(fl Padua, early 14th century). Italian poet and theorist. He was a judge in Padua between 1329 and 1337, and in 1332 wrote a treatise Summa artis rythimici (ed. R. Andrews, Bologna, 1977) which he dedicated to Alberto della Scala, ruler of the city. This is a work on metrics which describes, with examples, the main poetic forms of the 14th century (sonnet, ballata, cantio extensa, rotundellus, mandrialis, serventensius and motus confectus). Although Antonio stated expressly that he was not a musician, the section of the treatise on ‘scansione syllabarus’ demonstrates his knowledge of contemporary musical style and the relationship between poetry and song. There are further references to music in the treatise, particularly concerning the madrigal, which is described as a composition preferably for two or more voices.
F.A. Gallo: ‘La trattatistica musicale’, Storia della cultura Veneta, ii, ed. G. Folena (Vicenza, 1976), 469–76
M.P. Long: Musical Tastes in Fourteenth-Century Italy: Notational Styles, Scholarly Traditions, and Historical Circumstances (diss., U. of Princeton, 1981), 1–22
F.A. Gallo: ‘Sulla fortuna di Antonio da Tempo: un quarto volgarizzamento’, L'Ars Nova italiana del Trecento, v, ed. A. Ziino (Palermo, 1985), 149–57
B. Toliver: ‘Improvisation in the Madrigals of the Rossi Codex’, AcM, lxiv (1992), 165–76
F. ALBERTO GALLO