Sixteenth-Century Vocal Counterpoint

Sixteenth-Century Vocal Counterpoint
[Modal Counterpoint]

Dr. Gordon J. Callon

Baroque Counterpoint \| Course Description
Special Studies in Music History \| Course Description

Sample Examination, April 2008:

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Course Content and Procedure

Sixteenth-Century Counterpoint Introduction

Sixteenth-Century Counterpoint Links

Books

Use of Technology

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Course Content and Procedure:

Sixteenth-Century Vocal Counterpoint is a study of 16th-century polyphonic technique in the vocal style. Most of Sixteenth-Century Vocal Counterpoint is concerned with writing in two parts. When students master two-part writing, some three-part writing is introduced.
Sixteenth-Century Vocal Counterpoint should include analysis of and listening to musical examples.

It is assumed that the student will do a considerable amount of listening and analysis. This is necessary in order to become aware of the stylistic features of 16th-century music.
In courses such as this, the style of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina is used as a model for style and technique. This is not because his technique is essentially better than any other. Rather, it is because his style is somewhat refined (or abstract) and thus is easier to define in direct terms. The student should make every effort to relate this style to others of the same period.

Textbooks of interest:

Boyd, Malcolm. Palestrina's Style. London: Oxford University Press, 1973.
Benjamin, Thomas. The Craft of Modal Counterpoint: A Practical Approach. New York: Schirmer Books, 1979.
Gauldin, Robert. A Practical Approach to Sixteenth-Century Counterpoint. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc., 1995.
A reprint of the 1985 Prentice Hall edition.
Jeppesen, Knud. Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the Sixteenth Century. Trans. by Glen Haydon. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1939.
Reprinted in New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
Jeppesen, Knud. The Style of Palestrina and the Dissonance. 2nd edition. London: Oxford University Press, 1946.
Reprinted in New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1970.
Morley, Thomas. A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practical Musicke. London: Peter Short, 1597.
Modern edition, edited by R. Alec Harmen, with a forward by Thurston Dart. 2nd. edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., 1973. A reprint of the 1963 London Edition.
Owen, Harold. Modal and Tonal Counterpoint, from Josquin to Stravinsky. New York: Schirmer Books, 1992.
Owens, Jessie Ann. Composers at Work: The Craft of Musical Composition 1450–1600. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Schubert, Peter. Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Zarlino, Gioseffo. The Art of Counterpoint: Part Three of Le Institutioni Harmoniche, 1558. Trans. by Guy A. Marco and Claude V. Palisca. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., 1976.
A reprint of the edition published in New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968.

Use of Technology:

In Sixteenth-Century Vocal Counterpoint students need to use online Internet resources for the following:

To access information concerning Counterpoint on the Internet. This may be accomplished by using links available as part of the Acadia Early Music Resources and Score Software Resources site, and through the links for Sixteenth-Century Vocal Counterpoint.
Use may be made of online Music reference resources, as much as each student may be able to access. Useful are two subscription sites Grove Music Online.

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Probably to complete and submit Exercises (if music notation software is used for the exercises and assignments). Please identify each assignment by the number and page of the exercise in the source.

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Last updated: 24 May 2008.
Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, & 2008 by Gordon J. Callon. All rights reserved.			e-mail: gordon.callon @ acadiau.ca

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