Bicinium

In music of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras, a bicinium (pl. bicinia) was a composition for only two parts, especially one for the purpose of teaching counterpoint or singing.

The term has had two usages in music history:

1. Recently, the term has come to mean any composition at all from the Renaissance or early Baroque period for two vocal or instrumental parts.
2. Historically, a bicinium referred specifically to a two-part composition used as a teaching tool, most often in
   Protestant, German
   -speaking areas.

This model of moving from two-part study, writing, and singing to three parts and then more was adopted by Heinrich Glarean in his Dodecachordon (1547), one of the most influential music theory and pedagogy treatises of the Renaissance.

In a similar manner, present-day music students typically learn counterpoint first by writing in two parts, and then later in three, only moving to four or more parts after mastering the earlier stages.

A similar pedagogical composition for three voices is known as a tricinium (pl. tricinia).

See also

• Étude

Further reading

• Articles "bicinium," "tricinium" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.
  ISBN 1-56159-174-2
• ISBN 9788870968224
• Andrea Bornstein, Two-Part Italian Didactic Music: Printed Collections of the Renaissance and Baroque (1521-1744). 3 vols (Ut Orpheus Edizioni, Bologna 2004).
  ISBN 88-8109-449-5
  — A study of the Italian duo throughout the Renaissance and the Baroque.

• - Didactic two-part compositions of the Renaissance and the Baroque A large site dedicated to bicinia, includes lists of composers and works, scores and an extensive bibliography.