Heterolepsis
Heterolepsis (from the Greek έτερος , heteros : "other"; λήψη , lepsi : "acceptance, taking") is a musical figure that Christoph Bernhard (1628–1692) assigns to the " stylus theatralis ". Accordingly, it is a typical type of dissonance treatment in opera , cantata and oratorio of the 17th century.
Bernhard describes it as the “seizure of another voice”, which occurs on the one hand, “if I jump or go into a dissonantz after a consonantz, another voice could do it in transit”, on the other hand, “if I have a syncopated lower voice , the upper one in a quarta does not rise for a second, but falls a tertia ”.
Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748) refers to it as a " figure , as that is a great freedom anmaset" and the present, "when a voice from another sometimes a Clavem nimmet of time, and theirs unterdaß get those deprived voice läßet" . Walther adds this example:
The bass realization shows that the ais (which changed to h dissolve takes) and the fis belong in T. 2 different voices (in the sense of the counterpoint structure). In this respect, the singing voice “robs” a note (“a clavem”) from another voice.
Sources and literature (chronological)
- Christoph Bernhard: Tractatus compositionis augmentatus . Ms. ( online edition Bernhard Lang) .
- Christoph Bernhard: Detailed report on the use of the cons and dissonances . Ms. ( online edition Bernhard Lang) .
- Johann Gottfried Walther: Praecepta of the musical composition . Ms. Weimar 1708. Edited by Peter Benary as: Jenaer contributions to music research. Volume 2, Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1955.
- Ruth Katz and Carl Dahlhaus : Contemplating Music: Source Readings in the Aesthetics of Music. Volume 3, Pendragon Press, 1992, pp. 41-53.
- Anne Leahy: J. S. Bach's "Leipzig" Chorale Preludes: Music, Text, Theology. Scarecrow Press, 2011.