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"Ex centro" improvisation - Sketches for a theory of sound progressions in the early baroque
"Ex centro" improvisation - Sketches for a theory of sound progressions in the early baroque
Johannes MenkeRelated Papers
Eighteenth Century Music
'These are the tones commonly used': The Tonos de Canto de Órgano in Spanish Baroque Music TheoryIn the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, composers and music theorists moved away from the system of the eight ecclesiastical modes that had been elaborated by medieval theorists and was later applied to polyphonic music (including the varied system extended to twelve modes in the sixteenth century) toward modern bi-modal tonality. Although several modal systems coexisted within this time period, a new system of eight modes or tones, often known in modern studies as the church keys, developed as a practical solution to problems associated with the performance of psalms and other recited formulas (especially the Magnificat) in alternatim practice between the choir in plainchant and the organ. A scarcity of research on this topic within investigations of Spanish music prompts us to outline an introduction to a matter so crucial to music theory of the baroque period in Spain. Thus, we present a general view of the church keys or tones in Spanish treatises over a long period of two centuries, and focus briefly on particular features of individual authors.
In this chapter I will examine the significance and extent of extempore polyphonies in Spain during the Renaissance period, studying their diffusion as a daily practice, and their place in the musical training of young singers. The first part of the chapter will be centered on the practice and transmission of contrapunto, usually learned and performed “por razón”, that is, according to the rules of music, within Spanish capillas musicales. The second part of the chapter is concerned with the other tradition of oral polyphony, often learned and performed “por uso”, which was frequently called “cantar fabordón”.
Authors such as Knud Jeppesen, with his work on Palestrina (The Style of Palestrina and the Dissonance), and Harold K. Andrews (The Technique of Byrd’s Vocal Polyphony) have proposed taxonomies for Renaissance music, based primarily on dissonance treatment. However, there has been much less discussion in the literature of formal issues in Renaissance music: which types of musical material characterize openings, and which suggest development or continuation. This approach recalls William Caplin’s analytic method in Classical Form, in which he shows how each small musical unit has a particular formal function in creating the overall shape of a composition. Peter N. Schubert’s work in this area, in his article “A Lesson from Lassus: Form in the Duos of 1577,” and his text, Modal Counterpoint: Renaissance Style, is a point of departure for the current study. In his text, Schubert identifies “presentation types,” brief imitative or non-imitative musical units that characterize openings, loosely analogous to Caplin’s “basic idea.” In Schubert’s article, he describes how Renaissance composers employed varied repetition of these openings to create longer formal units. Similarly, Jessie Ann Owens, in Composers at Work, has noted how Renaissance composers design short, multi-voiced “modules,” around which they construct longer formal units (such “modules” recall Joseph Kerman’s notion of “cell technique,” first expounded in “Old and New in Byrd’s Cantiones Sacrae”). These authors proceed from the assumption that Renaissance composers did indeed concern themselves with form, insofar as they strove toward designing long, musically unified sections from a brief opening idea. Schubert’s work focuses on presentation types that are possible in a thin texture, namely, the imitative duo and the non-imitative module. Schubert also discusses imitative presentation in three or more voices, which he defines as a canon (an imitative duo with extra voices added at a consistent time interval of imitation). However, Schubert domits certain other possibilities in three or more voices, in which characteristics of the imitative module and non-imitative duo are blended into a hybrid presentation type. This paper, extending Schubert’s principles, proposes additional presentation types with which Byrd can begin a formal unit. These types, beginning with Schubert’s original three (imitative duo, non-imitative module and canon), will be examined, starting with presentation types in two voices, and proceeding through more intricate types in three and four voices. To list two of many possible hybrids that blend features of Schubert’s three presentation types: in a three-voice texture, two of the voices could form an imitative duo while a third voice provides homophonic support (semi-imitative presentation). Similarly, in four voices, a supporting part could underpin a three-voice canon (accompanied canon). After introducing these presentation types, I will demonstrate how William Byrd distinguishes between opening gestures of varying musical weight and formal location in a composition by the kind of presentation type he uses to begin a formal unit. Byrd uses a limited number of presentation types at the beginning of a composition, but permits a wider range of initiating possibilities later in a work. Still other presentation types are unlikely to occur as beginnings at all, but rather arise from later variation and development of material whose initial presentation had been straightforward. A feature of hybrid presentation types that is significant for their formal shape is their tendency to combine elements of presentation with elements of development. For example, a three-voice canon could combine the presentation of an imitative duo (formed by the first two entries) with its immediate transposed repetition (created by the second and third entries). This blending of beginning and middle (development) characteristics is a unique feature of Renaissance style that makes problematic the establishment of fixed categories of presentation and continuation, a problem that less often arises in post-Renaissance music. In Byrd’s music, and by extension, that of his contemporaries, the musical surface demands a more flexible approach in determining points of demarcation between formal building blocks: often, the opening presentational unit will blend imperceptibly with its subsequent continuation. Finally, I will show how the developmental procedures inherent in hybrid presentation types points toward certain variation techniques (transposition, invertible counterpoint, textural thickening) that Byrd employs to develop his musical ideas. Using examples from Byrd’s three sets of Cantiones Sacrae (published 1575, 1589 and 1591), I will illustrate how a Renaissance composer can vary and expand initiating units to create a long span of musical material. I will furthermore show how this progression of material divides into presentation, continuation and conclusion units, based on the contrapuntal techniques that the composer uses in each of these three formal locations.
2001 •
Sociology and anthropology
Composing Conventions: The First Universal Aspect of Moda-De-Viola2017 •
This article aims to address the song-form of moda-de-viola: a music genre considered genuinely Brazilian and of rural origin; however, it was disseminated by the record industry throughout the twentieth century. The issue will be addressed by analyzing the constituent elements of this musical genre, which was based on a bibliographical review of authors who have systematically studied the topic, which was in contrast to studies conducted by the author of this article. So, the exposition of this analysis will be accomplished by revealing the elements that are necessarily present in every moda-de-viola, followed by those elements which eventually appear on compositions. This exposition will, however, be preceded by an introduction that seeks to contextualize the relevance of this reflection for the study of moda-de-viola itself. This argument is readdressed in the final considerations of the article, which looks forward to presenting new research possibilities suggested (or reopened)...
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