Counterpoint

The counterpoint (from Latin punctus contra punctum , "note against note"), in which a new voice ("counter-voice") is invented for a melody (called cantus firmus , "fixed song") or a theme , is originally called

• a doctrine of organizing polyphonic music that has been handed down and further developed from France and Italy from the 14th century,
• the application of this teaching as a composition technique in improvisation and composition and
• its result (i.e. a part or a polyphonic sentence that was made in accordance with the teaching).

The word comes from the Latin expression "punctum contra punctum ponere":

"Contrapunctus non est nisi punctum contra punctum ponere vel notam contra notam ponere vel facere, et est fundamentum discantus."

"Counterpoint is nothing more than setting or making a point [read: a note] against a point, and it is the foundation of the Discantus."

- Anon. : Cum notum sit , around 1350.

From the second half of the 17th century, the term is also used in a broader sense as a stylistic term. This has u. a. led to the fact that 'counterpoint' is often equated with ' polyphony '.

Principles

Note-versus-note rate

The practical question to which counterpoint theory is initially devoted is: How should an opposing voice be improvised or composed for an existing sequence of notes (the so-called cantus firmus or cantus prius factus , e.g. a Gregorian chant )?

Basically, the intervals are divided into three categories: perfect consonances, imperfect consonances and dissonances . According to the expression “ punctum contra punctum ponere ”, the oldest counterpoint treatises concentrate exclusively on the note-versus-note sentence and exclude dissonances. For the other two categories, certain do's and don'ts apply. The influential treatise Quilibet affectans (around 1330, attributed to Johannes de Muris ) prescribes :

• Sections must begin and end with perfect consonance.
• Perfect consonances must not be conducted in parallel.
• If a perfect consonance is reached in a straight movement (i.e. by a later so-called hidden parallel ), a voice has to advance in one second.
• Imperfect consonances should not be performed in parallel more than four times in direct succession.

Progress to the closest consonance, through countermovement and with second steps in both voices , is also particularly recommended . For the sake of variety, at least one of these recommendations can often not be considered.

Example: Ludovico Zacconi : Prattica di musica . Volume 2. Venice 1622, p. 69 (Cantus firmus in the lower part):

Dissonances

By filling in jumps and playing around steps in the opposing voice by means of shorter note values ​​and predominantly step-by-step movement, a more diverse type of movement results, which also contains dissonances. Initially, however, these are hardly discussed in more detail, but only come expressly into the focus of teaching through Johannes Tinctoris (1477). This extends the meaning of the word contrapunctus by designating the sentence type note against note, i.e. 'counterpoint' in the original sense, as contrapunctus simplex (simple counterpoint), and contrasting it with contrapunctus diminutus (reduced counterpoint).

Tinctoris demands that dissonances be used "moderately" ( cum ratione moderata ), either by standing in an unstressed position of the beat and being reached and left step by step (that is, they can be used as continuation or alternating notes ), or as syncope dissonance , preferably immediately before cadences, be used. Jumping off secondary notes should be followed by a third jump (later called Fux's alternating notes ) and used sparingly.

In his teaching of dissonance treatment, Tinctoris is based on compositions by u. a. John Dunstable , Guillaume Dufay , Gilles Binchois and Johannes Ockeghem , who ushered in a new era for him.

Counterpoint as a synonym for theory of syntax

The theory of the two-part contrapunctus diminutus is transferred by Tinctoris and later authors to the more than two-part sentence. Up until the 18th century, counterpoint became synonymous with theory of syntax. The treatises are expanded to include not only basic contrapuntal principles but also compositional techniques such as imitation , fugue and canon , as well as double and multiple counterpoint. The contrapunctus simplex remains the systematic and didactic preliminary stage of the entire theory of composition. A particularly prominent doctrine of counterpoint that played a central role in the 17th and 18th centuries is the third part of the Istitutioni armoniche by Gioseffo Zarlino (1558).

The teaching experiences certain changes in view of stylistic developments. a. in the area of ​​dissonance treatment. With the emergence of the major-minor tonality , interval progressions beyond the traditional contrapuntal principles are also organized in such a way that they express a major or minor key.

Counterpoint as a concept of style

In view of its origin as the teaching of the note-against-note sentence, counterpoint in no way excludes homophony . The widespread use of 'contrapuntal' in the sense of ' polyphonic ' dates back to the 19th century:

"Counterpoint, a Latin term for polyphonic writing, d. H. those that combine and continue two or more melodically trained voices at the same time, such as B. in the fugue and other art forms. [...]. We understand it more precisely [...] the sentence which connects two or more truly independent voices (trained according to the principles of melody) with one another. "

- Adolf Bernhard Marx : Encyclopedia of the Entire Musical Sciences or Universal Lexicon of Music

However, the word was used as a stylistic term as early as the second half of the 17th century, with regard to church music of the late 16th century and in particular to the music of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina . This tendency was decisively strengthened by the textbook Gradus ad Parnassum by Johann Joseph Fux (1725), which aims to maintain this style.

In the 19th century, in addition to the "strict" Palestrina style, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach with his "harmonious" style was stylized to a climax of "counterpoint". Ernst Kurth saw the idea of ​​a "linear counterpoint" optimally realized in it, in which "the will to create a line structure, the horizontal design [...] is always the primary and the main characteristic".

Genre counterpoint

For practice purposes, when improvising or composing a counterpoint to a cantus firmus, attempts were often made to consistently maintain certain rhythmic patterns in this counterpart. Johann Joseph Fux systematized this approach in his composition theory Gradus ad Parnassum (1725) into a course made up of five so-called “ species ”. This structure allows u. a. to introduce different forms of dissonance treatment step by step:

• 1st genre: note against note
• 2nd genre: two notes against one

Introduction of the passing grade

• 3rd genre: four notes against one

Introduction of Fux's alternating note and the semi-difficult passage note

• 4th genus: continuous syncope

Introduction of syncope dissonance

• 5th genus ("contrapunctus floridus", the "blooming counterpoint"): mixed note values

The cantus firmus always consists of whole notes. The procedure is increased from two-part to four-part, whereby the cantus firmus can be in any part. However, usually only one voice is organized in the sense of a genre:

Example: 4th genre in three voices with cantus firmus in the upper part:

Fux's concept of genre counterpoint influences counterpoint didactics to this day. Numerous later music theorists have adopted it, so u. a. Johann Georg Albrechtsberger , Luigi Cherubini , Heinrich Bellermann , Heinrich Schenker and Knud Jeppesen.

Double and multiple counterpoint

In the general sense, double counterpoint denotes the special nature of a two-part sentence, from which another sentence that is valid for counterpoint can be derived by moving one of the parts. Double counterpoint of the sixth is e.g. E.g. if one of the voices of a two-part combination can be shifted by a sixth:

Example: Camillo Angleria: La regola del contraponto della musical compositione . Milan 1622, p. 97:

Usually the term double counterpoint is used in a narrower sense for reversible counterpoint. The tone sequence of the upper part is shifted to the lower part and vice versa. The most common forms of reversible double counterpoint are the double counterpoint of the octave, the duodecime, and the decime. The typesetting conditions that must be observed are traditionally derived from tables that show how the intervals change as a result of the offset.

So the table shows for the double counterpoint of the octave:

Interval in the output combination	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th
Interval after displacement	8th	7th	6th	5	4th	3	2	1

that fifths become fourths through the transposition. It follows that a two-part movement fulfills the conditions of the double counterpoint of the octave if the fifth is treated there as if it were a dissonance.

The table for the double counterpoint of the duodecime shows u. a. that here the sixth must be treated like a dissonance, since it becomes the seventh when reversed:

Interval in the output combination	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12
Interval after displacement	12	11	10	9	8th	7th	6th	5	4th	3	2	1

Example: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Requiem , Kyrie :

Compared to the section in m. 49 f. From bar 64, the bass melody appears a decimal higher in the soprano and the alto melody a decimal lower in the bass. As a result, the vertical intervals change as if only the bass had been shifted one duodecime up or only the upper part had been shifted one duodecime down.

There is multiple (triple, quadruple, ...) counterpoint of the octave when all voices of a movement with the corresponding number of voices can be interchanged at will by octaving.

Maintained counterpoint

With regard to fugues , we speak of a retained counterpoint or counter- subject if the fugue theme is repeatedly counterpointed by the same opposing voice (apart from small changes). If the retained counterpoint sounds both above and below the theme, double counterpoint is involved.

In the following example ( Johann Sebastian Bach : The Well-Tempered Clavier, Volume 1, Fugue in C minor ( BWV  847, bars 2-3 and 7-8) the theme is colored red and the retained counterpoint blue. The combination of both voices fulfills the conditions of the double counterpoint of the octave:

Literature (chronological)

• Johannes Tinctoris : Liber de arte contrapuncti (Hs.) 1477.
• Johann Joseph Fux : Gradus ad Parnassum […]. Vienna 1725.
• Johann Joseph Fux : Gradus ad Parnassum […] translated into German […] by Lorenz Christoph Mizler. Leipzig 1742. 3. Reprint of the Leipzig 1742 edition. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 2004, ISBN 3-487-05209-1 .
• Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg : Treatise on the fugue […]. Volume 1. Berlin 1753 ( digitized version ).
• Adolf Bernhard Marx : Encyclopedia of the Entire Musical Sciences or Universal Lexicon of Tonkunst . Volume 4. Stuttgart 1837 ( digitized version ).
• Heinrich Bellermann : The counterpoint. Berlin 1862.
• Hugo Riemann : Textbook of simple, double and imitating counterpoint. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1888.
• Ernst Kurth : Basics of linear counterpoint. Introduction to the style and technique of Bach's melodic polyphony. Dreschel, Bern 1917 ( archive.org ).
• Hermann Grabner : The linear sentence. A textbook of counterpoint. Ernst Klett, Stuttgart 1950; 7th, unchanged edition. Ms. Kistner & CFW Siegel & Co., Cologne 1980.
• Knud Jeppesen: Counterpoint. Classical vocal polyphony textbook. Leipzig 1956.
• Klaus-Jürgen Sachs: The contrapunctus in the 14th and 15th centuries. Investigations into the terminus, teaching and sources. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-515-01952-9 .
• Diether de la Motte : counterpoint. A reading and work book. Kassel / Munich 1981, ISBN 3-423-30146-5 .
• Klaus-Jürgen Sachs: Contrapunctus / Counterpoint . In: Concise Dictionary of Musical Terminology - Volume 2, ed. by Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht and Albrecht Riethmüller , editors Markus Bandur. Steiner, Stuttgart 1982 ( digitized version ).
• Klaus-Jürgen Sachs: The contrapunctus doctrine in the 14th and 15th centuries. In: Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht, F. Alberto Gallo, Max Haas, Klaus-Jürgen Sachs (eds.): The medieval doctrine of polyphony. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1984, pp. 161-256.
• Claus Ganter: counterpoint for musicians. The design principles of vowel and instrumental polyphony […]. Munich / Salzburg 1994.
• Christoph Hohlfeld , Reinhard Bahr: School of musical thinking. The cantus firmus movement in Palestrina. Wilhelmshaven 1994.
• Thomas Daniel: counterpoint. A set theory for vowel polyphony of the 16th century. Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-925366-43-1 .
• Ian Bent: Steps to Parnassus: Contrapuntal theory in 1725, precursors and successors. In: Thomas Christensen (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002, ISBN 978-0-521-62371-1 , pp. 554-602.
• Peter Schubert, Christoph Neidhöfer: Baroque counterpoint. Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River 2006, ISBN 978-0-13-183442-2 .
• Peter Schubert: Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-533194-3 .
• Thomas Krämer : Counterpoint. Polyphonic music in self-study and lessons. 2nd Edition. Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-7651-0315-5 .
• Johannes Menke : Counterpoint I: The Music of the Renaissance. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2015, ISBN 978-3-89007-825-0 .
• Johannes Menke: Counterpoint II: The music of the baroque. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2017, ISBN 978-3-89007-826-7 .

Web links

Wiktionary: counterpoint  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Belkin, Alan: Principles of Counterpoint. 2000, accessed on July 19, 2018 . 
• Counterpoint (16th Century) - An Introduction. musikanalyse.net

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sachs 1984, p. 180.
2. ↑ Tinctoris 1477, Book 2, chap. 23.
3. ↑ Tinctoris 1477, Book 2, chap. 32.
4. ↑ See Tinctoris: Proportionale musices , um 1472–1475 ( online ).
5. ↑ Sachs 1982, p. 32 f.
6. ^ Encyclopedia of the Entire Musical Sciences or Universal Lexicon of Tonkunst Volume 4. Stuttgart 1837, p. 188 f.
7. ↑ Sachs 1982, p. 30.
8. ↑ Kurth 1917, p. 98.
9. ↑ See Bent 2002.
10. ↑ Fux 1725, p. 108.
11. ^ Schubert 2008, p. 186: "Double counterpoint is the broad term for making a new combination out of an original. We maintain the same melodies, in the same temporal relationship, but we transpose one or both. Invertible counterpoint is a special case of double counterpoint in which the relative positions of the parts are reversed. "
12. ↑ See e.g. B. Marpurg 1753, p. 166.