Re-quantifying W. C. Printz’s Concept of Quantitas Intrinseca

Wolfgang Caspar Printz has been remembered primarily for his innovative idea of internal temporal quantity. As it may be the earliest articulation of the concept of metrical accentuation, Printz’s account has attracted significant scholarly attention. Yet the reception of Printz’s idea has been distorted by a reliance on George Houle’s misinterpretation of just one of Printz’s treatises, Phrynis Mitilenæus (1696). The present article proposes a fresh reading of quantitas intrinseca by drawing upon Printz’s little-known, but fuller presentation of the idea in his Compendium musicae (1668). To begin, I critique the assumption that Printz’s locution “internally long” is a simple synonym for “stressed” or “strong,” since his choice of the “quantity” metaphor has noteworthy connotations of metrical patterning. I then turn to the presumption that Printz’s notion of internal length aligns with metrical hierarchy, showing that it instead correlates with sounding rhythms, not abstract beats. Next I assess the relationship between quantitas intrinseca and what he calls the contrare rhythmic pattern to demonstrate that his theory is more successful on its own terms than scholars have recognized. I conclude with a brief analysis suggesting that my revised reading of Printz affords more responsive ways of interpreting rhythm.