Nicola Vicentino vs. Ghiselin Danckerts: Or: The Heresy of the Ascending Major Semitone

In May of 1551, Nicola Vicentino disputed with Vincenzo Lusitano in Rome over whether composers knew in which of the three genres – diatonic, chromatic or enharmonic – they were composing. Since then, although this dispute has been discussed repeatedly through the centuries, nobody has compared the argumentation in the two sources in detail. This article attempts to demonstrate that Danckerts’ arguments were not directed against any specific tuning system, indeed that he did not really even understand Vicentino’s contention as he did not have a true practical comprehension of the significance of distinguishing between a major and minor semitone; instead he was defending himself against what he perceived as a threat to his understanding of his Church’s beloved music and how he performed it, a threat which he compared to heresy. It offers a close reading of Danckerts’ criticism of Vicentino’s proposition, followed by a discussion of Danckerts’ theoretical understanding of the genera and an analysis of his examples in relation to his definitions of the intervals as well as in comparison to those of Vicentino. This information will then be looked at in relation to what Danckerts writes concerning the use of chromaticism by modern composers and evaluated in the context of other theorists of the time.