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In the work Della Poetica (Poetics, published in Ferrara in 1586) Frane Petrić (Francesco Patrizi di Cherso) gave a rather detailed discussion of music issues. From the title of the work it is evident that it contains Petrić's theory of poetry, but within this context he also presented a theory of music. Petrić relies on the thesis about mousiké, a unity of poetry, music and physical movements characteristic for ancient Greece, consequently devoting a substantial part of this work to the interpretation of ancient Greek music. Nevertheless, Petrić already referred to music in his early phase, in the work La citt à felice (Happy Town) from 1553. Within his vision of society he dealt with music to a much lesser extent and in a somewhat diff erent manner than in the Poetics. Although in La citt à felice Petrić mentioned music at the very end of the work, from the context in which he introduced it into discussion, as well as from the way he described it, it is apparent that he ascribed great importance to music. Petrić specified three disciplines of educational process - painting, grammar and music - explaining in more detail only the latt er, in a short passage in which he described music as an educational means which leads to virtues. Furthermore, in this passage Petrić also mentioned other functions of music and described octave species - Phrygian, Lydian, Hypolydian and Dorian - thus showing his knowledge of musical terminology and revealing that his thoughts on music were primarily influenced by ancient Greek music theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background in history of music theory. The use of just intonation has generated heated debates ever since the first accounts of the articulation of pitch space in the scientific treatises of Ancient Greece. In the Renaissance, the discussion turned to vocal music as the locus of debate. One of the problems with using just intonation is the incommensurability of pure intervals with one another (e.g., the A four pure fifths above F is not the same pitch as the pure major third above F). Treatises and accounts of tuning systems proliferated, and our present-day understanding of what is at stake is limited by the dearth of sounding examples. Background in performance. On the one hand it is very difficult to verify precisely how modern-day singers tune, and on the other, although recent interest in historical tuning has generated several articles with electronically produced sound examples, the examples do not contribute to a direct understanding of tuning in the vocal context-synthesized sound is simply not "the real thing." Aims. Our study aims to show how the gap between theories of tuning and the art of vocal performance may be bridged. Main contribution. By producing recordings of precisely tuned audio in rich vocal timbres (with vibrato, consonants and vowels), we make available actual repertoire examples, reliably tuned, in a human-sounding rendition. Implications. Our recordings will provide music scholars with the sensory data that has been missing from accounts of various speculative tuning systems. In addition, it will provide performers with convincing models on which to model their own tuning in performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the clues to the nature of musical theory and practice in its early phases, particularly, how these clues concern composer and music innovator, Lasus of Hermione. Lasus , based on ancient records, wrote the first treatise on music, introduced the dithyrambic competitions at around 508 in Athens, Greece and innovated auletic technique, choral arrangements and sounds of choral songs.