On the Relationship Between Meantone Temperament and Counterpoint in the Early Baroque

Abstract

This article considers how meantone temperament relates to two important contrapuntal techniques in the early Baroque: stretto fuga and sequence. I focus on ensemble works intended for keyboard accompaniment by Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries, Giovanni Rovetta and Chiara Margarita Cozzolani. As early as 1609, the organist-composer Adriano Banchieri expresses how an ensemble should be tuned to match the meantone keyboard. I show how this practice required composers to adhere to two meantone limitations that I describe in the first part of the study: (1) the meantone gamut and (2) Banchieri's "rule of strict counterpoint." Despite the name of Banchieri's rule, I explain how the rule actually pertains to meantone temperament. The second part of the study considers the contrapuntal ramifications of these two meantone limitations. I account for two- and three-part stretto fuga and the most common sequences in the early Baroque. I illustrate how accidentals, contrapuntal adjustments, transposition intervals, and even the overall length of passages all relate to the two meantone limitations. Accounting for the relationship between temperament and counterpoint unveils a hidden force governing contrapuntal choices in the early Baroque and provides analysts with a new method for approaching this repertoire.