Delibes, Sylvia, "Pizzicati"

In Léo Delibes's ballet Sylvia (1876), several of the best-remembered numbers occur in the third-act divertissement, which begins with the brief scherzo "Pizzicati." The design is simple: an introduction, 16-bar theme (see below), a five-bar interpolation followed by repetition of the theme's final eight bars (the consequent of its 16-bar period). A trio in the subdominant key follows, at 16 bars, and then the theme's consequent phase is repeated to end.

The two voices represented in the initial tonal space Bb4-Eb5 are easily traced, the close being a rising octave line that fulfills the implications of the bright eighth-note figures in bars 3, 5, etc.

Praetorius, Terpsichore

IMSLP recently added a file with the part-books for Michael Praetorius' Terpsichore (1612) (link). In celebration of that event, here are three examples. The pieces (in score) are discussed, along with many others, in my essay Ascending Cadence Gestures: A Historical Survey from the 16th to the Early 19th Century (link). Edited versions of the text are given here along with a facsimile of the cantus part.

Number 35 is the first of the more than 160 courantes in the volume. In the second strain the range F4-C5 is established firmly at the beginning, C5 held, then a partial descent occurs midway, and the pattern is repeated, at which point the range F4-C5 is covered yet again and expanded by one for the cadence on D. (Note: The score in modern notation was transposed up a fifth.)

n147: "Incerti" = author of the melody is unknown. This is one in a series of courantes in once-transposed Dorian mode (final G; one flat in the signature). In the first strain see 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, leading to G5 in the end.

n265 is a three-strain ballet, without notated repeats. The first strain ends with the long note in the middle of the third system. The second strain ends with the last long note in the fourth system. 

In effect this ballet is really two strains, as the third is a close variation of the second. The point of interest is in the cadences for the second and third strains: the first of these cadences lies (and is somewhat buried) in the lower register, ending on F4, but the second is made very prominent by transposition up the octave, ending on the same F5 that started the strain.

Music in 17th century Vienna, part 3

Today's dance by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer is from the second of two ballets he wrote for a production of Cesti's Il pomo d'oro in 1667, an event that successfully initiated Italian opera into Viennese musical culture. The numbers in this ballet are Gran ballo, Aria, Branle di Morsetti, Sarabanda per la terra, Balletto per il mare, Trezza, Aria Viennense, and Gigue.

Here a triad space (circled) is defined at the outset: C#5-E5-A5), but as in the courante in the first post in this series, the continuation is firmly from E5, or ^5. The second strain has the longest stepwise ascent to ^8 that I have seen anywhere, beginning from E4 in bar 6 and ending on A5. Above and below the staff, I've identified two ways of parsing the upper half of this line.

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.