The Musico Pratico project aims to provide state-of-the-art access to two treatises by the Renaissance music theorist and composer Pietro Pontio: the Ragionamento di musica (1588) and the Dialogo ove si tratta della theorica e prattica di musica (1595). This will be mainly done by providing translations into English and German as well as access to a critical digital edition. The project runs from September 2025 to August 2028.
To learn more about this project, you can visit the About section.
Del Musico Pratico.
[Paolo]: IL Pratico è quello, che s’affatica di accommodare le consonantie, & dissonantie insieme, sì, che dalle persone di guiditio siano giudicate buone, & à gli ascoltanti rendano dolcezza. [...] Nè vi paia strano, c’habbia fatto vno Musico Specolatiuo, & l’altro Pratico; perche hoggidì si vedono alcuni Musici, che solamente danno opera alla Pratica di porre le consonantie, & dissonantie insieme. ma il vero Musico sarà quello, che della Pratica, & della Specolatiua haurà cognitione.
Of the Practical Musician
[Paolo]: The practical musician is he who concerns himself with arranging consonances and dissonances so that they will be judged worthy by those people of judgment, and will render sweetness to the listener. [...] Nor should it appear strange to you that one should be a speculative musician and the other practical, because one sees today some musicians who only work at the practical art of putting together the consonances and dissonances. But the true musician will be the one who has an understanding of both the practical and the speculative.
Vom Musico Pratico
[Paolo]: Der [Musico] Pratico ist jener, der sich darum bemüht, die Konsonanzen und Dissonanzen so zusammenzustellen, dass sie von Personen von Urteilsvermögen als gut beurteilt und auf die Zuhörer eine angenehme Wirkung [dolcezza] ausüben. [...] Es sollte euch nicht seltsam erscheinen, dass man einerseits von einem Musico Specolativo und andererseits von einem Musico Pratico spricht. Denn heutzutage sieht man einige Musici, die sich nur damit beschäftigen, die Konsonanzen und Dissonanzen zusammenzustellen. Der wahre Musico wird jedoch derjenige sein, der sowohl Kenntnis von der Praxis als auch von der Theorie hat.
News & Updates
Research trip: Musico Pratico in Italy - March 16, 2026