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fter four centuries, Daniel Friderici’s
(1584-1638) rules for choral singers and
directors still offer valuable advice on a

A variety of subjects relevant t o the choral
practice. What makes Friderici’s rules exceptional
is their practical orientation, breadth of coverage,
and relatively succinct formulation. They impart a
wealth of information on a wide variety of subjects
including aspects of choral training, singing, con-
ducting, performance practice, and music interpre-
tation.

Friderici first published his book, Musica Figuralis,
oder Newe Klärliche Richtige und Verständliche Unterweisung
1
der Singe Kunst, in 1618. The book saw seven subse-
quent editions, the last being in 1677; remarkably,
this last came almost forty years after Friderici’s
death in 1638 as the result of an epidemic. In the

year of his death, the fifth edition of 1638 appeared,
containing what can only be considered the author’s
“last words” on the subject, which clearly had devel-
oped since earlier editions. In fact, the earliest edi-
tion available for this article, which is based on the
2
1638 edition, was the 1619 edition, and there are
substantial modifications between the earlier and lat-

er edition that concern additions, expansions, clar-

ifications, and reordering. The changes themselves
are occasionally almost as interesting as the rules and
receive attention here when appropriate.
Virtually nothing is known about Friderici’s fami-
ly and early life except that he came from a very poor
family; the articles in neither Grove Dictionary nor Die
Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart expand on this. The
name would seem to indicate an ultimately Italian
origin, and certainly there was migration of musi-
cians both ways between German and Italian lands.

In the fifteenth and well into the sixteenth scentury,
German wind players had dominated in Italian cit-
ies, but in the later sixteenth century the direction of
3
migration began to reverse, making it at least pos-
sible that Friderici was from a poor family of Italian
musicians, but this is not known.

CHORAL JOURNAL June/July 202 Volume 61 Number 11 21