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Daniel Friderici’s RULES FOR CHORAL SINGING

(1973): 22; also Gregory Barnett, “Tonal Organization Baden: Valentin Koerner, 1981). Her account also has the

in Seventeenth-Century Music Theory,” in Cambridge benefits of being in the same century and in Hamburg,
History of Western Music Theory, ed. Thomas Christensen fairly near to Friderici in Rostock.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 419- 28 The word translated here as “tonal quality” is disposition,
421. which in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries usually
19 The first sentence is Rule 4 of the 1619 edition. The second referred to a physical capability of the voice, particularly

sentence is new to the 1638 edition. that for throat articulation in singing diminutions. Usage
20 This is an expanded version of Rule 5 of the 1619 edition, then began to broaden to include something more like a
which did not mention the nasalization issue. The Greek quality of voice. I believe that what is meant here is that
η in ancient times was probably pronounced something the tone quality of the instrument must match that of
like the ê in French tête, and the Latin i was similar to the voice.
English short ĭ. Until the twentieth century the tradition 29 Rautenstrauch, Musik in Sachsen, 254, 269-271, 290-291,
was for all to pronounce Greek and Latin in the way of 294, 334.
their own vernacular; thus, it is difficult if not impossible 30 I have been unable to find a defi nition of fi cta voce but it

to determine how an early seventeenth-century German seems most likely to refer to falsetto. The closest to it that
might have pronounced η. Edgar Sturtevant, The I have found is in Martin Fuhrmann, Musikalischer-Trichter

Pronunciation of Greek and Latin, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: (Frankfurt: The Author, 1706), 80, who defines as falsetto
University of Pennsylvania, 1940), 19. the term voce contra fatta.
21 John T. Waterman, A History of the German Language, rev. ed. 31 This is nearly the same as Rule 10 of the 1619 edition, with
(Seattle: University of Washington, 1976), 203, 209. the addition of the comment on the Tenor. Rule 13 of
22 Eighth-notes and sixteenth-notes. the 1619 edition on the Bass voice has been transferred
23 In the same direction. The text presents a slight problem here to Rule 14. Friderici seems to indicate and deplore

here in the editions with the reading “die Singenden jegen a practice of transposing by a fifth instead of an octave,
einander,” in that there is no known word “jegen” according which practice also strikes as bizarre today.
to Grimm’s Wörterbuch. I take it as a misprint for “jeden,” 32 The proscription or strict regulation of coloraturas—
probably induced by the “jeglicher” earlier in the sentence. passages of improvised diminution—in the Bass is
24 Samson tied torches to foxes tails and sent them into the common in the literature for the reason stated, its great

Philistines’ grain fields, Jgs. 15:4. potential to confuse the harmony.
25 The word translated here as “home situation,” heimgestellet, is 33 The German Takt derives from the Latin tactus, which refers
rather obscure. For chorus musicus see the comment on this to the basic organizational unit of rhythm in mensural
rule. The illustration of the arrangement is quite helpful music. Earlier, the term meant something closer to
and did not appear in the 1619 edition. modern “measure,” but later came more to indicate
26 Niemöller, Untersuchungen, 670-673. It appears that no one has something like “beat.” The German word today is
succeeded in completely disentangling the nature of these ambiguous, meaning both measure and beat, which
vocal organizations, which varied from town to town. makes it impossible to translate the word into English
27 It is not possible to give a single description that fi ts all without obscuring the ambiguity. For the visible tactus see
instances of the Cantorei. Rautenstrauch gives a good Rule 3 and also note 34.
deal of relatively “undigested” information upon which 34 This refers to the practice, depicted in many illustrations
other authors depend, Luther und die Pfl ege der Kirchlichen of the time, by which each member of the choir gently
Musik in Sachsen (14-19 Jahrhundert) (Leipzig: Breitkopf patted the shoulder of his neighbor, thus communicating
& Härtel, 1907). Niemöller also discusses its possible and preserving the “beat.”
origins, Untersuchungen, 673-675. Liselotte Krüger provides 35 This is a valuable statement on performance practice. See
a more useful account, though the one she describes at the comment on this rule. The example indicates that the
Hamburg is clearly more elaborate than the norm, Die tempo should be geschwind, [fast] over the words “cel[e]ris
Hamburgische Musikorganisation im XVII Jahrhundert (Baden- procedit,” [it proceeds fast], and langsam, [slow] over “tarda

30 CHORAL JOURNAL June/July 2021 Volume 61 Number 11