Counterpoint and Partimento: Methods of Teaching Composition in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples by Peter van Tour

Abstract

Counterpoint and Partimento: Methods of Teaching Composition in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples. By Peter van Tour. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis; Studia Musicologica Upsaliensia, no. 25.) Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet, 2015. [318 p. ISBN 9789155491970. $82.50.] Music examples, companion Web sites, tables, appendices, bibliography, index.The compositional, cognitive, and pedagogical history of eighteenth-century music and musicians has experienced a groundswell in contemporary scholarship. Still in its nascence a few short decades ago, several important studies have propelled these challenging topics to a position of prominence in the field (Robert O. Gjerdingen, Music in the Galant Style [New York: Oxford University Press, 2007]; Rosa Cafiero, Early Reception of Neapolitan Partimento Theory in France: A Survey, Journal of Music Theory 51, no. 1 [2007]: 137-59; and Giorgio Sanguinetti, The Art of Partimento: History, Theory, and Practice [New York: Oxford University Press, 2012]; to name but a few). As the de facto nucleus of eighteenth-century musical training, Naples and its population of teachers and composers have garnered particular attention. Unlike their French and German contemporaries, who penned lengthy treatises, Neapolitan musicians left precious little prose or explication con- cerning their work for posterity; an eighteenth-century Neapolitan treatise often contains little more than opaque examples and exercises in composition or improvisation, rendering a rich historiography exceedingly difficult.A portion of this historiography is precisely what Peter van Tour constructs in his 2015 dissertation, Counterpoint and Partimento: Methods of Teaching Composition in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples, published by Acta Universitatis Upsalienis as number 25 of the series Studia Musicologica Upsaliensia. This important volume elucidates complex relationships among a web of eighteenth-century primary sources and historical accounts, many of which have been previously misunderstood, misattributed, or given little attention. The clarification and nuance that Counterpoint and Partimento provides is essential to a deep understanding of the methods and materials of Neapolitan musical training.As Giorgio Sanguinetti admits in The Art of Partimento, the very act of defining is a tricky endeavor, given that Italian treatises rarely provide satisfactory definitions themselves. The effective working definition that he proposes is potential musical works; that is, while a partimento is most often a bass line, it also contains complex implications for voice leading, melody, and even imitation (Sanguinetti, pp. 167, 11). Van Tour defines his primary terms (counterpoint and partimento) as follows:By 'counterpoint' I mean the process of conceiving independent melodic progressions according to principles fixed beforehand, both written and improvised, in two or more parts, freely or against pre-existing material, such as a cantus firmus, or a soggetto cavato, a partimento bass, a melody, the hexachordal scale, etc. 'Partimento' is understood as a notational device, commonly written on a single staff in the F clef, either figured or unfigured, applied both in playing and in writing activities, and used for developing skills in the art of accompaniment, improvisation, diminution and counterpoint. (p. 19)In light of its various purposes and deployments, van Tour traces the essential paths toward partimento, including practical exercises at the keyboard, diminution, and acquiring contrapuntal skills such as invertible counterpoint, imitation, and fugue (p. 20).As he situates his research in the context of existing scholarship, van Tour argues that previous studies of various methods and materials utilized at Neapolitan conservatories have, in some cases, reached insufficient depth. In particular, he addresses Jesse Rosenberg's 1995 dissertation, in which Rosenberg tackles the specific characteristics of the two rival Neapolitan schools: one following the teachings of Francesco Durante (1684-1755) and the other following the teachings of Leonardo Leo (1694-1744) (Jesse Rosenberg, Experimental Music of Pietro Raimondi [Ph. …