Marchettus of Padua opens the Lucidarium by conceding the point on which his whole authority will rest, and it is a Boethian move made against Boethius's conclusion: "Non est iudicium musice solum in sono, quia sensus auditus potest falli, uti & cæteri sensus corporis." Judgement in music does not lie in sound alone, because hearing can be deceived — as sight is deceived, he adds, when a straight stick is put in water and looks bent. The example is a commonplace of ancient scepticism, and the structure is exactly the argument by which Boethius subordinates the ear to reason. What makes Marchettus interesting is that he accepts the premise and then proceeds, over the course of the treatise, to make room for distinctions that a strict Pythagorean arithmetic does not sanction. The Lucidarium (c. 1317–18) is the beginning of a long argument in which practice starts to press back on the numbers. [P-V for the quoted sentence; the reading of the treatise as a whole is [I].]
Medieval treatises on music — Marchettus of Padua (Lucidarium, Pomerium), Johannes de Muris (Musica speculativa), Adam of Fulda, Elias Salomonis — Gerbert, Scriptores vol. 3 (St Blasien, 1784), re-read from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek scan
The original is shown on its own: no English is held for this issue yet.
LUCIDARIUM A
Carvr IV.
De iudicio JMufice.
. Non eft iudicium mufice folum in
fono, quia fenfus auditus poteft falli,
. uti & czxteri fenfus corporis. Nam fallitur fenfus vifus, fi rectum lignum in aqua ponatur, quia refpicitur oculis tortuofum. Fallitur ctiam fepe fenfus auditus , cum delectatur in fono ab om-
. ni ratione & proportione remoto. Ob hoc dicit Boetius: ficut non fufficit in
. - vifu confpici colores & formas, nifi inveftigetur, qua fit eorum proprietas ;
. fic non fufficit cantu cantilene delecta-
— ri, nifi etiam inveftigetur, qualiter proportiones vocum inter fe disiunctz fint. ludicium & proprietas mufice eft ratio numerorum, quz in ipfa tanta difpenfat,
« :«& quafi domina imperat. Nam Remigius: veritas mufíice eft in numeris proportionum.
CarvT V.
" Quid fit mufica.
- . Mufica eft ars fpectabilis, cuius fonus in codo & in terra modulatur. Item mufica eít fcientia, qua in numeris, proportionibus , quantitatibus, menfuris,
* coniundionibus & confonantiis confiftit, Guido: 1ufica eft motus vocum per arfin & theíin, hoc eít, per elevatiomem & depofitionem.
Caprvr VI - —— .— Unde dicatur zaufica.
- Mufica dicitur a moys, quod eft aqua,
.. €o quod iuxta aquas inventa fuit, ut Reamigius refert: quia ficut aqua non poteft
- tangi, quod non moveatur; fic nec mu-
ONT
IUSICUE PLAN;. 67 "M fica, quod non audiatur. Inquit enim ipfe: moys genus eít, quod aquam fignificat ; multum enim iuvat aqua fonum muficum, ut probabiliter apparet in fiftulis organalibus, quz implentur aqua, ut fo num reddant. CaprvT VII. ^. De divifione mufica.
Quamvis autem omnis modulatio vocis & foni, ac etiam quidquid ab auditu percipitur, mufica fit, quia per ipfam de eis redditur ratio: tamen fciendum eft, - quod mufica eft nomen generis, & definitio fupradicta de ipfa eft definitio generis. Et ideo, quia genus eft, quod ha- 1 bet fpecies, ideo fciendum eft, quod mufica alia eft harmonica, alia organica, & alia rhythmica dicitur, de quibus omnibus eft dicendum. — Sed quia harmonica prima dicitur, eo quod in voce hominis, feu ab homine ipfo naturaliter fic forma- | tur: idcirco quid fit ipfa, primo viden- M dum elt.
CaprvT VIII.
De mufica barmonica.
Mufica harmonica eít ila, quz fit per fonum, qua eft vox, hoc eít, per hominem & animalia: ut autem przdi- Xa definitio videatur, videndum eft, quid fit fonus, qui eft vox, in quo conftringitur. Mufica harmonica przlibata, quantum eít ad omnia alia, con- : venit cum alis duabus muficis; nam quacumque per ipfam cantari poffunt, per organicam muficam & rhythmicam i poffunt etiam modulari. Solum in hoc differt ab. eis, quia ipfa folum per fonum fit, qui eft vox hominis feu animalis. l2 Ca-