Il Transilvano

7 Monteverdi: Onwards and Downwards

“…High clefs and low clefs were in fact each associated with their own set of transpositions, as Virgiliano (c.1590) shows perhaps most clearly; 16 Here, as with Virgiliano's other instruments, transposition ↓2nd does not occur with high clefs, and is instead linked exclusively to normal-clef writing, just as it is in Diruta's explicit instructions (1609) for organists. 17 This is not abstract theory but practical information for instrumentalists. It therefore comes as no surprise to find these principles confirmed in the musical sources themselves.…”