Declaration of Musical Instruments

❧ To the Reader ❧

Some have considered what I have described above to be impossible, and they are certainly mistaken. Because organ building is an art, and if it is understood from its roots, the result must be precise and perfect; if it is not, the art is not truly known. If you saw a carpenter making an eight-sided chapel, and after the panels were made you saw that he had to lengthen one and cut another to make them fit, you would say he does not know the art of carpentry. For if he knew it, everything would come together precisely and perfectly. ¶ Even if a master cuts two thousand pieces on the ground, when he goes up to assemble them—if he knows the art well—they all fit perfectly. In this same way, he who builds organs can cut the pipes to their exact size before assembling them, so that afterwards it is not necessary to lengthen or cut any pipe at all. For this is an art, and everything in it has weight, measure, and reason. And although many things are required for this, the principal one is knowing how to derive the diapason In this context, the "diapason" refers to the "scaling"—the precise ratio of length to diameter for organ pipes that determines their pitch and tone. accurately.

The sixth point is that in the method of making the organ there are particular things, such as the windchest original: "somero," a 16th-century term for "somier." being made of pieces, the rackboard original: "capa," the board that holds the pipes in place., and the mechanical reduction by way of a steelyard original: "romana." This likely refers to a proportional measurement tool or a specific mechanical linkage system used to align the keys with the pipes.. The seventh is the placement of a mixture of tenths; because this is an imperfect consonance, no one has dared to include it, yet I placed it in my organ. The eighth concerns instruments: a chromatic monochord and an enharmonic one Bermudo is referring to the ancient Greek musical genera. He designed keyboards capable of playing the tiny intervals (microtones) associated with these ancient systems., and how to create the scale for these and for the diatonic one. The ninth is teaching how to play diatonically on these instruments. I say that on these monochords one can play the accidental modes Modes or scales that require many sharps or flats, which were difficult to play on standard Renaissance keyboards. that are played now on the common monochord.

The tenth thing is making instruments on which all the semitones The half-steps between notes. can be played, which I hold to be the pinnacle of what has been discovered in Music. The eleventh is that for all instruments made until now, there is a device so that by tuning them, all the semitones can be played. To achieve the aforementioned, I will give some general advice at the end of the sixth book. But he who wishes to do it precisely should know that there is a scientific demonstration for it, and in the city of Baeza there remains a master named Juan Martínez Lechuga who is capable of the aforementioned.

The final new thing is the method of playing these new instruments, and the skill to know how to notate the music that must be played on them using accidentals, through keys that have not been played until today, and new signs for them. Since our Lord did not wish to give these novelties to the world through any of the many musicians the world now possesses, but gave them through a man whose profession is not Music, it seems to me (subject to the opinion and judgment of learned men) that they have been given this way so that they might be held in greater esteem. If our most good God had communicated these things to the world through one of the celebrated musicians, people would think they had been achieved through human effort, industry, and human knowledge—in short, they would be seen as the works of a wise man. So that they may be held in greater reverence, God gives them (through the merit of the many who are to benefit from them, or for some other cause hidden to us and manifest to God) through one who did not understand Music. In all the good things I have said and experienced in music, I confess the truth: I recognize myself to be nothing more than an instrument, and for this our Lord has invited me to be better. Thus, in the printing of this work, I intend nothing but His service. If learned musicians find things that offend them, I humbly ask that they excuse me, because a...