Fuga and invertible counterpoint in Byrd’s Cantiones sacrae (1589): some preliminary observations

Abstract

Abstract This article aims to shed light on aspects of Byrd’s contrapuntal technique—particularly in relation to the crafting of fuga (or imitation)—by subjecting to close analysis a small sample from his Cantiones sacrae (1589), and in so doing offers in effect a trailer for the study of the collection as a whole. A number of issues are raised which indicate some of the directions in which future research in this area might be taken. These include the extent to which material is, or appears to be, reused by Byrd within a motet or across different motets, or indeed whether it may be borrowed from another composer, although this is a subordinate consideration in relation to Byrd’s reuse of his own material. While passages may appear to resemble each other—because they use similar subjects—sometimes it is a superficial likeness only, and when one delves below the surface one finds that the fuga is constructed quite differently. Byrd’s use of fuga is often far from straightforward, and leads one to conjecture that at times there was likely to have been some kind of pre-compositional planning: duos with inbuilt cadence formulas arise, and at the same time complexes of triple (invertible) counterpoint are introduced that take the procedures to another level of intricacy.