MUSIC. 
800 
By the ftatutes of the univerfity of Oxford, it is re¬ 
quired of every proceeder to the degree of bachelor in 
malic, that he employ feven years in the ftudy or pra&ice 
of that faculty, and at the end of that term produce a 
teftimonial of his having fo done, under the hands of cre¬ 
dible witneffes; and that, previous to the fupplication of 
his grace towards this degree, he compofe a piece of five 
parts, and perform the fame publicly in the mufic-fchool, 
with vocal and inftrumental mufic, firft caufing to be af¬ 
fixed on each of the doors of the great gates of the fchools 
a programma, giving three days notice of the day and 
hour of each performance. Of a bachelor proceeding to 
the degree of doftor, it is required that he (hall ftudy five 
years after the taking his bachelor's degree, and produce 
the like proof of his having fo done as is requifite in the 
cafe of a bachelor; and farther, (hall compofe a piece in 
fix or eight parts, and publicly perform the fame “ turn 
vocibus quam inltrumentis etiam muficis,” on fome day 
to be appointed for that purpofe, previoufly notifying the 
day and hour of performance in the manner before pre- 
fcribed. Such exercile to be performed in the prefence of 
Dr. Heyther’s profelfor of mufic. This being done, the 
candidate (hall fupplicate his grace in the convocation- 
lioufe; which being granted by both theSavilian profefibrs, 
or by fome mafter of arts deputed by them for that purpofe, 
he (hall be prefented to his degree. 
The firft qualification for the degree either of bachelor 
or doftor in mufic, was formerly the reading and expound¬ 
ing of certain books in Boethius, as the only writings 
whence knowledge in the principles of the l’cience could 
be acquired. (See the ftatutes of the univerfity.) But 
the candidate for academical degrees is no longer put to 
this teft ; he is now to compofe an exercife for voices and 
inftruments in fix or eight parts, which he is to fubmit to 
the infpedftion of the mufic-profefl'or, and to have publicly 
performed in the mufic-fchool of the univerfity. 
Wood, in his Fafti, has been able to produce no names 
of muficians that have been enrolled among the graduates 
of the univerfity of Oxford before the fixteenth century, 
though we are told of feveral at Cambridge of an earlier 
period. John Hambois is imagined by fome to be the 
firft mufician who was honoured in England with the title 
of dodtor; but, w’hether this Hambois was a member of 
this univerfity, or of Oxford, does not appear; nor indeed 
is it precifely known at what time he received his diploma. 
In Hollinlhed’s Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 1355, there is an 
enumeration of the mod eminent men of learning in the 
reign of Edward IV. among whom the author includes 
John Hamboys, “ an excellent mufician,” adding, that 
“ for his notable cunning therein he was made a dodtor 
of mufic.” But academical honours in the faculty of 
mufic may be traced up to the year 14-63, when Henry Ha- 
bengton was admitted to the degree of bachelor of mufic 
at Cambridge, and Thomas Saintwix, dodfor in mufic, 
was made mafter of king's college in the fame univerfity. 
After the invention of printing,an art which has tended 
to difl’eminate knowledge with wonderful rapidity among 
mankind, mufic, and particularly counterpoint, became 
an objedt of high importance. The names of the mod 
eminent compolers who flouri(hed in England, from that 
time to the reformation, were, Fairfax, William of New¬ 
ark, Sheryngham, Turges, Banifter, Tudor, Taverner, 
Tye, Johnlon, Parfons; to whom may be added John 
Marbeck, who fet the whole Englilh cathedral-fervice to 
mufic. 
Before the reformation, as there was but one religion, 
there was but one kind of facred mufic in Europe, plain 
chant, and the defcant built upon it. That mufic like- 
wile was applied to one language only, the Latin. On 
that account, the compofitions of Italy, France, Spain, 
Germany, Flanders, and England, kept pace in a great 
degree with each other in ftyle and excellence. All the 
arts feern to have been the companions, if not the pro¬ 
duce, of fuccefsful commerce : they appeared firft in 
Italy, then in the Hanfeatic Towns, next in the Nether¬ 
lands ; and during the fixteenth century, when commerce 
became general, in every part of Europe. 
In the fixteenth century mufic was an indifpenfable 
part of polite education. All the princes of Europe were 
inftrudted in that art. There is a colledtion preferved in 
manufcript called Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book. Dr. 
Burney fays, that, if her majefty was able to execute any 
of the pieces in that book, (lie mull have been a great 
player; and he adds, what we (who have not feen them) 
can hardly credit, that a month’s pradlice would not be 
fufficient for any mafter now in Europe to enable him to 
play one of them to the end. Tallis, Angularly profound 
in mufical compofition, and his admirable fcholar, 
were two of the authors of this famous collection. Dur¬ 
ing the reign of Elizabeth, the genius and learning of the 
Britifti muficians were not inferior to any on the conti¬ 
nent ; an obfervation fcarcely applicable at any other pe¬ 
riod of the hiftory of this country. Sacred mufic was the 
principal objeCt to ftudy all over Europe. 
During the fixteenth century, and a great part of the 
next, many of the mod eminent mufical theorifts of Italy 
employed their time in fubtle divifions of the fcale, and 
vifionary purfuits after the ancient Greek genera; nor 
was this rage wholly confined to theorifts, but extended 
itfelf to praftical muficians, ambitious of aftonilhing the 
World by their deep fcience and fuperior penetration, 
though they might have employed their time more profit¬ 
ably to themfelves, and the art they profelfed, in exploring 
the latent refources of harmonic combinations and effeCts 
in compofttion, or in refining the tone, heightening the 
exprefiion, and extending the powers of execution, upon, 
fome particular inftrument. Thefe vain enquiries cer¬ 
tainly impeded the progrefs of modern mufic ; for hardly 
a fingle trad! or treatife was prefented to the public, that 
was not crowded with circles, legments of circles, dia¬ 
grams, divifions, fubdivifions, commas, modes, genera, 
fpecies, and technical terms, drawn from Greek writers, 
and the now unintelligible and ufelefs jargon of Boe¬ 
thius. 
Don Nicolo Vicentino, publiftied at Rome, 1555, a work 
in quarto, entitled L' Antica Mvjica ridotta alia moderna 
Praltica, or “ Ancient Mufic reduced to modern Prac¬ 
tice,” with precepts and examples for the three genera 
and their fpecies; to which is added, an account of a new 
inftrument for the mod perfect performance of mufic, to¬ 
gether with many mufical fecrets. Vicentino, by the title 
of Don prefixed to his name, feems to have been an eccle- 
fiaftic of the Benedidtine order. He was a pradlical mu¬ 
fician, and appears to have known his bufinefs. In his 
treatife he has explained the difficulties in the mufic of 
his time, with fuch clearnefs, as w’ould have been ufeful 
to the ftudent, and honourable to himfelf, if he had not 
fplit upon enharmonic rocks and chromatic quickfands. 
He gives a circumftantial account of a difpute between 
him and another mufician at Rome, Vicentio Lufitanio, 
who maintained that modern mufic was entirely diatonic ; 
while Vicentino was of opinion, that the prefent mufic 
was a mixture of all the three ancient genera, diatonic, 
chromatic, and enharmonic. This difpute having pro¬ 
duced a wager of two gold crowns, the fubjedt was dif- 
cufted in the pope’s chapel, before judges appointed by 
the difputants, and determined againft Vicentino ; whe¬ 
ther juftly or unjuftly, depends upon the precife fenfe af- 
figned to the term chromatic by the leveral difputants. 
Though Vicentino loft his wager by the decifion of the 
judges againft him, he recovered his honour fome time 
after, by his antagonift, Lufitanio, recanting, and coming 
over to his opinion. According to K ire her, Vicentino 
was the firft who imagined that the proportions or ratios 
of the ancient diatonic genus were inadmiflible in our 
counterpoint; and tried in his work to eftablifii the tetra- 
chord to confift of a major femitone, and two tones, one 
major and one minor; which forms the diatonic fyntonaj 
of Ptolemy, which Zarlino has propagated, and which is 
now in general ufe. 
4 
Other 
