Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T19:27:59.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Vocal colour in English sixteenth~century polyphony

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2009

David Wulstan
Get access

Extract

Genetical factors cannot be excluded from the forces which determine vocal colour. There is no reason to suppose, therefore, that English singing should resemble that of any other nation in all respects. The facility for falsetto singing (by adult male, boys' and women's voices), the paucity of ‘true’ tenor voices and the ‘duller’ tone production all may be cited as characteristic of English singing, and might have a genetical basis. Vocal quality would also be affected by the time at which boys' voices changed, and if Latin were superseded by the somewhat duller English language.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Plainsong & Mediaeval Music Society , Volume 2 , January 1979 , pp. 19 - 60
Copyright
© The Plainsong and Medieval Music Society 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, W.S. (1965): Vox Latina (Cambridge)Google Scholar
Andrews, H.K. (1962): ‘The transposition of Byrd's vocal polyphony’, Music and Letters, 43 Google Scholar
Ardran, G. and Emrys-Roberts, E. (1965): ‘Tomography of the larynx’. Clinical Radiology, 16 Google ScholarPubMed
Ardran, G. and Wulstan, D. (1967): ‘The alto or countertenor voice’, Music and Letters, 48 Google Scholar
Ascham, Roger (1570): The Scolemaster (London)Google Scholar
Ballard, C.F. and Bond, E.K. (1960): ‘Clinical observations on the correlation between variations in jaw form and variations of oro-facial behaviour, including those for articulation’, Speech Pathology and Therapy, 3 Google Scholar
Barnard, John (1641): First Book of Selected Church Music (London)Google Scholar
Bathe, Humphrey (1597): Introduction to the Skill of Song (London)Google Scholar
Bergsagel, J.D. (1963): Ludford, Masses à3, Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, xxvii Google Scholar
Bernstein, F. and Schläper, P. (1922): ‘Über die Tonlage der menschlichen Singstimme’, Sitzungsberichte der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Google Scholar
Black Book of Edward IV: modern edn., ed. Myers, : The Household of Edward IV (London, 1959)Google Scholar
Bloxham, J.R. (1857): A Register … of St.Mary Magdalene College …, vol.ii Google Scholar
Boswell, J. (1572): Works of Armonie (London)Google Scholar
Brook, G.L. (1963): English Dialects (London)Google Scholar
Brosnahan, L.F. (1961): The Sounds of Language (London)Google Scholar
Bunker Clark, J. (1974): Transposition in Seventeenth-Century English Organ Accompaniments and the Transposing Organ (Detroit)Google Scholar
Butler, C. (1636): The Principles of Musick (London)Google Scholar
Caldwell, J.A. (1970): ‘The pitch of early Tudor organ music’, Music and Letters, 51 Google Scholar
Cavendish, R.: The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey, ed. Sylvester, , Early English Text Society (1959)Google Scholar
Cerone, P. (1613): El melopeo … (Naples)Google Scholar
Cornish, W.: A Treatise between Truth and Informacion, in Skelton, J.: Pithy, Pleasant and Profitable Works (London, 1568)Google Scholar
Coryat's Crudities: modern edn. [ed. MacLehose, ?] (Glasgow, 1905)Google Scholar
Darlington, C.E. (1947): ‘The genetic component of language’, Heredity, 1 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D.N.B.: Dictionary of National Biography Google Scholar
Dobson, E.J. (1957): English Pronunciation 1500–1700 (London)Google Scholar
Dunn, H.K. (1950): ‘The calculation of vowel resonances, and an electrical vocal tract’, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 22 Google Scholar
Eltham Ordinances: London, B.L., Harley 642, ed. Society of Antiquaries, 1787 Google Scholar
Eton Choirbook: modern edn., ed. Harrison, F.Ll., Musica Britannica, x–xii (London, 1956–1961)Google Scholar
Erasmus, S. (1524): see Opus Epistolarum de S.Erasmi Roterodami, ed. Allen, P.S. Google Scholar
Evelyn, John: Diary, ed. de Beer, E.S. (Oxford, 1955)Google Scholar
Fellowes, E.H. (1921): English Madrigal Composers (Oxford)Google Scholar
Fletcher, H. (1929): Speech and Hearing (New York)Google Scholar
Grabert, W. (1913): ‘Anthropologische Untersuchung …’, Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Anthropologie Google Scholar
Gutzmann, H., jun. (1928): Physiologie der Stimme und Sprache (Bern)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardwick, M. and M., (1969): Alfred Deller: A Singularity of Voice (London)Google Scholar
Harrison, F.Ll. (1958): Music in Medieval Britain (London)Google Scholar
Heriot, Angus (1956): The Castrati in Opera (London)Google Scholar
Hipkins, A.H. (1870): The Organ (London)Google Scholar
Historical Manuscripts Commission, Fourth Report (London, 1875)Google Scholar
Hofman, M. [MrsBallerio, ] (1973): The Survival of Latin Music by English Composers 1485–1610 (Diss., Oxford Univ.)Google Scholar
Jones, Daniel (1950): The Pronunciation of English (Cambridge)Google Scholar
Lack, D. (1943): The Life of the Robin (London)Google Scholar
Leckingfield Proverbs: London, B.L., Roy.D.11Google Scholar
Le Huray, P. (1967): Music and the Reformation in England 1549–1660 (London)Google Scholar
Letters and Papers of Henry VIII (London, 1864)Google Scholar
Loth, E. (1931): Anthropologie des parties molles (Paris)Google Scholar
Luchsinger, R. (1944): Erbbiologische Untersuchungen … des Kehlkopfes, Archiv Julius Klaus Stiftung, xix Google Scholar
Macray, W.D. (1894): A Register of the Members of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford, i (London)Google Scholar
Mancini, G. (1774): Pensieri … sopra il Canto Figurato (Vienna)Google Scholar
Marler, P. (1956): ‘The voice of the chaffinch and its function as a language’, The Ibis, 98 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendel, Arthur (1948): ‘Pitch in the 16th and early 17th centuries’, Musical Quarterly, 34 (1948), pp.28, 199, 336, 575 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendel, Arthur (1978): ‘Pitch in Western music since 1500, a re-examination’, Acta Musicologica, 50 Google Scholar
Morley, Thomas (1597): A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (London)Google Scholar
Mulcaster, Richard (1581): Positions … (London)Google Scholar
Mundinger, F. (1951): ‘Zum Vererbungsproblem der menschlichen Singstimme’, Folia Phonatrica, 3 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadoleczny, M. (1923): Untersuchung über den Kunstgesang (Berlin)Google Scholar
Northumberland Household Book, ed. Percy, (London, 1770)Google Scholar
‘Ornithoparcus’ (1517): Micrologus [=Musice active micrologus] (Leipzig)Google Scholar
SirPaget, Richard (1930): Human Speech (London)Google Scholar
Peckham, W.D. (1959), ed.: ‘The Acts of the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Chichester, 1545–1642’, Sussex Record Society Google Scholar
Potter, R.K. and Peterson, G.E. (1948): ‘The representation of vowels and their movements’, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 20 Google Scholar
Praetorius, Michael (1615–1619): Syntagma Musicum (facs. Kassel, 1959)Google Scholar
Rose, Bernard (1968): Thomas Tomkins, Musica Deo Sacra, I, Early English Church Music, ix Google Scholar
Rye, P. (1865): England as seen by Foreigners (London)Google Scholar
Samber, J.B. (1707): Continuatio ad Manudictionem Organicum (Salzburg)Google Scholar
Schlick, A. (1511): Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten (Mainz)Google Scholar
Smith, A. (1968): ‘Elizabethan church music at Ludlow’, Music and Letters, 49 Google Scholar
Statutes of the Colleges of Oxford, printed by desire of H.M.Commissioners … (London, 1853)Google Scholar
Steele, J. (1958): English Organs and Organ Music (Diss., Cambridge Univ.)Google Scholar
Storer, T. (1599): The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey, modern edn. (Oxford, 1826)Google Scholar
Stow, J. (1580): Chronicles of England (London)Google Scholar
Sundberg, J. (1977),: ‘The acoustics of the singing voice’, Scientific American Google Scholar
Tanner, J.M. (1962): Growth at Adolescence (Oxford)Google Scholar
Thompson, A.H. (1929): The Statutes of the Cathedral Church of Durham …, Surtees Society, cxliii Google Scholar
Tomkins, Thomas (1668): Musica Deo Sacra (see also Rose, 1968)Google Scholar
Tosi, P.T. (1723), trans. Galliard, (1743): Observations on the Florid Song (London)Google Scholar
Tristitiae Remedium, compiled Thomas Myriell, London, B.L., Add.29372–7Google Scholar
Venetian State Papers: ed. Brown, Rawdon: Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, ii–iii (London, 1867–1869)Google Scholar
Villetard, H. (1907): Office de Pierre de Corbeil (Paris)Google Scholar
Wagner, P. (1911–1921): Einführung in die gregorianische Melodien (Leipzig)Google Scholar
Weiss, D.A. (1950): ‘The pubertal change of the human voice’, Folia phonatrica, 2 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whythorne, T. (1571): Songs for three, fouer and five voyces (London)Google Scholar
Wilkins, D. (1737): Concilia Magnae Britanniae (London)Google Scholar
Wood, Anthony à: Athenae Oxonienses, modern edn., ed. Bliss, (London, 1813)Google Scholar
Wulstan, D. (1965): Orlando Gibbons: Verse Anthems, Early English Church Music, iii Google Scholar
Wulstan, D. (1966): ‘The problem of pitch in sixteenth-century English vocal music’, Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 93 Google Scholar
Wulstan, D. (1969): letter in Music and Letters, 50, p.426 Google Scholar
Wulstan, D. (1971a): ‘The origin of the modes’, Studies in Eastern Chant, 2 Google Scholar
Wulstan, D. (1971b): An Anthology of English Church Music (London)Google Scholar
Wulstan, D. (1978a): Orlando Gibbons: II, Early English Church Music, xxi Google Scholar
Wulstan, D. (1978b): John Sheppard I: Office Responds and Antiphons (Oxford)Google Scholar