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The Petrić-Bottrigari Controversy over Tetrachords: A Renaissance Debate on the Basis of the Musically Beautiful

In this essay I wanted to show the first part of a relatively little-known musical debate originated by Frane Petrić’s description of the tetrachords, followed by Ercole Bottrigari’s criticism, probably backed up by Annibale Melone, and ended in Artusi’s defence of Petrić. With the humanist rediscovery of many of ancient Greek textual sources, Greek musical theories were widely discussed in the Renaissance. Some whole- heartedly adopted these theories, while others questioned the feasibility of reviving them in order to frame the contemporary musical practice. The core of these debates were controversies over the tuning system. Petrić-Bottrigari debate fits into this group of debates. From the perspective of the music aesthetics of our time, these debates may seem quite dry and utterly technical. However, as the contemporary evidence shows, these debates were understood as aesthetic in their essence. Debating over tuning, or tetrachords, or relationships among intervals meant debating over the most fundamental and constitutive elements that make music beautiful or ugly, good or bad. What we perceive as a well- composed or well-played musical piece depends ultimately not only on how the instruments are tuned, but also on what kind of relationship among the tones has been adopted both by the composer and the performer. Slight differences among competing tuning system, as well as different understandings of the relationships between notes, may result in variations which make a musical piece sound good or bad. To the discerning musical ear, of course.

Petrić, Bottrigari, Atrusi, Melone, tetrachords, music, tuning

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