Modal Cadence

The goal of this work was the study of structural aspects in polyphonic pieces by Adrian Willaert, aiming to identify a possible relationship between his vocal and instrumental works, namely the moteto and ricercare genres. Among the various structural aspects that served as a basis for comparison, cadence was chosen as a measurable and predominant common element, by patterns of occurrence and typology associated with a relatively well-established classification by Bernhard Meier. Some unusual cadential species were identified in Willaert’s pieces, specially the melodic clausula cantizans fuggita, which however could not be attributed to the composer without an investigation on its possible occurrence in works by influential composers such as Josquin. This observation implied in the study of primary sources previous to Willaert, in order to identify, on the one hand, aspects that corroborated the development of the instrumental music from vocal models during the fifteenth- and sixteenth-centuries and, on the other hand, possible influences related to the use of these unusual cadential species. An expanded cadential plan model was developed as the pieces were being analyzed, including a method of motivic analysis that prompted the scope examination of this converging analytical method in a piece by Clemens non Papa, a contemporary but unrelated composer to Willaert’s circle. As a consequence of this research, it was possible to identify a cadential structure nominated ‘staggered cadence’ as an ultimate means of potential articulation, besides some structural groupings in coupling with the basic cadential pattern cantizans-tenorizans, here nominated as ‘C/T-cadence’.

"Johann Sebastien Bach is the greatest composer of all time. The reason for this is that he steadfastly adhered to the rules of his time in music composition. He did not necessarily invent new modalities of composition: he just made already extant materials and practices better—more perfectly arranged together. One area of Bach’s thought process regards the necessity of knowing the old church modes of his predecessors—white-note modality and its concomitant “tonality”, or centricity. Bach is known for modal chorales, but according to Kirnberger, a famous student of Bach, Bach used modality in all of his works. The modes used by Bach largely came from pre-existing cantus firmi and their modal implications. In addition to modality having separate and unique feeling and character, well-temperament and the lack of enharmonic redundancies provided composers with a wider palette of pitch color. If particular keys were chosen, they were chosen for very specific qualities and reasons, and not because of chance, or routine. The same applies to modality: that modes of chorales, and fugues, were chosen especially for their distinctive sound and character and that Bach treated each mode with the appropriate rules of modes will be one focus of this paper.
In addition to the chorales, which have been previously negotiated by Lori Burns, and rather than imitating her work, this paper will include other works of Bach that feature modality as well as an analysis of Bach’s harmonic approach to the modes of each piece in question. This author will investigate Bach’s repertory for three pieces that are known for modality and explore these.
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La creazione dello spazio sonoro nei mottetti di Agricola è indagata secondo una metodologia analitica che rivaluta il potenziale ermeneutico dei tonal types, spogliati della loro presunta oggettività, e valutati in relazione alla loro funzione, più o meno problematica, di rappresentanti modali. Si valuta altresì l'influenza del cantus prius factus nello sviluppo della texture polifonica, in particolare per quanto concerne la gestione del piano cadenzale e delle specie utilizzate.

In order to analyze the motets by Agricola, we propose to rethink the concept of tonal type, not as an objective minimal marker, but as hermeneutical tool in the organization of tonal space. The article also concerns the treatment of cantus prius factus in reference to the development of polyphonic texture, and in particular way, to cadences and species.