Minor key series, part 14 (Dorian and Aeolian octaves), continued (2)

Here are the third and fourth of four dances from Michael Praetorius's collection Terpsichore. The four are ns104, 147, 148, and 295, and all have been discussed elsewhere on this blog.

(3) Here is my comment on n148 from the earlier blog post:

n148 is in once-transposed Dorian; it has three strains but none is marked with a repeat sign. The final cadence is unusual in the uppermost voices in its string of parallel sixths. These help us to separate the ground notes from the diminutions in the cantus. (link)

The play of "major/minor" (B/Bb) in the first strain is striking (though, I observe once more, not uncommon in the era), and the small clash of E natural/Eb in the cadence is of interest.

(4) Here is my comment on n295 from the earlier blog post:

. . . one of the pieces where the melody is of uncertain authorship. Here is a highly profiled motive with a scalar ascent and an unusual stepwise drop after a falling fourth (circled), something that would be frowned on in a 16th century counterpoint class. It's repeated, transposed, in bar 3, then at the original level in bar 5, and finally the scale is realized as a complete ascending octave. The second strain (not shown) is unusually short: four bars of a repeated chord plus cadence. The final strain "fixes" the motive (circled) with a third rather than a fourth and moving by step within the interval. Even stronger scalar figures follow to end with an unusual, direct [Dorian] ^6-^#7-^8.

To finish this appendix on modes, I return to two more pieces I have written about earlier: the courantes from the D minor suite by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: link 1; link 2. In both pieces we can see the full flowering of minor-key focus (despite the Dorian signature) but at the same time -- in courante n1 -- vestiges of modal chromatic practice in the approach to the final cadence. In the first section of n2 (below), Bb is used strictly throughout, with the only exception a passing B-natural in the left hand in the penultimate bar. In the second strain, the same applies, the exception this time being the "raised" ^6 in the right hand in the final cadence.

In courante n1, the play of Bb/B-natural and C-natural/C# in the final bars reminds one of music from 60 or 70 years earlier. (The two courantes were published in La Guerre's first collection of keyboard pieces, 1687. She was 19 at the time; a prodigy, she was already a decade into her professional career.)

With this, the minor key series is concluded.

Praetorius, Terpsichore, part 8: ns 148, 265

The Praetorius series of posts began more than a week ago. To close it out, here are two numbers—a courante and a ballet—that share ascending cadence gestures but otherwise are not closely related in design.

n148 is in once-transposed Dorian; it has three strains but none is marked with a repeat sign. The final cadence is unusual in the uppermost voices in its string of parallel sixths. These help us to separate the ground notes from the diminutions in the cantus.

n265 is a three-strain ballet, also without notated repeats. In effect it is really two strains, as the third is a close variation of the second. See below, where the second and third strains are aligned. The point of interest is in the two cadences, the first of which lies (and is somewhat buried) in the lower register, ending on F4, but the second of which is made very prominent by transposition up the octave, ending on the same F5 that started the strain.

Praetorius, Terpsichore, part 7: ns38, 41, 75, 104, 110, 111

Another selection from the many courantes in Terpsichore. All but one are in two sections. Here the focus is on the second strain where the upper range, usually ^5-^8 in the mode of the final, is reached early and then its top is either maintained to the end or, more likely, the music drops to the lower end of the range, to move upward again in the cadence.

n38: The lower fifth of the Aeolian octave is presented immediately (arrow plus circled E5), then inverted two bars later to the upper fourth E5-A5, within which a clear descent is followed by a quick ascent to the cadence. Note, incidentally, that the courantes do use hemiolas but only very rarely have suspension dissonances in the cadence, in keeping with the simplicity and directness (and perhaps the rapid tempo) of the popular dance these musics served.

n41: Once A5 is reached in the cadence of the first strain, it is held throughout the abbreviated second strain (only 6 bars, as shown, or more in the manner of a coda or refrain than a separate strain).

n75: The registral patterning of the melody in the second strain is analyzed below. The score is given under that for reference. At (a), a full triad outline (upper bracket) that persists (lower bracket), then at (b) an abrupt shift upward to D5-A5; at (c) a slight settling back to C5-G5, or as it goes on, really D5-G5, which is filled with a line (at c2) to reach the cadence.


(score for n75)

n104: A shift to minor quality in the second strain, with a fairly leisurely descent/ascent pair that use both F# and F-natural in each half of the figure.

n110: A courante with just one strain. The pattern is similar to that in n75: a triad outline to start, an abrupt transposition of the framing interval, and a cadence. Here the initial triad is also G major, and the second is D major but lower (fourth octave) not higher as in n75; the cadence is to D rather than G, and the ascending line is clear and direct.

n111: The first strain has features very similar to those of n110, but the space A4-D5 is emphasized almost immediately, and it is the D major triad that is elaborated by bars 2-3. The ascent to the cadence is only marginally longer (3 bars rather than 2 1/2) but is full of diminutions.

In the second strain the D major triad frame is even more obvious (box), and there is a descent/ascent linear pair leading to the cadence. (The opening on G and close on D reflects a pattern that is not uncommon in the Mixolydian mode, the mode with a G final that is here transposed to D, requiring the one-sharp signature.)

Praetorius, Terpsichore, part 6: ns 35, 76, 147, 161, 162

This post picks up on several earlier ones to offer additional examples of strong linear motion across the last phrase of a strain or the entire section. These are all courantes, three with melodies by Praetorius, the other two "incerti."

n35: the first of the more than 160 courantes in Terpsichore is in two sections. In the second strain the range C5-G5 is established firmly (a), G5 held, then at (b) a partial descent, and the pattern is repeated from (c) through (e), at which point the range C5-C5 is covered yet again and expanded by one for the cadence on A. (It's not marked, but note the 6-8 cadenza perfetta in the cantus and tenor (middle voice).)

n76: this is the first strain of three. A strong contrast of arpeggio and descent through the octave (first bracket) with a long plodding line back up through that octave (second bracket and beamed line) to a cadence on G5.

n147: author of the melody unknown; this is one in a series of courantes in once-transposed Dorian mode (final G; one flat in the signature). The box shows a simple linear ascent to the cadence on D5. In the second strain, the figure in part or whole occurs four times in a row.

n161: another melody of uncertain authorship. In two sections, where the second has unusual imbricated rising and falling lines, the former shown in the box, the latter in the beamed line.

n162: by Praetorius, in two sections. The second is 10 bars long, and another very deliberate linear ascent to the final takes six of those bars.

Praetorius, Terpsichore, part 5: ns 92-96

Here are five courantes. They are consecutive in Terpsichore and are also closely related to each other by certain features (Praetorius tries to group similar dances when he can). Like the majority of the many courantes, these are in two sections (others are in three sections, like the galliards we've examined in previous posts).

In this group the focus on the fifth range C5-G5 in the first strain is of interest, with a rise toward a cadence on G5 (a pattern we've also seen in some galliards recently).  Note also that these courantes show the typical treatment of the 6-8 cadenza perfetta between the upper and middle voice ("tenor") in five-part writing.

n92:

n93:

n94:

n95:

n96:

Praetorius, Terpsichore, part 4: ns 295, 304

Yesterday we saw a strongly directional, step-wise figure running across almost all of the second strain in n308. Here are two more galliards with similar figures of differing lengths.

In n295, one of the pieces where the melody is of uncertain authorship: here is a highly profiled motive with a scalar ascent and an unusual stepwise drop after a falling fourth (circled), something that would be frowned on in a 16th century counterpoint class. It's repeated, transposed, in bar 3, then at the original level in bar 5, and finally the scale is realized as a complete ascending octave. The second strain (not shown) is unusually short: four bars of a repeated chord plus cadence. The final strain "fixes" the motive (circled) with a third rather than a fourth and moving by step within the interval. Even stronger scalar figures follow to end with an unusual, direct [Dorian] ^6-^#7-^8.

In n304 (by Praetorius himself), rising figures fill out intervals fairly quickly (C5-G5 in the first strain) or more slowly (the same interval in the second strain; a descent from G5 in the third strain). The three cadences are nearly identical, moving stepwise to the final/tonic (angled line in bar 6 of each strain), then "trilling" about it with eighth-note diminutions (bar 7). I've marked the voice exchanges to confirm that the notes on the beat in the cantus are the ground notes of the melody and the other eighth notes are the diminutions.

Praetorius, Terpsichore, part 3: n308

A galliard in three strains, n308. In the first strain, the register crowned by G5 is established immediately (circled), moves down through an octave (bar 4), then is recovered in its upper fifth (C5-G5) to close (circled).

The second strain covers the same ground in reverse, although in a very different manner: the lower fourth is touched immediately (first bar), then abandoned for the upper fifth (C5-G5), which Praetorius moves within (bracket) and through (beamed line) for the remainder of the strain. The cadence is at the top of the register. Note that the alto voice doesn't realize the cadenza perfetta (it would have gone to G4, not B4): in four-part writing there is a strong bias toward ending with a complete triad, even if this means abandoning the proper cadence (the first strain shows the other option—an incomplete triad—which is much less common but does allow for the 6-8 motion). In five-part writing, on the other hand, one can always realize the 6-8 (or, very rarely in Terpsichore, the 3-1).

The third strain (not shown here), incidentally, covers the same fifth to begin, then wanders about the octave more freely before ending on C5.

Praetorius, Terpsichore, part 2: n50

The courant (courante, corraunt, etc.) in Praetorius's time was closely related to the jig or gigue, and therefore quite different from the later, much subtler and slower French court dance (spelled courante) that also became a staple of late Baroque dance suites. The relationship can be seen in the opening of n50, with its firm triple meter, dotted rhythms, and (atypical) arpeggio figures—these latter are bracketed.

In Terpsichore, the many courants are in either two or three strains. In n50, the openings of the second and third strains pick up one or the other of the opening motives, making for a nicely compact melodic design (it should be noted, though, that this is one of the melodies Praetorius marks as "incerti").

The point of interest is the ending of the first strain. A straightforward cadential move from ^6 through ^7 to ^8 can cause problems in the voice leading if the bass simply moves, as here, from IV to V to I. Praetorius solves the problem with diminutions that create "inserted" intervals between the bass and a potentially offending voice: 8 between two 5s at (a), and 10 between two 8s at (b). His method was standard in polyphony of all sorts (including improvised) in the sixteenth century.

Praetorius Terpsichore, part 1: ns 283-285

This is the first post in a series. The enterprising and prolific Michael Praetorius published a volume of more than 300 dances in 1612. These included 22 bransles, 163 courantes, 48 voltas, 43 ballets, 30 passamezzos and galliards (some but not all of them paired), and 12 other dances. All are set in 4 or 5 voices and, as Praetorius notes in his subtitle, are appropriate for performance in social situations. He is also generous in giving credit to French dance master Francisque Caroubel, whose melodies (mainly the bransles) Praetorius sets. Still the majority are Praetorius's own melodies, with a relatively small number labeled unknown (incerti).

Roughly 10% of the pieces have rising cadence gestures in one of their strains, more often the last than the first or an interior one. Here are three samples of interior strains to begin.

Among the galliards (a fast triple dance with only occasional play between rhythms in 3/2 and 6/4), n285 is typical in having three strains. The opening of the piece is shown below, along with all of the second strain, where the register of G5 is established immediately, the range of the melody being from there down the sixth to B4. The simplicity of the approach and the clarity of the cadence figure itself are characteristic.

In n284, the second strain initially stretches the register to an octave, starting from below, on G4 (line), but stays in the upper half once G5 is reached. In this case, each cadence note receives a consonant chord as harmonization. As point of information, like n285, the cadences in the first and third strains are on C.

One of the rare densely imitative settings in Terpsichore, the second strain of n283 (a passamezzo) uses the same figures and registers as the two galliards above but in a more varied and florid manner. Note the deliberate stepwise motion upward in the cadence, with diminutions of scale degree ^6 (assuming here a Mixolydian octave).

(Comment: The two galliards, ns284-285, are derived from this passamezzo, though in a freer manner than would be suggested if we called them variations (note that the second strain of n284 is much closer to n283 than is the second galliard, n285). This method of variation/adaptation is commonplace in the 16th and early 17th centuries.)