Glossary

A leapfrog, a term coined by Gjerdingen, is a contrapuntal technique typically involving two upper voices above a bass. Consider the following realisation of the fourth verset in G major by the Bolognese counterpoint master Stanislao Mattei (1750–1825). (For more information on Mattei and his pedagogy see Partimento Practice: As you can see, the middle […]

A dichotomous schema consists consists of a question segment and an answer segment. The question segment has a harmonically and melodically open ending, while the answer segment has a (rather) closed ending. Examples of dichotomous schemata are: the paired Do-Re-Mi, the Meyer, the Aprile and the Pastorella.

The Italian expression colla parte means ‘with the part’ and is used in music mainly for an instrumental part that doubles (almost literally) a vocal part.

Changing notes or double neighbour notes are two consecutive neighbour notes between which the chord factor is absent. There are two versions: Both versions are characterized by the following intervallic pattern: a step, a third (between the neighbour notes) and again a step. See also neighbour note.

A term of Robert O. Gjerdingen, named after the comic character of the commedia dell’arte. The Pulcinella exists in two versions. The (Complete) Pulcinella The (complete) Pulcinella is a cadential gesture with a ③–④–⑤–① snippet in the bass that ignores the usual sixth chord or 6/5 chord on ④. Instead, the bass of a Pulcinella

A term of Robert O. Gjerdingen. An important ornament in the melody of a Converging Cadence is what Gjerdingen calls a High ➏ Drop. Instead of setting ④ with ➋ (a vertical sixth), it is set with a high ➏ (a vertical third), interrupting the stepwise descent. As such, the snippet ➋–➊ is pushed back

A Cudworth cadence is of the most common and typical galant cadences. It combines a ③–④–⑤ bass with a complete descending scale in the upper part from ➊ to ➊. Gjerdingen named this cadence in honour of English musicologist Charles L. Cudworth (1908–1977), who first discussed this type of cadence. This is the model Cudworth

(This essay also discusses the High ➏ Drop.) Term by Robert O. Gjerdingen. A Converging cadence, which is a type of half cadence, “is so named by virtue of the way its two outer voices move toward each other, converging on the dominant” (Gjerdingen (2007), p. 159). The Two-Part Converging Cadence A Converging cadence can

Term coined by Robert O. Gjerdingen. In the words of Gjerdingen, referring to the first movement of Keyboard Sonata in C major KV545 by Mozart: “The endings of the first and second halves of a famous Mozart keyboard sonata present the two most common variants of the Final Fall… The first is the more galant,

An appoggiatura is a non-chordal note on a beat