In the Istitutioni harmoniche, Zarlino describes a compositional process in which a countermelody... more In the Istitutioni harmoniche, Zarlino describes a compositional process in which a countermelody that is introduced against a principal soggetto can itself become a soggetto for the next phrase, and the process can be repeated in subsequent phrases. This study shows how comporre di fantasia functions in passages from Martini, Févin, Isaac, and Josquin. The technique can also inform our understanding of canon composition, which is illustrated with two examples by Pierre de la Rue. For the study of canons at different time intervals, I also invoke the neglected theories of Robert Morris, Robert Gauldin, and Immanuel Ott. Comporre di fantasia is a structural category that provides insight into compositional process in Renaissance polyphony.
In this paper I begin by listing the improvised contrapuntal techniques that are found in various... more In this paper I begin by listing the improvised contrapuntal techniques that are found in various Renaissance treatises. Many are explicitly intended for boys singing in the liturgy, but some (those found in Lusitano and Sancta Maria) are clearly intended for the keyboard. During the conference I have demonstrated some of these techniques with the help of volunteers from the audience. Many of the techniques are identical whether sung or played (adding a repeating motive to a CF, adding two lines in parallel tenths to a CF, and stretto fuga, for instance). The problem that faces us is lack of evidence as to whether and how these techniques were transferred. Did students learn to sing first? To play? I will focus on contrapunto fugato and stretto fuga, and show some differences between keyboard and vocal improvisation.
The authors report on experiments they have run using the computer to search a small corpus of Re... more The authors report on experiments they have run using the computer to search a small corpus of Renaissance pieces (the famous Lassus duos of 1577) for recurring contrapuntal combinations. They liken these combinations (or ‘modules’ as Jessie Ann Owens has called them) to words in a text, and the process of finding them, to work done by linguists such as John Sinclair on large corpora of text. The program used was devised by a team at McGill University as part of the ELVIS (‘Electronic Locator of Vertical Interval Successions’) project. The interval successions are identified by the vertical intervals and the melodic motions that connect them, in the manner of Tinctoris’s counterpoint treatise (1477), which illustrates most of the possible ways two vertical intervals can be connected. The authors find that some short interval successions appear, as we would expect, in repetitions of thematic material (i.e. as parts of soggetti associated with specific text phrases). Others, however, occur in apparently run-of-the-mill counterpoint: in the middle of words, in the middle of melismas, across phrase boundaries and embellished in a variety of ways. These often exhibit surprising consistency as to semitone position and possible modal associations.
Background in Music Technology The use of a MIDI-audio alignment algorithm to identify notes onse... more Background in Music Technology The use of a MIDI-audio alignment algorithm to identify notes onsets and offsets and a fundamental frequency estimation algorithm to extract frequency information allows for intonation-related information to be extracted automatically from recordings of the singing voice. This expedites the extraction of performance data from the recordings compared to manual methods, allowing for a larger number of performances to be analysed.
Background in Music Technology The use of a MIDI-audio alignment algorithm to identify notes onse... more Background in Music Technology The use of a MIDI-audio alignment algorithm to identify notes onsets and offsets and a fundamental frequency estimation algorithm to extract frequency information allows for intonation-related information to be extracted automatically from recordings of the singing voice. This expedites the extraction of performance data from the recordings compared to manual methods, allowing for a larger number of performances to be analysed.
This study applies Kofi Agawu's proposed method for analyzing texted music (1992), in which the m... more This study applies Kofi Agawu's proposed method for analyzing texted music (1992), in which the music and the text are analyzed separately before they are considered together, to an early madrigal by Willaert. Focusing primarily on counterpoint, I offer a detailed study of Willaert's complex compositional technique. I show that he responded to the poem in many ways, but at the same time he made many purely musical decisions. Finally, I consider what his motivations for these decisions might have been and enumerate musical means he used to respond to the different aspects of his text.
... 1968) ch. 18; Illuminato Aiguino: II tesoro illuminato di tutti i tuoni di canto figurato (Ve... more ... 1968) ch. 18; Illuminato Aiguino: II tesoro illuminato di tutti i tuoni di canto figurato (Venice, 1581) Bk. I, ch. 42 and Bk. II, chs. 29-30; and Scipione Cerreto: Della prattica musicale (Naples, 16o01) pp. 248-50. 24 Ibid., p. 258. This example was added for the translation. Page 8. 10 ...
THE FOURTEEN-MODE SYSTEM OF ILLUMINATO AIGUINO Peter N. Schubert ... Page 3. Practically nothing ... more THE FOURTEEN-MODE SYSTEM OF ILLUMINATO AIGUINO Peter N. Schubert ... Page 3. Practically nothing is known of Aiguino's life.2 His work, the cul-mination of an Italian tradition begun byMarchetto, is motivated by piety and regulated by the precepts of Scholasticism. ...
A discussion of historicism in the analysis of Renaissance music with examples from Jorge Luis Bo... more A discussion of historicism in the analysis of Renaissance music with examples from Jorge Luis Borges, Thor Heyerdahl, Bernhard Meier, and Paul Veyne.
The compositional process behind the iconic Tallis forty-part motet, Spem in alium (ca. 1570) rem... more The compositional process behind the iconic Tallis forty-part motet, Spem in alium (ca. 1570) remains an enigma. Did he really check every pair of voices for illegal parallels? The author proposes a scenario based on Thomas Campion’s “Rule” for connecting notes in three voices above a bass. This very clever system ensures the presence of all three interval-classes above the bass (third, fifth, and root), and makes parallels impossible. The treatise was widely reprinted, and it is likely that the system was known well before its appearance around 1614. Any composer who knew this system could have grouped the melodic motions above the bass in such a way as to make the task of writing in so many parts more manageable. Campion believed that the bass was the principal melodic voice, and glimpses into the disposition of the soggetti in Tallis’s motet reveal that the bass is indeed the soggetto in the thick-textured sections.
These videos, mini-lectures with lots of live music examples, show how contrapuntal thinking info... more These videos, mini-lectures with lots of live music examples, show how contrapuntal thinking informs music by Brahms, Haydn and Marenzio that doesn't appear contrapuntal on the surface.
In the Istitutioni harmoniche, Zarlino describes a compositional process in which a countermelody... more In the Istitutioni harmoniche, Zarlino describes a compositional process in which a countermelody that is introduced against a principal soggetto can itself become a soggetto for the next phrase, and the process can be repeated in subsequent phrases. This study shows how comporre di fantasia functions in passages from Martini, Févin, Isaac, and Josquin. The technique can also inform our understanding of canon composition, which is illustrated with two examples by Pierre de la Rue. For the study of canons at different time intervals, I also invoke the neglected theories of Robert Morris, Robert Gauldin, and Immanuel Ott. Comporre di fantasia is a structural category that provides insight into compositional process in Renaissance polyphony.
In this paper I begin by listing the improvised contrapuntal techniques that are found in various... more In this paper I begin by listing the improvised contrapuntal techniques that are found in various Renaissance treatises. Many are explicitly intended for boys singing in the liturgy, but some (those found in Lusitano and Sancta Maria) are clearly intended for the keyboard. During the conference I have demonstrated some of these techniques with the help of volunteers from the audience. Many of the techniques are identical whether sung or played (adding a repeating motive to a CF, adding two lines in parallel tenths to a CF, and stretto fuga, for instance). The problem that faces us is lack of evidence as to whether and how these techniques were transferred. Did students learn to sing first? To play? I will focus on contrapunto fugato and stretto fuga, and show some differences between keyboard and vocal improvisation.
The authors report on experiments they have run using the computer to search a small corpus of Re... more The authors report on experiments they have run using the computer to search a small corpus of Renaissance pieces (the famous Lassus duos of 1577) for recurring contrapuntal combinations. They liken these combinations (or ‘modules’ as Jessie Ann Owens has called them) to words in a text, and the process of finding them, to work done by linguists such as John Sinclair on large corpora of text. The program used was devised by a team at McGill University as part of the ELVIS (‘Electronic Locator of Vertical Interval Successions’) project. The interval successions are identified by the vertical intervals and the melodic motions that connect them, in the manner of Tinctoris’s counterpoint treatise (1477), which illustrates most of the possible ways two vertical intervals can be connected. The authors find that some short interval successions appear, as we would expect, in repetitions of thematic material (i.e. as parts of soggetti associated with specific text phrases). Others, however, occur in apparently run-of-the-mill counterpoint: in the middle of words, in the middle of melismas, across phrase boundaries and embellished in a variety of ways. These often exhibit surprising consistency as to semitone position and possible modal associations.
Background in Music Technology The use of a MIDI-audio alignment algorithm to identify notes onse... more Background in Music Technology The use of a MIDI-audio alignment algorithm to identify notes onsets and offsets and a fundamental frequency estimation algorithm to extract frequency information allows for intonation-related information to be extracted automatically from recordings of the singing voice. This expedites the extraction of performance data from the recordings compared to manual methods, allowing for a larger number of performances to be analysed.
Background in Music Technology The use of a MIDI-audio alignment algorithm to identify notes onse... more Background in Music Technology The use of a MIDI-audio alignment algorithm to identify notes onsets and offsets and a fundamental frequency estimation algorithm to extract frequency information allows for intonation-related information to be extracted automatically from recordings of the singing voice. This expedites the extraction of performance data from the recordings compared to manual methods, allowing for a larger number of performances to be analysed.
This study applies Kofi Agawu's proposed method for analyzing texted music (1992), in which the m... more This study applies Kofi Agawu's proposed method for analyzing texted music (1992), in which the music and the text are analyzed separately before they are considered together, to an early madrigal by Willaert. Focusing primarily on counterpoint, I offer a detailed study of Willaert's complex compositional technique. I show that he responded to the poem in many ways, but at the same time he made many purely musical decisions. Finally, I consider what his motivations for these decisions might have been and enumerate musical means he used to respond to the different aspects of his text.
... 1968) ch. 18; Illuminato Aiguino: II tesoro illuminato di tutti i tuoni di canto figurato (Ve... more ... 1968) ch. 18; Illuminato Aiguino: II tesoro illuminato di tutti i tuoni di canto figurato (Venice, 1581) Bk. I, ch. 42 and Bk. II, chs. 29-30; and Scipione Cerreto: Della prattica musicale (Naples, 16o01) pp. 248-50. 24 Ibid., p. 258. This example was added for the translation. Page 8. 10 ...
THE FOURTEEN-MODE SYSTEM OF ILLUMINATO AIGUINO Peter N. Schubert ... Page 3. Practically nothing ... more THE FOURTEEN-MODE SYSTEM OF ILLUMINATO AIGUINO Peter N. Schubert ... Page 3. Practically nothing is known of Aiguino's life.2 His work, the cul-mination of an Italian tradition begun byMarchetto, is motivated by piety and regulated by the precepts of Scholasticism. ...
A discussion of historicism in the analysis of Renaissance music with examples from Jorge Luis Bo... more A discussion of historicism in the analysis of Renaissance music with examples from Jorge Luis Borges, Thor Heyerdahl, Bernhard Meier, and Paul Veyne.
The compositional process behind the iconic Tallis forty-part motet, Spem in alium (ca. 1570) rem... more The compositional process behind the iconic Tallis forty-part motet, Spem in alium (ca. 1570) remains an enigma. Did he really check every pair of voices for illegal parallels? The author proposes a scenario based on Thomas Campion’s “Rule” for connecting notes in three voices above a bass. This very clever system ensures the presence of all three interval-classes above the bass (third, fifth, and root), and makes parallels impossible. The treatise was widely reprinted, and it is likely that the system was known well before its appearance around 1614. Any composer who knew this system could have grouped the melodic motions above the bass in such a way as to make the task of writing in so many parts more manageable. Campion believed that the bass was the principal melodic voice, and glimpses into the disposition of the soggetti in Tallis’s motet reveal that the bass is indeed the soggetto in the thick-textured sections.
These videos, mini-lectures with lots of live music examples, show how contrapuntal thinking info... more These videos, mini-lectures with lots of live music examples, show how contrapuntal thinking informs music by Brahms, Haydn and Marenzio that doesn't appear contrapuntal on the surface.
Marenzio's motet "Sepelierunt Stephanum" opens with a full-textured phrase, so it isn't immediate... more Marenzio's motet "Sepelierunt Stephanum" opens with a full-textured phrase, so it isn't immediately clear how it was composed. In this video, Pter Schubert shows how a look at subsequent phrases reveals a structural duo embellished with dazzling vocal lines.
Link to Nikhil Hogan’s interview with Peter Schubert on the topic of Nadia Boulanger. Hear a firs... more Link to Nikhil Hogan’s interview with Peter Schubert on the topic of Nadia Boulanger. Hear a first-hand account of what it was like to study with “Mademoiselle” in the late sixties: her larger-than-life presence, her commitment, her sense of humor, and how she taught theory …
Peter Schubert talks about Palestrina reception, counterpoint pedagogy, Fux, Jeppesen, and the re... more Peter Schubert talks about Palestrina reception, counterpoint pedagogy, Fux, Jeppesen, and the repurposing of historical evidence.
The path Monteverdi takes between harmonic arrivals depends on three elements: the content of the... more The path Monteverdi takes between harmonic arrivals depends on three elements: the content of the phrases; whether the repetition of a phrase is altered; and how the joints between phrases are made. I call these schemata, splices, and elisions, respectively. They are basic ingredients of the first thirteen madrigals in Book 5, which are mostly homorhythmic.
In this video Nikhil Hogan, at the keyboard, tries out some of the basic concepts of fugue using ... more In this video Nikhil Hogan, at the keyboard, tries out some of the basic concepts of fugue using partimenti by Pasquini.
A handy summary of basic rules for making stretto fugas in two and three voices, including exampl... more A handy summary of basic rules for making stretto fugas in two and three voices, including examples by Santa Maria and Zarlino.
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