Two Letters on Music of Giovanni Battista Benedetti to Cipriano de Rore. Part I: Introduction and Commentary

Abstract

In two letters to the famous musician Cipriano de Rore, Giovanni Battista Benedetti discussed topics related to music theory. The letters were published in Diversarum speculationum mathematicarum & physicarum liber in 1585. In them, Benedetti clearly proved that the pitch of a note in a polyphonic piece can rise or fall by a syntonic comma when performed with just intonation; he also proposed a form of temperament to avoid the problem, formulated the law of vibrating strings, and suggested that the pitches of notes can be related to the frequency of their air pulses. The letters were read and commented upon by scholars immediately following Benedetti, and continue to be the subject of in-depth studies by historians of music and science. Despite their relevance, there is no systematic study of them. Only some parts have been commented on by various historians, following their interests but without a unified view. Most importantly, no complete English translation has been proposed with a faithful transcription of the Latin text. The present work, divided into two parts, the first a commentary on all the salient aspects, the second the translation and semi-diplomatic transcription, intends to fill the gap.