[Letter from Percival Price]Author(s): Percival PriceSource: Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Autumn, 1964), pp.414-415Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the American Musicological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/830110 .

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C COMMUNICATIONS 0

Jane Perlis, Eastern Michigan Univer- sity, Ypsilanti, Michigan, sends the following communication:

MAY I add a supplementary comment to Jan LaRue's perceptive and informa- tive review of Musicology by Harrison, Hood and Palisca in this JOURNAL XVII (1964), pp. 209-214. In calling attention to the omissions of several notable bibliographic items prior to Rousseau's Dictionnaire in connection with ethno- musicology, Dr. LaRue fails to include the newly issued Dover edition of Filippo Bonanni's Showcase of Musical Instruments with the plates from the 1723 "Gabinetto Armonico." This collec- tion contains many illustrations of non- Western instruments and obviously pre- dates Rousseau. It would have been par- ticularly appropriate to include it since one of the co-authors of the captions was Frank Ll. Harrison, one of the authors of the book being reviewed. The ready accessibility and modest price of this addition to the Dover Books on Music makes it of particular interest. Perhaps Dr. LaRue's review was prepared too early to include reference to the Bonanni.

George Perle, Queens College, New York, sends the following communi- cation:

THE FOLLOWING errors, for which I am myself responsible, appeared in my article, "Lulu: the Formal Design," in this JOURNAL XVII (1964): p. 182, lines 19 & 20 should read, respectively, "The Banker (singing role, Act III, Scene I). . ." and "The Professor (silent role, Act III, Scene 2);" p. i85, in the single item listed under the heading "No. 25, Bars 94-120," change "804" to "814;" directly below this there is an omission: the heading "No. 25, Bars 173-194: Canon" should appear here, and under- neath this heading the item, "Act II, Scene 2, No. 35, Bars 908-922 (diminu- tion) ."

Percival Price, School of Music, Uni- versity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, sends the following com- munication:

I WOULD like to comment on the cembali-cembalina section of Rey M. Longyer's admirable article, "Some As- pects of I6th-Century Instrumental Terminology and Practice," in the Sum- mer 1964 issue of this JOURNAL, and to make some inquiries.

The author states that the cembalino may have been "(i) a small set of tuned bells like the present-day glockenspiel; (z) a small keyboard instrument." My comments are: (i) The present-day glockenspiel is not a set of bells (except when Glockenspiel is used in the German language to refer specifically to a tower instrument) but a set of tuned bars with resonators. (2) A small keyboard instru- ment could still be an instrument of bells. That such an indoor instrument was known as early as the second half of the thirteenth century is indicated by an illustration in the Third Codex of the Cantigas de Santa Maria in the Library of El Escorial. That it existed until the nineteenth century is noted in a foot- note to Part II of Abb6 L. Morillot, "Etude sur l'emploi des clochettes. .. " in Bulletin d'histoire et archeologie religieuses du diocese de Dijon, 7a annie (0888).

This raises the crux of the question, which is the transfer of the meaning of cembalo from an instrument using bells to one using strings to produce the sound. This word, or its Medieval Latin form, cymbala (bells of a suitable size for indoor use), appears to have applied to four instruments: (i) the medieval set of stationary bells struck with hammers in the hand; (2) the same made playable from a keyboard, which survives today in the outdoor carillon; (3) strings struck with hammers in the hand; (4) the same made playable from a keyboard.

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COMMUNICATIONS 415

It would seem to me that the word cembalo went through the same meta- morphosis as the word 'carillon' is going through today-in spite of all protests from bell-playing carillonneurs. That is to say that, just as when a cheaper sound medium than bells was found for the outdoor carillon, a new instrument which came into being which was also called 'carillon' although it differed in tone colour, dynamics and technique from its predecessor, so the word cembalo (with or without the prefix clavi-, indi- cating keys) was carried over to mean a less expensive substitute for bells. Furthermore, just as the cembalo evolved away from the concept of a substi- tute for indoor bells and became an instrument with new and quite different musical possibilities, so the same may be predicted for the latest substitute for outdoor bells.

Friedrich Blume, Chairman of the Joint Commission of the Ripertoire International des Sources Musicales, sends the following report:

RISM has had a varied history since its foundation in 1952 by the Inter- national Musicological Society and the International Association of Music Li- braries. Since its inception it has been under the direction of a Joint Com- mission made up of members of both societies. The present members of this commission are: Higinio Angles, Rome Friedrich Blume, Schliichtern (Chairman) Vladimir Fedorov, Paris (Secretary Gen-

eral) Donald J. Grout, Ithaca Harald Heckmann, Kassel (Secretary) A. Hyatt King, London (Vice Chair-

man) Paul Henry Lang, New York R. B. Lenaerts, Louvain Frangois Lesure, Paris Wolfgang Rehm, Kassel (Treasurer) Claudio Sartori, Milan The original division of RISM into two

main sections (A and B) has remained unchanged. Section A represents the ex- tensive alphabetical catalogue, which will eventually contain the musical sources in the world's libraries and archives that must be catalogued by author (i.e., com- posers, writers, theorists, etc.). In a narrower sense it will replace Eitner's Quellenlexikon. Section B represents all those catalogues of musical source ma- terial that can be arranged chronologi- cally or systematically, on one principle or another. In all subsequent volumes the letters "A" and "B" will be used to de- note these divisions, along with Roman and, where appropriate, Arabic numbers.

The Central Secretariat of RISM, founded in Paris in 1953 and since then under the direction of Frangois Lesure, has also remained unchanged. Briefly summarized, its task is to collect and arrange the material for Section B, in addition to preparing and publishing the volumes assigned to this section. In i96o a second Secretariat was added to the one in Paris, under the direction of F. W. Riedel and located in Kassel. Its task is to collect and arrange the ma- terial of Section A. In future it will prepare as well as publish the volumes belonging to this series.

While the volumes of Section B can be published as soon as completed, the first volumes of Section A cannot be published until the entire material for the alphabetical Catalogue of Sources, scat- tered over the entire world, has been exhaustively collected. Some volumes of Section B will be compiled and published under the direction of Frangois Lesure; others will be prepared by other in- dividual scholars. The volumes of Sec- tion A will be issued under the direction of F. W. Riedel after collection of the complete necessary material. In this con- nection thanks are due to two participat- ing publishers: Section B has been taken over by G. Henle Verlag, Miinchen- Duisburg; Section A has been taken over by Birenreiter-Verlag, Kassel-Basel.

Although a modest number of cata- logue volumes has been issued so far, neither of the Secretariats has lagged be-

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