[Smt-talk] Scale degrees

[Nicolas Meeùs]

Dear Nick, Vasili, and all,

Dandrieu indeed gives a figure where the degrees of the C scale are 
numbered 1, b2 (or b9), n2 (or n9), b3 (or #2), n3, 4, #4 (or b5), 5, b6 
(or #5), 6 (or b7 [sic]), b7, n7 and 8 (where 'n' stands for natural). 
This is an isolated and therefore most interesting case in France at 
this time. It is not entirely clear, however, whether these figures 
possibly refer to bass notes (b9, n9 and #2, particularly, are somewhat 
troublesome in this respect).

Dandrieu also appears one of the firsts, probably the first, to use the 
term /soudominante/, which was not very common in the first half of the 
18th century and which even Fétis did not use more than a century later 
(Fétis said "the 4th degree of the scale"!).

François Campion, describing the règle de l'octave, for which bass 
numbers would have been quite convenient, fell compelled to notate it in 
twelve transpositions, in major and in minor, i.e. two times twelve 
almost identical staves (but for the transposition) and never thought of 
numbering the degrees.

Quirinus Van Blankenburg, who published his /Elementa musica/ in Dutch 
in 1739, derided French theory in general and François Campion in 
particular, saying:

    //zal men de namen der schale nomberen en zeggen met Campion blz. 22
    dat N. 1 zal hebben een 3 en 5, N. 2 een 6, enz./[/?/]
    /Shall one number the degrees of the scales and say with Campion p.
    22 that n. 1 shall have a 3 and a 5, n. 2 a 6, etc.?

This, to me, was until now the first clear European reference to a 
numbering of the bass degrees. I did not pay enough attention to the 
Kayser manuscript, as quoted by Lester, and I will do so as soon as 
possible.



Le 15/05/2014 21:34, Vasili Byros a écrit :
> Dear Nick,
>
> The following are just two examples from the first half of the 
> century, of French and German provenance respectively:
>
> 1) Dandrieu's /Principes de l'accompagnement du clavecin/ from 1719 
> (also the first treatise, I believe, to use the term /soudominante 
> /for scale degree 4).
> 2) The so-called Kayser copy of the Well-Tempered Clavier (Book I), 
> which features analytic annotations of a couple fugues and a prelude; 
> the annotations include scale-degree analyses of the bass. For a 
> discussion in English, see Lester, /Compositional Theory in the 
> Eighteenth Century/ (1992), 82–85. The Kayser manuscript dates from 
> 1722–23.
>
> Dandrieu uses names (for example, /soufinale/ for the leading tone). 
> The Kayser uses numbers.
>
> All best,
> Vasili
>
> ••••••••••••••••••
>
> Vasili Byros
> Assistant Professor, Music Theory and Cognition
> Northwestern University
> Bienen School of Music
> 711 Elgin Road
> Evanston, IL 60208
> v-byros at northwestern.edu <mailto:v-byros at northwestern.edu>
>

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