[Smt-talk] Avoiding Parallel Octaves--Example by Bach

[Donna Doyle]

Thanks for this, Mark--a beautiful example of 'context rules.' (Is  
"rules" a noun or a verb?) I think the operative 'rule' here is the  
2-3 sus
with the subject--we hear the Bb as held over against the C#--not  
resolving to the A until a moment before the bass moves on, and as
you point out, the dip to the E after the rest changes the situation,  
anyway. Also, the further elaboration of this passage in mm 50-1
justifies your point.

Donna Doyle

Aaron Copland School of Music
Queens College
65-30 Kissena Blvd.
Flushing, NY  11367

______________________

On Jul 13, 2010, at 4:14 PM, Mark.AnsonCartwright at qc.cuny.edu wrote:

> Dear readers of SMT-list:
>
> Since Dmitri has encouraged many of us to inspect or revisit  
> solutions to the problem of parallel fifths and octaves, I would  
> like to mention an elegant one from Contrapunctus 1 from _The Art of  
> Fugue_. In mm. 24-25, Bach writes a Phrygian cadence (the essential  
> voice leading is, from bass up: Bb-Bb-D-G resolving by contrary  
> motion to A-A-C#-A). The tenor and bass obviously form parallel 8ves  
> (beneath the surface), but Bach embellishes the tenor by inserting E  
> (a diminished fifth below Bb) before A. The lovely little "dip" (Bb- 
> E-A) is not a random solution, but one that had been established as  
> part of the countersubject (see mm. 7, 11, and 15) in two- and three- 
> part contexts. No doubt Bach had the four-part situation in mind  
> when he conceived the "dip", even though its usefulness as a "way  
> out" is not obvious to most listeners until the situation arises in  
> mm. 24-25.
>
> Mark Anson-Cartwright
> Queens College and The Graduate Center, CUNY
>
>
>
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