Cantus Firmus Research Articles

PROTESTANT CHORALE AND METHODS OF ITS PROCESSING

The article is devoted to the consideration of the Protestant chorale, the preconditions of its origin and the first examples. The situation from the history of the early Lutheran church is described, when Martin Luther introduced communal choral singing. The main task set in the work is to analyze the main methods of processing Protestant chorales in the works of prominent Western European and domestic composers. Several vocal, instrumental and vocal-instrumental genres are considered, which are based on choral. It is noted that the most common means of processing the chorale is its harmonization, designed for both choral and organ performance. In the Renaissance and Baroque, the practice of creating figures on the choral became quite common, as well as the use of the choral as the theme of the fugue – fugue choral. Another way of elaborating the chorale was the technique of cantus firmus, while the theme of the chorale was located in the lower voice or in the tenor in rhythmic expanse, forming the basis of the whole composition. One of the leading genres of organ music – choral preludes – is considered, special attention is paid to the works of JS Bach. The principle of construction of choral fantasies is analyzed separately. Among other genres, parties, toccatas, masses, oratorios, and other works were created on the basis of chorales. In conclusion, there is a modern tendency to return to the practice of using chant in the liturgy in its original form, as they sounded earlier.

Contrapunto Fugato: A First Step Toward Composing in the Mind

Abstract Jessie Ann Owens marshaled evidence of a stage in Renaissance compositional process that did not use writing; Julie Cumming believes it was composers’ training as choirboys, which included improvisation, that enabled them to do this; and I propose that what they were doing was contrapunto pensado, Lusitano’s “thought-out” counterpoint, a category lying between on-the-spot improvisation and composition. This article details strategies for “composing in the mind” as it might have applied to a particular technique that singer/improvisers learned early on (after note-names, intervals, and rhythmic notation), called contrapunto fugato. It consists of singing a freely invented line containing repetitions of a motive against a cantus firmus (CF) in long equal values. Although this technique is easy to describe, no one has investigated the difficulties that are involved in repeating a motive against a CF. I will show what needs to be thought out beforehand (pensado) and what needs to be held in the mind so that the result can be sung immediately or written down later. The strategies that I “reverse engineer” from Lusitano’s examples give concrete reality to this ephemeral practice and offer a useful tool for our own pedagogy, for thinking about Renaissance music, and for refining our concept of improvisation. Lusitano’s examples are supplemented by examples by Banchieri and Ortiz.

AntsOMG: A Framework Aiming to Automate Creativity and Intelligent Behavior with a Showcase on Cantus Firmus Composition and Style Development

Creative behavior is one of the most fascinating areas in intelligence. The development of specific styles is the most characteristic feature of creative behavior. All important creators, such as Picasso and Beethoven, have their own distinctive styles that even non-professional art lovers can easily recognize. Hence, in the present work, attempting to achieve cantus firmus composition and style development as well as inspired by the behavior of natural ants and the mechanism of ant colony optimization (ACO), this paper firstly proposes a meta-framework, called ants on multiple graphs (AntsOMG), mainly for roughly modeling creation activities and then presents an implementation derived from AntsOMG for composing cantus firmi, one of the essential genres in music. Although the mechanism in ACO is adopted for simulating ant behavior, AntsOMG is not designed as an optimization framework. Implementations can be built upon AntsOMG in order to automate creation behavior and realize autonomous development on different subjects in various disciplines. In particular, an implementation for composing cantus firmi is shown in this paper as a demonstration. Ants walk on multiple graphs to form certain trails that are composed of the interaction among the graph topology, the cost on edges, and the concentration of pheromone. The resultant graphs with the distribution of pheromone can be interpreted as a representation of cantus firmus style developed autonomously. Our obtained results indicate that the proposal has an intriguing effect, because significantly different styles may be autonomously developed from an identical initial configuration in separate runs, and cantus firmi of a certain style can be created in batch simply by using the corresponding outcome. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, the presented implementation is immediately applicable to the creation of cantus firmi and possibly other music genres with slight modifications. Second, AntsOMG, as a meta-framework, may be employed for other kinds of autonomous development with appropriate implementations.

Variation Cycles of Mark Andre Hamelin: Composer Interpretation of the Genre

Relevance of the study. Variation form is one of the most popular forms that for many centuries of its existence continues to attract the attention of composers, performers, and has a welldeveloped theoretical basis in musicology. One example of this creative interpretation varicent acts composing the heritage of the Canadian piano virtuoso M.-A. Hamelin, who in his variation cycles demonstrates a new approach to their interpretation. Among them is the use of methods of variation, which were used in the music of the XV–XVI centuries, for example, coloring, the imitation of the composition specifics cantus firmus. M.-A. Hamelin also uses very peculiar means of variation, which are not taken into account in traditional classifications and require separate consideration among which are methods of parody, working with the model, the principle of variation.The Main objective of the study is to determine interpretation’s specifics of the variation cycle in the composer's work of M.-A. Hamelin. Since the composer's legacy and the specifics of the artist's individual style have not yet received full scientific coverage, this determines the relevance of the chosen theme.Methodology the study is based on an integrated approach which is based on the structural-functional, genre-stylistic, historical and monographic methods. The methodological basis consists of scientific works are devoted to the variational forms, varicent and variability, a review of contemporary composition techniques, artistic techniques for working with borrowed thematic material, and specifics of the individual composing style.Results and conclusions. The genre of variations, has a long history of development in the composition and performing arts, continues to be relevant in the XXI century, attracting the attention of contemporary artists. Confirmation of this can be the composing work of Canadian piano virtuoso M.-A. Hamelin, whose embodiment of this genre is quite original. Interpreting the cycles individually, the composer demonstrates concert-virtuoso and chamber samples. Each of them has an original solution in terms of compositional construction of the whole, and in detail. Typical for the interpretation of this genre is the use within one work of much more foreign thematic material than stated by the composer in the title. Quite often, the artist tends to cross-cutting development, combining several variations of the cycle, while clearly cutting sections of the form. The artist applies the methods of variation inherent in the music of the XV–XVI centuries. Coloring, imitation of the specific composition on cantus firmus, which are manifested in modified melodic and rhythmic structure of the original in such a way that the main reference melodic-rhythmic and harmonic outlines are preserved providing thematism recognition of its original source. Also the composer's style as a whole and the interpretation of the variation cycle is characterized by the introduction of citation material in re-arranged, not original form.Significance. The obtained results can be used for a deeper understanding of the specifics of the individual composer style of M.-A. Hamelin, as well as some trends in the modern development of piano art

To Sing Upon the Book: Oral and Written Counterpoint in Early Modern Europe

During the fifteenth century, many musici thought of counterpoint as an improvisational practice in which certain procedures were employed to produce a musical texture in which interest lay in the interplay of two or more melodic lines. The improvisational practice was called singing upon the book (cantare super librum): it required one singer to realize a pre-existing melody (called a cantus firmus) inscribed in a text while one or more other singers (called concentors), reading from that same text, devised, ex tempore, a countermelody or melodies that obeyed the rules of counterpoint with respect to the cantus firmus. Similar procedures, applied in writing, produced res facta, contrapuntal texture in textual form. Counterpoint and res facta were alternative means of providing music for occasions both sacred and secular. During the sixteenth century, several factors combined to alter the relationship between improvised and written counterpoint, and by the end of the century the importance of the former was greatly diminished. The growth of music printing provided an abundance of music for a growing community of amateurs who could read music but were not interested singing upon the book. The composers responsible for this new music embraced emerging ideas that stressed the advantages of written music, which enjoyed permanence that improvised counterpoint lacked, which was usually more observant of the rules than improvised counterpoint could be, and which enhanced the reputations of the composers who created it. As a result of these developments, emphasis shifted from improvised to written counterpoint, from the procedures that produced a contrapuntal texture to the texture itself, and singing upon the book came to be seen by many not as an end in itself but as a way to sharpen composers’ skills. Marginalized by print, improvised counterpoint survived in a much reduced community, largely in Catholic France and Iberia, and eventually, for want of a musical community large enough to sustain it, ceased to be a living musical tradition.

Ограничение как творческий принцип в вокальном цикле Ханса Абрахамсена «Let me tell you»

The article focuses its attention on the vocal cycle “Let me tell you” (2013) by Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen composed on texts from the novel with the same title by Paul Griffiths. The composition is examined through the prism of a special type of artistic principle initiated by the Oulipian strategy of the writer, who constrained the verbal space of his book to the 483 words pronounced by Ophelia in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” The technique of “formal constraints” turned out to be accordant to the composer’s poetics. The work makes study of the multilevel connections between text and music and discloses the particularities of the composition’s dramaturgy. Special attention is focused on analysis of the musical material, the compositional structure and the technique. The cycle shows the synthesis of historical and contemporary compositional techniques, the former including the turn to the concitato style and to the traditions of the cantus firmus technique, and the latter including the techniques of repetition, addition and subtraction. The effects of the principle of formal constraint are traced in their reliance on the use of a set of chosen intervals (octaves, fifths and major thirds in songs Nos. 1, 4 and 6), organizing the composition on one single melodic model, as expressed by a descending hexachord, in the application of palindromic constructions and the use of numerical sets. During the course of the analysis the intonational-thematic connection between the different numbers of the cycle is disclosed, it is demonstrated how the combination and transformation of the initial material takes place, a semantic interpretation of the structural conversions, and parallels are brought in with experiments in the field of literature. Keywords: 21st century music, Hans Abrahamsen, Paul Griffiths, “Let me tell you,” OuLiPo, formal constraints, addition, subtraction.

Handel’s choruses of ‘praise and thanksgiving after victory’ and Non nobis Domine

Abstract Handel highlights several climactic moments in his works with choruses composed of closely related cantus firmus themes and contrapuntal settings. Parallels can be traced through individual sections of some of the key compositions that define his career in England: ‘Oh Lord, in thee have I trusted’, from the Utrecht Te Deum (1713), ‘Blessed be God’, from Let God arise (1717–18/1726), ‘I will sing’, from Israel in Egypt (1738), and ‘Hallelujah’ from Messiah (1741). The common purpose of giving thanks and praise to God for military victory further links these choruses. While several different melodic sources have been suggested for the cantus firmus subjects thus far, the affinity of all four of Handel’s themes to the incipit of a very well-known canon, Non nobis Domine, invites an exploration of its possible citation. The customary practice of singing the canon or reciting its psalm text at celebratory moments, modelling the psalmist’s deflection of all the honour of his accomplishments to God, makes its reference in Handel’s works highly appropriate. Understanding Handel’s multiple reuse of his choral setting in the context of this tradition deepens the relevance of his music as well as our perspective on his self-borrowing.

A FLEMISH VENUS IN MILAN: GASPAR VAN WEERBEKE’S MISSA O VENUS BANT

AbstractThe mass O Venus bant by Gaspar van Weerbeke enjoyed notable fame and diffusion, as shown by the considerable number of surviving copies. This study formulates a new hypothesis about the origin of the mass. An examination of the transmission of the mass suggests a new scenario for its composition in Milan in connection with a major political event: the alliance of the Duchy of Milan and the Duchy of Savoy with Charles the Bold in 1475. The choice of a Flemish cantus firmus is thus linked to a specific occasion related to the region in which the melody originated. Since some compositional elements can be read as intentional references to the L’Homme armé tradition, the specific context proposed for the performance of the polyphonic cycle seems particularly plausible because it can be linked to the court of Burgundy both in terms of historical and political events, as well as on the compositional and symbolic level. Finally, the possibility that Gaspar van Weerbeke was the initiator of the musical tradition of polyphonic settings of the chanson O Venus bant is explored.

Musicke both folk and fyne

Two lots of waits and wind bands, one merry band of ersatz gypsy fiddlers and two collections of a Celtic ilk make up this batch of recordings, teetering at the intersection between the ‘folk’ and the ‘fyne’ of the old adage. The extent to which the young J. S. Bach must have been steeped in music of the Stadtpfeiffer is often understated; his father was a Stadtpfeiffer in Lübeck and Arnstadt, his father-in-law Johann Caspar Wilcke in Zeitz and Weissenfels and his godfather Sebastian Nagel in Gotha. The results of the place of this rich civic wind-playing tradition in the great man’s own output are there for all to see when one thinks about it (consider the trumpet-writing in ‘Ach, mein herzliebes Jesulein’, the concluding chorale of the first Christmas Oratorio cantata). American wind band Piffaro’s exploration of north Germany wind band music of the 16th and 17th centuries viewed through a pre-Bachian lens, Back before Bach: Musical journeys (Navona nv6106, issued 2017, 61′), is therefore welcome. The recorded items are grouped by cantus firmus, as good a way as any of ordering such a texturally homogenous disc, and certainly making for easy comparison of settings. The recorded sound, however, is dry and very top-heavy; I longed for the kind of warmth and glow that, say, Challenge Classics conjures for Capella de la Torre in their exploration of instrumental music at the Council of Constance (Piffarissimo: instrumental music at the Council of Constance 1414‒1418 (Channel Classics cc72631, rec 2013, 61′)). In general, in fact, the high shawm and recorder playing here is sprightly and nimble, but the lower end of the spectrum a little more pedestrian. The session photograph inside the sleeve confirms the suspicion that the engineering team would have done well to recess the higher shawms somewhat in most instances; these are uncomfortably closely recorded, bringing every intonational flaw to the fore. The recorders are rather more sympathetically captured. I am always delighted to see a cardboard sleeve in place of a polypropylene jewel case; however, intelligently done, ecologically sound packaging can and does offer far more scope for in-depth liner notes than are present here; the only repertory note provided is a single, rather trite paragraph explaining that any composer is but one link in the long chain of compositional history—well, quite—which seems a pity in light of the rarity of some of the repertory here. Stephen (or Stephan) Mahu (or Machu)’s charming setting of ‘Christ ist erstanden’, for instance, has very rarely been recorded, and it would have been good to read the performers’ thoughts on some of the more chromatic items, such as Melchior Franck’s startling and lovely ‘Da pacem, Domine’.

ANALISIS STRUKTUR LAGU BUNGONG JEUMPA ARANSEMEN PAUL WIDYAWAN

Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyze and describe the Bungong Jeumpa song that arranged by Paul Widyawan based on melodic and harmonic principles. This type of research was qualitative with an approach to analyzing the content of objectivity of generalization structures. The theory used was the theory of understanding analysis, song structure, arrangements, choir arrangement techniques, (chord progression) and contrapung. Data in this study was taken from literature studies, interviews and experiment. The results of the study obtains that the Bungong Jeumpa song has two-part of song form, namely period A which is built two phrases, namely a and x phrases and period B which is built two phrases, namely b and a phrases'. Bungong Jeumpa song is arranged based on the structure of the song including the intro, the core part of the song and coda. In arranging, Paul Widyawan is not only based on the initial chord progression, but also developing the chord become more varied and added non harmonic tones. Cadence in Bungong Jeumpa is authentic half, imperfect authentic, perfect authentic and picardie third cadences. Patternically, the movement of the tones in the four octaves of the melody moves in a non-parallel manner. Motus is between soprano and alto tends to be parallel (motus rectus), motus is between soprano and tenor tends to deviate (motus obliqus) and motus is between soprano and bass also tends to deviate (motus obliqus). Besides, Paul Widyawan adopts the contrapung (counterpoint) theory of conventional western music which the sound on cantus firmus is not always be in the soprano (keep moving). Keywords: Analysis, song structure, chord and cadence progression, motus and contrapung.

Das <em>Patrem</em> im Buxheimer Orgelbuch (Nr. 222)

Seit die Musikwissenschaft sich mit dem Buxheimer Orgelbuch beschäftige, glaubten die Forscher (Schrade, Southern)Patrem (Nr. 222), es basiere auf dem Credo IV der Editio Vaticana. Außerdem wurde es ais unvollständig angesehen. Der Cantus firmus kommt jedoch aus einem „strophischen" Credo des 14. oder 15. Jahrhunderts. Davon verwendet das Patrem im Buxheimer Orgelbuch eine Strophe und kann deshalb als vollständig gelten. Liturgische Quellen aus jener Zeit lassen Rückschlüsse auf eine spezielle Alternatim-Praxis beim Credo zu. Nicht selten endete das Singen bei ,,et homo factus est". Der Rest wurde von der Orgel gespielt. Aus der damaligen Zeit sind auch mehrere zweistimmige Credo-Sätze überliefert. Die Version in elm 5023 der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München ähnelt in ihrem Beginn dem Patrem Nr. 222 so sehr, daß man vermuten kann, die Orgelbearbeitung sei eine Intavolierung. Eine andere Art von Unvollständigkeit präsentiert die Faksimile-Ausgabe von Bertha Antonia Wallner. Als man 1955 ein gesäubertes Faksimile erstellte, wurden zahlreiche im Original vorhandene Flecken entfernt, einer davon befand sich im Patrem. Mit ihm verschwand ein ganzer Akkord.

Francisco Guerrero héritier de la tradition franco-flamande: onze pièces basées sur un ostinato

Dans son œuvre religieuse, Francisco Guerrero exploite à plusieurs reprises un type de composition contrapuntique relativement peu répandu à son époque: l'écriture sur cantus firmus ostinato. Pour les musicologues germaniques, ceci représente une des formes ultimes du motet isorythmique médiéval. Le travail architectural, particulièrement soigné, y est ordonné par une véritable arithmétique musicale, issue de l'ars música mathematica. Guerrero honore ainsi la tradition de ses prédécesseurs, illustrée par le Miserere à 5 voix de Josquin des Prés. Il suit également son maître Cristobal de Morales en lui empruntant, semble-t-il, quelques modèles. Mais son écriture sait se mettre au goût du jour, et confère à l'ostinato un sens et une efficacité oratoires dignes d'un grand rhétoricien. Cet aspect de sa personnalité musicale s'unit harmonieusement à son côté novateur -celui des villancicos et des motets polychorauxpour témoigner de son génie universel.

How Du You Compose Yourself?

HOW DU YOU COMPOSE YOURSELF?1 CARLTON GAMER The act of composing is not just arranging abstract patterns. . . . The composer must give some thought, direct some intuition, toward the person in the music. . . . The person in the music is in the structures of the music, for the substance of the music is nothing but its structures. . . . Composing is then really like giving birth, or raising a child. . . . To compose is to help create another. . . . —John Rahn2 COMING TO BE OMPOSITION BEGINS WITH CONCEPTION, an idea or general notion that forms in the mind of the composer, more often than not expressible in natural language and involving both musical and extramusical elements. Here are some such ideas in natural language: • From a Venetian cantatrice who was also the mother of four children, her idea: to compose a setting of a poem by the librettist Aurelio Aureli as an aria for solo voice and lute, to be sung by the composer herself and published in a collection dedicated to her C 580 Perspectives of New Music patron Sophia, Duchess of Brünswick-Lünburg. (Barbara Strozzi, 1664.)3 • From a Habsburg vice-Kapellmeister a hundred years later: to compose a symphony in four movements, the first movement to be an adagio—as was the case with the sonata da chiesa of the preceding era—rather than the expected allegro, and without precedent featuring a pair of English horns in all movements. (Franz Joseph Haydn, 1764.)4 • From a self-taught English freelancer in the waning years of the Romantic century: to compose a set of variations based on an original theme that is itself a variation of another theme never stated. Each of the variations is to characterize a friend of the composer, and “these personages comment or reflect on the original theme & each one attempts a solution of the Enigma, for so the theme is called.” (Edward Elgar, 1898.)5 • And from a restless modernist (Russia, Ukraine, Switzerland, Paris): a piece for eight instruments, inspired by a dream: “I saw myself in a small room surrounded by a small group of instrumentalists playing some attractive music. . . . I looked again and saw that they were playing bassoons, trombones, trumpets, a flute, and a clarinet. I awoke from this little concert in a state of great delight and anticipation and the next morning began to compose the Octuor, which I had had no thought of the day before, though for some time I had wanted to write an ensemble piece––not incidental music like Histoire du soldat, but an instrumental sonata.” (Igor Stravinsky, 1922.)6 Concurrently with the initial idea, there arise in the creator’s mind a rudimentary schema and one or more purely musical expressions, mere fragments perhaps. (Such expressions may even pre-exist, in the form of previous sketches for yet-unknown ends.) These musical expressions , together with the rudimentary schema, signal the emergence of the person in the music. Strozzi begins her setting with a ciaccona ground, the familiar fournote lamento, which then underlays her octave-spanning love-sick cry “Che si può fare? Che, che . . .” (“What can be done?”). A schema is immediately suggested: a continuous chain of variations over this ground, with periodic repetitions of the opening phrase as a ritornello. (See Example 1.) How Du You Compose Yourself? 581 Haydn’s adagio begins with a two-measure motto for two horns ff, answered by another two measures for two English horns ff. This fourmeasure phrase is accompanied by a walking bass consisting of all the strings in unisons and octaves, p, con sordini, and staccato, yielding a texture of two-part species counterpoint with the melody of the horns and English horns as cantus firmus. The prospective schema here is unclear. Will we be hearing a continuation of the counterpoint throughout this movement, or will a secondary subject occur? And what role will the English horns play? (See Example 2.) Elgar discovers his theme by improvising at the piano, and later he creates some variations on it in the same way before deciding to orchestrate his work. The theme, in G minor and a b a form, begins with an a section that is seven measures long...

Architectonic integrity of the polyphonic composition in the aspect of discourse-analysis

Relevance of the study. The application of the concepts of architectonics and tectonics to a polyphonic work in order to reveal the basic differences in the logical structure of imitative and non-imitative polyphony is undertaken for the first time.Main objective of the study is a discourse analysis of the architectonic integrity of polyphonic work on the texture and thematic levels, in conditions of imitative and non-imitative polyphony.Methodology of the study. The application of the discursive approach makes it possible to investigate the ratio of the general tectonic archetypes of a musical work (as a kind of “linguistic” principles with their typical model) and a polyphonic musical work in its chronotypologically defined genre-compositional discursive practice (as a givenness of a musical speech). The projection of the concept of “arched” architectonics (V. Moskalenko) to a polyphonic structure makes it possible to differentiate it into simultaneous (“contrapuntal”), succession (polyphonic) and resultant (synthesizing) varieties, in consideration of the multipartite and specific branching of the texture landscape of the polyphonic work by horizontal, vertical and diagonal simultaneously.Results and conclusions. The architectonic integrity of the polyphonic product is considered. It was revealed that the specificity of the polyphonic work, unlike the harmonious by its structure multivoiced music, is displayed primarily in its “texture landscape”. It found that in non-imitative polyphonic genres and forms (polymelodic and isorhythmic motets of the epochs Ars Antiqua and Ars Nova, contrapuntal or polythematical chorale arrangement on the cantus firmus, ostinato polyphonic variations, etc.), due to their many-tierity and gravitation toward compositional segmentation, the predominant effect of the simultaneous type of architectonic integrity is observed. In imitation polyphony (in particular, in ricercar or fugue), coordination “along the diagonal” causes the resulting type of architectonic thinking of the interpreter.

Jean Mouton: Canon, Cantus Firmus, and the ‘Combinative Impulse’ in Motets for Five Voices

Howard Mayer Brown’s 1991 article on Jean Mouton’s motets for six voices provides the starting point for this study, which examines the composer’s distinctive use of canons and varied contrapuntal combinations in several penitential motets for five voices. The canon for two of the voices in Peccantem me quotidie has been incorrectly realized in modern editions, and a new solution is proposed. Another motet, Antequam comedam suspiro, combines a main text from the Book of Job with a cantus firmus from a French song, Je ris et si ay la lerme. The work has resisted a convincing musical realization. The cryptic verbal canon for the cantus firmus poses a riddle for the singers, but, when solved, the altered version of the cantus firmus creates a symbolic re-enactment of Job’s words from the main text. Brown emphasized Mouton’s profusion of musical ideas, and the contemporary music theorist Heinrich Glarean singled out Mouton’s ‘freedom of texture’ and his smoothly flowing melodic lines. The analyses draw on methods developed in John Milsom’s writings on the ‘combinative impulse’. The works examined here reveal another aspect of the composer: a rugged single-mindedness that focuses on a few compact motives in ever-changing contrapuntal configurations. These findings challenge the received image of Mouton’s musical style and a more complex reading for several of the five-voice motets is offered.

Cantus and Cantus Firmi: Solving Puzzles in Three Fifteenth-Century Masses for the Annunciation

The Missae Ecce ancilla Domini by Du Fay, Regis, and Ockeghem together incorporate no fewer than eight different chants from the Annunciation liturgy into their complex polyphonic web, the antiphon Ecce ancilla Domini being common to all three. On what basis did these composers select these particular chants, and what can their choices tell us about the connections between these three mass settings, their origin in particular local liturgical traditions, and their intended function? Using these three masses as exemplars, this essay demonstrates how the Cantus database can assist scholars working on chant-based sacred polyphony in their quest to solve mysteries about not only the sources and functions of plainsong cantus firmi, but also about the polyphonic works themselves.

Между произведением и импровизацией: о форме существования музыки на пересечении культурных традиций

At the focus of the article’s attention lies the form of existence of music, which has been practiced from the Middle Ages to the present day. It does not possess its own term and, as a rule, it is referred to “improvisation”. According to the author of the article, this form of music existence has an independent meaning and holds an intermediate position between “composition” and “improvisation”. Its necessary condition is the presence of a “basic note musical text”, which forms the foundation for improvisation. Its function may be taken by either a monophonic cantus firmus (as in the practice of “singing over a book”), and original polyphonic music by a composer (as in the practice of intabulation). Specific manifestations of this form include certain genres of music from the Middle Ages – for example, contrapuntal additions to cantus firmus lines, intavolation and “singing over the book” from Renaissance music, improvisation in any particular genre (fugue, ricercar, etc.), the practice of playing harmonies over figured bass and the unmeasured preludes from the Baroque era, as well as improvised cadenzas in solo concerto of the Classical and Romantic periods. Keywords: musical composition, improvisation, promptum, culture of musical activity, form of musical existence, musical ontology.

Vocal polyphony from and around Lassus

This selection of CDs brings together secular and sacred vocal polyphony from the 16th century, both a cappella and accompanied. The discs are reviewed in chronological order, starting with motets associated with a Ferrarese convent and ending with music found in the library of the Latin School in Freiberg, Saxony. The main body of this newly released repertory consists of sacred and secular music by the pan-European composer Orlande de Lassus, who worked as a composer in Italy, the Low Countries and the German Lands. Lassus is also a historical connecting figure between Italian convent music and Saxon music of Freiberg Cathedral. We begin with the earliest repertory in this bouquet of motet recordings, a collection of anonymous motets from Italy performed by the ensembles Musica Secreta and Celestial Sirens, directed by Laurie Stras and Deborah Roberts. In her vivid liner notes to Lucrezia Borgia’s daughter (Obsidian cd717, issued 2017, 72′), Laurie Stras gives insight into the life and musical production of Borgia’s daughter Leonora d’Este (1515–75) who was a Clarissan nun in the convent of Corpus Domini in Ferrara. Stras connects Leonora d’Este and her convent with the 1543 Scotto print of anonymous motets Musica quinque vocum motteta materna lingua vocata—the motets that feature on this recording—and even suggests Leonora to be the unidentified composer of the motets. The pieces in Musica … materna lingua vocata are among the most progressive motets of the 1540s and are technically refined: they are written for voci pari—a small (in this case, female) voice range of only two octaves—and their initial melodies are often drawn from chant. Most of the motets themselves are freely imitative and not based on a cantus firmus or canon. This makes a delightful repertory for the ensembles that recorded the Musica … materna lingua vocata, whose members range from teenagers to women in their sixties—reminiscent of nuns in a convent. The motets emphasize the technical ability of the ensembles’ singers. Here, voices blend and complement each other, yet every single voice remains audible as an individual. Some pieces include the organ and bass viol as accompanying instruments in a lower register. This leads to a varied listening experience. The diverse pieces—ranging from Matins settings to responsories, hymns to Vespers settings—illustrate the music of the liturgical hours in 16th-century monastic life. The recording offers a variety of soundscapes that 16th-century churchgoers would have experienced, depending on where they sat in the cathedral. The liner notes include the motet texts with translation, their liturgical function, and corresponding saint’s days as well as the participating musicians of each track. This disc is a compelling addition to the growing body of recorded music that is associated with women composers and monastic music of early modern Europe.

Composition Lessons with Bach

Composition Lessons with Bach Kevin Korsyn (bio) J. S. Bach's unfinished Air with Variations in C Minor BWV 991, from the 1722 Clavierbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach, consists of a sixteen-measure binary theme with two variations, all in different stages of incompleteness. Some scholars believe this fragmentary state was intentional, especially since the variations follow another unfinished work, the Fantasia in C Major BWV 573, in the manuscript. According to Peter Williams, "there does seem to be a teaching program of sorts here … four various 'cues' or 'models' for the student to continue."1 Whether or not Bach designed BWV 991 as a set of compositional exercises, it works well for this purpose. Here I will focus on the first variation (mm. 17–32), which consists of a single melodic line with no other voices, using it as the basis for a progressive series of projects in composition or improvisation suitable for an undergraduate course in eighteenth-century counterpoint. In project 1, students add a bass line entirely in eighth notes below the cantus firmus, while in project 2 they add a bass in constant sixteenth notes; these two assignments provide a transition from work students may have done in strict species counterpoint in the Fux tradition to more free types of composition. Project 3 is designed to sound more like "real" music, since students add two voices in free rhythms under the cantus firmus. All three tasks complement previous training in figured bass. Instead of working upward from a given bass, now they work from a given upper voice. The music for variation 1 is shown in example 1; I have renumbered the measures as 1–16 and will refer to this as the cantus firmus.2 Since the cantus firmus has two sections, an instructor could subdivide all three projects into two parts, so that students can get feedback after doing half the exercise. Why choose this as the basis for counterpoint projects? The most obvious answer is that if Williams is correct—and I think he is—Bach himself sanctioned it as a task for his students to complete. Even if this is true, however, one must still ask what Bach might have expected his students to learn by completing this fragment. I suspect the melody [End Page 227] was used because its varied rhythms and intervals pose a number of contrapuntal challenges within a relatively compact space. At the same time, however, there is an element of arbitrariness in any decision about what to include or omit in any curriculum, and there are probably dozens of other melodies that would work equally well. My pedagogical methods in this essay are eclectic, synthesizing a variety of models and sources, including some that would have been familiar to Bach, as well as more current approaches involving schemata, formal functions, and the recent revival of the partimento tradition.3 Thomas Attwood's records of his studies with Mozart also provided an important inspiration for projects 1 and 2. Mozart assigned an eight-measure melody to use for a series of exercises in writing bass diminutions; before Attwood was allowed to add any inner voices, he had to compose a series of increasingly intricate bass lines, starting with a skeletal line in mostly quarter notes, then doing one in constant eighth notes, and finally one in constant sixteenth notes. In my classes, I have found it helpful to discuss Mozart's meticulous corrections of Attwood's bass lines with students working on the Bach cantus firmus, despite some obvious stylistic differences between the two melodies.4 The oral nature [End Page 228] of contrapuntal pedagogy has left many gaps in the record. Mozart's criteria for evaluating Attwood's solutions, for example, are clear; less clear, however, are the instructions he might have given Attwood on how to create those solutions. My pedagogy here is an attempt to fill in those gaps in the oral record, while also preparing students for the more complex tasks of project 3. Project 1: Add a Bass in Eighth Notes below the Cantus Firmus Since "know thy cantus firmus" is the first commandment of working with given material, students should...

“Good-bye Genre!”

The paper examines methodological approaches to sixteenth-century settings that do not have a cantus firmus and are not based on vocal models, such as toccatas, intonations, preludes, and similar forms. In the first part of the paper, the results of these analytical methods as they relate to instrumental music genres before 1600 are summarized and critically examined. In the second part, the author proposes another methodological approach for this repertoire, namely, the use of musical commonplaces, thus fundamentally altering the perspective of how this repertoire is viewed.