... [C]ompared to the ancient ratios, ours are not only more numerous but also more sonorous. But why, then, in our times do we not observe musicians producing those effects that authors claim were made in antiquity? The cause, I maintain, is the overabundance and profusion of music today. However good an impression these effects may make, they no longer move people as they did when they were first discovered. For novelty, insignificant though it may be, earns much more admiration than what is commonplace and later magnified, as is evident from old-fashioned compositions. Even performances of such compositions can move people to laughter, although in their day they were considered very good. Thus, it cannot be disputed that now people are much more knowledgeable about music than they were in the past. However, the present-day profusion of music garners little esteem for the art.
Nicola Vicentino, Ancient Music Adapted to Modern Practice (1555), trans. Maria Rika Maniates, ed. Claude V. Palisca, (Yale : 1996), p. 20.