16th-Century Counterpoint with Paul Dell Aquila

Assigned Reading, Homework Schedule, and Class Agenda (PDF)

Semester Topics

Introduction to Sixteenth-Century Counterpoint

The Late Renaissance Sacred Choir:
Voice Parts, Ranges, and Clefs
Scores and Individual Parts
Rhythmic Conventions and Mensurstriche Notation
The Ecclesiastical Modes

Writing Single Melodic Lines with White Notes

Succession of Melodic Intervals
The Rhythmic Element of Melodic Lines
Concluding the Single Melodic Line (Melodic Cadences)

Setting Sacred Latin Text to Music

Principles of Setting Sacred Text
Latin Sacred Text

Consonant Two-Voice Counterpoint with White Notes

Writing Consonant 1-to-1 Counterpoint (First Species):
Consonant Harmonic Intervals
Types of Relative Voice Motion (Contrary, Oblique, Similar, and Parallel)

Dissonant White Notes in Two-Voice Counterpoint

The Passing Minim
Two-Voice Suspensions

Concluding the Phrase

Two-Voice Cadences with Suspensions

Writing Two-Voice Imitative Counterpoint (Point-of-Imitation)

Basic Procedure for Writing Two-Voice Imitative Counterpoint
The Hexachordal Solmization System

Melodic Writing with Black Notes

The Semiminim (Single, Pairs of, and Multiple Semiminims)
The Portamento (Anticipation)
The Semiminim Neighbor-Tone
The Nota Cambiata Figure
Semiminims in Leaping Patterns
Fusas
Setting Sacred Latin Text to Music with Black Notes

Writing Two-Voice Counterpoint with Black Notes

Unaccented Passing Tones
Accented Passing Tones
Neighbor Tones
The Portamento (Anticipation) in Two-Voice Texture
The Nota Cambiata Figure in Two Voice Texture
Fusas in Two Voice Texture
Black-Note Figures That Resemble Suspensions
Florid (5th-Species) Counterpoint in Two Voices

Two-Voice Invertible Counterpoint (Double Counterpoint)

Invertible Counterpoint at the Octave
Invertible Counterpoint at the Tenth
Invertible Counterpoint at the Twelfth

Form and Structure of Short Two-Voice Compositions

Sectional Through-Composed Form
Interior Phrases and Cadences
Interrupted Cadences
Reentry of Melodic Material

Consonant Three-Voice Counterpoint

Consonant Three-Voice Counterpoint with White Notes:
Superimposing Consonant Intervals to Create Harmonic Triads
Opening and Closing Sonorities in Three Voices
Using Accidentals for Harmonic Color
Voice-Leading Consonant Three-Voice Sonorities

Three-Voice Counterpoint with Dissonance

Including Dissonance in Three-Voice Counterpoint:
White-Note Dissonance in Three-Voices
The Passing Minim in Three Voices
Three-Voice Suspensions
Black-Note Dissonance in Three Voices
Cadences in Three-Voice Texture

Other Idioms in Three Voices

The Six-Five Sonority
The Consonant Fourth Sonority

Writing Imitative Counterpoint in Three Voices

Symmetrical Point-of-Imitation in Three Voices

Writing Four-Voice Counterpoint

Introduction to Four-Voice Writing
Cadences in Four Voices
Familiar Style (Stile Familiare):
Triple Meter
Slow-Tempo Triple Meter
Fast-Tempo Triple Meter
Imitative Writing in Four-Voice Texture:
Paired Imitation

Writing Complete Works

The Motet
The Mass
Cantus Firmus, Parody, and Paraphrase Techniques