Schemata

A proposta schema is a schema that begins a composition or an important section of it. See also risposta schema. Select Bibliography Gjerdingen, Robert O. Music in the Galant Style (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).

In this essay, I will discuss the characteristics of a voice-leading pattern that is a variant of the Leaping Monte Romanesca: the Stepwise Monte Romanesca. The term Stepwise Monte Romanesca refers to a rising sequential pattern in which each segment consists of a descending step in the bass with each subsequent segment one step higher

In this essay, I will discuss the characteristics of a voice-leading pattern known today as the Monte Romanesca, to which I have added the adjective ‘Leaping’ to distinguish it from the stepwise version, which is dealt with in a separate essay. The term Leaping Monte Romanesca refers to a bass motion that rises a fifth

A term coined by John A. Rice. A Corelli Long Comma is a three-part variant of the Long Comma with a 6/5 sonority above ⑥ and a 9–8 suspension (or a non-essential dissonance) above ①. Since the fifth in the 6/5 sonority –➌– acts as a suspension, it must be prepared. See also Clausulæ. See

A term coined by Robert O. Gjerdingen. A Long Comma is a variant of the Comma where ⑥ precedes ⑦. Its usual melody is a ➍–➌ or ➎–➍–➌ snippet. In the latter case, ➎ acts as a suspension (or a non-essential dissonance) above ⑥ and must be prepared. See also Clausulæ. See also Comma. See

A term coined by Robert O. Gjerdingen, after several 18th-century sources. A Comma is a synonym for a clausula cantizans or a ⑦–① cadence. Its usual melody is a ➎–➍–➌ or ➍–➌ snippet. See also Clausulæ. See also Long Comma. See also Corelli Long Comma. Select Bibliography Gjerdingen, Robert O. Music in the Galant Style

The Monte is a schema widely used in the 17th and 18th centuries and exists in many variants, some of which are discussed in this essay. For the schema’s characteristics see my essay The Monte: The Basics. I will explore five variants of the Monte in this essay: the minor-key Monte ending in v, the

A Jommelli is a variant of a clausula cantizans (also called a ⑦–① cadence or, in Gjerdingen’s term, a Comma (Gjerdingen (2007), p. 155–157)). While ⑦ of a clausula cantizans is usually realized as a sixth chord or 6/5 chord in a variable number of parts, ⑦ of a Jommelli is set in a three-part

A hermaphrodite note is a chromatically lowered sixth scale step in a major key (A♭ instead of A in C major, for instance). Joseph Riepel (1709–1782) seems to have associated major with masculine, minor with feminine. When discussing the Fonte, he criticizes a version in which the major segment includes a chromatically lowered sixth scale

Gjerdingen argues that “the fluid mixing and matching of schemata would seem to exemplify perfectly the ars combinatoria [or ‘art of combinations’] … this was a philosophical tradition cited by Riepel and other eighteenth-century musicians” (Gjerdingen, 2007: 99 & 115). Select Bibliography Gjerdingen, Robert O. Music in the Galant Style (New York: Oxford University Press,