example we possess of Zarlino’s compositions on a grand scale is a MS. mass for four voices, in the library of the Philharmonic Lyceum at Bologna. He died at Venice on the 14th, or according to some the 4th, of February 1590.
Zarlino’s first theoretical work was the Istitutioni Armoniche (Venice, 1558; reprinted 1562 and 1573). This was followed by the Dimostrationi Armoniche (Venice, 1571; reprinted 1573) and by the Sopplimenti Musicali (Venice, 1588). Finally, in a complete edition of his works published shortly before his death Zarlino reprinted these three treatises, accompanied by a Tract on Patience, a Discourse on the True date of the Crucifixion of Our Lord, an essay on The Origin of the Capuchins, and the Resolution of Some Doubts Concerning the Correction of the Julian Calendar (Venice, 1589).[1]
The Istitutioni and Dimostrationi Armoniche deal, like most other theoretical works of the period, with the whole science of music as it was understood in the 16th century. The earlier chapters, treating chiefly of the arithmetical foundations of the science, differ but little in their line of argument from the principles laid down by Pietro Aron, Zacconi, and other early writers of the Boeotian school; but in bk. ii. of the Institutioni Zarlino boldly attacks the false system of tonality to which the proportions of the Pythagorean tetra chord, if strictly carried out in practice, must inevitably lead. The fact that, so far as can now be ascertained, they never were strictly carried out in the Italian medieval schools, at least after the invention of counterpoint, in no wise diminishes the force of the reformer’s argument. The point at issue was, that neither in the polyphonic school, in which Zarlino was educated, nor in the later monodic school, of which his recalcitrant pupil, Vincenzo Galilei, was the most redoubtable champion, could those proportions be tolerated in practice, however attractive they might be to the theorist in their mathematical aspect. So persistently does the human ear rebel against the division of the tetra chord into two greater tones and a leimma or hemitone, as represented by the fractions 89, 89, 243256, that, centuries before the possibility of reconciling the demands of the ear with those of exact science was satisfactorily demonstrated, the Aristoxenian school advocated the use of an empirical scale, sounding pleasant to the sense, in preference to an unpleasing tonality founded upon immutable proportions. Didymus, writing in the year 60, made the first step towards establishing this pleasant-sounding scale upon a mathematical basis, by the discovery of the lesser tone; but unhappily he placed it in a false position below the greater tone. Claudius Ptolemy (130) rectified this error, and in the so-called syntonous or intense diatonic scale reduced the proportions of his tetra chord to 89, 910, 1516,—i.e. the greater tone, lesser tone, and diatonic semitone of modern music.[2] Ptolemy set forth this system as one of eight possible forms of the diatonic scale. But Zarlino uncompromisingly declared that the syntonous or intense diatonic scale was the only form that could reasonably be sung; and in proof of its perfection he exhibited the exact arrangement of its various diatonic intervals, to the fifth inclusive, in every part of the diapason or octave. The proportions are precisely those now universally accepted in the system called “just intonation.” But this system is practicable only by the voice and instruments of the violin class. For keyed or fretted instruments a compromise is indispensable. To meet this exigency, Zarlino proposed that for the lute the octave should be divided into twelve equal semitones; and after centuries of discussion this system of “equal temperament” has, within the last thirty-five years, been universally adopted as the best attainable for keyed instruments of every description.[3]
Again, Zarlino was in advance of his age in his classification of the ecclesiastical modes. These scales were not, as is vulgarly supposed, wholly abolished in favour of our modern tonality in the 17th century. Eight of them, it is true, fell into disuse; but the medieval Ionian and Hypo-ionian modes are absolutely identical with the modern natural scale of C; and the Aeolian and Hypo-aeolian modes differ from our minor scale, not in constitution, but in treatment only. Medieval composers, however, regarded the Ionian mode as the least perfect of the series and placed it last in order. Zarlino thought differently and made it the first mode, changing all the others to accord with it. His numerical table, therefore, differs from all others made before or since, prophetically assigning the place of honour to the one ancient scale now recognized as the foundation of the modern tonal system.
These innovations were violently opposed by the apostles of the monodic school. Vincenzo Galilei led the attack in a tract entitled Discorso Intorno alle Opere di Messer Gioseffe Zarlino, and followed it up in his famous Dialogo, defending the Pythagorean system in very unmeasured language. It was in answer to these strictures that Zarlino published his Sopplementi.
ZARNCKE, FRIEDRICH KARL THEODOR (1823-1891), German philologist, was born on the 7th of July 1825 at Zahrenstorf, near Brüel, in Mecklenburg, the son of a country pastor. He was educated at the Rostock gymnasium, and studied (1844-1847) at the universities of Rostock, Leipzig and Berlin. In 1848 he was employed in arranging the valuable library of Old German literature of Freiherr Karl Hartwig von Meusebach (1781-1847), and superintending its removal from Baumgartenbrück, near Potsdam, to the Royal Library at Berlin. In 1850 he founded at Leipzig the Literarisches Centralblatt für Deutschland. In 1852 he established himself as Privatdozent at the university of Leipzig, and published an excellent edition of Sebastian Brant’s Narrenschiff (1854), a treatise Zur Nibelungenfrage (1854), followed by an edition of the Nibelungenlied (1856, 12th ed. 1887), and Beiträge zur Erläuterung und Geschichte des Nibelungenliedes (1857). In 1858 he was appointed full professor, and commenced a series of noteworthy studies on medieval literature, most of which were published in the reports (Berichte) of the Saxon Society of Sciences. Among them were that on the old High German poem Muspilli (1866); Gesang vom heiligen Georg (1874); the legend of the Priester Johannes (1874); Der Graltempel (1876), and the Annolied (1887). He also wrote a valuable treatise on Christian Reuter (1884), on the portraits of Goethe (1884), and published the history of Leipzig university, Die urkundlichen Quellen zur Geschichte der Universität Leipzig (1857) and Die deutschen Universitäten im Mittelalter (1857). Two volumes of his Kleine Schriften appeared in 1897.
See Zur Erinnerung an den Heimgang von Dr Friedrich Zarncke (1891); Franz Vogt in Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie; Eduard Zarncke in Biographisches Jahrbuch für Altertumswissenschaft (1895); and E. Sievers in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie.
ZEALAND (also Sealand or Seeland; Danish Sjaelland), the largest island of the kingdom of Denmark. It is bounded N. by the Cattegat, E. by the Sound, separating it from Sweden, and the Baltic Sea, S. by narrow straits separating it from Falster, Moen, and smaller islands, and W. by the Great Belt, separating it from Fünen. Its nearer point to Sweden is 3 m., to Fünen 11. Its greatest extent from N. to S. is 82 m., from E. to W. 68 m., but the outline is very irregular. The area is 2636 sq. m. The surface is for the most part undulating, but on the whole little above sea-level; the highest elevations are in the south-east, where Cretaceous hills (the oldest geological formation on the island) reach heights of upwards of 350 ft. The coast is indented by numerous deep bays and fjords; the Ise Fjord in the north, with its branches the Roskilde Fjord on the east and the Lamme Fjord on the west, penetrates inland for about 25 m. There are no rivers of importance; but several large lakes, the most considerable being Arre and Esrom, occur in the north-east. The soil is fertile and produces grain, especially rye and barley, in great abundance, as well as potatoes and other vegetables, and fruit. The scenery, especially in the neighbourhood of the fjords, is pleasant, lacking the barrenness of some portions of the kingdom.
Zealand is divided into five amter (counties). (1) Frederiksborg in the north, named from the palace of Frederiksborg. In the north-east, where the coast approaches most nearly to Sweden, is Helsingör or Elsinore. (2) Kjöbenhavn, south of Frederiksborg. The capital is that of the kingdom, Copenhagen (Kjöbenhavn). The only other town of importance is the old cathedral city of Roskilde on the fjord of that name. Off the little port of Kjöge in the south the Danes under Nils Juel defeated the Swedes in 1677, and in another engagement in 1710 the famous Danish commander Hvitfeldt sank with his ship. (3) Holbaek, west of Kjöbenhavn. The chief town, Holbaek, lies on an arm of the Ise Fjord. In the west is the port of Kallundborg, with regular communication by steamer with Aarhus in Jutland. It has a singular Romanesque church of the 12th century. The district is diversified with small lakes, as the Tüs Sö. (4) Sorö, occupying the south-western part of the island. The chief town, Sorö, lies among woods on the small Sorö lake. It was formerly the seat of a university, and
remains an important educational centre. Its church, of the- ↑ Ambros mentions an edition of the Istitutioni dated 1557, and one of the Dimostrationi dated 1562. The present writer has never met with either.
- ↑ We have given the fractions in the order which they occur in the modern system. Ptolemy, following the invariable Greek method, placed them thus—1516, 89, 910. This, however, made no difference in the actual proportions.
- ↑ It was first used in France for the organ, in 1835, in England, for the pianoforte in 1846 and for the organ in 1854. Bach had advocated it in Germany a century earlier, but it was not generally adopted.
