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 […]
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In the second volume of his monumental Phrynis (Mytilenæus) Oder Satyrischer Componist (1677), Wolfgang Caspar Printz (1641–1717) gives the following definition: “Figura Suspirans is nothing other / than a Figura Corta, which instead of the front long note / has a pause half as long and a note equal to the other two.” “Figura suspirans
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In the second volume of his monumental Phrynis (Mytilenæus) Oder Satyrischer Componist (1677), Wolfgang Caspar Printz (1641–1717) gives the following definition: “Figura Corta consists of three fast notes / of which one is as long as the other two combined.” “Figura Corta besteht aus dreyen geschwinden Noten / deren doch ein so lang ist /
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Clausula cantizans = ⑦–① cadence Clausula altizans = ⑤/④–③ cadence Clausula tenorizans = ②–① cadence Clausula basizans (or bassizans) = ⑤–① cadence Treatises up to and including the first half of the 18th century mostly considered cadences from a melodic and polyphonic point of view. Instead of seeing a cadence in terms of a chord
A Neapolitan sixth chord is a chord on ④ with a minor third and a minor sixth. It typically occurs in minor, although you may occasionally encounter it in major as well. In both modes, the sixth doesn’t belong to the scale but is a chromatically lowered version of ➋, giving its specific flavour to
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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,
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A term of Robert O. Gjerdingen. A descending melodic sixth or a descending stepwise melodic progression from ➋ to ➍ as an ornament of ➍, after which the latter steps down to ➌. The High ➋ Drop is often used in the context of a Prinner. Gjerdingen has labelled this ornamental gesture the High ➋
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We speak of complementary rhythm (in a two-part setting) when two parts alternate a rhythmic motive so that a regular rhythmic pattern emerges.
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A direct octave occurs when two voices move in the same direction, the upper voice leaping, and produce a vertical octave. This voice leading is normally considered a (soft) error, although composers did accept it under certain conditions, for instance by including a suspension in an inner voice at the moment of the direct octave.
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A direct fifth occurs when two voices move in the same direction, the upper voice leaping, and produce a vertical fifth. This voice leading is normally considered a (soft) error, although composers did accept it under certain conditions, for instance by including a suspension in an inner voice at the moment of the direct fifth.
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