Lo Piccolo - Il Canto Fermo - 1739

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THE GREGORIAN CANTUS IN 18TH-CENTURY PALERMO: RARE PRACTICAL MANUAL
Rare and fascinating Sicilian treatise on plainchant and Gregorian chant, published in Palermo in 1739 by the priest Filippo Lo Piccolo, beneficiary of the Illustrious Basilica of the First See of the Kingdom. The work springs from a primarily practical aim: to expose with the “great brevity” and in the “easiest way” the rules necessary to read, intone, and direct ecclesiastical chant. Lo Piccolo systematically addresses letters and notes, musical figures, neumes, signs, keys, properties, hexachords, mutations, ecclesiastical tones, cadences, and modes of intonation, accompanying the explanation with numerous examples of musical notation printed in the text. Of particular importance is the direct connection with Palermo’s liturgical-musical practice: the author states that he has laid out the rules of “Gregorian, Ecclesiastical, and Angelic Chant” and has shown how to lead the choir “according to the use of my Cathedral.” A significant source for the history of sacred music, Gregorian chant, and choral practice in eighteenth-century Sicily.

MARKET VALUE
Specialty work and uncommon, of interest to collectors of early music, Gregorian chant, liturgy, Sicilian ecclesiastical history, and the history of Palermo. Its value is enhanced by the eighteenth-century dating, the Palermo printing, the abundant apparatus of musical examples, and the overall good condition of the copy. The modern protective case also improves presentation without altering the original binding. Value of the volume: €500–600.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Original period paperback, bound in with reinforced spine; housed within an elegant later container in half-burgundy leather with marbled boards, titles and gilded decorations on the spine. A copy with fore-edge trimming. Frontispiece with a woodcut vignette; numerous vignettes, headpieces, initials and tailpieces woodcut. Large apparatus of divisions and musical examples inserted in the text, with notation of plainchant and numerous diagrams relating to scales, keys, tones, cadences, and melodic formulas. Some light watermarks, mainly marginal, natural undulations and minimal signs of time. In old books with a long history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pages: (2); 16; 124.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Il Canto Fermo. In Palermo, at the Stamperia di Angelo Felicella, 1739. Filippo Lo Piccolo.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Canto Fermo by Filippo Lo Piccolo is a particularly interesting testimony of the practical transmission of liturgical singing in southern Italy in the eighteenth century. The “canto fermo” indicated the monodic ecclesiastical tradition based on the Gregorian repertoire and its daily use in liturgy. It was thus not merely musical theory: for priests, singers, and members of ecclesiastical choirs, correct reading and intonation of this repertoire constituted a concrete competence necessary for carrying out religious functions. Lo Piccolo structures the work as a true progressive manual. After the “Very Short Rules of Plainchant extremely useful for guiding the Choir by its order,” the origins of plainchant, letters and notes, intervals between notes, musical figures, neumes, keys, properties, hexachords, mutations, and the modal system are addressed. Many pages visually display ascending and descending scales, different keys, and melodic formulas. The discussion of ecclesiastical tones is particularly extensive, illustrated by examples of motifs, finals, and cadences. The final part presents numerous musical formulas drawn from practical liturgical usage. The documentary value of the work is enhanced by the author’s explicit reference to the use of his own Cathedral, allowing the volume to be read as a testimony of Palermo’s church music practice in the eighteenth century.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Filippo Lo Piccolo was a Sicilian priest and musicologist active in the first half of the eighteenth century. From the frontispiece of the work, he appears to be one of the beneficiaries of the Illustrious Basilica of the First See of the Kingdom in Palermo, placing him directly in the city’s ecclesiastical and liturgical milieu. His musical formation appears closely linked to the practice of ecclesiastical singing and to the need to transmit its rules to priests and singers. In The Canto Fermo Lo Piccolo demonstrates knowledge of the preceding theoretical tradition, but pursues mainly a didactic aim: to simplify a complex subject and provide rules readily applicable to choral practice. In the conclusion he explicitly states that he has illustrated the norms of the “Gregorian, Ecclesiastical, and Angelic Chant” and has guided the choir through them according to the use of his Cathedral.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The work was printed in Palermo in 1739 at the Stamperia di Angelo Felicella, with license from the superiors. The preliminary pages include ecclesiastical approval, dated 1738, confirming the normal censorial process expected for a manual intended for a religious environment. The edition belongs to the Sicilian eighteenth-century musical production, a bibliographically much more limited field than the great Venetian, Roman, or Bologna music publishing. The presence of numerous musical examples integrated typographically into the text also made the production of the volume more complex than that of a common ecclesiastical treatise. The close relationship between theoretical content and the Cathedral of Palermo’s specific practice gives the edition a strongly local and documentary character: not merely a general manual of plainchant, but a testimony of the concrete transmission of the Gregorian repertoire in eighteenth-century Sicily.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Filippo Lo Piccolo, Il Canto Fermo esposto colla maggior brevità, e col modo più facile, Palermo, Stamperia di Angelo Felicella, 1739.
Italian treatises from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century on plainchant, Gregorian chant, ecclesiastical modes and choral practice.
Bibliographical repertoires relating to Sicilian music and liturgical printing in the eighteenth century.
Studies on the tradition of Gregorian chant and on the teaching of plainchant in modern Italy.
Studies on the history of music, liturgy, and the ecclesiastical life of Palermo and its Cathedral in the eighteenth century.