Italian Diminution Treatises in Context

1535年至1620年之间在意大利出版的无数关于音乐演奏技巧的论文是一个重要的、有趣的和独特的原始来源星座。尽管如此，他们还没有令人满意地放置在任何更广泛的文化背景下，这意味着我们还没有清楚地了解他们的目的，功能和影响：所有重要的问题，音乐学家和音乐家在这个时代的工作。我的研究将集中在这些研究空白上，相关的出版物包括（除其他外）西尔维斯特罗·加纳西的歌剧intitulata Fontegara（威尼斯，1535年），吉罗拉莫·达拉·卡萨的Il vero modo di diminuir（威尼斯，1584年），乔瓦尼·巴蒂斯塔·博维切利的Regole et passaggi di musica（威尼斯，1594年）和弗朗切斯科·罗尼奥尼的Selva di varii passaggi（米兰，1620年）。这些书出版的主要目的是教授演奏艺术-这是当时任何专业音乐家的必要技能。尽管这些书的相互关联的性质，他们很少被认为是一个语料库，并从大多数讨论中缺失的是一个更广泛的音乐和文化背景下的意义和地位的考虑。通过理解这些更广泛的问题，我们将能够建立这种论文的实际和理论影响。我将开始我的询问：这些书是给谁的？谁在哪里买的他们是记录了一种实际的表演风格，还是代表了一种理想？换句话说：谁有智力、经济实力和实际机会购买和使用这些论文？从表面上看，这些书显然（至少部分地）是针对有抱负的专业音乐家的。然而，这个理论中有几个假设需要检验，比如：音乐家真的买得起这些书吗？职业音乐家们是否经常识字？最重要的是，有没有证据表明这些书是有抱负的专业音乐家的教育课程的一部分？许多男孩从需要唱诗班的宗教机构接受音乐教育。这些机构可能有财力购买论文，但假设他们经常这样做，然后用论文授课，这是一种风险。在意大利成为职业音乐家的另一条途径是成为皮法里的一员--相当于英国城镇等待的公民音乐家。事实上，我们经常看到同一个姓氏在这些乐队中跨代就业，这强烈表明了父子学徒制。如果男孩往往出生在皮法罗传统，并接受父亲，叔叔和兄弟的训练，这就几乎没有空间广泛使用昂贵的书籍作为教学工具。我将通过调查与皮法里球员的教育有关的证据来验证这一假设。除了专业音乐家，这些论文的另一个主要目标受众（也许是主要目标受众）可能是新识字的，富裕的和有文化意识的中产阶级。有什么证据表明这些书与这些人有关，或者与在意大利许多城镇兴起的知识分子学院的活动有关？诸如此类的附带问题需要得到解决，以令人满意地评估论文本身的内容。为了确定这些书的用户，我将追求的研究领域，如：从其他学科的研究，包括印刷，阅读和书籍文化在近代早期意大利。这将有助于为论文建立对市场和环境（商业和知识）的理解。对现存文件的档案研究，如16世纪意大利印刷商和书商的库存目录，以证明这些书的成本。在评估现实的读者群时，这些数据至关重要。音乐教育的研究，特别是在已知有音乐教育男孩的宗教机构。

The myriad treatises devoted to the skill of musical ornamentation published in Italy between 1535 and 1620 are an important, intriguing and unique constellation of primary sources. Despite this,they have yet to be satisfactorily placed in any wider cultural context, an omission which meanswe do not yet have a clear understanding of their purpose, function and impact: all vital questions for both musicologists and musicians working on this era. My research will focus on these research lacunae.The publications in question include (amongst others) Silvestro Ganassi's Opera intitulata Fontegara (Venice, 1535), Girolamo Dalla Casa's Il vero modo di diminuir (Venice, 1584), Giovanni Battista Bovicelli's Regole et passaggi di musica (Venice, 1594), and Francesco Rognoni's Selva di varii passaggi (Milan, 1620). Such books were published with the primary stated aim of teaching the art of ornamentation - a necessary skill for any professional musician at that time. Despite the interconnected nature of these books they are seldom considered as a corpus, and missing from most discussion is a consideration of their meaning and status in a wider musical and cultural context. Through understanding these wider issues will we be able to establish the practical and theoretical impact of such treatises. I will begin my enquiries by asking: who were these books for? who bought them and where? are they documenting an actual performance style, or representing an ideal? In other words: who had the intellectual ability, economic power and practical opportunity to buy and use these treatises? Taking the books at face value, it appears obvious they were aimed (at least in part) at aspiring professional musicians. There are several assumptions involved in that theory that require examination however, such as: could musicians really afford these books? were professional musicians even routinely literate? and crucially, is there any evidence that such books formed part of the educational curriculum of aspiring professional musicians?Many boys received musical education from religious establishments that needed choristers. Such institutions may have had the financial means to procure treatises, but it is a risk to assume they routinely did so and then taught from them. Another route to becoming a professional musician in Italy was as a member of the piffari - civic musicians equivalent to the English Town Waits. The fact we routinely see the same family names finding employment in these bands across generations strongly suggests a father-to-son apprenticeship system. If boys tended to be born into the piffaro tradition and received training from fathers, uncles and brothers, that leaves little room for the widespread use of expensive books as pedagogical tools. I will test that assumption by investigating evidence relating to the education of piffari players. Professional musicians aside, another major target audience (perhaps the major target audience) for these treatises could have been the newly literate, affluent and culturally-aware middle classes. What evidence is there that links the books with such people, or with the activities of the intellectual academies that were springing up in many Italian towns? Ancillary questions such as these need to be addressed to satisfactorily evaluate the contents of the treatises themselves. To identify the users of these books, I will pursue research areas such as: Studies from other disciplines including print, reading and book culture in Early Modern Italy. This will help establish an understanding of the marketplace and environment (both business and intellectual) for the treatises. Archival study of surviving documents such as sixteenth-century Italian printers' and booksellers' stock catalogues for evidence of the cost of such books. This data will be vital when assessing a realistic readership. Study of music education, particularly in religious establishments known to have educated boys in music.