy the laws of canon and fikrue, 

 tor which no mftrudions have been given by Franchmua, 

 though they were in fuch high favour during his time! 

 P. Aaron and Vicentino have indeed ftarted the fubjeft, but 

 the purfuit of it was left to Zariino. 



In the fourth part of the Inftitutes we have a fhort hif- 

 torical account of the inventors of the feveral ecclefiaftical 

 modes : it is, indeed, a mere flveleton of aflertions or con- 

 jedures without proof, more derived from traditional thao 

 written evidence. He here hkewife gives inftrudions for 

 compofing in all thefe modes, in which he rehgioufly keeps 

 within their legal limits, and fubmits to all the reftraints 

 which antiquity had prefcribed. 



Padre Martini, faggio di contrappunto, in recommending 

 the ftudy and imitation of ancient mafters, has well de- 

 fcribed the difficulties they had to encounter ; where, after 

 confronting the ecclefiaftical fcales with the fecular, we 

 have the following pan"age : " From an attentive and 

 comparative view of thefe fcales, any one defirous of learn- 

 ing the art of counterpoint for the fervice of the church, 

 will fee what diligence and efforts were neceffary to unite 

 the different quahties of canto-fermo and canto-figurato ; 

 and by carefully examining the examples given of both, will 

 difcover what artifices were ufed by ancient mafters to 

 avoid fuch founds as differed from the canto-fermo, and 

 with what parfimony they admitted fuch accidents as canto- 

 figurato requires, particularly in the third and fourth tones ; 

 where, inftead of modulating into B mi, the 5th of the 

 mode or key, as is conftantly praftifed at prefent, they have 

 paffed to the key of A in the fourth tone, and C in the 

 third, by which means they hare been able, dexteroufly, to 

 unite the different qualities of canto-fermo with thofe of 

 canto-figurato." 



He gives excellent rules for compofing motets and madri- 

 gals ; but it is remarkable, that he advifes the compofer to 

 make the tenor proceed regularly through the founds of the 

 mode he fliall choofe ; and above all, that this part be fo 

 much the more fmooth, regular, and beautiful, as the reft 

 are to be built upon it ; whence, fays he, its founds may be 

 called the nerves and ligaments of all the other parts : by 

 which it appears that the cantilena, or principal melody, 

 was not given, as it is by modern compofers, to the foprano, 

 or higheji part ; that caftrati were not fo common as at pre- 

 fent ; and that the tenor being the kind of voice moft eafily 

 found, and more generally good than that of any other 

 pitch, was judicioufly honoured with the principal melody. 



ZarUno fays, that fo great was the rage for multiplying 

 parts in mufical compofitions, that fome mafters, not content 

 with three or four, which fufficed to their predeceffors, had 

 increafed them to fifty ; from which, he truly obferves, 

 nothing but noife and confufion could arife. However, in 

 another part of his book, he tells us, that Adriano Willaert 

 had invented niaffes a Due Cori, over a tre, or, as fome 

 call them, a Cori Spe%zati, which had an admirable effeft. 

 We know not how Okenheim difpofed his thirty-fix parts 

 in the motet already mentioned ; but they would have 

 furnifhed nine choirs of four voices each. In the large 

 churches of Italy, where the performers are divided into 

 two bands, placed in oppofite galleries, all the imitations 

 and folo parts are diftinftly heard, and when united in at 

 leaft eight real parts, completely fill the ears of the audience 

 with all the charms of congregated found. 



ZARMISOGETUSA Regia, in Ancient Geography, 

 a capital town of Dacia, upon the river Sargetia. When 

 this city became a Roman colony, it joined to its ancient 

 name " Colonia Ulpia Trajana," or that of " Augufta 

 Dacica." 



ZARU 



