The Renaissance - Counterpoint
The polyphonic vocal style of the 16th Century - Counterpoint - first emerged about 1300 and achieved its dominance in music under such composers as Palestrina, Fux and Correlli. It is a musical style which reinforces the independence of all voices in a polyphonic and harmonically balanced work. Under Palestrina who starts out from musical linearity to arrive at horizontal chords, the technique culminated under Bach whose music grows out of the chords (harmonic background) against which the voices develop a bold independence which is all too often breath-taking. In the 16th century, polyphony grew from the separate linear vocal lines into a unified whole by the use of artistically controlled aesthetics governing them; whereas in the Baroque - as suggested by the paintings of the time - the artist starts with a unity and works toward multiplicity.
The word ‘counterpoint’ was derived from punctus contra punctum or ‘point against point - note against note! For the listener, music is seen to fall within two large divisions: polyphony, in which the music falls into melodic lines (horizontally) and homophony, in which the music falls into fundamental harmonic structure (vertically). In the latter, the chords are presupposed - given without discussion; in the former, we begin with melodic lines in which the chords are reckoned by the sounding of the vocal lines and therefore are a result - and not an a priori - of the music.
About 900 AD, the earliest form of polyphonic music was the organum in which there was a principal vocal (or line) accompanied by one or more voices (at first by doubling in octaves and later by other intervals). Contemporary music naturally follows the evolution of this polyphonic music through the 10th and 11th Centuries. Parallel motion is abandoned and replaced, partly, with the idea of consistent contrary motion of the vocal lines. By the 12th and 13th Centuries, ars antiqua established more stable rules to ensure that the treatment of dissonance with developed and which led ultimately to the theory of counterpoint. The tensions developed by a prior randomness of dissonance were so to give way to guarantees in composition to assure there would be restraint to avoid any harsh, unclear tonal combinations in the vertical.
In the middle of the 13th Century, the Franconian Law stated: “At the beginning of a measure in all modes, a consonant must be placed, regardless whether the first note is a long, a breve, or a semibreve.” This rule was so rigidly observed that even up to the 16th Century its force was broken - but even then its influence can be seen in all the music written. Another rule which developed from the ars antiqua which was based chiefly on using the interval of the fifth was the introduction of thirds and sixths - not only coincidently - but as basic consonances.
By the 16th Century, the Golden Age of Vocal Polyphony, the art form which had been cultivated in England, France and the Netherlands took root in Italy. With all the advances of Josquin des Prez in Paris, Palestrina and his pupils led the way to the great culmination of the form. Of particular note is the attitude towards dissonance. In early years, dissonance was avoided - simply regarded as bad-sounding and not to be used at accented beats unless treated carefully with particular rules. By the 15th Century, conventions were established to deal with the treatment of dissonances. By the middle of the 16th Century, rules concerning the step-wise treatment of dissonance became even stricter. Whereas in the 13th and 14th Centuries composers took a purely negative attitude toward dissonance, by the 15th Century things began to change such that dissonances were used purely for effect.
As every student of music can tell, music of this period is separated into five species - in which the note values of differing melodic lines differ. In the First Species, there is parity of note values between the principal line (cantus firmus) and each of the other musical lines. In the Second Species, the secondary line(s) have half the note value of the cantus firmus; in the Third Species, the secondary line(s) have a quarter note value, etc. For each Species there are also separate rules for the use of dissonances and their consonant resolutions.
It is from these restrictions in Italy that Bach could introduce the theory that the vertical line (harmony) should be the most important - a feature that has impelled Western music right up to the present day. However, even in today’s music, the elements of Counterpoint remain a major foundation of any musical score and an appreciation of the Art of Counterpoint only enhances your understanding and appreciation of all music since the Renaissance.
