A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Zarlino, Gioseffe

by William Smyth Rockstro

ZARLINO, Gioseffe, one of the most learned and enlightened musical theorists of the 16th century, was born in 1517^[1] at Chioggia—the Clodia of the Romans—whence he was generally known as Zarlinus Clodiensis. By the wish of his father, Giovanni Zarlino, he spent his youth in studying for the Church; was admitted to the Minor Orders in 1539, and ordained Deacon in 1541. In that year he came to reside in Venice, where his proficiency as a theologian, aided by his intimate acquaintance with the Greek and Hebrew languages, and his attainments in Philosophy, Mathematics, Astronomy, and Chemistry, soon gained him an honourable position. But his love for Music, for which, as he himself tells us, in the Dedication prefixed to his 'Istitutioni armoniche,' 'he had felt a natural inclination from his tenderest years,' tempted him to forsake all other studies, for his favourite pursuit; and he was at once accepted as a pupil by Adriano Willaert, the founder of the Venetian Polyphonic School, under whom he studied, in company with Cipriano di Rore and other promising neophytes.

On the removal of Cipriano di Rore to Parma, Zarlino was elected, in 1565, first Maestro di Cappella at S. Mark's, with every demonstration of honour and respect. The duties connected with this appointment were not confined to the Offices sung in the Cathedral. The Maestro was in the service of the Republic, and his talent was called into requisition, to add to the interest of all its most brilliant festivals. After the Battle of Lepanto, Oct. 7, 1571, Zarlino was commissioned to celebrate the greatest victory that Venice had ever won, with music worthy of the occasion. When Henri III. visited Venice, on his return to France, from Poland, in 1574, he was greeted, on board the Bucentaur, by a composition, the Latin verses for which were furnished by Rocco Benedetti and Cornelio Frangipani, and the music by Zarlino, who also composed the music sung in the Cathedral, and a dramatic piece, called 'Orfeo,'^[2] which was performed, with great splendour, in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio. Again, in 1577, when the Church of S. Maria della Salute was founded in memory of the terrible plague, to which the venerable Titian fell a victim, Zarlino was commissioned to compose a Mass for the solemn occasion. None of these works have been preserved, and we can only judge of their merits by the immense reputation the Composer enjoyed.

But Zarlino did not entirely neglect the duties of his ecclesiastical status. On the contrary, in 1582, he was elected a Canon of Chioggia; and, on the death of Marco de' Medici, Bishop of hioggia, in 1583, he was chosen to fill the vacant See. This proceeding was, however, so strongly opposed by the Doge, Niccolo da Ponte, and the Senate, that Zarlino consented to retain his appointment at S. Mark's in preference to the proffered Mitre; and he continued to perform the duties of Maestro di Cappella until his death, Feb. 4, 1590.^[3] He was buried in the church of San Lorenzo. No inscription now marks the spot; but his bust has been placed in the Corridor of the Doge's Palace; and during his lifetime a medal was struck in his honour, bearing his effigy, and, on the reverse, an Organ, with the legend, Laudate eum in chordis.

The only compositions by Zarlino that have been preserved to us, besides the examples given in his theoretical works, are a MS. Mass for four voices, in the library of the Liceo filarmonico at Bologna, and a printed volume of 'Modulationes sex vocum' (Venice, 1566). His chief fame, however, rests upon three treatises, entitled: 'Istitutioni armoniche' (Venice, 1558,^[4] reprinted 1562, and again, 1573); 'Dimostrationi armoniche' (Venice, 1571,^[5] reprinted, 1573); and 'Sopplimenti musicali' (Venice, 1588). The best edition is the complete one, entitled 'Tutte l'Opere del R. M. Gioseffo Zarlino da Chioggia' (Venice, 1589).

The 'Istitutioni' comprise 448 pp. fol.; and axe divided into four sections.

Lib. I. contains sixty-nine Chapters, chiefly devoted to a dissertation on the excellence of Music; a mystical elucidation of the transcendental properties of the number six; and a description of the different forms of Arithmetical, Geometrical, and Harmonical Proportion.

In Lib. II., comprising fifty-one chapters, Zarlino demonstrates the superiority of the system known as the Syntonous, or Intense Diatonic, of Ptolomy, above all other systems whatsoever. In this system, the Tetrachord is divided into a Greater Tone, a Lesser Tone, and a Greater Hemitone—the Diatonic Semitone of modern music as represented by the fractions, ⁸⁄₉, ⁹⁄₁₀, ¹⁵⁄₁₆.

The system was not a new one: and Zarlino, naturally enough, made no attempt to claim the honour of its invention. The constitution of the Lesser Tone had been demonstrated, by Didymus, as early as the 6oth year of the Christian aera. The misfortune was, that Didymus placed the Lesser below the Greater; an error which was corrected about the year 130, by Claudius Ptolomy, who gave his name to the system. The merit of Zarlino lay in his clear recognition of the correctness of this division of the Tetrachord, which, in Lib. II. Cap. xxxix, p. 147 of the complete edition, he illustrates as in Fig. 1, above.^[6]

By following the curves in Fig. 1 we may ascertain the exact proportions, in Just Intonation, of the Diatonic Semitone, the Greater and Lesser Tone, the Major and Minor Third, the Perfect Fourth, and the Perfect Fifth, in different parts of the Octave. Like Pietro Aron ('Toscanello della Musica,' Venice, 1523), Ludovico Fogliano ('Musica teoretica,' Venice, 1529) and other theoretical writers of the 16th century, Zarlino was fond of illustrating his theses by diagrams of this kind: and it was, no doubt, the practical utility of the custom that tempted Des Cartes to illustrate this self-same system by the Canonical Circle (Fig. 2), which later theorists extended, so as to include the proportions, in commas,^[7] of every possible Diatonic Interval within the limits of the Octave (Fig. 3).

It needs but a very slight examination of the foregoing diagrams to prove that the Syntonous Diatonic of Ptolomy, coincided, to the minutest particular, with the system advocated by Kepler (Harmonices Mundi, Lib. III, Cap. 7.) Mersenne (Harm. Univers. Lib. II), Des Cartes (Compendium Musicæ), and all the most learned theoretical writers of later date, who, notwithstanding our acceptance of Equal Temperament as a practical necessity, entertain but one opinion as to the true division of the Scale in Just Intonation—the opinion defended by Zarlino, three centuries ago.

Lib. III. of the 'Istitutioni' treats of the laws of Counterpoint, which, it must be confessed, are not always set forth, here, with the clearness for which Zacconi is so justly remarkable. In the examples with which this part of the work is illustrated, an interesting use is made of the well-known Canto fermo which forms so conspicuous a feature in 'Non nobis Domine,' and so many other works of the 16th and 17th centuries.

FIG. 4.

Lib. IV. treats of the Modes:—more especially in the later forms introduced by the Early Christians, and systematised by S. Ambrose, and S. Gregory. In common with Glareanus, and all the great theorists of the Polyphonic School, Zarlino insists upon the recognition of twelve Modes, and twelve only; rejecting the Locrian and Hypolocrian forms as inadmissible, by reason of the False Fifth inseparable from the one, and the Tritonus which forms an integral part of the other. But, though thus entirely at one with the author of the Dodecachordon on the main facts, he arranges the Modes in a different order of succession.^[8] Instead of beginning his series with the Dorian Mode, he begins with the Ionian, arranging his series thus:—

Authentic Modes.		Plagal Modes.
I.	Ionian. Final, C.	II.	Hypoionian. Final, C.
III.	Dorian. Final, D.	IV.	Hypodorian. Final, D.
V.	Phrygian. Final, E.	VI.	Hypophrygian. Final, E.
VII.	Lydian. Final, F.	VIII.	Hypolydian. Final, F.
IX.	Mixolydian. Final, G.	X.	Hypomixolydian. Final, G.
XI.	Æolian. Final, A.	XII.	Hypoæolian. Final, A.

This arrangement—which no other great theorist of the century has followed^[9]—would almost seem to have been dictated by a prophetic anticipation of the change which was to lead to the abandonment of the Modes, in favour of a newer tonality: for, the series here begins with a form which corresponds exactly with our modern Major Mode, and ends with the prototype of the descending Minor Scale of modern music.

In the course of the work, Zarlino introduces some very valuable memoranda, and occasionally records as facts some very curious superstitions. In one place he tells us that the human pulse is the measure of the beats in music—a statement fortunately corroborated by other early writers, and furnishing us with a comparative estimate of the duration of the two beats which are included in the normal Semibreve. In another, he asserts that Josquin treated the Fourth as a Consonance. In a third, he records his observation that untaught singers, always sing the Third and Sixth Major—which is in all probability true. Occasionally, too, he diverges into the region of romance, and assures us that deer are so delighted with music that hunters use it as a means of capturing them.

The 'Dimostrationi armoniche,' occupying 312 folio pages, is disposed in the form of five Dialogues, carried on by Adriano Willaert, Claudio Merulo, and Francesco Viola, Maestro di Cappella of Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. Zarlino tells us, that, in the year 1562, the friends met at the house of Willaert, who was then laid up with the gout; and, that their conversation is faithfully reported in the five Ragionamenti of the Dimostrationi. The first of these treats chiefly of the Proportions of Intervals; the second, and third, of the ratios of the Consonances, and Lesser Intervals; the fourth, of the division of the Monochord; and the fifth, of the Authentic and Plagal Modes.

Not long after the publication of these works, Vincenzo Galilei—who had formerly been Zarlino's pupil—printed, at Florence, a tract, entitled 'Discorso intorno alle opere di messer Gioseffe Zarlino di Chioggia,' in which he violently attacked his former master's principles; and, in 1581, he followed up the subject, in his famous 'Dialogo della musica antica et della moderna,' in the second edition of which (Fiorenza, 1602), the title-page bore the words, 'in sua difesa contra Joseffo Zarlino.' Galilei attacked, in very uncourteous terms, the division of the Scale advocated by Zarlino; and proposed to substitute for it the Ditonic Diatonic Tetrachord, consisting of two Greater Tones and a Limma;^[10] as set forth by Pythagoras—a division which all modern theorists agree in utterly rejecting. While accusing Zarlino of innovation, he inconsistently complained that the Syntonous Diatonic was advocated by Lodovico Fogliano, half a century before his time. This is perfectly true^[11]: and in all probability, it was this division of the Scale that the Aristoxenians unconsciously sang by ear. But Galilei was not satisfied with an empirical scale; and his admiration for the Greeks blinded him to the fact that his theory, reduced to practice, would have been intolerable. His favourite instrument, the Lute, imperatively demanded some reasonable power of Temperament: and Zarlino, who was, in every respect, in advance of his age, actually proposed, that, for the Lute, the Octave should be divided into twelve equal Semitones—that is to say, he advocated in the 16th century the practice that we, in the 19th, have only seen universally adopted within the last thirty-five years. That he extended the system to the Organ, is sufficiently proved by the fact that his Organ, at S. Mark's, remained in the condition in which it was left by Monteverde.^[12] It is evident, therefore, that he advocated Equal Temperament for keyed instruments, and Just Intonation for unaccompanied Vocal Music, and instruments of the Violin tribe a system which has been successfully practised by the most accomplished vocalists and violinists of the present century.

In defence of his principles, and in answer to Galilei's caustic diatribes, Zarlino published, in 1588, his 'Sopplimenti musicali,' containing 33 pages of valuable and interesting matter, much of which is devoted to the reinforcement of the principles laid down in the 'Istitutioni,' and the 'Dimostrationi.' The system of Equal Temperament, as applied to the Lute, is set forth in detail in Lib. IV. Cap. xxvii. et seq. In Lib. VI. the author recapitulates much of what he has previously said concerning the Modes; and in Lib. VIII. he concludes the volume with a dissertation on the organ; illustrating his subject, at p. 291, by an engraving of the soundboard of a very early Organ removed from a Church at Grado; and giving many particulars concerning Organs of very early date.

In 1589, Zarlino reprinted the 'Sopplimenti,' preceded by the 'Istitutioni,' and the 'Dimostrationi,' in the complete edition of his works already mentioned, together with a fourth volume, containing a 'Trattato della pazienzia,' a 'Discourse on the true date of the Crucifixion of Our Lord,' a treatise on 'The Origin of the Capuchins,' and the 'Resolution of some doubts concerning the correctness of the Julian Calendar.' He survived the issue of the four volumes but a very short time: but his death, in 1590, was far from terminating the controversy concerning his opinions; for Galilei published the second edition of his 'Dialogo' as late as 1602; and, in 1704, Giovanni Maria Artusi published an equally bitter attack, at Bologna, entitled 'Impresa del R. P. Gio. Zarlino di Chioggia, etc.' In truth, Zarlino was too far in advance of his age to meet with fair treatment from his opponents, though we of the 19th century can agree with every word of his arguments.

The works of Zarlino are now very scarce and costly. Perfect and complete copies will be found at the British Museum and the Royal College of Music.

[ W. S. R. ]

1. Not, as Burney and Hawkins pretend, in 1540; for he himself tells us (Soppl. Mus. viii. 131) that he came to reside in Venice in 1541, in which year he was ordained Deacon. Burney's mistake is rectified by Caffi (Storia della musica sacra, i. 129).
2. Caffi calls it an 'opera.' This is manifestly a misnomer, since the 'opera,' properly so called, was not then invented. In all probability, the piece consisted of a chain of madrigals, strung together after the manner of the 'Amfiparnasso' of Orazio Vecchi.
3. Hawkins and Burney say 1599.
4. Ambros mentions an edition of 1557, but we have never met with a copy.
5. Ambros mentions an edition of 1562.
6. Want of space compels us to omit one or two unimportant details of the Diagram, as given in the edition oi 1589.
7. A comma is the ninth part of a Greater Tone.
8. See Lib. IV. cap. x. p. 399, in edition of 1588.
9. See Modes, the Ecclesiastical.
10. The Limma, or remaining portion of a Perfect Fourth, after two Greater Tones have been subtracted from it, is less than a Diatonic Semitone by one comma.
11. See Fogliano's 'Musica teorica' (Venice, 1529), Sect. II. De militate toni majoris et minoris.'
12. Bontempi, Hist. Mus. Parte 1ma, Coroll. IV.