BICINIUM (Lat. bis and cartere), described by Walther as ‘a two-part song,
’ is an obsolete name formerly used in Germany for any short two-part composition. In the preface to Rhau's ‘Secundus Tomus Biciniorum
’ (1545), he uses as an equivalent the Greek δíΦωνα: ‘Nec video quomodo Tyrones canendo melius exerceri possint, quam si hæc δíΦωνα illis proponantur, Sunt præterea ad omnia instrumenta valde accomoda.
’ The title-page of Lindner's ‘Bicinia Sacra
’ (1591) is in both Latin and...
