The article is devoted to the problem of musica ficta (accidentals) in early music. The focus is on a specific time period — the 14th century (in Italy and France), when chromatics begins to actively penetrate polyphony. In some cases, accidentals were fixed by special signs in manuscripts, in others they were understood contextually. The latter circumstance leads to the fact that modern editors, transcribers and performers are forced to make their own decisions about the arrangement of accidents. A number of treatises of the 14th century (Prosdocimo de’ Beldomandi, Ugolino of Orvieto, Jacob of Liege and others) are analyzed, which deal with chromatics: its origins, rules and reasons to use them. At the same time, the purpose of the study is not so much to summarize the guidelines of the theorists of the past on the subject of musica ficta, but to analyze modern practice. He, in turn, shows that performers resort to various strategies, in some cases heeding the precepts of the musicians of the past, in others choosing their own path. But, nevertheless, in any scenarios, they complete what was previously completed, creating a new, unique sound image of the composition.
I express my deep gratitude to Ph.D., Associate Professor Sergey N. Lebedev for valuable instructions, as well as assistance in translating Latin texts.
1. Il’ichev, Leonid F., Petr N. Fedoseev, Sergey M. Kovalev, and Viktor G. Panov (eds.). 1983. “Aktsidentsiya [Accident].” Filosofskiy entsiklopedicheskiy slovar’ [Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary], 17. Moscow: Sovetskaya entsiklopediya. (In Russian).
2. Bocharov, Yuriy S. 2021. “On the Problem of Genre Typology of Instrumental Music of the Renaissance.” Starinnaya muzyka [Early Music], no. 3 (93), 1–8. (In Russian).
3. Lebedev, Sergey N. n. d. “Gil’om de Masho [Guillaume de Machaut].” Bol’shaya rossiyskaya entsiklopediya: nauchno-obrazovatel’nyy portal [Great Russian Encyclopedia: Scientific and Educational Web Portal]. Available at: https://bigenc.ru/c/gil-om-de-masho9a8d74/?v=7263154 (accessed July 3, 2023). (In Russian).
4. Lebedev, Sergey N. 2019. “Dvoe neizvestnykh i velikiy Gvido [The Two Unknowns and the Great Guido].” Nauchnyy vestnik Moskovskoy konservatorii / Journal of Moscow Conservatory 10, no. 2 (June): 8–23. (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.26176/mosconsv.2019.37.2.001.
5. Lebedev, Sergey N. 2017. “Mutatsiya [Mutation].” Bol’shaya rossiyskaya entsiklopediya. Elektronnaya versiya [Great Russian Encyclopedia. Electronic version]. Available at: https://old.bigenc.ru/music/text/2239874 (accessed July 3, 2023). (In Russian).
6. Lebedev, Sergey N. 1987. “O modal’noy garmonii XIV veka [On Modal Harmony of the 14th Century].” In Istoriya garmonicheskikh stiley: zarubezhnaya muzyka doklassicheskogo perioda [History of Harmonic Styles: Foreign Music of the Preclassical Period], collected papers, 5–33. Moscow: Gnesins Musical Pedagogical Institute. (In Russian).
7. Lebedev, Sergey N. 1987. “Problema modal’noy garmonii v muzyke rannego Vozrozhdeniya [The Problem of Modal Harmony in the Music of the Early Renaissance].” Ph.D. diss., Gnesins Musical Pedagogical Institute. (In Russian).
8. Lebedev, Sergey N. 1983. “Uchenie o khromatike Marketto iz Padui [Doctrine of the Chromatics by Marchetto da Padova].” In Problemy teorii zapadnoevropeyskoy muzyki (XII–XVII vv.) [Issues of Theory of Western European Music (12th–17th Centuries)], edited by Yuliya K. Evdokimova, 34–59. Moscow: Gnesins Musical Pedagogical Institute. (In Russian).
9. Pospelova, Rimma L. 2009. “Index rerum.” In Traktaty o muzyke Ioanna Tinktorisa s prilozheniem polnogo russkogo perevoda onykh [Treatises on Music by Johannes Tinctoris Accompanied with the Complete Russian Translation of Them], 632–56. Moscow: Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. (In Russian).
10. Storchak Natal’ya S. 2018 “Ladovaya teoriya sem’ vekov nazad. K izucheniyu traktata “Lucidarium” Marketto Paduanskogo [Theory of Modes Seven Centuries Ago. On “Lucidarium” Treatise by Marchetto da Padova].” Ph.D. diss., Zhiganov Kazan State Conservatory. (In Russian).
11. Kholopov, Yury N. 2015. “Prakticheskie rekomendatsii k opredeleniyu lada v starinnoy muzyke [Practical Recommendations for Determinating the Mode in Early Music].” In O printsipakh kompozitsii starinnoy muzyki. Stat’i i materialy [On the Principles of Composition in Early Music. Articles and Materials], edited by Tatyana S. Kyuregyan, 219–59. Moscow: Moscow Conservatory Press. (In Russian).
12. Coussemaker, Edmund de, ed. 1864. “Anonymi 2 Tractatus de Discantu.” In Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series a Gerbertina altera, tom. 1, 303–18. Parisiis: apud A. Durand.
13. Coussemaker, Edmund de, ed. 1869. “Ars discantus secundum Johannem de Muris.” In Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series a Gerbertina altera, tom. 3, 68–113. Parisiis: apud A. Durand.
14. Coussemaker, Edmund de, ed. 1869. “Ars Nova Philippi de Vitriaco.” In Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series a Gerbertina altera, tom. 3. Parisiis: apud A. Durand.
15. Bent, Margaret. 2002. Counterpoint, Composition and Musica Ficta. New York; London: Routledge.
16. Bent, Margaret. 1972. “Musica Recta and Musica Ficta.” Musica Disciplina 26, 73–100.
17. Berger, Karol. 1987. Musica Ficta: Theories of Accidental Inflections in Vocal Polyphony from Marchetto da Padova to Gioseffo Zarlino. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18. Brothers, Thomas. 1997. “Musica Ficta and Harmony in Machaut’s Songs.” The Journal of Musicology 15, no. 4 (October): 501–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/764005.
19. Coussemaker, Edmund de, ed. 1864. “Compendium Discantus Magistri Franconis.” In Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series a Gerbertina altera, tom. 1, 154–56. Parisiis: apud A. Durand.
20. Seay, Albert, ed. 1981. Johannes Gallicus. Ritus canendi [Pars secunda]. Critical Texts, no. 14. Colorado Springs: Colorado College Music Press. Available at: https://chmtl.indiana. edu/tml/15th/GALRC2 (accessed July 3, 2023).
21. Hoppin, Richard H. 1956. “Conflicting Signatures Reviewed.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 9, no. 2 (Summer): 97–117. https://doi.org/10.2307/829675.
22. Hoppin, Richard H. 1953. “Partial Signatures and Musica Ficta in Some Early 15th-Century Sources.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 6, no. 3 (Autumn): 197–215. https://doi.org/10.2307/830229.
23. Hughes, Andrew. 1969. “Ugolino: The Monochord and Musica Ficta.” Musica Disciplina 23, 21–39.
24. Coussemaker, Edmund de, ed. 1864. “Introductio musicae secundum Magistrum de Garlandia.” In Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series a Gerbertina altera, tom. 1, 157–74. Parisiis: apud A. Durand.
25. Bragard, Roger, ed. 1965. Jacobi Leodenisis Speculum musicae. Liber quartus. Corpus Scriptorum de Musica 3, no. 4. Rome: American Institute of Musicology.
26. Lockwood, Lewis. 1965. “A Dispute on Accidentals in Sixteenth-Century Rome.” Analecta Musicologica 2, no. 27, 24–40.
27. Lowinsky, Edward E. 1954. “Conflicting Views on Conflicting Signatures.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 7, no. 3 (Autumn): 181–204. https://doi.org/10.2307/829496.
28. Lowinsky Edward E. 1964. “Foreword to Musica Nova accomodata per Cantar et Sonar Organi.” In Monuments of Renaissance Music 1, edited by H. Colin Slim, V–XXI. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
29. Otaola, Paloma. 1998. “Les Coniunctae dans la Théorie Musicale au Moyen Âge et à la Renaissance (1375–1555).” Musurgia 5, no. 1: 53–69.
30. Coussemaker, Edmund de, ed. 1869. “Philippi de Vitriaco Ars contrapuncti.” In Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series a Gerbertina altera, tom. 3. Parisiis: apud A. Durand.
31. Coussemaker, Edmund de, ed. 1869. “Prosdocimi de Beldemandis Tractatus de contrapuncto.” In Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series a Gerbertina altera, tom. 3, 193–99. Parisiis: apud A. Duran.
32. Coussemaker, Edmund de, ed. 1864. “Quator principalia musicae per Simonem Tunstede.” In Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series a Gerbertina altera, tom. 4. Parisiis: apud A. Durand.
33. Seay, Albert, ed. 1978. “The 15th-Century Coniuncta: A Preliminary Study.” In Aspects of Medieval and Renaissance Music. A Birthday Offering to Gustave Reese, edited by Jan LaRue, 723–37. New York: Pendragon Press.
34. Tischler, Hans. 1973. “‘Musica Ficta’ in the Thirteenth Century.” Music & Letters 54, no. 1 (January): 38–56. https://doi.org/10.1093/ml/LIV.1.38.
35. Seay, Albert, ed. 1962. “Ugolini Urbevetanis Tractatus de monocordi.” In Ugolini Urbevetanis Declaratio musicae disciplinae, 227–53. Corpus Scriptorum de Musica 7, no. 3. [Rome]: American Institute of Musicology, 1959. Available at: https://chmtl.indiana.edu/tml/15th/ UGOTRAM (accessed July 3, 2023).