# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Zacconi, Ludovico

​ZACCONI, Ludovico, one of the most learned musical theorists of the early Italian School, was born, about the middle of the 16th century, at Pesaro, but spent the greater part of his life at Venice, where he was admitted to the priesthood, received the tonsure as a monk of the Order of S. Augustine, and officiated, for many years, as Maestro di Cappella in the great church belonging to the Order. In 1593 he was invited to Vienna by the Archduke Charles, who made him his Kapellmeister, and in 1595 he received a similar appointment at the Court of the Pfalzgraf Wilhelm, Duke of Bavaria, at whose invitation he removed to Munich. In 1619 he returned to Venice, and devoted himself to the completion of his great theoretical work, the first ​portion of which was published before his departure to Vienna. The year of his death is unknown. The work on which Zacconi's fame is based, is entitled 'Prattica di Musica utile et necessaria si al compositore si anco al cantore,' and is dedicated to Guglielmo Conte Palatino del Reno, Duca dell' alta e bassa Baniera, etc. The First Part was published at Venice in 1592, and reprinted in 1596. The Second Part, also printed at Venice, first appeared in 1619. The contents of the work are divided into Four Books, wherein the treatment of Consonant and Dissonant Progressions, the complications of Mode, Time, and Prolation, the laws of Cantus Fictus, with many like mysteries, are explained with a degree of lucidity for which we seek in vain in the works of other theoretical writers of the Polyphonic Period—the Dodecachordon of Glareanus, and the 'Musicae activae Micrologus' of Ornithoparcus, alone excepted. It may, indeed, be confidently asserted that we are indebted to these two works, in conjunction with the 'Prattica di Musica,' for the most valuable information we possess on these subjects—information, in the absence of which Josquin's 'Missa Didadi' and portions even of Palestrina's 'Missa l'homme armé' to say nothing of the Enigmatical Canons of the earlier Flemish Schools, would be as undecipherable as were the inscriptions on an Egyptian sarcophagus before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. Mediaeval musicians worked on a method so complicated that, even in the 16th century, mistakes and misunderstandings were not uncommon, some of them so serious, that Zacconi has thought it necessary to point them out, with a clearness for which we can never be sufficiently grateful. While Zarlino dazzles us with learned dissertations, and our own Morley distracts his reader's attention with the quaint sallies of Philomathes and Polymathes, Zacconi goes straight to the point, and, in a few words, aided by a pertinent example, explains the facts of the case, beyond all doubt. And, as his work is of considerably later date than either the Dodecachordon or the 'Musicae activae Micrologus,' his information is peculiarly valuable, as showing the methods in general use at the period at which the Polyphonic Schools had already attained their highest degree of perfection.
Lib. I. of the 'Prattica di Musica' is subdivided into eighty chapters, twenty-three of which are occupied with dissertations on the origin and history of Music, interspersed with definitions, and other introductory matter, of no great practical utility. Cap. xxiv. treats of the Harmonic Hand; Cap. xxv. of the figures used in Notation; Cap. xxvi. of the Stave of five lines; and Cap. xxvii. of the Clefs, of which several forms are given. Caps, xxviii.–xxxiii. treat of Measure, Time, and various forms of rhythmic division (misura, tatto, e battuta). Caps, xxxiv.–xxxv. describe the Time Table, beginning with the Maxima, and ending with the Semicroma. Caps, xxxvi.–xxxvii. describe the Time-Signatures (Segni del Tatto). Caps, xxxviii.–xl. treat of Solmisation. Caps, xli.–xlii. describe the office of Points generally, and especially that of the Point of Augmentation equivalent to the modern Dot. Caps, xliii.–xlvi. furnish some very valuable information concerning the Ligatures in common use towards the close of the 16th century. Cap. xlvii. treats of Rests; xlviii.–xlix. of the B molle and B quadro; l.–li. of the Diesis; and lii. of Syncope. Caps, liii.–lv. are devoted to the consideration of certain difficulties connected with the matters previously discussed. Caps. lvi.–lvii. treat of Canon, and the different ways of singing it. Caps. lviii.–lxvi. contain the rules to be observed by Singers, illustrated by many examples and exercises, and throw great light upon the laws of Cantus fictus, the management of complicated rhythmic combinations, and other mysteries. Caps. lxvii.–lxxi. treat of the duties of the Maestro di Cappella and Singers. Caps. lxxii.–lxxiii. describe the Villanella and Canzonetta, while Caps. lxxiv.–lxxx. state the mutual qualifications of Singers and Composers.
Lib. II. is divided into fifty-eight chapters, of which the first five treat of the different species of Mode, Time, and Prolation. Caps, vi.–vii. describe the Points of Division, Alteration, and Perfection. Cap. viii. corrects some prevalent errors in the matter of Perfect Time. Caps, ix.–xxxvii. treat of the mutual adaptation of Mode, Time, and Prolation, and the different kinds of Proportion. In illustration of this subject, Cap. xxxviii. gives, as examples, the Kyrie, Christe, Second Kyrie, the beginning of the Gloria, the Osanna, and the Agnus Dei, of Palestrina's 'Missa l'Homme armé,' with full directions as to the mode of their performance. Without some such directions, no modern musician would ever have succeeded in deciphering these very difficult Movements; while, aided by Zacconi's explanations, Dr. Burney was able to score them as easily as he would have scored a Concerto of Handel from the separate orchestral parts. Caps, xxxix.–lviii. bring the Second Book to an end, with the continuation of the same subject.
Lib. III. consists of seventy-seven chapters, treating of the different kinds of Proportion.
Lib. IV. is divided into fifty-six chapters, of which the first thirty-seven treat of the Twelve Modes. Of these, Zacconi, in common with all the great theoretical writers of the Polyphonic School, admits the use of six Authentic and six Plagal forms, and no more; and, not content with expunging the names of the Locrian and Hypolocrian Modes from his list, he expunges even their numbers, describing the Ionian Mode as Tuono XI, and the Hypoionian as Tuono XII. Caps. xxxviii.–xlvi. treat of Instrumental Music, as practised during the latter half of the 16th century, and are especially valuable as describing the compass and manner of using the various Orchestral Instruments as played by Peri, Monteverde, and their immediate successors, in their ​early essays in Opera and Oratorio. Caps, xlvii.–lv. treat of the tuning of Musical Instruments; and the concluding chapter, lvi., furnishes us with a Table, exhibiting on a great Stave of eleven lines, the compass of the Instruments most commonly used at the time the book was written. We subjoin the compass of each instrument, on an ordinary Stave, and translated into modern Notation:—
Cornetti Bianchi e Negri Violini Pifari Dolziane. Corno Torto. Cornamuti torti. Fagotto chorista. Trombone. Flauti. Canto. Tenore. Basso. Viole. Canto. Tenore. Basso. Doppiani. Canto. Tenore. Basso.
[ W. S. R. ]
* ↑ Fétis calls it Pratica di Musica.
* ↑ See Dr. Burney's 'Extracts.' Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 11,581.
* ↑ See vol. ii. p. 342a.
* ↑ See vol. ii. pp. 500, 562.
* ↑ It will be seen that the violin is here treated in the First Position only.
* ↑ This note is omitted in the Brit. Mus. copy.
* ↑ The tuning of the Tenor and Bass Viols differs materially from the usual form.
* ↑ The Viola clef is wanting in the original.