Chels

I grew up playing musical instruments. First the guitar, then the piano. Although I haven’t actually played for a few years now, I pride myself on still being able to read sheet music (a skill I’m scared to lose during my unintentional music hiatus). When I was younger and still learning the ropes, I didn’t pay much attention to the notations other than to follow their instructions, but I began to notice that a lot of (if not all) musical notation was Italian. I assumed it was coincidental.

Years later, I studied English, and was introduced to the same pattern – prior to the reformation, religious teaching, and in fact the Bible itself, was Latin. Latin was the learned tongue – it signified intelligence and education, as opposed to English, the vulgar tongue, which was spoken by the masses. The King James Bible was written in Early Modern English, making it accessible to the masses, but reading as archaic to the learned readers who were used to Latin religious texts. 

The same goes for other disciplines. Lingua franca refers to the common language shared between groups who do not share a native language, derived from the trade language developed in Europe around the 5th century. Lingua francas develop due to a need for easy communication between groups, and an avoidance of error that could come from misunderstandings in translation. Latin was the lingua franca not only of religion, but of medicine and law. In these fields, understanding is crucial, and a mistranslation could cost lives – universities taught in Latin, and it was the one common language between international educated classes, so basing the jargon of the disciplines on Latin made sense.

In English, we see evidence of lingua francas that were not so widespread, or did not last as long as Latin – when we speak about live animals, their names come from Anglo Saxon or early English origin with words like cow and pig, but when we speak of meat, we use the French-derived beef and pork. In England, English was the language of agriculture, and French was the language of food.

This brings us back to music. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the Renaissance saw a huge increase in interest in the arts. The Renaissance began in Italy, and the cultural values spread throughout Europe, and with them, the dominance of the Italian language. As the language spread, it became commonplace, and it simply made sense to continue to use Italian when creating sheet music – that way, the same instructions could be interpreted by any musician.

Many musicians these days are taught what each notation means in terms of instruction, but often, their origins aren’t discussed.

I knew that staccato instructed me to play sharply, with distinct notes, and that legato instructed me to play smoothly. I didn’t know that staccato translated to ‘detached’, and legato to ‘tied’. The same went for volume. Crescendo translates to ‘growing’ and diminuendo to ‘diminishing’, though as a native English speaker I had assumed they translated to ‘loud’ and ‘quiet’, a more direct translation of their instruction.

There’s also piano and forte to describe volume. This one did confuse me, and despite not getting the answer I sought, I did question why, as a pianist, I was being instructed to play piano. How does one make the piano sound more piano? 

As it turns out, the instrument is actually named for the instruction. Early pianos were called gravicembalo col piano e forte, or ‘harpsichord with soft and loud’. Where a harpsichord produces sound by the plucking of strings, the piano works by striking strings with hammers, allowing for the firmness of touch to determine the volume. The name was a mouthful, though, despite the instrument’s popularity, and it was shortened to pianoforte. A lot of 19th century literature and regency period dramas will refer to the pianoforte, and often people assume it is a different instrument to the piano. While the instrument has developed over time, it is essentially the same thing, it just was yet to be shortened once more to ‘piano’.

Instructions for tempo come from Italian adverbs, though not all adverbs of speed. While presto means quickly, allegro translates to ‘cheerful’. Adagio is slowly, and Andante refers to walking pace. 

ABBA’s Andante, Andante is a song about taking a relationship slowly, but I suppose Adagio, Adagio doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.