Special Collections / Music Treatises

In 1510, Luscinius met Sebastian Virdung (b.1465) at the Reichstag in Augsburg. Eight years later he completed this work of music theory which, like that by Agricola, is indebted to Virdung, Musica getutscht (Basel, 1511). Here the text is given in scholastic Latin, unlike Virdung’s vernacular, and is illustrated with numerous woodcuts of instruments.

RISM B/VI, v. 1, p. 366. TML GLADOD1, GLADOD2, GLADOD3. Spanning three books, this work presents a systematic theory of twelve modes. In addition to the authentic and plagal modes with finals D, E, F, G, described by medieval music theorists, Glarean also defined modes with finals on C and A.

This work is neither a treatise on music nor notated music. Its sixteen numbered engravings depict scenes of music-making from biblical scenes and on theological themes. The engravings were executed by Adriaen Collaert and Théodore Galle after designs by Jan van der Straet, with Latin verses composed by Joannes Bochius.

Translation of the German work, Musicale instrumentum reformatum. Heiden describes his invention of the Geigenwerk, a bowed keyboard instrument.

This work considers the history of bells, including their functions in church and in secular society.

Written in Latin and German, this work is widely regarded as the single most important music treatise of the pre-Classical period.

This work describes the sambuca lincea, an eight-manual harpsichord (also known as a pentecontachordon), invented by Colonna that divided the octave into seventeen parts.

2 v. in 1: ill., front., music, ports.; 35 cm. Edited by Jacobus Viva, with his letter to the reader (prelim p. [19]). Additional double-page engraved t.p. with dedicatory portrait of Leopold Guilielmus, archduke of Austria, Belgium and Burgundy; engraved by Io. Paulo Schor, Barfonius F., Romae. Vol. 2 t.p.: Athanasii Kircheri Fuldensis Soc. Iesu presbyteri Mvsvrgia vniversalis, siue Ars magna consoni et dissoni. Romae, Ludouici Grignani, 1650; with additional engraved plate of Apollo playing the cythara, engraved by Petrus Miotte. “Synopsis musurgiae vniuersalis in X libros digestae”—Verso of vol. 1 t.p. “Tristychon in tomvm II”—Verso of vol. 2 t.p. Includes 20 engraved plates, one folded, numbered I–IV, VI–X, XIII–XXIII. Engraved vignettes at the beginning and end of each chapter and ornamental initials. Woodcut text illustrations and musical examples. Privilege statements, dedicatory letter, and prefaces to the reader (vol. 1, prelim. [19] p.). Includes index to vol. I (vol. 1, final [22] p.), errata (vol. 1, final [2] p.) and to chapters within all 10 books (vol. 2, final [12] p.).

2 preliminary leaves, 34 pages: illustrations (music) diagrams; 23 cm. Written in 1618 and first published in 1650. Translations and revised editions appeared in 1653, 1656, 1661, 1668, and 1695. It is noteworthy as an early experiment in the application of an empirical, deductive, scientific approach to the study of sensory perception. It is also among the earliest attempts to study the relationship between the physical and psychological phenomena in music.

This second edition of The division-violist includes a Latin translation alongside the original English, “to make it useful at home as well as abroad.”

First published in Rome in 1677, this work narrates the history of wind instruments in antiquity.

[28], 405, [43] pages, 11 unnumbered leaves of plates: illustrations; 14 cm. Engraved t.p. “Index authorum, qui hoc tractatu citantur”: pages [430]–[440]. Includes indexes. Title vignette. Initials; tail-pieces. Indexed In Fetis, V, p. 182. Various shelfmarks; library stamp from Bibl Publ. Basileensis on t.p. verso.

xi, 58 pages: VIII plates; 26 cm. Title vignette; head-pieces; initials.