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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Dear Frank, David, and Collective
Wisdom,<br>
<br>
Thanks, David, for the reference to Keller's treatise. It's quite
a bit earlier than I would have guessed! May I broaden the
inquiry and ask about the earliest use of the cognate term
"Halbschluss/halbe Cadenz"? The oldest treatise I've found to use
that term is Kirnberger's <i>Kunst</i> (1776), vol. 1, p. 96, but
it seems to me that there's likely an earlier usage than that.<br>
<br>
On a side note, the concept of a cadence that stops on the
penultimate chord goes back quite a ways. Conrad Matthaei
describes two kinds of "imperfect cadences" (<i>clausulae
imperfectae</i>), the first of which "in der penultima stehen
bleiben," and goes on to three examples of C major triads
progressing to G major triads (<i>Kurtzer doch ausfuehrlicher
Bericht von den M</i><i>odis musicis</i> [1652], p. 8).<br>
<br>
I, too, look forward to hearing other people's input on this!<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Caleb Mutch<br>
Ph.D. student<br>
Columbia University<br>
<br>
<br>
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<pre wrap="">Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2012 21:17:55 +0000
From: David Lodewyckx <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:David.Lodewyckx@arts.kuleuven.be"><David.Lodewyckx@arts.kuleuven.be></a>
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org">"smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org"</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org"><smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org></a>
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] Cadence compendium - Half cadence
Dear Frank,
dear colleagues,
Being involved in Pieter's project since 2011, I have been studying a lot of contemporary sources with a specific focus on cadence typologies and cadence definitions. Unfortunately - if I'm right that you're looking for English/American terminology in particular - English sources weren't at the centre of my research yet. But they will be in the next few years...
The earliest reference I can come up with, is Kollmann's 1796 "Essay on Musical Harmony", pp. 56-60.
He considers the half cadence as one of the two species of the imperfect cadence, the other one being "the real imperfect cadence" (what we would call a 'plagal cadence' IV-I nowadays).
His definition of the half cadence reads as follows:
"The half cadence, or retrograde perfect cadence. It proceeds from the key note, both in major and minor, to its dominante; with the major or minor triad on the former, and the major triad only, or the chord of the seventh, on the latter."
You might be interested in Keller's description (Rules for a Thorow-Bass, 1705) as well. Although he clearly doesn't write from a harmonic point of view, his conception of the 'half close' resembles our (broad) understanding of the (harmonic) function of a half cadence.
Keller, p. 162: "There is another Cadence call'd the 7th and 6th Cadence, which is counted but a half Close, and if the 6th is flat, is never used for a final Close, because it does not satisfy the Ear, like as when the Bass falls a 5th, or rises a 4th, 'tis often introduced in a piece of Musick, as the Air may require; and when it ends any one part of a Piece, 'tis in order to begin a new Movement or Subject: The 7th and Sharp 6th may be used for a final Close, if the Design of the Composer requires it, but 'tis very rarely done."
I'm really curious to see your and others' first source of the use of the term half cadence.
Best regards,
David
David Lodewyckx
Ph.D. student
University of Leuven, Belgium
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