781.4 7. C P
tb century Polyphony.
781.4 cop 1
Century Polyphony .
^3SO 51-22324
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SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
LONDON : GEOFFREY CU.MBERLEGE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
SIXTEENTH - CENTURY
POLYPHONY
^A Basis for the Study of Counterpoint
BY
ARTHUR TILLMAN MERRITT
PROFESSOR OF Music, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1949
COPYRIGHT, 1939
BY THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE
Fourth Printing
PRINTED AT THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRINTING OFFICE
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A special debt of gratitude is due to my students of counter-
point who have worked so enthusiastically every year on this
branch of technical study. Without their wholehearted co-
operation I should not have presumed to offer the present book.
Grateful acknowledgment must be made to Dr. Archibald T.
Davison for his unfailing encouragement and countless valu-
able suggestions.
A. T. M.
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
June, 1939
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PART I. THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG .... 3
The Modes, 5, Rhythm, 8. Melodic Intervals, 9. Direction,
14. Cadences, 15. Accidentals, 17. Transposition, 18. Forms, 19.
PART II. ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 29
The Modes, 31. Transposition, 33. Accidentals, 33. Rhythm,
35. Melodies, 53 (Individual Lines, 53; Lines in Combina-
tion, 59). Cross Relations, 63. Harmonies, 64. Dissonances,
69 (Passing Notes, 70; Auxiliary Notes, 72; Changing Note
Groups, 72; Cambiatas, 74; Suspensions, 75; Anticipations,
82; Consonant Fourths, 83; Combinations of Dissonances, 85).
Modulation and Cadences, 89 (Final Cadences, 92; Inter-
mediate Cadences, 94). Imitation, 99. Forms, 104.
PART III. APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRAC-
TICE 121
Two-Part Counterpoint, 123. Three-Part Counterpoint, 144.
Four-Part Counterpoint, 167.
SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 200
INTRODUCTION
IN recent years two books l have appeared in English which
have stimulated the study of counterpoint and inspired teachers
and students to make of it something more than the tonal
mathematics it has succeeded in becoming in the last two
hundred years. These books are invaluable because they have
cut the Gordian knot which prevented so many theorists and
teachers in that period from studying counterpoint as music.
They are not textbooks, but they have done much because they
advocate basing the study of counterpoint on actual music, and
they have shown how far theory has strayed from practice in
the course of time. Dr. Knud Jeppesen has since published a
textbook 2 in which he has incorporated his ideas from the
earlier book into a discipline. His analysis of the style of Pales-
trina is admirable, and I have profited immeasurably from it, but
even he retains the old method in the early stages of the study.
It is a great shame that such an indispensable branch of
musical study as counterpoint should have fallen on such evil
days, shutting itself up in a technical vacuum completely re-
moved from music. Music, like all the arts, changes in form
and expression as time goes on its whole history illustrates
this and it must change to express the feelings of each new
generation. But this does not mean that, for the sake of gain-
ing a technique, one must devitalize the study of its elementary
stages as elementary counterpoint has so long been devitalized.
Historically, in the period which preceded the introduction
1 R. O. Morris, Contrapuntal Technique in the Sixteenth Century (Oxford:
The Clarendon Press, 1922) and Knud Jeppesen, The Style of Palestrina and
the Dissonance (London: Oxford University Press, 1927).
^Kontraptm^t (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1935); English translation,
Counterpoint (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1939), by Dr. Glen Haydon.
x INTRODUCTION
of the monodic style and the thorough bass that is, roughly
up to the end of the sixteenth century counterpoint was the
basis of practically all musical composition. After the coming
of opera more emphasis was placed on the harmonic aspect of
music, because composers found that harmony is more suitable
for dramatic expression than counterpoint; in fact, it may be
said that the dramatic style and real counterpoint are not often
to be reconciled. On the other hand, seventeenth-century com-
posers continued to write contrapuntally practically every type
of music except the dramatic: witness, for example, the non-
dramatic compositions of Frescobaldi, Schiitz, and Purcell.
With the firm establishment of the major-minor mode about
the end of the seventeenth century, harmony as we commonly
understand it managed to wrest the palm from counterpoint
and to assume the more important role. Although it is true that
Bach and Handel have never had any superiors in the ability to
weave lines together to create a beautiful contrapuntal fabric,
they did this ordinarily on a harmonic basis within the frame
of the major-minor mode. Their compositions have a harmonic
flow which actually compels the individual lines to comply
with it. The fact that the lines seern to comply so readily and
yet have such individuality serves to impress us all the more
with the tremendous skill of these composers; they do not
appear to be restrained in the slightest by the fact that they
weave their lines over progressions that are basically harmonic
Some not many later composers, like Mozart, Mendels-
sohn, and Brahms, followed more or less in their footsteps,
employing counterpoint as they saw fit, always, however, in-
creasing their harmonic vocabulary.
In the nineteenth century generally, counterpoint practically
fell out of sight in much of the music for the pianoforte. The
piano is at its best when used as a percussive instrument or in
the manner of a harp, and at its worst when used to play music
with a contrapuntal texture. And since it was by all odds the
INTRODUCTION xi
prima donna among instruments throughout the nineteenth
century, it is not hard to understand why there was not more
interest in counterpoint at the time. It is a wonder there was so
much, and the greatest wonder of all is that counterpoint as a
study should ever have continued. It did degenerate, naturally
enough, into what most people considered a dry and academic
study a kind of necessary evil. It was not considered useless
by most thoughtful students, for they saw that by means of it,
distasteful as it was, they could more quickly acquire the ability
to juggle notes. But there was hardly any artistic end in view.
One took a cantus firmus and put other voices through the hoop
around it, being careful only not to fall into any traps or disobey
any rules. The rules for this game were supposedly deduced
from the compositions of the sixteenth century, the so-called
Golden Age of counterpoint. But throughout the early and
middle romantic period people generally knew little about the
Golden Age, and cared less. The rules of counterpoint were
(and unfortunately are still for the most part) second-, third-,
or fourth-hand, being originally derived from a textbook of
counterpoint by Fux. 3 Fux's method was a synthesis of former
methods, and consisted of a careful and logical arrangement of
the whole study of counterpoint into the five "species" or five
consecutive steps which were to be followed. He knew and
analyzed Palestrina and his contemporaries, but he saw and
heard them through his own eighteenth-century eyes and ears
which were harmonic eyes and ears. His perception was keen,
however, and his method was good at the time; it was sys-
tematic, and although his book was arbitrary, as most elementary
textbooks have to be, he constantly drew attention in it to actual
music and cited examples from musical literature. It was not
positively non- or antimusical, as some of its imitators have
become.
Counterpoint textbooks have never ceased to appear, and,
a J. J. Fux, Gradus ad Parnassum (Vienna, 1725).
xii INTRODUCTION
like all imitations, they have generally grown more and more
diluted and arbitrary, until many modern ones are ridiculous.
They almost invariably retain the five species laid down by Fux
two hundred years ago, but each text varies the rules of the
game according to the caprice of its author. The basis of the
exercises is always harmonic, some authors being so conserva-
tive as to allow only one harmony per measure. The object of
the procedure is if one may flatter it by using the verb to
animate the harmony by means of notes of certain values, but
one must go to the bitter end of the exercise without changing
those values. Only in the fifth, or last, species the so-called
florid species is there any permission to vary the rhythm; it
never occurs to the author that rhythmic variety is the very soul
of good contrapuntal music. Moreover, the exercises in these
books are never more than ten to sixteen measures long. No
problems of musical construction are involved in such short
bits, and all the student has to do is to juggle notes until he
gets to the end a feat not easy to perform, it is true, if he
obeys all the rules, for the handicaps are as great as the author
chooses to make them. Another peculiar inconsistency in this
old method is that, while canti firmi are used and certain six-
teenth-century rules or practices have persisted, the whole system
is based on the eighteenth-century major-minor mode. The
result is a composite of styles: modal rules and regulations
combined with major tonality, and the whole administered in
single phrases a few measures long. It is impossible to relate
the product to any great music that has ever existed, and, let us
hope, to any that will ever exist in the future.
The purpose of the present book is to get away from such
unmusical procedure and to base the study of counterpoint on
actual contrapuntal music. There is no reason why any tech-
nique should become so rarefied as to lose all relation to the
ultimate aim for which its study is intended. The modern
INTRODUCTION xiii
student of composition needs technical training no less than
the student of past times; in fact, it may fairly be said that he
needs contrapuntal training even more than the nineteenth-
century student, because modern composition is very often
contrapuntal in texture. On the other hand, the student of
musical history, or for that matter the musical amateur, is also
in need of technical training in counterpoint, both because of
the contrapuntal character of much modern music and because
of the increased interest nowadays in the music of the older
contrapuntal periods. There is no reason why at least the early
study of the subject should be different for these different kinds
of students. It is a great mistake to believe that one must be a
musical genius in order to study music technically, and that
one is on the road to becoming a composer if one has studied
harmony and counterpoint. There are comparatively few per-
sons in the world who have enough gift to become successful
composers, just as there are few who have enough gift to be-
come successful novelists or poets. But we do not deny the
student the opportunity to learn to read and write English
simply because we think he is not gifted enough to become a
writer; on the contrary, we take great pains to teach him these
things because we know that only by this means can he come
to understand and appreciate great literature. If he has unusual
gift enough to become a poet or novelist we are happy, to be
sure, but we do not make him such by teaching him grammar.
Likewise, there is no reason why everybody but tone-deaf per-
sons should not study music technically; the greater insight one
has into an art, the greater one's appreciation. And there is no
doubt that cultivation of a technique gives greater insight into
the works of the great masters than any other kind of study.
With these things in mind I have planned this book, based
directly on the technique of the vocal sacred music of the six-
teenth century. It is intended to be an introduction and guide to
the early study of counterpoint, and deals with the construction
xiv INTRODUCTION
of the single line and with the combination of two lines, three
lines, and four lines. When he has thoroughly mastered the
material presented here, however, the ambitious student should
have acquired enough insight into contrapuntal technique to
be able to go on with more advanced study, using a greater
number of parts and continuing with, instrumental counter-
point and fugue. This is possible because the study is based on
music itself, all the rules being deduced from the actual prac-
tices of sixteenth-century composers. The principles they used
have not been arbitrarily added to or subtracted from, and the
student must make constant reference to their works.
The reason for the arbitrary choice of sacred music of the
Golden Age as a basis of the present study may not be apparent
at first thought. In fact, if we consider the study of counter-
point only as a basis for gaining technique in composition, we
have to admit that, while modern music has many resemblances
to that of the sixteenth century, there are modern compositions
which resemble even more certain music before and after the
Golden Age. There are many similarities, for instance, between
Hindemith and Frescobaldi in respect to cross relations induced
by lines tending in different directions; other similarities can
be found between Stravinsky and the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries; one might even suggest that in regard to strictness of
technique Schonberg has much in common with the school still
known in old-fashioned music history books as the "dry-as-
dust" school, that of Obrecht and Ockeghem. The truth is that
the selection of any period for purposes of concentrated study
is bound to be arbitrary. Bach has often served as a model, par-
ticularly in German counterpoint methods; and today certain
composers, notably Hindemith, owe a tremendous debt to Bach.
In rhythmic movement and in methods of musical construction
the similarity between the new music and the old is no accident.
The exclusion of Bach's music as a model in the present book
does not mean that we are to consider Bach inferior as a contra-
INTRODUCTION xv
puntist. What we are trying to do is to find a period when the
musical lines govern the harmonic progression; for this we must
go back farther than Bach. In the eighteenth century, as I have
pointed out before, the basic aspect is harmonic; and the lines,
however excellent they may be 5 are usually generated from the
harmonies.
The selection of the age of Palestrina is based on the com-
pelling fact that here we have a period of music in which the
lines do for the most part generate the harmonies, in which
there is a consistent common practice 4 not too difficult to
master, and in which we find remarkably little departure from
that common practice. If Victoria can be readily distinguished
from Palestrina, or Lassus from Victoria, it is on account of the
greater frequency with which certain devices are used by one
composer than by the other; the devices remain the same. Above
all, counterpoint is a typical and consistent method of compo-
sition in this period.
The exclusion of the secular style, even of this period, is made
on much the same basis: it is generally freer and more harmonic
than the sacred style. Once the student has a firm grasp of the
latter he should feel free to examine sacred and secular music
both before and after the Golden Age; indeed, it is necessary
that he should, so that he may avoid getting into a permanent
technical rut. Until he has gained a keen sense of style, how-
ever, he must not deviate from the common practice of the
style with which he is primarily concerned. It is one thing to
depart from an established practice with full consciousness and
4 By the term "common practice" are meant those devices and methods of
composition which are the common property of a group o composers In any
particular period. This common property is the norm, the strict adherence to
which may at times be disregarded in small details by any one of such a
group. In the Golden Age It can safely be said that Lassus, Victoria, and par-
ticularly Palestrina depart least from the common practice of the time; on
account of their great consistency they are prohably the best models that
could be selected for beginners.
xvi INTRODUCTION
another to depart from it without realizing that anything has
happened. Debussy's music, for instance, is full of consecutive
fifths, but their use is one of the characteristic elements of his
style; in our work consecutive fifths will only be slips, because
they are not consistent with the style in question.
It may be said here that the study of counterpoint does not
involve complete disregard for the chordal aspect in music.
Although composers of the thirteenth century did not regularly
have their melodies "harmonize" except at certain places, we
find that the composers of the sixteenth century had a sophisti-
cated taste in harmony within the frame of the modes. Their
harmony was strictly regulated in regard to the vocabulary of
chords that were used, but it did not dictate to the lines in re-
gard to the construction of phrases as it did later.
The majority of the great modern collections of music in the
long period up to and including Bach make use of the seven
clefs. In this book all the excerpts have been transcribed into
the bass and treble clefs. This became advisable when, in order
to save space, certain excerpts were compressed into two staves.
It also saves the beginning student the additional difficulty of
having to decipher clefs unknown to him. In his own exer-
cises, however, he should never write two musical lines on the
same staff, and he should make the attempt early to use the
different clefs. When he turns to the great editions for neces-
sary further study he will have to learn them, else a vast litera-
ture will be closed to him. Besides this., a thorough knowledge
of the clefs is essential for transposing music at sight, or for
reading orchestral scores in which transposing instruments have
apart.
The seven clefs fall into three categories: the G clef, the C
clefs, and the F clefs. They are:
G on the second line, the treble clef:
Middle C
INTRODUCTION
C on the first line, the soprano clef:
XVli
C on the second line, the mezzo-soprano clef:
C on the third line, the alto or viola clef:
C on the fourth line, the tenor clef: ip;
F below
Middle C"
F on the third line, the baritone clef: o^
F on the fourth line, the bass clef:
Occasionally C is found on the fifth line:
The last is the same as the baritone clef, or F on the third line.
Any other variations in clefs can always be related to one of the
seven above, for by means of some one of them any written
note can be read anywhere in the octave.
It is fervently hoped that this study will be valuable to any
student of counterpoint, regardless of Ms ultimate aims, and
that it will give him not only the technical facility which the
study of the species gives but also an understanding of the
fundamentals of counterpoint which lie could never get through
the species an appreciation, in short, of the fact that contra-
puntal music is not necessarily harmony with figurations.
PARTI
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG
IN sixteenth-century music, line is of prime importance, for
it is the generating force, the material from which the com-
positions themselves grow. In contrast with predominantly
harmonic music, in which one line assumes the chief inter-
est and forces all other lines if there are distinguishable
lines to fall into the harmonic scheme which it gener-
ates, the polyphonic music we are to study is made up of
interdependent lines, not absolutely free of each other but
good individually, and at the same time accommodating them-
selves to an ensemble over which no one of them is unduly
dictatorial.
Since we must lay stress on lines as such, it is almost indis-
pensable to make a preliminary study of the individual line in
order to obtain a clear idea of sixteenth-century polyphony. It
stands to reason that unless one understands how to construct a
good single line one has very little chance of understanding
how to combine several lines. Moreover, for a time, at least, it
is necessary for us to try to divorce ourselves from thinking in
terms of vertical blocks or harmonies. For this purpose there
is nothing better than the study of plainsong, the so-called
Gregorian chants in the church modes. There is a tremendous
literature of these compositions, 1 and they have the distinct
advantage of being unaccompanied, so that their beauty of
line can be studied without the distraction which is invariably
created by supporting harmonies. Furthermore, these chants
1 A very extensive collection of plainsong may be found in the Uber Usualis
published by Desclee & Co. (Tournai, 1934) and available with introduction
and rubrics in English at most good dealers in the United States. Smaller
collections, but entirely adequate for the present purpose, are Plainsong for
Schools, Part 1 (Liverpool: Rushworth & Draper, 1936) and Kyriale seu Ordi-
narium Missae (New York: J. Fischer & Bro., 1927) .
4 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
offer an excellent introduction to the church modes in which
sixteenth-century sacred music is written.
The lines in most types of plainsong chants are magnificent
for their construction and their singable quality. Although the
chants are often accompanied by the organ nowadays, they
have not the slightest need for any accompaniment; they stand
perfectly by themselves, and in fact are more effective without
any support. It is mainly by becoming acquainted with them
in this fashion that one learns to appreciate how strong they
are and how satisfactory a single strand of melody can be.
In the earlier periods of contrapuntal music particularly,
these chants were often used as canti firmi. The composer cus-
tomarily placed one of them in one of the voice parts and wove
other lines of his own invention around it. This is undoubtedly
what gave the scholastic contrapuntists the idea of using canti
firmi in their little exercises. But the two practices have re-
markably little in common. The exercises in scholastic counter-
point are painfully short and present no vital problems of
structure; as used by the contrapuntal composer, the cantus was
commonly the basis of a composition of at least several phrases.
Moreover, the cantus in a scholastic exercise is invariably regu-
lated in prim rows of one note per measure, while in a motet
or movement of a Mass it is commonly treated with great
variety of rhythm. Although even in the sixteenth century the
use of such a cantus had become purely optional, the practice
of occasionally employing some sort of melody as the basis of a
contrapuntal composition has never completely died out. It
may be seen, for instance, in Bach's and Brahms's chorale
preludes and even nowadays in compositions like Hindemith's
Schwanendreher or Mathis der Maler.
The main purpose of our short study of plainsong is not to
learn to use the chants as canti firmi but rather to learn how to
construct good individual lines. The student must study as
many chants as he can lay his hands on, and sing them. He
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG 5
should make a thorough, technical analysis of them, and then
write chants himself. In the long run it is principally through
writing that he will acquire an intimate acquaintance with the
modes, a critical power in regard to melodic line, and, not least
of all, an appreciation of the subtleties of creating music in
small forms.
THE MoDES. 2 There are eight modes, known as the church
modes, in which we ordinarily find the plainsong melodies.
The note on which a chant ends the final and the range
which it covers determine the mode of the melody. All chants
fall into four basic classes of modes: the Dorian, the Phrygian,
the Lydian, and the Mkolydian, according to whether they
end on D, E, F, or G respectively, for these are the only finals
ever to be used. (Transposed melodies will be discussed later
in the chapter.) All chants have a possible range of an octave.
This gives rise to another classification, for if the melody ranges
upwards an octave from the final it is in an authentic mode; if
it ranges upwards an octave from the note a fourth below the
final it is in a corresponding plagal mode. This means that in
the authentic modes the final lies at the bottom of the octave
range, while in the plagal modes it lies almost in the middle of
that range. Each of the four notes then, D, E, F, and G, does
service as final not only for an authentic mode but also for a
corresponding plagal mode, designated by the prefix "Hypo-."
Ex. i. I. Dorian Dominant
II. Hypodorian Final Dom.
_^ &
2 For a fuller discussion o the modes, see J. F. Arnold, Plainsong Accom-
paniment (London: Oxford University Press, 1927).
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
m. Phrygian Dom.
I
l
IV. Hypophrygian Final Dom.
i
V. Lydian Dom.
_,<? &.
t
VI. Hypolydian Final Dom.
lei)
VII. Mixolydian Dom.
^ _ _ _ F =^=jg
" ~T
VIII. Hypomixolydian Final Dom.
A 1 i
/ = ^ &
1
Since no accidentals are used when the scale, or mode, is pure,
the first thing one notices is that each mode has a characteristic
sequence of whole and half steps. This in itself indicates the
great variety in character in melodies in the different modes.
It must be noticed that, while Modes I and VIII have the same
range, their finals are D and G respectively; in consequence,
melodies in the one mode are constructed in a different fashion
from those in the other.
Often the melodies do not cover the entire range of then-
octave. Some of them are remarkable for their restraint in this
respect. However, they can and sometimes do range a note
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG 7
above the octave limit, and it is very common for them to go a
note below that limit. It is common to classify a chant which
does not range more than a fifth or even a sixth above the final
as being in a plagal mode, even if it does not cover the entire
lower range.
In plainsong melodies there are certain notes in the mode
which are of particular importance often of more impor-
tance than the final so far as the frequence of their occurrence
is concerned. One of the most important of all is the dominant,
since it is often the note around which the melody revolves,
particularly in the psalm tones. In the authentic modes it lies
a fifth above the final unless that fifth happens to fall on B, in
which case C is substituted. In the plagal modes it is a third
below the dominant of the corresponding authentic modes,
unless again it falls on B, in which case C is again substituted.
B is never used as a dominant.
It will suffice here to give only the range of the different
modes and their dominants and mediants.
MODE RANGE FINAL DOMINANT MEDIANT
I D D D A F
II A A D F E
III E E EGG
IV B B E A G
V F F F C A
VI C C FAD
VH G G GDC
VIII D D G C A
In the type of chants which we shall examine in this pre-
liminary study the student will be mainly interested in knowing
on what notes melodies may begin in the different modes and
on what notes phrases other than final ones may end. This,
together with information concerning other notes which play
more or less important roles in the various modes, may be found
8 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
in a table in the article by W. S. Rockstro entitled "Ecclesiasti-
cal Modes" in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
RHYTHM. Although the problem of plainsong rhythm has in
the past been a very fertile field for disagreement, the inter-
pretation of the Solesmes monks, who have spent many years
in research on the subject, is the one most generally accepted
today. A common statement that plainsong melodies have no
rhythm is entirely misleading; they do have a very subtle
rhythm. What they lack, and rightly so, is a pulsation in
metrical fashion. In respect to rhythm they differ markedly
from secular music such as folk songs or dances. The physical
attraction of pulsation in these latter pieces is one of their in-
herent characteristics, but in plainsong pulsation would only
tend to distract attention from the mental attitude of worship
which these chants strive to heighten; it is not their purpose to
call attention to themselves or to excite physical response as the
dance melody does.
The main principle of plainsong rhythm is to give to the
syllables of the text that stress or lack of stress which they have
in speech. Plainsong is musical speech, and its rhythm actually
arises out of the natural rhythm of the Latin words to which it
has been set. This can be illustrated by the following version of
the Credo. The music is ordinarily not barred in the course of
phrases, for barring it in any way would tend to create in the
minds of the singers a rigidity of beat which it actually lacks.
It is a freely sung music and must not adhere to a rigid under-
lying pulsation. In order to illustrate how the stresses are placed,
however, we might bar it as in Ex. 2, the only manner in which
barring could be effective even in a slight way.
Though in this version the music is too rigid, nevertheless the
basic stresses are illustrated, and it is easy to see that the music
is not metrical in the manner of dance music or, for that matter,
most music after the seventeenth century. In rhythm it much
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG 9
more resembles certain modern music where the measures are
uneven and the accents are so arranged that they do not recur
regularly.
Ex. 2
^=^ u. n j-^ * ]-rx_
i
ypj ^ 7 J
o H ,#<: *L j,.Q ^# j , a ft. '. L
J g
Cr6 - do In
u - nmn De - urn, Pa - trem ora -
ni - po - tea - tern, fa - cto - rein cae - li et
j ^>_ r^ * ^ i
etc.
ter - rae, vi - si - bi - li - urn 6m - ni - inn
Such uneven arrangements of rhythms are as common in the
more ornamented plainsong melodies as in the syllabic type
above. The beginning of the Kyrie of the Lux et origo Mass
might be barred thus :
Ex. 3.
etc.
Ky - ri - e
le - i - soa
When the student begins to write plainsong melodies he
should never bar them in the manner illustrated in these ex-
amples. These barred illustrations are intended only to call
his attention to the fact that the melodies must not be metrical^
that they must be rhythmically free. This same underlying
point of view will arise again in connection with the polyphonic
music we are going to study, and the student will see that pre-
cisely the same principles are involved there as here.
MELODIC INTERVALS. Plainsong melodies move predominantly
stepwise, although skips are frequently introduced to give them
io SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
variety and to keep them from becoming uninteresting scale
passages. All melodic intervals chromatic, diminished, and
augmented ones excepted up to and including the minor sixth
are used, and the leap of the octave is occasionally found. The
vocabulary of intervals then consists of major and minor sec-
onds, major and minor thirds, perfect fourths and fifths, minor
sixths, and perfect octaves. All other intervals are found so
rarely as to exclude them from a list of those commonly used.
Intervals outside this vocabulary are sometimes found between
the last note of one section of a chant and the first note of the
following section, but never in the course of a phrase.
Ex 4. Kyrie from A Ime Pater Mass
le- - i - son, 3Iy - ri - e
The larger leaps seem to occur most often near the beginning
of a phrase, although this is not invariably true.
Ex. 5. Sanctus (V) f Kyrie (XI)
Kyrie (XI)
Gloria (XI)
^sv^&m
Rarely do more than two skips in the same direction take place
successively, and when even two occur they are usually ascend-
ing minor thirds, as shown in Ex. 6.
^ f The Roman numerals given in parentheses refer to the Masses as they are
listed in the Liber Usualis.
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG
Ex. 6. Kyrie (II)
II
Sometimes a rising fifth is followed by a minor third in the same
direction:
Ex. 7. Sanctus (IE)
f f
m
In such cases it is customary to repeat or lengthen the value of
the upper note of the first interval before proceeding to the still
higher note. Many times the upper note, after the leap of the
fifth, sinks downward before making the additional leap of
the third:
Ex.8. Kyrie (IV)
r rrrfr r r
A figure outlining a triad is not uncommon at the beginning of
phrases:
Ex. 9. Agnus (IV) Agnus (XVII)
12 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
But it must be used with discretion^ for if it recurs too frequently
it causes a "tonality" which is foreign to most plainsong chants.
The figures
Ex. 10. Kyrie (IX) Kyrie (I)
and
are far from unusual as the initial notes of phrases. The figure
Ex. ii.
is uncommon, and
is practically never found. Once in a while there are melodies
which give an initial impression of being constructed on a
pentatonic or five-note scale:
Ex. 13. Gloria (IH)
^
fe
but which proceed in a fashion that tends to obliterate the first
impression.
Great care must be exercised at all times in the treatment of
the augmented fourth, the tritone, which occurs between the
notes F and B. The direct leap upwards or downwards over
this interval is never to be found. The nearest approach to it
is the figure
Ex. 14.
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG I3
which does occur sometimes. However, this motive is never
used in a cadence or at the beginning of a phrase. When it is
used in the course of a phrase the B and the F should not be
exposed at both the upper and lower points of the melodic line,
asm
but should be sheathed, at least partly, as in the phrase "Christe"
in the Kyrie I of the Lux et origo Mass:
Ex. 1 6
or in the phrase of the Kyrie I of the Kyrie fons bonitatu Mass,
where the interval is used in a scale passage:
Ex. 17
In both cases B is preceded by the C above and is thus not
exposed.
It is impossible to give here anything like a complete table of
figures of leaps to be found in these melodies, but as the student
gains familiarity with plainsong he will recognize those figures
which are common and most effective. In general, it may be
said that a leap is most often followed by a turning in the op-
posite direction; and the greater the leap the more important
this becomes if one is to avoid a feeling of melodic disjointed-
I 4 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
ness. A skip in one direction may be followed by a skip in the
opposite direction:
Sanctus (VIII)
Ite missa est (VTH)
Bi:
or it may be and more often is preceded and followed by
a stepwise movement in the opposite direction:
Ex. 19. Kyrie (V)
Gloria (IX)
Sanctus (XI)
Gloria (XI)
Gloria (II)
It must be remembered that, as we have said, plainsong chants
move mostly by step.
DIRECTION. Most phrases have a tendency to take a descending
course. They often begin relatively high, and by a series of
gently undulating waves sink gradually to the final. In certain
modes particularly, they may even descend a note below the
final before they come back to it to close. If a melody does not
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG 15
begin high, it frequently makes a steep ascent near the begin-
ning, so that the effect is much the same as if it had begun high.
In almost no case is the final reached immediately after an
ascent from a low point. Characteristic types of lines may be
seen in the examples of chants in the different modes quoted on
pages 22-28.
Melodic sequences are rarely found in plainsong chants. One
often finds repetitions of figures or, of tener still, repetitions with
small variations; but successive and orderly transposition of
figures from one degree to another is almost unknown.
CADENCES. It has already been said that the final is one of the
two factors that determine in what mode a melody is written;
the other, range, determines whether a chant is in an authentic
mode or its corresponding plagal mode. There seems to be no
difference in cadential formulae between the corresponding
authentic and plagal modes. The most important thing to
remember is that the final must be approached in good fashion
if the melody is to give the flavor of the mode in which it is
written, and that one of the most characteristic ways of doing
this is to capitalize on the difference in the sizes of the intervals
which lie above and below the final. A point that cannot be
overstressed is the fact that the intervallic relationship between
the final and the notes above and below it is different in each
of the modes. For example, let us take D, the final of the
Dorian modes. The note C is a whole step below, E a whole
step above, and F a minor third above. In the Phrygian modes,
Ex. 20.
1
m
11 111
ir
_<i2_.
16 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
where E is the final, these relationships are different: D lies a
whole step below, F a half step above, and G a minor third
above. In the Lydian and Mixolydian modes these relation-
ships differ again.
The flavor of a mode depends a great deal upon the use of
these notes in the cadence. In the Dorian, Phrygian, and
Mixolydian modes the note below the final plays a particularly
important part. In those modes it is very commonly used as a
penultimate note, and if it does not immediately precede the
final it is usually not separated from it by many other notes. In
the Lydian modes the note below the final is comparatively
rarely used in the cadence. It comes into constant use first in
polyphonic music.
When F is used as a penultimate note in chants in the
Mixolydian mode, B is ordinarily avoided in the line leading
directly to it. The two notes used in close proximity give the
tritone, which is always a poor interval and hard both to think
and to sing.
Considering the fact that the four notes just discussed are so
often used, there are a surprising number of ways of forming
cadences in the different modes. A few typical cadences are
the following:
Ex. 21. Dorian
Dorian
Phrygian
Phrygian
Lydian
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG
Lydian
*y f ^_
. *_* ? .,T
s-*!-
Mixolydian
P=^J|=:
-3* s *-
ACCIDENTALS. The flat is the only accidental ever found in plain-
song melodies, and it is used only to alter the note B. This is
attributable in the first place to the tritonal relationship between
F and B, an interval which has always caused embarrassment
in melodic lines; when B is flatted the two notes can proceed
one to the other perfectly safely. In the second place, it is often
much easier to sing a minor second than a major one. This
becomes obvious in such figures as ^ g - ^ . .' =|
where the melody rises from D to A, goes a second above, and
sinks again to A. After a rise of a fifth the difference between
a major second formed by the notes A, B, A and a minor second
formed by the notes A, Bb, A is very appreciable. And when
this figure occurs as it so often does, particularly in the
Dorian mode the B is practically always flatted.
There is not usually much occasion to make use of the Bb in
the Phrygian modes, particularly in figures which rise from the
E itself. However, the figure D A Bb A discussed in the para-
graph above is not rare in the Phrygian, and when it is used the
B is ordinarily flatted.
In the Lydian modes the B is very often flatted to avoid the
tritone between the final and the fourth above it. In a great
number of Lydian chants this alteration takes place constantly,
and as a result the chants have the flavor of the major mode.
(For a good example of this, see the Kyrie of the DC angelis
Mass.)
i8 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
In the Mixolydian modes it is very uncommon to find Bb.
B natural, which forms a major third with the final, is one of
the characteristic notes of the mode, and if it is altered often
the scale ceases to be Mixolydian and becomes Dorian.
TRANSPOSITION. Although the use of the flat as an accidental is
comparatively common, the transposition of melodies up a fifth
accomplishes the same result without the accidental. And such
transposition of melodies, particularly in the Dorian and
Phrygian modes, is not rare. Once in a while Lydian melodies
are so transposed; but Mixolydian melodies are never so treated,
since such transposition alters the third above the final. An
example of transposition up a fifth can be seen in the Benedictus
of the Lux et origo Mass. I shall not quote the whole chant, but
only a phrase which illustrates the effect of such transposition.
Though this is not the final phrase, the last note of it is actually
the written final of the chant.
EX. 22
Be - ne - die - tus qui ve - nit in no - mi- ne D6-mi-ne
The chant is in the Hypophrygian mode, whose final is E.
Here in the transposed version, however, the final is B, and
the fifth above it which is sung to the syllable "die" is F. If the
chant were not transposed and the interval relationships in the
scale were to remain the same as they are here this note would
have to beBb-
Besides transposition of melodies up a fifth we find some-
times, although much more rarely, transposition up a fourth.
This has the effect of gaining automatically the accidental F$.
We have seen that Bb is often actually written in the plainsong
melodies. But F$ as such is never used, and the only way of
securing the effect of it is by means of this transposition. Ordi-
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAIXSONG 19
narily the only melodies to be so transposed are those in the
Phrygian modes. Curiously enough, however, this treatment
deprives these modes of one of their most characteristic inter-
valsthe minor second above the final, which occurs only in
them. This fact undoubtedly goes a long way to explain why
so few of the Phrygian melodies are written with A as a final.
The following antiphon is a good example, however, of the
process.
Ex.23
Lae-ten-tur cae - 11, et ex-sul-tet ter-ra an-te fa-cl-em
D6-mi - ni, quo - ni-am ve - nit.
FORMS. In view of the fact that the present study is only a pre-
liminary to the main business of counterpoint, and makes no
attempt to explore deeply the intricacies of the subject of plain-
song, it will suffice the student to analyze only certain types of
chants. The Kyrie is one of the most convenient chants for the
purpose, for its numerous settings are characterized by great
variety of form, mode, and melodic treatment. It is composed
of three main divisions based on a text consisting of three
phrases: "Kyrie eleison," which is sung three times; "Christe
eleison," which is sung three times; and again "Kyrie eleison,*'
which is sung three times. The whole movement is made up,
therefore, of nine distinct phrases of text.
The simplest musical form is that in which the repetition of
text in each of the three parts is echoed literally in the melody.
This is illustrated by the Kyrie of the Mass Kyrie magnac Deus
potcntiae (Ex.24).
At the end of the Kyrie I is the sign iij 9 indicating that the
20 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
phrase is to be sung three times before going on to the Christe.
The same intention is indicated at the end of the phrase,
"Christe eleison," and again at the close of the Kyrie II. In this
particular Kyrie the musical unity of the movement is further
emphasized by the fact that the melody of the Kyrie II is ex-
Ex. 24. Kyrie (V)
le - i- son. iij. Ky-ri - e
f CL-C c r
e - - - - -le-i- son. iij.
actly the same as that of the Kyrie I. It is perhaps hardly neces-
sary to remark that, unless it is very skillful, this type of
treatment runs the risk of making the movement sound
monotonous.
A slight variation of this procedure is illustrated in the Kyrie
of the Lux et origo Mass. 3 Here the melody of the Kyrie I is
each time the same, and the melody of the Christe likewise
repeats itself. In the Kyrie II, however, there is a new melody
which is sung twice the same, as is indicated by the // at the end
of the phrase, but which is changed a little the third time by the
addition of three notes at the beginning of the phrase. The fact
that the melodies of the Kyrie I and Kyrie II are not the same
8 See p. 28.
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG 21
adds a certain interest; and even though the three phrases of
the Kyrie II are almost identical, the three new notes before the
last phrase give it a freshness that it would lack without them.
The various Kyries range in musical complexity from the
simple ones just discussed up to much more elaborate ones,
such as the famous "Cum jubilo" Kyrie. 4 In this chant not a
single phrase is followed immediately by a literal repetition.
On the other hand, it is beautifully handled musically, and
there are plenty of recurrences of musical ideas. In the Kyrie I
not only are the first and third phrases identical, but the second
phrase differs from them only in the notes to which the first
two syllables of the word "Kyrie" are sung. The first and third
phrases of the Christe are identical and cadence on the dominant,
while the second phrase corresponds with the fiist phrase in the
Kyrie I in all but the introductory three notes, which are a small
variation of the first four notes of the original phrase. The first
and third phrases of the Kyrie II are identical for the first four-
teen notes, but from here on they differ; the first borrows its
cadence from the first phrase of the Christe, and the third, after
a literal repetition of the intonation, 5 borrows the whole of the
second phrase in the Christe section. The second phrase in the
Kyrie II corresponds exactly to the second phrase of the Christe.
It is interesting to note that there are only two kinds of
cadences in the whole movement: the first ends phrases i, 2, 3,
5, 8, and 9; the second ends phrases 4, 6, and 7. As to beginnings
of phrases, i and 3 are alike; 2 is unique; 4 and 6 are the same;
5 and 8 are the same; and 7 and 9 are the same. A most impor-
tant aspect of this Kyrie is the rise in intensity which occurs as
the chant proceeds. In the Kyrie I, A is the highest note; in the
Christe, the line rises to Bb ; in the Kyrie II, the climax is reached
on D an octave above the final of the chant. But, except in the
* See pp. 22-23.
5 The Intonation o a plainsong melody is that portion at the beginning of
the chant 5 up to the asterisk, which is sung, or intoned, by the priest alone.
After the asterisk, the chant is carried on by the rest of the singers in unison.
22 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
case of the first and third phrases in the Christe section, the
lines flow typically downwards.
Below, an example of a chant in each mode is quoted. These
chants are intended to serve only as an introduction, and the
student should supplement his examination of them by the
study of as many more as he can. He will then be able to choose
the ones he wishes to use as models for chants of his own
composition.
Ex. 25. Orbis factor (XI)
1 _ m-x-P*' a, fc
Ky - ri - e
le - i - son. ij.
Ky - ri - e
Ex. 26. Cumjubilo (IX)
le - i-son.
n - e
e - le - i - son.
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG
_, 7 IB..* ^ :
J ""gqB^ !*!SSK 1~~
Chri-ste
e - le - i - son. Chri
ste
)-.
*~1
' gr *
* * ^~
1 i - - 1 i i
9 m 9
*' 1 1
- L*-J._LJ
e - le - 1 - son.
CM-ste
e - le - i - son. Ky-ri - e
e - le - i - son.
Ex. 27. Pater cimcta\
^ _ p
^7 f TTf-f fT
-W LLr i^ ^
San
San
ctus, San
ctus
Do - mi - nus De - us Sa - ba - oth. Pie -ni sunt cae -31 et ter - ra
t In the Ordinary of the Mass there is no Kyrie in the second mode. The
Sanctus here quoted will, however, show the characteristics of the mode.
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
glo - ri - a tu - a. Ho - san - na in ex - eel
Be-ne - di-ctus qui ve - nit in no - mi - ne Do - mi - ni.
F=r r f r r-
Ho - san - na in ex - eel
Ex. 28. Kyriejons bonitaiis (II)
Si
3. 9^1^
Ky - ri - e
- le - i - son. nj. Cnri - ste
- ri - e
e - le - i - son.
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG
Ex. 29. Kyrie D&ns sempiterne (HI)
e - le - 1 son.
Ky - ri - e
e - le - i - son.
Bg * ** ea i^ v * '" -
Ky
e - le - i - son.
Chri - ste
e -le-i -son.
26 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
Ex. 30. De Angelis (VIII)
Ky-ri - e
le-i-son. %".
Chri-ste
le - i - son. *y .
Ky-ri-e e - le-i-son. *>'.
Ky - ri - e
1 e - - - le - i - son.
Ex. 31. Vel, ubi moris est (XVTI)
Ky - ri - e
le - i - son.
THE SINGLE LINE: PLAINSONG
Ex. 32, Cmidtior Kyris omnium
Ely - ri - e
le - I - son. Ely - ii - e
E^E
9i
le - i - son. Ky - ri - e
^
le - i - son. Chri - ste
le - I - son.
le - i - son. Ky - ri - e
28 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
Bi:
==
at-
e - le - i - son.
Ex. 33. Lu& et orlgo (I)
J^M-^-f fl
Ky - ri - e
e - le - i - son. if/.
Chri - ste
le - i - son. wj. Ky
le
i - son. /. Ely - ri - e
le - i - son.
PART II
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE
THE MODES. In plainsong only eight modes were used; in the
contrapuntal music which is to form the basis of our study we
find that number increased by four: two authentic and two
plagal. These new modes are:
Dom.
Ex. 34. IX. Aeolian :
Final
X. Hypoaeolian Dozn.
Dora.
XL Ionian J,
tr i
Final
Dom.
XTL Hypoionian <
The authentic and plagal modes with B as final were called the
Locrian and the Hypolocrian, but on account of the diminished
fifth above the final, which prevented a satisfactory cadence^
they were never used; they were merely theoretical modes.
Although the number of modes used in contrapuntal music
was thus theoretically as many as twelve, we find in actual prac-
tice that there were considerably fewer than that. In the first
place, there is not an appreciable number of compositions in the
32 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
fifth and sixth the Lydian and Hypolydian modes. These
two with F as the final tended to be swallowed up by the Ionian
modes. This came about because of the tremendous importance
which lay in the triad on the fourth degree of all the modes.
Naturally, this triad always had to be either major or minor,
never diminished, and in the Lydian modes it could only be
changed from diminished to major by flatting the B. But once
it became customary to flat the B these two modes lost the
characteristics which distinguished them from the Ionian modes.
Therefore pieces which end on F as a final usually have Bb in
their signatures, which automatically puts them in the trans-
posed Ionian me . js. In the second place, the number of modes
regularly in use was reduced by the fact that there came to be
less and less difference between the authentic and the plagal
modes. In contrapuntal music of this period the range of any
one voice is rarely much greater than an octave, so that each
part stays within its own mode. But this raises the question of
how to determine what mode a part-composition as a whole is
in. Any two adjacent voices, of course, are bound to have their
ranges about a fifth apart. The alto, for example, ordinarily
ranges about a fifth below the soprano; the tenor has a range
of about the same distance below the alto, and the bass about the
same distance again below the tenor. As a result, the soprano
and tenor have ranges about an octave apart and consequently
in the same mode, while the alto and bass have their ranges
about an octave from each other and in the same mode. Logi-
cally this means that if the tenor and soprano sing in an authen-
tic mode the bass and alto will sing in a plagal mode, or vice
versa.
The usual method of determining the mode of a part-
composition is based upon two things. First, the note on which
the lowest voice ends is always the final. Second, it is the com-
pass of the tenor which decides whether the composition is to
be considered authentic or plagal. This is based on a tradition
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 33
that dates back to the early days of polyphonic music, when the
tenor carried the plainsong melody around which the rest of
the composition was built. In the sixteenth century, however,
it is often difficult or impossible to tell whether a composition
is to be considered authentic or plagal If there is no tenor part,
or if the piece is not based on a plainsong melody, or if the
plainsong melody on which it is based is equally important in all
the voices, it becomes almost impossible to tell.
From the practical standpoint, therefore, we may consider
that the number of modes in regular use which have real dis-
tinction from each other is actually five: the^DoRiAN, the
PHRYGIAN, the MIXOLYDIAN, the AEOLIAN, antPOie IONIAN.
TRANSPOSITION. As in the case of plainsong melodies, the com-
positions of the sixteenth century may be transposed. But if
they are, it is always upwards a fourth or downwards a fifth, and
it always entails the use of Bb in the signature of each part. This
transposition was not for purposes of pitch, since music of this
period was not conceived in terms of absolute pitch, and singers
were free to sing where it was most comfortable for the voices
and where it sounded best. Neither was it for the purpose of
automatically gaining accidentals, as was the case in the trans-
position of plainsong melodies. It was more likely for the sake
of convenience in writing all the parts on their respective staves
without having to use leger lines. This transposition is the only
one found regularly throughout the sixteenth century; the trans-
position to other degrees with the use of more accidentals in the
signature became common only in and after the seventeenth
century.
ACCIDENTALS. In the course of a composition certain accidentals
were often used. Most of them resulted from the custom of al-
ways ending a piece with a major triad (or without any third
in the chord at all) rather than with a minor one, regardless of
34 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
the mode in which the piece was written. In addition, when-
ever the penultimate chord was based on the fifth above the
final, it likewise was ordinarily major.
Ex. 35. Dorian Aeolian
These practices served to introduce F$, C$, and Gjf into the
modal system. Furthermore, Bb had been in common usage in
plainsong and had even made its way into the signatures of
polyphonic compositions. Its use as an accidental naturally
necessitated the introduction of Eb whenever a piece was trans-
posed. For example, if a composition in which one of the voices
had the figure
Ex. 36
were transposed upwards a fourth, the notation had to be
Ex.37
These five accidentals, Bb> Eb, F|, C$, and Gft, are the only ones
that were regularly used during the Golden Age. 1 Moreover,
they were never used as enharmonic notations of Aft, Dft, Gb,
Db, or Ab> since the tempered scale was not yet in use.
2 Let it be borne in mind that we are concerned here with the common
practice of the Golden Age. Exceptions to the statement above may be found
in abundance in such compositions as the madrigals of Gesualdo and some
of the early motets of Lassus; even in Palestrina's sacred works examples of
exceptions may occasionally be found: see, for instance, the extraordinary use
of D# in the five-voice motet, Peccantem me quotidie.
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 35
RHYTHM. Sixteenth-century music is as outstanding on account
of the elasticity and diversity of its rhythms as it is on account
of its singable intervals. The ease and grace with which it
moves rhythmically are astonishing to one who knows only
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music. At times, however,
composers of the twentieth century move with the magnificent
freedom of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century composers.
This freedom in both the old music and the new lies not only
in the rhythm of the ensemble but also in the rhythmic diver-
sity that the various individual voices have in contrast with
each other.
It will be recalled that this principle of freedom was the
underlying basis for the rhythm of the plainsong melodies dis-
cussed in Part I. In barring plainsong melodies as we did, far
too great a rigidity was implied. In polyphonic compositions,
on the other hand, the pulsation must be more exact., since music
which is in more than one part is bound to have a vertical aspect.
Contrapuntal melodies must flow along easily, but they cannot
ignore each other rhythmically or the ensemble would be
chaotic. Moreover, the individual parts could not be readily
distinguished. Even the earliest contrapuntists realized this.
There are two more or less well-defined types of ensemble
composition that are commonly employed: (i) familiar style,
or the movement of all the voices in the same rhythm, which
produces a chord-like progression, 2 and (2) fugal style, or the
independent movement of the individual voices rhythmically
and in imitative fashion. 3 Neither of these types is always pur-
sued doggedly from one end of the composition to the other;
one often finds them contrasted or combined in the same com-
position. Furthermore, pieces are often written as a whole or in
part in a style that partakes of both the familiar and the fagal
styles. Though these pieces may not contain any imitation as
* See the beginning of Palestrina's Stabat Mater, quoted on p. 40.
8 See Palestrina's In diebus tilts, quoted on p. 169.
36 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
such, at the same time the different voices move along with
rhythmic independence.
An underlying pulsation regulates the movement of all the
voices, regardless of how great their number. The half note is
the ordinary rhythmic unit. (In most modern popular editions
of this music the editors have halved the note values and made
the quarter note the rhythmic unit. This in no way alters the
music in regard to speed of performance, for the proportions
of the note values remain the same.) When the half note is the
unit we find double whole notes, whole notes, half notes,
quarter notes, and eighth notes. No note smaller than the
eighth is ever used in such a case.
Ex.38
Very seldom does a melody move along for any length of
time in notes of the same value. The sixteenth century is re-
markable for its understanding of the principle that a large
part of the beauty of any melody is created not only by its
intervals but also by its rhythmic variety. It is hard indeed to
find more than two eighths in succession, and successive quarter
notes never continue long. (Too many are very liable to produce
a rhythmically flabby melody.) In compositions of two or three
parts, however, there is greater freedom in the use of quarter
notes in succession than in compositions of more parts. In the
fifth section of Lassus 5 third Penitential Psalm, for example, we
find the following melodies:
Ex.39
fc-Jr-J-^
ij-1 I 1 1 | H-
r^NH-j-r
t/ 9 &
Q
' -J- v 4- -- *
i
- ., 73 d
-V' r-~ 7f 1
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 37
U8
This Is due to the fact that in two-part compositions the com-
poser is faced with an inherent minimum of resources in
respect to the ensemble, and in order to keep the piece from
plodding along in whole and half notes he sometimes uses a
greater number of quarters than he would if he were writing
for more voices. Yet even the great number of successive
quarters we have just seen is rare in sacred music, and it would
be difficult to find very many examples like this one.
In the tenth section of the same psalm, written for three
voices, we find the following:
Ex. 40
A i i
LU J ^ ^ -' j
J J . f f * j=^3
W J ^
A
y i
X\ i
(b J
' ' ^ ~) i i
-4-J=J j i j j-4-
y
L^. &Z ^ ' , \
...
L^ m c j 4? ^ i
tfv
-p- g- 9 f ^ F
^
etc.
38 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
In the eighth section, written for four voices, we find:
Ex. 41
I I
J. J. J
etc.
It is significant that the use of quarters becomes progressively
more restrained as the number of voices increases. If all the
voices in the last example ran on in the same fashion as those
in the first the ensemble effect would be lacking in clarity and
too "unbuttoned" for ordinary purposes. It is the rhythmic
contrast of the voices that gives them individuality and makes
them stand out from each other.
If a composer must not let a melody run on too long in
quarters, he must on the other hand not let it plod along in half
or whole notes unless there is a special reason, such as using a
plainsong melody as a cantus firmus in whole notes. If such
a special reason does not exist, a plodding melody simply
sounds stodgy. One of the great secrets of fine melodies is
rhythmic contrast within the line, but even this matter must
be regulated according to the number of voices in the com-
position and according to the spirit of the text which is to be
set.
In order to see how sixteenth-century composers liked to
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 39
handle rhythms, let us begin by examining a secular composi-
tion, the simple two-part verse which follows the introductory
refrain of Claude le Jeune's Revecy venir du Printemps.
Ex.42
Q | J \ \ I
f
Le con -rant des cans re - cher - chant
f t
Le ca - nal d'e - t
sa
f f i i uj * ri l
Et la mer cal - me de ces fiots
etc.
r F rtrrr
le tris - te coin - ions:
This piece is of a type of music written on what were known
in France at the time as vers mesures. The rhythms of the notes
were made to correspond with the poetic rhythms of the words
to which they were set, and the result is that the compositions
sound so fresh and bound along so lightly that they are com-
pletely captivating. In the sixteenth century bar lines were
either not written at all in vocal music or were written very
infrequently, usually only to indicate closes or ends of phrases.
There is an absence of bar lines even in the modern edition of
Revecy venir du Printemps. Indeed, it would be difficult to
write them with any regularity, for the rhythm, changes almost
4 o SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
constantly and would necessitate an alternation between meas-
A ^ ^
ures of , , and :
44 2
f
r !
^
trr
etc.
The time signatures would look almost like those in the last
movement of Stravinsky's &z<rn? ^# Pn7z/(?m^. It is interesting
to observe, by the way, that the point of view in these two works
is very much the same so far as rhythm is concerned, although
they are separated so widely in time.
Another example, this time almost directly opposed to the
le Jeune in the spirit of both words and music, is the magnificent
Ex.44
^1
1-=?-
Sta - bat Ma - ter do
fr*
lo - ro - sa
Jux -
!
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 41
f}
i
"1
m, _<ZS
1
BB
i ,
dui
-tg-
*--
n
-J
W^r=
.*=?_ .,
g
/ <^x
^
31^ ^***
ta
cm -
i
cem la
^
i
- cry -
1
mo - sa
-
/cF^
X t
(
1
! X "
fi
- - H -
f S
/^J
<y
<^
.
_5 ^
^ ,
^ -"
r
>en -
i
de
!
- bat
i j
fi - li
us
11 -
^ :
J. .
J
^
i
Fj j
O|_ ..., ^-"'
,
/^
^. .
i
r*
/
i
p>tc
\
n
\J
fi - li
_
us
T*T
i'
i
Ok *
^
i_
of Palestrina. Basically we find in this sacred
composition the same freedom of movement that we found in
le Jeune's secular piece. It is mostly in familiar style and is
particularly effective on account of its antiphonal arrangement.
42 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
Here the printed bar lines are in many cases only a fiction. The
first phrase does not move along in ordinary duple meter, but,
giving a beat to each half note, thus:
Ex.45
(}) : (}) :
A W ' W I ' I
Sta - bat Ma - ter
r- -P
and the answering phrase in the second chorus cuts rhythmically
across the bar lines:
Ex.46
i
Jux - ta cru. - cem la - cry - rao
^
It is most interesting to note that, although the last two syllables
of the word "lacrymosa" occupy four full beats, the first chorus
enters before the second chorus has completely finished, so that
there is an overlapping of rhythms (see Ex. 47). Rhythmic
variation such as this is to be found in music of all types in
this period. Rarely does any sort of sixteenth-century music
move in the monotonous metrical fashion typical of the
eighteenth century or in the languishing and at times amor-
phous fashion of much nineteenth-century music.
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 43
Ex.47
ffl
,
dum pen -de - bat
- nio - sa
Qj-
There Is no denying that the ensemble in compositions writ-
ten in fugal style most often moves in somewhat decided duple,
and in some cases triple, meter. And the more complicated the
rhythms of the individual lines become in contrast to each
other, the more true this seems to be. Take 3 for example, Pales-
trina's Lapidabant Stephanum? which is a fugal type of com-
position, each voice entering separately (Ex. 48) .
First, taking the ensemble as such, nobody would deny
that It moves in measures of four beats, a beat to each half note.
This feeling Is created mostly by the way the dissonances are
treated, particularly the suspensions. But when one looks at
the individual voices one finds that the accents very often fail
to agree with the bar lines. In performance, of course, these
* Except in cases where cited examples are identified as psalms, movements
of the Mass, or other types of compositions, all illustrations with titles are
motets, whose sources may be found in the table, "Sources of Illustrations,"
p. 211.
44 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
accents must not be beaten out obviously, but they must be
recognized clearly in the minds of the performers, or the music
means nothing rhythmically. On the other hand, the actual
barring of each individual voice according to its accents would
lead in many cases to a distressingly complex score. It would be
Ex.48
/" \J ,
VTT^ i
i
"I
-0 1
La
(nr^
] ^ '
1 1 j 1
s 5 -
9 i
pi - da -
..,
bant Ste
L^ ^ ^_ ^ 1
m \
pMk
__
__ -^
p'-^-H
C3
' 1 -r - i
pi - da I
Dant Ste
OjV'yh -g
g
i
H
V
- pi
- bant Ste
pha
It=t
^ | I
*-tt-S^^3=
j i -- | i
-&~ "2?~ ~&~
- pha-num Ste
- pha-num Ste
-$
ptta-
pha - num
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 45
- num.
J3
S^e
- num
Ste
pita -
La
pi - da
etc.
almost impossible for the reader to grasp it quickly, and it
would be most difficult to conduct or to sing under a conductor.
Such procedure would only stress a point that is already obvious
to those who understand the rhythmic basis of the music of
this period.
In music of any period there are certain things that give notes
accent: (i) Long notes tend to be more strongly accented than
short ones, a fact which can easily be illustrated by the example
from le Jeune. (2) Leaping to or from a note often tends to
accent it, and this is emphasized when the note is of longer
duration than its neighbors. (3) Extremity in range is often
effective in influencing accentuation; for example, a note at the
top of an ascent or at the bottom of a descent will ordinarily
tend to gain accent and to stand out because of its location.
And (4) the accents in the words to which the notes are set
often give accents to the notes themselves. In the sixteenth
century duration of notes and stress on syllables in the text are
the main factors in accenting; and generally (though not al-
ways) longer notes are given to accented syllables of words.
46 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
Long notes with the exception of those which come in ca-
dences at the ends of lines ordinarily tend to create tension,
and short notes to relax it. Greater tension is usually found on
the stronger beats, especially when the long notes are forced
into a dissonant position by other notes moving against them;
energy is stored up in this position and is spent on the weak
beats. This is why a melody running along for a considerable
distance in notes of small value tends to sound flabby; it does
not store up the energy it spends.
In the models we are examining there are more or less defi-
nite situations in which we find notes of different values; and,
while it would be difficult to formulate a set of rules that would
cover all possible situations relating to the adjustment of
rhythms within the measure, some general suggestions can be
made in connection with all the types of notes used. It must
be kept in mind that the meter and general pace of the ensemble
very frequently disagree with the rhythms in the individual
voices.
Our models usually begin with comparatively long notes
whole notes or double whole notes; it is only after the pieces
are on their way that shorter notes begin to creep in. This is
bound to be more evident in sacred music than in secular, since
its pace is so much more dignified and restrained, and since it
never lilts along except in the case of "alleluia" sections which
sometimes serve to wind up the motet
i. Double whole notes are practically always used in all voices
at the close of a composition that is, in the last measure, which
they fill. They often serve also as the initial note of entering
voices, particularly at the beginning of a composition. They
rarely occur in the course of an individual line, where they
would only stop the flow, but they often serve as a note of re-
pose at the close of the line.
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 47
Ez. 49. ra.eitriniij JLza2tL.i Domino
etc.
r
r r
2. Whole notes may also be used as initial and final notes in
an individual line (except In the final cadence) ; and they may
occur In die course of a phrase as well. As in the case of all
types of notes, they must not plod along one after the other for
any length of time.
Ex. 50. Pales trina, Laitda Sion
V
etc.
3. Half notes are the most frequently used of all notes. In
the first place they are the common unit of movement in this
music. They serve comparatively rarely as initial notes of a
composition in sacred style, but in the course of the composi-
tion they are freely used as initial notes of phrases in individual
lines. They do not commonly figure on a weak beat as final
48 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
notes of a line or phrase, unless it is followed immediately by
the beginning of another phrase in the same voice, such as:
etc.
If, in this position as the final note on a weak beat, they are
followed by a rest, they tend to give an impression of leaving
the phrase in the air. This very effect is capitalized sometimes,
as in the third section of Lassus' first Penitential Psalm:
Ex. 52
J8 ^j.
fc} -^- ^L- -&- -&- -&-
sed tu Do - mi -
rr rr s ' rr
ne us-que-quo?
^- jJ ^g_p_^ p_
f
etc.
sed
tu Do-mi-ne us - que
quo?
The question posed by the text is echoed in the questioning way
in which the alto line ends. But this type of procedure is un-
common, and phrases ordinarily end on strong beats either
with double whole notes, whole notes, or halves.
4. Common practice in regard to quarter notes is fairly easy
to define. The most common situations in which quarters are
used are the following:
a. Quicker movement quarter-note movement is gen-
erally placed on weak beats (beats two or four) rather than on
strong ones (beats one or three). Such rhythms as
Ex.53
fe
are very common.
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 49
b. Quick movement on strong beats may be found under
certain conditions, such as
Es. 54
These examples have a quality that is rhythmically carrying
because the quick movement is not confined to the strong beats
alone, but is linked to similar quick movement on the preced-
ing or following weak beats. Such a rhythm as
is not common, particularly when the first of the quarters is
truly accented. It gives an impression of rhythmical jerkiness
or hammering if repeated.
On the other hand, two isolated quarters are less rare on a
strong beat of the measure when they are followed by a whole
note or a dotted half note. The rhythm becomes stronger when
these latter notes are treated as suspensions, since the quarters
then tend to lose accent in their presence and to "carry 55 towards
them that is, to take on the character of being the last notes
of the rhythmic group just preceding.
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
Ex. 56
fr^=
-d
b=4_^_
-j
=* pd
r r
-*?-
5. The frequency of use of eighth notes is still more easily
described. In the first place., it is common practice to use them
very sparingly and always to use two, but never more, in suc-
cession. They never appear singly after a dotted quarter, and
they invariably come on the second halves of either strong or
weak beats.
In the first example the first of the two eighths is a passing
tone and continues in the direction in which it started. In the
Ex. 57
=*
una
etc.
. j-. j^_j *" j
I r '^ ^ |
etc;
T
y? - /r>
j j 1
^ - j j ^
fl\ !
* *
u; j
J.
^- J- -
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 51
second example the first of the two notes Is a short auxiliary
tone and turns back in the direction from which it came. In the
third example the two notes form an ornamentation of the
resolution of the dissonant suspension., C. 5
All notes, with the exception of quarters and eighths, can be
dotted whenever necessary or desirable.
Since almost all modern editions of this music contain regu-
larly recurring bar lines, it is common practice to tie notes be-
tween measures rather than to dot across bar lines. The notation
2.58
is invariably preferred to
EX.SQ
I
t/ '
Quarter notes are tied across bar lines only very exceptionally:
Ex. 60
fo J i
and the rhythmic figure
Ex. 61
A
is unusual. It actually reduces the common unit of movement
from the half note to the quarter and places the accents where
they are indicated in the last example. This causes a sudden
5 Tins common procedure is described on pp. 80-8 1.
52 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
switch in the pace at which the piece moves and should be
avoided by the student in his early work.
If any change in the rate of movement takes place in the
course of a composition it is usually in cadences, particularly in
final cadences. Here the unit often changes from the half to the
whole note, as evidenced by the use of dissonances such as
passing tones and suspensions. 6
The student should be careful never to tie any note to a fol-
lowing note of greater length, since this is foreign to the style.
Such figures as
Ex. 62
are to be avoided. The rhythmic figure
Ex. 63
is likewise foreign to this style; its similarity to the examples
above is obvious.
Rhythm is subtle and very elastically regulated in all this
music. The composers were careful to avoid a flat duple or
triple meter; they never thought in terms of a dull, thudding,
wearisome tread. In secular music there was a marked light-
ness of step, which can be seen in the works of Claude Le Jeune,
Lassus, and other composers of madrigals, chansons, and the
like. And in sacred music, where the tone is naturally more
9 See pp. 71 and 82.
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 53
severe, we find not an amorphous shuffling along but a mag-
nificently regulated and infinitely varied rhythm,, the imag-
inative quality of which becomes more evident the more closely
we study the music.
MELODIES. Individual Lines. The whole subject of melodic
movement is inevitably bound up with the problem of rhythm
and can hardly be studied apart from it. In the common prac-
tice of the Golden Age the same melodic intervals are used as
in plainsong: major and minor seconds, major and minor thirds,
perfect fourths, perfect fifths, and perfect octaves. All these
intervals are used either ascending or descending. The minor
sixth is used 022/3; ascending. No chromatic, augmented, or
diminished intervals are ever used in the strict style of
composition.
There is no such thing as a general direction in which the
lines move in this music, as there was in plainsong. Sometimes
we find phrases constructed in a manner resembling that in
plainsong where the lines flow downwards from a relatively
high point to their cadences. When the different lines are at
different stages in their descent this produces a magnificent
effect, as Ex. 64 shows.
Ex. 64. Palestrina, Tribiis miracnlis
Ciui-stiis bap - ti - za - ri vo - lu - it Chri - stus bap - ti
Chri - stus bap - ti - za - ri
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
vo - lu - it Chri - stus bap - ti - za - ri vo - lu
lu - it, etCi
Chri - stus bap - ti - za - ri vo - lu - it,
On the other hand, exactly the opposite effect can be observed
in Palestrina's five-voice Stella quam mdcrant (Ex. 65) , in which
the lines flow upwards:
Ex. 65
te - ce - de bat
an - te
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 55
^
bat
^
EEE
- de
bat
In both cases It is a question of the composer's wishing to echo
in the music the thought of the text. These two examples may
serve as illustrations of how alive sixteenth-century composers
were to certain ideas in their texts and how at times in a modest
way they exercised their abilities in painting musically the sense
of the words. The student will see,, however, that this procedure
is very limited and that it is confined to comparatively few
pictorial ideas.
Ordinarily the phrases are well balanced in their construction.
Take, for example, the soprano part of the fifth section of
Lassus* second Penitential Psalm:
Ex. 66
De - lie - turn me - mn co
gni-tum ti - bl
-^
'A
j
___] j
mf~ ~~
| - I |
^y f
i ^
-
& ^ cs._
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
zqn:
me - um co - gni-tum ti - bi
fe
-& 2
co - gni-tum ti - bi fe
ci: et in ju -
- sti - ti - am me - am,
et
ju - sti - ti - am
ab - scon - di,
ab - scon - di.
The lower limit of the melody is F and the upper limit D a
range of only a sixth. The melody begins on A and revolves
around it, going no lower in the first phrase than G and touch-
ing C only once. The second phrase with the same text presents
only a slight variation from the first, in that C is more empha-
sized this time. The third phrase begins again on A, touches
the lowest note, F, and makes its way up to the highest note, D,
where the climax of the melody is reached. From here on, by a
successive closing in of both limits, F$ at the bottom and C at
the top are sounded; then begins a kind of final balancing in
which Bb gradually sinks to A and then to G. This melody is a
good example of the exquisite balance in construction of phrases
which we find constantly in the music of this period. It takes a
form like that of a fan opening and closing:
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 57
As in plainsong, the Individual lines In sixteenth-century
counterpoint are never violent. They move predominantly
stepwise, and skips are usually introduced for the purpose of
relief. Since we are dealing with voices in combination, how-
ever,, which means that Individual lines must not ignore the
ensemble, they are bound not to be completely free in the abso-
lute sense. Often we find the bass part in particular moving
not so much stepwise as in a manner dictated by the progres-
sion of the chords. This happens more often with some com-
posers than with others, and more often in familiar style than
in fugal style. Even so, it is remarkable how flowing the lines
of the sixteenth-century composers are and how skillful those
composers were in manipulating them so that they usually
seem to be unhampered by any harmonic considerations.
It is Impossible to give any table of rules on how a melody
should move intervallically. Such things the student can learn
only by careful study of the music itself. Almost the same
principles are to be found exemplified here as in plalnsong.
Stepwise movement predominates, but skips are also a com-
mon part of the melodic technique.
The tritone (the augmented fourth between F and B) is an
interval which was ordinarily studiously avoided In a line. It
was never used in a direct leap
Ex. 67
and it must be carefully handled at all times. It does occur
commonly in figures like
Ex. 68 Ex. 69
r, __ . i _ f\ _
O.
- - - ' J^ife
58 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
where at least one of the two notes is sheathed by another note
beyond it, so that it gets no emphasis from either a rhythmic
or linear standpoint. If both notes are accented by virtue of
their length, or by their position as lower and upper limits of
figures:
Ex. 70
Ex. 71
ifTv:::_ :.
^-\ &
,,r
they sound poor.
Individual lines normally tend to cadence on notes in the
middle or near the bottom of the range. Rarely does a line
sweep upwards to a cadence:
Ex. 72
$r=3 S j-
_i., -f-f-
-*? E r ~i
t i
in the way it often does in music of later periods. The student
will observe that the lines always stay within a reasonable sing-
ing compass (about an octave), and that they rise and fall in
their courses but usually begin and end in the most comfortable
part of that compass.
Melodic and harmonic sequences are very rare in the music
of the late sixteenth century. Lines such as
Ex.73
are practically unknown, though such devices were used earlier
and again became common in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. At the end of the Kyrie of Josquin des Pres' Missa
L'Homme arme, Sexti toni, there is an interesting passage
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 59
(Ex. 74) which is in sequence and which, incidentally, makes
use of more dissonances than were ordinarily used by such
composers as Palestrina.
z-74 ,11
o . - J J J -^
- 1 "i 1 J
H- 2 ^ & fi
^j^/h__ ^
-^ S j
t,8
v^
_ 1 1 !
IP^-;- ^ ^ ^ _. p y _ S^ ^
- !? () 1 p ! :
^2 , M CZ ;
U ^ ^-~~mm<^
^x N^_ ^- -X.
x
- 1
- f i , - , ,
etc.
JT\ * '"" 7 ^p
1 |_ j 1 h
cr~" "
_-/ L ^ ^ '^ ^> p
.^_^ ^ ^_-^__L^____^ ^ ._,_
The late skteenth-century composers rarely cut up music into
sequential sections such as these. They preferred to spin their
lines out in an ever-varying melodic and rhythmic flow like that
illustrated by the melodic line of Lassus* quoted in Ex. 66.
"Lines in Combination. There are only three ways in which
two voices can move in relation to each other. They can move
in similar motion^
Ex. 75
in contrary motion,
Ex. 76
60 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
or in oblique motion,
Ex. 77
All three of these ways are found over and over again, and no
one can be said to predominate.
When voices move in similar motion there are certain prac-
tices which composers take great care to observe. Thirds and
sixths are the only consecutive intervals used in two-part com-
positions, and even they must not be carried on for too great
stretches of time, or one ceases to have two contrapuntal melo-
dies and has instead only two voices singing the same melody
a third or a sixth apart. Very often we find consecutive thirds
and sixths rising or falling in an alternating fashion:
Ex. 78 ___ Ex.79
but never
Ex. So
In pieces which have more than two parts, consecutive fourths
are allowed, provided they do not come between the bass or
lowest part and any other. Such movement as
Ex, 81
Ex.82
is found constantly, but never
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 61
In other words, consecutive six-four chords are not used, while
consecutive sixth chords are common but again not in too
long unbroken chains.
Consecutive dissonant intervals seconds and sevenths
are almost never used under ordinary circumstances.
Consecutive fifths and consecutive octaves never follow each
other immediately:
Ex. 83 Ex. 84
If they did, the procedure would not be contrapuntal but a mere
doubling of the same melody in two parts at particularly open
intervals. On the other hand, such figures as
Ex. 85 Ex. 86
-J j ' , J
J ^ , . ^^ * - ^
. s. -. and !^>;;- , ,~~_?*L
are common. In the first case the fifths are separated by a con-
sonant note, and the second fifth is actually arrived at by contrary
motion; in the second case the harmonic basis changes between
the fifths, consonant sixths intervening each time. Figures like
Ex. 87
are not found; the suspension does not relieve the sound of con-
secutive octaves. On the other hand, the figure
Ex.88
is to be found occasionally.
62 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
In contrary motion consecutive fifths and consecutive octaves
Ex. 89
Ex. go
; and
are frowned upon in scholastic counterpoint. In practice they
are rarely used in compositions in only two parts. But in com-
positions in three, four, or more parts they are often found in
isolated cases not, of course, in sequences.
While it is common practice in contrapuntal compositions for
the voices to enter individually at the start, it is invariably the
custom to have them all singing at the end and to have them all
cadence at the same time. For example:
'J \
"C
&
= 3
J
y 1 I
j ,
/s J. J
i
^_ ._- ^ ^
_H^
VsLJ "&
v^jV " | I 1
mj ^_ s
r r
ft 1 " 3 "
. p 1
or /
.m
^V &
/
**: "" &
-
-s , "
^n :
^
_>^
1111 - '\
The last chord usually comes on the first beat of the final
measure and lasts throughout the measure with no further
movement. Once in a while a final resolution of a dissonance
occurs in the last measure:
Ex. 92
^ "^
\~yr" 1
lf & p
A ^r 1 A A iJ. j ...
B_.
-, F W = h=
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 63
But in such a case the movement in die resolving voice is very
restrained.
CROSS RELATIONS. As a result of the point of view that the move-
ment of lines the horizontal aspect is the most important,
we often find in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century music cross
relations which are most charming and beautiful, and yet In no
way arbitrary. For instance, in Lassus' second Penitential Psalm
there is the following passage in section nine:
Ex.93
etc.
If one studies the alto and tenor lines individually one sees
why they flow as they do, even though Eb, in the alto is fol-
lowed immediately by Eb in the tenor and then by E'q once
more in the alto. Melodic minor thirds are usually more com-
fortable to sing than major thirds. In the alto, Ei^ comes
naturally, being in the signature and making a minor third with
the following G. In the tenor, however, the difference between
Eb, and Eb is great. Try singing
Ex. 94
and then
Ex.95
64 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
and it is plain that Eb is more easily sung than Et|. In fact,
after one compares the two versions, Etl comes to seem farther
away from C than it actually is because of the way the line
turns.
The music of this period is full of cross relations. The follow-
ing excerpt from Byrd's Ave Verum is typical of the way they
are used by the members of the English School, who were par-
ticularly fond of them.
Ex. 96
h
u II
"/
U? ( * ; 27-7 1
| 1 ^^ ""|'"~
Kt
-^-.jj ? 9/ d gd ^
*>
- * .*.. ^
-J J . ^
_^
Lit: ^J =
There are no rules for the use of cross relations, except the
negative one that they should never be used in excess. Too
great a use of them leads to a mannered and even ugly style.
One must remember that they are the result of melodic move-
ment and not an objective towards which one works.
HARMONIES. The actua} number of different harmonies used is
surprisingly small. In compositions for three parts or more
they commonly consist of (i) major and minor triads in root
position, (2) major and minor triads in their first inversions,
and (3) the diminished triad in first inversion only. The dim-
inished triad in root position is not often used, particularly in
sacred music. It does enjoy a more frequent use in secular
music, but even there it practically always resolves inward to a
third:
Ex.97
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 65
Once in a comparatively long while one encounters it in the
sacred music of such composers as Palestrina and Lassus. When
it is used it invariably comes on a weak beat of the measure
and is often the result of a suspension:
Ex.98
Once in a long while one even encounters the augmented triad
in its first inversion. It was particularly effective as used later
by such composers as Purcell, but in the following example
from Palestrina it is very striking.
Ex. 99. Iffssa Q:tari&: Final cadence of Crriste
;y ^ __ ,
U_ .
*
'\-'J 9 ** e ff ^O
; _:
1 i
^r- ^_
r^
pm
__J-2 j^_ ^
^
i 1
In compositions for two parts only, the harmonic intervals
used as consonances are (i) the perfect unison, (2) the major
or minor third,, (3) the perfect fifth, (4) the major or minor
sixth, (5) the perfect octave, and (6) any interval greater than
any of these by an octave. All other harmonic intervals are
dissonances and must be treated as one of the devices discussed
in the next section. The perfect and the augmented fourths are
always harmonic dissonances in two-part music, but in pieces
for more than two parts they are always considered consonances,
provided they do not come between the lowest-sounding voice
66 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
and any other. In other words, they can be used in chords in
root position or in first inversion:
Ex. 100
but not in second inversion:
Ex. 101
except under certain circumstances to be discussed later.
There is no regularity about having a certain number of har-
monies per measure. The last measure of a composition always
contains only one harmony that major triad in root position
which is built on the final. But in other places there may be
two harmonies per measure:
Ex. 102
three harmonies per measure:
Ex. 103
F
four harmonies per measure:
Ex. 104
T
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 67
or even at times more. Since the unit of rhythm Is the half
note, the tendency Is away from cluttering the measure with
harmonies, and as the final cadence is approached, the fre-
quency of change is nearly always less. At the beginnings of
pieces as well, harmonies have a tendency not to change often.
It is usually when the piece is well on its way that we find the
rate of change greatest. Such a passage as the following from
Lassus' first Penitential Psalm is rare Indeed, and here is only
inspired by the words "valde velociter."
Ex. 105
7 ' " "~ ~"i ~
f -i
! l \ \ \
-$-
/ \ * i o
mm 1 _ i
The student will see from the many examples quoted through-
out these sections and from his study of the music of the period
how restrained the change of speed of the harmonies usually is.
Without question, all the composers of the sixteenth century
were chord-conscious; but the music, particularly the sacred
music, of a great number of them shows that the chorda! aspect
was secondary to the melodic in importance. Chords were not
written for their own sakes; they were rather the result, the
vertical aspect, of the combination of lines moving horizontally.
To emphasize the melodic aspect the composers used a con-
siderable number of devices which created effects of dissonance.
These dissonances, or notes that are foreign to the chordal
harmony, fall into well-defined categories, and will be treated
In the next section.
The student who begins the study of counterpoint must
realize that the spacing of the voices in relation to each other is
68 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
very important. Above all, each voice must be kept within its
own range, else the piece becomes impossible of performance.
There are no hard and fast rules for spacing; the main thing for
the student to keep in mind is that the result must sound well.
Voices that are spaced too far apart for any length of time pro-
duce a thin and often ridiculous sound; voices that stay too
close together tend to get in each other's way and prevent one
another from standing out. This is particularly true when one
writes for men's voices only and keeps all the voices low for a
time; the result is usually muddy. In short, the beginner is
especially advised to begin writing for voices not too closely
spaced.
A passage from Victoria's magnum mysterium illustrates
how effective wide and unusual spacing can be if it is employed
only momentarily.
Ex. 106
vT) -K
r- 1 if J- flf
^ * ^
^^^ ^L__J_J_
j j
1 f r f
. J j j
rf F r
^. J^ j
c\* ^
c )-i r i
/*""'
^-i xo i/pv 1 fO
j^l r=m ^ . 1
r r
T
The soprano sings high above the other voices for a short phrase.
But in order to avoid the thinness that would result if the
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 69
process were carried on for a considerable time the gap is soon
closed by the rise of die lower voices and the descent of the
soprano.
DISSONANCES. By studying the treatment of dissonances in the
music of this period one comes to realize its fundamental pur-
pose and appreciate its importance. Music without it is like
food without flavor. And composers like Palestrlna, Lassus,
Victoria, and Byrd handled it exquisitely. Later, building on
the foundations of the sixteenth century, the seventeenth-
century composers used dissonance for the expression it gave
to music. Men like Monteverdi, Schiitz, and Purcell were freer
in its use than Palestrina or Lassus and usually wrote music
more emotionally complicated than that of their forerunners.
No composers have surpassed this trio in magnificence and
sheer beauty of expression, and few have equaled them. But
it was not the mere freedom with which they used dissonance
that makes their music so expressive; it was their knowledge of
its basic value and its proper use. Their dissonances are clearly
outgrowths of practices in use in the century before them, and
they are to be appreciated all the more when one has a knowl-
edge of sixteenth-century dissonance.
In music, as in all works of art, restraint is a basic virtue;
magnificent effect is often produced by relatively small means.
An excess of any device, or of resources generally, tends to
weaken the artistic product, and the greatest artists have almost
always exercised a severe selection of means of expression. This
can be shown nowhere better than in the treatment of dis-
sonance by the sixteenth-century composers. It was used a great
deal, but it was severely regulated.
In a previous section it was pointed out that the ensemble of
a composition ordinarily moves in what we should call meas-
ures of four beats, a half note to a beat. On each of these beats
the basic rule is to use only notes belonging to the harmony.
70 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
(In the previous section we saw that the chords ordinarily used
are major and minor triads and their first inversions, and the
first inversion of the diminished triad.) In order to avoid a
continuous progression of mere chords from this limited reper-
tory a considerable number of nonharmonic notes, or dis-
sonances, are employed in a strictly regulated way. They not
only relieve an otherwise monotonous chordal progression but
also permit the lines to move smoothly.
Two categories of dissonances are generally employed: (i)
those which come not on beats, but on the second halves of
beats the passing notes, the auxiliary notes, the dissonances
in the changing note groups, and the anticipations, and (2)
those which do come on certain beats the cambiatas, the
suspensions, and the "consonant fourths." Composers always
treat the first and third beats of a measure as accented ones and
the second and fourth as unaccented. With one exception
that constituting the changing note group dissonances are
never approached or quitted by skip, but always move stepwise.
Passing Notes. The commonest type of dissonance is the
passing note, which never comes on a beat in the measure but
always moves on the second half of the beat. It may occur in
any voice. It always ascends or descends stepwise from one
harmony note to another, regardless of whether the harmony
remains the same or changes. It always continues in the direc-
tion in which it started.
Ex. 107
3f
Occasionally two may come in succession as eighth notes when
the harmony notes of two successive beats lie more than a third
apart:
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 71
Ex. 108
Although the passing note is ordinarily a quarter note, it is
not rare to find it a half note. But if it is a half, it is used only
under certain circumstances : it always occurs on the second or
fourth (unaccented) beat of the measure never on a strong
beat and it is nearly always used descending. It often has the
effect of psychologically slowing up the rate of movement of a
composition,, and for this reason is particularly effective in final
cadences.
Ex. 109. Palestrina, Missa Aeterna Christi munera: Cadence of the Christe
"' IA j
C T )"' ^ " ^
^. -j
tJ
j j j
-^-~ -^-. -9 i
* r r
^ /^?
In earlier times it was also used ascending, and, even though it
is comparatively rare, it may be found used thus by Palestrina.
Ex, no. Palestrina, Missa Aeterna CJiristi munera: Kyrie I
/, k
, i
f'^*^
~ ' ' ! ~
\>\J
' /d 1
V ^~
*
-&- & ~ -&-
f^i . fy
^f; ^ ^ ^
1 ^ ?=2 1
etc.
72 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
Auxiliary Notes. Like the passing note, the auxiliary note
never comes on the beat but always on the second half of it.
It likewise always moves stepwise, upwards or downwards, but
instead of proceeding in the direction in which it started, it
turns back to the note which it has just left:
Ex. in
^
rr
c
TV"" 1
t)
r Crr r
*
C\'
LJb_
^r
Changing Note Groups. A very common and very effective de-
vice used during all this period is the so-called changing note
group. It consists of a group of four notes always in the order
Ex. 112
^r=f=rdt=:
The first note is always harmonic, and may be a quarter note or
a dotted half note but is rarely longer than that. The second
note is always a quarter and always a dissonance coming on the
second half of the beat, never on the beat. The third note is
always a consonance, and may be a quarter note or more but
never longer than a whole note. The fourth note of the group
may be consonant or dissonant, but if it is dissonant it is always
treated as a passing note and proceeds to the note a step higher.
In the majority of cases, whether it is consonant or dissonant,
it moves upwardis.
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE
Ex. 113. Lassus, Penitential Psalm I, sec. 3
73
In the following example the dissonant note in the group is
accompanied by a passing note in the bass, with which it forms
the interval of a sixth.
Ex. 114. Palestrina, admirabile commercium
r\
etc.
In Palestrina's motet Dies sanctificatus there is a fine passage
in which two sets of changing note groups are placed close
together just before a Phrygian cadence.
Ex. 115
LZ. -4 ^
fe & ^ *-
I
r ! , rT^^
^ rrr r
b^
^/ ~~^~ i
; ^, j
T^ r r>
__js-
(
For extraordinarEy fine examples of the continuous use of
changing note groups for a considerable length of time the
student is advised to examine the ritornello on page 31 of
Malipiero's edition of Monteverdi's Orfeo, or the last phrase of
the first chorus of Schiitz's Resurrection History.
74 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
Cambiatas. Various devices at different times have been called
cambiatas. The term nota cambiata, which means literally
"changed note/' has to do in all cases with the exchange of
position by two notes, one of which is consonant and the other
dissonant. In other words, there are certain times when a dis-
sonance can take the place of a consonance on a beat. For our
purposes we shall adopt the use of the term to be found in Padre
Martini's analysis of sixteenth-century music. 7 It is a quarter-
note dissonance which often comes on the second or fourth beats
of the measure, never on the first or third. It comes from the
note a major or minor second above and proceeds to the major
or minor second below. The note following it must be a con-
sonance, whence the term cambiata, or exchange of position.
The dissonance always arrives by stepwise movement and pro-
ceeds by stepwise movement, and in the Golden Age almost
always descends. The following example shows a simple use
of the device in the tenor.
Ex.]
ci6. Pales Lrina, Lauda Sion
salvatorem
r
Jr
_p
fny
^ ___
C\"
1 *
_J J j
I
8
-jS 3
:?*
^
&
etc.
Example 117 shows the use of the cambiata in two voices at
once, the bass and tenor.
Ex. 117. Palestrina, Loquebantur variis languis
r r
i
"* Saggio jondamentale pratico di contrappunto (Bologna, 1774), I, xxvi.
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 75
In both examples above it will be noticed that the dissonance
comes on a weak beat of the measure and is followed immedi-
ately by a harmony note on the second half o the same beat.
Suspensions. The sole dissonance which is to be found on the
accented parts of the measure that is, on the first or third
beats is the dissonant suspension. Since it comes at such an
important place in the measure it is one of the most important
and most effective of all dissonances. Its behavior is always
carefully regulated, and there are three steps in its treatment
which are always carefully observed: its preparation, its impact.,
and its resolution. These three steps require the space of time
needed for three half notes. The preparation takes place on the
first of these three notes, always on an unaccented beat of the
measure (two or four) ; the impact takes place on the second of
the three notes, always on the following accented beat (three
or one) ; and the resolution takes place on the last of the three
notes, always on the next following unaccented beat (four
or two).
The preparation is made by means of a consonance or har-
mony note (it must never be less than a half note in value)
coming on a weak beat of the measure. The impact, or dis-
sonant effect, is produced by tying over the prepared note so
that it becomes dissonant to the new harmony on the following
strong beat. The resolution follpwin^on theja^t^sfe beat is
eff ectoijnvari^ of the dissonance dow^ar2s
the distance oF a major or minor second so that it becomes con-
sonant with the new harmony.
A suspension can be effected in any voice, The most striking
Ex. 118
or 25
T~^
76 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
ones are those in which the suspended dissonance does not sound
at the same moment that its resolution is sounding in another
voice. This is illustrated by Ex. 118. In the first instance the
suspended C in the upper voice has naturally to resolve to B a
second below, and this B has much more chance of sounding
well and strong if it is not anticipated on the beat of the impact,
as it is here:
Ex. 119
Likewise, the suspended E in the lower voice of Ex. 118
would be much less effective if its resolution were sounded
against it on the third beat:
Ex. 120
r
A very common exception to this principle is the practice of
sounding the note of resolution against the suspended dis-
sonance if the former is at least the distance of a ninth below
the latter:
Ex. 121
Here the effectiveness of the suspension is not nearly so much
impaired. These are rules which must be strictly observed in
the study of the species; and they are worth remembering, for
too great an infringement of them leads to thinness and un-
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 77
pleasantness of sound in die ensemble. They are not invariably
observed by the sixteenth-century composers, but they are ob-
served far more frequently than not.
The dissonant intervals for purposes of suspension in the
upper of two voices vary a great deal in their effectiveness.
(i) The strongest and most commonly used of all is the seventh
resolving to the sixth, illustrated in Ex. 118. (2) The fourth
resolving to the third is only moderately effective in pieces for
two voices:
Ex. 122
It is a mild and relatively weak harmonic dissonance which
should not be used excessively. When it is used in a setting for
three voices or more, however, it can be made more strongly
dissonant:
Ex. 123
1
Here, on beat one, D in the upper voice forms not only the
dissonance of a fourth with A in the middle voice but also the
dissonance of a ninth with C in the bass. On beat three, A in
the middle voice forms not only a fourth with E in the bass
but also a second with B in the upper voice. (3) The dissonant
interval of the second resolving to a unison has already been
shown to be harsh. On the other hand, the ninth can be used
with impunity.
78 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
The dissonances which are formed by suspending the lower
of two voices also vary in effectiveness, (i) The strongest of all
is the second resolving to the third, illustrated in Ex. 118.
(2) The fourth resolving to the fifth is relatively weak:
Ex. 124
But in three parts or more it likewise can be strengthened:
(3) The seventh resolving to the octave has already been shown
to be relatively poor, since the note of resolution is sounded
against the suspended note at too close a distance.
There are three ways in which resolutions of suspensions
always take place, and examples from Palestrina's works will
illustrate them.
(i) The process of resolution just described is the simplest
and probably most usual of all. The preparation, the impact,
and the resolution are each made with a half note.
Ex. 126. In diebus illis
etc.
i 1
1 1
Jf \
_^ 1 j J
I II
"fft\ "Z\~
) d ^ i -
H^ ^3 f~<j rf~~3
VJ7 "-&-. -
r^
J-
x_
J LX H _^_
1
I
J
^- J-,
r\*
1 . ^
_ . J
i .
I I imMJ
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 79
In this example there are two different suspensions, one in the
alto and the other in the soprano. The preparation of the sus-
pension in the alto consists of a whole note, G, which is tied
over to the first beat of the second measure to make a six-four
chord, which in this music is always a dissonant chord and
must be dealt with as such. The resolution takes place on beat
two of the second measure, and at the same time a second sus-
pension is prepared in the soprano on A, is held over to become
a dissonance on beat three, and is resolved on beat four. These
two examples show the way in which the resolution may take
place either a major or a minor second downwards, as the
situation demands. The alto resolves to Fi) rather than F
because the line is headed downwards, while the soprano re-
solves to GJ rather than Gil because of the cadential formula
in which it occurs.
(2) A variation of the process just described is often made by
holding the dissonance caused by the impact only a quarter
note's length, after which it descends a major or minor second
to a quarter note anticipation of the resolution.
Ex. 127. B&nedicta sit sancta Trinitas
-* gr
i f I * I , * ^ i j
) etc.
The first suspension is prepared by F in the usual way on the
fourth beat of the first measure. This F is tied over to become
dissonant on the next strong beat; but instead of being a half
note it is only a quarter and descends to its resolution a quarter
note ahead of time. The quarter note E is not the real resolu-
8o SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
tion, however, but only an anticipation of the resolution, which
comes as usual on the second beat. This must not confuse the
student and lead him to believe that real resolutions can take
place on the second half of a beat, for this is so rare as not to
form a part of the common practice of this period. The resolu-
tion is the same as before except for the quarter-note anticipation.
E on beat two is not only the resolution of the suspension just
discussed but in this example serves also as the preparation of
another suspension to follow immediately. The process is
repeated in the same voice on the three last beats of measure
two, and still another suspension is prepared on beat four of this
measure. At the same time the alto prepares a suspension on
this beat which becomes the stronger of the two, for it is a
fourth above the lowest voice, while the soprano is a sixth and
in reality a consonance. Nevertheless they come down in the
same fashion as before, as if both were dissonant.
Once in a while we find the following type of quarter-note
movement in the resolution of the suspension.
Ex. 128. Miss a Quarto,: Gloria
etc.
Instead of the dissonance A coming down to G as a quarter-
note anticipation of the resolution it repeats itself before de-
scending. The same thing happens just before the resolution
of the alto suspension E to D on beat four, and the tenor sus-
pension A to G on beat two in the next measure.
(3) Still another way of varying the resolution is illustrated
in the following:
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 81
Ex. 129. Isti sunt ziri scncti
M : ''-
In this excerpt die chord on F Is tied over simply for the pur-
pose of rhythm, not for dissonance. The first measure and the
first half of the second are accented thus: 12311231. The
soprano figure C B G A Is a changing note group. On the
second beat of the second measure the alto prepares G to be-
come a suspension on the following third beat. It remains a
dissonance only the value of a quarter note, descends to F> as if
to anticipate the F< resolution,, but, instead of remaining there
and simply repeating Itself,, descends to E as an auxiliary note
before it returns to F<. Since the real resolution must be on
time on the fourth beat, the anticipation F and its auxiliary E
must be eighth notes.
All three of these types of resolutions are very common, and
when a series of suspensions Is made, rhythmic variation is often
obtained by alternating the types.
Ex. 130. Palestrina, O rex glorias
1)
1)
2)
etc.
82 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
An effective device for slowing up the composition, particu-
larly in the final cadence, is the lengthening out of the last
steps of the suspension process, so that whole notes take the
place of half notes.
Ex. 131. Palestrina, Lamentation, Lectio III
In this example all dissonances are treated normally until the
measure before the end. In the first measure the tenor has a
normal suspension, and prepares F for another one in the nor-
mal way. In the second measure the resolution is performed in
the most highly ornamented way described above, but with
notes twice their normal value. This amounts to changing the
unit of movement to the whole note instead of the half, and
thereby psychologically making a retard before the last chord.
Anticipations. In this period the anticipation or portamento,
as it is sometimes called is a descending quarter note which
is usually consonant but may at times be dissonant. It has just
been shown to act often as a forerunner of the resolution of a
dissonant suspension. In such cases it is always a consonance
(unless it anticipates the "consonant fourth") because the reso-
lution of the suspension is consonant.
Less frequently it is a dissonance used in the way in which
it is favored in later periods. Here a change of harmony is im-
plied between one beat and the following. The anticipation
moves downwards stepwise on the second half of the beat from
a consonance on the beat, and remains dissonant for the duration
of a quarter note. When it repeats itself on the next beat the
harmony changes and allows it to be consonant.
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 83
Ex. 132. Palestrinaj JLTfjjw Ylrtuie mzgna: Kyiie II
etc.
The upward-moving anticipation is not normally used IB,
this period.
Consonant Fourths. In the sixteenth century the fourth as a
harmonic interval was always considered a dissonance when
it appeared between any voice and the bass (or lowest-sounding
voice). Naturally it could be used like any other dissonance as
a passing note, an auxiliary note, a regularly prepared and re-
solved suspension, etc. There was one exception to this com-
mon interpretation of it as a dissonance, however; it was often
used thus, particularly in cadences:
Ex. 133. Palestrina, Ascendens CJirisius ^
^
ftfcB ^T- h ,* - I , -m
fei ~M s r i ^^
In the penultimate measure the G in the top voice appears on
the second beat, making a fourth above the D in the lowest
voice, and completing with B in the alto a six-four chord. On
beat three of the measure B goes to A in the alto and leaves G a.
full-fledged dissonance to the dominant harmony. From beat
three on, the procedure is regular, and G resolves to Ff as it
would ordinarily do. The only irregular part of the whole thing
is the way G is prepared, for it appears on the second beat as if
84 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
it were a consonance preparing a regular suspension, whereas
it is actually a fourth or dissonance above the lowest voice.
Another procedure which is very much like the one just
illustrated is the following:
Ex. 134. Palestrina, Confitemini Domino
( p^
_ <P
1
T
-**Z IS"- P p
-S :
J2_J.
1
j
j J^-
j j ,
1 ' '
^J * i
-&- S3 J4J
XL -"^3
-t.J ft
In this example the tenor sings G on the second beat of the
second measure, making a fourth above the lowest voice. And
again there is a six-four chord present at the moment. But the
alto moves down a second, making the tenor on the third beat
an orthodox suspension, which resolves to FJf on the following
weak beat.
The common traits of these two examples are (i) that the
fourth is treated as a consonance, since it is used as a preparation
on a weak beat for a real dissonant effect on the following
strong beat, and (2) that it arrives by stepwise movement. In
no case is it ever approached by skip or resolved by other than
stepwise movement downwards. The difference between the
two examples is that in one case the fourth is approached from
the note below it and naturally returns to it, while in the second
case it is approached from the note above and proceeds to the
note below. These situations, since they practically always in-
volve the presence of the six-four chord, usually come in the
cadences, particularly the final cadences. It is interesting to
note that this is the only place where the unprepared second
inversion of the triad, the six-four chord, is commonly counte-
nanced during the sixteenth century.
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 85
Combinations of Dissonances. There are various ways in which
different dissonant devices are combined to produce beautiful
and effective results in both the ensemble and the Individual
movement of voices. Often they cause what we would call
seventh chords and their inversions.
Ex. 135. Lassus, Penitential Psalm, V, sec. 25
_]_
! I !
j/,,,: / ^: ^\ ts
. .*2 -. ^ 1. , ;
~~Z- ~~~"' ~.
^JT} ^ '"^ ^
-*" 4fr a* . .
-75 ^^ 55
A '
j j-
i k * ! j r , ;
S j i
1 Jf ' L ;
/
__ SE gp_ ,
CD ^ 75 1
-75 :
Here we find in the alto on the fourth beat in the second measure
simply a cambiata initiating a new harmony which is not fully
realized until the last quarter of the fourth beat after the tenor
has moved from D down through the passing note C to fib-
Ex. 136. Palestrinaj .Sfca* serrziSj II Pare
* _
!
etc.
In this example neither of the upper two voices on beat one
of the second measure Is dissonant with the lowest voice. The
two are, however, dissonant with each other; the F in the alto
has been regularly prepared as a suspension and must be regu-
larly resolved. But another adjustment must be made after the
first beat, f or, unless it Is, the alto cannot resolve to E without
causing the second inversion of a diminished triad. In order to
avoid this the tenor moves up a second to C and permits an
ordinary triad.
-J/- 1^ jr~ j J i
1 . 1 .
C'"^'' 'ZS * jj *
/*" - ' - i i
* r r r , i ^-
^ r, i "i
^1
! J ) J-
/^ -&- J &
=sJ$
-m <5
M^
86
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
Ex. 137. Palestrina, Sicut serous, II Pars
* i
>< J7
i ^ , ^
f r r r ^ f
j 'j j j' ^
3#. "" '
/? !-"
-*/.., b ,
E
.J. 1 - 0~
etc.
Here we have on the first beat of the second measure what
turns out to be the first inversion of a dominant seventh chord.
Incidentally, the prepared Bb is not tied over, but is repeated as
an appoggiatura on the strong beat. This is not infrequent
when the syllables of the text demand it. The prepared type of
appoggiatura is the only kind ever met with in this music, and
the process of handling it remains precisely the same as in the
case of the suspension; the three steps are observed strictly.
The tenor has prepared on beat four of the first measure for a
dissonance on the next beat. But in order for everything to be
consonant when the dissonant Bb resolves, both the soprano
and the bass have to move. Whereas the bass is always expected
to move a second upwards in these circumstances, the soprano
is not so constant, since it has been consonant all along with all
the voices, and is therefore free to move wherever it chooses so
long as the note to which it moves belongs to the harmony on
the beat in question. It can move upwards the interval of a
second, as in our illustration, downwards a second:
Ex. 138
etc.
or it may skip to another harmony note:
ANALYSIS OF COXTRAPUXTAL TECHNIQUE 87
Ex. 139
etc.
The situation shown in Ex. 140 on beat three of the second
measure is a very common one.
Ex. 140. Palestrina. I/fsso Aeterna Chrisii munera: Kyrle I
etc.
It is interesting because no one voice is dissonant with the bass.
The soprano C and tenor D form a seventh which is the only
dissonance. The soprano has prepared its dissonance as usual,
and it resolves as usual, but 5 as in the preceding example, when
it does resolve it necessitates movement in all the other voices
except the tenor, with which it was originally dissonant. It may
be stressed here that this particular example is very common
and that it practically always acts as it does here.
The following example is a particularly beautiful one, for it
moves so well and is so colorful precisely because of its dis-
sonances.
The tenor sings the dissonance in his changing note group at
the interval of a third with the passing note, which the alto
sings. Then the bass prepares on beat two of the second meas-
ure for a strong and beautiful suspension on the following beat.
But as in the cases above a certain amount of movement is re-
88 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
Ex. 141. Palestrina, Adjuro -DOS, filiae Hierusalem
'f^~Tf
9T
t
P.N.
C. N. group
m
etc.
J
j-j.
quired in other places so that the fourth beat will again be
consonant. The alto has to move here, but the middle voice
might have remained on C during the fourth beat.
The two following examples of the treatment of dissonance
are very common.
Ex. 142. Palestrina, Anima mea turbata est
etc.
n
/ -v, j r-
1
ffrr~
=^~
__J 4. g
1Z) ^
d-
L, i
2^
(?
9-
Fy > t -'
fi'
-
^ dV
i
_,.,
Lassus, 'Penitential Psalm, IV, sec. 8
jT\ K U <S^ (S* 1
U]^l
gB^-2 f2
(SLJ
^ <5?
"& -jE -yy
^ >4:
tT 1
"I
^
j
^! r
J : . J _^
| f
^frl
"I 2
J 1
f- f
etc.
They are technically the same, the second containing only more
movement than the first. In the first example, G in the soprano
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 89
is the only dissonance, and, being a suspension on a strong beat,
it must resolve to F. E can skip, since it is consonant with
everything. In the second example, G in the alto is the only
dissonance. It is a suspension whose resolution is quite regu-
lar, the most highly ornamented type- E in the soprano is con-
sonant, and instead of moving by skip down to C, as in the first
example, it moves through the passing note D. Note that the
soprano and alto move in sixths and not in fifths, seconds, or
sevenths. If the notes of both the soprano and alto on the sec-
ond half of the first beat were eliminated, the progression
would be precisely the same as in the first example, except for
the inversion of the upper two voices.
All these examples reveal how fluid the movement of voices
is in this music, and how far the effect of simple triads and their
first inversions, which are the basic harmonies used, is offset
by the use of dissonant devices. They also serve to show not
only how important dissonance is but how carefully and judi-
ciously it is always used.
MODULATION AND CADENCES. It is a rare thing indeed to find real
modulation in the modern sense before the end of the sixteenth
century. This device belongs rather to the harmonic period
when all the modes were subjugated to the major-minor mode
when all pieces began in the tonic and ended in the tonic.
When this happened, something in the way of real modulation
was logical and necessary if the composer was to avoid a deadly
monotony of tonality. He had to be able to pass from key to
key in order to sustain interest. The development of the prac-
tice of modulation is an interesting one, for even up to the
middle of the eighteenth century composers very rarely modu-
lated outside the circle of related keys; it was not until the late
eighteenth century that composers began to modulate to more
distant ones.
In the sixteenth century, because composers were not tied to
90 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
the major-minor system, they had a greater freedom of harmonic
movement to begin with. A piece did not necessarily have to
begin with the same chord on which it ended, and it did not
have to adhere rigidly to a tonality. It could move freely, the
only requirement being that the harmonies should progress
logically and interestingly. This freedom was in force more or
less through the seventeenth century and can be seen in the
works of such late composers as Schutz and Purcell. Again, it
arose from the basic point of view that the line gives birth to
the harmony, and not vice versa. The only place where the
harmonies have any great degree of authority over the lines is
in the final cadences, where the bass often moves as it does in
later periods.
Ex. 143. Palestrina, Missa Aelerna Christe munera: Kyrie I
J
j-y
In the course of the phrases, however, the lines and their
attendant harmonies have a magnificent freedom which is un-
equaled in the music of the major-minor period. The har-
monies do not always move according to the standards of
"good" progressions; they do not even pretend to have a pre-
ponderance of such progressions as:
Ex. 144
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 91
The stepwisc type of movement illustrated in Palestrina's
motet. Dies sanctificatus,
Ex. 145
y
jf
__ _ 5
_^- ,
<x
^ ~~ ill & i
! IBH, J J
jr-4-
C 5>- K i
=ii
i !
allows the individual lines to move naturally and fiowingly,
and the harmonic ensemble (the chords) to progress logically,
but not necessarily in a certain key. The effect of the final
cadence is sometimes greater than it would be in a tonal com-
position, for it gathers up the threads which have woven freely
moving harmonies in the course of the composition and ties
them together on the final of the mode, where they repose.
This type of handling of lines is to be found finely illustrated
by certain modern composers, some of whom use modern
adaptations of the old modes, others of whom make a free
adaptation of the major-minor mode.
Modulation in the sixteenth-century sense simply consists of
cadencing on various degrees of the mode. This cadencing is
not for the purpose of bringing the whole flow of the com-
position to a standstill, except at the very end of the composi-
tion or at the end of a clearly defined section. And, of course,
since there is no such thing as a shift of tonality from one key
to another, one rarely gets the impression that the center of
tonal gravity has actually shifted to the chord on which an
intermediate cadence is effected. Usually these intermediate
cadences in the ensemble are more or less incidental, and serve
the purpose of creating momentary resting places. In fact, they
do not occur as often as one might expect, because the dove-
tailing of phrases in the individual voices makes it possible to
92 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
have cadences in these voices as frequently as they are desired,
but at different times, so that the flow of the ensemble is not
broken,
Final Cadences. In connection with the modes certain types
of final cadences were thoroughly established. They are par-
ticularly important because they are the goals of the composi-
tions. They consist of the last chords, where all the voices come
together in harmonic fashion, regardless of how independently
they have moved up to that time. Here., at least, they must all
be united, and their harmonic ensemble must sound satisfac-
tory. We may once again mention the fact that in this music
there is no real difference between the authentic and the plagal
modes so far as the harmonic treatment is concerned.
There are three common types of final cadences to be found.
First, there is the cadence which we commonly know today as
the full cadence. It consists of a progression from a major
dominant triad to a major triad built on the final. It is common
to all modes except the Phrygian and requires a chromatic
raising of the third both in the last chord and in the one which
precedes it, in case they are not already major.
Ex. 146. Dorian Mixolydian
Aeolian.
Ionian
/")
D ^
-/.- -- ..
i/
^K
-JL ._
$fn\ 5 T-
^I_, gS? ^
*
^ -2T
t 1 . -'
-X ''"-^
-X ^
~s
-/ CS
The final chord may be either complete or incomplete. Some-
times we find the third omitted, and sometimes the fifth. In
any case both chords are in root position.
Second, the type of cadence found in the Phrygian mode is
known as the Phrygian cadence. The ordinary full cadence is
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 93
never used as a final one in this mode, for the penultimate chord
in such a cadence must be major, and Di is not available as an
accidental for constructing a major triad on the dominant
note B. Moreover, the Phrygian cadence is a very distinctive
one and sets off this mode from all the others. It consists of the
following progression:
Ex. 147
FF^
i
SEfc
The final chord is again major, although it may sometimes be
found with the third or the fifth omitted. The penultimate
chord is oftenest found in the first inversion, so that the lowest
voice progresses down to the final by a half step. But it may also
be in root position, so that the bass rises a whole step to the final.
In any case, the F is never sharped.
Third, an extraordinarily common type is the plagd cadence.
It consists of a triad sometimes major, sometimes minor, de-
pending upon the mode built on the note (our subdomktant)
a perfect fourth above or a perfect fifth below the final, progress-
ing to a major chord on the final. In the Mixolydian and
Ionian modes the subdominant chord is major; in the Dorian,
Phrygian, and Aeolian modes it is minor. Both it and the final
chord are invariably in root position.
Ex. 148
3-
v
J3-
Llixolydian Ionian
Dorian
Phrygian
Aeolian
94 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
All these cadences may be ornamented with the various types
of dissonances which are appropriate to them; the suspension
is especially useful in the final cadence because of the braking
effect it has upon the flow of the composition. And in order to
heighten this retard, composers often make use of the device of
lengthening out the steps of the process described in the section
dealing with suspensions. 8
Intermediate Cadences. A student of this music will see clearly
that intermediate cadences are generally less frequent and less
positively stated than in music of later harmonic periods. This
is true of polyphonic music generally; one has only to look at
most of the fugues of Bach to observe the same thing. Poly-
phonic music is essentially flowing in character; compositions
tend to move steadily from beginning to end, or at least from
one end of a large section to the other. There is no cadencing
in dramatic fashion to set of? one phrase from another, such as
we often find in essentially harmonic music. Consequently,
when cadences are formed in the course of the piece they are
usually unobtrusive; often the phrases of the individual lines
overlap so that the sections are not completely severed one from
another.
While this is generally true, intermediate cadences are not
rare. Although the voices may not all come to a dead stop, as
they inevitably do in final cadences, a sense of cadence is never-
theless evident; and, of course, there are times when all of them
actually do cadence together. Pieces in familiar style naturally
tend to have more intermediate cadences, or at least more obvi-
ous ones, than pieces in more complicated fugal style.
The three types of final cadences just discussed are also found
as intermediate cadences, although the plagal cadence is rarely
stressed so much here as at the close. The Phrygian cadence is
8 Page 82.
ANALYSIS OF COXTHAPUXTAL TECHNIQUE 95
often used as an intermediate cadence in certain other modes
besides the Phrygian. In these cases the final chord is built on
A as well as on E. The first phrase of section four in Lassus'
first Penitential Psalm cadences thus:
Ex. 149
1 . ) 1
1
-s-
- - '',* ^^=z
The piece is in the Dorian mode ? but this first cadence is
Phrygian, ending on the dominant.
Measures 14 and 15 in the first section of Lassus* seventh
Penitential Psalm illustrate the use of the Phrygian cadence in a
piece which is in the Mixolydian mode:
Ex. 150
etc.
*
The half cadence is likewise important. As in later music, it
consists of ending on the major triad which is built on the domi-
nant of any mode except the Phrygian (where the major third
is not available). The chord before the dominant varies a good
deal, but some of the commonest types of half cadences are the
following:
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
Ex. 151. Palestrina, Hymn, Christe Redempto?
ftf-
!L_
__ 5 _. ^
;><
-W -,
- - r""-
\
n^
J
i
J-
7?
1
1
-A -
*-i
n
f
~-^^-
cs
Dorian
r\ *^~
^>_i
1
]
^<ay
y"
%J "**"*
^-
_&_
J-
^2.
' ^"T &-
y
.1
&
j? ._ p
A.
\-&
j^j
\ -
etc.
Dorian: dominant of seventh degree
Lassus, Penitential Psalm, I } sec. n
PJ
-L , ,
-
jjs :
-
u-J
J.
Hta
J ^ _
li
- r""~' -
V
Dorian
Lassus, Penitential Psalm, I, sec. 3
,
^
2rt ^=d=^ -i
.,-f
^:
^ d 5=1
Dorian
There is an interesting example of a half cadence which is
followed immediately by a plagal cadence in the final measures
of Palestrina's four-voice Lauda Sion.
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 97
Ex. 152
The interrupted cadence is one which also has a variety of
forms, three of which are very common, (i) The penultimate
dominant triad may progress to the triad a second above (our
subrnediant).
Ex. 153. Palestrina, Jesus junxit
In this example the interrupted cadence flows immediately on
into a plagal cadence. This type of interruption has remained
in common use up to the present day and is very familiar.
(2) The penultimate dominant triad may proceed to the
subdominant triad.
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
Ex. 154. Palestrina, Natimtas tua
Lassus, 5a/ae Regina
~^~
This cadence is a bit more unusual in "classical" music> particu-
larly when both chords are in root position. It is less unusual
when the dominant proceeds to the subdominant in first
inversion.
(3) A cadential situation which is somewhat peculiar to this
type of polyphonic music, and one which helps to call atten-
tion to the contrapuntal rather than the harmonic aspect of it,
is the sudden shift in harmonic direction from the dominant
to something quite unexpected. It is met with very little in
music of later periods but can be seen not rarely in the music of
Bach. A common version of it takes the form of having the
bass enter on the subdominant note after a rest.
Ex. 155. Palestrina, Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas
Kr^
-
j^. -
-^
^-sr
C!_J
, 0.
'
r
_^.
r
r
r r
_d_ r j._
r
J
r
I r "^ etc.
IT
i
n
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 99
In this example the most ordinary progression would have been
to the C triad. Another progression, hardly more unusual or
unexpected, would have been to the minor triad on A. In fact,
that is what would have happened here if the bass had not
entered on F and destroyed that arrangement.
IMITATION. The sixteenth century did not know the fugue as
such, for this form was developed fully only during the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries. In certain respects the classical
fugue form is stricter than anything the sixteenth century
knew; it adhered to the major-minor mode and made a much
greater development of the theme on which it was built. But
the sixteenth-century "fugal" style was the forerunner of the
fugue, and it has many of the characteristics of the fugue.
The most important of these is imitation. There is no such
uniformity as in the exposition of the classical fugue, where
subject and answer invariably alternate between the tonic and
the dominant, but there are certain notes in the various modes
on which the themes begin more frequently than on others.
The final is, naturally enough, one of the preferred initial notes
in all the modes; and the dominant, or the note a fifth above
the final, is practically as important, except in the Phrygian
mode, where A is found much more frequently than B. There
is no invariable order in which the different initials must enter.
Frequently there is an alternation between final and dominant,
as in the fugue. For instance, in Palestrina's motet Dies sancti-
ficatus in the Mixolydian mode the four voices enter in descend-
ing order soprano, alto, tenor, and bass; and they enter
alternately on the dominant and on the final, thus:
Ex. 156. i. Soprano (Cantus)
2. AltO
ioo SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
3. Tenor
4. Bass
The motet Lapidabant Stephanum, which follows
tificatus in Volume V of Palestrina's works, is in the Mixo-
lydian mode, and the voices enter in the order: alto, tenor,
soprano, bass. Only the alto begins on the dominant, the other
three voices all entering on the final.
Ex. 157. i. Alto
2. Tenor
3. Soprano
4. Bass
Bt-
etc.
etc.
etc.
etc.
These 'details are never constant, but a rough estimate of the
initial notes of themes in the various modes, based on an ex-
amination of a quantity of music by Palestrina, Lassus, and
Victoria, would indicate the following frequency:
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 101
MODE MOST FREQUENT INITIALS LESS USED
Dorian D, A E, F
Phrygian E, A C, B
Mixolydian G } D C, A
Aeolian A, E D, C
Ionian C, G F, E
A theme cannot be said to have any required length; and the
amount of imitation varies greatly. In Dies sanctificatus the
theme is three and a half measures long, and the imitation is
carried out exactly in the successive voices. In Lapidabant
Stephanum the imitation is carried out strictly as far as intervals
are concerned only through the first five notes; the note values
are slightly altered after the first three notes.
An important element in imitation is the amount of time
which elapses between the successive entries of the voices. It is
rather rare in the sacred music of this time to find entries spaced
regularly that is, to find successive voices entering regularly
one or two measures apart. This is flat rhythmically, and the
sixteenth century rarely allowed such mechanical devices to
recur. In music as in architecture artists were careful to vary
their designs so that successive ideas would not appear machine-
made.
If a theme in the beginning voice enters on the first beat of
the measure (as it usually does), it ordinarily does not begin on
the first beat in the next voice, either in die second measure or
the third, but in the middle of one of these measures, as in
Ex. 158.
Ex. 158. Palestrina, Jesus junxit ss disdpuUs
I 3
fe
-t _: "czzn
102 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
6 ' J_J-
11
-F O &-
m
etc.
In this example there is a wonderful plasticity of rhythm in
the way the successive voices enter: the alto on the first beat of
measure i, the soprano on the third beat of measure 3, the tenor
on the first beat of measure 6, the bass on the first beat of meas-
ure 9, the soprano on the third beat of measure 11, and the alto
on the first beat of measure 15. Such irregularity in entries aids
tremendously in keeping the rhythm of the composition plastic,
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 103
as well as in making each voice individual and not simply a cog
in a wheel.
An example o a short piece built on only one theme is the
Kyrie I of Palestrina's Mass Actcrna Christi muncra (Ex. 159).
The piece is only thirteen measures long. The tenor enters on
Ex. 159
-^- p
i '
! J '
A, , "
\j i -
-] , , "'
j j
; ___ ._,
^> -^ ^,
~^~ ~w" -+-
rrrr
~zL JL J.
j j , , ^ ^. ^.
2
ss
i 1 1 j
T
r
/jy J ^ d-
-V i -f-
|J ! |
^ r r " -
* i
-s-
i ! J : ! J ^ ^J J
-^ K *-*" ^ p r^
-^
L-
r & i i r i J
104 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
the first beat and the alto on the third beat of the first measure;
the first note of the soprano is halved so that It can enter in the
second measure (it could not enter on the third beat on account
of the harmony there, and therefore enters on the fourth beat) ;
the bass waits until measure 6 to come in; the soprano enters
again at the beginning of measure 8; the alto begins again on the
fourth beat of the same measure with a half note; and the tenor
enters a second time on the fourth beat exactly a measure later.
Let us make one more observation in regard to the entries of
voices in imitation. Under ordinary circumstances an entering
voice is more effective if it makes its entry in a register which
has been unused by other voices for a time. This is well illus-
trated by the example, Jesus junxit. The first entry of the
soprano stands out because the D has not been heard before;
the tenor entry stands out because this D has not been heard
for over two measures: the bass initial has never been heard up
to this point; the next soprano entry is clear, for no voice has
sung this note since the soprano herself left off with it a measure
and a half before; and the next alto entry is on an A which was
only touched a measure before by the soprano. This type of writ-
ing is always effective in giving clarity to the individual voices,
and for the beginner it offers a valuable principle to follow.
FORMS. The chief types of composition in sacred music are the
Mass and the motet. The texts of the Mass are identical with
those used in plainsong, and the number of musical movements
is the same. The length and types of writing vary considerably
in the different movements of the polyphonic settings on ac-
count of the texts. The Kyrie, with its short text, is ordinarily
fugal in style and is compacdy written; each of the three sec-
tions has its own theme and usually forms practically a separate
composition. The choral part of the Gloria begins with the
words, "Et in terra pax hominibus/' after the intonation by the
priest of the initial words, "Gloria in excelsis Deo." Since this
movement is fairly long textually, the composer usually does
not write in an extended fugal style, but rather makes a com-
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 105
promise between this and familiar style, in order not to make
the movement too long. The Credo, the choral part of which
begins with "Patrem omnipotentem/ 3 is even longer textually
than the Gloria, and very often the composer sets sections of it
in a frankly familiar style. The Sanctus has a short text which
is usually set in fugal style; and the Benedictus, which follows
it, is often set for a smaller number of voices for contrast. The
Agnus Dei is again ordinarily set in fugal style and is broken
up into two parts, the first dealing with the first two phrases
of the text and the second, often for a greater number of voices
than the first, with the third phrase of the text.
The motet, which will be our main consideration, is a variable
part of the Mass. There is no difference musically between so-
called offertories, hymns, and motets proper; the texts used are
innumerable. The settings may be either in fugal or in familiar
style, or an alternation or mixture of the two. Palestrina's four-
voice O bone Jcsu 9 is a good example of a setting in familiar
style.
EJL 160
Ac{'* g=
<? ^ _
O bo - ne Je
i _ L_ 1
su, mi -
_
jT -/ *
["^.L
h^ '
r-
t,
O bo - ne
i
Je - -
x-
-v.
su, mi -
f^-= h5 ^ 1
_^S 1 ^
* -*^_
_ is
bo - ne
^ />
Je - -
-
su, mi -
=Z_1
_ 2
O bo - ne Je - - so, mi -
* Although this composition serves our purpose here, it is as a matter of fact
prd^bly not by Palestrina but by a contemporary.
io6 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
-^ ^, & ,
ta * \
F
"-M8
lfc3
tJ
se -
-j/- 1
re - re
no
-=
stri:
qui -
1
P * ^
".I: %-
^ =
re - re
-v
i-^-^
no
stri:
^ 1
qid -
f^ ^ * !
-"'* ^ *^._
===
~ -- 51
?>j
se
re - re
no - -
stri:
q'ji -
/*s
Ot* "^
^ 5
|.
i!>
j
I -i*-. St.
1
se - re - re no
stri: qui -
f_ ^ _
^ s*~ t
" -
^ 'Zs
___.
t> ^ i2 H
j-*m
x -^
1 - a
tu ere -
a - sti
nos,
tu
./;
_ j
j j ,
Jj ^ <ix
>'' ^ *
_ a
/* >Zs ^
tu ere -
_^_. * -
a - sti
>
noSj tu
T- &
fe
^s
a
tu ere -
a - sti
nos,
tu
^ - g .
Cx 1
-==
..
a
tu ere -
a - sti
nos,
tu
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 107
f X
-
p^ iL-.^
a? <? ,..
\~ J
.
re - de -
zm - sti
nos
san - gui -
ne tu -
^ ,.
-!
t/
re - de -
nd - sti
nos
san - gui -
ne tu -
~J- ^ ^
'</
/^r
a^
__^ ^
-*. y^
t/'S
re - de -
90
> . ._
mi - sti
EOS
san - gui -
ne tu -
^2 2
re - de - mi - sti nos san - gui - ne tu -
/ y 1 ' i ^-
1
- -
(3
,_=: & &.
_ & 9 ^ ^
o pre - ti - o - as - - - - si- mo.
(S " ^?
t^ 1 v,
- o pre
Jl^-. - i
/
ti - o
sis - si
1 >
i i 1 "i 1 1
mo.
o pre -
ti - o -
sis - - si -
mo.
^ * r^
o pre - ti - o - sis
There Is no real imitation and no repetition of words. This type
of composition varies in length with the text set. If the text is
long, the composition will be long; if it is short, the composition
will be short, for there is rarely any development of musical
ideas in the sense that they are developed in fugal style.
io8 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
For the beginner in counterpoint It is important to study
those types of polyphonic composition which stress the Idea of
melodic line rather than those which are more harmonically
conceived. For this reason let us make a short study of the fugal
type of motet.
In the fugal motet the texts are set phrase by phrase. Usually
each phrase has Its own theme, which Is developed more or less
like that of the Kyrie in Ex. 159. The composer Is usually careful
not to allow the developments of the themes of the successive
phrases, which are based on phrases of text, to fall apart, but
welds them skillfully together, unless, of course, he expressly
wishes a distinct break to be made at some point. Obviously,
If a complete break were made between sections, the piece as a
whole would sound cut up and spasmodic.
Let us take as an example Palestrina's four-voice motet In the
Phrygian mode, Anima mea turbata cst (Ex. 161). The text is
divided up into five sections: (i) Anima mea turbata est valde,
(2) sed tu Domine, (3) succurre el, (4) miserere mei, (5) dum
veneris In novlsslmo die.
Ex. 161
\/-r-
e i ' 1
pt-
1_ ! \^ ^_^_
k
A - ni - ma
1 i
1
v-J " ' " i~ ^ ^
A - ni - ma me - a tur - ba - ta est val -
_i 1 j j _j
X / * ._...
i
I
' i
J'(* * i
m s-f
-^ ^ H i 1 ^
m - ma me
a tur - ba - ta
ANALYSIS OF COXTRAPUXTAL TECHNIQUE 109
A - ni - ira ne - a tur - ba - ta
10
tur - ba - ta est
est val
est val
ni - in. a me - a tu"
no SEKTEEXTH--CENTURY POLYPHONY
de
de
a - ni - ma me - a tur -
de
tur - ba
- ba - 'ta est
val
15
-j/ . .,..-- _i
^ ^ ^ L*? j i -,.
a - ni - ma
me - a tur - ba - ta est val
_/ , , , ,
_; j . y^-~
C - ba - - ta
est val - de val -
ta est val
- de
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE in
de,
els tur - be. - ta est val - de.
tL-
tur - ba - ta est val - de s sea tu
tu Do
/ - - - de,
_^_ _^_
sed tu
'2
bte, '
-2
i ^
i
f A T> ^-
L^, ^-^^ ^_
^ : ^_J
t/3
sed tu
x- >
3 -*'
Do - - mi -
v . ,
1
ne sed
9^ . a 9
p" 1 j . a
- ". -. 1
Lr: ' -.-! ,.f, ^..^
-
H2 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
V
,- ; ^ ' ,
m ^
seci tu
Do - - mi -
ne
-yr , ' 1
iv'.) ' ^ * ^
rni - ne sue - cur
sue - cur -
sue - cur - re
sue - cur
i sue - cur - re e
^ZI
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 113
sue - cur -
sue - cur - re
sue - cnr - re e
35
re e
i, mi - se - re -
m
sue - cur - re e
ssi - se - re
H4 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
V ^ ^ ^ *-r
^ i
*r} ' :
>
se - re
re me
^ ... *
- i me -
-
4
' f ' , \ .
- -
i_ . =j
v ) ^
u
re
' Cs
mi se -
^: ^ , , i
-^- -9- i^.
re
bi ^ ^ * *-w~
- " _-^
-
Ci
se - re
re Kie
1
i "y ^^~
"^_ - 1
:^i ^
r _ ] _ ^
L^ ^ X ft__,p__J
- " ; 1
1 :
1211 - se - re
i
me - i me
I r _
14
-^ 1
__ ^ ^
T 2 - f 89 ^* ^ 55
^3
t r~ , t -^ ;
t>'5
mi - se -
re re
~\ r*^:
r 1 -^ >* -
if f ~ *!
1. /*> ^ ,-
_,,_ 1
i mi - se - re
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 115
me - i,
dun ve - na-ris In
dnza ve -
dura ve - ne-ris in
-us in no - vis - si -mo
di - e
no - vis - si -mo
n6 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
.50
ns in no - vis - si -mo
di - e
no - vis - si - mo
di
dum
duzn ve - ne -
in no - vis - si -mo di
-f .
: :: , -^ 1-
__ _^ ^ _ 3
> __
tj _-^
dum ve - ne
-F '1 1 1
- ris in no - vis -
,J J
]- ' <
^ ^ ^ ^=
-^ ^ ir~2
-^ ' ' j
feH *-^
/ ve - ne-ris in
no - vis - Ri-rnn
di -
- ris in no - vis - si-mo di
e in no
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 117
^_/_ m 9
, - .^ ^ i 1
f \ . _. -^ ^" *
.X^ , 1 i .g
si -mo di
e In
no - vis -
^- e
in
no - vis - si- mo
-^
5 , ^
\jL , <5.
-_^__ , __ _^
_^ ^ &^ ^__
t. a ^
vis - si-rno duia
ve - ne-ris in
s~ -
no - vis - si-
X,
U= -^ =
I _ i
. ; j i 1___, , ^
dum. ve, - ne-iis in no - vis - si-ino di
si - mo di
di
Each of these sections has Its own theme, which Is developed in
fugal style. The first phrase has the theme
nS SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
Ex. 162
which enters mice in each voice on notes in 'the following
order: BEEAEDAA. The section ends at measure nine-
teen with a cadence on A; but there Is no distinct stop, for the
bass enters with the theme of the second section before any one
of the other voices lias finished its first section. The Interweav-
ing of the two sections Is worth studying. The second phrase
has the theme
Ex. 163
After the first three notes Its continuation varies, but those three
constitute a characteristic group which Is easily heard when
they appear in the different voices successively. This section,
the shortest of all, constitutes a kind of parenthesis between the
first and third sections. There are only six entries, on the notes
D A A A A E, respectively; and the section closes in measure
twenty-five with a cadence on C. Here again the effect of the
cadence Is fleeting, and there is no decided break between It and
what follows.
Section three is built on the theme
2.164
which again varies after these first five notes. There are eight
different entries of the theme, onEBCGGGCA, respec-
tively, and a ninth entry Is made in measure thirty-three in the
tenor which does not resemble the others except in its initial
ANALYSIS OF CONTRAPUNTAL TECHNIQUE 119
upward leap. The section ends in measore thirty-four with a
most fleeting cadence on G.
Because of the text lie third and fourth sections are closely
related, and this finds an echo in the way the two sections arc
welded together musically. The theme of the fourth section
Ex. 165
fit-
Is announced simultaneously by the alto and the bass singing in
thirds. There are ten entries altogether^ and all but two of
them are made in duet fashion in thirds or tenths. This im-
parts a particularly effective character to the pleading words.
The section ends in measure forty-four with a plagal cadence
on A again not emphasized as such a cadence often is at
the end.
The final section has the magnificent theme
Er.i66
which moves mostly in major and gives a brighter and more
hopeful character to the end. It enters nine times, on the notes
AEFCDADGD. A very interesting and important thing to
note in these entries is the logical relationships of rising and
falling fifths between the successive initial notes:
Ex. 167
L; ^
VL,-,.,' - , 9^ <: ^~"--~
120 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
The motet ends with a plagai cadence, which here is not drawn
out as long as it often is.
The composition is technically in no way unusual, although
a few devices which are not among the most common might be
pointed out:
1. Measure 20. Although D is suspended in the alto it is not
a dissonance and so does not have to "resolve/* but in this case
moves in quarter notes down to C, from which it skips,
2. Measure 24. A suspension in the alto gives rise to a situa-
tion like that discussed on page 65. Instead of the chord of
resolution on the fourth beat being major, as it usually is, it is
here diminished.
3. Measure 29. A combination discussed on page 88.
4- Measures 30-31. The only changing note group in the
composition is found here in the bass.
5. Measure 54. The alto has a passing half note descending
through the fourth beat. Note that it is dissonant with the acting
bass, but that it is treated as a passing note.
6. Measure 59. While the alto and soprano lines are orthodox
enough singly, their combination is a bit unusual for Palestrina
on account of the sound of the ensemble. They ascend in
parallel fourths without a note below to give them the effect of
being the upper voices of two ascending sixth chords.
No two motets are ever exactly alike in their structure; differ-
ent texts call for different settings, and even the same text may
be given a variety of settings. Not only this, but different
themes have to be handled and developed differently. It is
obviously necessary, then, for the student to examine and
analyze as many different motets as possible, and to sing them.
It is only by this means that he can come to any conclusions of
his own as to what the commonest practices are and what de-
partures are made from them.
PART HI
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL
PRACTICE
TWO-PART COUNTERPOINT
HAVING MADE a general survey of the technical practices
which are to be found in the music of the late sixteenth century,
it remains for us to see how these principles are worked out in
music for different numbers of parts and how we may put them
Into practice for ourselves.
Contrapuntal pieces for two parts naturally lack richness of
texture, but what they lack In this respect they make up in
clarity and simplicity. They resemble line drawings in that
they are complete in themselves. Although they may suggest
to the Imagination more than the ear actually hears, their chief
virtue must consist of the excellence of their lines. These lines
must be as nearly perfect as It is possible to make thern^ and
their combination must never sound tentative. The beginning
student of counterpoint will be faced with the problem of not
allowing his imagination to wander from the two lines with
which he Is dealing. The more he has studied harmony the
greater the problem will be, for such a combination of lines as
Ex.i68
wiil in all probability not offend his ear, since he supplies in
Imagination at least one other part and has the aural illusion of
a inarch of harmonies:
Ex. 169
T
124 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
As a matter of fact, in themselves these two lines have nothing
inherently offensive in their sound; but in the period with which
we are dealing they are never combined in this fashion in two
parts only and are consequently not consistent with the style of
that period.
The piano student in particular is likely to suffer from these
aural illusions. The piano, as I have said, is one of the musical
instruments least suited to contrapuntal music. Amateurs and
beginners in the study of musical theory sometimes play their
work on the piano and make generous use of the pedal, which
promptly obliterates the individual lines and makes the music
sound harmonic. It is by no means advisable to forego the use
of the piano entirely. The instrument is by all odds the most
common and accessible one we have and must be used if there
is no other way of making the music come to life as sound. But
when it is used, at least at this elementary stage of study, there
should be no pedal; one should be most careful to hear counter-
point as counterpoint and not just as harmony. One must also
be careful not to play the upper part as if it were a solo and the
lower part or parts as if they were only accessories to the solo.
In truly contrapuntal music there are no prima donnas among
the parts. If one part has an outstanding figure in one measure,
another part is almost sure to have it soon. And each part must
have the assurance that, in the course of the piece as a whole, it
is as important as any other part. Almost any fugue of Bach
will illustrate this point of view. The best way to give life both
to the models and to the pieces we write is, of course, to sing
them with other people. In this way each of the lines is brought
out clearly, and all are given equal prominence. Furthermore,
it is the true way to make the music a part of ourselves.
The student of counterpoint must train himself to hear his first
models and his own compositions for what they are: two single
strands of melody, each carefully constructed as a line, which,
combined, form an ensemble that is satisfactory in sound with-
out any adjuncts supplied by the aid of the imagination.
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 125
At the very beginning of two-part writing constant reference
must be made to the models in order to acquire a thorough
understanding of the common practices in the style. The two-
part compositions of Lassus x are models as nearly perfect as it
is possible to find, because they are consistent and depart re-
markably little from the general technical practice of the time.
For the beginner this is very important; and for the sake of
mental and aural discipline he himself should not deviate from
the common practice, which has been analyzed generally in
Part II and more specifically in the following pages.
The modes in which he will find his models and in which he
should exercise himself in his own writing are the (i) Dorian,
(2) Phrygian, (3) Mixolydian, (4) Aeolian, and (5) Ionian.
At the beginning, in order to crystallize as far as possible the
flavor of the modes, it is advisable to write without key signa-
tures and to consider the written final as the real final. This
will help the student to remember that in this style only the
accidentals Bb, Eb, Fff, C#, and GJ are available. When one
has learned to handle these accidentals one may transpose
up a fourth or down a fifth, putting Bb in the signature.
This will mean automatically that Ab will be available but
that G# will be removed from the list of accidentals that may
be used.
Diversity and freedom of rhythm are always to be striven for,
even from the very first. One of the finest offerings that six-
teenth-century music has to make to the modern musician is
1 Two-part writing is a comparative rarity in the sixteenth century. Pales-
trina has left practically nothing to guide us here. Indeed, the twenty-four
motets which form the beginning of Lassus' Magnum Opus (vol. I of his
works) are unique as a collection. He wrote them as technical exercises for the
musicians in the ducal chapel at Munich, but, like other exercises in die hands
of great masters, they exceed their humble purpose. They not only make use
of the widest possible variety of technique, but they are extraordinarily beauti-
ful as music. Those students who do not have access to this great collection
will find eight examples of two-part writing in the seven Penitential Psalms
of Lassus. These pieces are shorter as a consequence of being sections of
psalms, but they are typical of the technique and are equally beautiful as music
126 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
this. The subject has already been studied in Part II, and in
our analysis of the two-part compositions of Lassus we shall see
how he handles rhythm in comparatively simple pieces. The
problem is one that must never be forgotten; it is one of the
principal advantages which the study of real music has over
the study of the species.
The melodic intervals available are (i) major and minor
seconds, (2) major and minor thirds, (3) perfect fourths, (4)
perfect fifths, (5) the ascending minor sixth, and (6) the per-
fect octave.
One more thing may be mentioned again here: the unit of
movement is the half note, and on each of the four beats in the
measure (each beat has the value of a half note) there must be
consonant harmonic intervals between the two voices. These
intervals are (i) unisons, (2) major and minor thirds, (3) per-
fect fifths, (4) major and minor sixths, (5) perfect octaves
and, within reason, any intervals greater than these by an octave.
Two voices alone must never be separated by too great a har-
monic interval. If they get much over a twelfth apart they
produce a thin ensemble; and they should not proceed even at
this distance for more than a very short time before they are
brought closer together. No other harmonic intervals than
those listed are ever used on the beats, except in two instances:
the suspension on beats one or three and the cambiata on beats
two or four. The perfect fourth is very common as a melodic
interval, but as a harmonic interval it is always considered a
dissonance and is treated like all other dissonances. The be-
ginner must take particular note of this, for in music of later
periods it is commonly used in figures such as
Ex. 170
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 127
combinations which are never found in our models and should
be scrupulously avoided in writing.
Dissonances occur commonly on the second halves of beats
only as passing notes and auxiliary notes.
Those dissonances most used as passing tones in pieces for
two voices are perfect and augmented fourths, major and minor
sevenths, and major and minor ninths.
etc.
r
Expanding seconds:
Ex. 172
are common; contracting seconds are much rarer, since their
too frequent use produces a muddy effect:
Ex. 173
On the other hand, it is by no means uncommon to find a con-
tracting major second, when the other voice moves away tc
avoid a unison on the following beat, usually by crossing:
Ex. 174
128 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
The figure
Ex. 175
in which the contracting major second is followed by a sus-
pension is also very common in final cadences. Dissonances at
an interval greater than a ninth are comparatively rare, since
there is not much occasion for them if the voices are properly
spaced.
Because the auxiliary note is a type of dissonance which al-
ways moves stepwise and returns to the note from which it
originated, there are certain small peculiarities in regard to it
which we must notice. The second is often used when the
interval on the beat preceding it is a major or minor third
Ex. 176
and but rarely when the interval is a unison.
Ex. 177
The minor second may come from a minor third:
Ex. 178
the major second from a major or minor third:
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 129
Ex. 179
t/|
The augmented second is rare, since this style is not chromatic
and does not commonly admit it. The perfect fourth can be
used either when the interval preceding it is a major or minor
third or a perfect fifth:
Ex. 1 80
M-
HZ or
r
The augmented fourth naturally cannot occur following a minor
third; and following a major third it is often altered to a perfect
fourth by means of a sharp or a flat:
Ex. 181
This depends a good deal on the context, and no absolute rule
can be said to exist. Finally, the augmented fourth is commonly
used following a perfect fifth:
Ex. 182
Both major and minor sevenths and major and minor ninths
can be used with more freedom, since the voices are farther
apart:
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
The cambiata is an effective dissonance in music for two
voices. It is never reached or left by skip, and never comes in
an ascending line but always in a descending stepwise manner
on beats two or four of the measure. Ninths, sevenths, and
fourths may be used with equal success when they come in the
upper of the two parts :
Ex. 184
r
In final cadences the major second is often used as a cambiata
in the upper voice:
In his two-part compositions Lassus commonly used only the
seventh as a cambiata:
Ex. 186
but other dissonances, particularly the fourth and ninth, might
also be used for the purpose:
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 131
Ex. 187
The changing note group is rare in compositions for two
voices, but is common in those for more than two.
The suspension is a dissonance of common occurrence in
two-part compositions. The process of its preparation, impact,
and resolution has been thoroughly discussed on pages 75-82,
and the student should refer to that discussion once again at
this point; suffice it here to say that the three steps in the process
must be adhered to strictly, but that the resolution may be
ornamented in the several ways that have been discussed.
The almost universal final cadence in pieces of two parts in
all modes except the Phrygian consists in the rise of the lower
voice a half step to the final and the fall of the upper voice a
whole step to the final, or vice versa.
Ex. iSS
It must be noticed that in the Dorian, Mixolydian, and Aeolian
modes this necessitates the raising, by means of an accidental
sharp, of the note below the final in whichever of the two parts
it occurs, for this note never remains a whole step below the
final in the last cadence. In the Ionian mode it lies only a half
step below to begin with and consequently does not need to be
altered.
The Phrygian mode has a final cadence all its own. To begin
with, D# is not available, so there is no possibility of the final's
being reached by an ascent from the note a half step below it.
The Phrygian cadence usually consists of the descent of the
132 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
lower voice a half step from F to E and the ascent of the upper
voice a whole step from D to E.
Ex. 189
The process may be reversed, so that the upper voice descends
while the lower voice ascends, but this is not quite so common
and typical:
Ex. i go
The plagal cadence is rather rare at the close of a two-part
composition.
Both the full and the Phrygian types of cadences are often
ornamented in such fashion as this:
Ex. 191
P X) 1
Susp. 2)
"-^ : "jp "^ - :~~^J-
""i"*""" r ' n ' " - i"
I - ...:. ... ' ' r ., ; ;'.
W1J .- f^.,, ,,<? lln-,. L - , -
3)
Ornamented
Resolution
of Susp. Susp.
4)
5)
camb.
^i
^
nr
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 133
Before the student begins to write complete motets he should
familiarize himself thoroughly with the different dissonant
devices mentioned above, including the suspension with both
its plain and its ornamented resolutions, and he should prac-
tice writing correct examples of them himself. When he can
do this easily he should practice writing various types of ca-
dences, both of the full cadence type and the Phrygian type, first
plain, then with the various types of ornamentation shown
above.
When he can handle the different dissonances and can write
various types of cadences he may use the beginnings of motets
by sixteenth-century composers and continue in the same style.
Such beginnings in various modes are given for his convenience
at the end of this section. 2 The first motets need not be long,
but each successive one may be more fully developed, until the
ordinary length of such compositions (from twenty to forty
measures) is attained. After he has used enough of the given
beginnings to be thoroughly familiar with the various types of
melodies common to this music, he may invent his own themes
for his pieces. He must be careful to invent themes which are
consistent with this style, however, for one which is not con-
sistent with it will be unmanageable as the basis of a piece.
It is to be remembered that the lines must not flow on for
too long periods without rests; that they must have direction
and an objective; that the rhythms must be varied and not
always made to agree with the meter as indicated by the bar
line; that the ensemble must sound well; that the spacing must
be good; that the cadences must be well prepared; that the whole
effect of the composition must not be one of violence but of
smooth flow; and finally that the piece must stand or fall as
music to be sung.
Some of the beginnings given (numbers i, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7)
make use of imitation, while others (numbers 4, 8, 9, and 10)
* Sec pp. 141-143.
134 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
do not. For the sake of practice as much imitation as possible
should be employed, even though it is not carried on for long.
Let us analyze a couple of two-part compositions to see what
can actually be achieved with these small means. They may
serve as models, but the student is strongly advised to analyze
carefully as many more such pieces as he can, for it is only by
familiarity with many that he can determine for himself what
is the common practice involved.
P.N.
Ex - pan - di ma-nus me
P.N. P.N.
_J 4.
-J-dE=^
Ex - pan - di ma-nus me
P.N.
5 J --^- 6
?a
-<y-
as ad
P. N.
as ad to: a - ni-raa me
Ornam.Rc.-i. P.N.
te:
a, a - ni-ma
10
5 H
a - m-ma me
P.N.
12
- 1-:-:]-.-: : .1 T. >'
^. ^->.:-.-^. [ ::. ,|.
a sic - ut ter - ra si
P.N. P.N
sic - ut tcr - ra si
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 135
A UX. , c P-N. Aux.
. I 14 , ^i 5 I I
/t# : \:-~.p> ' * 'if-'-.fi
-S2..- , gy &
.ft A,. , - ::.,.,
iP^^ t ^s
ne a
P L
- qua ti
-OZ^^tf: fA
\ H
a - qua ti
camb.
^:^ ^r-
bi, si - ne
a - qua ti -
16
This composition (Ex. 192), 3 seventeen measures long, is in
the Mixolydian mode transposed. The soprano and alto each
range an octave only, the soprano range (F to F) lying a per-
fect fifth above that of the alto (Bfc> to Bb). It is worth notic-
ing that the soprano starts on C in the middle of its range,
touches the upper Eb in measure 8, and finally reaches the
climax F in measure u, from which it gradually descends in
waves to the final. The alto both begins and ends on the final
F in the middle of its range and reaches its climax compara-
tively later than the soprano. In this piece the two voices never
cross.
The unit of rhythm is the half note. We find only a part of
those dissonances which were discussed in Part II, but they are
all used in regular fashion. Only those notes have been analyzed
which ,are dissonances.
The imitation is carried out throughout a good deal of the
piece. The alto begins on the final and ends its first phrase on
8 Section 6 of Lassus' seventh Penitential Psalm.
136 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
the dominant below. The soprano imitates a fifth above at a
distance of six beats. Beginning the second phrase, the alto
again leads off on the final, and the soprano imitates a fifth
above, but this time two beats sooner, so that it is only four
beats behind the alto. With the word "sicut" the imitation
becomes less strict. The alto again leads, beginning on the
dominant, and the soprano imitates an octave above, its first
note being a whole note instead of a half as it was in the alto.
This is undoubtedly so that the ensemble will not stop on the
first beat of measure n. The imitation is carried on for five
notes, after which both lines proceed to the final cadence with-
out making any attempt at imitation.
This piece deserves very close study both in regard to each
line and to the combination of the two. The design of line as
such can best be understood if each of the two parts is sung
separately at first. Repeated singing and study in this manner
reveals the perfection of the construction of the lines far more
readily than singing them together. It not only shows clearly the
change in intensity that is secured by the gradual rise of the
soprano line to its climax and its subsequent decline, but also
makes infinitely more apparent the rhythmic freedom which
the line possesses. The same is true of the alto. The soprano,
for example, is constructed mostly in triple meter from meas-
ure 7 through measure 14, and it will be apparent that this
arises from the word accents. The feminine ending of the
word "mea" accounts for the feminine endings of the motives
to which this phrase is set, both in the soprano and in the alto.
After this preliminary study of each of the two lines the study
of their ensemble is even more revealing. Their spacing is
handled superbly: each complements the other and yet retains
its own individuality. They never get so far apart that they
sound thin and estranged, and yet they do not get in each
other's way.
The rhythm of the ensemble, as well as of each line by itself,
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 137
is very interesting. The second voice begins (as is very com-
mon) six beats not four! after the first The first phrase
seems to move more or less in regular duple meter. But with
the phrase "anima mea" the alto picks up its uneven meter
1231234 which the soprano imitates four beats afterwards,
so that the two are singing:
123 i 234
i 2 3 I 2 3 4 (5) ! 2 3.
Even though both the melodies are mostly in triple meter
through the middle section, their accents do not fall together
to produce a dancelike movement, and the meter of the en-
semble remains duple.
The variety of "tonality" which can be secured in the modes
is clearly illustrated in the way the subdominant Bb, the domi-
nant C, and even the supertonic G are suggested. There is
seldom a feeling of rigid tonality in the sacred music of the six-
teenth century, though it is more usually suggested in pieces
which are in the Ionian mode than in the others. Ordinarily
there is a remarkable feeling of tonal roominess in the modes,
and that is one of their great charms.
Another very interesting composition in two parts is Lassus 5
motet, Oculus non vidit (Ex. 193).
Ex. 193 P.N.
cu-lus non vi
138 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
P.N.
P.N.
P.N. P.N.
ris au - di
P.N.
- dit,
d> H~~
ris au -
11
vit, nec in cor ho - ml - nis
P.N. P.N. Aux.
di
vit, nec in cor ho - mi-
12
13 14 ^
- ius a
. Susp. Ant. Aux.
16
P.N.
17 I
$r~~^ _.., grr**-. P" . -3?
p^^p^^^ _
dit, quae
P.N
1 '
>rae pa
P.N.
t ~ J j
-m{2 ~A * J d~
U u f_f J-
_J 1 "1 Hj
dit, quae prae
pa
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 139
18 P.N.
n >s I . 19 20
2!
pi- H - z^
... ..i - , <?^ | j-^ ""
^
)
ra
i
vit De - us
Susp. Aux.
| Ant. |
^
} 23
._
__^_
d~ :+- 7^ -. ^ \* fc*-tiJ <g ^
ra - vit De
22
23
qui di
li - gunt
P.N.
P.N.
Ms,
24
qui di - li - gunt
25 26
'-V x -^
fc pr- fL ,- ,.
H 2 ^ :
- E--E ^
^
il
lum,
.pj j.
1. , r
qui d]
P.N.
li
_jj|/ j^ _j . : , j
-RH r
^ j |~l^--^
1
prr r ", J - , , ^,, T
r*r- J ^rJ _.j.q
j
\S7 .J"" 2? J
1 *: ~ d
il
P.N
27 |
lum
28
__ 1
, qui di
P.N. P.
| 29
li -
N
j^jji .
fj ^ rip rg
f Jr t
=rpp f-pf
'-f=M
^r~~:;-": ;:::;:"::' r " _[-_(-_r"
11 - gunt
P.N.
n 1 i
' -,;,;,
il
P.N.
L 11- L4L
i ili
1 1
P.N.
1
JZ.; ,. ' H -q,_J-
J j _,__^
._J L \\+-4 J
_Jto
fe^Sia-
i^=^3Z
_g pz^=g.-^__^. v
5=
- gunt
140 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
30 Susp, AntAux. 31
Turn,
It is not far from twice as long as Expandi manus and is in the
Dorian mode. Although the piece gives an extraordinary effect
of surging, the soprano ranges only an octave and the alto a
tenth. The soprano begins on E, the dominant of the dominant,
and the alto imitates six beats later on A, the dominant. The
imitation is kept up throughout the piece to an extraordinary
extent, ceasing characteristically for purposes of cadence: in
the second phrase, "nee amis," the alto imitates at the octave
below, and again six beats behind the soprano; in the third
phrase, "nee in cor," the alto imitates at the seventh below and
only two beats behind the soprano; beginning with the word
"ascendit," the alto gets still another beat nearer the soprano at
a fifth below; in the fourth phrase, "quae . . . ," the alto leads,
and the soprano starts out two beats later at the unison, imitat-
ing in inversion; in the fifth phrase, "his, qui," the soprano
regains the lead by two beats, the alto imitating at the octave
below; and the sixth phrase consists of a varied and elongated
repetition of the phrase preceding it, the alto leading and the
soprano imitating two beats later at the fifth above. How much
more varied and more interesting is this procedure than that
used by certain nineteenth-century composers in their pieces in
canonic style!
In the second phrase, "nee in cor," Lassus seems to have been
much more occupied with the rhythms of the notes as such than
with giving the stressed syllables to longer notes: "in" gets a
longer note than either "nee" or "cor." This type of treatment
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 141
is not rare in the sixteenth century, even though, for the most
part, longer notes are normally given to accented syllables. The
striking quality of this phrase lies mainly in the clash of
rhythms which takes place between the two voices. When one
sings the two lines separately the rhythms are revealed to be as
interesting and as varied as they were in Expandi manus. Again
the rhythmic groupings refuse to agree with the meter of the
ensemble, although the treatment of dissonance is as strict as
before when viewed from the standpoint of the ensemble.
Following are introductory measures of motets which may
be used in the early stages of writing. The use of texts is
optional.
Ex, 194. i Dorian
etc.
2. Dorian
D:=aJLLZ i L
r r
H=S*F; ; --;- 1- - H-- _ ~
, .,,.,. - . 1
1
-4
-o
*"j.?ti "**" B
5
- - t"
_*-^" \\j
'*'
^ , , , ,
etc.
3. Phrygian
etc.
142 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
4. Phrygian
etc.
5. Mixolydian
etc.
6. Mixolydian
S:
m
__fix_
etc.
7. Aeolian
etc.
8. Aeolian
etc.
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 143
9. Ionian
etc.
10. Ionian
-S3-
IHO2I
-<?-
etc.
THREE-PART COUNTERPOINT
THE ACTUAL technique of writing for three voices is not
radically different from that of writing for two. It must not be
f orgotten, however, that the pieces are to be constructed mainly
from the contrapuntal point of view; the greater opportunity
for richness that is offered should not lead to the neglect of line
and varied rhythm among the parts. For the sake of mental
discipline, familiar style should not be used too often, and it
should occur mostly for the sake of variety in the course of the
longer pieces. For specific details of technique which are not
peculiar to three-part counterpoint, reference should be made
once again to Part II of this book.
The five modes already used are available; the same transposi-
tions and accidentals are to be used when desirable; and the
types of melodic intervals remain constant.
Full-fledged major and minor triads in their root positions
and first inversions, as well as the diminished triad (in its first
inversion only)> form the repertory of harmonies which can be
used on any beat of the measure:
Ex. 195
Rhythmic variety should again be the watchword; this ele-
ment should never be forgotten. It may be useful to emphasize
here once more a point that has already been made in regard
to momentary cadences in individual voices: lines ordinarily
come to rest on a strong beat of the measure. 1
1 See pp. 47-48.
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 145
Ex. 196
It is rare to stop them on a weak beat
Ex. 197
for this gives a lilting impression not commonly cultivated in
the severe sacred style, 2 and the student should avoid the prac-
tice. Moreover, it must be remembered that, in comparison
with two-part writing, three-part writing usually makes even
less use of prolonged quarter-note passages. The greater the
number of lines in combination, the more care must be exer-
cised not to let them ruin each other by too much movement.
The rhythms of each one can be fully appreciated only if clarity
is maintained by means of restraint. Too much quarter-note
movement usually results in rhythmic flabbiness and confusion.
The final chord in final cadences, it will be remembered, is
always in root position. It may consist only of the root itself in
all three voices:
Ex. 198
3 Once in a while die syllable accents o the text dictate such rhyt-hmic
treatment. See Lassus' first Penitential Psalm, section 3, where the process is
repeated several times. Here the question "usquequo" is emphasized in the
different voices by this extraordinary rhythmic effect in the lines.
us - que - quo?
146 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
it may have only the doubled root and the fifth:
Ex. 199
it may have only the doubled root and the major third:
Ex. 200
or it may be complete with root, major third, and perfect fifth:
Ex. 201
The chord is always considered to be major whether it has the
third or not; if the third is used it must always be chromatically
raised in the Dorian, Phrygian, and Aeolian modes. This is not
necessary in the Mixolydian and Ionian modes, since the chord
is already major.
In the regular full cadence, likewise, the penultimate chord
must be major. In the Phrygian cadence it remains of necessity
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 147
minor. In the plagal cadence it is ordinarily major in the
Mixolydian and Ionian modes and minor in the others.
In pieces for three parts, passing notes and auxiliary notes
continue to play a great part as dissonances between beats.
Moreover, the changing note group is used much more. In this
group the second note, which is a dissonance, never falls on a
beat but always on the second half of the beat. It may come in
any voice.
Ex. 202
lP|~
,
The cambiata is frequently used and may also come in any
voice. Care must be taken to see that it is always approached
and left stepwise, that it always comes in a descending line, and
that it comes on the second or fourth beats only.
Ex. 203
etc.
The suspension may be said to gain in effectiveness in music
for three voices, particularly in regard to the use of the fourth.
That interval, which is comparatively mild when sounded
148 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
between two voices only, can be greatly strengthened by the
addition of other notes. 3 A combination such as that shown in
Ex. 204
and
Ex. 205
L T 1
is rare in sacred music. 4 In our models such a passage would
ordinarily be handled thus:
Ex. 206
2-3
- 1
4
Co. V
j
Sscr fj>
v
eJ f
"T
"""" r f
"1
\- ...| __ _.:..
_ - -
_X .
JL
Even though the latter two versions lack the color of the first
two, they have a greater solidity and were considered more ap-
propriate to the more severe sacred style.
8 See pp. 77-78.
4 For a good example of its frequent use in secular music see Monteverdi's
madrigal, Ch'io ami la mia vita, measure 21.
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 149
Again the warning must be made not to sound the note of
resolution against the suspended dissonance as a regular thing,
except when the former is at least a ninth below the latter.
While passages like
are of common occurrence, such passages as
Ex. 208 Ex. 209
and
are to be found rarely in our models and should be avoided by
the beginner.
In three parts the "consonant fourth" comes into its own; it
is used mostly in cadences, although its occurrence is not limited
to this position. It may appear in either of two ways: 5
Ex, 210
i
B See pp. 83-84.
I 5 o SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
and it may, of course, resolve with the ordinary ornaments.
Certain combinations of dissonances now will be found very
commonly. One of the commonest is the type in which the
upper voices are dissonant with each other, though neither is
dissonant with the bass:
In these cases D must resolve to C or Cfl, since it has been sus-
pended regularly and forms a dissonance with E in the other
upper voice on the first beat; G in the bass is dissonant with
neither of the upper voices, but it must move to avoid the second
inversion of a triad on the second beat. In almost all instances
it moves up stepwise, as in these examples. A case quite similar
to this is:
Ex. 212
in that the middle voice is dissonant on the first beat with
neither the upper nor the lower voice; but since the F in the
upper voice is a suspended dissonance in relation to the G of the
lower voice it must resolve to E. In this process the middle voice
is also forced down to avoid a dissonance with the soprano, and
furthermore the bass is forced to move in order to avoid a six-
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 151
four chord when the two upper voices have moved down. The
problem can also be solved by using the six-four chord and
subsequently treating the fourth as a "consonant fourth":
Ex. 213
~zr
^i g:-.
Another method of dealing with the situation resulting from
this type of suspension is:
Ex. 214
The resolution of F to E forces the alto down to C, which is
treated as a cambiata coming on the second beat and resolving
to B on the second half of the beat.
Still another way of treating this combination is:
Ex. 215
Since D is not dissonant with either the soprano or the bass it
can leap. If it does this, it almost invariably leaps downwards
a third. It will be noticed that there is a remarkable variety of
I 5 2 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
line and rhythm in these different versions; and when we add
to this the fact that these suspensions can be resolved with die
aid of the anticipation or of the anticipation with an auxiliary
note on the other side of it the variety becomes even more
outstanding.
Let us analyze the three-part Christe deison (Ex. 216) from
Victoria's four-voice Missa quarti toni. It is motet-like in con-
struction and will show us how compact a small movement of
this sort can be.
Ex. 216
1/177 * "" ' - -
-- -,.- %
_ .... j _., ..
lifts I '
IVvly '
,,,_,,A-
Chri
ste
Chri - ste e - lei - son, Chri stc e - lei
CM - ste e - lei - son, Chri - ste c - lei - son,
e - lei - son
Chri - ste e
lei - son, Chri -
j^a^pgi^p^
son, Chri - ste e - lei - son,
Chri
ste e - lei - son
Chri-
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 153
10
3
B
Chri - ste e - lei - son.
ste e - lei - son, Chri
ste e
lei - son.
The Mass Itself is in the Phrygian mode, and this movement
cadences on the subdominant. It is only twelve measures long,
but in the course of those twelve measures the theme is heard in
whole or in part thirteen times.
Ex. 217
Yet this theme is used so skillfully from the rhythmic and
harmonic standpoints that it is far from being monotonous.
Miniature that it is, the piece gives the impression of having
considerable length and an almost unbroken flow from begin-
ning to end.
The first syllable of the word "Christe" is sometimes set to a
whole note and sometimes to a dotted whole never more nor
less, and it is interesting to notice that though it enters over
and over again the entrance occurs at a different place in the
measure almost every time. This device has great value in pre-
venting the piece from becoming metrical.
The balance of the three lines as individuals is worthy of note.
If one is to get a clear idea of their architecture they should be
sung separately as well as together. This brings out the purely
I 5 4 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
linear character and the rhythmic freedom of each line, which
may be obscured if one listens always to the ensemble. Notice
also how small the melodic skips are in this particular piece,
and how greatly stepwise movement predominates because of
the line of the theme and the frequency with which it is used.
The bass reaches his climax in measure 9 at the same moment
that the soprano reaches the climax of her line. These two
voices have been extremely independent of each other up to the
end of measure 8, where they join each other in tenths for one
measure only and make a fine contrast with the alto, whose entry
with the theme in measure 9 lies well not only in her own
range but also in relation to the bass and soprano. The climax
of the alto comes in measure 10 with the dotted half note F;
although the line returns to the same note again in the follow-
ing measure before it sinks back to the final note, C#, the accent
is different.
The use of accidentals in this composition is very typical of
the period. When a figure such as
Ex. 218 Ex. 219
=Zt ^^=Z==L or
appears, the tendency is very often to alter the second note so
that it is only a half step away from the first. This practice is by
no means invariable; it is only a tendency, and in some cases it
is impossible. In the present composition, for instance, the bass
cannot enter with E Dft E as its first three notes, since D# is not
available. The same is true of the alto entry: A# is not available.
On the other hand, when the bass enters the second time in
measure 2 we find A G# A. Likewise in the last bass entry in
measure 10 we find D C ft D. But when the bass enters at the
end of measure 8 we find no G#. This is important because
the notes to which the word "eleison" is here set are A Bb A.
The Bb is such a telling note that it is indispensable as the
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 155
climax of the line. Try singing the line with fit), and it becomes
obvious at once how important the accidental is here. But G$
just before it would not sound well, for it would make too chro-
matic a line and one not in keeping with the style of the piece:
EX. 220
The cadences are likewise typical. For instance, in measures
4 and 5 we find
Ex. 221
and in measures 7 and 8 we find
In both cases the bass leaves off on the dominant of the chord
immediately following, and the other voices go on alone to
finish the cadence. One mmt notice the effect this produces
so far as the lines are concerned. Let us suppose that in the first
case the bass moved in this fashion:
Ex. 223
I 5 6 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
and in the second case thus:
Ex. 224
In both cases the calm and smooth flow of the bass line is
destroyed. What is more, the piece becomes infinitely more
metrical in its ensemble in these places, and we have simply flat
and dull albeit honorable! cadences. Harmony, or die
chordal aspect, has triumphed and has forced the individual
lines to obey it. In fugal style, however, the sixteenth century
did not permit* its lines to be dictated to in any such absolute
fashion, even though it by no means despised the harmonic
aspect of music; indeed, it regulated harmonies and dissonances
very carefully, as we have already had ample occasion to
observe.
As mentioned above, the piece ends on the subdominant, for
it is to be followed immediately by the final Kyrie which ca-
dences on the final. If it had not stood between the two Kyries
it might just as well have cadenced thus:
Ex. 225
All the dissonances are typical and have already been de-
scribed in Part II. Let us look, however, at the treatment of the
fourth as a harmonic interval, since it appears for the first time
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 157
in music for three voices. In measure 4 on beats two, three, and
four there is in the alto a fourth prepared and resolved like any
other dissonant suspension, and, as so often happens, it involves
the presence of a six-four chord. In measure 6 there is in the
soprano a regularly prepared and resolved fourth without an
accompanying sixth. At the juncture of measures 7 and 8 we
find in the soprano an example of the "consonant fourth"
so-called because its preparation was not made as a real
consonance.
Let us now examine a composition which is in the Aeolian
mode and which is composed of two sections, each having its
own theme:
Ex. 226. Palestrina, "Pleni sunt coeli," from Missa Gabriel Archangelus
nr
Pie - ni sunt coe
li et
ra,
et ter
Pie
ni sunt coe
JSL.
et
ter
158 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
10
et
Pie - ni sunt coe li et
ter
ter - ra,
Pie - ni sunt coe
--
li ct
ra, glo - ri - a
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 159
20 n:
glo - ri - a
tu
a tu
glo - ri - a tu
tu - a,
glo - ri - a
tu - a,
30
tu - a, glo -
tu - a,
160 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
glo - rl - a
tu - a
35
a tu
tu
9^
glo - ri - a tu - - a.
The first section is built on the words "pleni sunt coeli et
terra" and has the theme:
Ex. 227
the second section is built on the words "gloria tua" with the
theme:
Ex. 228
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 161
A variation o theme II occurs twice in the form
Ex. 229
and accompanies the original two beats after its entry. The two
sections are about equal in length. The first has eight well-
defined entries of the theme, while the second has twelve
well-defined entries (counting two entries of the variation).
Besides the twelve in the second part there are several others
which are worth noting. In measure 21 the alto enters with a
theme that is really theme II with the interval between the
second and third notes altered; in measure 30 the soprano enters
on the fourth beat with theme II without its first two notes; in
measures 34 and 35 there is an overlapping of theme II and its
variation, as in measures 17 and 18.
The whole composition is remarkable on account of its
smooth flow and its lack of bald cadences where all the voices
stop dead together. And yet it is full of air each voice has
plenty of rests throughout, or places in the line where breath
may be taken.
Structurally one of the most interesting places is the connec-
tion between the two sections. The bass has a beautiful cadence
in measures 16 and 17, the alto another two beats later. The
remarkable aspect of measure 17, however, is the way the
soprano keeps the first section from coming to a stop before the
second section begins. She does it by means of the beautiful
long line which in main outline in measures 16, 17, and 18 is
Ex. 230
and does not permit the use of C#, the leading tone. Thus the
i& SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
flow continues unbroken. In fact, there is more than a sugges-
tion of the variation of theme II in the soprano part beginning
at the middle of measure 15, which runs into an actual state-
ment of theme II beginning on the last beat of measure 16.
In this composition the way the lines behave in regard to each
other is worth noticing, because it is so typical of the period.
For instance, the crossing back and forth between the soprano
and the alto in measures 21 and 22 and in measures 26 and 27
not only results in long lines which flow smoothly but also
gives a remarkable play of voice color. The tone quality of the
soprano and alto voices is different by nature, and in such
passages as those just cited the two voices have particular charm
and beauty, for neither loses its individuality in the process of
weaving; now the lighter tone quality is on top, now under-
neath, now again on top. Played on the piano, such a passage
is merely stupid, since there is no difference in tone color, but
\vith two orchestral instruments of different tone colors the
same differentiation becomes apparent as with voices. The effect
is magnificently exploited by Bach in such pieces as the trio-
sonatas for organ, where each line must be played on a separate
keyboard. While this device of crossing voices for the sake of
tone color is by no means rare in sacred music of the sixteenth
century, it is in secular music of the period that it is used most
often; there it really flowers.
The dissonances in Pleni sunt codi are all most orthodox.
Measure 25 contains an interesting treatment of dissonance con-
sisting of a suspension resolving regularly at the same time that
a cambiata is used in the alto.
When the student has examined enough pieces for three
voices so that he feels familiar with the technique, he should
begin as he did when writing for two voices. First he should
gain facility in writing examples of all the different kinds of
dissonances in each of the three voices; then he should write
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 163
cadences of different kinds. These technical details should be
thoroughly mastered before he begins the construction of
phrases with imitations.
As beginnings of his first motets he may use those given
below. Various beginnings set different problems. Number i
has nothing unusual about it, for the bass begins on the domi-
nant, the tenor answers on the final, and the alto enters on the
dominant. Number 2 begins in almost the opposite fashion,
the alto entering on the subdominant instead of the dominant.
Number 3 varies slightly in that the subject begins in the tenor
on the fourth degree of the mode (as it often does in the
Phrygian) and the bass answers on the final. Number 10 pre-
sents an interesting problem in that the alto enters with the
theme inverted after the first interval.
Ex. 231. i. Dorian
Dorian
etc.
164 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
3. Phrygian
ISSI
etc.
4. Phrygian
etc.
5. Mixolydian
p^
etc.
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 165
6. Mizolydian
etc.
8. Aeolian
166 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
9. Ionian
etc.
10. Ionian
etc.
FOUR-PART COUNTERPOINT
THE STUDENT will find that the progression from three- to
four-part writing again Involves nothing positively new. The
difficulty which is added Is simply that of handling a fourth
voice and making necessary adjustments in the ensemble so that,
while each one maintains as much individuality as possible, all
the voices sound quite at home with each other. With the still
greater opportunity for richness of ensemble, the student must
be on Ms guard not to allow his lines to become metrical and
not to permit any one to usurp too much melodic importance
at the expense of the others. He must watch Ms bass part
particularly to see that it does not become merely a harmonic
bass but that it retains real melodic interest the same as any of
the other voices.
By this time he should be so well acquainted with the style
with which he Is dealing that a rehearsal of the elementary
points Is unnecessary. Needless to say, the five modes are still
to be used; the same melodic intervals hold; no additions arc to
be made to the repertory of harmonies available; and the same
dissonances are at his disposal as before.
Variety of rhythm^ which is the very core of good counter-
point, should be cultivated relentlessly. No student should be
satisfied with permitting his four voices to progress for long
periods in the same rhythms, unless he does so purposely for
the sake of setting off passages in familiar style against fugal
sections. The latter procedure is very common and very
effective. But It is not the same as allowing oneself to slip into
a harmonic style by accident, through forgetfalness of the
rhythmic independence of the lines.
There should be no relaxation of technique, since one of the
i68 SIXTEEXTH-CEXTURY POLYPHONY
greatest values in adhering to such a strict style is the discipline
involved.
Compositions for four parts are ordinarily of greater length
than those for two or three, especially when fugal treatment is
used most of the time. While pieces in two or even three parts
are necessarily limited in length on account of the relative
sparsity of means, those for four or more parts are often devel-
oped in an architectural fashion until they consist of a hundred
measures or more. This is made possible by the fact that four
voices or more offer much greater opportunity for variety in
color effect and for the passing of themes back and forth in a
way to impress the emotional idea of the text upon the listener.
In comparison with pieces for four parts, those for two or three
parts often seem Hke miniatures. It is in the longer pieces that
the student gets real experience in building: in keeping the
composition going properly by dovetailing sections, but at the
same time making sure that the music has air and does not plod
along monotonously and drearily for great stretches of time.
Anyone will recognize that the same problems of construction
are present here as in a literary essay. Too much repetition
makes for monotony; on the other hand, ideas must proceed
in an orderly fashion, so that they are not wasted but are given
proper expression and emphasis.
Voices may enter in whatever order is most effective: soprano,
alto, tenor, bass; bass, alto, tenor, soprano; bass, tenor, alto,
soprano; alto, tenor, bass, soprano; and so on. It will be noticed,
moreover, that the order used at the beginning is by no means
always retained as the piece progresses; on the contrary, it is
very apt to change, and to change frequently, so that any voice
may lead off with a theme regardless of whether it has done so
in previous sections or not. This matter of successive entries
has already been treated in Part II in the section dealing with
imitation, which may be referred to also for a discussion of the
length of time which elapses between successive entries.
APPLICATION OF CONTEL\PUXTAL PRACTICE 169
The most satisfactory way of seeing how the process of con-
struction Is managed is to study good models in detaE. Natu-
rally, no two motets are constructed exactly alike any more
any two fugues or any two movements In sonata form are. They
have In common certain well-defined characteristics, but the
working out of architectural details must be handled in some-
what different fashion in each composition.
Let us look, for example, at Palestrina's four-part In dicbus
illis (Ex. 232), which is fugal throughout. Unlike many motets.
It makes no use whatever of familiar style as such, so that con-
trast and interest are maintained without recourse to setting off
harmonic sections against contrapuntal ones. Before any at-
tempt Is made to look into the technical features of this piece,
however, the student should become well acquainted with It
through singing. He should know very well how It sounds,
not only from the standpoint of ensemble but also from the
standpoint of the individual lines.
Ex. 232
j > a
_ 5 _ _ 1 r __
In
iLi: rf ~1
di - e -
b"<:s il - - - - Us In
,. - - -
,_ - " f ^., ,,i,
In di - e - bus 11
r,
/^' i
i 1
:" , i : I ", J j._ E ; ;
^
^ 1 J 1 :
ft m j. M ;
i 7 o SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
-J. , 1 : -
J
-*S>~-, 9 i ;
di - e - bus il
j. ,__,
^- - + v . ^
"^ * ^jr^^ -
-i
OS ^.
In
f*~~ ^
di - e bus
-) , i
1 a
lis
lis
i ~ "
E - er ? quae
lis il
^s
di
e - bus il
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 171
15
( ?- i TT
, ! * ^5
- ^^ ^~~\
& 5 Z~
t/ ^ ~~
mil - li -
y
-S: * ^
er, quae e
__^__^_
rat in ci - vi -
" y ^~ T ^
ta
^ r
^ -^ :^-^
e - rat in
/
1 rf^
L^. ^ x5,_ ^_
c- - vi - ta
, m
-^ -^ --
te pec
: -
b-jtj^ c=3=j
: 1 1
&* 1
t>s
- lis
O&. *
^ .
L*"' T*
]
[gf-^ 1
** ^S:
| ^ 3E==|
- lis
mu - E - er ? quae e - rat in
f 7-
- te
pec - ca
tax
tiix
mu - li - er, quae e - rat in
ci - vi ta - te pec
172 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
. 20
in ci - vi - ta - te
te
pec -
ci - vi - ta - te
pec - ca - trix
trix
25
pec - ca
trix,
trix, ut
in ci - vi - ta - te pec - ca
x, ut co -
ci - vi-ta - te
pec - ca
trix,
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE
173
ut co - gno
i=E^EfeE
C3-g,0
Quod Je
_t~ t5
co - gzo - vit, quod
lit CO - gCO - VII
-> I'
^
/\ .> F 1 * <> ~ -^
k> ,j i'
quod Je -
b = = I
5115 Ut CO - gZO -
ty ^-
- 5113 Ut
^ ^ -*- ^
co - g^io - vit,
^ : =-*-
^ S> "
Je ~ s^js ac - en - bu - it
^
Ut
Jilizs^
Je - sus ac - cu - bu - it
174 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
- 35 :
_f , -*
_^ ^_
tJ ^
- vit, quod
^ . .
Je - sus ac
^
- cu - bu - it
^
(tr) ... "' -i ^
; _J
i
,
quod Je
sus ac
""- -v.
- cu - bu - it
IB '
m*^
co - gno
<; .
Oi*
vit
S~
quod
Je
^ n
<^ ^
4 * i
It
ut co - gno - vit quod Je -
in do - mo Si - mo - ills le
pro
in do - mo Si - mo - nis le - pro-
- sus ac-cu - bu - it
- sus ac - cu - bu - it
APPLICATION OF CONTTIAPUNTAL PRACTICE 175
45
Is do - mo
in do - no SI
ID - mo Si - mo - nis le
pro
is do - mo SI - mo - nis le
pro -
50
(-f-^ ^
__ _ 1
j _ _J
"'" "' '" " -1 '""1
fr-s, ^ --^
V^'V
t/
SI - mo -
^
nis le - pro
^^.^
si, at
'
- tn-Iit a - la-
^ J -A
h^ m ^ ^
u - " ^
f . mo - nis
|L^ - H
le
x
- m & - * i
pro - si
-N.
-^-. -*--&-
at - tn -lit
^ m-
i) ^ ^,-^-Ju
t>3
-f i J '
[-*" , o _^j
i
- r-^
-^
P*i =r-^
* ...i* 1 sz> ?* *r.
* .
^^ c- 1
-T!>.
^
at - tn- lit a - la - ba - strum.
176 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
V
-r~ 1
= _,: j ^ ..J
- ba - stmm un - guea - - ti,
at - tu-Et
a - la - ba
"3?r m
strum un - guen -
- si
^i r 1
"-
at
"
- tu - lit a - la -
ba - strum un -
_^_^ M =^_
at - tu-lit a - la - ba - strum
-^ 1 1
O-^ J ^ J-^: ^ -L--
tJ ^
a - la - ba - strum un-guen
A
>^- :
^
ti,
^
9 H H
^_/ "^ -*- ^~
-_^ , ,
^* y
^>~-
-1. -I'-J. -1- '
"f^ ?
^X
^i--^J
ti,
. 1
%&-w-^^
hr' r r J
& * r"""^
fj& g * -*-^ -&- ' * l
- guen - tit, et stans re-tro se - cus
c\*-
)*
i
-^
&
1
un - guen - ti.
et stans
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 177
60
" -p/ i
1 1 s , .
fj
1 i#V~ ** ' "~ ' '
et stans
tj -*Sr- "*-
et
stans re - tro
se - cus pe
^ .*_ ^ z*
- ces D ^- irA-
pe
des Bo
^
mi - ni
--'
Je - EH DG -
.
, n ^__
<& ^~
5 ^r
re - tro se - ens pe - des Do - mi - ni Je - sn
65
y -
X <^ i .''': " - ~ J '~ - - -
t/ * v> ^-
re - tro se
cus pe - des
Do-nd-nije
k>.J_
ni
1 ! 1 - -| 1 '
Je - -^
sii Do - mi - ni
- mi - ni Je
,*""
sii Je
^
su et stans
e^ffl. 1
_n_= z> . jy i :
et stans re - tro se - cus pe - des Do -
178 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
f Jr
, __
tJ _-"
su
Do - mi -
| , ,
ni Je
J^ * ^ * -+
Je - su se
- cas pe-des
-~~^
_^_ _,>. _^
Do - mi - ni
^
re - tro se
ens pe - des
Do - mi - ni
Je - - -
r^-f <5-
^ as
g
~BB ~ 1
\k , T-~ -i-,-
- ml- ill Je - su
la-
75
y ^ i ^,
' ' {
t^' * r "1
t>
y
-
su
^ .
la
~**-* -
cri-mis
fe4~=
J -^
L^ 1
1 i
J^ 'Cs Gs
""^y ~gy
- su
7^
la
i j
cri-mis
coe - pit ri -
^ ^ ^ 1
^-s
t/s *
- su
la"""
^
cri^mis
coe - pit ri-
H H
ga - re coe -
9 : r ^ *
_,_.,
~?=~^.
"-
^
crl - mis coe - pit ri
re coe -
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 179
?-, t
. 1
<b ~ 3 s
t>
cce - pit ri -
L
ga
re pe
-*-*-* -1
*s
des e
4> ;
- ga
. TT~^-
-*- "^ -
re pe
^r "
des e -
'J '^S
^ "^ *
,_
___^ ^__j
m~ ^ ?-
< ~^ <z>
^g, ^ 1
^ . LL_|
vs
- pit ri - ga
R&i
-
re pe -
des e
- pit ri
ga-
SO
- Jus
et ca - pu
jus
JUS
et
et ca-pii
et ca - pfl - lis
jus
180 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
==1
ca - pil - lis ca - pi - tis su
1
- lis ca - pi - tis su - i
ge-
^
- pi - tis su
i ter - ge
bat
ter-
et ca-
90
ca - pil - lis ca - pi - tis su - i ter -
bat ter
ge - bat,
II \J
-
^ ?2T-
-I*- f
d~
/r? ... f^ 1 *
f7H-r
d
m>-
e>8
-f
0-fi.
4=
1=
4=M^=
^-1
h=*
r^
-_
-^-j-j-
_^*
-pil - lis ca - pi - tis su
i ter - ge
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 181
95
x JZ. -
1
:__
^ . -.. O
- ge - bat,
1U . i
et o -
scu - la - ba
1
S 2 - sF
et o -
scu - la - bat
p r~i~
tur pe - des
^-
j i~t-H
e - jus
-x.
OS ^
- bat, et
C-^-; ~ ^~ ~ \
^
o - scu - la -
ba - tur pe
des e
._._...*. _ . _
H 1 ~ -
'&
- bat ter
ge - bat,
s-ry.
1 \^^
%J
n
tu.
r pe
-
a
e
5
e
-
jus
pe -
de
s
e - jus
XT
r
^-
*
IF"
e
f '
~j
t
<
S7-
o -
s~~"
scu - la - ba
,
t;
8
-
'-
f-
-
jUf
;
3t
o - scu - la -
_ 1
et
L - la - ba - tux pe - des e - jus,
182 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
iQQ
et o - scu - la - ba - tur pe - des e - jus,
- tur pe - des e - jus,
et
- ba - tur pe - des e
jus pe - des
et un - guen - to un -
105
K - V ^
- J J
L J J
-rf-K-
9 & -P * p
r i r i i
et un - guen - to un - ge
un-guen - to un
*3
ge - bat
ge -
e - jus
et un-guen - to un - ge
- ge - bat un
ge - bat
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 183
__ 110
3
,
bat
et un -
bat et un-guen - to un-ge
- bat un - ge
bat et un-guen - to un-
et un-guen - to un - ge -
>
}j '=:
gV-^ J tfU-
\J
- guen - to un -
ge
u_
N -**-^
s
. .
bat.
1- bat et
un-
=F?
guen
-to
s~~-
&<
un
"^v
- ge -
p i ^
bat.
=!=
L/8
p| j
ge -
-
-f
.
-
^_
.
bat.
1
^ 1 ..
- bat et i
in-
guen
i
x>
un -
ge
bat.
At first sight this composition seems to be somewhat monot-
onous, but the more one studies its construction the more re-
markable it appears. There are surprisingly few cadences which
produce a real impression of stopping. The sections are so skill-
fully dovetailed that the flow of music is never really interrupted
184 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
from beginning to end; yet there are numerous resting places
for the individual voices. One cannot insist enough upon careful
study of the manner in which each of these lines begins after
resting and cadences before resting; the phrasing of each line is
completely characteristic of the reposeful and serene nature of
the music.
The piece, which is in the Aeolian mode, balances between
A and C as centers of tonality. A is naturally predominant: it
not only prevails at the beginning and at the end but figures
throughout the piece, and C as a center appears only at intervals
to relieve it. For example, from measures 16 to 25 C is promi-
nent and is only prevented from becoming dominant over A by
the cadence in measures 25 and 26. Again, about measure 43 C
begins to assume an importance which grows steadily until it is
curbed about measure 70. And in measures 77 and 78 it suc-
ceeds in wresting enough attention from A to demand a very
definite cadence. After this cadence it is distinctly uppermost
until measure 91, when the balance shifts so that A gradually
wins the upper hand and brings the piece to a close. But
throughout there is no violence in this kind of contest for
superiority; the problem of balancing these two centers, with A
always a little heavier than C, is handled by Palestrina with the
most exquisite delicacy. This system is entirely different from
the one in force during the eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries, when tonality was much more settled, when one key
at a time was dominant, and when a frank and distinctly
audible shift modulation in the present-day sense was
necessary in order to go from the established key to a new key,
which in its turn became established. There are all shades of
variation between these clearly defined procedures. Even in
Purcell, who is usually fairly close to the major-minor system
of tonality, there is very often a peculiarly swift shifting back
and forth from one key to another which is more than remi-
niscent of the balancing system in the century before him. The
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 185
same thing may be said of a great deal of modern music. In Ms
mature works Faure is particularly fond of this delicate balanc-
ing of tonal centers. The moderns, however, restrict themselves
much less in their choice of centers than the early composers
with whom we are dealing, and they do not hesitate to go much
farther afield. The whole problem is a very important one for
the student of music, and one to which he should give much
thought, particularly once he has acquired a certain proficiency
in the more elementary details. The longer Ms compositions the
more important it becomes if he is to achieve the consistency and
avoid the monotony that were mentioned earlier in this chapter.
The text of this motet deals with the familiar story of the
women who anointed and washed and kissed the feet o Jesus
as he sat at table in the house of Simon the leper. It is treated in
the typical motet fasMon: each phrase has its own theme, wMch
is more or less strict, depending on the circumstances. Entries
are actually made on every degree of the mode, but it is to be
noted that A, G, E, and C are by far the most frequent as initial
notes of a phrase. A is most frequent of all, and E as a fifth
above it is often used to alternate with it in a section, D being
so used once in a while; G likewise is a frequent initial, and
usually alternates with C, the fifth below. Now it is a significant
fact that it is in precisely those measures where the tonal balance
most inclines to C that these two initials, G and C, have their
greatest frequency. F is used comparatively rarely, and then it
alternates mostly with C (beginning in measure 56), while B is
used only once in the whole piece in the soprano in measure
32 and is answered in the alto immediately by E a fifth
below. Entries in any one section, then, tend to be made fairly
constantly at the intervals of a fifth above or below or of a fourth
above or below:
Ex.233
i86 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
with a slight tendency at comparatively rare times towards such
intervals as
Ex. 234
Palestrina's motet Dies sanctificatus 1 in the Mixolydian mode
is a good illustration of the alternation of fugal style with
familiar style.
Ex. 235
la 5
1 , .
Ix-j ... .-<?
__ j
.
j* fii J
tlii^
^
f p ^ i
-^ " e>
r r r~ r
gr-~ !
Di -
^r /^ f j
es san -
LJ j
cti_- fi - ca -
tus il -
31
H 1 1 1 i
In - sit no -
fe}^
-^ j
-& ^
,^-J- 1
|_ .. :} |
tJ
-$-i 1
s r ft .. .
Di -
i _ ..
es san -
cti - fi - ca -
88
**^ es
tus il -
.... i
B^
*j&
5^ p
i
- i
1
i -I
.
-|
1 This motet has been used many times as an illustration. It is chosen again
here because it is such a good example of Palestrina's technique in setting off
fugal style against familiar style. A good analysis of it may be found in
Jeppesens Kontrapun^t.
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 187
*r"- *
bis
- lux - it no
bis no
bis
Bl
Di -
10
? * *-!-
di - es saa - cti - fi - ca
tus
di
es san - cti - fi - ca - tus
OS
- cti - fi - ca - tus
il - In- sit no
san - cti - fi - ca - tus II - 1m - it
i88 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
15
ii - lux - it
il - la - sit so
- bis il
sit no
E!E
bis il
20
no - Ms, ve - ni
te gen
bis,
bis,
ve - m
1 ' a
te gen - tes
- bis,
ve - ni - te gen
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE
- tes
ve-ni - te pen - tes
te gen - tes gen
tes ve-ni - te
ve - ni - te gen
tes ve - ni - te
- tes ve - m - te
ve - in - te
tx'
et a - do - ra - te Do
gen
tes et a - do - ra te Do -
gea
tes et a - do - ra - te Bo -
tes
190 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
*
mi - num.
et a
mi - num. et a - do - ra - te Do
mi - num et a - do - ra - te Do - mi -
et a
do - ra - te et a - do - ra
- do - ra - te Do mi num, qui - a ho
77^7
mi- num, qui - a ho
fe3
F
Us i
- num Do
mi - num, qui - a ho
- te Do
mi - num, qui a ho
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 191
40
-jr , , &
_-_
2?
-2? ^ -j
di .
e
de - seen
dit
H 1
1
lux
di - e de-seen
- dit
i ~
lux
x~~
~^
ma - gna in
r r F i
t/ '
di - e
PE^ ^
de-seen -
dit
i
lux
j i i
ma
: J
.^. ..._ j_ ,
^
di -
s\ y . ^ 1
_
fe } f^-
^
ma - gna in
"
ter - ris
^
de - seen - dit
-= 1
<^ ter '-
-3 ^
^ </
> ^.
^ r^ i
I ! I
i . = *T*"r
ris
de - seen -
f^ 9
- gna in ter ris
de - seen -
dit
,= j
2
_. .
de - seen - dit
de -
192 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
50
f J
[ ^
__ _,. .^
| ( :
de-seen -
! |
dit lux ma -
j , ^
(Jj} 1 :;.:::: :.^. ^/ .
^ 1
J!=Z|
t3 ->s-
>
- dit lux ma -
gna in ter
ris;
^ ^ ^
$r -*
lux ma - gna
-&- ^
in ter
--,
ris lux ma
- gna in
-v
f^~ *s
_^ <.
-f^ -^ -4
V
:
u 1 -^ ^
- seen - dit
lux ma - gna in ter -
- gna in ter - ris; haec
di
es qnam
haec
di
es quam fe - cit
ter
ris; haec di - es
^= =^
ris; haec di - es
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 193
55
r ^ -^ ^
<? ^ '
f^\ I 1 1 I
- M^-p P-
& -4 :&
fe-cit Do
o L I
i
-> h ^
!
mi - nus
y ? '
i !
1
1
'.X -^ * !
! ! "
_.<^ (Z>
' i
pK ^ / -,' '
- I ^ >
^ A I
'-"
VJ * #
~s* "- & *
-4 & j. "'
J
1 T-\
.
Do
mi - nus quam fe - cit Do - mi -nus haec di -
P
liaec
di
60
1
x
> & J
&
\
fj ^^s -~
^
liaec di -
n
j/
1 1 j -j
a i ~ 1
1 L^
fe H ^
-
quam f e - cit
^-
_,, 1 _ ^ gjj-- ^_
Do -mi- nus haec di
-
y f. *2
es quara fe - cit
Do
j
mi - nus
r^ -|
P|-; m
1 ^
^ =>L 1
liaec
di
quam
194 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
t-~^-.
ItJ
es quam f e - cit Bo
mi - nus:
\7r- ^~
* _; ^ ^
JZJL &
-gy i * i1 -
quani f e - cit Do
quam fe - cit
Do - mi - nus:
fe - cit Do
mi - nus:
70
Es - ul - te - mus et lae - te - mur in e -
Es - ul - te - mus et lae - te - mur in
Ex - ul - te - mus et lae - te - mur in e - a
Ex - ul - te - mus
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 195
et lae - te - mur in e - a
=1
a ex - ul - te - mus et lae - te - mur in e
ul - te - mus et lae - te-
rnur in e - a
ex - ul - te - mus et lae - te - mur in e
80
_# 1_
& f
-75 p
^
T^=M
ex - ul -
-$ r-i
i \ 1
te - mus
J
et lae -
h
te - mur
^ ^ -1
in e -
, -1
4-5 2=
r __ _j
k J-l
^ .J=
J \
ex - ul - te - mus et lae - te - mur in
1L^__ ^_
-s? &
./2 _ (T2. ..
-&
-*s -I
fe ^ i
t/8
ex - ul -
te - mus
et lae -
j_
te - mur
^ * -J
in e -
f\ , f
S% S3
i
/^
1. a*-
*rj f2
-^ 1
^ is>. .
1
<Cs . *-* ' i
ex - ul -
te - mus
et lae -
\ j J i
te - mur in
e - a
196 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
So
y
. . j .
p"-<r ~
L - ^_
___
__.
_ _
, .
rJ - . . ..
- a.
b/ , __
"
1
- a ex - ul -
te - mus
et lae - te - mur
in e -
a.
fa ~j_p ,
-^ ^~
-^ ^
h^- '
jjHI .
-=
- a ex - ul -
te - mus
et lae - te - mur
in e -
a. '
w 2 * ! 5=
i
L
^ ^_
_ _
es - id - te - inns et lae - te - mur
With the exception of the three measures beginning with
measure 37 and the concluding section, beginning with measure
68, the piece is treated fugally. The theme of the first section
consists of two elements, i and la, which are first introduced
only by the soprano and alto parts in duet fashion. In measure 8
the tenor and the bass enter, imitating the soprano and the alto
exactly up to measure 15. But their entries are timed differently,
for the tenor and bass begin on beat three of their respective
measures, whereas the soprano and the alto begin on beat one.
The entries of the soprano and alto in measure 10 are made
with new bits of melodic material so that they will not detract
from the duet character of the tenor and bass even though they
continue along with the lower voices.
The second section is not treated too strictly in the matter of
imitation, although the melody of the bass beginning in meas-
ure 18 is more or less the norm, with two upward skips of a
fourth separated by a descending second. Moreover, the melody
of "et adorate/' resembles closely that of "venite"; here the imi-
tation is often free, the main characteristic of the theme being a
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 197
rise from the first note to the second, followed by a scalewise
descent. Although the motet begins in a joyful and rather
exuberant tone, it begins to grow calmer in the "venite" section
because of the falling lines. In the "et adorate" section this im-
pression of growing calm is increased by the introduction of
changing note groups in the different voices and by the elimina-
tion of the second leap of a fourth upwards in the theme. Pales-
trina, of course, already has his eye on the word "descendit,"
for which he wishes to make the greatest effect possible; in
order to let it break through and shine he prepares it by the
unusual calm of which we have been speaking. The very short
passage in familiar style which forms the setting of "quia
hodie" gives the impression of having practically no motion at
all. It is preceded by an extraordinarily beautiful Phrygian
cadence, and its very long notes result in a kind of suspended
animation a stillness, yet a tension, which presages an out-
break. It serves to set off to unusual advantage the following
fugal section dealing with "descendit." The sixteenth-century
composer must have rejoiced at setting such a word as "de-
scendit" to music, for he usually makes a downward leap in the
melody. When this leap is passed from one voice to another as
it is here (and this is typical) the effect is very striking and im-
pressive, particularly when the voices enter in such quick
succession.
Such modest bits of dramatic expression are not uncommon
in the sixteenth century, but they are never obtrusive, for sacred
music of this period was never meant to call too much attention
to itself. At the same time, the method used here by Palestrina
is basically the same as the one which Beethoven used constantly
more than two centuries later, and which can be seen, for ex-
ample, in the first movement of his D major piano sonata from
opus 10: toward the end of the exposition and again near the
end of the movement a theme in half notes is set off dramatically
from the preceding eighth-note movement, so that it tends to
ig8 SIXTEENTH^CENTURY POLYPHONY
store up energy for the subsequent plunge into quarter and then
eighth notes again. It is in the spirit more than in the letter that
Palestrina here predicts Beethoven, of course; but the sixteenth-
century composer is by no means the dull and expressionless
writer which those who are not really acquainted with this
music often accuse him of being. The subtlety of his writing is
lost on such people; he does not pretend to astonish the jaded
modern ear. But for those who are willing to study and listen
there is a vast treasure of expressiveness in his music.
Beginning with the "descendit" section the piece resumes its
joyful character. "Haec dies" is calmer in tone and is enriched
enormously from measure 53 on by the introduction of Bb,
which swings the tonal balance toward the minor dominant.
This balance is partly restored by the cadence on the final but
not completely, because the cadence is only a type of half
cadence which serves to introduce the final "exultemus" section.
The triple-measure concluding section is in a modified fa-
miliar or chordal style. The practice of ending a motet in triple
time is by no means uncommon if the text permits that is, if
the final word of it is "alleluia/* or if it is of a joyous nature, as
in the present instance. Although the section is all in triple
time it does not plod along in regularly recurring rhythms
from beginning to end. The first three measures are trochaic
in all the voices. The soprano continues with a combination of
trochee and iambus; the alto with a combination of iambus and
trochee; and the tenor with a combination of tribrach and
iambus. In the sixth measure of the section the tenor makes a
start with the theme which the soprano sang in the first meas-
ure, and in the eighth the soprano starts with the theme the alto
sang in the first. After the cadence on C in measure 78 the
soprano takes up the original alto theme in earnest, while the
tenor sings the original soprano theme, and the bass combines
the first two measures of his own theme with that of the orig-
inal tenor The piece is brought to a close by a joyous plagal
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 199
cadence so extended that the alto and tenor have a chance to
cross and recross while the soprano holds to the final and the
bass is treated in true bass fashion, skipping back and forth from
the final to the subdominant.
The treatment of dissonance in this final section is worth
noting. On the whole, it plays very little part. Only the suspen-
sion is used. Its use can best be seen if we bar the first five
measures thus:
Ex. 236
1
I
Z % . ~ '4 1
Ccl") 5^ ^
-tf.. _ r^ . _ ..
1
j* f. &. L|>
* T-L,
-* f*
1 j 1
- 1 L^"
^ J
^ -4
-? _2 " r
1
.,i> - ,..AJ
^-.' l -^
etc.
This is exactly the aural effect, since the impact of the dis-
sonance in the suspension process always creates accent. Such
treatment results in a striking and at the same time delightful
upset in the meter and prevents its becoming too regularly
triple in character. This is another illustration of the sixteenth-
century composer's dislike for monotony of rhythm and Ms
richness in means of varying it. We must never forget this
indispensable element, variety of rhythm, in good counterpoint.
The student may follow the same procedure in beginning
his study of four-part counterpoint as he did in two- and three-
200 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
part writing: lie should first practice using different dissonances
in each of the four lines, then write different cadences, and
finally use the beginnings of motets in the different modes given
below. He should examine and analyze as much music as pos-
sible, using Part II as a guide for such study.
Although in the course of his analyses he will occasionally
find devices not included in the common practice as outlined
in this book, he should forego their use until he is absolutely
sure of his technique within the common practice. The English
School departs most from what is outlined here; the sacred
music of such composers as Tallis and Byrd contains innu-
merable practices peculiar to it alone, particularly in regard to
cadence formulae. When one is thoroughly familiar with the
common practice of the time, these differences in the English
School tend to stand out all the more and to give English music
its distinguishing stamp. These departures from common prac-
tice are made, to a lesser degree perhaps, in most sacred music
by composers other than Palestrina, Lassus, and Victoria. The
main reason for adhering so rigidly to the common practice is
to acquire discipline, without which no progress can be made,
and a basic appreciation of contrapuntal technique that may
serve not only as a springboard for further technical analysis of
both earlier and later music but also as a basis for composition
itself.
The following are optional beginnings of four-part motets for
use at the start of four-part writing.
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 201
Ex. 237. i. Dorian
"
\
p 7
1 t~
1
p :,,:. ,:
x
m'.(ZL
Y~~
".
F _
"
fife- '
^
-
s'
9 -
etc.
2. Dorian
S
^
etc.
202 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
etc.
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 203
4. Phrygian
etc.
ferps
5, Mixolydian
ypi
^ ^
a
a
^=
ua
u-\
^
1 [ 1
-v.
H=^7-
ns n
i
__ _
O ^-i O K"
-LZ
+p*4-
2
i .. r i K-
- 1
Q
204 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
6. Mixolydian
etc.
-* *-
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 205
7. Aeolian
8. Aeolian
e
^
m
2 o6 SIXTEENTH-CENTURY POLYPHONY
.
etc.
9.
=5p_J_J
p_
i"
^ ^ 1
.. s
x^- '
P^ L i i
r :-^* I
fi? <^
h?y r J
( i *-'
l -^yr*~ <
^-
i_^ ^2__j
^ fc C" ^
h </
-J L_! J
^3 1
etc.
' i
p\ *
1 '
/
?5
"X
-f 2 -^ r 7 ' ^-
& h '/5
J-i p
*S-J&
f J h-
7>i, ~ | - --
4 t
APPLICATION OF CONTRAPUNTAL PRACTICE 207
10. Ionian
a*
etc.
/v
s^~
^ __ _
/T5 i-' j
^ f*~t &
r^
fl=^
!l-^\
H 1 1 1
-| 1
]|--
^(li a
b. , .- -
DB t-^
SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Volume
Palestrina: Opera omnia
Lamentation . xxv 24
Masses: Aeterna Christ! munera , . . . xrv i
Gabriel Archangelus x 80
Missa Quarta xm 45
Virtute magna x 55
Motets: Adjuro vos, filiae rv 52
Anima mea turbata est v 123
Ascendens Christus vii 55
Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas . . . v 33
Confitetnini Domino v 170
Dies sanctificatus v 3
Exaudi Domine v 107
In diebus illis v 50
Isti sunt viri sancti v 89
Jesus junxit v 23
Lapidabant Stephanum . . . . v 5
Lauda Sion salvatorem v 36
Loquebantur variis languis . . . v 29
Nativitas tua v 63
O admirabile commercium . . . i 3
O bone Jesu xxxi 145
O rex gloriae v 26
Peccantem me quotidie . . . . n 75
Sicut servus n Pars v 150
Stabat Mater . vi 96
Stella quam viderant magi . . . i 6
Tribus miraculis v 14
Hymn: Christe Redemptor viri 6
Byrd: Tudor Church Music vn 127
Vocal Wor\s of William Byrd . . . . v 27
Motet: Ave verum corpus
fosquin des Pres: Wer^en
Mass: Missa Fkomine arme, sexti toni . . . xw
212 SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Volume Page
Lassus: Sammtliche Wer\e
Motets: Octdus non vidit ' I 2
Salve Regina i 89
Penitential Psalms (ed. Hermann Bauerle)
Le Jeune: Les Maitres Muslclens xn n
Monteverdi: Tutte le Of ere
Madrigal: Ch'io ami lamia vita i i
Victoria: Opera omnia
Mass: Missa quarti toni n 81
Motet: O magnum mysterium i n
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. BOOKS ON PLAINSONG AND THE CONTRAPUNTAL
PERIOD
Adler, Guide, Handbuch der MusiJ^geschichte, vol. i (2d ed.; Berlin:
H. Keller, 1930)
Ambros, A. W., and Leichtentritt, Hugo, Geschichte der MusiJ^ 9 vol. iv
(2d ed.; Leipzig: F. E. C. Leuckart, 1909)
Arnold, J. H., Plainsong Accompaniment (London: Oxford University
Press, 1927)
Burney, Charles, A General History of Music, vol. n (new ed.; New
York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1935)
Haydon, Glen, The Evolution of the Six-Four Chord (Berkeley: Uni-
versity of California Press, 1933)
Indy, d', Vincent, Cours de corn-position musicale, vol. i (5th. ed; Paris:
Durand et fils, 1912)
Jeppesen, Knud, Kontrapunfy (Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel, 1935)
, Counterpoint (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1939), translated by Glen
Haydon
, The Style of Palestrina and the Dissonance (London: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1927)
Leichtentritt, Hugo, Geschichte der Motette (Leipzig: Breitkopf and
Hartel, 1908)
Martini, F. G., Saggio fondamentale pratico di contrapunto f 2 vols.
(Bologna, 1774)
Morris, R. O. s Contrapuntal Technique in the Sixteenth Century (Ox-
ford: The Clarendon Press, 1922)
Prunieres, Henry, Nouvelle Histoire de la musique, vol. i (Paris: Edi-
tions Rieder, 1934)
Rockstro, W. S., "Ecclesiastical Modes," Grove's Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, vol. in (3rd ed.; New York: The Macmillan Co., 1927)
Wooldridge, H. E., The Oxford History of Music, vol. n (z& ed.; Lon-
don: Oxford University Press, 1932)
, "Studies in the Technique of Sixteenth-Century Music," Musical
Antiquary, January I9i2-April 1913
2i 4 BIBLIOGRAPHY
II. COLLECTIONS OF CONTRAPUNTAL MUSIC BY
IMPORTANT COMPOSERS OF THE FIFTEENTH,
SIXTEENTH, AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES
Arnbros, A. W., Geschichte der MusiJ^, vol. v (3rd ed.; Leipzig: Breit-
kop and Hartel, 1911)
Attaingnant, Pierre, Treize Lwres de motets, ed. A. Smijers, 3 vols.
(Paris: Lyre Bird Press, 1934-38)
Byrd, William, Collected Vocal Worfa 9 vols., ed E. H. Fellowes (Lon-
don: Stainer and Bell, 1937-39)
, Tudor Church Music, vols. n, vix, ix (London: Oxford University
Press, 1922, 1927, 1928)
Chorwer\, Das, ed. Friederick Blume, 9 vols. (Wolfcnbuttd: Kallmeyer,
1929-38)
Commer, Franz, Musica Sacra, 28 vols. (Berlin: Bote and Bock, 1839-87)
Dentynaler deutscher Ton^unst (Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel, 1892-
1937)
Denfynaler der Ton^unst in Bayern (Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel,
1894-1937)
Den^maler der Tonfanst in Qsterreich (Vienna: Artaria, 1894-1937)
Des Pres, Josquin, Werfyen, ed. A. Smijers, 17 vols. (Leipzig: Kistner
and Siegel, 1925-37)
English Madrigal School, 36 vols. (London: Stainer and Bell, 1913-24)
Hispaniae Schola musica sacra, ed. Felipe Pedrell, 8 vols. (Barcelona:
Pujol, 1894-98)
Istituzione e monumentl dell' arte musicals, 5 vols. (Milan: Ricordi,
1931-34)
Lasso, Orlando di, Magnum opus musicum, odd-numbered vols. of the
Sammtliche Wer\e (Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel, 1894-1926)
,Scptem Psalmi Poenitentiales, ed. Hermann Bauerlc (Leipzig:
Breitkopf and Hartel, 1905)
Les Maitres Musiciens de la Renaissance jrangaise, ed. Henri Expert, 23
vols. (Paris: Senart, 1894-1908)
Monte, Philippi de, Opera, 26 vols. (Diisseldorf: Schwann, 1930 ?-35)
Monteverdi, Claudio, Tutte le of ere, ed. G. Francesco Malipiero, 14 vols.
(Asolo, 1926-32)
BIBLIOGRAPHY 215
Obrecht, Jakob, Wer\en, ed. Johannes Wolf, 30 vols. (Leipzig: Breit-
kopf and Hartel, 1912-21)
Ockeghem, Johannes, Sdmtliche Werfye, in Publifyationen Alterer Musi\
(Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel, 1927-)
Palestrina, da, Giovanni Pierluigi, Opera omnia (Leipzig: Breitkopf
and Hartel, 1862-1903)
Proske, Karl, Musica Diving 2 vols., 5 sees. (Regensburg, 1853-55)
Purcell, Henry, Worlds, 26 vols. (London: Novello and Co., Ltd. 1878-
1928)
Riemann, Hugo, Musifygeschichte in Beispielen (4th ed.; Leipzig: Breit-
kopf and Hartel, 1929)
Rochlitz, Friedrich, Sammlung vorzuglicker Gesangstuc\e^ 3 vols.
(Mainz: B. Schotts Sohnen, 1838-40)
Schering, Arnold, Geschichte der Musi^ in Beispielen (Leipzig: Breit-
kopf and Hartel, 1931)
Schiitz, Heinrich, Sdmmtliche Werfa ed. Philipp Spitta, 16 vols. and
supplement (Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel, 1885-94)
Tallis, Thomas, in Tudor Church Music., vol. vr (London: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1928)
Torchi, Luigi, UArte musicals in Italia, vols. i, n (Milan: Ricordi, 1897)
Tudor Church Music, 10 vols. (London: Oxford University Press, 1923-
29), octavo ed., nos. 1-68
Victoria, T. L., Opera omnia, ed. Felipe Pedrell, 8 vols. (Leipzig: Breit-
kopf and Hartel, 1902-13)
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