| Contents |
Introduction. Discovering solfeggio -- Context : Apprenticeship, plainchant, and the rudiments. Sepperl's Story : A case study in music and social mobility ; The church music industry ; Eighteenth-century plainchant - for beginners ; Canto fermo and Canto figurato -- Theory and practice : Lessons in the art of melody. Speaking solfeggio ; Singing solfeggio ; Learning la sol fa mi, with some hints on musical grammar ; Solano and Sabbatini on modulation -- The solfeggio repertory : Types, styles, and genres. Defining solfeggio ; Unaccompanied solfeggio ; Accompanied solfeggio ; Solfeggio and partimento. Epilogue. Alternative systems and the end of the great tradition. |
| Abstract |
"This book is the first study of the solfeggio tradition, which was fundamental to the training of European musicians, c. 1680-1830. It addresses one of the last major gaps in historical research on 18th-century performance and pedagogy. The method flourished in Italian conservatories for disadvantaged children, especially at Naples. The presence of large manuscript collections in European archives (almost 300 in Italy alone) testifies to the importance of this kind of exercise. Drawing on research into over a thousand manuscript sources, the book reconstructs the way that professional musicians in Europe learned and thus conceived the fundamentals of music. It reveals an approach that differs radically from modern assumptions. Solfeggi underpinned an art of melody that allowed practitioners to improvise and compose fluently. Part I provides contextual information on apprenticeship, the church music industry, its associated schools, and the continued significance of plainchant to music education. Part II reconstructs the real lessons of an apprentice over the course of three or four years, from spoken to sung solfeggio. Part III surveys the primary sources, classifying solfeggi into four main types and outlining their historical origins, characteristic features, and pedagogical purposes"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2020017866 |
| ISBN | 9780197514085 (hardback) |
| ISBN | (epub) |
