two notes against one, suspensions, four notes against one, and so forth. Unlike Fux, he defines a less-rigorous kind of counterpoint that was adequate for improvisation; for example it neither requires contrary motion nor prohibits successive perfect consonances. It describes contemporary keyboard practice well, as can be observed from the contemporary toccatas and canzonas of composers such as Merulo. Diruta included many of his own compositions in Il Transilvano, and they are mostly didactic in nature, showing different kinds of figuration, and presenting different kinds of performance problems. These four toccate are among the earliest examples of the etude. The Prima parte also includes toccatas by other composers of the time, chosen for their musical and didactic value: Claudio Merulo, Andrea Gabrieli, Giovanni Gabrieli, Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Antonio Romanini, Paolo Quagliati, Vincenzo Bellavere and Gioseffo Guami. The Seconda parte includes ricercares by Luzzaschi, Gabriele Fattorini and Adriano Banchieri. Further reading Galliano Ciliberti, Girolamo Diruta nella storiografia musicale Con l’edizione delle «Note biografiche» di Francesco Briganti e una bibliografia delle opere, in Girolamo Diruta e il suo tempo, proceeding of the conference (Deruta, 9–10 September 2011), ed. by Biancamaria Brumana and Carlo Segoloni, Perugia, 2012, pp. 63–116. Arnaldo Morelli, Diruta, Girolamo, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 40, Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1991. Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Venetian Instrumental Music, from Gabrieli to Vivaldi. New York, Dover Publications, 1994. "Girolamo Diruta," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. References External links 1550s births 17th-century deaths Cathedral organists Conventual Friars Minor Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian classical organists German music theorists Male classical organists People from Deruta Renaissance composers Venetian School (music) composers