[1] "Ich dachte, diese Kunst wäre ausgestorben; ich sehe aber, dass sie in Ihnen noch lebt."
[2] See organo pleno, p. 70.
[3] The French are accustomed to group registers of similar quality, but varying in pitch, under a single name; as bourdons (stopped wood pipes), montres (diapasons), anches (reeds), qualifying them by the pitch; e.g., bourdons of 16' and 8' would be equivalent to our bourdon and stopped diapason, or gedackt.—Tr.
[4] Take the most beautiful type of the Plain-chant, for instance: the Te Deum. Simply vocalize it, sing it without words; rhythm, beauty, grandeur, all disappear. Translate it, and sing the same music with either French or German text, it becomes absurd. If the Roman Church had not prescribed Latin as the language of its liturgy, we should have no Plain-chant to-day.
[5] In the larger churches in Paris (and in that city the greatest attention is given to the perpetuation and cultivation of Plain-chant) are usually found two organs; the larger one located in a gallery, or tribune, at the west end of the church; the smaller one, with the choir (invariably of men and boys), being placed behind the altar, between it and the ambulatory. This smaller instrument, often augmented by one or more double-basses, serves only to accompany the choir, while the larger organ, called the Grand-orgue, is treated only as a solo instrument, either antiphonally with the choir and small organ, as in the Kyrie, or in solo selections, often improvisations of great merit, as at the Offertory.—Tr.
[6] Born about 1545 at Ferrara, organist and choirmaster in his native city. The "Transilvano" of Girolamo Diruta contains of his composition a Toccata in the fourth mode, and two Ricercare; one in the first, the other in the second mode.
[7] His father, Alexandre Milleville, was born in Paris about 1509, and died September 7, 1589, in Ferrara, where he was choirmaster. His most distinguished pupil was Ercole Pasquini, the predecessor of Frescobaldi at St. Peter's in Rome.
[8] He died in 1521, in the service of the Emperor of Austria. Luther said of him: "This man is truly a master of notes; they must subject themselves to his will, while other composers are compelled to obey them." And again, "His works express perfect contentment, like the song of finches."
[9] Peter Phillipps and Peter Cornet were the best-known organists in the Netherlands. One may judge of their works by the excerpts in G.A. Ritter's Geschichte des Orgelspiels (Leipzig, 1884), Nos. 28, 30, 31, and 32 (2d part).
[10] Luzzasco Luzzaschi, whose compositions were for that time of great value, was charged by Guidiccioni with inability to play trills and to bring out in relief the details of the counterpoint, which were blurred under a hard, heavy touch.