On the Judgment of Musical Intervals: Artusi's Ideas in His Dispute with Monteverdi

This article revisits key aspects of the well-known quarrel between Artusi and Monteverdi, highlighting Artusi’s demand for a rational musical discourse that could be justified on its own terms, without recourse to the authority of words. Drawing on a bibliographical review of Artusi’s writings alongside recent scholarship, the study critically analyzes issues such as the objective versus subjective qualification of musical intervals—taking the tritone as a case study—the independence of music from the semantic content of text and its social purposes, and the essential quality of musical principles in contrast to the emulation of affections. By revisiting the disagreements that remain relevant today, we conclude that the analysis put forward here contributes to understanding how, in Artusi’s perspective, musical production was inseparable from the moral sphere.

Keywords:
Prima and seconda prattica; tritone; consonance and dissonance; music and text; history of music theory