-THE PRECEPTS OF POETIC MUSIC

BY MASTER GALLUS DRESSLER OF NEBRA

CANTOR OF THE SCHOOL OF MAGDEBURG
READ OUT PRIVATELY AND BEGUN SUCCESSFULLY
ON 21 OCTOBER IN THE YEAR 1563
AFTER THE CHILDBIRTH OF THE VIRGIN
Short Preface
Music has at all times been greatly prized among good and learned people. In our
time, it is so necessary that those ignorant of this art can scarcely be employed in the
direction of schools and churches. Nor is the study of music useful only for those who
are appointed to educational and ecclesiastical offices, but for all who are devoted to
learning. For just as a central place, which is considered most honorable among the
liberal arts, is assigned to music by the learned, so this art is an adornment for all
other studies, and no one fails to see musical talents loved by the majority of civilized
and learned men. Nor should the Centaurs and Cyclops be listened to, who despise
music and the other arts to an extreme degree; for despisers of this sort are more like
monsters than humans, and those who despise useful arts affront their author, God
himself.1 Since, therefore, this art is so useful and pleasant that it improves those
who cultivate it in every way in life and makes them esteemed by all good men, my
office requires me to invite our pupils to learn about this art at an appropriate time. 2
These are two parts to music, namely practical and poetic, which are accustomed to
be explicated in schools, to which eventually theoretic music, consisting in
contemplation, is added for those more advanced in age. 3 Of these two parts, since I
had decided that one of the two should be lectured on, a lecture on poetic music has
been preferred at this time for the following reasons:
I Because practical music was expounded by us a short time ago
II Because several young men, for whom I did not want my efforts to prove
inadequate, requested this of me4
III Although the precepts of this art were explicated by me two years ago, I want to
add certain things useful and necessary for learners, expounded more fully and
illustrated with examples. Finally, some men of character have added an
extraordinary spur,5 judging that the precepts of this art will be of considerable benefit
to young men. Although the usefulness of all music is spoken of above, nevertheless,

I shall now add four reasons specifically why young men ought to love and learn
poetic music before the rest:
I This art teaches the method of composing new harmonies
II It adds judgment as to which songs are artistic, which commonplace, which false
III It shows by what method errors are to be corrected 6 or from7
IV This art makes singers more unerring, and if by chance the target is missed, 8 it
shows the way of returning to the goal; for by this, he recognition of consonances
and of cadences can be manifested with propriety.
We want this lecture, however, to be private. For it is not fitting for new pupils, and in
such a crowded auditorium, in which the pupils are dissimilar, I do not think it
possible for these precepts to be expounded with due care and diligence. I shall now
indicate this in a few words so that it may be known who may be considered suitable
pupils and who may be able to hear this lecture with profit. Since the precepts of
poetic music are built up from practical music, it is necessary for a beginner in this art
to have made trial of the precepts of practical music in some place or other, and he
ought to approach these precepts having had practical experience in singing. 9 In
these matters, we do not require excellence, which is not possible in boys, but
mediocrity.10 Wherefore, if anyone thinks himself prepared, he can approach this
lecture with profit. Boys must not allow themselves to be deterred by the foolish
dissuasions of certain bawlers that the study of music is only fitting for the poor; also
that music hinders the course of the other arts. 11 It is splendid to learn the liberal arts,
and historical narratives assert that the leader Themistocles was considered rather
unlearned because he had refused certain exercises of music. 12 We do not want
music to hinder the course of other studies; on the contrary, we want it to help and
improve it. Nor do we advise that those devoted to studies, having abandoned the
other arts, cultivate only this art, but rather that they may add to their other studies
their moderate recognition of this art. Indeed, it can be done with sacrifice of time
from the leisure hours, and this study will recommend young men to all dutiful and
learned people. I shall advance undertaking of ours with the help of God may it be
successful and auspicious13 in this auditorium of the first class, with a lecture each
week on Thursday. We are appointing the twelfth, noonday hour, right up until the first
hour.14 A beginning will be made next Thursday, and since our work is private, it is
appropriate that the pupils declare their gratitude with some private reward,

especially those who do not lack the means. The poor, to whom fortune denies the
costs, I receive freely among the total number of pupils. But since they are unable to
repay me, let them be grateful. Finally, so that they may know what they should
expect in this lecture, and in what order I will hand down this art, it was resolved to
append the order of the chapters and a summary.
We are dividing the Precepts of Poetic Music into fifteen chapters
I.
The chapter deals with the definition and classification of counterpoint
II.
Concerning sounds and consonances
III.
Concerning dissonances and the syncopation
IV.
Concerning the difference between true and false intervals
V.
Concerning the use of the sixth and fourth
VI.
Concerning the parts of vocal works
VII.
Concerning the combination of consonances
VIII. Concerning the constitution and classification of cadences
IX.
Concerning the use of cadences
X.
Concerning rests
XI.
Concerning the invention of fugues
XII. Concerning the shaping of exordia
XIII. Concerning the constitution of the middle section of vocal works
XIV. Concerning the ending of harmonies
XV.
The method by which beginners may be able to progress with profit in this
study
(Forgcs, Robert, (Treatise) Gallus Dresslers Praecepta Musicae Poeticae. Urbana
and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007, 61,63,65,67,69,71)
-Chapter I
Concerning the definition and classification of Poetic Music
What is Poetic Music?
It is the art of shaping a musical poem. It differs from the other parts of music.
Theoretic music contemplates,15 practical music sings. This art indeed composes
new harmonies and leaves behind a finished work, even after the death of the
composer.16 Poetic music is twofold, namely improvisation and composition.
Improvisation (as the name itself indicates) is a sudden and impulsive extemporary
performance by diverse voices over any melody.17 This is more usual among
foreigners than among us. And since it depends on practical experience rather than

precepts and both arises from composition and is by no means lacking in faults, let
us approach composition,18 having laid aside this subject, for it is not usual to include
it in a treatise or to hand it down to students.
What is composition?
It is the gathering into one of the harmony of the diverse parts through discreet
concords, according to the true method, and has only one species, which is called
counterpoint.19
What is counterpoint?
It is a method of molding vocal sounds by proportional dimension and the measure of
the tempus.20 Three things are to be contemplated in this definition: first, that sounds
are to be used that we can attain with the human voice; therefore, it is said that they
are vocal sounds. Second, that the fitting proportion is to be observed in the
dimension of the concords; lest any confusion should arise, it is therefore added, by
proportional dimension. Third, that he method of the tempus (a dimension of the
brevis is called tempus), by which the whole course of the harmonies is to be
governed, be taken into consideration. Therefore, it is said to be a measure of the
tempus.
How many aspects does counterpoint have?
It is threefold: simple, florid or fractured, and colored. 21(Forgcs, Robert, (Treatise)
Gallus Dresslers Praecepta Musicae Poeticae. Urbana and Chicago: University of
Illinois Press, 2007, 71,73,75)
-FN 4: In the manuscript, the first two reasons for preferring musica poetica are
written in reverse order but corrected into the present order, This correction suggests
that the manuscript is a copy of a now-lost primary source, perhaps Dresslers
original form of the lecture, which he comments was delivered two years previously,
rather than a copy made by dictation during his lectures, as the error in the
placement of the first two reasons is much more likely to occur in copying than in
dictation. (Forgcs, Robert, (Treatise) Gallus Dresslers Praecepta Musicae
Poeticae. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007, 63, 65)
-FN 6: Dresslers first three reasons for studying musica poetica are modeled on

those given by Heinrich Faber in his manuscript treatise De musica poetica of 1548
(f. 98r): Huius artis utilitas est, ubi ad naturam et artis cognitionem frequens
exercitatio accesserit, ut de cantus qualitate, an sit urbanus, an vulgaris, verus an
falsus iudicare possimus, et falsum corrigere et novum componere [The usefulness
of this art is when frequent practice will lead to the nature and recognition of the art,
so that we are able to judge about the quality of a song, whether it is refined or
commonplace, true or false, and to correct what is false and compose something
new]. For more on Faber, see the Introduction, 13-15. (Forgcs, Robert, (Treatise)
Gallus Dresslers Praecepta Musicae Poeticae. Urbana and Chicago: University of
Illinois Press, 2007, 65)
-FN 9: This emphasis on the priority of practical music and of experience in singing
in particular was a widely held view among sixteenth-century theorists. Listenius
began his treatise Musica (Wittenberg: Georg Rhaw, 1537), f. Aiiij v, with the following
explicit comments linking singing and composition: Musica est rite ac bene canendi
scientia. Bene canere est cantum sub certa regula ac mensura per suas voces ac
notulas apte proferre [Music is the knowledge of singing well and correctly. To sing
well is to produce the voices and notes of a song fittingly according to certain definite
rules and proportions]. A similarly close connection is found in Adrianus Petit
Coclicos remarks on Josquin des Prezs teaching method, and this is the approach
adopted by Coclico himself, as can be seen in the title of his Compendium musices
descriptum ab Adriano Petit Coclico discipulo losquini de Pres in quo praeter caetera
tractantur haec: De modo ornate canendi, de regula contrapuncti, de compositione
(Nuremberg: Johann Berg and Ulrich Neuber, 1552; reprint, Kassel: Brenreiter,
1954); it is quoted and discussed in Jessie Ann Owens, Composers at Work, The
Craft of Musical Composition 1450-1600 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 1112. (Forgcs, Robert, (Treatise) Gallus Dresslers Praecepta Musicae Poeticae.
Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007, 67)
-FN 14: Both Niemller, Untersuchungen, 659; and Edith Weber, LEnseignement
de la musique dans les coles humanists et protestantes en Allemagne: Thorie,
partique, pluridisciplinarit, in LEnseignement da la musique au Moyen Age et la
Renaissance, Actes du colloque de Royaumont 1985 (Paris: Fondation Royaumont,
1987), 116-17, note that during the sixteenth century, music was usually taught in the
Lateinschulen in Germany between midday and 1 P.M.) (Forgcs, Robert, (Treatise)
Gallus Dresslers Praecepta Musicae Poeticae. Urbana and Chicago: University of
Illinois Press, 2007, 69)

-FN 16: Dresslers definition of musica poetica is based on the formulations of

Listenius and Faber. In his Musica, f. A4v, Listenius stated: Poetica, quae neque rei
cognition, neque solo exercitio contenta, sed aliquid post laborem relinquit operas,
veluti cum a quopiam musica, aut musicum Carmen conscribitur, cuius finis est opus
consumatum et effectum. Consistit enim in faciendo sive fabricando, hoc est, in tali
labore qui post se etiam artifice mortuo opus perfectum et absolutum relinquat
[Poetic, which is eager neither for knowledge of the subject, nor for practice only, but
leaves behind some work after the labor, just as when music from anywhere at all or
some musical song is written, whose aim is a finished and completed work. For it
consists in making or creating something, that is, in such work that leaves behind it,
even after the artist dies, a perfect and finished work]. Faber, repeating part of this
definition in De musica poetica, f. 98r, wrote: Consistit enim haec musica ipsa in
faciendo sive fabricando, hoc est, in tali labore, qui et artifice mortuo opus perfectum
et absolutum relinquit. Quare a quibusdam et fabricativa vocatur [For this music itself
consists in making or creating something, that is, in such labor that leaves behind a
perfect and finished work, even when the artist had died. Wherefore it is called by
certain people creative]. (Forgcs, Robert, (Treatise) Gallus Dresslers Praecepta
Musicae Poeticae. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007, 71)
-FN 17: Dresslers term sortisatio (also often defined as cantare supra librum by
contemporary theorists) refers to improvised counterpoint and, as Trachier notes
(Prcepta, 60), first appears in German music treatises towards the end of he
fifteenth century, a definition appearing in the anonymous Natura delectabilissimum
of ca. 1476. Venceslaus Philomathes also criticizes the practice in Book Three of his
treatise De nova domo musicirum, f. Eiiijv, where his fourth precept warns against the
harmonizing of chant, which he views as technically flawed; it is only recommended
by Philomathes at the end of the tones, with its use restricted to experienced and
knowledgeable singers:
Hormoniam nequicquam in olano fingere cantu,
Aude cantendo, uitio quia uix caret illud
At si fingere scis hanc finge in fine tonorum
Qui facis oppositum, rudis es, prcetaque nescis
Musica qu statuit cantoribus usque tenenda.
Dare not at all in plainsong to create harmony by singing,
Because that is scarecely lacking in fault
But if you know how to fashion it, fashion it at he end of the tones.

You who do the opposite, you are ignorant, and you do not know the precepts of music which must

(Forgcs, Robert, (Treatise) Gallus Dresslers Praecepta

Musicae Poeticae. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007, 73)
always be kept by singers.

-FN 18: Dressler is again indebted to Faber (De musica poetica, f. 98v) for his
definition and discussion of sortisatio: Dividitur autem musica poetica in duas partes,
sortisationem et compositionem. Sortisatio est subita ac improvisa cantus per
diversas melodias ordination. Quia vero hc ordination canendi non valde probatur
eruditis, non opus est ut diutius huius rei, quque solummodo usu consistit
immoremur [Poetic music is divided into two parts, improvisation and composition.
Improvisation is a sudden and impulsive ordering of a song through diverse
melodies. But because this ordering of singing is not greatly approved of by the
learned, it is not worth dwelling on this matter any longer, which consists only of
practical experience]. (Forgcs, Robert, (Treatise) Gallus Dresslers Praecepta
Musicae Poeticae. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007, 73)
-FN 20: This definition of counterpoint is based primarily on that of Faber (De
musica poetica, f. 99r), who wrote: Contrapunctus est ratio flectendi cantabiles sonos
proportionabili dimemsione ac temporis mensura [Counterpoint is a method of
molding vocal sounds by the measuring of proportion and by the measuring of the
tempus], while Faber himself based his definition on Gaffurius, Practica musice
(Milan: Ioannes Petrus de Lomoatio, 1496, reprint, Bologna: Forni, 1972), f. ccvi r
(3.1): Est itaque contrapunctus ars flectendi cantabiles sonos proportionabili
dimensione & temporis mensura: namque melodia ex vocibus constat & intervallis
atque temporibus [And so counterpoint is the art of molding vocal sounds by the
measuring of proportion and by the measuring of the tempus: for melody consists of
pitches, intervals, and time values]. The tempus referred to in these definitions is the
system of time measurement that defines the number of semibreves in a brevis.
(Forgcs, Robert, (Treatise) Gallus Dresslers Praecepta Musicae Poeticae. Urbana
and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007, 75)