Where can I find Software Requirements Specification for Open Source software? Bach commonly used counterpoint during the Renaissance and Baroque periods of classical music. One of these loopholes is heterophony, an often-overlooked cousin to the more familiar terms of monophony, homophony, and polyphony. The Baroque period, with its heavy emphasis on imitation and counterpoint, was coming to an end, and the Classical period was dawning. How can I visit HTTPS websites in old web browsers? The main problem with scholastic approaches is that they generally substitute rigid rules for flexible general principles, and thus fail to provide guidance in enough varied musical situations to be really useful in practice. There are several other moments where the octaves are very obvious. Oh yeah, now this sounds like a proper entrance. Alternating modes like this is a common device to vary your theme in interesting ways. Finally, the original theme comes back, and the piece finishes decisively back in major mode. More importantly, it reveals one of the key threads of music history: often the most incredible and impressive works of music are not those that adhere to tradition, but those that break the rules. That’s right. There was the tuba/trombone (bass), horn (tenor), second trumpet (alto), and first trumpet/horn (soprano). ( Log Out /  Counterpointer has a long series of such exercises in increasing length and difficulty, each based on the harmonies found in particular chorale harmonizations by J.S. From 1:20 on we finally get a solid episode, with the trumpet doing a little descending line. The two parts do exactly the same thing, but because they are displaced by a few beats, they interact in a way that constantly changes what we are hearing. The key to listening to this music well and appreciating it is to listen to both voices as equals. Then there was the music itself. A range of theological, cultural, social and political meanings attached themselves to the use of complex procedures such as canon and double counterpoint. There should not be multiple 5ths played in a row, what is called parallel 5ths , or consecutive 5ths. This time, try going back and listening to the bass (low) voice the whole way through. music.stackexchange.com/questions/78011/…, music.stackexchange.com/questions/81168/…. Another one of Bach’s strengths is his ability to use little sections of the fugue theme to build the episodes and create unity. Regardless of rhythm, the first pitch in the counterpoint should follow the intervallic rules above. Fugues are a more strict kind of counterpoint because they usually follow a specific formula. Counterpoint - Counterpoint - The Classical period: The turn from the Baroque to the Classical period in music was marked by the change from a luxuriant polyphonic to a relatively simple homophonic texture—i.e., a texture of a single melodic line plus chordal accompaniment. Why isn’t it following the rules? My first counterpoint lesson (hint: it involves your input to make it work) I didn’t want to go back to the dawn of man, or plainchant in the middle ages though (not now, at least), so I decided to go back to where many people start when they think of “classical” music: Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was particularly good at writing a special case of imitative counterpoint: the fugue. Alternately, try listening to just one voice and hearing it as a melodic line of its own. There are no independent voices having some parallel movement in octaves. The worst is when it's phrased as "composer X could break the rules, because he was a genius." Back to our Two-Part Invention. This video, from the smalin YouTube channel, is perfect (and I’ll use them again, I’m sure), because it allows you to actually see the voices interact, even if you don’t read music: The first voice states the minor mode theme, and then the second voice enters with the reply on the fifth, just as it should, at :19. For piano, a single voice is often doubled (usually the bass or soprano or both, rarely inner voices) for emphasis. Many, many composers could write fugues, but Bach took upon himself a special project and wrote 14 special fugues. Counterpoint in Composition. For one thing, I never understood the god-like status he was always given in the music world, since at the time, it just seemed like he wrote stodgy old music with lots of parts. You can actually play them on the organ keyboard for reinforcement with an effect rather similar to pulling them in via registration. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. It’s brilliant, exciting music, and in this particular fugue, Bach breaks the normal formal rules and makes the entire fugue a fugal exposition. The Baroque fugue and especially the works of Bach beautifully illustrate the elegance of the use of counterpoint. What is going on with this fugue? Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Anyway, the trumpet enters with the reply, but upside down and more slowly, so it’s an inverted and augmented statement. site design / logo © 2021 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. Personally, this is what I think is the critical factor: the voice leading rules - which most definitely were taught as a list of prohibitions - were part of the learned style which figured largely with church music. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. Four. Why isn't Bach breaking the rules every time he uses parallel octaves in this fugue? To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. In two part counterpoint the final chord must be a unison or an octave; it can include the third or fifth when there are more than two parts. Clearly this piece has a lot of emphasis on inversion, augmentation, and diminution, but it didn’t follow our usual structure of exposition and alternation of theme and episodes. Let’s start with two voices. So if you want that we hear their autonomy it sill be better to lead them in different ways. Um, how does voice arrangement make any difference? Another super-augmented statement of the theme, and this one’s so important that the trumpet and the horn are doubling it. The mixtures in Racel’s Bolero or the an intended reference to the organum style or church sound, pop or special gospel sound. The parallel octaves at the start of BWV565 are in the available handwritten copy (there is no autograph to be found any more I think). 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