A Lesson From Lassus (P. Schubert)

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A Lesson from Lassus: Form in the Duos of 1577Author(s): Peter N. SchubertSource: Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring, 1995), pp. 1-26Published by: on behalf of the Society for Music TheoryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/745762 .Accessed: 26/03/2014 12:35

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A Lesson from Lassus: Form in the Duos of 1577

Peter N. Schubert

When Lassus expressed the hope that his twenty-four little duos might "in the future be of great benefit and training as much to beginning musicians as to those more skilled in their art," he could hardly have predicted just what a great future they would have.' They were reprinted often in the decades following their first publication, and are now among the best- known examples of Renaissance polyphony.2 The twelve tex-

1The quote is from the dedication to the original edition, in Orlando di Lasso, Samtliche Werke, ed. Franz Xaver Haberl (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hir- tel, 1894; facsimile, New York: Broude Bros., 1973), vol. 1, x: "tam Musices tyronibus, quam eius artis peritioribus magno usui & exercito sint futuri." All examples in this article are based on this edition. The original full title of the collection expresses the same pedagogical aim: Novae aliquot et ante hac non ita usitate ad duas voces cantiones suavissimae, omnibus musicis summe utiles: necnon tyronibus quam eius artis peritioribus summopere inservientes (Miinchen: Adam Berg, 1577).

2RISM 1577c lists nine editions through 1610 (Einzeldriicke vor 1800, Repertoire international des sources musicales, vol. 5, ed. Karlheinz Schlager [Kassel: Barenreiter, 1975], 274). The duos were first called motets and ricercars in the 1579 edition, Motetti ed ricercari ... a due voci (Venice: Angelo Gardano, 1579); RISM 1579c. Wolfgang Boetticher lists didactic works in which some duos were reprinted in "Eine franzosische Bicinien-Ausgabe als frtihmonodisches Dokument," in Festschrift Karl Gustav Fellerer zum sechzig- sten Geburtstag, ed. Heinrich Htischen (Regensburg: Gustav Bosse Verlag, 1962), 67-76. The twelve texted pieces can be found in modern clefs, and with translations, in Gustave Frederic Soderlund and Samuel H. Scott, Ex- amples of Gregorian Chant and Other Sacred Music of the 16th Century (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1971), and selections can be found in many other anthologies. For more comment on these duos see Wolfgang Boetticher, Orlando di Lasso und seine Zeit (Kassel: Barenreiter, 1958), 460-67. For

ted duos (Nos. 1-12, hereafter called motets) can be found in many anthologies and counterpoint textbooks, while the pieces without text (Nos. 13-24, hereafter called ricercars) are well known among instrumentalists. While their place as etudes and examples of two-part counterpoint is secure, we may still ask what they provide to those "more skilled in their art." This study demonstrates that in these pieces Lassus is giving a lesson on the one aspect of Renaissance music whose omission from treatises most frustrates present-day analysts: form.

Treatises teach how to make a theme suitable for each of the various modes, how to treat consonance and dissonance, how to imitate or invert a theme, on which notes to make cadences, and how to write double counterpoint.3 But they never tell us when in the course of a piece these devices and

more on didactic duos in general, see Paolo Emilio Carapezza's introduction to Musiche Rinascimentali Siciliane, vol. 2 (Rome: Edizioni de Santis, 1971).

3The dissonance treatment in the duos suggests a restrained, formal style. There is only one dissonant lower neighbor at the semiminim level (No. 5, m. 29). There are no dissonant third semiminims against semibreves, and no dissonant cambiatas, echapp6es, or 9-8 suspensions. (Note values in all of the examples presented here are original.) Lassus's treatment of dissonance is more restricted than that expressed in Part 3 of Zarlino's Le Istitutioni harmoniche (Venice, 1558; facsimile, New York: Broude Bros., 1965; trans- lation by Guy Marco and Claude Palisca as The Art of Counterpoint [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968]), where dissonant lower neighbors and echappees are allowed. The cadences conform largely to Zarlino's prescrip- tions in Istitutioni, Part 4, translated by Vered Cohen as On The Modes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983).


2 Music Theory Spectrum

techniques should be used. Each seems to be a detail; on the relation of these details to large-scale form the theorists are mute. The following close examination of the duos shows how three contrapuntal features are used by Lassus in a way that consistently articulates form.4 The descriptions of these tech-

4An attempt to define large-scale structure in the Lassus duos has been made by Lyle Davidson in "The Structure of Lassus' Motets a2 (1577)," Sonus USA 2 (1982): 71-90. Davidson asks many of the same questions asked here, but uses different methods (e.g., experiments in perception) to answer them. He concludes that large-scale durations are organized according to the Fi- bonacci series. For a wide-ranging study of Lassus's techniques, see Lucie Balmer, Orlando di Lassos Motetten (Bern and Leipzig: Paul Haupt, 1938; facsimile, Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1978).

For studies of large-scale form in terms of structures created from parallel groups of durations, see Michele Fromson, "A Conjunction of Rhetoric and Music: Structural Modelling in the Italian Counter-Reformation Motet," Journal of the Royal Music Association 117 no. 2 (1992): 208-46; Jean-Michel Vaccaro, "Anthoine de Bertrand: Las! pour vous trop aymer," in Music Be- fore 1600, Models of Musical Analysis, ed. Mark Everist (Oxford: Blackwell Reference, 1992); and Pierre-Paul Lacas, liner notes to "Orlande de Lassus Moduli Quinque Vocibus 1571" performed by the Collegium Vocale & Solistes du Knabenchor Hannover, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe (n.p.: Astr6e, Atelier de Recherche Valois, 1979). Christopher Reynolds's "Mu- sical Evidence of Compositional Planning in the Renaissance: Josquin's Plus nulz regretz," Journal of the American Musicological Society 40 (1987): 53-81, is the only recent study that invokes both contrapuntal technique (canon) as a large-scale structural element along with durational structures and recurrence of varied themes; see his note 3 for a list of other authors, going back to van Crevel and Gombosi, who deal in proportional durations.

Other studies investigating contrapuntal combination have not been so much concerned with its contribution to form. Quentin Quereau refers to it as a "complex of relationships" in "Sixteenth-Century Parody: An Approach to Analysis," Journal of the American Musicological Society 31 (1978): 407- 41. Jessie Ann Owens has identified "contrapuntal events" or "modules" in "The Milan Partbooks: Evidence of Cipriano de Rore's Compositional Pro- cess," Journal of the American Musicological Society 37 (1984): 270-98. Jo- seph Kerman used contrapuntal combination as an element in his concept of "cell construction" in "Old and New in Byrd's Cantiones Sacrae," in Essays on Opera and English Music, ed. F. W. Sternfeld, (Oxford, 1975). Both Kerman and Reynolds ("Musical Evidence of Compositional Planning") also

niques as given below were inspired by and are largely con- sonant with, but are not limited to, ideas found in several roughly contemporaneous Italian treatises.

The three contrapuntal features associated with formal structure are: 1) time interval of imitation, 2) fuga, or means of melodic variation, and 3) varied repetition of entire contrapuntal "blocks." These features can be labeled in the score of each piece, and then the labels can be strung along a time line along with the cadences. The time line is like a cast made from a wax positive; all the notes of the piece melt away as in the "lost wax" technique, and a clear outline of the piece's structure remains. The time lines reveal norms, as well as some striking exceptions, for Lassus's compositional technique. Among his norms, Lassus maintains consistency through relatively long stretches of music by retaining a single time-interval of imitation; he employs certain types of fuga (e.g., imitation at the sixth or inversion) to provide variety in the middles of pieces; and he uses invertible counterpoint to create brief ritornellos.

In doing such analyses, sections are demarcated in the traditional way, on the basis of cadences. So the first step in the analytic process is the identification of cadences. Lassus's use of cadences is so consistent that their definition is, hap- pily, fairly simple: the defining elements are a 7-6 or 2-3 syncopated semibreve suspension with at least one voice resolving to the expected goal note, whose duration must be at least a semibreve. A few exceptions arise in the ricercars because of their shorter note values. Here, the syncopated note can be a semibreve, and the goal note can be only a

refer in passing to time-interval of imitation, but do not employ this analytical tool systematically. Indeed, some authors deny that contrapuntal techniques influence form; see Bonnie Blackburn, "On Compositional Process in the Fifteenth Century," Journal of the American Musicological Society 40 (1987): 274-78.


A Lesson from Lassus 3

semibreve.5 The second step is the labeling of the three contrapuntal features in the motets and ricercars. A score to No. 6 ("Qui sequitur me"), appears so labeled in Appendix 1. The third step is to string the labels along time lines. Appendix 2 presents the resulting schematic formal analyses of all twenty-four pieces. The one fully annotated score and the presence of similar notations on many musical examples will enable the reader to verify the methods by which the schematic analyses were derived. Note that treating both motets and ricercars the same way means disregarding for the mo- ment the impact of text on form; that subject is taken up briefly at the end of this study.

From the schemas we can draw conclusions about the style of the set of pieces in general and about the behavior of individual pieces. In addition to answering questions about structural norms for beginnings, middles, and ends, the schemas provide data to answer questions such as: How do the ricercars differ from the motets? In what ways does text influence form? Do large-scale features replicate small-scale ones? How do contrapuntal techniques contribute to effects of tension and release? How do contrapuntal techniques in- teract with modal shifts?6

5Another cadence-like figure appears a few times. It consists of a resolving leading tone in the lower voice while the upper voice holds a fifth above the goal note (see No. 3, mm. 8-9 and No. 10, m. 26). Even though this figure sometimes occurs at textual completions in the motets (the same interval succession appears inverted in No. 2, mm. 16-17), it is not considered a sectional marker in this study. Even if it were, its presence would not sig- nificantly skew the results.

6Harold S. Powers shows that Lassus's 1577 collection is organized by mode in "Tonal Types and Modal Categories in Renaissance Polyphony," Journal of the American Musicological Society 34 (1981): 451-52. Powers's modal assignments for the pieces is the point of departure for modal assignments in the present study.

TIME INTERVAL OF IMITATION

Very little of Lassus's melodic material in these pieces is not repeated, and for the most part melodic materials recur in imitation. Many long imitative segments are in effect quasi- canonic, because every note in the following voice, or consequent, can be said to be determined by a note in the leading voice, or guide.7 The canon (i.e., rule) by which the guide determines the consequent has two aspects: the means of melodic variation (such as transposition or inversion), and the time interval of imitation. We must say quasi-canonic because Lassus often alters one of the two aspects of the rule.

In the musical examples presented here, the time interval of imitation is indicated by a note value above the top staff. A dotted line connects the first note of the theme in the guide with the first note of the corresponding theme in the consequent. After a dotted line, it is assumed that every note in the guide has a corresponding note in the consequent distant by the time interval of imitation until some change takes place (indicated with X, shading, or a new dotted line).

Imitation creates a strong sense of periodicity if the themes are phrased in lengths that are equal to (or are multiples of) the time interval of imitation. In the opening of No. 18, for instance, rests articulate two-breve phrases within each voice. Because the time interval of imitation is a breve, a rest occurs on every downbeat in mm. 3-8, articulating regular breve- length periods. This sense of periodicity is fairly subjective; it depends on features of the composed music and cannot be mapped onto the time lines in the way that abstract features can.

The time interval of imitation can change in two ways. First, notes (or durational parts of notes) can be sounded in one voice but not echoed in the other; such notes appear in

7The terms guide and consequent are cognates of the Italian guida and consequente as used in Zarlino's Istitutioni, Part 3, Chapter 51, 213.



Example 1. No. 2, mm. 17-24: reductions in the time interval of imitation

0 ~ ~ ~ d rhythmic unison

l f- -f J - ' j 7 r r7 Cf r?er " ? iI 'f +3, / - fa-fa

ir r fa-f ( "( ) r r rr-r 'r- fa-fa fa-fa E

Example 2. No. 22, mm. 15-18: switches between guide and consequent

Ir 16 17 18

I+5 inv i . +5 , +5 '+-3 /+8 +1' \-3

4 \-5

a/ / '\ j J

a rb) r d) a) b) c) d)

parentheses in the score. Since they are sounded in the guide but not in the consequent, the time interval of imitation will shorten as the consequent, not echoing those notes, catches up. The new time interval will equal the old time interval minus the combined values not sounded. In Example 1, the imitation begins at a semibreve. But because of the shortened note value in the upper voice at the beginning of the fourth measure, the imitation continues at only a minim; another shortened note value at the end of that measure brings the imitation into rhythmic unison in the fifth measure. Similarly, in No. 6 (Appendix 1), the lower voice is following at a semibreve beginning at the end of m. 9. Because a minim value of the F on "-lat" in the upper voice (in parentheses in m. 11) is not echoed, the lower voice is only a minim behind at "-in." If the total value of the guide notes without coun-

terparts in the consequent exceeds the preceding time interval of imitation, the role of leader switches to the other voice, as at d in Example 2 (and in No. 18, m. 37, not shown here). Conversely, the time interval lengthens if values are added to the consequent that were not sounded in the guide, as in No. 6, Appendix 1, m. 7. If the role of leader switches voices but the time interval remains the same, no new note value appears in the scores or the schemas in Appendix 2.

Second, the time interval of imitation changes when a note in one voice has two corresponding notes in the other voice. In this case, two dotted lines show the double correspondence (as at b and c in Example 2; in No. 6, Appendix 1, m. 12; in No. 8, mm. 24-25, not shown here; and in No. 18, m. 39, not shown here). Some situations can be successfully ex- plained in more than one way, but there are few cases in this



set of pieces where the differentiation between guide and consequent is truly ambiguous.8

Imitation breaks off in two locations in these pieces: at cadences and elsewhere. Approaching a cadence, imitation is usually abandoned. This has the effect of disrupting the periodicity of the time interval, and it may set up the sixths (or thirds) that initiate the cadential voice leading. In the analyses here, free counterpoint approaching a cadence is indicated by shaded areas.

Free counterpoint not approaching a cadence is indicated by "X." This is usually a matter of each voice going its own way, sounding its own material for a short while. Breaking out of imitation may lead to a new time interval or leading voice (as in No. 8, m. 21), or it may briefly interrupt two adjacent sections having the same time interval (as in No. 18, m. 27). Sometimes shorter segments of free counterpoint serve as substitutes for cadences, as discussed below.

Of the relatively infrequent longer non-imitative sections, two types predominate: one type is based on a single melodic fragment; the other type is dubbed a non-canonic fantasy. These differ from the imitative sections in that the ongoing development of the guide and the regular relationship between guide and consequent are broken.

There are two ways a single melodic fragment can be set: in one, the fragment is repeated in one voice against different counterpoints in the other (as in Example 3a, where resulting different vertical intervals are labeled); in the other, the fragment is repeated in a different voice against a different countermelody not participating in imitation (as in Example 3b). This type appears to resemble imitation in that a theme is echoed in another voice, but differs in that the roles of guide

8An example of a situation susceptible of several interpretations occurs in No. 19, mm. 17-20.

and consequent cannot be assigned.9 A melodic fragment repeated and accompanied by the same countermelody con- stitutes a block, a topic to be discussed later.

In a non-canonic fantasy, multiple immediate repetitions of a short theme are presented with rhythmic variation and with irregularities in guide-consequent relations. Example 4 shows part of a non-canonic fantasy on a seven-note theme (bracketed at each occurrence) with typical rhythmic variation and free counterpoint.10 When such fantasies are indicated in the schemas in Appendix 2, the solmization syllables of the theme are given along with the number of times the theme is sounded. Some sections containing multiple repetitions of a theme, as in No. 18, mm. 14-19, are not called non-canonic fantasies because the theme is not varied rhythmically and because the guide-consequent relationship is consistent. (A similar example in a motet occurs in No. 11, mm. 17-21.)

An ambiguous example is shown in Example 5. In mm. 1-9 the four-note solmization theme, repeated nine times, is not varied rhythmically except for the conventional re- moval of half of the first semibreve (solmization themes are discussed below under inganno).1 Of the three fantasies

9Cf. the discussion of ostinato in Balmer, Orlando di Lassos Motetten, 198ff.

'0The contrapuntal intention here is held to outweigh the function of cadences to demarcate sections, so cadences within fantasies (like that in m. 37 of Example 4) do not figure in the schemas in Appendix 2. Intervallic variation, like that found in Example 4 at the asterisks, is the subject of the next section of this study.

"This convention is more common in the motets than the ricercars, and may be present in order to let a singer breathe. An important example is No. 6 in Appendix 1, mm. 17 and 18. The "normal" form of the subject is a semibreve on "sed," but the lower voice has a minim rest and a minim in m. 17; the bracket assimilates the rest to the note. This same principle allows us to assimilate an extra minim to the first note in the lower voice at the beginning of No. 6 (on "Qui"), shown with a bracket. Lassus no doubt did not want the very beginning of No. 6 to sound the semibreve-level syncopation



Example 3. Two types of single-melodic-fragment settings a. No. 15, mm. 15-16

656 5 10 8 5 58 5 3 5 8 3 5

b. No. 21, mm. 41-43 "I

n?: d i i I r F \ ' -- III fragment fragment

I i I I1R I m7 7=; r 1 77Lo-, I I

contained among the ricercars, this one offers the most temp- tation to label as a straightforward imitation (as has been done hypothetically in Example 5). However, a close reading of the construction of this passage reveals unusually frequent intrusions of free counterpoint (indicated by Xs). This, cou- pled with the obsessive repetition of the theme over a relatively long period, characterize this section overall as a non- imitative fantasy. While the following measures (10ff.) contain the same theme in diminished values, the interrup- tions cease, and because both the rhythm of the theme and various time intervals are maintained, these measures are characterized as imitative.

When the note values (indicating time intervals of imitation) and the Xs and hatched areas (indicating non-imitative

that would have resulted from a time interval of imitation shorter than a semibreve.

sections) are transcribed onto time lines, patterns in Lassus's constructions emerge. One turns out to be a stylistic norm for the whole set of pieces: it may be called the acceleration model.

The acceleration model is based on the gradual shortening of the time interval of imitation on both the large and the small scale. The small scale consists of sections between cadences, within which the time interval becomes progressively shorter. The speeding up is not always uniform, but cadences are most often immediately preceded by the closest stretto of a given section. Note that the acceleration model has nothing to do with the rate of rhythmic activity within a single line, only with the length of time separating corresponding notes in the two lines.

Table 1 shows the successive time intervals of imitation for all twenty-four duos. Vertical lines indicate cadences and demarcate sections. Asterisks show shorter values followed by



Example 4. No. 23, mm. 33-39: a non-canonic fantasy 33

,I- r'I~~ r1~~~ I r~ * I ~ I~ ' (etc.)

- r i Rjjj j _I-^r_ t r f r r r Or J F Ta I- II I I I I

* [eF

Example 5. No. 20, mm. 1-10: a solmization theme in a non-canonic fantasy hypothetically labeled as imitative; N = natural hexachord; H = hard hexachord; S = soft hexachord

0 0

H N H Ire rere fare re fa

8 f f - J r r o x

4): r rr- rr Trr A fa

longer values, which are deviations from the norm. These occur in 15 out of 58 successions of adjacent time-interval values (disregarding Xs) in the motets, and 19 out of 86 in the ricercars, or about 24% overall. Nothing is entered for duo No. 23 because it contains no imitation as defined here, consisting instead entirely of repeated blocks and a fantasy.

Three of the deviations, all occurring in the third sections of motets (bracketed in Table 1) can be accounted for by another formal model that conflicts with the acceleration model, as discussed below.

The large scale is defined here by those time intervals of imitation that begin each section. Table 2 collects these, with



Table 1. Time intervals of imitation within sections. Asterisks mark a longer value following a shorter value. Non-imitative material approaching cadences is not shown. Other non-imitative phrases within sections are shown with X.

Duo No. First Section Second Section Third Section Fourth (& Fifth) Section(s)

Io J ,J * o J *o 2 X XoJ o

3 - o 0o ,o ) X o J,

~~~~41 0 x4' MXo o

6 * o 7 m- X o J X 7 ~xJ oJ* o*#oXJ

81 0 o X *O 9 o *M X o *oJ J

1o x . *oXo x J x* 11 0o* oJ*H Xm

12' X m X o ,? l X * o X g,

13 *o X o oJ Jx* xJ o * xJxJxJ 142 J xx* J

52 J X -x o *o o *o x*oJX* J 16 oXo0

17 HXooJJ J JJ 18 O O X O a*J J *J J*

19 M o * J X*o J*o o J J

202 oJ X J J J*J X J

213 o J 0 o*xxP i i X J x 22 = o 23 1,2

24 J oJ*oXo o0 X 1

1Duos Nos. 8, 12 and 23 begin not with imitation, but with repeated blocks. The value of the first imitative section after those combinations appears in the leftmost columns for these duos. No. 4 ends with three repeated blocks that do not figure in this table. 2The non-canonic fantasies at the beginnings of Nos. 14 and 20 and at the end of No. 23 are not shown here. 3In the triple mensuration section of No. 21, p = perfect breve; i = imperfect breve.



Table 2. Time intervals of imitation at the beginnings of sections. Asterisks show a longer value following a shorter one. (Each row below contains only the leftmost note value from each of the columns in Table 1.)

1 m o0* M

2 0 o

3 0' o

4 0

5 0- o*M

6 6 G*m o

7 O O0

8 0 0 0

9 0 0 J

10 m- o

11

12 o o0

13 0 a o o

14

15 * o o

16 o 0

17 0 o

18 o 0

19 o

20 J

22 m o J*o 21

22 0

23

24 o

similar values aligned. (Nothing is entered for duo No. 11 because it contains only one section.) Here there is much more consistency, with only 5 cases of deceleration (shown with asterisks) out of 53 successions, or about 9%. No. 17 is the best example of the generalization that in the acceleration model, each section is a diminution of the preceding one.

Comparison of the motets with the ricercars reveals that the ricercars overall contain shorter time intervals: imitation at the semiminim occurs only once in the motets, as opposed to 36 times in the ricercars; imitation at the fusa never occurs in the motets, but appears 4 times in the ricercars. This is consistent with the greater use of short note values in the ricercars. Also, non-canonic fantasy sections occur only in the ricercars. This may be due to the fact that rhythmic variation is a characteristic of fantasy; if it were used in motets, it might well mutilate the text setting. For instance, the rests in mid- theme in Example 4 might break up words. The norms for rate of change of time interval of imitation help confirm the decision to identify Example 5 as a fantasy, since it has an unusually large number of intrusions of Xs. Appendix 2 shows clearly that no other opening section has that many inter- ruptions of imitation; indeed, only two duos have any Xs at all in their opening sections (Nos. 2 and 20 have one each).

In addition to helping to establish norms, the schemas in Appendix 2 reveal some features specific to individual pieces. For instance, in No. 17 the first three sections get progressively shorter, as do the stretches of free material leading to the first three cadences, so that these durations participate in the acceleration model. Another striking use of time interval of imitation as a structuring device is seen in No. 6, where the time intervals form a palindrome: J o J J o d. This duo, to be discussed further below, is unique in starting with a short time interval of imitation, and in having the longest one in the middle of the piece.



FUGA

The word fuga in the late Renaissance embraces not only pitch interval of imitation, but other variation techniques that are applied to melodic material (inversion, retrograde, and inganno), whether the repetition occurs in a single voice or in imitation between two voices. Here, however, the term refers primarily to the melodic relationship between the two voices, which is indicated in the analytic scores by a dotted line between the note in the guide and the corresponding note in the consequent, with the labels for the various relationships placed next to the dotted lines. After a dotted line, it is assumed that every note in the guide has a corresponding note, in the same melodic relationship, in the consequent. When that relationship changes, a new dotted line and label are placed between the corresponding notes. One of the most striking features of Lassus's style is that melodic relationships change much more frequently than time intervals of imitation.

The several kinds of fuga include transposition, fuga d'inganno, melodic inversion, and retrograde and retrograde inversion. Transposition is indicated in analytic scores by a number next to a dotted line connecting corresponding notes; each change of pitch interval of imitation calls for a new number and dotted line. The plus and minus signs indicate which voice is leading (e.g., "+4" means imitation at the fourth above, the upper voice being the consequent; "-1" means the lower voice follows at the unison). In rare instances when the voices are crossed, two signs are used (e.g., " + -3" means the upper voice follows, beginning a third below the corresponding note in the leading voice, as shown at a in Example 2.

One special case of change of pitch interval is fuga d'inganno. This is a change of pitch interval of imitation in mid- theme that maintains the solmization syllables of the original. Inganno is special in that "themeness" resides in the solmi-

zation names of the notes the theme comprises. Since any solmization name can designate two or three pitch classes, a wide variety of melodic variation is possible.

Melodic inversion is shown in the analytic scores and schemas by "inv" and the pitch interval between the first notes. Retrograde, although mentioned by contemporaneous theorists, seems never to be used in these duos between a leading voice and its immediate consequent.12 However, the retrograde of a theme may show up later in the piece, and be imitated in inversion, a process which yields the retrograde inversion of the original theme (e.g., No. 18, mm. 14-19).

Of the fuga types above, transposition and inversion have been fairly thoroughly examined in present-day studies.13 Fuga d'inganno, by contrast, seems to be less well known. The term is believed to have been coined by Artusi, and occurs in few other treatises.14 In the Lassus duos, inganno

12Rocco Rodio, in Regole di musica (Naples: Giacomo Carlino e Cos- tantino Vitale, 1609; facsimile, Bologna: Forni, 1981), shows two examples of retrograde ("fuga cancherizzata") using the famous la sol fa re mi theme that Lassus uses as the subject for a non-canonic fantasy section in duo No. 14 (53).

13See, for instance, Imogen Horsley, "Fugue and Mode in 16th-Century Vocal Polyphony," in Aspects of Medieval and Renaissance Music, ed. Jan LaRue (New York: Pendragon Press, 1966): 406-22; James Haar, "Zarlino's Definition of Fugue and Imitation," Journal of the American Musicological Society 24 (1971): 226-54; and Paul Mark Walker, "Fugue in German Theory from Dressier to Mattheson" (Ph.D. diss., SUNY Buffalo, 1987).

'4See Giovanni Maria Artusi, La Seconda parte dell'Artusi overo delle imperfettioni della moderna musica (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1603; facsimile, Bologna: Forni, 1968), 45-57. This passage is discussed in John Harper, "Frescobaldi's Early Inganni and Their Background," Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association 105 (1978-79): 1-12. Rodio, in Regole di musica, 53, describes inganno as fuga in nome ("La fuga in nome e quella la quale nomina le note per varij movimenti, come qui si vede, & molti la chiamano, fuga d'inganno"). Camillo Angleria does not use the term, but his examples of variatione di fuga in Chapter 20 of La Regola di contraponto (Milan: Giorgio Rolla, 1622; facsimile, Bologna: Forni, 1983) show a motive whose different segments are transposed by various intervals. The relative



is often used along with rhythmic variation in fantasy sections. This can be seen in Example 5, where the theme is the names fa re re fa, but the hexachords from which those names are drawn change constantly, creating very different melodic shapes. 15

Recognition of inganno can help to solve ficta problems such as that shown in Example 6, where the melodic variation results from inganno. Some editors suggest flatting the first B of m. 15. But if the upper line is sung with Bf there, then both the guide and consequent can have the same solmization syllables fa mi la sol fa mi (albeit from different hexachords), as shown.16

Change of transposition level that does not maintain tone/ semitone position is often found in mid-imitation in the Las- sus duos. The significance of level of transposition has to do with pitch and interval content. A transposed or inverted theme can maintain the same ordering of interval qualities (Example 7a); this is by far the most common type of inversion. Or the inverted theme can lie in the same space as the original (i.e., having the same pitch-classes at both beginning and end, as in No. 6, Appendix 1, m. 11; and No. 18, m. 35, not shown here); this means it outlines the same species of interval in the same location. Or it can have the

rarity of the idea is striking: Walker ("Fugue in German Theory") surveyed some two dozen Italian and German theorists writing on fuga between 1550 and 1650, and seems never to have run across it.

15The low Bb requires a hexachord on low F. Such a hexachord, while outside the Guidonian gamut, was sanctioned by many authors, as noted in Karol Berger, Musica Ficta (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 13-16. In mm. 5-6 the notes F-A-A-BI are clearly another kind of variant of the initial motive, but one whose derivation is harder to define: the first note can only be afa if a hexachord is imagined on low C, which some authors sanctioned; the second note can be a re only if B-natural is imagined, yet there are Bbs on both sides.

16One could conceive of this passage as fa mi re ut fa mi without altering the conclusion regarding inganno and its influence on ficta. The only reason not to is that most theorists appear to favor mutating on la.

Example 6. No. 12, mm. 15-16: solmization and ficta H N S

I, 11 II 1 fa mi la sol fa mi

18 fcr + r' p lo- J - - I I

su- -am_. Vir- go

-. go v

5

" -

-

-8 inv -8

;Y r I b - Io rF su-

-am fa mi la sol fa mi

I 1I I N S

Vir- go

same pitch-class at either the beginning or end (Example 7b, where the imitations begin on C; and also Example 6 on the word "Virgo"). When the melody outlines a fifth, having a beginning or ending note in common can (but does not always) produce the outline of the same species of interval in a different location.l7 Finally, it can reproduce the intervals

17Two kinds of inversion are described by Angleria in La Regola di contraponto, Chapter 21, 79. Inversion maintaining intervals is called "proprio roverso" while that lying between the same pitch-classes is called "roverso contrario." He begins with a little passage showing the correspondence in "proprio roverso" between the solmization syllable of the first note in the original melody and the first note in the inverted melody: "Se la fuga principia in Ut, il suo roverso e il La; Se principia in Re, il suo roverso e il Sol; Se principia in Mi, il suo roverso e il Fa; Se in Fa, e il Mi; Se in Sol, e il Re; Se principia in La, si piglia l'Ut." Example 7a is a textbook case of proprio roverso, the theme lying precisely within the hexachord. Rodio makes a similar distinction (Regole di musica, 52). Using la sol fa re mi (starting on A) as a theme, he defines the inversion that maintains intervals (starting on G) as fuga contraria, and the inversion that begins on the same note (A), fuga traversa; however, because he adds examples of both types transposed down a fifth, the second fuga traversa (now starting on D) occupies the same space as the original, making it equivalent to Angleria's roverso contrario. For more on "hexachordal inversion," see James Ladewig, "Luzzaschi as Frescobaldi's Teacher: A Little-Known Ricercare," Studi Musicali 10 (1981): 247.



Example 7. Two types of imitation by inversion

a. No. 7, mm. 9-11; S = semitone; T = tone

T T S TT

I|8 F b-I_-I .J J J J J ~_ inv

"-^^-~~~_~~~~ 7 ~(etc.) T T S T T

b. No. 3, mm. 16-19 0

i o: fr /rrrTJ o? /,/inv /'inv

if+1 ,/ +8.

of the original only in part (as in Example 2, mm. 17-18, where only the first four intervals are exactly the same). Note that the labels used here do not specify which type of inversion is used. A label like "inv -9" is used here merely for identification; what it means in terms of literally reproducing the intervals of the original depends upon where in the dia- tonic arrangement the melody falls and how large a range it covers.

The structural function of pitch and interval content of a transposed or inverted theme can be linked to mode. If a guide outlines the important notes of the mode, does the consequent echo the same important notes of the mode, or does it present a different species than the guide, suggesting a different mode? For instance, in the passage of retrogrades and retrograde inversions from No. 18, mm. 14-19, the intervals of the bracketed motives are maintained in order in all cases, but all outline either second-species or third-species

fourths. Because neither of these species is proper to the principal mode of the piece, their function may be one of variation or of modal destabilization.

When types of fuga are added to the time lines, as shown in the complete schematic reductions in Appendix 2, their contribution to form becomes apparent. Generally, many changes of fuga take place within a single time interval of imitation. Thus the time interval is a single unifying constraint that can embrace a dizzying variety offuga types. Placingfuga types against time intervals shows that imitative sections are canonic with respect to rhythm much more consistently than with respect to pitch. In addition, change of fuga type generally occurs more slowly in opening sections, so that it functions as yet another aspect of the acceleration model. For a striking example, compare the first and second sections of No. 22 in Appendix 2.

Imitation at an imperfect or dissonant interval and inversion tend to occur either in the middles of sections or at the beginning of internal sections; thus these types of fuga are used in ways that define middleness.18 Why might this be? One reason may have to do with modal stability. Imperfect intervals of imitation and some transpositions of inversions change mode-defining species of fourth or fifth, causing modal instability. The use of foreign species to articulate a middle may be likened to the modulations to more distant keys in the development sections of tonal binary or sonata- design movements.

18A rare instance of fuga at an imperfect interval at the beginning of a piece appears in Lassus's Penitential Psalm No. 2, verse 11, where it expresses a text about ineptitude (Lasso, The Seven Penitential Psalms and Laudate dominum de caelis, ed. Peter Bergquist [Madison: A-R Editions, 1990], 35). Another example from Lassus of imitation an unusual interval is cited by Bernhard Meier for a different expressive purpose in The Modes of Classical Vocal Polyphony, translated Ellen Beebe (New York: Broude Bros., 1988), 323; originally published as Die Tonarten der klassischen Vokalpolyphonie (Utrecht: Oosthoek, Scheltema & Holkema, 1974).



Change of species may occasionally be related to the note of an internal cadence other than the final or cofinal, as in Example 1 from duo No. 2 in Dorian. Here the species outlined in the lower voice is the Lydian fifth Bb-F (fa-fa), which can be said to prepare the cadence on F.19

REPEATED BLOCKS

A block of material is a contrapuntal combination whose vertical and melodic intervals are repeated. Some blocks occur within imitative textures; others contain unrelated melodic motions.20 Blocks are indicated in the scores by boxes beneath which are numbers representing the vertical intervals. The sense of periodicity is especially strong here, where a whole two-voice passage is repeated. In keeping with a general principle of Renaissance music, that of varied repetition, blocks of material are almost never repeated unvaried in the Lassus duos.21 In the analytical schemas, the boxes are

19Renaissance authors differ on the modal function of the intermediate cadence on notes other than the final or cofinal. Such cadences can apparently be used to make reference to other modes, or can be members of a limited class of cadences that are proper to the principal mode. Zarlino seems to indicate the latter when he says that the proper cadences in the Dorian, for instance, are to D, F, and A (see Istitutioni, Part 4, Chapters 18-19). The cadence to F in that case might not signify F-Lydian but F-in-the-middle- of-Dorian.

20In the latter case it can be thought of as a two-voice soggetto, to use Zarlino's term. Zarlino describes the two-voice motive in Istitutioni, Part 3, Chapter 26, and discusses using a two-voice combination as the basis for adding another voice in Chapter 64. Anthony Newcomb refers to it as a "double point" in the introduction to The Ricercars of the Bourdeney Codex (Madison: A-R Editions, 1991), xiii. See also Balmer, Lassos Motetten, 159.

21See Zarlino, Istitutioni, Part 3, Chapter 55, and Giovanni Maria Artusi, L'arte del contraponto (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1598; facsimile, Hilde- sheim: Georg Olms, 1969), 58. In the duos, only two examples of immediate exact untransposed repetition without ornamentation are found: No. 20, mm. 22-23, and No. 24, a cadence with voice exchange in mm. 25-26. Ornamented

connected by arrows labeled with the type of variation used. There are three principal means of variation, excluding mere ornamentation: transposition, double counterpoint, and mirror inversion.

Transpositions or "harmonic" sequences22 are labeled in the analyses by a plus or minus sign and the number of dia- tonic steps: "-3" means the block is transposed down a third, major or minor. In the schemas, when many short blocks follow one another at the same transposition level, the boxes are run together and arrows omitted; the number then applies to each of the joints between boxes (e.g., No. 18, mm. 21-22 and 37-38). In many cases, especially in the motets, the transposed blocks do not succeed each other immediately, and perhaps should not properly be called sequential (e.g., No. 6, Appendix 1, mm. 15-16 and 18).

Double counterpoint causes the vertical intervals in the combination to change by transposing one or both of the voices in the pair. If the voices change their relative positions (upper becomes lower), it is called invertible counterpoint. Invertible counterpoint is indicated in scores and schemas by "ic" and the interval of inversion (e.g., "ic 12" means invertible counterpoint at the twelfth). Like transposition, it can occur in imitative passages, or it can be applied to non- imitative two-voice combinations. Some longer instances that have a clear structural function are discussed below, while others occur as tiny fragments. One of the most technically spectacular examples of the latter is from No. 20, shown in

examples include: No. 16, m. 32, and a block in No. 14, mm. 22-23, which is repeated in mm. 26-27. These are labelled in the schemas. Balmer, Lassos Motetten, 119, cites an ornamented scale appearing as a variation of the simple scale elsewhere in the piece.

22"Harmonic" here refers to the vertical intervals, which are maintained in the sequential passage. Artusi, in L'arte del contraponto, discusses this type of transposition along with permissible types of repetition (58). He says this type of repetition consists of the same rhythms and the same vertical intervals but is varied by having different "notes" (i.e., it is transposed).



Example 8. No. 20, mm. 17-19: blocks of invertible counterpoint in a non-imitative texture -4

B -- B A'5 3 3 5 3

_

-h 5

) 3 A' A I 'N

=i,. - wl-, - = In 7-r - -

,~ -f r I I I 1 r . . . . . o _ o

I I I , ." -

. .

3 4 6 7 10 10 9 6 5 10 3 9 6 7 310 9 6 5 3 4 9 6 (8) 10

ic 12 ic 12 -5

Example 8. This passage, which at first seems to consist of free counterpoint, contains a rare flurry of overlapping combinations that must have cost some effort to compose: combinations A, A' and B create a small-scale arch form, shown by the arrows indicating contrapuntal procedures. Note the alteration, at the asterisks in A', of one of the melodies making up combination A; this alteration "corrects" the seventh that results from invertible counterpoint at the twelfth when the original combination contains the vertical interval of a sixth. Another little variant is the addition of a passing note in the last combination, B, creating an octave (in parentheses).

Mirror inversion reverses both the melodic motions and the relative positions of the voices, so that the sequence of vertical intervals is maintained, as in Example 9.23 Mirror inversion can be combined with invertible counterpoint, as in No. 6, Appendix 1, mm. 8-11, or with retrograde, as in Example 9.

23Zarlino refers to this technique as "the second mode of double counterpoint" (Istitutioni, Part 3, Chapter 56).

Harmonic sequence is never used at the beginning of any duo. Perhaps as in tonal music, it has a pushing-forward effect inappropriate for beginnings, where establishment of tonality and subject are necessary. Furthermore, the levels of transposition that would ensure modal stability (fourth and fifth) are used least frequently overall. Table 3 shows the number of occurrences of interval of transposition of blocks, broken down by genre.

Comparison of the ricercars and motets reveals quite different uses of harmonic sequence. The ricercars feature nu- merous short blocks, mostly transposed up or down a second, almost always following each other immediately, and often repeated more than once. In the motets the transposed blocks tend to be fewer, longer, evenly divided among the possible intervals, often separated by intervening material, and rarely repeated more than once. The sequences are often used in the ricercars to approach the cadence (some are actually part of the cadence), while in the motets they are less heavily concentrated at the cadences.

One structural use of invertible counterpoint is to begin a piece, as in Nos. 8, 12, and 23. In these cases the blocks

A I "



Example 9. No. 19, m. 31: mirror inversion and retrograde

31, \/ , -I

I I 1 I I I I

e7 -r llFF - F r-r r1 irror retrograde

"- mirror - K retrograde ~

iclo-

2

27

Example 10. No. 8, mm. 23-36: repeated blocks and large arch

23 ,

f 23

"" 0 0 r j rltrrre A B

9:, K'r . r1'I I I rr ~I~~

f

A' ? IJ "r rJ tp , f ? o _ J J j JJ A' B' At" B"

b? ?o o . < o r C C -r X v r -9,~~~ J ,I'F1 ial.isP

-5

Table 3. Transposition levels of transposed blocks (harmonic sequence)

?+2 +3 4 or 5 Totals Motets 6 4 4 14 Ricercars 36 5 3 44

Totals 42 9 7 58

are non-imitative combinations of substantial length (21/2-31/2 breves) and are repeated in invertible counterpoint at the twelfth or octave. Using invertible counterpoint at these intervals is ideal for the Renaissance composer because it generally maintains the same species of melodic interval in the

original and the inverted combinations, and it maintains perfect vertical intervals in the same places in both as well.24 These blocks thus function to establish the mode clearly at the beginning of the pieces.

Apart from these two uses of repeated blocks (harmonic sequence at cadences and invertible counterpoint at openings), there is at least one other consistent structural function for repeated blocks. It is to create a kind of ABA'C phrase that occurs in six of the twelve motets, and never in the ricercars. Figure 1 (p. 19) examines short segments taken

24See Peter N. Schubert, "Mode and Counterpoint," in Music Theory and the Exploration of the Past, ed. Christopher Hatch and David Bernstein (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), 103-36.



from the analytical schemas in Appendix 2, aligned to show their similar construction (actual durations are not represented). In each, A is a combination that recurs varied as A'. B and C can have a variety of relationships: In Nos. 1, 3, 9, and 12, B is a bit of free counterpoint (X) that functions as an ouvert ending with C providing the clos ending. In No. 8, B is a cadence (shaded) that recurs twice: once as B' (B inverted at the octave and transposed down a fourth) and once as B" (B' transposed down a fifth). Finally, in No. 10, B is free counterpoint (albeit resembling a cadence) and C has the ouvert ending.

This form is responsible for three of the instances of short values followed by longer values that were shown bracketed in Table 1 (Nos. 1, 3, and 12). If within A, or between A and B, there is a reduction in the time interval of imitation, then the longer value must be picked up again for the varied repeat of A, causing a deviation from the acceleration model.

The operations by which the As are varied include invertible counterpoint and transposition at a variety of intervals. The second boxed combination in No. 8 in Example 10 (mm. 27-28) is the first inverted at the tenth. The lower voice in the first box has been transposed up a fifth in the second, maintaining the ut-fa (third-species) melodic intervals that express the principal mode (Lydian). The upper voice in the first box outlines a first-species re-sol fourth of Dorian that had been introduced earlier, perhaps in connection with the cadence on A in m. 17 (compare Example 1); when it is transposed down a sixth in the second box, it also outlines the Lydian fourth, so both voices regain the principal mode. Note that A" (mm. 32-34) is not boxed in the example. Al- though it uses similar melodic material, the contrapuntal combination is not the same.

The passage shown in Example 11 is complicated by a sort of "false start" of A' in which the first part of A is sounded alone before the remainder of A' is sounded. Rests interrupt these two fragments of A, and the second fragment is trans-

posed. The effect is to build from B towards a little climax on the D in m. 29: the high points in mm. 27-29 outline a scale D-E-F-G as the melody in the upper voice seeks to reconstruct itself as it was in mm. 24-25 in a little drama not unlike Romantic phrase construction.

A similar use of transposition in the A and B sections of an ABA'C structure to create longer melodic arches arises in No. 8, mm. 25-34 (in Example 10). The descending line in m. 25 starts on D; in m. 30 the ascending line rises to C; m. 33 has B b as its highest point; and the last descending line falls from A. The linear descent outlined by these high points (circled) directs the modular repetitions towards the end of the piece.

The significance of the passages in Figure 1 is that they represent a structural use not just of melodic recurrence, but of the repetition of the entire "harmonic" section. This is different from the periodic repetition caused by imitation because in imitation only one voice is the same in any two adjacent segments. The recurring passage here is more like a mini-ritornello, an abstract structuring device but at the same time clearly bound up with repetition of the text (shown at the right in Figure 1). Simple direct repetition of music and text is not restricted to the ends of pieces, but instances of the ABA'C repetition model shown in Figure 1 is used at (or near, in No. 10) the ends of five of the twelve motets, so it functions as a signal for the end of the piece.25

25Pietro Pontio, in his Ragionamento di musica (Parma: Erasmo Viotto, 1588; facsimile, Kassel: Barenreiter, 1959), agrees with Zarlino on the ne- cessity of avoiding repetition of the same consonances and melodic motions "unless it is the repetition of an ending, as Cipriano did in the second part of his canzone, Alla dolce ombra" ("Conviene ancora schivi che il compos- itore, & contrapuntista [se possibil sia] di non replicare l'inventioni per le medesime consonantie, & movementi conformi; perche non rendano varieta alcuna, eccetto se non fosse una replicatione d'un fine, come fece Cipriano nella seconda parte della sua Canzone, Alla dolce ombra, ma replicata la inventione per diverse consonantie, tal varieta sara molto laudabile," 146).



Example 11. No. 10, mm. 24-31 -4

24'r r r? - r rr r J A rj 0 J a -

10 6 5 6 101112 10 6 5

-2

656 1011 12

MUSICAL STRUCTURE AND TEXT

In the foregoing, the motets were analyzed as abstract musical structures on a par with the ricercars. Now we can replace their texts and correlate them with some of the abstract musical features pointed out above. The uniqueness of duo No. 6 (Appendix 1), for instance, with its short initial time interval of imitation and palindromic structure, can be related to the opening words "Qui sequitur me" ("He that followeth me"). Close stretto is common in musical settings of texts about following.26 We may imagine Lassus beginning with a short time interval of imitation inspired by the text and then, in order to provide variety and to ensure the appro- priate acceleration towards the final cadence, deciding to use

He follows this statement with an example anticipating some of those Artusi would use later in L'Arte del contraponto cited in note 22).

26Horst Leuchtmann, in Die musikalischen Wortausdeutungen in den Motetten des Magnum opus musicum von Orlando di Lasso (Baden Baden: Verlag Valentin Koerner, 1972), cites this duo on p. 147, and generalizes: "Wo fuga schon eine Figur ist (= Kanon), liegt es nahe, fugere und auch sequi durch auffallende imitation auszudeuten" (61).

imitation at the breve in the middle of the piece. It is only a short step from there to the idea of a palindrome.

Text may also account for fuga at imperfect intervals. Again in No. 6 (Appendix 1), at the words "sed habebit" there is imitation at the third and a short block transposed up a third. These intervals of transposition allow the introduction of a third-species fourth (C-F in the lower voice at mm. 15-16) to sound along with the second-species fourths (E-A in both voices in mm. 17-18) that are proper to the Phrygian mode of the piece. Lassus may have chosen this mode for this text on account of the word "tenebris" ("dark- ness"). The subtle infiltration of these fourths smooths the transition to several fourth-species fifths and a third-species fourth (F-C and F-Bb in the upper voice at mm. 17-20) that express the word "lumen" ("light"; compare Example 1).27

27To say that the Lydian species express the word "lumen" is to extend Meier's theory of melodic commixture. For Meier, excursions outside the mode (whether cadential or melodic) primarily reflect words having to do with different types of change or of negative emotions; the most positive words he lists are in the category of "blessed" and "humble." "Light" is not among the words he lists as expressed by modal means, although he mentions it briefly in the context of word-painting by melodic ascent (The Modes, 240).



Here text expression and structure coincide, since the "loaded" word and the foreign species occur in the middle of the piece. The notion that imperfect interval of transposition is based on text is somewhat borne out by the fact that invertible counterpoint at the tenth (in which one voice is transposed by an imperfect interval) is used only in the motets, never in the ricercars (as shown in Table 4).

Finally, text may be responsible for the only example in a motet of a long harmonic sequence. It is at the word "malum" ("evil") at the end of No. 5. The setting consists of a short block transposed four times down a second. Meier has pointed out that repetition and evil are associated.28 Here again, expression and structure coincide, since this type of harmonic sequence is mostly used in the ricercars to approach a cadence, and the word "malum" occurs at the end of the piece (however, we are forced to conclude that what is per- fectly normal in a ricercar is evil in a motet). The examples above are not only momentary madrigalisms, but show how abstract long-range schemes can coincide with expressive intent.

Leuchtmann, in Die musikalischen Wortausdeutungen, cites this same example from Lassus's duo No. 6 in his exhaustive list (142), and also discusses it in the text. For him, "lumen" is expressed by quick motion, and in the phrase "lumen vitae" it expresses both "light" and "life," and its effect even spills over into surrounding words: "Lux. Licht und leuchten werden als Bewegung iibertragen . . . Lux oder lumen erschienen ausgedeutet nur sehr selten; im iiberwiegenden Teil bleiben sei [sic]-wenn auch verschiedene Grinde fur das Ausbleiben beizubringen sind-unberiicktsichtigt. Ein Beispiel aus Motette 6: die Bewegung beginnt schon bei 'habebit.' Hier stehen in 'lumen vitae' zwei Worter zusammen, die-besonders vita-mit Bewegung ausgedeutet werden. Es ist anzunehmen, dass die grosse melodische Bewe- gung fur beide Worter gilt" (51).

28Meier recognizes repetition of "repeated tones, intervals, or melodic phrases" for the purpose of expressing words having to do with bells, trum- pets, repetition, duration, and various negative emotions (The Modes, 243- 45). Leuchtmann sees evil as expressed by melodic descent (Die musikalischen Wortausdeutungen, 37), and cites this example from Lassus's duo No. 5 (141).

Table 4. Intervals of invertible counterpoint twelfth octave tenth Totals

Motets 4 3 5 12 Ricercars 7 5 - 12

Totals 11 8 5 24

CONCLUSION

The young composer who could absorb this lesson from Lassus would have mastered form as the assembly and repetition of many small parts that are varied by means of contrapuntal techniques. Lassus's own use of these techniques to articulate beginning, middle, and end can be summarized as follows. Beginnings are characterized by a slow rate of change of fuga and a slow time interval of imitation (an exception might seem to be the fantasy beginnings, but in these Lassus acquires fast-paced variation and change of fuga by trading away the progressive melodic development of a guide). An- other option for the beginning is the use of two-voice blocks where repetition is varied by invertible counterpoint. Like imitative openings that maintain a slow time interval of imitation, these blocks offer periodic phrasing, but the periods are longer. Both types of opening ensure modal stability due to perfect intervals of transposition.

Middleness for Lassus involves quickening the time interval of imitation and quickening the rate of change of fuga types. In addition, certain specific fuga types (imperfect interval of transposition, inversion) are reserved for middles. These features obtain on both the large and small scales, i.e., in the middles of pieces and in the middles of sections of pieces. The imperfect intervals of transposition are not only used to add variety and to differentiate the middle of a piece or section, but to destabilize the mode, sometimes with the



Figure 1. The ABA'C passages

Duo: A B A' C(or B') A" B" Text:

o ,0 X o r ,sA: "circumspectionem" No.1 -4+5 -4 -5-4-1 B & C: "Dei"

end, mm. 23-32

-3

0 oX X oe J A: "qui diligunt" - 8 -5 -6 +5 No. 3 -8 B & C: "ilium"

end, mm. 22-31

' ic 12 - ,mirror

,X 0 x :(s A: "ego reddam" No.8 +6 -5 +1 -5 -5- B "vobis"

end, mm. 23-36 I I ~"'

iclO10 ic8-4 5

X0 A: "et tollat cru-" No. 9 3 -4 5 B & C: "-cem suam"

mm. 16-22

~same

o0+? o XenA X A: "in gaudium" +8 +8 +4 +8 inv No. 10 + 8-4

-12 -5 B & C: "Domini" end, mm. 24-35 '' L i i

-2

0 , 6 X X O ' ? A: "qui vitalem" +5 +5 -3 No. 12 +5,*+5 ' -3

__

B & C: "dat odorem" end, mm. 29-35

L I &I~~~~~~~~~~~~



effect of introducing a cadence on a less important degree than the final or fifth.

Ends of ricercars differ from those of motets. In both, repeated blocks are likely to be used, but in the ricercars these repeated blocks are sequences, while in the motets, as a consequence of text repetition perhaps, the repeated blocks sometimes form more complex phrase structures in which the blocks act as little ritornellos.

We have been inclined to hold our respect for contrapuntal artifice at a healthy remove from our appreciation of music's more immediate attractions. Yet it is contrapuntal technique that is responsible for some of the most dramatic attributes of Lassus's duos: the contrast between the consistency and slow pace of beginnings with the intensification of quickening time interval of imitation; the relaxation of tension after a cadence with the new start at a relatively slow time interval of imitation; the unpredictability of fantasy; the sense of beginning a block again after intervening material; and the broad melodic arches created by transposed repetitions. All these can be brought out by the performer. In addition to refining our perception of the style and construction of these duos, recognition of their contrapuntal features can also af- fect our hearing and performance.29

ABSTRACT This article demonstrates how contrapuntal techniques contribute to the formal structure of Lassus's twenty-four famous duos. Three types of contrapuntal events are identified in each piece: time interval of imitation, fuga (type of melodic variation), and "blocks" (contrapuntal combinations, usually varied by transposition or invertible counterpoint). Occurrences of these events are mapped onto time lines for all twenty-four pieces. The time lines suggest conclusions regarding Lassus's normative formal procedures. These procedures can in some cases be related to text and, in others, taken as suggestions for expressive performance.

29Many other aspects of Renaissance music could be represented in some shorthand manner and mapped onto the time-lines in Appendix 2, so that further correspondences and conclusions could be drawn. These could include motivic derivation (how the various motives in a piece are related), contour (the structural function of high and low melodic points), durational and metric structures, arch forms, and rates of rhythmic and melodic activity. On arch form in Lassus, see Balmer, Orlando di Lassos Motetten, 115-30 and 247ff., and Lacas in the liner notes to "Orlande de Lassus Moduli Quinque Vocibus 1571." Christopher Reynolds has identified palindromic structures ("concen- tric order") made of thematic recurrences ("mirror points") in "Musical Ev- idence of Compositional Planning," 58ff. The author wishes to thank his seminar students at McGill University who worked through a few of these duos and adapted the methods presented here for use on music in four or more parts.



Appendix 1. Duo No. 6: "Qui sequitur me"

I Cantus

Altus

&O 5

L < - o; J 4 , " o - o rJ 5- . .. r .L QuiX\ se- - qui- tur me, qui se- - qui- tur me, qui se- - qui- tur me,

-5\.

- o J. J o o ? ? J J 0 J a 0 r, 3 3f. Qui sequi- tur

0

me, qui sequi- tur

-J

me,~ ~qui~ s ~e-~ qui- tuer~ me, I me, qui sequi- tur me,

10

-\ r * -f i? ) ?r; n ,^r J" r d non \am- \ bu- lat, non \am-\ bu- lat in \ / te- -ne-

x invx \ inv v /+5 -5xx\'5 _5\ -5\-4 x12

^ -J o 'ro o [' J c ';^ J. non am- - bu- lat, mirror non am- - bu- lat in te- ne-

5 O 6 6 5 6 5

15 c

[ b ^ 1 ! 0 -- r '

-, r J r r r fr J bris, sed_ ha- be- -bit, sed ha- be- -bit

"r o - f f, rf r r -

r bris, sed ha- be- - bit, sed ha- be-

20 3 4 5 6 3- +3 33 4 5 6 3

iv^ r- ^--^-rr *

||. 25 I1 J -rr r r ' f - fF- r r r r'- 'r f f f " f / - +4,/ men vi- - tae: di- cit Do-

,/+5 4/ +5 / 4

bit lu- - men vi- - tae: di-

26 J rdj~~~~~ ^ ^-^30

-,,r r r rr f,, rr rr, ,(r(r) rrr rr r T u- minus, di- cit Do- - - - minus.

-

r8 8 r\\\\\\\\\A-\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

| Eb1P r fff frrJ- r i r r z I

7

mi-nus, di- I ' I~ I

minus. cit Do- cit Do-



Appendix 2. Time Line Analyses of the twenty-four duos. (Unconnected boxes indicate fragment settings.) M= measure T=time interval of imitation F=fuga type i= inversion

B=repeated blocks C=cadential note

L:iii =free material leading to cadence

10 1111111

L_L o +3 +5

A

15 20 I I i I I I

-5-4-5-4-5

F

25 30 I I I I I l

o +x o $ E,l -4 +5 -4 -5-4-1

D

No. 2 M 5

L 1I 1I I i 1

T m X F +5 +4+1+4 +5

B

C

10 1111111

+4 -8

ic12 D

15 I 1

X

20 25 1111111111

o :I:::::::::::::::::::::::::: o +3 -5-4

-3 F

30 35 111111111 I I J

F .- -6 -5 -1 +5

D

10 15 20 1 I I I 1 I I I 111 1

o j ':0 :'.'' 0 -7 -5 i i -8

+1 +8

ELI] LE +2

E

25 1111111

J x o J i -5-6 +5

=ic 12-_ mirror A

30

D

No. 4 M 5 10 15 20 25 30

L I I I 111111111111111111111111111 I I I J T Eli 0 o liii F -8 -5 -1-5 -8 -1 -6 -8 -1

B s2,Zic IO

C D F A C D

5 11111

+5

No. 1 M

L I

T 4 F i

+5

B

C

No. 3 M

LII 1

T 'I F -5

11111

X -8

B

C



No. 5 M 5

L III_ 1 i 1 1

T -' F +4 +5

B

C

10 15 20 25 30 i i i ii Ii Ii I I i 111111111111111111 I iI Ii iI J

4 L o J Ei x E +6 +8 +5 -6 -5 -4 -5

-2 D E A A

No. 6 M 5 10

L i I i i i i i i i i i i i T j o J E F -5 -5 i -5 i i +5

-5 -4 -12

~~~B Ej,,icl 0 C A

No. 7 M

L 1 1 1

T H F -8 -5

B

C

5 10

-8 1111111

-7

ic8 -3

15 20 25 111111111

1=1 j 1H o Y d

o

+3 -5 +5+4+5 -4

+3AD D

15 20 25 1111111111111 I I

J7 - E o j 4 E o -7 -5 +5 +6 +3-5 -2-5-4 -8-4 +5 +6

C A

30 1 1 1 1 1 J

-8

A

30 1 1 1 1 1 1 J

o x J E: i -8 -5

+-3

F

No. 8 M 5 10 15

L i i i i 111 111

T : 0 [ :i o F +6 +3 -5

ic12 B

i F F Cc8 A C F F C A

No. 9 M

L I

T o F +8

20 i i 1 111

J x -5-6

5 10 15 20 111111 i i i i i i i i i i I i i 1111111111111

61 [- 5EL0 o < o 0 X o o Eli c +4 +-5+-4-5 -5 -4 -5 -1 -3 -4 -5 +5

-4A E

same

25 30 35 I I i I i i i i I i i J

j 1 X E x j o J = +6 -5 -5 +1 -5

ic8

icF C F F C F

25 30 35 1111111 i I I I I I 1 I 1

+4 +8 +3 +1+10 +4 +8 i -5-8 -12

F F

B

C

J

F A



No. 10 M 5

L I i I i i i 1

T a' '. 4 F -5 +4-5

B

C D

10 15 20 25 30 35 1 1 1 1 1 1 I x xI I I I

j o x o J x xJ:xE +8 +5 +8 +1 +8+4 +3+8 +8 +4 +8i-5 -5 -1

-2 -12

[t +35- ;,iclO iclO G

LIII II 1

a o -5 -8 -5 -1-6

10 15 20 25 1111111111111111111 1_ I I I I I I I I 1 1 1 1 1 1_ 1

m o GJ a X -8 -5 -4-8-11 i i -6-10-4-8-2+3 -8

-11 -3

30 35 11 1 111 11

-3 +5

-2 G

No. 12 M 5 10

L I I i 11111

T 1 4:::.:::::.:. F -4

B I Z I Z I :I -ic 12- -

C D

No. 13 M 5 10

L III 1 I 1 1

T a F +8 +5

B

C

15 20 1111111111 1 1 1 1 I I 1 I 1 I i ?

X a X= .E o -5 -8 i -4 -5 +7

-8

C

25 30 35 11111111111] 1 1 I i I i I ? J I I J

0- o xo x J H +5 +5 -3

D G

15 20 25 30 1111111 11111111111111

J o J::l a Xo:: o J xJ x xJ E -4 +8 +4 +8 +5 +10+8 -4 -3 +6+5+8 -6

-2 -2

iD G -2 D G Bb

No. 14 M 5 10 15 20 25 30

L I I 1111111111111 I I I 11111 111111111

T (non-canonic fantasy: ' X X X F 23 entries of la sol fa re mi) -6-5 -8 +8 -5 +8 +5+12-8-4-8

ornamented B II1[E ID 11I C [D

-2 -2 -2 -2 C G Bb

35 11111

o J -8-12 +8

1 1 J

G

40 45 1111111111J 1 I 1 1 I I I I I I J

x J xJxJ E +4 +8 -4-5 i-8

-5

1111111 -2

G

No. 11 M

T F

B

C



5 10 15 11111111111111 1 1 j l 1 1 I I I I , I

J Lim x - x +4 +8 -8-5-6 +8

D D

5 10 I 1111111111

F -8 -5-8 -5 -8

C

15 , Io

1::. ::::: 0 i

-9

G

5 10 15 1 1 1

IX I

X o -8 -5 -8 i

-10

mirror

No. 18 M 5 10

LIII 1 11

-5 -6

20 1 1, I I

J Eo +8 -8

G

25 1111111 1 1 I 8 I I

0o +5 -8

20 25

Xo X o

i +5 +8 +6

ic12

L 11 1 I II

+5 -8

Bb

30 35 40 111111 I I 1 1 I J

IL oJ oJ x o Jx J -6 -8 -8-5+4-6-8 +8 i-8

+1

ic12 Bb G

3( 0 35 1 1 1 1 1 J

x J J E +5 +8

+2 G

20 25 30

.o J JEJ J E J -8 -7-10-5-8 i -8 -5-7 -6 -8

+1

-4 +2 -2 G Bb A

15 20 11111111111

0 -7 -8 i -6 i

-9 -11

J [ -8-9-6

m -2

25 30 1111111111

o XoJJEJ -8 -5 -11-5-4 -8-5

-2 G Bb

35 40 1 1I 1 11111 I 1 J

xJ E -12-8 -5 +5

Irrm [ = WmmII -2 +2 -3 -2 -2

G

35 40 11 j 1 I I J J JJ j E

-8 -6i-6-8+5 +8 -6

-2 G

No. 19 M 5 10 15 20

L 1III I 11111111111111111

T 0 F -8 -5

B

C

25 30 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 11 1

J M o EJ J J E J -8 -4 -8 i +8+5 +8-5-8-5 -4+5 -5-4-1-8-11-8 -8

+12

m rn -2 +2

C A A

x J i i

-7 +13

[m mirror retro.

35 111111

XoJ X o o +1 +5 i i+8 +5

-12-12

%+39

40 . 1 1 1 1 1 1 J

E J J i +8 -5

+2

C -2 E C E

No. 15 M

L I

T a F +8

B

C

No. 16 M

L I

T H

B

C

No. 17 M

L I

T 1 F -5

C

T a F -8

B

C



No. 20 M 5

T (non-canonic fantasy: F 9 entries of fa re re fa)

B

C

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 1111111111 I I 111111 I 111 111111 I I J

o YJ Jx KEI Y E Y ' JI JxJ +1 -1-8+5+4+5+1+4+8+5+3-8 +8+5i+1+4 +8-1-5-8 -8-1 +1 +8 +1 -3-6-8 +8+1+5+li +6 +6

-5 +12 -12

[IM?T] [I] -2 /m^ same

icl2 -4icl2c F A F

No.21 20 253 M 5 10 15 | ^ 20 25 30

M I I I I I I I I i I I I i I I J ? I I i 1 i 2 1 1 2 J I 3 T ' J0J I H xx : x x j F -5 -1 +3 +8+5+4 i +3-5 -6 -4-8-5 +4 +4 -5 -5

+6

B Irm I W +2 -2 -2

C D

No. 22 M

L I

T 9 F -5

B

C

35 40 I 1111111 I i I

iE J x +5 +1+5+8+5-5 -7-5

[IDG] [m =I I -3 -3 -2

E

45 1 III J

G

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 I 111111111111111111 I I I I I I I IJ

mm o 0 J j j JEE J J j -4 +6+5+1+5 +8+1+5+-3+8i-3i -4-5+5 i +4+5 +8+5+3+7-4 -5 -6-4-5-7-8 +1+8+-2-4 -8

+1 -9 +1

m (Im ln] Fn] rTm +2 +2 -2 -2 -2

G D C G

No. 23 M 5

L I 1 I i 1

T F

10 15 20 25 11111111111111111111

30 50 I I I I [ '"- - I I I I J

(non-canonic fantasy: 31 entries of ut re ut fa mi re ut)

I I I I I I I I I - ic 1 2 -ic 12 K-ic 8 -- k-mirror2

G G

No. 24 M 5

L III I i

T 4 F -5

B

C

10 111111

j Fiii -4 -5 i +8+5

-5

G

15 1111

0 +1-8

20 25

JoXo:'.-lii o E j i -5-1-5+4 +4 +1+8+5+8 -5

-11

GG D

3C 35 111 11111J

?E J x j_ J +4 -5 -8

G G

B

C


Article Contentsp. [1]p. 2p. 3p. 4p. 5p. 6p. 7p. 8p. 9p. 10p. 11p. 12p. 13p. 14p. 15p. 16p. 17p. 18p. 19p. 20p. 21p. 22p. 23p. 24p. 25p. 26

Issue Table of ContentsMusic Theory Spectrum, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring, 1995), pp. 1-146Front MatterA Lesson from Lassus: Form in the Duos of 1577 [pp. 1 - 26]Form, Genre, and Style in the Eighteenth-Century Rondo [pp. 27 - 52]Music Psychology and Music Theory: Problems and Prospects [pp. 53 - 80]Generalized Interval Systems for Babbitt's Lists, and for Schoenberg's String Trio [pp. 81 - 118]Reviewsuntitled [pp. 119 - 123]untitled [pp. 124 - 128]untitled [pp. 129 - 136]

Communications[Letter from George Perle] [pp. 137 - 139]Response to George Perle [pp. 139 - 140]

Back Matter [pp. 141 - 146]

Documents

A Lesson From Lassus (P. Schubert)