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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'">Dear Dr. Reed, <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'">You ask about classical precedents for the progression I-II-IV-I characteristic of 1960s rock. </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'">Although Roman numerals provide a useful shorthand here, in the end what you’re describing are not harmonic functions but motions of counterpoint. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'">The melodic progression of the bass ^^1-2-4-1 supporting 5/3 chords of major quality (with or without an added minor 7<SUP>th</SUP>)<SUP> </SUP>counterpoints well with various motions of upper voices, including the chromatic descent ^^5-#4-4-3 you note in (the inner voices of) “Eight Days a Week” by Lennon and McCartney, and "Atlantis" by Donovan. In the second instance, with a 7<SUP>th</SUP> over ^2, it furthermore supports a motionless top voice sustaining a ^8 pedal. In “Atlantis” the contrapuntal motions are all submerged. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'">Although the progression may indeed be “indigenous to rock” as others on the list have suggested, it must be aboriginal to modal counterpoint in whatever style it is practiced. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'">With this in mind I went looking for it in the seventeenth-century Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. There, in the aptly titled “The Hunt’s Up” by William Byrd, behold your progression, complete with major third over bass ^2, supporting a large-scale neighbor motion ^^5-6-5 (but note how Byrd inverts the voices for the final variation). In the second section of the anonymous “Watkins Ale” of the same collection, the related I-ii-IV-V (to adopt your shorthand) supports a rising ^^3-7, preparing the octave descent of the third and last section. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'">These are all British examples, but I would be surprised if you can’t find similar instances in Josquin, for example. Someone else suggested Brahms as a possibility; I would also suggest looking at late Liszt. Do l</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'">et us know what you find. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'">Richard Porterfield <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'">Instructor, Mannes College<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'">Ph.D. Candidate in Music Theory, CUNY GC<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI'">porterfr@hotmail.com<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<BR> <BR>> Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:24:58 -0400<BR>> From: alexreed@ufl.edu<BR>> To: smt-talk@societymusictheory.org<BR>> Subject: [Smt-talk] I - II- IV as a progression<BR>> <BR>> Dear Collective Wisdom:<BR>> <BR>> Today I heard Donovan's 1968 "Atlantis," which prominently <BR>> features a I - II - IV chord progression, not unlike the verse of <BR>> The Beatles' 1965 "Eight Days A Week." (I refer to the second <BR>> chord here as II rather than V/V because the dominant never <BR>> figures into the equation, except perhaps as a marked absence.) <BR>> Clearly, part of the interest in such a progression is the <BR>> chromatic descent from scale degree five but I am curious as to <BR>> whether there is a more compelling and complete discussion of this <BR>> harmonic move anywhere, and also whether anyone knows of classical <BR>> precedents for its use.<BR>> <BR>> Thanks,<BR>> <BR>> S. Alexander Reed, Ph.D.<BR>> University of Florida<BR>> <BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>> Smt-talk mailing list<BR>> Smt-talk@societymusictheory.org<BR>> http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org<BR><br /><hr />Windows Live: Make it easier for your friends to see what you’re up to on Facebook. <a href='http://windowslive.com/Campaign/SocialNetworking?ocid=PID23285::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:SI_SB_facebook:082009' target='_new'>Find out more.</a></body>
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