A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE CACCIA FOUND IN BOLOGNA

A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE CACCIA FOUND IN BOLOGNA,
CIVICO MUSEO, CODEX Q 16
EDWARD PEASE
In my recent article on Codex Q 16 1 I offered a transcription of a
short caccia from the late-fifteenth century bearing the incipit, Alia cazza,
alla cazza, which is found on ff. 144v-145r of that source. To the best of
my knowledge, no early concordances exist for this piece.
As I pointed out in the text of the article, Q 16 offers many editorial
problems, due for the most part to the large number of scribal inaccuracies.
In fact, the great majority ,of pieces must be treated with some editorial
adjustment of the musical notation if convincing transcriptions are to be
achieved.
As for Alla cazza, both the altus and the bassus 2 must be repaired in
some fashion . My approach in both cases was to stay as close to the source
as possible and thus make only those corrections which would allow the
four voices to fit together. Thus, I confined my editorial emendations to
the lengthening by the value of a semibrevis of the final "g" minima in
measure 1 of the bassus and the removal of the dot from the semibrevis
"a" in measure 16 of the altus. (Both changes are duly footnoted in the
transcription.)
Just after my article had gone to press I received long-awaited Xerox
copies of an article by F. Ghisi 3 which I had not been able to examine
1
"A R eport on Codex Q 16 of the Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale
(Formerly of the Conservatorio Statale di Musica 'G. B. Martini' ), Bologna", Musica
Disciplina XX ( 1966 ), pp.57-94. The transcription of Alla cazza is to be found on
pp. 93-4, a fa csimile opposite p. 60.
2
The names employed here for the voices are supplied on the basis of pitch
range, inasmuch as no designations for the voices of this particular piece are to be
found in Q 16.
3 German version entitled "Bruchstiicke einer neuen Musikhandschrift der italienischen Ars nova und zwei unveroffentlichte Caccien der zweiten Halfte des 15. Jahrhunderts", Archiv fur Musikforschung VII ( 1942 ), p. 17 f. Published also in Italian
as "Frammenti di un nuovo Codice musicale dell' Ars-Nova italiana e du e saggi
inediti di Cacce del secondo Quattrocento", La Rinascita V ( 1942), p. 72 f. The two
articles are virtually identical except that the Italian version omits transcriptions.
Both versions of the article are rare items in American libraries du e to the limited
distribution of the two periodicals during the war years. Ghisi mentions in a footnote
RE-EXAMINATION OF THE CACCIA
233
MUSICA DISCIPLINA
232
previously. I was surprised to discover that in his report there is also contained a transcription of the Q 16 Alla cazza 4 and that a comparison of
his version with mine brings to light some significant details.
As far as editorial adjustments are concerned, both Ghisi and I have
treated the first measure of the bassus in the same fashion, but his approach
to the problems in the altus is quite different: he makes more extensive
adjustments, adding two minima "b-flats" at the outset of measure 10 and
shortening the semibrevis "d" in measure 18 to a minima.
I wish to acknowledge at this point that although Ghisi's corrections
of the scribal inaccuracies in the altus are less objectively founded than
mine, they do indeed seem superior from the stylistic standpoint, for they
make for better harmony in several places and also the resultant phraseology
is more logical. Therefore, I withdraw my solution of the problems in the
altus in favor of his.
On the other hand, Ghisi is guilty of a number of obvious misreadings
of both text and music. The following is a list of his musical corruptions:
compiled in Italy. It follows that any reconstruction of the relationship
between text and music will be somewhat subjective. However, I am somewhat dubious about the manner in which Ghisi so frequently violates relations between musical and poetic stress, and I also question his attempt
to fit texts to all of the parts. 5 In addition, one finds at least two significant
misreadings of the text: 6 the initial incipit is certainly not Alla caizaJ
and the phrase, se perdano found in mm. 13-14 is clearly an editorial
corruption of te jordano.
Should the reader feel at this point that I am indulging in excessive
detail with respect to a very brief and relatively insignificant composition,
I hasten to add that cacce from the late-15th and early-16th centuries are
valuable if for no other reason than their rarity, and in addition, the Q 16
Alla cazza is a very attractive piece. At any rate, it deserves better treatment than either Ghisi or I have given it in earlier publications. Therefore,
the transcription included in this article represents an attempt to combine
the best features of those previously available.
1. Superius, m. 5; initial "b" should be a "d".
2. Superius, m. 11; three colored (blackened) notes are present, not four.
Thus, the correct rhythm is ~):t):t)l))l) (my reduction)..
3. Altus, m. 10; Ghisi makes no attempt to indicate his editorial insertion
of two minima "b-flats".
4. Altus, m. 11; no minima rest is present. Instead, the semibrevis should
be dotted.
5. Altus, m. 18; Ghisi fails to indicate his editorial shortening of the "d"
semibrevis to the value of a minima.
6. Tenor, m. 8; the first "b" minima should be a "g".
7. Bassus, m. 1; Ghisi does not m:dicate his editorial lengthening of the
final minima "g" to the value of a semibrevis.
8. Bassus, m. 13; the minima "e" shouid be a "d".
9. Bassus, m. 17; the final minima in the measure should be a "g", not
an "e".
The text of this piece is underlaid in an unusually haphazard manner
for an Italian composition <:ontained in what is almost certainly a codex
a reference to Q 16 previously unknown to me: F. Novati's "Contributi alia storia
della lirica musicale neolatina", Studi medievali II ( 1906-7 ), p. 303 f. Although most
of his material is of questionable value to the modem scholar, Novati does present
a reading of the text of Alla cazza (p. 317), albeit an inaccurate one, and also
suggests (footnote, p. 317) that the scribe who identifies himself as "Dominicus
Marsilius" on f. 8v of the manuscript was a member of a .n oble Florentine family
of the same surname (Italian= de) Marsili), a theory supported by the presence of
the family coat of arms on f. 2v. However, it seems doubtful that the scribe was a
"member" of the family in the genealogical sense. Perhaps he was merely an employee
of the household.
pp.38-9 of the Genp.an version. Ghisi's scale of reduction is ~=J, mine ~=J.
(undotted).
4
5 In the source, one finds a complete text in only the supcrius, mere incipits
in the tenor and bassus, and no text at all in the ahus.
6 My thanks to Fri. Mechthild Caanitz of the University of Freiburg, Germany,
for helping me edit this and several other difficult texts in Q 16. Ghisi's misreadings
of the text can be traced back to Novati's article.
234
MUSICA DISCIPLINA
A /la cazza, a/la cazza
QJ6, ff. 144v- 14Sr
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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fig vrato. (Venice 1525) . Ed. Willem Elders. U trecht: Musica Revindicata, 1966. 55 p.
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Slowakischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1966. 178 p.
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Bartholomew, Leland Earl. Alessandro Rau erij's "Collection of Canzoni per
Sonare" (Venice, 1608 ). Fort Hays : Fort Hays Kansas State College,
1965.2 vols. ( =Fort Hays Studies-New Series; Music Series, Nos. 1-2).
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1965. 285 p.
Blume, Friedrich. Geschichte der evangelischen Kirchenmusik. Kassel:
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organista e poligrafo. Piacenza: Liceo Musicale "G. Nicolini", 1961.
2 vols.
Cantors at the Crossroads; E ssays on Church Music in Honor of Walter
E. Buszin . Ed. Johannes Riedel. St. Louis: Concordia, 1967. 238 p.
Chailley, J acques, ed. A lia musica ( traite de musique du I X e siecle). Edition
critique commentee avec une introduction sur l'origine de la nomenclature modale pseudo-grecque au Moyen-Age. Paris : Centre de Documentation U niversitaire, 1965. 224 p.
Essays Presented to Egon Wellesz. Ed. Jack Westrup. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1966. 188 p.

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