Tradition and Innovation in Sixteenth-Century Rhythmic Theory: Francisco Salinas's De Musica Libri Septem

This article appraises Francisco Salinas's rhythmic theory from Book 5 of his 1577 treatise De Musica Libri Septem. First, Salinas's rhythmics are placed in historical context as part of the sixteenth-century humanistic renewal of interest in classical metrics. On the one hand, this theory belongs to a long tradition dating back to St. Augustine and beyond. On the other hand, Salinas presents several innovations for sixteenth-century rhythmic theory that have previously been overlooked. Salinas's justifications for writing on rhythmics are examined, and then the internal workings of his theory are scrutinized. Topics covered by Salinas include the mora, syllable quantity, arsis and thesis, poetic feet and rhythmus, and these are evaluated in turn. The final section discusses Salinas's use of musical examples and suggests some modifications to his theory that would be needed to analyze sixteenth-century music.