musica ficta

(Latin; “feigned music”)

In medieval and Renaissance music, the practice of inserting unnotated chromatic notes (see chromaticism) during performances. According to treatises of the times, it was left to the performers to “correct” certain intervals. Which intervals were to be changed, and how and under what circumstances, varied over time. This practice was responsible for the introduction of accidentals (sharps, flats, naturals) into musical notation. It also influenced the evolution of the major and minor keys on which most Western music came to be based, for it modified the medieval church modes to resemble the major and minor scales.

Galilei pays special attention to diminutions (which must not cause contrapuntal faults), musica ficta (the unwritten accidentals in vocal music, indicated in lute tablature by finger placement, providing a valuable guide for modern editors), and respect for the original counterpoint, including how to condense compositions for five or more voices.

de Vincenzo Galilei by Blackburn, Bonnie J. / Renaissance Quarterly

Some slanting of the evidence in favor of the views of Edward Lowinsky (on musica ficta and chromaticism, chiefly) is to be found; it was certainly to be expected.

A Correspondence of Renaissance Musicians by Haar, James / Renaissance Quarterly

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