Diffrazioni e dicotomie nella teoria modale del Rinascimento

The publication of Glarean’s Dodecachordon in 1547 marks a turning point in the theory of tonal organization of Renaissance polyphony: from then onwards, the ‘new’ twelve-mode and the eight-mode system inherited from the medieval tradition coexist side by side as distinct and incompatible worlds, each with its own supporters and hermeneutic criteria. Such a dichotomy, along with the two different ways theorists used to describe the very concept of mode (the ones Bernhard Meier labelled as ‘ecclesiastical’ and ‘pseudo-classical’ perspective) as well as the long-term discrepancies on the subject between theory and practice, makes the question of the polyphonic modality an exemplary case-study for the observation of (1) historical fractures and continuities on the matter (2) dialectical relationships between sixteenth- and seventeenth-century music practice and coeval musicography, and (3) the different standpoints modern musicologists maintain(ed) about what Renaissance modes really were and how they worked in actual composition. The present essay reassesses the situation and proposes some new interpretations in order to overcome the major difficulties of the recent past and to open up new horizons in both analysis and hermeneutics of Renaissance music repertoire.

Keywords: Renaissance music, Music theory, Modality, Glarean, Zarlino