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Rule 17: In singing, the tactus throughout should be strictly. Schneegass, otherwise a conservative author,
seen not heard, or when possible only observed and supports Friderici and Vicentino. The older rigid prac-
marked. Accordingly, cantors reveal themselves clearly tice may have been an exaggeration from later in the
ignorant and their great foolishness recognizable and period of mensural music when the notational system’s
that they know no properly trained music, those who complexities had grown so great as to cause consider-

beat with a baton till pieces of it fl y off and think it is a able confusion, especially in triple meters, and practi-
proper tactus if they only give a manly downbeat just as cal knowledge from experience was beginning to fade.
if they had straw to thresh. Ruth DeFord’s recent book demonstrates both that the
tactus was variable and that directors had considerable
discretion in interpretation. 37
Rule 18: When the tactus must be beaten, it should
not be beaten by only two or three boys but be beat-
34
en by the entire choir. Thus, those cantors are wrong Rule 20: Anyone who sounds the end of the song on
who have only one or two boys stand before them to a penultimate consonance, that is, without one of the
whom the tactus is beaten and let the other singers be last notes, should await all voices and make a clear, fi ne,
38
drawn along behind just like a shepherd draws along appropriately drawn out confi nal and not immediately
his hounds behind him. adhere to the fi nalis of the song. Such a thing strikes
the listeners as ugly and unattractive and deprives the
song of a good part of its beauty and charm when one

Rule 19: In singing, not one tactus only should be felt immediately breaks and tears off the song. 39
throughout, but be according to the words of the text,
and thus the tactus be guided. Those cantors are wrong Rule 21: The bass, however, particularly well orna-
who cut up the tactus as regularly as a clock does min- ments the song when he draws out a little longer be-
utes, and observe absolutely no decorum and appropri- yond the other voices, both on the confi nal as on the
ateness of the text and the harmony, since at one time a correct fi nalis and especially may be heard a little at the
faster and at another time a slower tactus is demanded 35 end, though fine, mild, and pure. Accordingly, a cantor

(Figure 4). should not allow his boys in the Discant and Alto to
delay for a long time. 40

Commentary Rules 20 and 21: These two rules
provide additional important information as to per-
formance practice. Many Renaissance compositions
have one voice that drops out at the end, perhaps to

afford the others more aural space for cadential pat-
terns, and appears to remain silent. Friderici explains
what may have been a standard practice of having that
voice supply a note for the sake of completion. His re-
marks about the slight continuation of the Bass voice
Figure 4
after the others fall silent is supported by both Finck
Commentary Rule 19: This rule presents what is pos- and Schneegass.
sibly the most interesting information on performance
practice that Friderici states. He confi rms Vicentino’s
(1555) statement that the speed of the tactus must vary
according to the meaning of the text. Attitudes in the
36
recent past held that the tactus had to be maintained

CHORAL JOURNAL June/July 2021 Volume 61 Number 11 27