[Smt-talk] "Core syntax" and 6/4 chords etc.

[Olli Väisälä]

>
> It there is no consonant chord, the triad, there are no neighbor 
> notes.. Where did you find passing tones in music of Palestrina and 
> before? There are some notes which do not coincide with other notes in 
> other voices. But what do you compare them with? Triads? Tonic triad? 
> You have been reading too much of Fux, the most anachronistic and 
> unreliable source on counterpoint. Neighbor note and passing note are 
> two attributes of tonal-functional harmony. They do not exist outside 
> the context of Tonic triad, Subdominant triad and the Dominant seventh 
> chord.
>

Dear Ildar,

Let me assure that my knowledge of Renaissance music is not based on 
"reading too much of Fux." Even a superficial familiarity with the 
scores of Palestrina reveals that the most common type of unaccented 
dissonance is the one preceded and followed by a step in the same 
direction. This is the definition of passing tone in the sense I was 
referring to. Is there still something unclear?

(Perhaps the definition of dissonance in Palestrina? In relation to the 
bass: 2s, 4s, 7s, their compounds, and all augmented and diminished 
intervals. Between upper voices: 2s and 7s with compounds. From these 
rules it follows that the all three-note consonances (with no 
doublings) are 5/3 or 6/3 chords.)



Olli Väisälä
Sibelius Academy
ovaisala at siba.fi