John Birchensha: Writings on Music

Christopher D.S. Field, Benjamin Wardhaugh

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138376212
• eBook ISBN: 9781351561570
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

John Birchensha (c.1605-?1681) is chiefly remembered for the impression that his theories about music made on the mathematicians, natural philosophers and virtuosi of the Royal Society in the 1660s and 1670s, and for inventing a system that he claimed would enable even those without practical experience of music to learn to compose in a short time by means of 'a few easy, certain, and perfect Rules'-his most famous composition pupil being Samuel Pepys in 1662. His great aim was to publish a treatise on music in its philosophical, mathematical and practical aspects (which would have included a definitive summary of his rules of composition), entitled Syntagma music Subscriptions for this book were invited in 1672-3, and it was due to be published by March 1675; but it never appeared, and no final manuscript of it survives. Consequently knowledge about his work has hitherto remained extremely sketchy. Recent research, however, has brought to light a number of manuscripts which allow us at last to form a more complete view of Birchensha's ideas. Almost none of this material has been previously published. The new items include an autograph treatise of c.1664 ('A Compendious Discourse of the Principles of the Practicall & Mathematicall Partes of Musick') which Birchensha presented to the natural philosopher Robert Boyle, and which covers concisely much of the ground that he intended to cover in Syntagma music a detailed synopsis for Syntagma music hich he prepared for a meeting of the Royal Society in February 1676; and an autograph notebook (now in Brussels) containing his six rules of composition with music examples, presumably written for a pupil. Bringing all this material together in a single volume will allow scholars to see how Birchensha's rules and theories developed over a period of fifteen years, and to gain at least a flavour of the lost Syntagma music

Index

1. abacus 31, 100, 163 n. 11
2. see also score
3. accidentals (‘fict keys’) 31–2, 34, 59, 62, 101, 103–4, 112–13, 133–4, 156–7, 178 n. 112, 202, 203, 204, 207 n. 5, 213, 214 nn. 1–2, 248–9, 269 n. 12, 278
4. double flats (‘twice spissated keys’), double sharps (‘twice asperated keys’) 32–3, 52, 59–60, 90 n. 9, 112–13, 133–4, 168 n. 33, 173–4 n. 81, 207 n. 5, 213, 214 nn. 1–2, 248–9, 268 n. 1
5. triple flats, triple sharps 173–4 n. 81
6. ‘acuteness’: see ‘gravity and acuteness’
7. affections, music’s influence on the 58, 78–9, 193, 204
8. air (‘aire’, ‘ayre’):
9. as a general term for a tune or song 17, 33–5, 87, 98, 156–60, 177 n. 109, 205
10. as a title 45, 110
11. meaning melodiousness 17, 34, 44, 81, 88, 156, 219
12. Albrici, Vincenzo 222 n. 7
13. Aldrich, Henry 44n., 274, 277 nn. 12–13
14. Allison, Mr, of Covent Garden 220, 223 n. 16
15. alman (almain) 44n., 45n.
16. Alsted, Johann Heinrich 8–9, 13–14, 30–31, 33, 54, 66–7, 75, 78–9, 80–81, 82 n. 3, 83 nn. 9–10, 178 n. 117
17. Encyclopædia 3, 9, 13–14, 30–31, 33, 66–7, 75, 77 nn. 1–2, 78–9, 83 n. 9, 91 n. 11, 94, 161–2 n. 3, 162 nn. 5–8, 163 nn. 11–12, 163 n. 14, 166 n. 22, 167–8 n. 31, 169 n. 39, 170–71 n. 53, 172 n. 60, 177 n. 105, 177 n....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• I Dedicatory Epistle and Preface to Templum musicum (1664)
• II Letter to the Royal Society (26 April 1664)
• III ‘A Compendious Discourse’
• IV Birchensha’s Description of his ‘Grand Scale’ (9 June 1665)
• V ‘Animadversion’ for Syntagma musicæ (1672)
• VI Synopsis of Syntagma musicæ for the Royal Society (February 1675/6)
• VII Birchensha Demonstrates his ‘Compleat Scale of Musick’ to the Royal Society (10 February 1675/6)
• VIII Rules of Composition, I: Silas Taylor’s Manuscript.
• IX Rules of Composition, II: William Corbett’s Manuscript
• X Rules of Composition, III: Francis Withey’s Manuscript
• Bibliography
• Index