16th Century Counterpoint - 2 voices - 2nd species

If this is your first foray in 16th century counterpoint please read

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/16th-century-counterpoint-2-voices-1st-species-primer-16626.html

Just a review:

1) Begin and end either the tonic or dominant of the given mode. For our purposes it will be the 1st or 5th degree of the scale.

2) Recall, consonants intervals between voices are Perfect 5ths, Perfect Octaves, Major and Minor 3rds and 6ths.

3) No accidentals added - just use tones of mode given.

4) Unisons permitted only on first and last note of the melody or bass against the cantus firmus. The cantus firmus is the whole note melody or bass give for you to write a melody or bass.

5) No parallel 5th and 8ths. Beware of "hidden" 5ths and 8ths which result when approaching these intervals in similar motion.

2 Voice, 2nd Species - Rules and Consideration

A) Strong and Weak beats

In 2nd species 16th century counterpoint, you write two notes against one note. So, you will have two half notes with every whole note. This creates a strong and weak beat. The strong beat is the FIRST note of the two as this note sounds with the cantus firmus (eg the whole note melody or bass). The SECOND note is the weak beat. Therefore,

1) Consonant intervals on the STRONG beats and may be used freely.

2) Dissonant intervals on the WEAK beats and used only conjunctly and continuing in the same direction to form a consonant interval on the following strong beat. Conjunct motion is stepwise motion either above or below the preceding note.

See Examples 1a and 1b in the attachment. Note, in 2nd species, dissonances function to fill-in major and minor thirds.

B) Unisons, Accented P5 and Octaves, Melody

1) Unisons may be used on the weak beats and are quite effective when introduced by a skip and then moving conjunctly in the opposite direction. See Example 2.

2) Avoid excessive successive fifths and octaves on strong beats. The repeated fifths and octaves diminish greatly the the independence of the voices and is foreign to 16th century practice (they had heard enough accented P4 P5 and P8 in early 12th century organum and had sought to get away from it, esp with the introduction of 3rds and 6ths). See a rather great example of bad counterpoint for this reason in Ex 3.

5) Melodic rules are similar to species 1 - all intervals between unison and P5, plus P8 and ascending Major or minor 6ths allowed. Tip - When ascending melodically go from small to larger skips and when descending and large to small skips works well in this style. Not always possible in this species but a good guideline.

Assignment

Review Example 4 for a correct example of 2nd species 2 voice counterpoint. Use the bass line (eg the cantus firmus) to write a melody. For the next exercise, transpose the bass to the treble and write a new bass against the resulting melody. The mode is E Phyrgian - that is the white keys spanning the octave E to the E on the piano. The solfege is do, ra (lowered 2), me (lowered 3), fa, sol, la, te (lowered 7).

counterpoint illustration 2nd species.pdf

Corbin - Actually if the counterpoint is BELOW the cantus firmus, your only choice is the tonic. This was discussed in the 1st species thread. AS you know if you are writing below the cantus firmus, starting on the dominant will result in an illegal P4th. If you write a P5th below it you are in the incorrect mode. Example, for Ionian initial note is C in cantus firmus. If you start the note below it on the dominant, G you end up with a P4. If you correct it to a 5th, that is F, you are in the wrong mode. So in this case your only choice is to start on the tonic! Thanks for reminding me of this.

As for writing the counterpoint ABOVE the cantus firmus, you have a choice of either the dominant or tonic. So in Ionian, G ABOVE a C in the cantus firmus would be fine - a P5 is fine to start and the correct mode is established.

lol you asked if I was going to use the given cantus firmus...where's it at? o.o

Look at the whole note bass in Ex 4 of the attached exercise. This is the cantus firmus you write your half notes against.

Corbin -

Good work, I liked especially measure 2 -4. You introduced dissonance with stepwise motion and kept the same direction. Measure 2 especially is a good example - the E forms a fifth, the D forms a 4th and the C on the next strong beat forms a minor 3rd.

Some corrections -

1) The opening interval you have is illegal because the melody note is A. Recall P5 or P8 but NOT a P4. Also, we are in Phrygian, the only tones that establish the mode are the 1st and 5th degrees of the scale.

2) Measure 5 and 6 - you leap to a dissonance which is not allowed in 2nd species. To 16th century ears the half note lengths really emphasized the dissonances. That is why I said dissonances are to be introduced by conjunct motion. The movement of D forming Major 6th to the B forming a tritone in measure 5 would sound is too unprepared as well as the movement from 6th to 4th in measure 6.

3) Measure 7 and 8 are correct BUT I wonder if there is a better option than the repetition of the D's? Seems it diminishes the feeling of returning to the tonic E. Just a suggestion.

Overall very good work for someone digesting 1st and 2nd species at the same time! Try re-writing this though without these errors.

Yes.

I think you were fine with your mode, you just started with the wrong interval.

Corbin and others - c'mon give this a try! This is when the counterpoint gets a little more interesting.

Would you please print the score in pdf format, I cannot read mus files.

Excellent job - you followed the rules I gave. And the melody has a few nice contours.

Now, this was my fault but I will clairfy -

1) No accidentals for now - just stick with the notes of the mode. So the D # you have in the exercise would now be illegal for the next one.

2) No repeated notes (eg the repeated A in your exercise will now be illegal for the next exercise).

So do another exercise with the cantus firmus transposed to the soprano voice and write the counterpoint below it.

It is hard to get away from the example and follow all the rules - I hope I have :).

If you approach a dissonance on the weak beat by a conjunctive step, are you allowed to leap away in the same direction to a consonance on the next strong beat, or do you have to continue by a conjunctive step?

I decided not, but this rule limits the possibilities.

Thanks Corbin for the assistance.

Euler - your work is fine and well done. Perfect in fact. Bravo.

As to your question - no, you cannot skip from a dissonance to a consonance in this species - even if moving in the same direction. You must quit the dissonance with conjunct motion. Yes, very strict rule but as we get to smaller rhythmic values in later species there wiil be exceptions.

Here is the second exercise.

I added a second version (less the initial E) which has some octave jumps. The first octave jump up produces an increase in intensity, almost a surprise, even with no added dynamics.

Excellent - only one TINY but important criticism, delete the double bar as your measure following it is NOT a new exercise but rather you used counterpoint to create a nice deceptive cadence (eg E - C, which in Phrygian is an acceptable dominant too, but not as strong as B).

Keep this, because you now have material for a very strong larger work - sort of the bones of a chorale fugue or chorale fantasy. As we get to 3 -5 th species, you will be able to fill it out. It also is a good frame work for 3 and 4 voices and mixing various species. But this is all later.

Oh, I am very happy you mention how the octave leap creates a crescendo of sorts. Sometimes the simplest way to create tension is with voice leading -- no special effect or intense dynamics or a big splashy gong, bells or tympani roll - just a beautiful expressive leap of an octave, sixth, fifth or even fourth to make a point!

C'mon Voce and other join the fun! If you want to hear a few applications of these principles just listen to beethoven's Op 131 string Quartet the 1st movement for inspiration!

Bumping up for anyone else.

Write half notes following the specifications and point raised in this thread for the following cantus firmus in whole notes:

Mode is Ionian -

C, ascend to E, descend to D, ascend E, then ascend E, F, G, A, descend to D, ascend to E, descend D then to C.

Write a half note bass line against the the cantus firmus for first exercise then write a half note melody line against cantus firmus for the second.

Okay, here's my take on it.

For good measure, I gave the cantus firmus a try as the treble voice too (transposed up an octave), which let to a problem in bar 2-3: In order to prevent consecutive perfect consonanses in similiar motion, intervals over a 10th and unwanted repetitional notes at the octave jump, I found the best way around was to let the bass voice jump a fifth, from a third under to a third over the CF, thus making a smooth transition to an 8th. I'm not sure what Jeppesen says about this, but it was accepted by Fux and certainly commonplace in the Palestrina style. Furthermore, the 8-10-10-8 progression in bars 3-4 may not be the best theoretically, but I found that it sounded the best.

(edit: found a small error, fixing now)

YC2.pdf

YC2.sib

Please look at the files attached to this post, not the one over. Thank you. :)

YC2b.sib

YC2b.pdf

Halvar -

Excellent job! And you caught your errors.

I am so glad you had the lower voice go above the melody in your second exercises. For those unfamiliar with counterpoint, this is called a voice crossing and is permissible. It is a life saver as Halvor posted. However, in 2 voices just be careful to use it judiciously. Thanks again.

Now, one error which I take fault for not mentioning. Melodic intervals up to the fifth are allowed - EXCEPT, leaps of a tritone in either direction. The fix is easy though, if it is F - B just lower the B to make a perfect 4th. Halvor, you have two instances of this. Just look for them and correct. Great job.

ANybody want to try this exercise with the cantus firmus I gave a few posts above?

ONe more bump up before I post 3rd species. C'mon all, give this a try. Look thru the thread for exercises.

Bump up before it gets lost

I really recommend people to try this out. It's a great exercise.

Thanks Halvor.

QC or one the mod or administrators - would it be possible to put a sticky on this thread? I'll be posting species 3 in the next few weeks but this thread would be useful to have for easy reference?

PS. Anyone else is welcome to try the exercises - go the the first entry.

I'll give it a try, I suppose: