(It., Lat.).
In its strictest sense partitura means simply ‘score’, and as such is the equivalent of partition (Fr.), Partitur (Ger.) etc. It is more specifically used, however, to describe sources of keyboard music of the 16th to the 18th centuries notated in open score (usually four staves), as opposed to those in keyboard score (on two staves) or one of the types of keyboard tablature. In many of the earliest uses of this notation, most of which are Italian, the word ‘partitura’ and its most common derivatives (spartiti, partite etc.), were used on title-pages to describe music that had originally been written for voices or other instruments but had later been ‘scored’ for solo instrumental performance, usually on a keyboard instrument. Some scholars consider that early partiturae of this nature may have been issued for study purposes rather than for performance, although the two functions are not mutually exclusive. The use of the term ‘partitura’ was later extended to include collections of works conceived originally for keyboard instruments. The earliest surviving source in partitura notation is Rocco Rodio’s Libro di ricercate a quattro voci (Naples, 1575). Owing to its particular suitability for contrapuntal keyboard music the partitura became increasingly popular, and its use spread to other countries including Germany (where only tablature had previously been used for keyboard music) and Portugal. The earliest uses of the partitura in these countries include Samuel Scheidt’s Tabulatura nova (Hamburg, 1624) and Manuel Rodrigues Coelho’s Flores de musica pera o instrumento de tecla & harpa (Lisbon, 1620/R). The partitura was used for keyboard music as late as the 18th century, one of the last but most important instances being for J.S. Bach’s Art of Fugue (published 1751). In some German publications this form of notation was loosely described as tablature (Tabulatura, Tabulaturbuch etc.).
See also Intavolatura; Organ score; and Tablature.
WolfH
W. Apel: The Notation of Polyphonic Music, 900–1600 (Cambridge, MA, 1942, 5/1961; Ger. trans., rev., 1970)
JOHN MOREHEN