van Eyck series, no. 6

Van Eyck's second setting of Lavignone ("Tweede Lavignione") is much more elaborate in its variations than was the first. He uses the same device as in "Schasamiste vous re veille," where the second part is repeated in each variation with additional diminutions. The point of interest here is the treatment of the ending. An old-fashioned cadence (for 1640, that is) would invite a suspension figure in a two-voice setting: see the first line below, where D5 is a preparation, the accented D5 the suspension dissonance, and C#5 the resolution in a 7-6 figure. In the first variation (second line below), both D and F are displaced by their upper thirds: D becomes F, C# becomes E. The "one-too-far" gesture is added to this, as G5 is an escape tone.

The final line of the figure above (triplets) is reproduced as the first line below. Note that in the subsequent diminutions (8ths and 16ths) E5 displaces F, which is now pushed back into the previous beat, and G5 is now the upper third embellishment of E5. So: D5-F5, E5-G5. This adjustment lays the groundwork for the final diminutions (continuous 16ths), which suddenly, cadenza-like, soar up to a high Bb before completing the cadence with C#-D.

Below is a closer look at the moment described above. At *1, F is pushed back into the previous beat. At *2, F is gone as a significant pitch: now it is simply an unaccented part of the scale. 

All of this suggests that one should be careful about jumping to conclusions about design (rather than expressive) significance of high pitches, including ^3. Here, the octave ambitus of the once-transposed Aeolian mode has priority.