Schemata

This essay is the fourth and last of a series devoted to changing-note schemata, a type of dichotomous schema with a treble and/or a bass whose melodic shape look like a gruppetto or a musical turn (~). In this essay, I will discuss the schema that Robert O. Gjerdingen has labelled the Jupiter. A Jupiter […]

This essay is the third of a series devoted to changing-note schemata, a type of dichotomous schema with a treble and/or a bass whose melodic shape look like a gruppetto or a musical turn (~). In this essay, I will discuss the schema that Robert O. Gjerdingen has labelled the Pastorella. A Pastorella is a

This essay is the second of a series devoted to changing-note schemata, a type of dichotomous schema with a treble and/or a bass whose melodic shape look like a gruppetto or a musical turn (~). In this essay, I will discuss the schema that Robert O. Gjerdingen has labelled the Aprile, after the Neapolitan-trained soprano

This essay is the first of a series devoted to changing-note schemata, a type of dichotomous schema with a treble and/or a bass whose melodic shape look like a gruppetto or a musical turn (~). In this essay, I will discuss the schema that Robert O. Gjerdingen has labelled the Meyer, after Leonard B. Meyer

In my essay The Indugio (Part 1), I explain that an Indugio —a term by Gjerdingen— is essentially a pedal point on ④, set with a sixth chord or a 6/5 chord used to delay the conclusion of a cadence. In this essay, I address a variant that Gjerdingen also discusses but didn’t give an

This essay is the first of two exploring a schema that Robert O. Gjerdingen has labelled Indugio (Italian for the act of lingering). An Indugio is essentially a pedal point on ④ set with a sixth chord or a 6/5 chord used to postpone the conclusion of a cadence. To facilitate the reading of this

This essay discusses some examples given by Robert O. Gjerdingen in his book Music in the Galant Style of a Romanesca followed by a Prinner. A typical galant pair of schemata is that in which a Romanesca begins a composition (a proposta schema) and is followed —or ’answered’— by a Prinner (a risposta schema). For

As we saw in my essay The Quiescenza: The Basics, a Quiescenza is a tonic pedal point with four or five sonorities, 5/3 – [7♭/5/3 –] 6/4 – 7(♮)/4/2 – 8/5/3, and a ➎–➏–➐–➊ or ➊–♭➐–➏–(♮)➐–➊ treble line that can be used as a proposta schema or occur in a closing passage. In this essay,

This essay is the first of two exploring a schema that Robert O. Gjerdingen has labelled Quiescenza (Italian for a state of repose or inactivity). A Quiescenza is a tonic pedal point with four or five sonorities, 5/3 – [7♭/5/3 –] 6/4 – 7(♮)/4/2 – 8/5/3, and a ➎–➏–➐–➊ or ➊–♭➐–➏–(♮)➐–➊ treble line that can

In this essay, I will explore the paired Do-Re-Mi —the term also comes from Robert O. Gjerdingen, which was another favourite opening schema in the galant style that also existed in several variants. The term paired Do-Re-Mi —a variant of the (‘regular’) Do-Re-Mi— refers to a proposta schema that, due to the addition of an