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Author: Doni, Giovanni Battista - manuscripts of italian music theory ...

Author: Doni, Giovanni Battista - manuscripts of italian music theory ...

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did not perhaps to be criticised because he said that the larger tone is typical <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Diatonic, if he believed that tone to be the one contained within the tetrachrds, rather<br />

than one <strong>of</strong> the Disjunction, rather than the smaller Tone, as he maintains, because the<br />

smaller Tone is found also in the Chromatic, at least compounded, namely moving<br />

from the first to the third note, since it is very clear that its integral parts are the larger<br />

semitone and the smaller one. However, if we modulate the larger Semitone as the<br />

perfect chromatic requires and if we want to have the remaining minor third as a<br />

consonant interval, one will not find the larger Tone, because, if one splits the larger<br />

tone into two Semitones, the third is reduced as much as the smaller semitone is<br />

enlarged, which is by a comma, hence the third stays dissonant. This semitone is<br />

located between<br />

[sqb] et b, which notes are not specifically chromatic. It consists <strong>of</strong> the proportion<br />

138/125 which is almost an equal semitone. Those who criticise too rigorously<br />

someone else’s doctrine fall into this sort <strong>of</strong> errors without noticing.<br />

[--] Reports <strong>of</strong> authors and arguments which prove the above mentioned<br />

statement chapter<br />

However, so that one does may not walk in the dark in such an essential matter, and so<br />

that any one may know the truth <strong>of</strong> the matter from the evidence, I will adduce some<br />

irrefragable authorities and other pieces <strong>of</strong> evidence which shall demonstrate<br />

manifestly that this axiom is absolutely true, namely that the Tone <strong>of</strong> the Disjunction<br />

is shared by all the genera. Aristoxenus says this in the third book: [ean oun dekhthe<br />

to idion tes diazeuxeos me kinoumenon en tais ton genon diaphorais; delon hoti<br />

leipetai en autois tois tou diatessaron meresi ten kinesin einai.], which means: “If it<br />

will be proven that the first disjunctive interval does not move in the difference <strong>of</strong> the<br />

genera, it will be clear that the alteration has to be in the parts themselves <strong>of</strong> the fourth<br />

or tetrachord.” He says a little later: [En ekasto de genei tosauta esti asyntheta pleista<br />

hosa en to diapente par men gar genos etoi en sunaphe melodeitai, e en diazeuxei.<br />

Kathaper emprosthen eiretai, dedektai d'he men syaphe ek ton tou diatessorn meron<br />

mone synkeiemene he de diazeuxis emprosthen tetheisa to idion diastema. Touto<br />

d'estin ho tonos; prostithentos de toutous pros ta tou diatessaron mere to diapente<br />

sumpleritai. hos einai phaneron hoti epeideper ouden ton genon endechetai kata mia<br />

khroan lambanomenon, ek ton pleionon asyntheton syntetheinai ton [[ek]] en to<br />

diapente onton. Delon hoti en ekasto genei tosauta estai ta pleista asyntheta hosa en to<br />

diapente. Tarattein de eiothen enious kai en touto to problemati pos ta pleisa<br />

prostithetai cai dia ti oukh aplos deiknutai outi ek tosouton asyntheton [--]<br />

ekaston ton genon [[esti synkeikenon]] sunesteken hosa estin en to diapente; pros<br />

hous tauta legeto oti ex elattonon asyntheton genon (lege meron] esti synkeimenon<br />

ekaston; ek pleionon oudepote dia tauten de ten aitian touto auto proton apodeiknytai,<br />

hoti ouk endekhetai ek pleionon asyntheton syntethenai ton genon hekaston e osa os<br />

diapente tunkhanousi onta; oti de kai ex elattonon pote suntethestai hekaston auton en<br />

tois epeita dechthesetai.], which means: “However, in each genus there are as many<br />

uncompounded (intervals) at the most as many there are in the Diapente, because<br />

every genus is sung according to the conjunction or according to the disjunction (by b<br />

flat or [sqb] hard) has it was said before. It was also shown that the conjunction is<br />

composed only <strong>of</strong> the parts <strong>of</strong> the diatessaron (namely <strong>of</strong> two or more fourths0 but the<br />

disjunction adds more to it (as this is what that word [emprosthen] means, as it<br />

sometimes does in Attic writers) but, if one adds the Tone to the parts <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Diatessaron, the result is the Diapente. Hence, it is clear that, since no genus can be

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