[Smt-talk] Coniuncta

Tue Nov 1 12:55:13 PDT 2011

The term coniuncta can have at least two meanings: musica ficta (in the generic sense), or ficta-mutation (in a more specific sense). At least these meanings are clear not only in Tinctoris's _… diffinitorium_ (in which the terms "Coniuncta" and "Ficta musica" clearly share the same kind of definition), but in Guillaume Guerson's _Utillissime musicales regule_ (ca. 1495, bk. 1, ch. 4, f. b iiii[v]; bk. 2, f. b vii[r]-viii[r]), thus contemporary to Tinctoris's work).

Preserving at least one of those two meanings, the word coniuncta (either as a full-fledged noun, or in other grammatical categories in various declensions) can be found at least from Boethius. Nevertheless, it seems that the word was adopted in the discussions about ficta at least from time of Marchetto's work (already mentioned by Prof. Rahn), if not earlier, followed by the Anonymous Berkeley MS (1375), Johannes Ciconia's _Nova musica_ (ca. 1400), and Anonymus 11's _Tractatus de musica plana et mensurabili_ (? med. 15th cent. – cf. Richard Wingell's 3-volume dissertation) — to mention a few.

As for works after Tinctoris, besides Johannes Spannenberg's _Quaestiones musicae_ (1536; already mentioned by Prof. William Guerin), there is also Georg Rhau's _Enchiridion_ (1517, ch. 7).

For further reference, it is worth looking at the _Lexicon musicum latinum_ (unfortunately, I don't have it with me to refer to specific volume and pages). Also, one cannot miss other the possible combinations and spellings (coniunct--, and conjunct--), searchable via TML.

I would be particularly pleased to see the results of this thread. So, if Prof. Massimiliano Guido receives private replies, I would very much enjoy sharing if the sender allows.

Best,

Clovis

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 Clovis de Andre			  <clovis.deandre at gmail.com>
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On Nov 1, 2011, at 13h30m50s, JAY RAHN wrote:

> Tinctoris's third definition, 'the immediate joining of one note after another,' corresponds to Marchetto's usage throughout the Lucidarium: e.g., 'dispositio sive ordinatio sonorum sive vocum *ad invicem* in sillabis et dictionibus' (my emphasis: Luc. 9.1.2). 
> 
> The passage that follows this definition identifies 3 classes: those that span:
> a) an interval smaller than a perfect 4th (termed 'conjunctions and syllables'); 
> b) a perfect interval (in particular, 4th, 5th, 8ve, 11th, 12th, and 15th: termed 'conjunctions and species'); 
> c) a non-perfect interval between a 4th and 8ve (in modern terms, a dim 5, aug 4, m6, M6, m7, M7, and dim 8ve: termed simply 'conjunctions'). 
> 
> Thereupon, he assigns romanized versions of ancient Greek names to particular 'genera' of the 2nd, 3rd, and perfect 4th conjunctions: diatonic, enharmonic and chromatic, as well as combinations of these (e.g., diatonic-chromatic). After this discussion, he discusses perfect 4th and 5th species that are a basis for his discussion of the 8 modes.
> 
> Particular realizations of perfect 4th and 5th species (initial, terminal etc.) are considered after his discussion of the 8 modes and later still he discusses interruptions of the 1st species of perfect 5th (plausibly taking a passage in Guido as his point of departure). 
> 
> Not included are what in modern terms would be called augmented primes. These figure elsewhere in the treatise, where he considers chromaticism that would occur in discant rather than chant (e.g., c-c#, c#-c). 
> 
> Jay Rahn, York University (Toronto)
> 
> From: Massimiliano Guido <guido.massimiliano at gmail.com>
> To: smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
> Sent: Tuesday, November 1, 2011 10:12:48 AM
> Subject: [Smt-talk] Coniuncta
> 
> Dear list,
> does anybody know about late (i.e. sixteenth century) occurrences of the term coniuncta in treatises? I'm referring specifically to what Tinctoris defined in Terminorum musicae diffinitorium, as ‘the making of an irregular tone where a semitone should be, or vice versa; the placing of a flat or natural sign in an irregular place; the immediate joining of one note after another.’
> Thanks for help and best wishes!
> Max
> 
> Dr. Massimiliano Guido
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