On the Execution of Music, and Principally of Ancient Music

· 1921

MUSIC was written in a scrawl impossible to decipher up to the thirteenth century, when Plain Song[1] (_Plain Chant_) made its appearance in square and diamond-shaped notes. The graduals and introits had not yet been reduced to bars, but the songs of the troubadours appear to have been in bars of three beats with the accent on the feeble note of each bar. However, the theory that this bar of three beats or triple time was used exclusively is probably erroneous. St. Isidore, in his treatise on music, speaking of how Plain Song should be interpreted, considers in turn all the voices and recommends those which are high, sweet and clear, for the execution of vocal sounds, introits, graduals, off…

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