Chiari’na (It.)

A clarion. Chia’ro,-a (It.) Clear, pure... Chiaramen’te, cleasly, limpidly, distinctly... Chiares’sa, clearne , etc. Chiavet’te, or Chiavi trasporta’ti (It.,** transposed clefs."") Asean of transposing clefs, freely used in the 16th century. As it was then a rule, but seldom infringed, that no vocal part should overstep the limits of the 5-line staff, and the modern system of chromatic transposition being undeveloped, composers often employed, in the notation of the various parts, clefs differing from those customarily used for the several voices, these unusual clefs indicating to the practised singers a trans pence of their respective parts to a igher or lower pitch: 1. High chiavette. Discant. Alto, Tenor. Ba . SS 2, Ordinary clefs. a — ——— cS 3. Low chiavette. ] The high chiavette had the effect of transposing the parts (and consequently the entire composition) into a key a major or minor third higher, i.e. their effect was equivalent to writing 3 flats or ¢ sharps in a signature headed by the ordinary clef; the dow chiavette had a precisely opposite effect, as if 7 sharps or 4 flats bad been written after the ordinary clef—Though not recognized as such, this system was tantamount to a pretty free use of the transposing scales,