A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Hothby, John

HOTHBY, or OTTEBY, John, an English Carmelite monk, who lived in the latter half of the 15th century, and passed the greater part of his life in the Carmelite monastery at Ferrara, was famous for his skill in the science of music. He was author of a treatise on the Proportions of Music, Cantus figuratus and Counterpoint, MS. copies of which exist at Ferrara and Bologna, in the National Library at Paris and the British Museum (Add. MS. 10,336). It is printed by Coussemaker, 'Scriptorum de Musica Medii sevi,' iii. 328.

[ W. H. H. ]

[App. p.679–80 "It should be mentioned that the treatise beginning 'Quid est Proportio,' of which there are copies at the British Museum and Lambeth Palace, is not identical with the 'Regulæ super proportionem' of the Paris, Venice, and Bologna libraries. In the national library at Florence is a MS. containing several works by Hothby; namely, (1) Ars musica; (2) a dialogue on the same subject, in which the author quotes, among others, Dunstable, Dufay, and even Okeghem; (3) a letter in Italian, refuting the censures of Osmense, a Spaniard; (4) 'Calliopea legale,' a musical treatise, of which there is another copy at Venice. This last work is interesting as giving an account of the transition from neumes to square notes. Another important MS. of Hothby's was formerly at Ferrara, but has been lost: besides a 'Kyrie,' a 'Magnificat,' and other musical compositions, it contained the following short treatises, of which there are copies in the Liceo Communale at Bologna:—(1) the above-mentioned 'Regulæ super proportionem'; (2) 'De Cantu figurato'; (3) 'Regulæ super Contrapunctum'; (4) 'Manus per genus diatonicum declarata'; (5) 'Regulæ de Monochordo manuali.' Among other minor works are a 'Tractatus quarundum regularum artis musices' at Florence, and a second treatise on Counterpoint, beginning 'Consonantia interpretatur sonus cum alio sonans,' in the Paris MS. Little is known of the life of John Hothby, Ottobi or Octobi, as he is still called in Italy. The Paris MS. styles him a Doctor of Music; but whether he took his degree at an English or foreign University does not appear. After leaving the monastery at Ferrara he is supposed to have taken up his residence at Florence, where he was held in great honour in 1471. The British Museum MS. of 'Quid est proportio' is dated 1500, and it is probable that Hothby died soon after this at an advanced age.

[ A. H.-H. ]