Chambonnieres, Pieces de Clavecin (1670), long lines

The first group of examples (two previous posts) showed simple rising lines. This second—and much larger—group reveals longer lines, from a sixth to an octave. Most of these are not so easily situated in comprehensive figures as were lines from ^5 to ^8, either because focal notes aren't clear or because the line would need to be divided in some way.

The two books of suites each have one pavane and one galliard, though not paired as was routine at the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the galliard often was written as an elaborate variation of the pavane. This (see score below) is the galliard from book 2, shown in its beginning and ending. Note the long descending octave line in the opening. By now this shouldn't be surprising: recall that, in the first post in this series, I commented on "a characteristic—and very strong—tendency to shape melodic units of 3 to 5 measures or more in entirely or mostly unidirectional lines."

In the B-section, a line ascends from ^3 (as E4) to ^8, then promptly descends again, note by note. The close is still another line, an octave ascent from C4 to C5. Overall, then, C5 is readily heard as the focal note, and it is eventually regained by lines from below.

Another unusual time signature for a sarabande, 6/4 (not the 3/2 signature familiar from eighteenth century sarabandes like those by Handel). This sarabande closes the third suite in book 2. A focal note ^8 (as D5) at the beginning is eventually recovered in the ending of the piece by means of a sixth line that's not quite diatonic (note G#, not G-natural) and where ^8 is gained early (third bar from the end). This "wandering about ^8" is as common in the final cadence as the unidirectional melodic shapes are elsewhere (or, I should say, everywhere).

Book 2, suite 4, second courante: similar to the sarabande above in that an initial focal note—the F5 at the top of an interval frame this time (see boxed notes and circle in the beginning)—is recovered by means of a long line at the end of the piece. Here ^8 truly doesn't arrive till the final tonic, and the beginning of the line is not coordinated with harmony, a fact that suggests we would have to divide it in some way if we were carrying out a detailed, hierarchical linear analysis.

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 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 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.)