EXPRESSION Al ARKS. Toward the end of the eighth century we find in ono old manuscript written in nen In es small letters interspersed with the characters of the »r111114'S. These letters refer to the expression. We find a small f fragor lt t or t (bear tencatur or Irma/or), e erleriter), rte. This manuscript is the famous Ant iphonary of Saint Gall. The works of the great poly phonic masters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are utterly devoid of any marks of ex pression. nor are any evidences of expression marks to be found in works written between the eighth and fifteenth centuries. There really was no pressing need for such marks, for all music was vocal. and the text gave a sufficient clew to the singers. who were all thoroughly trained musicians. But the development of instrumental gave rise to various marks of expression. Iland in hand with the development of instru mental music wont the perfection of the mnsical instruments. Many new effects were discovered, and to express these composers were obliged to use words. in his opera Orfco (160c) demands that the trumpets play with mutes, and this is indicated in the score by the words con sordini. The same composer intro duced a number of new effects in his Toneredi r riorimin (16241, among NV11 ieh were the and the pizzicato for strings. Such effects were called for by the actual words placed in the score. These are the enrliost ex pression-marks. Operatic composers immediate ly followed the practice established by Monte Among the earliest of purely instrumen tal masters who employed words to help the per formers was Freseobaldi (15S:1-1641). lie was
particularly careful to indicate the tempo. One of his favorite marks is adagio. Soon the words Oh go)s lurpo, war,, moderato ea 11M into gen eral Ilse. In the course of the eighteenth century nearly all the important marks of expression and tiOlP were in use. The nineteenth century substi tuted convenient signs for sonic of flue most recurring marks, such as rresPenolo uliIiiIaurnrlu> . 149u110 sforzando A etc.. and inereased the voeribulary of sisal expression considerably. Some of the i;erman masters of the last century. notably and Wagner, attempted to substitute a German terminology fol the Dalian. But the Dalian terms are inure definite, beenuse two centuries of constant use have familiarized them to musicians of every nationality.
Another system of musical notation used for merly. especially for the lute, is discussed under TABLATURE. For the new system of desig nating chords by figures, used in theoretical treatises, see NUMERICAL NOTATION. A complete history of musical notation was written by Iliemann: Studien ttr Gesch ich lc der Xolcaschrift (Leipzig. 1878) ; an abridgment of this is the same author's Die Ent teicklany unsercr Notun sch rift lib., ; lliemann. Gesell k.h te der M nsiktkcoric int. I X.-XI X. dahrhundert (ib., 189S).