ABSTRACT
The observations of Vincentino and Banchieri discussed previously suggest that musicians schooled in the late sixteenth century (and in its traditions) would have rejected the augmented sixth, not perhaps as an illegal solecism of the same magnitude as parallel fifths, but certainly as unacceptable in a refined style. There are instances in folk pieces, and self-conscious imitations of folk styles, such as Hans Nuesidler’s lute dances, 1 but otherwise the augmented sixth was sufficiently irregular that, in general, theorists did not accept it and composers did not write it. The rejection of this interval can perhaps be interpreted as a type of ‘compositional inhibition’ rather than a wish to avoid a specific transgression. This can be deduced from the extensive repertoire of early seventeenth-century chromatic works where the ‘option’ must have implicitly suggested itself, yet been rejected.
