II. Counterpoint and Galant Schemas
16th-Century Contrapuntal Style
Mark Gotham
Key Takeaways
- The 16th-century contrapuntal style is related—but not identical—to the principles outlined in species counterpoint.
- This chapter sets out some key principles and practice exercises especially for imitation.
The 16th-century contrapuntal style has historically enjoyed a prominent position in the teaching of music theory. “Pastiche” or “counterfactual” composition of 16th-century imitative choral polyphony (especially in the style of Palestrina) has frequently appeared in curricula and is sometimes conflated with the later, 18th-century notion of species counterpoint which we met in the previous chapters. This chapter sets out some rules of thumb to bear in mind when completing style-composition exercises based on this repertoire where you are given a partial score to complete. At the end, you’ll find a couple of example exercises in this format.
Imitation
Imitation involves two or more parts entering separately with the same melody, or versions of the same melody. This is a common practice in 16th-century contrapuntal music, particularly for beginning whole movements and large sections in those movements (with the introduction of a new line of text, for instance). You might think of it as a precursor to the later fugue (which we’ll return to in the High Baroque Fugal Exposition chapter).
Here is an example from Vicente Lusitano’s “Ave spes nostra” from the
In this opening passage, a “point of imitation” setting the text “Ave spes nostra” appears in all five voices. The imitation is exact, give or take small changes. The first voice to enter starts on F and descends to C, then it repeats the text a second time, now starting on C and descending to F with a similar melody, adding one more note at the end. Other parts imitate either this pattern (F–C then C–F) or this pair the other way round (C–F, then F–C).
The end of this example sees the start of a second imitative point setting the next line “Dei genitrix … ”. This new figure has a “turn”-like shape: original note, note above, note below, original note (C-D-Bb-C). What follows is a sectnmio based on that second point. As is common in this style, the two phrase overlap (i.e., the new phrase begins before the end of the previous one) and the imitation for this second point is treated more freely than the first. You can even see a couple of subtle rhythmic changes to the first point in this last bar shown where this overlap takes place.
When completing an exercise involving imitation, let the existing material be your guide and consider the following guidelines:
- Identify (potential) points of imitation: In any given part, look for changes of text (often preceded by a comma or rest), and particularly any repetition of text with the same music.
- Pitch interval: The interval between imitative parts at the start of a section or movement is usually a perfect consonance. That said, others are eminently po