STRUMENTI SCRITTORI — Styluses and case
found in the excavations at Minturno.
the contrabassoons, the bagpipes, the harmonium, the regal, the accordion. Among the s. with mouthpiece are found the various kinds of simple horns, the cornet, the ophicleide, the slide horn, the valve horn; the simple trumpet, the keyed trumpet, the slide trumpet, the valve trombone, the valve trumpet.
IV. IN THE RENAISSANCE
In the 15th century, instruments continued to be paired with singing, including in sacred music. Dufay’s motet Nuper rosarum flores, performed in 1436 for the inauguration of S. Maria del Fiore in Florence, was, according to Van den Borren, reinforced by trombones and other wind instruments. Thus, alongside the a cappella style, there continued to flourish that instrumental practice which would culminate in the rich and multicoloured orchestral palette that unfolded particularly during the 16th century in the chapel of S. Marco in Venice, where, in addition to the voices, the 2 choirs and the 2 organs, there were cornetts, trumpets, trombones, bassoons, violins and violas: the works of Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli opened the way to the genre of the sacred concerto, whose expression is found in the term « concertato », characteristic of the early Baroque.V. ETÀ BAROCCA
In Rome too, in 1611, there is evidence of lutes, theorboes, bowed instruments and the like, generally used in churches. The height of instrumental superabundance was reached during the full Baroque period (v. MESSA. Benevoli, Salisburgo 1628, a 54 parti reali, 16 voci e 38 strumenti). In the following century, however, a current of purifying reforms began which, from the Cecilian movement led by Ett, Eiblinger, Greit, etc., was ultimately to lead to the promulgation of the motu proprio by blessed Pio X (1903), by which sacred music was restored to its dignity, and only the sound of the organ was permitted in church, while a restrained selection of string and wind instruments was tolerated by way of exception. — Vedi tav. CI.the trofagotti, the bagpipes, the harmonium, the regal, the accordion. Among mouthpiece instruments are the various kinds of simple horns, the cornet, the ophicleide, the slide horn, the piston horn; the natural trumpet, the keyed trumpet, the slide trumpet, the valve trombone, the valve trumpet.
IV. IN THE RENAISSANCE
In the 15th century, instruments continued to be combined with singing, even in sacred music. Dufay’s motet Nuper rosarum flores, performed in 1436 for the inauguration of S. Maria del Fiore in Florence, would have beenwax tablets with the stylus (a short cylindrical rod, pointed at one end and flattened into a spatula at the other: initially made of iron, then of bronze, bone, ivory, etc.). For writing in ink, the reed pen was replaced by the quill.
The reed pen consisted of a reed shaft, sharpened at the tip and cut with a slit. It seems to have originated in the East, but its use was widespread throughout the Greco-Roman world and until the early Middle Ages. Archaeological finds have revealed that the ancients also used metal pens, but fashioned on the model of the reed pen. The adoption of the bird feather (especially the goose feather), which offered the advantage of greater elasticity, dates to around the 4th century A.D. and lasted for a very long time. It was supplanted only after the introduction of the metal nib, attached to a small wooden shaft, manufactured in Birmingham in 1826 by the Englishman Perry.
The ink used in antiquity was made from lampblack or charcoal mixed with water and gum; metallic ingredients (iron sulfate) began to be used only later (many medieval recipes concerning this are known). Red ink was also used occasionally, but almost exclusively for titles and chapter initials; gold and silver on a purple background are found at first in Byzantine codices, but also appear from the 5th century onward in Latin texts; only in the later Middle Ages do blue and green inks appear sporadically, for initials.
The writing materials were kept by the scribe in the so-called theca libraria or calamarium (whence, improperly, our “inkwell”), together with a knife (scalprum) used to sharpen the reed, the ink container (atramentarium-scriptorium), pumice for smoothing the parchment, a sponge for any erasures, and the awl for ruling the pages by dry-point.