Etruria and Rome
Musikgeschichte in Bildern, Band II: Musik des Altertums/Lieferung 5: Etrurien und Rom by
Günter Fleischhauer
Review by: Guy Oldham
The Musical Times, Vol. 106, No. 1466 (Apr., 1965), pp. 274-275
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
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CantusFirmus fromwhichthe 'structural
deviate. The monorhythmic
elaboration'does not
layoutis essentially
different. ProfessorSparks acknowledgesits
existence, of course;but he does notmention that
CantusFirmusin Mass and Motet,1420-1520by ittoocanbe elaborated, on lineswhicharebasically
EdgarH. Sparks. University ofCalifornia Press/ dissimilartothoseofthekindwhichhehasanalysed.
Cambridge University Press,100s Had he included the English post-Dunstable
A knowledge of cantusfirmus techniqueis essential repertory inhissurvey thisclassification
wouldhave
to anyoneseriouslyinterested in themusicof this beeninevitable.
and earlierperiods. Professor Sparks'sanalysesof 'Cantusfirmus'is definedas 'any pre-existent
massesand motetsof Dufay,Ockeghem, Busnois, melodywhichis usedas thebasisof a newcompo-
Regis,Obrecht andJosquin couldhardly bebettered: sition',and this definitionis appliedconsistently
theyare accurate,concise,and veryproperly con- throughout thebook. It willbe notedthattheex-
cernedwiththe close relationship betweentech- pression'cantusfirmus mass' is thusapplicableto
niqueand style.Mychiefcomplaint is thathe does paraphrasemasses of the type represented by
notfullycoverthegroundas announced inthetitle. Palestrina's Aeterna Christi munera; 'tenor' and
Thereis no detailedconsideration of cantusfirmus 'paraphrase'massesare merelysubdivisions of this
usageamongstthecontemporaries of Obrechtand largecategory.Josquin'sremarkable Missa Pange
Josquin: Agricola and Compare receive scant linguais an earlyexampleofa trueparaphrase mass,
attention,whileBrumel,Pierrede la Rue and and theanalysisof it formsan integral partof the
Isaac are mentionedonlyin passing. Moreserious author'sscheme.He is verycleartoo on thedistinc-
is thepractically
totalneglectofEnglishmusicafter tion betweena cantus-firmus mass and a parody
the death of Dunstable;enoughmusichas been mass; an essentialfeatureof the latteris the re-
publishednow to enablea balanceddescription to working ofthevertical or harmonic aspectofsome
be given,evenifa definitive accountcould not be partoftheoriginal, as distinct
fromthequotationof
expected. This means,forexample,thatthereis its melodiclines withoutpreserving theirvertical
no discussionof faburdens as cantusfirmi;an im- relationship.
portantand significantaspectofthesubject. The greatest virtueofthisbookis thatitdoesnot
propoundfancytheories,or presenthypotheses as
facts. As Professor Sparkssays,'nothingis to be
learnedfromreadingc.f.intoa workwhenit is not
In some respectsthe book coversmoreground present'.If he errs,it is on thesideofcaution. It
thanis impliedbythetitle.Part1, 'Development of mustalsobe saidthatheisespecially fairinassessing
the Procedures, circa 1420-1450', formsa natural themoreeccentric theories ofFickerandHandschin,
introduction to Parts2 and 3, whichare concerned whichhe does in an Appendix.The judgments of
withDufay,Ockeghem, Obrecht,Josquin, etc. But stylesas wellas techniques are always
its own firstchapterdeals withthesimplercantus composers'
sane and balanced. I detecta slighttouch of
firmus settings of the Old Hall manuscript, which sarcasmin thereference on p.393to Obrecht as 'the
belongsto thelate 14thor early15thcentury: the master', as it is followedby some trenchant criti-
effectis of an introduction to an introduction. cismof his methods.Withthereservation thatit
Secondly,the term'motet'is used to cover the does not completely live up to its title,thisis a
wholefieldofsacredmusicapartfromsettings ofthe usefuladditionto theliterature ofcantus firmus.
Ordinaryof the Mass. This can be justified to a
certain extentby 15th-century usage, and the JOHN CALDWELL
author'sterminology is explainedin hispreface;but
it meansthata sufficiently sharpdistinction is not
drawnbetweenthe moteton the one hand,and
votiveantiphon and thevariousritualformson the
other. There are liturgicalas well as musical Etruria and Rome
differences between, say,a complextenormotetand
a simplehymnsetting;and it is not alwaysmade
clearthattechnique is usuallyrelatedto function. Musikgeschichtein Bildern, Band II: Musik des
In generalthereis somecarelessness indefinitions Altertums/Lieferung 5: Etrurienund Rom by
andclassifications. Expressions like'conductus' and GtinterFleischhauer. VEB DeutscherVerlag
'Englishdiscant'are used witha finedisregard for fir Musik,Leipzig
whattheymayhavemeantto15th-century musicians. This volumefollowslogicallyafterthaton Greek
Tinctorisdefined'res facta' not as 'a voice of a instruments reviewed in theFebruary issue(p.113).
sacredor secularpolyphonic composition'but as The plaques,etc,reproduced heredatefromthe6th
'cantuscompositus', ie a polyphonic composition in century BC to the 3rd century AD and occasionally
its totality. Withregardto the classification of later.
cantusfirmus layoutProfessor Sparksdistinguishes The earlierEtruscan scenesshow exactlythesame
between usingthenotesoftheoriginal as a structural instrumental typesas the Greek withthe aulos
voice,mostfrequently thetenor,and paraphrasing (whichwe mustnow remember to call thetibia),
or elaborating themas a melody. However,he is lyreand kitharapredominating (in thatorder).But
obligedto recognizethatthe tenoris sometimes as one movesforwardthroughthecenturies, one
paraphrased:thishe calls the 'structural elabora- findsa rapidincreasein popularity of a verywide
tion'. variety ofinstruments, especiallythelituus,tubaand
It seemstomethata morefundamental distinction cornu. Only the double reed pipe maintainsits
can be drawnbetween'monorhythmic' (equal-note) supreme positionas theuniversal instrument forall
cantusfirmi (in thecase ofmeasuredoriginals those social occasions. One sees also manyexamplesof
in whichtherelative note-values are notdisturbed), itsvariantforms, thePhrygian aulos withitshorn-
and thosewhicharenotmonorhythmic (orinwhich pipe-likeextension of thelefthandpipe and often
therhythms ofa measured originalare notadhered withthestrangebombyxmechanism of protruding
to). The structural tenorand the paraphrased tubeson slidingringsand the curiousside-blown
melodycan thenbe seento belongto thesametype, plagiaulos.
274
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Of particularinterestare the old tibia player in importsare usually ready to help a customer,and
P1.57 with his cheekband and bulging cheeks and at least librarians will now know what they are
eyes, the actual bronze lituus (P1.19), and the urn inquiringafter.
relief (P1.20) of a late Etruscan flautistwith the I hope verymuch that Messrs Coover and Colvig
horizontal eyebrows, lowered eyelids, chuckling will manage to issue periodical supplements (the
mouth, puckered cheek and teacup-styleraised first,as with WERM,is included in this volume) so
little fingerwhich one knows so well nowadays. that theirvery useful guide is kept reasonably up
P1.37 shows a beautifulreliefof the preparationfor to date. JEREMYNOBLE
an animal sacrifice. Traditionallythis would be
accompanied by a tibia. However, the instrument
has only a single, fairlywide bore, flared conical
tube withoutreed and appears to be a cornettor
possiblya shawmlackingits reed. Five plates show
lute-like instruments. P1.75-8, all from the 3rd Thespis
centuryAD, show an instrument witha small body 'Thespis': A Gilbertand SullivanEnigmaby Terence
and fourstringson a fingerboardbeing held verti- Rees. Dillon's UniversityBookshop, 21s
cally on the lap and showinga veryobvious originin This is a learned and rathersurprisingfootnoteto
the kithara. Perhaps one should call thesecitterns. Gilbert and Sullivan history. In 1871, four years
P1.55,of the end of the 4th centuryAD, shows what before Trial by Jury,the veryfirsttheatricalcollab-
is virtuallya plucked rebec being played horizon- oration of the pair took place, when Thespis, or,
tally high upon the chest,reminiscentof both early The Gods Grown Old was given as a Christmas
Renaissance Italian lute and early violin playing attractionat the Gaiety Theatre. It was not a pre-
positions. cursor of the Savoy stylebut a continuationof the
There are, as in the Greek volume, extensiveand
older tradition of 'burlesque' or 'extravaganza';
thorough maps, chronological table, classified the cast included the popular comedians J. L.
bibliographyand index. GUY OLDHAM
Toole and Nelly Farren,who had the'travesty'role
of Mercury. Such a characterizationwas scarcely
in accord with Gilbert's much-quotedrecollection
Coover & Colvig of thirtyyears later: 'When Sullivan and I began
[sic] to collaborate... we resolved.. . that... no
man should play a woman's part and no woman a
Medieval and Renaissance Music on Long-playing man's. Finally we agreed that no lady of the com-
Records by James Coover and Richard Colvig. pany should be required to wear a dress that she
(Detroit Studies in Music Bibliography,No 6) could not wear withabsolute proprietyat a private
InformationServiceInc fancyball'.
This little book will be a boon to hard-pressed In thisbook Dr Rees publishes,forthe firsttime,
librariansin our universitiesand colleges,who have letters from Gilbert disclosing that a revival of
theirworkcut out to keep pace withmusicand books Thespiswas planned,immediatelyafterTrialbyJury,
about it, withouthuntingthroughthe multifarious by none other than Richard D'Oyly Carte! The
gramophonecatalogues forall therecherch6records projectlapsed. (Gilbertto Sullivan: 'It's astonishing
that teachers and students of music historymay how quickly these capitalists dry up under the
nowadays require. Of course the Long-Playing magic influenceof the words "cash down".') But
Classical Record Catalogue, issued quarterlyby The Dr Rees acutely suggeststhat later, once theyhad
Gramophone,covers what is currentlyavailable in become enthronedas the purveyorsof 'respectable'
this country,but it is a melancholy fact that the musical theatreto middle-classVictorian London,
great majorityof records of early music, including Gilbertand Sullivan wereprobablyquite contentto
some of the best,has neverbeen issued here. let Thespisremain an obscure memory. Through
Coover and Colvig provide a mouth-watering diligentresearchin the pressDr Rees has discovered
guide to the material that has come out in the that the printedtextof the work was to a consider-
United States at one time or anotherup to the end able extent an inadequate representationof the
of 1961,as well as a rathermore second-handlisting originalperformances:even one completecharacter,
of European records. The division into anthology Venus, is lacking! Dr Rees has reconstructeda
records arrangedchronologicallyand one- or two- hypothetical'full'version(less, ofcourse,improvised
composer records arranged alphabetically may at 'business' thatToole and perhapsotherswould have
firstseem confusing,but an efficient cross-reference introduced),whichwas used forthe December 1962
systemmakes it perfectlyworkable; thereis also a performancesby the London University Opera
summaryindex of performers,especially useful in Group. The text is reproducedas an appendix to
music of this kind, where technical and musical thisvolume.
competence can vary so widely from group to But what of the music? It is lost. The fateof the
group. Checking against records in my own score and parts is the great 'enigma' of the whole
collectionI ran up againstonlytwo snags: one is the business. One number,we know, was re-used in
inevitabletime-lagbetweencompletionand publica- The Pirates ofPenzance and one appeared (bowdler-
tion (a lot has come out since 1961), and the otheris ized) as a separate ballad. But the rest has dis-
the matterof numbering. I suppose it would be too appeared, and imaginationcan feedonlyon reports:
much to ask for futureeditions to include record- in one number alluding to a railway director'the
numbersotherthan those used in the United States. orchestrationis verynovel, including,as it does, the
Where the basic label has remained the same it employmentof a railwaybell, a railwaywhistle,and
perhaps does not mattertoo much; but it will take some new instrumentof music imitatingthe agree-
a fairly sophisticated librarian to know without able sound of a trainin motion' (Pall Mall Gazette).
being told that a record listed as Decca (US) may Though Thespisremains a minor matter,such a
be available here (if at all) eitheron Brunswickor studyas this-scholarly in approach, livelyin style,
on DGG,or thatsomethinglistedas Birenreitermay and beautifullyprinted-is exemplaryof its kind.
be just as easily (!) obtained on the Valois label. In the fieldof opera proper,Britishmusical history
Still, the small band of dealers who specialize in knows (alas!) no similarvolume. ARTHURJACOBS
275
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