Agricola 1529: Description

Thematic Index

(f. 1r)Musica instrumentalis deudsch ynn welcher begriffen ist, wie man nach dem gesange auff mancherley Pfeiffen lernen sol, Auch wie auff die Orgel, Harffen, Lauten, Geigen, und allerley Instrument und Seytenspiel, nach der rechtgegrüdten Tabelthur sey abzusetsen. Mart. Agricola.

(f. 60): Gedrückt zu Wittemberg durch Georgen Rhaw. M.D.xxix.

This treatise on instrumental music is in German verse and is closely related to Virdung 1511. Agricola never mentions the earlier book, but many of the woodcut illustrations appear to have originated with Virdung, and the organization and title are similar. Unlike the earlier work, however, Agricola 1529 is expressly intended for young readers and comprises part of a three-volume set on music.

Two major changes originating in this edition are of immediate interest here: 1) the order of presentation of the instruments has been altered, with the section on the recorder (in mensural notation, not tablature) beginning the book followed by organ, plucked- and bowed-string tablatures and percussion instruments; and 2) the original's German lute tablature has been omitted for a notation of Agricola's own invention based on keyboard tablature.

Agricola's objections to German lute tablature stem from the fact that the letter names (from a to z) do not equal the actual pitches being played. Although he does include one diagram of the older German tablature (as "very useful to know"), most of Virdung's other related diagrams and his musical example have been replaced. The newly proposed notation repeats letters of the alphabet from A to G (including the German designations of b and h for b-flat and b-natural) so that each note is represented by its sounding pitch. The system cannot be adequately represented here, but is basically as follows:

As in keyboard tablature, successive octaves are delineated by first capital letters with a line under them (the lowest notes), then capital letters, lower-case letters, and finally lower-case letters with a line above them. Sharps are indicated by curly lines added to the symbols.

This system does not seem to have been used by anyone else during the period, despite its apparent logic. Several problems may explain Agricola's lack of success. First, the notation cannot distinguish among the many unisons on the lute fingerboard which are especially necessary when playing music of more than one part (e.g., a "c" could represent the fourth course, seventh fret or the third course, third fret, etc.). Second, the assumed tuning of the lute to G was not always used by contemporary lutenists, who often imagined several different tunings (Galilei called them poste) in order to transcribe vocal music. Finally, French and Italian lute tablatures were much easier to read than German and eventually replaced it.

RISM lists 23 extant copies: A:Imf, A:Wgm, A:Wn, B:Br, CH:E, D:As, D:B, D:DS, D:FLs, D:G (2 examples), D:LEm, D:Mbs, D:Ngm, D:Rp, D:ROu, D:Tu, D:W, GB:Lbl (mq. f. 1-49), NL:DHgm, S:Uu (incomplete), US:CAh (mq. p.1), and US:NYp.

Bullard, Beth. "Musical Instruments in the Early Sixteenth Century: A Translation and Historical Study of Sebastian Virdung's Music getutscht (Basel, 1511)." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1987.

________. Musica getutscht: A Treatise on Musical Instruments (1511) by Sebastian Virdung (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).

Hettrick, William E. The 'Musica instrumentalis deudsch' of Martin Agricola: A treatise on musical instruments, 1529 and 1545 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).

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