[Smt-talk] Standard Configuration of Clausulae

Wed May 30 08:00:33 PDT 2012

The notion of imperfect-to-perfect, I thought, was always associated with the stepwise "closest approach" (Herlinger, Cohen). So the imperfect consonance G/B doesn't participate in the same way. As for the example with F in the bass, I don't recall ever seeing it, except in rare Bach recitatives where V4/2 goes to I5/3.

Peter Schubert
Schulich School of Music
McGill University
555 Sherbrooke St. W.
Montreal, QC  H3A 1E3
(514) 398-4535 x00281

From: Thomas Noll <noll at cs.tu-berlin.de<mailto:noll at cs.tu-berlin.de>>
Date: Sat, 26 May 2012 12:27:24 +0200
To: "smt-talk at societymusictheory.org<mailto:smt-talk at societymusictheory.org> smt" <smt-talk at societymusictheory.org<mailto:smt-talk at societymusictheory.org>>
Subject: [Smt-talk] Standard Configuration of Clausulae

Dear Collective Wisdom,

in the standard configuration of the Tenor-, Discant- and Bass clauses one has a falling tone, rising semitone and a falling fifth all leading to the same finalis:
     Discant: B -> C
     Tenor: D -> C
     Bass: G -> C
This configuration also has the property that imperfect consonances move towards the perfect octave/unison.

The addition of a Bass with a falling-fifth - rather than a rising one - to the Tenor-Discant-Configuration seems to be crucial. There is an alternative, though, with an augmented fourth between Bass and Discant, which violates the rule to arrive at a perfect consonance from an imperfect one.
     Discant: B -> C
     Tenor: D -> C
     Bass: F -> C
We would be interested to know whether you know compositions in which this three-voice configuration has been used.

Sincerely,

Thomas Noll and Karst de Jong

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Thomas Noll
http://user.cs.tu-berlin.de/~noll
noll at cs.tu-berlin.de<mailto:noll at cs.tu-berlin.de>
Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya, Barcelona
Departament de Teoria i Composició

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