The noun compositio, derived from the Latin componere (“to compose,” “to author”) is found in Classical Latin rhetoric as far back as Cicero. From there, it entered the medieval Latin tradition. A school rhetoric placed compositio in the sphere of elocution (elocutio). From an early date, the term was used non-specifically in music theory, denoting for example the fitting together of melodic sequences or, in polyphony, of multiple voices [6].
The word emerged as a specialist musical term from the se…