Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
- THE TRANSLATION
- Epistle
- On the subject of harpsichord tuning
- Treatise on the tuning of the Harpsichord
- Procedure for tuning the harpsichord properly
- How the Harpsichord and the Prestant of the Organ should be tuned
- Advice to choirmasters and organists
- On the quantity and diversity of sounds
- The eight tons of the church
- Treatise on fugues, and how they should be realized [I]
- Treatise on fugues, and how they should be realized [II]
- The proper manner of playing the harpsichord and the organ
- On bad habits that occur among those who play instruments
- Appendix A A comparison of parallel passages from the published writings of Jean Denis and Marin Mersenne
- Appendix B A transcription of the ‘Prelude for determining whether the tuning is good throughout’
- Bibliography
- Index
Epistle
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 December 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
- THE TRANSLATION
- Epistle
- On the subject of harpsichord tuning
- Treatise on the tuning of the Harpsichord
- Procedure for tuning the harpsichord properly
- How the Harpsichord and the Prestant of the Organ should be tuned
- Advice to choirmasters and organists
- On the quantity and diversity of sounds
- The eight tons of the church
- Treatise on fugues, and how they should be realized [I]
- Treatise on fugues, and how they should be realized [II]
- The proper manner of playing the harpsichord and the organ
- On bad habits that occur among those who play instruments
- Appendix A A comparison of parallel passages from the published writings of Jean Denis and Marin Mersenne
- Appendix B A transcription of the ‘Prelude for determining whether the tuning is good throughout’
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
TO MY LORD
THE MARQUIS OF MORTEMART, ADVISOR TO THE KING IN HIS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COUNCILS,
Knight of the Orders of His Majesty, First Gentleman of the Chamber, Bailiff and Captain of the Hunting Preserve of the Louvre, the Chateau of Madrid, the Park and Forest of Boulogne, La Muette and St-Cloud, with the Right of Jurisdiction over the said locales, and Captain of the Chaillot Hunt.
MY LORD,
Among all the splendid talents which embellish your illustrious person and which you possess to perfection, I may say that music, both theoretical and practical, is the one you place above all others. It is for just cause that you should be called the father of this science, for it is instilled in you so deeply and you practice it so naturally that you are without equal. No one else can so skillfully unite his voice with the lute, or the theorbo, or whatever instrument it pleases you to take up, for you are marvelously well versed in the most melodious among them.
So many times have I had the honor of joining the company of your admirers when you were engaged in this agreeable diversion that I must declare, along with them, that I have never heard anything so sweet, nor so ravishing, and that in music, as in every other thing, your spirit is incomparable and your skill inimitable.
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- Information
- Treatise on Harpsichord Tuning , pp. 57 - 58Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1987