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 […]
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.
What Is a Dichotomous Schema? Read More »
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.
What Does Colla Parte mean? Read More »
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.
What Are Changing Notes? Read More »
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
The Indugio (Part 2): The Circular Indugio Read More »
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
What Is a Pulcinella? Read More »
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
The Indugio (Part 1) Read More »
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
What Is a High ➏ Drop? Read More »
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
Combinations of a Romanesca and a Prinner Read More »
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,
Some More Quiescenzas Read More »