Gaffurio, Franchino

Introduzione, traduzione e commento di Paolo Vittorelli.
Franchino Gaffurio (Lodi, 1451 - Milano, 1522), dopo la «Theorica musice» (presente in questa stessa collana), pubblicò, nel 1496, la «Practica musice», con l’intento di esporre quella parte della teoria musicale che esulava dalla pura speculazione intellettuale. In questo trattato sono infatti contenute ampie descrizioni della pratica del canto piano e del canto figurato, corredate da una dettagliatissima esposizione dei princìpi della notazione mensurale di fine Quattrocento, da una trattazione critica e coerente dei fondamenti del contrappunto (l’autore era anche compositore), ricca di consigli di prassi esecutiva non soliti a scriversi da parte dei teorici coevi, e dalla più logica e completa dissertazione dei rapporti ritmici (nel lessico dell’epoca detti “proporzioni”) mai scritta da qualsiasi musicografo, il tutto illustrato da numerosissimi esempi, spesso composti «ad hoc». Nel testo tornano, per la prima volta nella storia musicale europea, alcune citazioni di autori greci classici o bizantini diversi dagli usuali Boezio e Marziano Capella (alcuni fatti tradurre in latino per la prima volta proprio da Gaffurio stesso), con lo scopo di consentire l’uso della categoria di Umanesimo anche nel campo della musica. L’opera conobbe all’epoca un successo insuperato da parte di qualsiasi altro trattato di argomento musicale (ben cinque edizioni in una quindicina d’anni) e rimase uno dei testi di riferimento per le “regole della musica” sino a un periodo molto posteriore rispetto alla sua data di pubblicazione: ancora Leopold Mozart citerà il nome del lodigiano.

Elevation motets have been considered as a peculiar feature of the Milanese motetti missales. Yet an exploration on the elevation prayers and their circulation makes it possible to contextualize the Milanese transmission of elevation motets in a wider liturgical and musical practice. After discussing the liturgical significance and function of the elevation, with its rich gestural symbolism, this study focuses on the peculiarities of the Milanese elevation motets in comparison with other examples of elevation pieces. The ‘loco sanctus’ motets of the Milanese Libroni were intended to surround the elevation ritual with music, and also include a part to be sung before the elevation took place. In this regard the Milanese elevation motets show a more direct connection with the mass ritual then other motets ‘de corpore Christi’. Mapping the elevation motet texts reveals significant connections in particular between O salutaris hostia and the liturgical usages of the regions in northern France and Flanders from which Galeazzo Maria Sforza recruited his singers. Although our knowledge of the use of motets and of related practices in that region is incomplete, this nevertheless suggests narrower ties than have typically been supposed between the Milanese elevation sections and Franco-Flemish singing traditions related to the elevation at Mass.

In order to provide a new theoretical basis for reassessing the late fifteenth-century motetti missales and their interaction with liturgy in Sforza Milan, this paper starts not with the missales specifically, but rather with the broader issue of ‘hearing the mass’. This precept was central to the life of early modern Christians, but in how many ways could the faithful fulfil it? How many forms of attention and participation were deemed acceptable? What role did sonic elements play in it? And conversely, how did these conceptions influence musical choices? Through the study of treatises, methods, and other documents, the first sections of the paper explore the theory and practice of attending mass and examine problems such as the synchronization between ritual actions, individual devotion, and collective experiences. Focusing back on the motetti missales in light of the background thus delineated, I argue that the motetti missales were performed during votive low masses. In the conclusions, I put this practice in the perspective of the early modern era and suggest that the low mass may have been an important venue for the performance of motets throughout the period.

The repertoire of Milanese Motetti missales has often aroused interest among scholars from an historical point of view, while there are surprisingly few analytical investigations concerning this corpus. The case of Franchino Gaffurio (1451-1522), surely one of the most prominent figures of the Milanese scene, is particularly striking: paradoxically, the importance of his contributions as a theorist and author of treatises has almost completely obscured his role as a composer. This article presents a first attempt to delineate Gaffurio’s motet style. Some of his motets in Librone 1 of the Veneranda Fabbrica are considered, examining the texts he choose to set, and giving special attention to the formal solutions he adopted, as well as to issues of intertextuality pointing both inside and outside his oeuvre (Ockeghem, Josquin). A number of questions concerning both the Gattungsgeschichte of the motet and the personal style of the first native Italian composer of the Renaissance are pondered.

Il volume raccoglie le osservazioni sul lessico tecnico della musica e del teatro del Cinquecento, attestato dalle traduzioni manoscritte di alcuni trattati greci: «Onomasticon» di Polluce, i «Problemi musicali» («Probl. XIX»), attribuiti ad Aristotele e altri testi più brevi. Le traduzioni, eseguite dal fonetista fiorentino Giorgio Bartoli (1534-1583), forniscono materiali per l'allestimento di un glossario ragionato che costituisce il nucleo centrale del volume.

15th- and 16th-century mensural notation raises many debates and questions among musicologists and modern performers. The contradictory teachings found in the vast body of theory from the Renaissance can be addressed through a better understanding of the treaties’ roles as well as the highlighting of the mechanisms that turn a descriptive system in a set of prescriptive and self-referential rules disconnected from musical practice: the cult of authority, a wish for symmetry and a taste for completeness. Meanwhile, the exploration of the links between tactus and counterpoint makes it possible to define the active time window in which the management of dissonances becomes a dynamic process. The sliding cursor where the Notenbild is scrolled allows for an internal examination of the music that clarifies most of the ambiguities regarding choice of tempo while avoiding the pitfalls of theoretical contradictions.

French abstract :
La notation mensuraliste des XVe et XVIe siècles suscite débats et interrogations parmi les musicologues et les interprètes modernes. Face aux enseignements contradictoires du vaste corpus théorique de la Renaissance, il convient de mieux saisir le rôle de ces traités, mais également de mettre en évidence les mécanismes qui transforment un système descriptif en un ensemble de règles prescriptives auto-référentes déconnectées de la pratique musicale : culte de l’autorité, volonté de symétrie et goût pour la complétude. En parallèle, l’exploration des liens entre tactus et contrepoint permet de qualifier la fenêtre temporelle active à l’intérieur de laquelle la gestion des dissonances devient un processus dynamique. Ce curseur dans lequel défile le Notenbild rend possible un examen interne de la musique qui lève la plupart des ambiguïtés relatives au choix du tempo, tout en évitant l’écueil des contradictions théoriques.

The four Libroni of Milan’s Duomo, prepared during Franchinus Gaffurius’s tenure as chapel master, rank among the most important sources for sacred polyphony at the turn of the fifteenth century. Scholars have mainly investigated them as ‘carriers’ of musical works by such composers as Loyset Compère, Gaspar van Weerbeke, and Josquin des Prez, but hardly explored their broader meaning for the history and culture of the institution and the communities to which they belonged. In spite of persisting uncertainties as to how and when, precisely, each of the manuscripts was compiled and assembled, what follows is a first attempt to reframe the Libroni in this light, and capture the deliberate, momentous, and epoch-making nature of Gaffurius’s endeavour.

Storia della musica nella chiesa scomparsa di S. Marcellino di Milano, edificio sacro che sorgeva sull'attuale via Broletto a poche centinaia di metri da S. Tommaso in Terramara. Franchino Gaffurio fu rettore di questa chiesa per oltre trent'anni e vi fu sepolto; seguendo i documenti d'archivio è possibile ricostruire la storia degli organi che si sono susseguiti in S. Marcellino e dei musicisti che li hanno suonati.

Il contributo analizza le motivazioni che spinsero il musico lodigiano Franchino Gaf-furio a procrastinare la pubblicazione del testo De harmonia musicorum instrumen-torum opus, edito nel 1518 a Milano, a causa degli eventi che portarono alla caduta della dinastia sforzesca e alla conseguente dominazione francese del ducato di Mila-no. Una miniatura contenuta alla carta 5 della copia d'omaggio conservata presso la Biblioteca Comunale Laudense (manoscritto xxviii A 9), ha permesso di identificare il secondo dedicatario del testo in Bonifacio Simonetta, abate cistercense di Santo Stefa-no al Corno (di cui si forniscono alcuni dati biografici), il cui volto però venne abraso a causa dello scontro tra Citeaux e le case riformate lombarde, imponendo a Gaffurio di individuare un nuovo finanziatore, da trovare nelle fila dei numerosi gentiluomini francesi che ebbero un ruolo di primo piano nella gestione dello Stato, profondamen-te riformato da Luigi xii di Francia. The essay analyzes the motivations that led the musician Franchino Gaffurio to postpone the publication of his work De harmonia musicorum instrumentorum opus, published in 1518 in Milan, due to the events that led to the fall of the Sforza dynasty and the consequent French domination of the duchy of Milan. A miniature on paper 5 of the homage copy sets in the Biblioteca Comunale Laudense (manuscript xxviii A 9), allowed to identify the second dedicatee of the text in Bonifacio Simonetta, Cistercian abbot of Santo Stefano al Corno whose face, however, was abraded due to the political struggle between Citeaux and the reformed Lombard houses, forcing Gaffurio to identify a new financier, to be found in the ranks of the numerous French gentlemen who played a leading role in the management of the State, deeply reformed by Louis xii, king of France. Su invito dei deputati del Tempio Civico della Beata Vergine Incoronata di Lodi, desiderosi di implementare il patrimonio della libreria che si andava costituendo, Franchino Gaffurio (1451-1522) donò il 5 dicembre 1518 una copia del De harmonia musicorum instrumentorum opus, stampato a Milano per i tipi di Gottardo da Ponte la settimana precedente. 1 L'opera è dedicata a Jean Grolier, visconte d'Aiguisy e te-soriere generale di Milano dal 1510 al 1512 e nuovamente dal 1515 sino alla cacciata dei francesi, avvenuta nel 1521: appassionato bibliofilo, numismatico e collezionista 1 Per la storia della libreria del Tempio Civico, in attesa della pubblicazione delle importanti scoper-te di Monja Faraoni, mi permetto di rimandare a beNzoNi 1994-1995, pp. 51-68. Sulla figura dell'edi-tore cfr. baldacchiNi 1986, pp. 707-710 mentre, per il rapporto con Gaffurio e Cesariano, si rimanda a rovetta 1996, pp. 294-295.

The heterogeneous repertoire and obvious Milanese origin of Gaffurius’ choir books have fascinated musicologists ever since the late nineteenth century. Some questions concerning the compilation and use of the music remain nonetheless unanswered, such as why a
significant quantity of the music does not conform to the Duomo’s ceremonial, but to the Roman rite.
Building on Knud Jeppesen’s initial survey from 1931, and in close collaboration with Martina Pantarotto, this paper looks for answers within the Libroni. Codicological and palaeographic observations evaluated from a musicological perspective will help to reconstruct the production process of these manuscripts, to highlight the concept behind the individual books, and to give new insights as to the possible use of the music. Acknowledging existing archival and musical arguments, as well as palaeographic concordances, our common findings will merge into a reviewed dating hypothesis.

Le composizioni che più hanno attratto l’interesse degli studiosi, nel variegato corpus trasmesso dai Libroni gaffuriani, sono senza dubbio i cicli di motetti missales. Nati, si presume, nell’ambito della cappella di corte sforzesca, per l’insolita fattura testuale e musicale, l’ambiguo status in rapporto alla liturgia, e non ultima la loro stessa presenza nei codici del Duomo pongono a chi li studia problemi non meno ardui che affascinanti. Per quali occasioni furono scritti? In che misura sono espressione della cultura liturgico-devozionale ambrosiana o, invece, derivano da fonti e modelli d’Oltralpe? Davvero dovevano “sostituire” i brani del Proprium e dell’Ordinarium missae? Come si spiega il loro apparente isolamento nel panorama della musica sacra della prima età moderna? Ed esiste realmente il “Milanese style” di cui si dice essi siano l’espressione primaria? In una sorta di visita guidata al cantiere scientifico del progetto Motet Cycles (c.1470-c.1510): Compositional design, performance, and cultural context, questo intervento riassumerà lo stato delle ricerche sui missales, metterà in luce le novità più significative emerse nel corso del progetto, e additerà alcune future possibilità di indagine.

During his tenure as chapel master of Milan’s Duomo (1484–1522), the theorist and composer Franchinus Gaffurius promoted and supervised the preparation of four sizeable manuscripts of polyphony. The so-called “Libroni” (big books) marked multiple transitions at the cathedral: the passage from a musical practice dominated by semi-improvised polyphony (biscantare) to the reception of a ‘modern’, and mainly Franco-Flemish, composed repertory; the appropriation of works originally written for a different environment, the chapel of the Sforza dukes; and the codification of a corpus of polyphony for an institution (the Duomo and its vestry board, the Fabbrica) characterised throughout its history by a strong “corporate identity”. In this paper I will re-assess Gaffurius’s enterprise in light of the ongoing interdisciplinary research within the project “Polifonia Sforzesca/Sforza Polyphony: The Motet Cycles in the Milanese Libroni between Liturgy, Devotion, and Ducal Patronage” (Swiss National Fund–Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, 2018–2020). I will show how Operation Libroni intersected with those most turbulent phases of Milanese history, examine to which extent it embodied issues of milanesità, and evaluate its significance in the longue durée. The special genre of motet cycles (including the famous motetti missales), which sits problematically at the junction between paths of tradition and innovation, of import from beyond the Alps and local reworking, will provide a case in point.

Some individual motet cycles, especially among the motetti missales, have hitherto received much scholarly attention. Yet due to their limited transmission, numerous questions related to the general use and function of motet cycles remain unanswered. In order to improve our understanding of this phenomenon, I will approach the repertoire primarily from the point of view of the texts. The mapping and analysis of textual characteristics (including liturgical association and contemporary usage) will shed new light on the diversity, function, and significance of motet cycles and will open a discussion for a renewed overall assessment of the extant repertoire.

"Zusammengefasst: Wo Renate Groth 1989 von einer lückenlosen Tradition in Italien ausgeht und einen »italienischen Rameau« ausschließt, sind drei Hauptbestandteile der paduanischen Harmonielehre schon längst separat rezipiert worden: 1) Die Kompositionspraxis in Folge des Palestrina-Stils; 2) die am Tasteninstrument orientierte Partimento-Praxis in seinen regional unterschiedlichen Ausprägungen; 3) die Einführung einer systematischen Umkehrungslehre. Ansatzweise brachte Barbieri schon 1990 die Umkehrungslehre mit der sogenannten ›Palestrinesca pratica‹ wieder zusammen. Seitens der aktuellen Forschung ist dann auch eine Vertiefung des Partimento-Schwerpunktes in diesem Teilgebiet der italienischen Musiktheorie zu erwarten. Dieser Beitrag ist nun speziell der Umkehrungslehre gewidmet, ohne das Ziel einer einheitlichen Darstellung aus den Augen zu verlieren. Daher werden zwei gegensätzliche Arbeitshypothesen aufgestellt:
1) Italien brachte eigentlich einen »Rameau« hervor, der aber mit dem paduanischen Kollektiv der ›Scuola dei Rivolti‹ zu identifizieren ist. Diese Hypothese stellt zugleich eine chronologische und eine substantielle Frage: Erstens wem die Priorität bei der Entwicklung einer systematischen Umkehrungslehre zuzuschreiben ist, und zweitens, ob Calegari ebenso wie Rameau am Ende zu einem ›generative fundamental‹ gekommen ist.
2) In der italienischen Musiktheorie ist keine eindeutige Grenzziehung zwischen dem 17. und dem 18. Jahrhundert festzustellen, sondern viel mehr die Fortentwicklung einer Tradition, die bis auf Gaffurius und Zarlino zurückgeht. Die paduanische Umkehrungslehre wäre folglich eine der konsequenten Fortentwicklungen der italienischen Tradition."
(aus der Einleitung, S. 57)

Gliederung:
I. Die Prioritätsfragen, die ›Trias-harmonica-Tradition‹ und das ›generative fundamental‹
II. Kontroversen
III. Die italienische Tradition: der Humanismus
IV. Calegaris Umkehrungslehre
Anhang – Akkordbegriffe bei Abbatini, Calegari, Tartini und Vallotti

During the fifteenth-century, the banquet (convivium or symposium) served as a private venue for Renaissance self-fashioning, where diners with humanistic appetites could publically demonstrate their well-honed civility and classical erudition. Given his own humanistic ambitions, it is not surprising to find convivial references in the theoretical writings of Franchino Gaffurio.  For example, in the Theorica musice (1492), nearly a third of the introductory laudes musice, a patchwork synopsis of ancient musical practice, concerns the banquet. Other indirect references suggest that Gaffurio himself actually attended contemporary restagings: as in the Extractus parvus musice (c. 1474), where Gaffurio thanks his patron, Philip Tressenus, for the hospitality shown to him and his sodales (dinner companions). To date, modern scholarship has largely overlooked the potential significance of such examples.
This paper further develops the connections between Gaffurio’s theoretical works and fifteenth-century banquet culture, arguing that the banquet served as the raison d’etre for many of his writings. As physical objects, the treatises could be passed around the dinner table and read aloud. As method books, they collectively teach young courtiers how to set classical poetry to measured polyphony. Drawing from the first-hand accounts of Marsilio Ficino, Jacopo Gherardi, and Raphaele Brandolini, I lay out the meal’s proceedings, including the role of music. As Michel Jeanneret has observed (1987), the classically inspired banquet with music “provides its own sort of concordia discors,” in which disparate pairings of social rank, cuisine, entertainment, and conversation are made harmonious. Furthermore, the banquet helps to facilitate a Neoplatonic apotheosis: once the earthly body has been satiated, the soul is free to entertain more lofty issues of philosophy. Whereas wine helps to promote fluid conversation, Pythagorean-inspired music helps to moderate the overall level of intoxication. Thus, the banquet provides an ideal physical space for blending speculative theory with musical practice.