Information About

Bicinium




The term has had two usages in music history:

# Recently, the term has come to mean any composition at all from the Renaissance or early Baroque period for two vocal or instrumental parts.
# Historically, a bicinium referred specifically to a two-part composition used as a teaching tool, most often in Protestant , German -speaking areas.

The term was first used in Poland , by Jan Z Lublina in a treatise of 1540 . Volumes of bicinia were published in the next several decades in Germany , the Low Countries , and even in Italy , as the usefulness of bicinia as teaching aids became apparent. In addition, Martin Luther had strongly expressed that children should learn both music, and the Psalm s: bicinia with German texts from the Psalms fulfilled his purpose.

Students could be expected to master singing a single part in a Duet more easily than a part in a larger ensemble. Usually a bicinium was designed to be sung or played by students of the same age and ability, rather than for a single student and a teacher.

This model of moving from two-part study, writing, and singing to three parts and then more was adopted by Heinrich Glarean in his ''Dodecachordon'' ( 1547 ), one of the most influential Music Theory and pedagogy treatises of the Renaissance.

In a similar manner, present-day music students typically learn Counterpoint first by writing in two parts, and then later in three, only moving to four or more parts after mastering the earlier stages.

A similar pedagogical composition for three voices is known as a tricinium (pl. '''tricinia''').


FURTHER READING

  • Articles "bicinium," "tricinium" in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1561591742


  • Andrea Bornstein, Two-Part Italian Didactic Music: Printed Collections of the Renaissance and Baroque (1521-1744). 3 vols (Ut Orpheus Edizioni, Bologna 2004). ISBN 88-8109-449-5 — A study of the Italian duo throughout the Renaissance and the Baroque.



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