Books › A dictionary of musical terms, 1889 › scan 106
Scan 106
A dictionary of musical terms, 1889
32 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1clefs gamut and d, their places marked the boundary of ecclesiastical compass. The other clefs might be made moveable if needed, for reasons already intimated, but whatever the number of lines above or below the clefs, each clef represented a particular sound. Thus, the F clefs indicated F finale, the C clef, acutum, and the G clef, G superacutum, &c. Many of the musical treatises of the 16th century contain a chapter "De Clavibus signatis," which is interesting as showing the form of the clefs as then employed.
3All the writers of these tracts distinguish between the clefs proper to plain-song, and those employed for figurate or mensurable music. In the following copies of these arrangements of clefs, those for plain-song are on the left, and those for figurate music on the right. No. 1, from Finck's "Practica Musica," 1556:
5Signa clavium in utroque cantu.
7Et ponuntur omnes in lineali situ, quaedam tamen sunt magis familiares, utpote F et C, g rariuscule. F vero et dd rarissime utimur. Unde, Linea signatas sustentat scilicet omnes. Et distant inter se mutuo per diapentem. F tamen γάμμα distinguat septima quamvis.
9No. 2, from "Erotemata Musices Practicæ," by Ambrosius Wilphlingsederus, 1563:
11In choral cantu simpliciter prescribuntur ita.
13In mensurali vero hoc modo.
15No. 3, from "Erotemata Musicæ," by Lucas Lossius, 1570:
17In cantu chorali. In cantu figurali.
19In later times three clefs F, C and G were found sufficient for all purposes. The C clef appears upon all lines but the fifth.
21The first is called the Soprano, and is most frequently found in ecclesiastical music, though it not uncommonly indicates the treble voice part in modern full scores. The second is called the Mezzo Soprano, and is assigned to second treble, and sometimes alto voices, and in music of the early part of the 18th century is often used for the tenor violin. The third is the Alto, and the fourth the Tenor clef; the former being used for alto voices, violas, and the highest trombone, the latter by tenor voices, trombones and the upper register of the bassoon and violoncello. The F clef is placed upon the fourth line of the stave and is used for all bass voices and instruments. When it is found upon the third line as in some old music it is called the baritone clef:
23The following quotations from music books of various dates will show the forms through which the several clefs have passed. The "Compendium Musicæ," by Lampadius, 1537, is supposed to be the earliest printed book in which the G clef is used in a shape nearly similar to that now employed:
25In Lully's and other French scores it is sometimes placed upon the first line:
27In this position it was called the "French violin clef;" and in an earlier work by Christopher Demantius, "Isagoge Artis Musicæ," 1656, it appears upon the third line:
29In "Ayres and Dialogues for one, two, and three voyces," by Henry Lawes, 1653, the forms of the clefs are as follows:
31In Christopher Simpson's "Compendium of
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.