Instrumentale Spielformeln und Vokale Verzierungen im 16.Jahrhundert

Abstract

In the music of the 16th century, stereotype four-note formulas are found in the instrumental as well as in the vocal idiom. Although frequently identical in appearance, their functions are very different. While indispensable in the instrumental idiom, particularly in keyboard music, where they represent the very essence of instruction in 15th-century organ treatises and fundamenta, they appear in vocal music only as additions to finished compositions or existing practices. What amounts to an absolute necessity in one case is merely an ornamental supplement in the other. In vocal music it is treated as a matter of performance carried out by a qualified soloist and limited to the musical centers of Italy. The present article raises the question as to how the genuinely instrumental and widely spread keyboard practice made its impact on the vocal ornaments of the singer, whose primary concern is the musical communication of language.