Observations on the Florid Song Part 9

Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves.

Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes.

Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves._

i.e. These Verses I made, but another has taken the Applause of them.

_So ye Birds build not your Nests For yourselves.

So ye Sheep bear not your Wool For yourselves.

So ye Bees make not your Honey For yourselves.

So ye Oxen submit to the Plow Not for yourselves_.

Upon this Discovery, _Bathillus_ became the Ridicule of _Rome_, and _Virgil_ acquired a double Reputation.

The Distich, which _Bathillus_ claim'd for his, was this:

_Nocte plut tota, redeunt spectacula mane, Divisum Imperium c.u.m Jove Caesar habet._

i.e. It rain'd all Night; in the Morning the publick Shews return: _Jove_ and _Caesar_ divide the Rule of the World. The Compliment is, that _Caesar_ designing to exhibit Sports to the People, though the preceding Night was rainy and unpromising, yet such Weather returned with the Morning, as did not disappoint the Solemnity.

[6] _Alla Capella_, Church-Musick where the Flats and Sharps are not mark'd.

[7] Seven Cliffs necessary to be known. Pl. I. Numb. 1. By the Help of these Cliffs any Line or s.p.a.ce may be what Note you please. Pl. I. Numb.

2.

[8] It is necessary to understand the _Sol-Fa_-ing, and its Rules, which shew where the two Semitones lie in each Octave, Pl. I. Numb. 3. Where Flats or Sharps are marked at the Cliff, the Rule is, if one Flat, That is _Fa_; if more Flats, the last. If one Sharp, That is _Mi_; if more Sharps, the last.

[9] His meaning is, that the _French_ are not in the right.

[10] See -- 2, and the following, in Chap. III. where the Difficulty of the _Semitone Major_ and _Minor_ are cleared.

[11] _Voce di Petto_ is a full Voice, which comes from the Breast by Strength, and is the most sonorous and expressive. _Voce di Testa_ comes more from the Throat, than from the Breast, and is capable of more Volubility. _Falsetto_ is a feigned Voice, which is entirely formed in the Throat, has more Volubility than any, but of no Substance.

[12] _Register_; a Term taken from the different Stops of an Organ.

[13] The Pitch of _Lombardy_ or _Venice_, is something more than half a Tone higher than at _Rome_.

[14] A _Messa di Voce_ is the holding out and swelling a Note. Vide Pl.

I. Numb. 4. This being a Term of Art, it is necessary to use it, as well as _Piano_ for soft, and _Forte_ for loud. _N.B._ Our Author recommends here to use any Grace sparingly, which he does in several other Places, and with Reason; for the finest Grace too often repeated grows tiresome.

[15] See for _Appoggiatura_ in the next Chapter.

[16] This Chapter contains some Enquiries into Matters of Curiosity, and demands a little Attention. The Reader therefore is desired to postpone it to the last.

[17] _Appoggiatura_ is a Word to which the _English_ Language has not an Equivalent; it is a Note added by the Singer, for the arriving more gracefully to the following Note, either in rising or falling, as is shewn by the Examples in Notes of Musick, Pl. II. Numb. 2. The _French_ express it by two different Terms, _Port de Voix_ and _Appuyer_; as the _English_ do by a _Prepare_ and a _Lead_. The Word _Appoggiatura_ is derived from _Appoggiare_ to lean on. In this Sense, you lean on the first to arrive at the Note intended, rising or falling; and you dwell longer on the Preparation, than the Note for which the Preparation is made, and according to the Value of the Note. The same in a Preparation to a Shake, or a Beat from the Note below. No _Appoggiatura_ can be made at the Beginning of a Piece; there must be a Note preceding, from whence it leads.

[18] Here begins the Examination of the _Semitones Major and Minor_, which he promised in -- 15. Ch. 1. It may be of Satisfaction to the Studious, to set this Matter at once in a true Light; by which our Author's Doubts will be cleared, and his Reasoning the easier understood. A _Semitone Major_ changes Name, Line, and s.p.a.ce: _A Semitone_ Minor changes neither. Pl. II. Numb. 1. To a _Semitone Major_ one can go with a Rise or _a_ Fall distinctly; to a _Semitone Minor_ one cannot _N.B._ From a _Tone Minor_ the _Appoggiatura_ is better and easier than from a _Tone Major_.

[19] These are all _Tones Major_ and _Minor_, and _Semitones Major_. Pl.

II. Numb. 2.

[20] Because they are _Semitones Major_. Pl. II. Numb. 3.

[21] Because they are _Semitones Major_. Pl. II. Numb. 4.

[22] Because they are all _Semitones Minor_, which may be known by the abovementioned Rule, of their not changing Name, Line, nor s.p.a.ce. Pl.

II. Numb. 5. and which makes it manifest, that a _Semitone Minor_ cannot bear an _Appoggiatura_.

[23] For the same Reason, these being _Semitones Minor_. Pl. II. Numb.

6.

[24] Because one is a _Semitone Major_, and the other a _Semitone Minor_. Pl. III. Numb. 7.

[25] Because they are _Semitones Minor_. Pl. III, Numb. 8.

[26] The _Tone_, or _Mood_, you are in, will determine which is a _Tone Major_ or _Minor_; for if you change the _Mood_ or _Tone_, that which was the _Tone Major_ may become the _Tone Minor_, and so _Vice Versa_: Therefore these two Examples from _C_ to _D_, and from _F_ to _G_, do not hold true.

[27] His Perplexity comes from a wrong Notion, in not distinguis.h.i.+ng those two _Semitones_.

[28] All Intervals, rising with an _Appoggiatura_, arise to the Note with a sort of _Beat_, more or less: and the same, descending, arrive to the Note with a sort of _Shake_, more or less. Pl. III. Numb. 9, 10. One cannot agreeably ascend or descend the Interval of a third _Major_ or _Minor_, Pl. III. Numb 11. But gradually very well. Pl. III. Numb. 12.

Examples of false or deceitful Intervals. Pl. III. Numb. 13.

[29] So in all Cases where the Interval is deceitful. Pl. III. Numb. 14.

With a _Messa di Voce_. Pl. III. Numb. 15. See for _Messa di Voce_, Chap. I. -- 29, and its Note.

[30] In all the modern _Italian_ Compositions the _Appoggiatura's_ are mark'd, supposing the Singers to be ignorant where to place them. The _French_ use them for their Lessons on the _Harpsichord_, &c., but seldom for the Voice.

[31] See for the several Examples of the _Shakes_, Pl. IV.

[32] The first _Shake_ of a _Tone_, Pl. IV. Numb. 1.

[33] See for the Meaning of superior and inferior _Cadences_, Chap.

VIII. -- 1. Pl. V. Numb. 3. _N.B._ Prom the inferior or lower Cadences, the first, or full, _Tone Shake_, is not always excluded; for in a sharp Key it is always a _Tone_, and in a flat Key a _Semitone_, Pl. IV. Numb.

3.

[34] The second _Shake_ of a _Semitone Major_, Pl. IV. Numb. 2.

[35] The third the short _Shake_. Pl. IV. Numb. 4.

[36] The fourth the rising _Shake_. Pl. IV. Numb. 5.

[37] The fifth the descending _Shake_. Pl. IV. Numb. 6.

[38] The sixth the slow _Shake_. Pl. IV. Numb. 7.

[39] The seventh the redoubled _Shake_. Pl. IV. Numb. 8.

[40] The eighth the _Trillo-Mordente_, or _Shake_ with a _Beat_. Pl. IV.

Numb. 9.

[41] _Shakes_ are generally proper from preceding Notes descending, but not ascending, except on particular Occasions. Never too many, or too near one another; but very bad to begin with them, which is too frequently done. The using so often _Beats_, _Shakes_, and _Prepares_, is owing to Lessons on the Lute, Harpsichord, and other Instruments, whose Sounds discontinue, and therefore have Need of this Help.