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Yale University epartment of Music
Heinichen, Rameau, and the Italian Thoroughbass Tradition: Concepts of Tonality and Chord inthe Rule of the Octave
Author(s): Ludwig HoltmeierSource: Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 51, No. 1, Partimenti (Spring, 2007), pp. 5-49Published by: on behalf of theDuke University Press Yale University Department of MusicStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40283107Accessed: 01-11-2015 23:33 UTC
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7/24/2019 Heinichen, Rameau and Italian Thoroughbass Tradition
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Heinichen, Rameau,
and the
Italian
Thoroughbass
Tradition
Concepts
of
Tonality
and Chord
in the
Rule
of
the
Octave
Ludwig
Holtmeier
Abstract
This
essay explores
the
understanding
of
tonality
and
in
particular
he
concept
of
chord,
as demon-
strated
in the Italian
horoughbass
tradition,
especially
in
the
didactic tradition
of
partimenti.
Fora
long
time
this
tradition
was
entirely
overlooked
because
of the dominance
of the neo-Ramellian
Harmonielehre
radition.
The
differences
are
exemplified
by comparing
Rameau's
basse fondamentalewWh
Heinichen's
luctuating
understand-
ing
of
tonality.
Itwas Heinichen
who,
at the
start of the
eighteenth
century,
attempted
most
thoroughly
o
concep-
tualize
Italian
music
theory.
Like
Rameau, he,
too,
developed
an
overarching
explanatory
model
of
harmony
hat
involves coherent
concepts
of
harmonic
unctionality
and chord
morphology.
Heinichen'sand
Rameau's
"systems,"
however,
rest
on
opposing
assumptions.
However
many speculative
aspects
it
may
embrace,
Heinichen'smusic
theory
nonetheless
remains
directly
indebted
to
musical
practice
and
consistently rejects
that
esprit
du
système
that is so
characteristic
of Rameau's
theory.
While
Rameau,
acting
in
the
modern,
scientific
spirit
of the
early
Enlightenment, ttempts to derive all aspects of his theoryfrom a few fundamentalprinciples,Heinichenworks
through
he
many
tensions
and contradictions
between
the modern
Klangprogression,
as formalized
n
the Rule
of the
Octave,
and
the old
legacy
of traditional
counterpoint
nstruction.
A blind
spot
in
the
history
of music
theory
in the
last
few
years,
with the
strengthening
of that
movement
within music
theory
commonly
known as
historische
atzlehre
r
"historically
nformed
music
theory,"
t seems
as
if an
awareness
of
a
forgotten
"culture"
of music
theory
has
been
given
new
life.
The
nineteenth-century
German
Harmonielehre
radition
occupied,1
well
into
the
twenty-first
century,
such
an
unquestioned,
nearly
1 The
bourgeois
tradition
of
the Harmonielehre
(meaning
both
"the
theory
of
harmony"
and "the
harmony
textbook")
is "German"
in view
of the
fact that
those treatises
that
later
served
as
models
were
nearly
all
published
in Ger-
many.
During
the
course
of the
nineteenth
century,
these
treatises
were translated
into several
languages,
and
many
of
the texts
originating
outside
of
Germany-
particularly
those
in the
English-speaking
world follow
those
models
in
their
organization.
It is not
asserted,
however,
that the
Harmonielehre
tradition was the
only
one,
or that
there was
a lack of
relevant national differences.
Journal
of
Music
Theory
51:1,
Spring
2007
DOI
10.1215/00222909-2008-022
©
2009
by
Yale
University
5
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6
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
monopolistic position
that one must first come to terms
with the notion
that,
existing
alongside
the theoretical
lineage
of
Jean-Philippe
Rameau,
there was
yet another music-theoretical culture no less significant in music historyand
the
history
of music
theory.
It is this
forgotten
culture and its
renaissance
that
are the focus of this
essay.
The fixation of the Harmonielehreradition
on the
late,
"abstract"
writ-
ings
of Rameau2
and
his
successors has led
to one of the
largest
omissions
of
music-theoretical
historiography:
he
nearly complete neglect
of
Italian
music
theory,
its
concept
of
tonality,
and
particularly
the so-called
partimento
radi-
tion,
which contributed so much to the true
face of
European
composition
teaching
from the seventeenth to the
early
nineteenth
century.3
There can be
little
doubt,
for
instance,
that the
thoroughbass
teachings
of
"Viennese classi-
cism"were at their core a Ramellian reshaping of an Italian music theory,4 ust
as the
prevailing
music
theory
at
the Paris
Conservatory
was likewise
minted
in
Italy.5
n
Europe,
the Ramellian and neo-Ramellian
tradition was
an essential
music-theoretical
current,
but until the mid-nineteenth
century
it was
by
no
means the one with the
greatest practical impact.
In terms
of
reception history,
there are
many
reasons
why
the
partimento
tradition could never
step
out from the shadow of
Rameau s
theory.
Here it
is sufficient to note
only
the most obvious: the
textbooks of the
partimento
tradition
usually
consisted
mainly
of music notation.
In these
books,
"theory"
is
not,
in the
common
meaning
of the
word,
presented
and
developed
"sci-
entifically."
In
general, nineteenth-century
music theorists
could no
longer
take this tradition
to
be,
strictly speaking, "theory,"
et alone take it
seriously
(Weber 1826).
Viewed
in
retrospect,
it
decayed
into Generalbasslehre
thor-
oughbass
teaching),
to
"pure
practice,"
and
simply
fell outside the
concept
of
theory.6
The
sharp
and
often
polemical
delimitation of
eighteenth-century
thoroughbass teaching,
which
continues
beyond
Hugo
Riemann
up
to Carl
Dahlhaus,
is a
precondition
for the rise of the
nineteenth-century
Harmonie-
lehre
radition.7
2
Meaning
those
writings
produced
after the
Traité de
l'Harmonie
(1722).
3
Regarding
the
history
of the
Neapolitan
conservatories,
see Florimo
1882/83.
In
this
connection,
the
works of
Rosa Cafiero
1993,
1999,
2001,
2005
and
Giorgio Sangui-
netti
1999,
2005
merit
special
mention.
After Carl Gustav
Fellerer's
early
studies
(1939),
Florian
Grampp
gave
a first
larger
overview of
the
topic
(2004/2005).
In
2007,
Robert 0.
Gjerdingen presented
his
comprehensive
study
(Gjerdingen
2007).
Bruno
Gingras
2008
followed with a
study
on the
German
partimento
fugue.
See also
Aerts
(2006).
Holtmeier
and
Diergarten
2008
offers a
general
overview.
4
On
this
point,
see
especially
Budday
2002,
Holtmeier
2008,
2009,
Grandjean
2006,
Kaiser
2007a,
and
Diergar-
ten 2008. The harmony and thoroughbass text of Bruck-
ner's
teacher
Durrnberger
(1841)
is written in
the
spirit
of
the
partimento
tradition,
and one can still
clearly
detect
this
provenance
in
Simon Sechter's
already unequivocally
Ramellian Practische Generalbass-Schule (1830). Only the
neo-Ramellian turn taken
in
Sechter's Grundsâtze
(1852/54)
represents
a real break.
5
On the
reception
of
partimenti
in
France,
see the article
by
Rosa Cafiero
in
this issue.
6 On
this
point, compare
the
disparaging
remarks of Fétis
quoted
by
Rosa Cafiero
in
her
article
in
this issue
(150).
7
Even a
cursory glance
at
the
leading
music
journals
in
the
first half of the
nineteenth
century
shows that
"thorough-
bass
bashing"
was
pervasive.
Gottfried
Weber
speaks
of a
"jumble
of note
numbers and other
symbols
that one calls
thoroughbass" (1824,
55).
In
the
context of his discussion
of
Johann Bernhard
Logier's System
der
Musikwissen-
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen,
Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
A
digression
on
partimento
reception
Alexandre-Etienne
Choron
's
Principes 'accompagnement
esÉcoles 'Italie
1804)
and his
monumental
Principes
e
composition
es écolesd'Italie
1808)
together represent
what
is
surely
the most
obvious source
for the French
reception
of the
partimento
tradition,
and
the influence
of Choron
on
François-Joseph
Fétis is of central
importance
for
French music
theory
(Simms
1975).
But Choron
's direct influence on the
teaching
of
composition
at the
Conservatoire
emained limited.
"Italian"
nfluence, however,
goes
far
beyond
these
explicit
documents.
The structure
of Charles-Simon Catel's
popular
Traité
d'harmonie,
or
example,
shows
clear
vestiges
of "Italian"
practice
(1802).
But it
was first
and foremost
Luigi
Cherubini's
teaching
method
(1847)
that stood
completely
within this
tradition.
Even the basses
données nd
chantsdonnés xercises
found
in
text-
books
like Henri
Reber's
Traité 'harmonie
1862)
and
François
Bazin s Coursd'harmonie
théorique
t
pratique
1875)
-
both
texts
already
clearly
marked
as Ramellian- document
the
continuing
influence of the Italian
partimento
tradition.
While
for a
long
time
partimento
practice
remained
a
living
tradition
in Pari-
sian
conservatories
and
in
Italy
(Vidal
and
Boulanger
2006),
its decline
in
Germany
was
accelerated
by
the
collapse
of
the old
bourgeois
and clerical
institutions
of music
education.
With
the establishment
of the
Leipzig
Conservatory
(1843),
the
training
of
musicians
in
Germany
was
reprofessionalized.
The Italian
partimento
tradition could
find
only sporadic
admission
into this
new civil
institution.
Nevertheless,
the tradition
reshaped
by
other
music-theoretical
tendencies
-
did survive
at other
conservatories,
especially
in Munich.
There
Josef
Gabriel
Rheinberger
taught "high-Romantic"
parti-
men ti
(both
figured
and
unfigured;
Rheinberger
2001;
Irmen
1974),
and the exercises
provided
in the
influential
Harmonielehre
1907)
of Rudolf
Louis and
Ludwig
Thuille
also remain in this tradition. In Germany,however,the partimento tradition and, in
particular,
he
practice
of
the Rule
of the Octave
survived
best
in
the
"lower"
music
pedagogy
of
teacher
seminars
with
a
practical
orientation
(Piel
1887).
Their
complete
abolition
with the
general
program
of the
Kestenberg
reforms
in
1925
(Leo
Kesten-
berg
was an
influential
music educator
in the Weimar
Republic)
sealed
the fate
of the
partimento
tradition
in
Germany.
From
thoroughbass
to
Harmonielehre
The
purely
performance-practice
term
thoroughbass
Gen:
Generaibass,
t.:
basso
continuo),
which
underlies
the above-mentioned
polemic,
oversimplifies
the facts. In 1873, the Beethoven researcher GustavNottebohm had
already
pointed
out that
in Beethoven's
time
one understood
a
"twofold"
meaning
by
the
term
thoroughbass
Nottebohm
1873,
5): "(1)
the
embodiment
of
the rules
for
accompanying
a
figured
bass,
and
(2)
the
science
of the
combination
and
connection
of
intervals
and
chords,
with
or without
consideration
of thor-
oughbass
performance."
Johann
David
Heinichen
grounded
his
thoroughbass
schaften
(1827),
Adolf
Bemhard
Marx
speaks
of the
"anti-
musical
sloppiness
of
thoroughbass"
(1830,
414).
As late as
1860,
Heinrich
Josef
Vincent titled
his text
on the
basics of
music theory Kein Generalbass mehr (No More Thorough-
bass;
Vincent
1830).
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8
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
method on the
categorical
distinction between
Accompagnisten
and
Componis-
ten
(Heinichen
1728,
preface).
In
the
eighteenth
century,
Heinichen's
distinc-
tion became
part
of common sense and led to music theory differentiating
between a
"theory"
and a
"practice"
of
thoroughbass,
as
Johann
Friedrich
Daube described it
(Daube
1756,
vii).
Johann
Georg
Sulzer even
speaks
of
a "science of
thoroughbass"
(1771/74, 456).
Although
the
borders between
theory
and
practice
were
fluid,
their
relationship
was
nevertheless
subject
to
a
clear hierarchical order. As declared
in
Sulzer's
Allgemeine
Théorieder
schônen
Kunste
(1771/74, 456),
"Without a
complete
understanding
of
harmony
it is
impossible
to
play
thoroughbass
correctly."
Daube
defined the
relationship
between the
theory
and
practice
of
thoroughbass
as
follows
(1756,
viii):
To it
[thoroughbass performance] belongs,
besides
a skill
in the
practical
exer-
cise, a theoretical cognisance so that one knows: (1) from whence most chords
originate,
(2)
to where
they may
be
connected,
and
(3)
how,
from the first
chord,
one can deduce the
subsequent
ones. ...
In addition to the
practice
of
thoroughbass,
an
accompanist
should also understand
the
theory,
so that
he
can know how the rules
of
composition
derive
from
it. A well
grounded
com-
poser
could
even
dispense
with the
practice
of
thoroughbass
if he
only pos-
sessed a
complete
command of the
theory.
Nevertheless
having
both
together
is better still. A
complete
understanding
of
thoroughbass
always
remains the
foundation for
the
melodic structures
that can be built
upon
it.8
Thus,
in the
eighteenth century,
the term
thoroughbass
covered
exactly
the
subject matter that, in the nineteenth century, would fall under the jurisdic-
tion of a
Harmonielehre.
Riemann
spoke
of
thoroughbass
as a
"simple
tool of
performance
prac-
tice."
Equally problematical
is the
overgeneralizing
discourse of "the" thor-
oughbass,
which
implicitly
assumes a
single two-hundred-yearperiod
embrac-
ing
a
broadly
static,
self-contained
historical and theoretical
entity.
But what
one
comprehends
by thoroughbass
around the
year
1600
is
entirely
different
from
what the
term
implies
around 1700 or even 1800. Notions of an
"Age
of
Thoroughbass"
(Generalbasszeitalter)
r of
"Thoroughbass Harmony"
(Dahl-
haus
1990,
125)
provide
little
help.
In
particular,
the
typical
German Harmo-
nielehre
radition,
which
attained
international
prevalence
in
the second half
of the nineteenth
century,
had an undifferentiated and
markedly
one-sided
understanding
of
thoroughbass.
In
the
process, nearly
all Harmonielehreheo-
reticians
developed
an
almost manic
fixation on the
numerical
shorthand,
on
the
"figures"
of
"figured
bass."
They
read
the
figures
as
representatives
of
8 Hierzu
gehôrt,
neben der der
praktischen
Ausubung
auch
eine
theoretische
Kenntnifc,
dafc man
wisse:
(1)
woher die
meisten
Accorde
entspringen.
(2)
Wohin
sie sich lenken
las-
sen.
(3)
Und wie
man aus
dem ersten
Accorde den
darauf-
folgenden
errathen
solle.
. . .
Ein
Accompagnist
soil
neben
der
Praxis auch die
Théorie
des
General-Basses
verstehen,
damit er wisse: wie die Regeln der Composition daraus
entspringen.
Ein
grundlicher Componist
kann
noch eher
die
Praxis des
General-Basses
entbehren,
wenn er
nur die
Théorie
vollkommen
besitzet. Doch ist
beydes
beisammen
noch besser.
Die
vôllige
Kenntnift
des General-Basses bleibt
jederzeit
der
Grund des darauf zu
bauenden melodischen
Gebaudes.
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen,
Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
9
chords,
understood
them almost
exclusively
vertically,
built
"stacks" f thirds
over the
respective
bass
notes,
and thus
unconsciously
transferred their own
understandingof chord, harmonic progression,and, aboveall, harmonic anal-
ysis
to the music
of the
past.
For
the
Harmonielehre
radition,
whether oriented
toward theories
of scalar
degrees
(Roman
numerals,
Stufentheorie)
r func-
tional
theory
(Funktionstheorie)
harmonic
progression
meant the
leap
from
chord to
chord,
and
it was
in
this
sense that even
thoroughbass
was under-
stood and
its
figures
read.9
In
this
purely
vertical
reading,
the
figures
can be
read
off
clearly.
Hence,
the Harmonielehre
heorists were unable
to
engage
with
thoroughbass
appropriately
because
the
separation
of
Harmonielehrend Kon-
trapunkt
ad
already
been
completely
internalized
and
transferred
to the
past
as
something
self-evident.
The
opposition
between
"harmony"
and
"melody,"
and the resultantdivisionbetween the teaching of harmonyand counterpoint,
is the
starting point
for
the neo-Ramellian
German
Harmonielehre.
he more
the
Harmonielehre
heorists
decried,
wrote
against,
and tried to
surmount this
"artificial"
eparation,
the
more it
became solidified
and,
as
it
were,
a natural
law.
They
attempted
to
resolve
a self-inflicted
problem.
The reconciliation
of
harmony
and
melody,
of line and
Klang
(i.e.,
a
sonority perceived
as a
chord),
is ^central
theme
of
the
entire
Harmonielehre
radition
(Kuhn
1994).
In the seventeenth
and
eighteenth
centuries,
considering
the
typical
case,
thoroughbass
figures
had
not
only
vertical
but also
linear
significance.
One
is often
unable
to draw
a
line between
the
contrapuntal
and harmonic
sense
of
the
figures.10
The
recurring
formulation
in Italian
lesson
books,
where one
learns
counterpoint
through
thoroughbass
or
partimento,
should
be taken
seriously
and
understood
quite
concretely
by contrapunto
ne
had
in mind
not
just
the
"special
disciplines"
of
counterpoint
but above all
the
correct
disposizione
Sanguinetti
2005,
496f.),
that
is,
"diebeste
Lage"
the cor-
rect
voice
leading
above
the
thoroughbass
(Fôrster
1818, 1;
Holtmeier
2009).
The
trio
sonatas
of
Arcangelo
Corelli
became the
unquestioned
pedagogi-
cal
models
for this
ideal
voice
leading.
They
embodied
a
compositional
ideal
valid
from
the seventeenth
century
to the
mid-eighteenth
century.
That
is,
a
four-voice
texture
was
considered
a
three-voice
texture
supplemented
by
the
presence
of an
added
voice
(ad
libitum),
which
could
as
easily
be
missing.
For the Ramellian and neo-Ramellian Harmonielehre,owever, a three-voice
texture
is an
idealized
four-voice
texture
missing
one
voice.
I
return
later
to
the substantial
difference
between
these
concepts
of chord.
9
Hugo
Riemann
also understood
the
figures
as
pure
"instruc-
tions
for
hand
positions"
{Griffanweisung)
to
which
no func-
tional
harmonic
or
contrapuntal
significance
is attached.
Characteristically
he
put
not
only
his
notorious
Klangschlùs-
sel
but
also
his
symbols
for
harmonic
function
under
all the
exercises
in
his
Anleitung
zum
Generalba&Spielen
(Rie-
mann
1889).
10 One is
tempted
to
say
-
with all due
caution
-
that at
the
beginning
of the
eighteenth
century
the linear
significance
still
predominates,
and
that
thoroughbass
or the
under-
standing
of
thoroughbass
becomes
increasingly
"vertical-
ized"
during
the course
of the
century
under
the influence
of
Ramellian
thinking.
The one-sided
vertical
reading
of the
German
Harmonielehre
is
only
a
(radical)
consequence
of
this development.
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10
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
A
digression
on Corelli
reception
Withoutexaggeration, can one assert thatfor the stilontoderno,
orelli
had
as authorita-
tive a stature as that of Palestrina
for
stilo
antico.
He
was,
in terms of
the
reception
of
his
style
and the diffusion of his
works,
a
composer
of
European
importance.
Angelo
Berardi had
already
called him the "new
Orfeo of
our time"
("nuovo
Orfeo
nostri
giorni";
Berardi
1689,
45).
For
Johann
Mattheson
he was
"the
prince
of
all
composers"
(Mattheson
1739,
326).
And Michel de
Saint Lambert
referred
to him as
the "famous
Corelli,
so celebrated
now in all
Europe,
and
for several
years
so
fashionable
among
us"
("fameux
Corelli,
si célèbre maintenant
dans
l'Europe,
& si à la mode
parmi
nous
depuis quelques
années";
Saint Lambert
1707,
41).
Corelli s
music was so
popular
that
Denis Arnold
spoke
of a "Corellian
cult"
(Arnold
1978).
In
1681,
the
Pasquini pupil
George
Muffat became
personally
acquainted
with
Corelli
in
Rome. One
could
point
to
Muffat's
Regulae
oncentuum
artiturae
1699)
as
f/œ heoretical document for the modern
(Corellian)
trio-sonata
style
of
composition.
Here
composition
in
four or more
voices is
consistently
presented
as an
extension
of three-voice
composition.
Mattheson
stressed,
"If one can deal
with three
voices
properly,
singably,
and with full
sonority,
then all will
go happily
even
with
twenty-four
voices"
(1739, 344).
Even in
Joseph Riepel's
dialogues,
the
Teacher
explains
to
his Stu-
dent that one must
"patch
n"
the
fourth voice
(Riepel
1996,
571).
This
procedure
can
still be seen
clearly
n Stanislao Mattei's
our-voice
settings
of bassi
numerati
1850)
-
the
viola
part
is an
optional
filler
voice.
The
single
voice of the
thoroughbass
stood as
representative
of an
essen-
tially
three-voice,
contrapuntal
constellation
of
voices,
whose
contrapuntal
topoi
had
already
been
practiced during
instruction
in
composition.11
Given
a schematic
excerpt
of the bass
and/or
the
figures,
one
assigned
it a two-voice
accompaniment.
By
no
means could
the harmonic "content"
of a bass be
logi-
cally
derived,
as it
were,
in
the abstract from the
figures
themselves.
Thus one
knew that the two-voice
2-6-7-3
model for the
upper
voices
(bracket
"a"
in
Example
lb)
was
assigned
to a
rising
fifth with the
figures
4-3
(Example
1,
Ledbetter
1990, 12;
Fenaroli
1978,
bk.
3,
9).
Likewise,
one knew
which
upper
voices
corresponded
to the clausula of the cadenza
composta
(slur
"b"
in Exam-
ple
lb).
One
recognized larger
contexts and allocated
the
missing
voices,
but
on no account
was the
point
to be
"counting
outM
chord tones from the bass.
11
Particularly
n
recent
German music
theory,
the
discus-
sion of
compositional
models
represents
its own
strong
tradition.
In
this
regard,
Ernst
Seidel's article on the
"devil's
mill"
{Teufelsmûhle;
1969)
is
of
special
significance
(see
also
Holtmeier
2008,
s.v.
"Teufelsmûhle";
Dietrich
2007;
Yellin
1998).
Furthermore,
one
should
mention,
on
the
one
hand,
the
teaching
methods and the
less
historically
than
systematically
oriented
works of the "Berlin
school"
centered
around Hartmut
Fladt
(2005,
2007),
which found
its most
powerful
expression
in
Ulrich
Kaiser's influential
two-volume
Gehôrbildung
{Ear
Training-,
000)
and,
on
the
other
hand,
the works
developed
in
the environment of
the
so-called "historical
composition
training"
{historische
Satzlehre).
Here the
teaching
methods
and the
writings
of
Markus Jans have been
exemplary
(Jans
1987, 1993;
see
also Holtmeier
2002,
2008,
s.v.
"Satzmodelle";
Dodds
2006;
Froebe
2007;
Menke
2008;
Schwenkreis
2008).
See
also the current discussions
around these models:
Aerts
2007,
Kaiser
2007b,
and Schwab-Felisch 2007.
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen, Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
11
434343436
43
' I ' T
c _ T
Example
1a.
A
typical
series
of
bass tones and
figures
H T 7 p
V f
n y r
' U » r
u t
l < i
Example
1b. A
realization of the bass of
Example
1
using
preferred voice-leading
models
Toward a
history
and
theory
of the
Rule
of
the
Octave
At the
beginning
of the
eighteenth
century,
the
splitting
of
thoroughbass
into
"science"and
"practice,"along
with the "invention"of the Rule of
the Octave
around
1700,
was a
pivotal turning point
in
the
history
of both
thoroughbass
and harmonic
tonality.
It
is a still
widespread
misunderstanding
that
the Rule
of the Octave is only a "modelharmonization,"one among severalpossibilities
for
furnishing major
and minor scales with chords. But that
view
recognizes
only
the most extrinsic
aspect
of
the
Rule of the Octave and overlooks
its intrin-,
sic
significance
for
music
history
and the
history
of music
theory.
At heart the
Rule of the Octave is not
merely "pragmatic"
egerdemain
(Christensen
1993,
170)
,
but the
crucial
step
toward a theorlzation
of
thoroughbass.
It
is not
solely
a
concrete statement of
compositional
norms but
aboye
all an instrument
of
harmonic
nalysis.12
he Rule of the Octave codifies what is
generally
under-
stood
by
the terms
"major-minor onality,"
"cadential
harmony,"
or "modern
tonality."
With the Rule of the Octave
thoroughbass
becomes a
Harmonielehre
in
the modern sense. The Rule of the Octave frees
thoroughbass
from
tradi-
tional
thinking
in
terms of model-bound
(contrapuntal)
contexts,
isolates
the
individual
Klang,
and leads to a hitherto unknown verticalization
of
harmonic
discourse
the Rule of the Octave is a
theory
of harmonic
functionality.
12
Scholars did not follow
up
on Walter Heimann's remarks
on
"Rule-of-the-Octave texture"
(Oktavregelsati)
in his
splendid
study
of Bach's chorale
style
(Heimann
1973,
62f.).
Only
with
Wolfgang
Budday's
Harmomelehre Wiener Klassik.
Théorie-
Satztechnik-Werkanalyse (Harmony
in
Viennese
Classicism;
2002)
was the Rule of the Octave
brought
back
into the discourse of practical music theory. FranckThomas
Arnold's monumental
study
on
thoroughbass
from 1931
must also be mentioned
in
this context.
Arnold comes close
to
many
of the
insights
that were
presented
in
the
works of
Heimann
and
Budday.
But
his
general
historical
approach
is
underpinned by
that
tenacious
neo-Ramellianism
that was
so
typical
for his time.
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12
JOURNAL
of
MUSK.
THEORY
No one more
clearly
recognized
the verticalization of
harmonic dis-
course
and more
radically
formulated it than Rameau.
If
one does a
close
reading of his Traitéde l'Harmonie 1722), then there can be no doubt that
Rameau's
theory
of the basse
ondamentale
rose
from
the
attempt
to
theoreti-
cally
pinpoint
the Rule
of
the Octave
(see
Heinichen
1728,
764).
In
the first
two books
of the
Traité,
he
develops
theoretically
what
in
the
central,
third
book he achieves
by
practical
application
in
the
example
of
the Rule of the
Octave.
That
is,
the basse
ondamentale xplains
the modus vivendi of the Rule
of the
Octave,
its
ruling principe.
The
basse
ondamentale
onstitutes the inner
"essence" of
harmony,
the
Rule of the Octave its outward
appearance.13
t is
no
doubt
correct
that,
after the
Traité,
Rameau's
music
theory
distanced itself
ever further
from its
origins
in the Rule
of the Octave.
From
the
publication
of the Nouveausystème1726) onward, Rameau's theory becomes noticeably
more abstract
and
formalistic.
The
internal
aspects
of the
theory
turn ever
more
clearly
toward
the
external.
The basse
ondamentale
ecomes the
para-
mount
principle
which
usurps
even
musical
practice.
Paradoxically,
he Rule
of
the Octave
itself
becomes,
at least
dating
from the
public argument
between
Rameau
and
Michel-Pignolet
Montéclair
in the Mercure
eFrance
Rameau
and
Montéclair
1729/30;
Christensen
1993,
56)
,
first a
counterproposal
to the basse
fondamentale,
nd
finally
the
epitome
of a
spiritless,
atheoretical
practice
pitted
against
the
lone
scientific
theory
in the form
of the
basse
ondamentale.™
One
must
always
bear
in mind
the
Janus-faced
character
of Ramellian
theory
in order
to understand
its
complex reception history.
This divides
along
two
main
paths,
which
one could
reify
and
characterize
as the
"practical"
nd
the
"speculative."
The
practical
takes
its
point
of
departure
from the
third
and
fourth
books
of
the
Traité,
n which the
Rule
of the Octave
plays
a central
role.
The
speculative
derives
from the
first two
books,
which deal
exclusively
with the
basse
ondamentale.
The
German,
and above
all the
north
German,
reception
of
Rameau
can be
predominantly
assigned
to the
speculative
path,
the
French and
Italian
reception,
save
for isolated
exceptions,
to
the
practical.
The
Viennese
tradition
of
thoroughbass
teaching
is,
as
already
mentioned,
in
the
broadest
sense
associated
with the Italian
tradition.
In the French
and Ital-
ian
school
of
teaching
composition
(and
the Viennese
school can be
regarded
as belonging to it), the basseondamentaleirmlyintegrated itself into the deep-
seated
educational
tradition
of the
Rule
of the Octave.
There the
Rule could
hold
its central
position
across
the
whole
of the
eighteenth
century
without
13 The
Rule of
the Octave
occupied
Rameau's
attention
his
whole
life. He
was
always
finding
new
interpretations
of
it
(Christensen
1993).
14 This
becomes
clear,
for
instance,
in
the
statement
by
Friedrich
Wilhelm
Marpurg
that "since
the
time of
his
[Rameau]
Traité
de
l'Harmonie,
the Testore
musico
of some-
one
likeTevo
cuts as
poor
a
figure
as,
for
example,
the
logic
of ChristianWeisen since the advent of [Christian)Wolff's
philosophy
of reason"
("seit
der
zeit seines
[Rameausl
Traité
de
l'Harmonie macht
der Testore musico
einesTevo
und
andrer eine
so schlechte
Figur,
als
etwa eine
Logik
von
Christian
Weisen,
seit die
WolfscheVernunftlehre
existiert";
Marpurg
1760,
57).
That the basse
fondamentale succeeded
to become
the
epitome
of
"modern" scientific
method
may
have been
the essential
reason behind
the
extraordinary
success
story
of Ramellian
theory.
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
Heinichen, Rameau,
and
Italian
Thoroughbass
13
any
real
dispute.
On the other
hand,
already
n
the works
of
Friedrich
Wilhelm
Marpurg
and
Johann Philipp Kirnberger,
who more than
any
others
spread
Ramellian theory into German-speakinglands, the Rule of the Octave plays
only
a
marginal
role.
And
from the
early writings
of the
German Harmonie-
lehre radition
(Gottfried
Weber,
Adolf Bernhard
Marx)
it
finally
disappeared
almost
completely.
In the first half of the nineteenth
century
the Rule of the
Octave also
begins
to lose its
significance
in
France and
Italy.
Toward the end
of
the
century
it was
displaced
across
nearly
all of
Europe
by
the
modern scale-
degree
(i.e.,
Roman
numeral)
theory
of the German H
armonielehreradition
a
global
export
success.
It was
completely forgotten
that the Rule of
the Octave
had once
actually
founded the
"modern"
conception
of
tonality.
A digression on Rameau reception
The
reception
of Rameau's
eachings
wasalso
hampered
by
the
fact
that,
apart
roma
relatively
arly
ranslation
f the thirdand fourth
books nto
English
Rameau 737),
no further
ranslations
ere
published
during
the
eighteenth
and nineteenthcentu-
ries.
Rameau's
heory
came
to
Germany
rincipally
hrough
FriedrichWilhelmMar-
purg's
ranslation
f the
"theory-laden"ummary
f
Jean
Le RondD'Alembert
1757).
Yetthere
were tracesof
Italianmusic
theory
even
in
the
Prussian orth. Maximilian
von
Droste-Hûlshoff,
friendof
Haydn,brought
he
Italian radition o the district f
Munster
Droste-Hûlshoff
821;
Fellerer
1939;
Kantsteiner
974/75);
BernhardKlein
brought
he
partimento
raditionof the Paris
Conservatory
o the
Sing-Akademie
n
Ramellian erlin Eitner1882).Klein's upil, he archivistnd music heoristSiegfried
Dehn,
was a
great
connoisseur
of Italianmusic
theory.
Toward he mid-nineteenth
century,
Dehn
published
wo
notable
extbooks
n the Italian
pirit
Dehn
1840,
1859).
Characteristically,
lein
brought
down on himself
he
opposition
of the
all-powerful
Carl
Friedrich
Zelter
Eitner
1882),
and
Dehn's
harmony
ook became he
target
of a
famous
polemical
ttack
rom
Adolf
BernhardMarx
1841).
The fact that
the Rule
of the Octave was
consistently
understood as
"practice"
nd
not as
"theory"
s
based
on the nature
of
the Rule of the Octave
itself.
In contrast to
the closed
system
of Ramellian
theory,
the Rule of
the
Octave
developed
through
a
long history
and melded
together
different,
occa-
sionally divergent music-theoreticalcontents and traditions.The Rule of the
Octave
has
neither a
sole "inventor"
nor an
unambiguously
defined
form. But
one can
come
up
with three
factors that define
the nature of the Rule of the
Octave,
and which
I would like
to describe
schematically
as the
sequential,
the
cadential,
and the
systematic.
The intrinsic
multiplicity
of
the Rule
of the
Octave
even
explains
its diverse
manifestations some
emphasize
the
sequen-
tial
factor,
others
the cadential
or the
systematic.
The Rule
of the
Octave is
usually
described as
standing
in
the tradition
of
models
used
in
improvised
contrapunto
lla mente
from Guilielmus
Monachus
(1965)
to
Fray
Tomâs
de Sancta Maria
(1565)
to
Spiridionis
(1670/71/75;
Lamott
1980;
Christensen
1992;Jans 2007; Gjerdingen 2007, 467f.). Thus,
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14
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
666 66
66 6
66
Example
2. An
improvised
scale harmonization
as
precursor
to the
Rule of the Octave
the Rule of the Octavecarries orward he traditional
ategories
of intervals
and their
"dynamic" ualities.
The triad
representsperfect
consonance,
he
persistent
"cadential"
onority
of
repose,
the initialand
goal
chord
of a har-
monic
progression.
By
contrast,
he chord
of the sixth
represents
mperfect
consonance,
he
sonority
of
motion,
whichdemandsa
stepwise
ontinuation.
Therefore,the primitivemodel of the Rule of the Octavewouldinvolvea
stepwise
uccessionof chords
of the
sixth,
linking
a
perfect
consonance
on
the first
degree
to a
perfect
consonance
on the fifth
degree,
and
ultimately
o
a
perfect
consonanceon the
eighth
degree
(see
Example
2).
But the
specific
Gestaltof the Rule of the
Octavecannot
be attributed
solely
to the tradition
of
improvised
cale harmonizations.
On the
contrary,
there is an auraof
mystical
evelation
hat surrounds he
description
of the
Ruleof the Octave
n
quite
a few
early
eventeenth-century
ources.15 ne
can
still sense it
in
that
intrinsicallyGerman-language,
usic-theoretical
oncept
of the "natural cale"
(naturlicher
mbitus)
r "natural
armony"
naturliche
Harmonie)Heinichen
1728,
750
and
register
.v.
"Ambitus")"It
eems to
me
asif this harmonic calehas been
implanted
nto our ears romthebeginning
of the world"
"Mir
eucht,
es
sey
dièse harmonische
Leiterunserm
Gehôr
von
Anbeginn
der Welt
eingepflanzt"]; iepel
1996,
580),
and the
many
claims
of
priority
makeclear that the Rule's
appearance
was elt as
a remarkable
vent
and an
important
emarcation
within he histories f
composition
nd
theory.
Thatwould
hardly
equireexplanation
were t
nothing
more thana
pure
con-
tinuationof the traditional
nterval-progression
odels.
The forerunners
f
the Rule
of
the
Octave
presupposed separation
between
a
logic
of
progres-
sion tied to a model
in
the sense
of
improvisedGymel
Jans
1987)
and of
a
cadential,
punctuating
egment.
Modeland cadence
are the
central
catego-
riesof compositionalnstructionn the seventeenth entury.Tocompose,one
might
say
somewhat
implistically,
meant an
alternating
xchange
between
cadential
and
sequential
models.The second
half of the seventeenth
entury
can be describedas a
process
during
which these
sequential
and
cadential
modelscome ever closer to each other.The
Rule of the Octave
inally
melds
both factors
ogether.
15 Here one must mention
François Campion
(1716,
1730),
who claimed
for himself the
authorship
of the Rule
of the
Octave
-
an old musician
bequeathed
it to
him,
as
it
were,
on his deathbed
(Mason
1981).
This
story spread
quickly
and
remained
in
circulation for a
long
time
in northern
Europe,
particularly hrough David Kellner'sfrequently reprinted Treu-
licher Unterricht
im
General-Bass
(Kellner
1732).
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen, Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
15
In
the
early eighteenth
century, contemporary
writers
clearly recognized
that
the
changed
role of the "false"
diminished)
fifth and the
"major" aug-
mented) fourth was the central sign of the new harmonic language. It is also
one
of the central
theorems
of Italian music
theory
and
of
Ramellian
teaching
that
the
relationship
between the
"leading
tones" 7 and
4
forms the core of
a
theory
of
harmony.
As a matter
of
fact,
the feature
that most
clearly
differ-
entiates
the
Rule-of-the-Octave
harmony
in
the
eighteenth
and
nineteenth
centuries
from the
harmony
of the seventeenth
century
is the
compelling
assignment
of the
(dominant-function)
six-four-two
chord to the
descending
fourth
degree.16
It is
precisely
that new
role for the "false"
ifth and
"major"
fourth
that
differentiates
the
Rule of the
Octave,
in
qualitative respects,
from
all
the older
harmonization
models of the
scale.17
A
digression
on the
"false" fifth
A
remark
made
by Angelo
Berardi
in
the
context of
discussing
a resolution
of the dis-
sonant
second
into a
"false"
ifth
supports
the thesis
that the "consonant"
and free use
of
the diminished
fifth
in the modern
harmony
at the close
of the seventeenth
century
was borrowed
from
popular
music:
"Some
moderns have
resolved the
suspended
sec-
ond to
the false
fifth;
one
allows this
method of
resolution,
it
being
hard and
harsh,
only
in
popular
song
for
the
expression
of certain
words.
Thus,
one should use it
with
caution"
("Alcuni
moderni
hanno
legato
la seconda
con la
quinta
falsa:
questo
modo
di
legare,
per
essere duro
e
aspro,
si concede
solamente
nelle cantilene
volgari per
esprimere qualche parola. Si deve perciô usare con prudenza";Berardi 1687, 137).
Mattheson
grasped
the
changed
role of
the diminished
fifth
precisely
when,
in Der
volikommene
apellmeister,
e maintained
one would
have
"good
reasons"
(billige
Ursache)
for
"appending
it to
the
consonances,"
since
"itdoes far more
harmonious
service than
the
perfect
fifth"
(Mattheson
1739,
235).
At the
beginning
of the nineteenth
century,
Jerome
Joseph
de
Momigny
still
maintained
that one
had to
treat the tri one and
the
false
fifth
"as
if
they
were
consonant,
... for
thirds,
sixths,
false
fifths,
and tritones
are the
true
harmonic
intervals
that
can be used
in
two-partcomposition"
("comme
s'ils
étaient
des
consonnans,
... les
tierces,
les sixtes
et les fausses
quintes
ou tritons
sont les
vrais
ntervalles
harmoniques,
employable
dans la
composition
à deux
partie";
Momigny
1803/1806,
1:284).
Similarly,
Fétis
regarded
both
the diminished
fifth and
the
augmented
fourth
as
consonant
intervals
(Simms
1975,
122).
Nicolô
Zingarelli
16 And
likewise,
the
(dominant)
six-five chord
on the
ascend-
ing
seventh
degree.
In
terms
of historical
development,
the
fact that
(along
with the
four-two
chord on
the
descending
fourth
degree)
it concerns
a harmonic
passing-chord
phe-
nomenon
remains
evident
for a
long
time
in
the
Italian
par-
timento
tradition.
According
to Giovanni
Paisiello
(Dellaborra
2007),
the dominant
four-two
chord occurs
"when
one
descends
from
the fifth
of the
key
to the
third of
the
key"
("quando
discende dalla
Quinta
delTono allaTerza
delTono";
Paisiello
1782, 5;
Holtmeier,
Menke,
and
Diergarten
2008).
In the course
of this
development,
however,
this
passing-
chord phenomenon becomes emancipated from its origin,
and one
could thus with
equal justification
designate
the
fifth
degree
as a
"preparation"
for the
descending
fourth
degree.
17
Johann
Georg
Albrechtsberger
stresses that
there is a
"bass scale
of the old
composers"
and a "bass scale
of
the newer
composers" (Albrechtsberger
1790,
12/13).
For
the
chord on the
descending
fourth
degree,
the four-two
chord
suits the "newer"
scale
-
the modern Rule
of the
Octave,
while the
simple
six-three
chord,
which
only
serves
the distinction between
perfect
and
imperfect
triads,
suits
the older
scale.
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16
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC
THEORY
opened
up
his
lessons
in
composition
with what he considered
to
be
the core rela-
tion
of
harmony.
He wrote the tritone
and the diminished
fifth
and
their
resolutions
on a piece of paper with the words:'You shall begin from the scale in two voices; and
remember,
in
harmony
the
fourth
descends,
and the seventh ascends"
(Sanguinetti
2005,
451f.).
It is not
difficult to discern
the derivation
of the
harmonic
formula for
the
descending
4-3-2-1
scale-degree progression
in
the Rule of the Octave:
its
source is the cadenza
doppia
see
Example
3)
,
which
plays
such a
prominent
role
in
the music of
the seventeenth and
eighteenth
centuries
(Gjerdingen
2007,
169).
Early-eighteenth-century
talian
thoroughbass
manuals
recognized
three
types
of
cadences,
which
were
designated
in
the
eighteenth-century parti-
mento tradition
by
the terms
semplicesimple), compostacompound)
,
and
dop-
pia
(double).18
Thus,
semplice enerally
signifies
a
simple
dominant-tonic rela-
tionship,
composta
he
classical 4-3
suspension
cadence,
and
doppia
he
"grand"
cadence with
the
consonant fourth. These cadences have not
merely
an artic-
ulating, punctuating
function,
but in
the seventeenth
century
they
become
comprehensive
compositional
models
that
pervade
entire
compositions.
It
is
crucial
to
note
that
these cadences
are
contrapuntal
models. At its
core,
each
cadence consists of
three
voices,
which
relate to each other
in
triple
counter-
point:
although
the
unfigured
bass
clausula
of the
cadenza
doppia(Example
3a)
can
only
be set over a
soprano
clausula,
not over the tenor
clausula,
some
other standardizedfigurations (c-f ) even permit the laterarrangement.19
Underlying
the
Rule of the
Octave
is
less a collection of
interval-progres-
sion
models and
more a
Durchkadenzierungthorough
cadentializing)
of the
scale
by
means of
these
contrapuntal
cadence models
-
above all the cadenza
doppia.
Starting
points
for
the
emergence
of the Rule of
the Octave
might
be
phrases
"in
the
style
of
Corelli,"
as in
Example
4.
In
Example
4a,
the slurs
mark the
doppia
ersions
of tenor
clausulae,
the
brackets mark
the
doppia
ersions of
soprano
clausulae
(see
also
Example
4b),
and the
wavy
ine
designates
the
figuration
of a
doppia
bass
clausula. One can
easily
clarify
the
derivation
of
the Rule of
the
Octave from
the modern Italian
18 See
Gjerdingen
2007,
141
f. A
historical
investigation
of
this
concept
is a
topic
of
current
scholarship
and
would
exceed the
limits of
this
essay.
The term
doppia
and the
quasi-standardized
use of
the
conceptual
triad
of
semplice,
composta,
and
doppia
is a
relatively
late feature of
Italian
music
theory.
Also,
the
terms are
hardly
used
in
a
consis-
tent
way.
Even in
the
late
eighteenth
century,
depending
on
the
author,
the
terms
may
overlap
in
content,
espe-
cially
with
semplice
and
composta.
In
earlier
sources
the
doppia
cadence
is
designated
by
a
multiplicity
of
terms
like
cadenza
major, gro&e
Cadenz,
grande
cadence,
great
cadence
(Godfrey
Keller),
gantze
Cadenz
or
cadentia
maior
perfectis (Muffat),and so forth. Even later- despite a clearly
perceptible process
of
standardization the
terminology
is
by
no
means
consistent.
Similarly
ambiguous
are the
deriva-
tion
and
meaning
of the
term
doppia
(double).
On the one
hand,
it
can refer
to the
(metrical)
breadth of the
cadence,
and on
the other
hand,
to the
combination of
semplice
and
composta
into one
"doubled"
cadence.
19
The fifth
scale
degree thereby
becomes a
superjectio
of
the
fourth
degree.
The bass
clausula
thus
actually
becomes
a
variant
in
double
counterpoint
of
the alto
clausula. This
quasi
identity
between
figurations
of bass and alto
clausulae
is an
essential
element of
innumerable
contrapuntal
designs
in
the
music
of the
seventeenth and
eighteenth
centuries.
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen,
Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
17
(a) (b) (c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
I*
==r
rHJ
r
fJ liK Jh' flr^rll1
i r =t=
|J-J,Jlj Fr^rlf1
i r *=
|j;J,
r
J|-jII
==r i r 1
r
|-
--f
ri r =t=
rrrr
f
- ri r *=
^r
rr
-f
\-}; " N
Trrr
I>J
rJrrM Tr
r
'iJ I
r
r
r
rI
J
Tr
r
I>J
Example
3. The cadenza
doppia
as a model of
triple counterpoint
(a)
l
|
k , i ,
j|| lrrnTrrr_
rfT]^^
666 754 3
46716
676
5 2
(b)
.OjJjjJ^ijjl
ill
I.
b : "
1 ^
? \ f
I r r
^ ^
Example
4.
The Rule of the
Octave
in
the
style
of Corelli
"tonality"f the Corelli-stylerio-sonataormat f one makesa "reduction"f
Example
4a.20
o
that
end,
one firstremovesall the
suspension
igures,.
hat
includes he 7-6
suspensions
n mm.
4
and
5,
the 4-3
suspension
n the third
measure,
nd even the 7-5
progression
n
thatsame
bar,
which
s
actually nly
an "elision" f
a 7-6-5-4-3
progression.
n
this
form the
progression
also
appears
n the
then-currentmodel-based
hrases
hown n
Example
5. If one
20
In
the
early
eighteenth
century,
this kind of
dissonance
reduction is a
common
procedure
in
thoroughbass peda-
gogy.
In
particular,
see Michel de Saint Lambert 1707 and
Godfrey
Keller 1707.
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18
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC
THEORY
^
^^F= ^r
^ i p
W [r
n r
I f
765
43
765 43 765 43
Example
5. The
7-6-5-4-3 model
^ f
F r T M r H ^
f e
f l
r _ x
r T 7 ^ J
666
66
616
466
5
5
2
Example
6. The
classical Rule of
the
Octave:
reduction
of
Example
4a
now
retaining
his
organizing
principle
also
begins
the
descending
scale
witha
perfect
consonance,
here
emerges
he classical ormof the Ruleof the
Octave
Example
6).
It
becomes clear
during
this
process
of
derivationwhat s
really
revolu-
tionary
about the
Rule of the Octave:
he
derhythmization
f the
cadence,
the
decoupling
of
dissonance from
ligatura,
rom
syncopatio.
n
short,
the
breakup
of
the traditional
adential
nterrelationships.
nly
the dissolution
of
the "bonds"
ties)
in
the
clausulae
rees the
Klang.21
his
emancipation
f
individual
onorities
nevitably
ccompanies far-rangingoosening
of
super-
ordinate
rhythmic
nd
linear
relationships.
Thus,
in
the context
of
the
dop-
piatenorclausula, he thirdscaledegreein the bassactuallybecomesonlya
"passing
hord"on a
weak
beat,
carrierof a consonant
preparation
or the
following
dissonant enor
clausula
Example
7a).
The
principle
of the
step-
wise
progression
solates
he sonorities
and
permits
a
largelyderhythmicized
"binary
elationship"
f chords to
replace
the three-and four-notecontexts
21
Nowhere can
one more
clearly
discern the
factor
of
abstraction,
the
"material character"
of the Rule of
the
Octave,
than
in
this
process.
Here too lies
the crucial differ-
ence
between the
sequential
and cadential
models,
which
as concrete
compositional
building
blocks
can
be,
as it
were,
directly
adopted
and
employed
in
compositional
prac-
tice. The
Rule of the
Octave,
by
contrast,
always requires
positioning
within the
rhythmic
design.
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen, Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
19
(a)
(b)
é i
|h
id
j
6 6
6 6
( b - f
^ i
|f
® ® ® ®
® ®
"
® ®
Example
7
of the clausulae
Example
7b).
Thus,
the third
degree
takeson a
sonority
n
its ownright.
It is
particularly
ere
in
the Ruleof the
Octave hatone
finds"old"nter-
val
progressions
nd the "new"
Corelli-style
adential
harmony
n
a
relation-
ship
of
dialectical ension.As a chord of
motion,
the
imperfect
consonance
on the third
scale
degree
leadsacross he
imperfect
econd
degree
to
resting
point
on the
perfect
first
degree
(Example
7a)
Yetas a more
"emancipated"
component
of
the cadenza
oppia,
he chord of the sixth s a
goal
and
point
of
resolution or the
dissonant ix-four-twohord on the fourth
degree,
which
precedes
t
(Example
b)
It is thus
ust
as mucha chordof
repose.
The cadenza
doppia
arries he factorof
harmonic ensionand relaxation nto the
old
pro-
gression
model. This is
exactly
where Rameaus
theorybegins
the model
of
tension and relaxationbecomes the central eatureof his basseondamentale.
Consonance
and dissonanceassume he
place
held
by perfect
and
imperfect
consonance n the music
heory
of
the seventeenth
entury.
Dissonance
akes
over he
functionof
imperfect
onsonance.
Harmonicmovement s
no
longer
the
progression,by
means
of a
multiplicity
f
imperfect
consonances,
rom
an
opening perfect
consonance
through
a series of intermediatecaesura-
like
perfect
consonances o a
closing perfect
consonance
(the
so-called
pip-
principle; ans
1987).
Now harmonic
movement s a routine
consequence
of
dissonanceand
consonance,
of tension and relaxation
(Christensen
1993,
120f.).22
or
Rameau,
he
juxtaposition
of
doppia
lausulae
n
the
Rule of the
Octavebecomes a routineconsequenceof two-stage adencesarfaites. he
close
dependence
developedby
Rameaus basse
ondamentale
n the cadential
harmony
f the Rule of
the Octavebecomesclear f one sets belowthe
doppia
cadencesof
Example
4a a bass
voice without
iguration Example
a
gives
wo
alternative
ersions)
and then
compares
his
supporting
"fundamental
oice"
22 Or
the connection of two consonances
by
a
chain
of dis-
sonances. Thomas Christensen
points
out that for Rameau
"every
non-tonic
scale
degree
carries a seventh chord"
(1993,
129).
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20
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
(a)
rfbjp^J
w ^ = ^
J J ft J J , J Jm_J J J ... ,
w ^ = ^
,
s p F ^
y
« =
,>>'.V_[J
j |j
J
I
o
|o
|..
;
(b)
gÉÊÉgÉ
Biffe-ContftJS" tf 6 A 7
&-f-è^ A I
^T^^^|'^V-l^^U^r-4«^-T-
Domini-*
e
pNo«Ti__.
«
^-^.t
T™' I"
None
toniqti
HlWf,
f-He.«*jwMo«t-*
»»»»"
-
t»NotM.->
ianbU' «^
i
.
\,
,
^~-t^»
r#»
majeur
\)t.
BASSE-FONDAMENTALE,
^
1
7
777747.
Example
8. Rameau's
interpretation
of the Rule of the
Octave
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen, Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
21
6 6
5 6
6 5
6»
6
?o .. o » ;>°
»
°
°
|
[7]
I
2 3 7 I
2
[7]
|
|
Example
9.
"Implicit"
harmonic structure of Rameau's
ascending
Rule of the Octave
with the basse
ondamentale
Example
8b)
that Rameau
provided
for
the
Rule
of
the Octave
(Rameau
1722,
382).
Even Rameau's basseondamentale ses only the tones of the doppiabass
clausulae:
C, G,
and D.23
One
clearly recognizes,
however,
the differences.
Rameau
applies,
as it
were,
the same
model to the succession
of
the
descend-
ing
scale as to the
ascending
scale.
Thus,
in
the
descending
scale,
the fifth
degree
is
treated
like a
first
degree
(as
a notte
onique)
and the
leading
tone
(
notte
ensible)
s treated
like
a
third
degree
( mediante)
These
degrees
are thus
interpreted
as if
ascending:
for
Rameau,
the schematic
progression
in
Exam-
ple
9
implicitly
underlies the
ascending
scale
(Rameau
1722,
208).
The diatonic
arrangement
of the mode
prohibits
the
leading
tone to the
fifth
degree
from
actually
sounding
(Rameau
conceives the fifth
degree
comme
une notte
onique)
Rameau
1722,
213).
Yet
regarded
functionally,
the
progres-
sion of the
leading
tone to the tonic
{notte
ensible o notte
onique)
s identical
to
that of the fourth
degree
to the dominant
(quatrième
o
dominante) Rameau
1722,
208).
At the end of
Rameau's
ascending
scale
(Example
8b)
a
scarcely
motivated,
apparent
leap
from
the
leading
tone to the fifth
degree
owes its
existence to
Rameau's
logic
of
progressions.
It clarifies the dual
function of
the seventh
scale
degree,
which must at
the same time
support
an
inversion
of a
perfect
triad
(parfait)
and a seventh chord
(Vaccord
e la
septième).
On the
one
hand,
it is a mediante f
a "tonicized"dominant
accordingly
ushered
in
by
its own dominant
(D3
in
the basse
ondamentale
f
Example
8b) (Rameau
1722,
211).
On the other
hand,
it
really
is the notte
ensible,
bliged
to lead
into
the
tonic and to support a (dominant) six-five chord (l'accordde lafausse quinte).
One can
clearly
detect these
changes
of
function from the basse
ondamentale.
The basse
ondamentale
nder the
leading
tone
(G3)
does not bear
the
signa-
ture of a seventh
chord,
because the
sounding
dissonance of the six-fivechord
on this
seventh scale
degree
is
just
an
apparent
one.
In
its true essence
this
dissonance is a
parfait
n
first-inversionform.
Only
with the next chord
does
the fundamental seventh chord
become "material" nd resolve itself
properly.
23
The much discussed
problem
area of the double
emploi
(see
Example
8b,
m.
3)
lies outside the
scope
of this
essay.
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22
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
That the seventh
of the basse
ondamentale
under the sixth scale
degree
(C
above
D),
which
performs
the function
of
a dominant
to
the medianteoî the
tonicized dominant, is not resolving correctly but ascends to the D, justifies
Rameau
in the
prohibition
of
doubling
the
leading
tone
(B),
which a
proper
resolution
of
that
dissonant
seventh would
violate
(Rameau
1722, 213;
see also
Rousseau
1768).
So
just
as
that six-five
chord over the seventh scale
degree
is
actually
a
perfect
triad,
then
conversely
the
six chord over the sixth scale
degree
is
actually,
n a functional
sense,
a
dissonant seventh chord.
Already
we can
clearly
make out that
tendency
toward
ormalistic abstrac-
tion
and
esprit
u
système
hat
in
the late
writings
of Rameau often
takes on such
abstruse
manifestations.24
n the
Traité,
however,
Rameau
s
complex
opera-
tions
still
have
a
recognizable
basis
in
experience
and
in the musical features
themselves.The thesis that the fundamental principle of modern (Rule of the
Octave)
harmony
was the
dogmatization
of the
cadence,
understood
as the
transition
from
a dissonant
sonority
to
a consonant
one
(and
vice
versa)
actu-
ally grasps
an
essential
aspect
of the
new chordal
basis of
composition
in
the
style
of Corelli's
trio
sonatas.
But
one can
also
clearly
distinguish
in
Rameau
s
basse
ondamentale
he
difficulties
and
problems
of
a one-dimensional
system-
ization
of
the
Rule
of the
Octave.
In concert
with
his
theory
of
inversion,
Rameau
s consonance-dissonance
dichotomy
eliminates
the
concept
of
imper-
fect
consonance.
It
may
still
be
present
as a
phenomenon
in
compositional
technique,
but
as a
music-theoretical
category
it
disappears
completely.25
The
consequences
are
far
reaching.
As
imperfect
consonances
merge
with
perfect
consonances
in the
concept
of
chord,
the
concept
of harmonic
movement
is
tied
exclusively
to dissonance.
Beyond
dissonance,
Rameau
s
system
reaches
an
impasse.
Thus
it
is
literally
impossible
for
two
accords
arfaits
(each
with
a
different
basse
ondamentale)
o
follow
one
another.
At their
core,
the
labored
constructions
of the
cadence
rregulière
sixte
ajoutée),
he later
sous-dominante,
and
the
infamous
double
mploi
nly
serve
the
purpose
of
maintaining
the
rigid
logic
of
progression,
which
enforces
the exclusion
of
imperfect
consonances
and
the
dogmatization
of dissonance.
Rameau
s
music
theory
does
not
engage
the
dialectical
tension
between
the
old interval
progressions
and
the
"new"
cadential
harmony
of
the
Corelli
style,
which
was
worked
out as
a central
fac-
tor in the Ruleof the Octave.Witha revolutionarygesture he simplywiped the
centuries-old
and
autonomous
theory
of
intervallic
qualities
off the
table.
Toward
an
"Italian"
concept
of
chord
No
music-theoretical
theorem
of the
eighteenth
century
did
more
to
imple-
ment
a
break
with
tradition
than
Rameau's
theory
of renversement
"inversion"
24
In
the
Traité,
Rameau
himself
points
repeatedly
to the
fact that
the
basse
fondamentale
is "of
little use
in
practical
music"
(inutile
à la
pratique;
Rameau
1722,
381).
25
Christensen
refers
to the difference
between
a
concept
of
inversion
based
on
"inversional
derivation,"
which
was
already
common
before
Rameau,
and
one based
on
this
new "inversional equivalence" (1993, 70f.).
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen, Rameau,
and
Italian
Thoroughbass
23
sealed
the fate of the
old intervallic
qualities.
No other
concept
of Ramel-
lian
theory
would have
a
comparably
wide diffusion. Even
traditions of music-
theory teaching that took themselves to be anti-Rameau and rejected in par-
ticular
his
theory
of
chord
progression26
nevertheless
adopted
as self-evident
the
concept
of inversion.
By
the end
of
the
eighteenth century
it
had
already
gained
acceptance
across
all of
Europe,
and
by
the middle of the nineteenth
century
it
finally
achieved
a
position
where it had almost no
competition.
Even
today,
it still
holds
sway
so
naturally,
so
unchallenged
that it is worth-
while
drawing
attention
to what a radical break it once
represented
from
a centuries-old
tradition.
According
to
Rameau,
a chord of the sixth is no
longer
an
independent
sonority
in its own
right,
but becomes a "derivative"
chord,
an
"inversion"
of a "fundamental"
triad. The old
pivotal
distinction
between fifth and sixth, between a sonority of rest and one of motion, was
not
only completely
leveled,
but
perfect
and
imperfect
consonances
became,
in Rameau's
thoughts
on
inversion,
nearly
"identical."His new
principle
of
the
stacking
of
thirds
takes the
place
of the old
intervallic
qualities.
From it
Rameau
derives
both
of
his
"root
chords": the
triad
{parfait)
and the seventh
chord
(dominante-tonique).
e even
bases the essential
opposition
between
consonant
and
dissonant
chords
between
consonance and dissonance
-
on
his
principle
of the
stacking
of thirds.
The
partisans
and
interpreters
of Rameau
have
always
nvoked the idea
that
his
theory
was the
first to
actually
develop
a
precise
concept
of harmonic
dynamism (Christensen 1993, 132).
That would be
correct
if
one
has in mind
his
attempt
to trace
harmonic
process
back to
the "basic units"
of tension
and
release,
to
the dominant-to-tonic
progression,
and
his efforts
to
develop
a
holistic
concept
of
harmonic
space.
Yet one could
as
easily argue
the
oppo-
site
that
in its schematized
ideas of
inversion and
the
stacking
of
thirds,
Rameau's
theory
leads
to
a
complete
antidynamic
enervation of harmonic
process.
For
ust
as
the difference
between
perfect
and
imperfect
consonance
vanishes,
so does
any
factor
of
linearity
in the
concept
of
chord.27
One
can
unproblematically
ascribe the
sonorities
of the Rule of the
Octave
to a
series of
cadences
arfaites
on the notes
of the basse
ondamentale
as
long
as
it behaves
like
forms of
cadenzedi
grado,
thus as
long
as there is a
soprano or tenor clausula in the bass.The fifth degree of the ascending Rule
of the
Octave
as
the
penultimate
tone
in
a
bass clausula
properly requires
a
leap
and
so becomes
a
problematic
case
for Ramellian
theory,
a
problem
whose
elaborate
solution
has been
discussed
in detail above.
26
In
the
eighteenth
century,
Rameau's
theory
of chord
progressions
-
the actual
heart
of his
theory
-
only plays
a
subordinate
role,
and even
German
scale-degree
theory
of
the
early
nineteenth
century only marginally
takes
up
this
aspect
of it.
Only
with the
"neo-Ramellian
turn" of funda-
mental
bass
in Vienna
(Sechter)
and of
functions
theory
in
Leipzig (Hauptman) does Rameau's theory of progression
finally
become
relevant
for musical
practice.
27 In
the
early
twentieth
century,
it was Heinrich Schenker
who time
and
again
pointed
out Rameau's
"overemphasis
on
the
vertical"
(1930,
11).
As
much
as he was
unconsciously
bound to
an
understanding
of
tonality
that was Ramellian
at
its
core,
it is his
undisputed
historical achievement to have
highlighted
the
significance
of the
compositional
framework
and its figuration for "classical" tonality.
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24
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC
THEORY
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
p
\t
1 1 1
l i
i i
I f L M I
7 6
6
5
Example
10
The cadential effect of the fifth degree is actuallysuperior in the Rule of
the
Octave,
even if in
a
sense
different
from
the one
Rameau
thought
of.
The
triad
(Example
10a),
but
especially
the
seventh
chord
(Example
10b),
on
the
fifth
degree
almost
compels
a
cadential
resolution,
thus
a
drop
of a
fifth or
third
following
it.
The
example
makes it
clear
that
in
the Rule of
the
Octave,
degrees
6
and 7
following
the
dominant
(Example
lOd)
should
be
understood
as
merely
a
stepwise
filling
out of
the
ascending
cadential
leap
of
a
fourth,
and
are
treated
as
"passing
chords"
(Schulz
[Kirnberger]
1773,
36).
If
one consid-
ers m.
2
in
Example
4a,
one will
see
that the
rising
scalar
passage
from
D3 to
G3 in
the bass
actually
presents
the
figuration
of a
doppia
bass
clausula.
One
can
glean
from
this
and other
examples
that
Rameau s
interpretation
of the
Rule
of
the
Octave is
doomed to
failure
because
it does
not
respect
the func-
tional
differences
and
the
functional
variability
of
the
individual
degrees
and
their
sonorities. For
Rameau,
cadenze
doppie,
cadenze
emplici,
passing
chords,
chords
resulting
from
figurations
in
short,
everything
must conform
to the
unitary
mechanism of
the
consonance-dissonance
succession of
the
cadence
parfaite.
To
be
sure,
the
Rule of
the
Octave
also
isolates
individual sonori-
ties from
their
originally
linear
contexts.
Nonetheless,
one
can still
document
within
it a
contrapuntal
provenance
from
three-voice
compositional
and
cadential
models. In
Rameau's
theory
of
chords,
however,
chordal
sonorities
become
radically
equalized.
Chordal
relationships
that extend
beyond
the
simple two-stageprogression from consonance to dissonance fall completely
outside
the
system.
The
functional
variability
of
chordal
scale
degrees
(Stuferi)
an be
clearly
demonstrated
by
the
chord
of
the sixth on
the
third
degree,
one of
the out-
wardly
most
stable
harmonic
constellations
within
the Rule of
the
Octave
(Example
11).
On
the
one
hand,
the
chord of the
sixth on
the third
degree
can
essentially
serve,
in
Rameau's
sense,
the
function of
a tonic
chord
in
inver-
sion
(Example
lia).
But
given
its
placement
on
a
mi-degree,
it can also
be
part
of a
cadenza
emplice
nd
exercise
the
function of
a "local"
dominant to the
fourth
degree,
which in
turn
will
be
treated
like a
Mitteltonika
Riepel
1996,
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen, Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
25
(a) (b) (c)
p
|H^
' ^ i ' f
m
6 6 6 6
6
4
3
5
Example
11.
The
multifunctionality
of the
sixth
chord on the
third
scale
degree
585) (Example ib). Moreover,t is alsofrequently artof a dominantprepa-
ration,
one that
prepares
he dissonant ix-five hord on the fourth
degree
(Example
ie).
Such fine differentiationsind no resonance
n
the
mechanism
of the
basse
ondamentale.
ence,
the
vanishing
of the distinctionbetween
perfect
and
imperfect
consonance
ultimately
eads to an
impoverishment
n the con-
cept
of
harmonic
unctionality.
Given he
disappearance
f all linear
factors,
harmonic
dynamism
ppears
n
the
form of a
monotonous,
basically
undy-
namic"
ogic
of
progressions.
Johann David Heinichen and the
systematization
of the
Rule of the Octave
To
speak
of a
concept
of chord in the
Italian
horoughbass
radition
raises
its own
problems.
On the one
hand,
the notion is
hardly
more
than a
rough
summary
f
certain raditions f
instruction,
which each
ought
to be
histori-
cally
and
geographically
ifferentiated. he reader
may
have
noted withsome
confusion that the
partimento
radition,
he Italian
horoughbass
radition,
and the Rule of the Octaveare not
clearly
et
apart
rom one another
n this
text.
In
fact,
it is
scarcely
possible
o drawclear boundariesbetween
hem.
If
one refers o
partimenti
s the didactical
horoughbass
xercises
hemselves,
it isnotdifficult o showa continuous raditional ontextthroughoutEurope,
extending
ar nto the twentieth
entury,
n which he difference
between
tal-
ian, French,
or
even German
heoretical
pproaches,
etween he
Ruleof the
Octave,
basse
ondamentale,
r
scale-degree
Roman-numeral)
heory
(Stufen-
theorie)
re of
secondary
ignificance.
f one takes
partimenti
as
a didactic
tradition,however,
n
whichthe
accompaniment
f
unfigured
basses
s of fun-
damental
mportance,
hen
"partimento"
lso containsa theoretical
pproach
that is
inseparably
ied to
the
principles
of the Rule
of the Octave
and the
compositional
models.
If I
referhere also to an Italian
horoughbass
radition,
it is
becausethis theoretical
approach
s not bound to the didacticism
f the
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26
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC
THEORY
partimenti,
even
if
it
developed
from them.
Many
schools of
thoroughbass
are
certainly
in
the
partimento
tradition,
even if
they
do not
make use of actual
partimenti (e.g., Kellner 1732). What they have in common is the central
concept
of the Rule
of the Octave.
On the other
hand,
as
already pointed
out,
there was no
explicitly
articu-
lated
theory
and
comprehension
of chord
that,
in the
sense
that one
might
contrast "Italian
music
theory
versus
French music
theory,"
one could set
in
opposition
to
the Ramellian basse
ondamentale.
he
singular
and indeed
puz-
zling
success
of Ramellian
theory
can
substantially
be
attributed
to the fact
that Rameau
never
fledged
a real theoretical
opponent,
someone who could
have
confronted
his basse
ondamentale
ith a
competing concept.
Thus,
in
the
course
of the
eighteenth
century
the
Rule of the Octave took
on
ever
more
clearly the role of conservative,"old Catholic,"and pretheoretical teachings
that shut
themselves
off from
contemporary
Enlightenment
innovations,
even
before
their subversive
progressive
potential,
the basis for Rameau's
own basse
fondamentale,
ould
have
penetrated
at all into
the
general
consciousness.
It would
be
incorrect,
however,
to
state
absolutely
that
no
theoretical
counterproposals
to
Rameau
came
forward.
The
attempts
made
seem to have
found
neither
the
language
nor the
form of
presentation
that would have
been
recognized
as
"theoretical"
n
the
discourse
of the
early Enlightenment,
nor did
they
develop
in a sociocultural
environment
that
would have facili-
tated
a
broad
European
impact
transcending
their
narrower
regional
and
lin-
guistic borders.28
If one
wished
to
nominate
one such
counterproposal
to
Rameau's
the-
ory,
then
first and
foremost
the
monumental
second
edition
(1728)
of
Johann
David
Heinichen's
Der
General-Bass
n der
Composition
(Thoroughbass
n
Composi-
tion)
comes
to
mind. The
second
part
of this
work,
"On
the
Complete
Sci-
ence
of
Thoroughbass"
("Von
der vollkommenen
Wissenschaft
des
General-
Basses"),
explicitly
represents
the
unique
attempt
of its
time to
systematize
and
theoretically
substantiate
the
music
theory
of the Italian
partimento
tradi-
tion
(Horn
2000).
No other
eighteenth-century
author
made the
Rule of the
Octave
the
basis
of
his
theory
to such
a
degree
(Horn
2001,
2002).
A
digression
on
Heinichen
The
modern
functionality
of the
Rule
of the
Octave,
which
Heinichen
develops
in his
thoroughbass
treatise
of
1728,
stands
at
the
top
of a
hierarchy.
The
"natural" armonies
of
unfigured
basses
"permit
themselves
to be discovered
in three
ways**
Heinichen
1728,726-27):
28 Heinichen's
work
was therefore
unable to find
an interna-
tional
audience
because
German,
in contrast to French and
Italian,
was not a
"European"
cultural
language.
His influ-
ence on
composition teaching
in
German
was,
however,
considerable.
See,
for
instance,
Carl
Philipp
Emanuel Bach's
very similar concept of chord (C. R E. Bach, 1753/62).
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen, Rameau,
and
Italian
Thoroughbass
27
I. From the vocal or instrumental voice written over
the bass.
II. From some
easy general
rules,
or
from characteristic
intervals of the
modes.
II.
From
some
special
rules,
or
from
the
ambitus of the
modes themselves.
On
the one
hand,
this acts
like a
systematic
hierarchy.
In
order "to
guess
at"
(erraten;
Heinichen
1728,
731)
the
missing
voices from the intervallic
relationships
between the
upper
and lower
voices,
only
a
knowledge
and
mechanical
application
of chord
theory
is
required.
To move to the second hierarchical
level
where one
applies "general
rules,"
however,
already
calls for a
clearly higher understanding
and level
of
knowledge.
Here
"general
rules"
mean the old
Klangschrittregeln
rules
for chord
progressions)
derived
from the
tabulanaturalis.
Hardly any
treatise of the seventeenth and
early eighteenth
centuries
lacks these rules
for standardized chord
combinations,
for
example,
1. The 5th [scale degree] in the majorand minor modes naturally has a major
3rd
above
itself,
and in the
system
of modes it
may
or
may
not be notated.
2.
The
4th
[scale
degree]
in the minor modes
naturally
has
a minor 3rd above
itself,
and
in the
system
of
modes it
may
or
may
not be notated. 3. The semitone
[lead-
ing
tone]
beneath
the
major
and minor
mode,
by
which one
modulates,
natu-
rally
has a "6"over itself.
. . .
(Heinichen
1728,
739)
"He who
acquaints
himself with these
general
rules,"
continues
Heinichen,
"will fre-
quently
acquire
great
facility
in the
practice
of an
unfigured thoroughbass"
(738).
Attaining
the
highest
hierarchical
level, however,
requires
"the solid
understanding
of
the musical
ambitus"
(731)
-
by
this
is meant
nothing
else than the Rule of the Octave.
It is "the
main source from
which
flow the aforesaid
general
rules"
(738).
The
Klang-
schrittregelnive rules for chord progressions, but they are based on a mere intervallic
relationship.
Only
the Rule
of the Octave
gives
a
precise place
to those free intervallic
relations
in the harmonic
space
of the scale.
It is obvious
that this
hierarchical
order of
precedence
is
also a didactic order
("the
easiest
comes
first";
Heinichen
1728,
727).
That Heinichen 's course of
study
begins
quite
traditionally
with
chord
theory
and then
leaves
Klangschrittregeln
o follow
means
that it
represents,
at
the same
time,
a historical
order of
precedence. Klangschrit-
tegeln, specially
as
explicated
in
the German
tradition
(compare,
e.g.,
the treatises of
Matthâus
Gugl
1719 and
Johann Baptist
Samber
1704,
1707)
is,
as it
were,
a histori-
cal
prehistory
(Christensen
1992,
113),
now
surpassed
and nullified
by
the new func-
tionality
of the
Rule of the Octave.
One can
perceive
the same
relationship
between
Heinichen's later treatise and his own earlier one (1711; see Gjerdingen 2007, 15-16).
Although
in
1728
Heinichen asserts
that he had
already
explicated
the Rule of the
Octave
"in the
year
1710
during
the
preparation
of
my
old edition of this treatise"
(763),
that
is not
really
the case.
Had his
1711
Klangschrittequence
extended across
all
eight
tones
of the
scale,
it would take
on
just
as little of
the
obligatory
form of
the
Rule
of the Octave
as
with the treatises
of
Samber,
Gugl,
and
Spiridionis
a
qualitative
difference
exists
between
the
Klangschrittregeln
nd the Rule
of the Octave
(Gjerdingen
2007,
15-16).
Rameau's
schematized
thoughts
on inversion and the
stacking
of thirds
break
with
a further core
aspect
of the traditions of
music
theory
and the his-
tory of composition: one of the oldest elements in European compositional
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28
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
Schemata
Modorum,
4
Example 12. Heinichen's Schema (Rule of the Octave)
teaching
is
the distinction
between
step
and
leap.
The notion that
stepwise
progression
is,
as
it
were,
the
prototype
of
all harmonic and melodic motion
hearkens back to a
centuries-old tradition.
Thus,
in a sense the
leap
is the
exception
to
the norm of
regular stepwise
motion.
In
Rameau s music
theory,
based on the
prototypical
falling
fifth of the cadence
arfaite,
he
leap
not
only
takes the
place
hierarchically
of the
step progression,
but
the
step progres-
sion,
as an
independent
music-theoretical
category,
became
completely
mean-
ingless:
in Rameau s
theory every step
is based on a
leap.
Heinichen's music
theory,
as we will
see,
retains the old distinction between
gradus
and saltus
(step
and
leap).
If
the Rule
of the Octave is to
become the basis
of a
music-theoretical
sys-
tem,
then
two central
questions
must be answered:
(1)
what
happens
when
the
bass moves
by leap,
and
(2)
how
does
one
explain
and
categorize
sonorities
that
do
not
reside
in
the model
of the classic Rule
of
the Octave? The Rule of
the
Octave must
become both
a
comprehensive theory
of chord
progression
and a
theory
of the
chord
morphology.
Example
12
shows Heinichen's version of
the Rule
of the
Octave.
Though
Heinichen also
understands the Rule of the
Octave
as a
practical
aid to
impro-
visation, it is primarilythe representation of a harmonic systemin itself: it rep-
resents a
comprehensive
"schema."
The
systematic
character
of
Heinichen's
Rule
of
the Octave is
immediately
apparent,
for
it
differs
conspicuously
from
its
Italian and French
precursors.
Aside from
the
obligatory passing
six-four-
two chord on
the fourth scale
degree,
Heinichen does not
present
any
(disso-
nant)
four-note chords-
only
the
"pure"perfect
(vollkommene)
nd
imperfect
(unvottkommene)
hords. The
absence of the six-five chord on the ascend-
ing
fourth scale
degree
(l'accord
de la
grande
sixte)
is
especially conspicuous.
"Through
a
complete
omission of certain
figures"
("durch
gânzliche Hinweg-
lassung einiger
Ziffern";
Heinichen
1728,
765),
Heinichen here establishes
something like a "PrimaryRule of the Octave"made up of the most simple
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen, Rameau,
and
Italian
Thoroughbass
29
«
4
4
Example
13.
Gasparini's
Rule of
the Octave after Heinichen
chordal elements:
as
in
a
modular
system,
all
more
complex
and dissonant
variants
an be derived
rom
this
prototype,
s I show
ateron.
The form
of
representation
s also
noteworthy:
Heinichen
s Rule
of the
Octavedoes
not move
through
the
entire
octave,
as is the
case
with Rameau
and
n
many
ources
romthe Italian
partimento
radition;
nstead,
his schema
ends on the sixth
scale
degree
and then
changes
direction.
The
similarity
o
Francesco
Gasparini's
ersion
of the
Ruleof the Octave
s
deceptive,
however,
for
Gasparini
irecdy
ollowshis Rule
of the Octave
n
major
with
a harmo-
nization
of the
descending
scale
degrees
8-7-6-5,
in
order
to
make it
clear
thaton the
descending
ixth
degree
the
chord
withthe
major
ixth
should
be
placed(Example13) 29
For
Heinichen,
this
is
unacceptable:
he stresses
hat
he "omitted
he
major
ixth
over the sixth
scale
degree
because
t
adds
a new
It
hat
does
not
belong
to the mode"
"die
6.
maj.
uber
die 6ta
modi
maj.
deswegengar
wegge-
lassen,
weilsie ein
neues
I
angiebet,
welches
gar
nicht
zu dem
Modo
gehôret";
1728,
765).
He considers
what
Gasparini
oes
"already
alf a
cadence
and a
digression
nto
D
major"
"schon
eine
halbe Cadenz
und
Ausschweifung
n
das
D.dur";
65).
For
Heinichen,
however,
he
unity
of the
mode
is an
ines-
capableprerequisite
f the
"schema,"
f the
"naturliche
Ambitus."
hus,
he
lets
his Rule of the
Octaveascend to
the sixth scale
degree
in
order to
make
it particularlylear thatits functiondoes not fundamentallyhangewhether
its motion s
ascending
or
descending.
The
fact that
he retains
he traditional
representation
f the
modes,
and
first lets his
notte
onique
escend
to
the
leading
tone,
also stems
from this strict
understanding
f
mode:
being
the
29
Gasparini
admittedly
notes that "the
sixth can be
major
or minor"
whether
ascending
or
descending
{la
Sesta
porrà
essere,
o
maggiore,
o
minore)
(Gasparini
1722,
61),
but he
leaves
no doubt that
major
sixths on
the
descending
sixth
degree
"are
necessary
for their cadential
effect"
("neces-
sarie
per
esser
specie
di
Cadenze")
but do
not constitute
a modulation to a different note {non fanno mutare
il
tono;
57).
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30
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
"inseparable
characteristic of all modes"
("das
unzertrennliche Kennzeichen
aller
Modorum")
he has
"placed
the
leading
tone next to the
tonic at the
very
outset" ("dasSemitonium modi . . . gleich Anfangs neben sein 8vam lociret";
764).
For our
topic,
however,
something
else is far
more decisive: Heinichen
repeatedly emphasizes
that his "schema" s "much more universal
and
applica-
ble"
("viel
mehr universaler
und
applicabler";
1728,
765)
than
Gasparini's
and
Rameau's
versions of the Rule
of the Octave.
According
to
him,
they
introduce
"many pecial signatures
that
only
pertain
for as
long
as the notes march
along
nicely
in the order
in which
they
were written down"
("viel
péciale Signaturen,
die
nicht
langer
gelten,
als die
Noten fein
in
der
Ordnung
marschieren,
wie sie
hingeschrieben
worden";
765)
,
that
is,
for as
long
as the bass moves
in
stepwise
motion. For the main purpose of Heinichen's reduction to the basic (perfect
and
imperfect)
chords
is to turn
the Rule of the Octave
into an
explanatory
model
that also
encompasses
"leaping"
bass
progressions.
One
sees
that Heinichen
sets the
figures
5 and
6 one after the other over
the
second
degree
(and
the
sixth
degree)
of the
F-major
cale. The intention
is
by
no
means a
model-bound
progression
like,
for
instance,
a
sequence
of
5-6
motions,
as
is sometimes
maintained
("that
you
are
not allowed to
play
the
sig-
natures
one after
another,
as is
usually
done
in
thoroughbass"
["daB
man also
nicht
beyde
Ziffern nacheinander
(wie
sonst
im General-Bass
gebrâuchlich)
anschlagen
darff"];
1728,
750]).
Instead
Heinichen
explains
the
deeper
sense
of this double figuring as follows:
But
concerning
he
major
mode one should
particularly
bserve
hat because
its second
degree supports
a
perfect
ifth,
one
is thusfree to
use eithera
5 or a
6 over
the said
second
degree.
The 6
sounds
more natural
f
[the
bass]
should
rise
stepwise
o
the third
degree
or
go
backward
down
o the first
degree]
If,
however,
ne
is at the
second
degree
midst
a
leap,
then the
5 seems more
natural.
743)30
Here
one can
still
clearly
recognize
the
persistence
of the old
differentiation
between
perfect
and
imperfect
consonance.
Particular
types
of
motion are
assigned
to
particular
sonorities:
the
leap
is
assigned
to the
perfect
conso-
nance of the five-three chord; the step, to the imperfect consonance of the
six-three
chord.
The chord
of the
sixth
is
placed
"more
naturally,"
namely,
in
a
stepwise
progression,
on
the second
degree.
But
if a
sonority
made
from
stacked-up
thirds
(a
triad
or even
a seventh
chord)
takes the
place
of the
30
Wegen
des modi
maj.
aber ist besonders
zu
mercken,
daft
weil seine
2da
modi
allerdings
eine 5te
perfect,
in
ambitu
hat,
so stehet
auch
frey,
ob man
uber
besagter
2da
modi die
5te oder die
6te
gebrauchen
will.
Naturlicher
lautet
die 6.
wenn man
gradatim
in die
3e
auff oder ruckwerts
gehet.
. . .
Kômt
aber die 2da modi mitten
im
Sprung
zu ste-
hen, so fallet die 5te naturlicher aus. . . .
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen, Rameau,
and
Italian
Thoroughbass
31
six-three chord on the
second
degree,
then a
leap
ensues.
(In
case the
leap
does
not
happen,
as
with the "tonic-like"
Riepel]
triad on
the fourth
degree,
the five-three sonority has the effect of a caesura.) Even if Heinichen does
not
fully
work out
all the
consequences
of these central ideas of his
theory,
it
nevertheless becomes
clear that one
functionally
differentiates between a
degree's step
unction
and
leap
unction.
Of course a three- or
four-note stack-
of-thirds
sonority
can
occur on
any
scale
degree
on
which a chord of the sixth
occurs
in the classic Rule
of the Octave.
Such a
sonority
would
only require
a
change
in
the
modusmovendi
from
step
to
leap.31
A
digression
on
training
manuals
In structureand organization, partimento textbooks follow popular training manuals
like Oratio
Scaletta's
requently
reissued
solfège
textbook
Scaladi musicamoltonecessaria
perprincipianti
1595).
In these solmization
manuals,
the first
things taught
were the
ascending
and
descending
scales
(portar
a voce
ascendendo,
t
descendendo;
caletta
1595,
9).
Then followed
likewise
ascending
and
descending
-
diatonic
patterns
with
leaps
of
a
third,
fourth, fifth,
sixth,
and octave.
In the seventeenth
century,
Klangschritt
ables
of the
so-called
tabulanaturalis
Christensen
2008, 113;
Dahlhaus
1990,
108;
Heimann
1973,
55f.)
were
arranged
according
to the same
paradigm.
The
compositional
models
in the
partimento
tradition
were
imparted
according
to the identical
paradigm:
harmo-
nization
models
of the
scale
ascending (principally
chains
of
5-6,
7-6,
and 9-8
suspen-
sions and
progressions
of
alternating
sixths
and
thirds)
the
scale
descending
(chains
of 7-6
suspensions
and
progressions
of
alternating
seconds
and
sixths),
leaping
thirds
ascending
and
descending,
and so
forth.
Neapolitan
composition
manuals,
above all
the exercises
in
style
found
in Francesco
Durante
s
partimenti
bassi diminuiti
(2003),
follow
this
organization,
and
many
German
training
manuals
are
similarly
structured.
Examples
would
be Friederich
Erhardt Niedt's
Handleitung
ur Variation
Musicalische
Handleitung,
ol.
2,
1721),
as
well
as
Bach's
Vorschriften
1930),
and also
Handel's
(1978)
thoroughbass
exercises.
Fedele
Fenaroli
systematically
cultivates the
teaching
of com-
positional
models
in his
Partimenti
1978;
Holtmeier
2007,
s.v.
"Satzmodelle").
Renversement
versus
Verwechslung
This
puts
in
sharp
relief
one of
the central
distinctions
between
the func-
tionality
of the
Rule
of
the
Octave
and that
of Rameau
s basse
ondamentale
the former
is
totally
aligned
with
movement.
Rule-of-the-Octave
unctionality
not
only distinguishes
between
a
degree's
meaning
in the context of
a
step
or a
leap,
but
also
differentiates
the
meaning
of
a
degree
according
to the
direction
of
the
motion,
whether
ascending
or
descending.
Thus,
the
fourth
degree
in ascent
takes
the
six-three
or six-five
chord,
but
in
descent the
"domi-
nant"
six-four-two
hord;
the seventh
degree
in ascent
takes the six-five
chord
31
Riepel
(1996,
580f.)
and
Kellner
(1732)
follow Heinichen's
conception relatively faithfully and even expand it.
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32
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
but in
descent the
plain
six-three
chord,
and so forth.
For its
reception
his-
tory,
one thus
encounters a
problem
with Rule-of-the-Octave
unctionality.
Its
"animate"dynamics elude being fixed by a "physicalist"ystematizationthat
permits
the derivation of more
complex
structures from
simple
basic
axioms.
For Rameau s
supporters,
one
of
the central
arguments
in favor of the basse
fondamentale
s
that
it
can
explain
the
basic
principles
of harmonic
tonality
in
the shortest time
and,
as
it
were,
free of
presumptions.
As has often been
stressed,
the
principle
of inversion
adapted
by
Rameau
was not
new
(Christensen
1993, 67f.;
Barbieri
1991).
The
interchangeability
of the voices
was
one of
the
elementary assumptions
of
three-voice
models for
sixteenth- and
seventeenth-century
cadences,
sequences,
and
the
"contrapun-
tal"orientation
of
teaching
composition.
Heinichen
was well
acquainted
with
Rameau s Traité e 'Harmonie. boveall the concept of renversementinversion)
left
lasting
traces
in
his own
theory.
But an
approach
can
be observed
here
that is
typical
for the
history
of
the
French,
Italian,
and also Viennese
thor-
oughbass
tradition:
though
Ramellian basse
ondamentale
inds an
entry
into
the
teachings,
it still
cannot
displace
(or
only very slowly)
the old
theorems.
For
Heinichen,
a six-three chord can be
regarded
as
being
the inverted
form
of
a five-three chord. But the
long commentary
in footnotes that he dedicates
to notions of inversion
(1728, 146-51)
stands
surprisingly
detached
from the
received
thinking
in
terms of intervallic
qualities
which unfolds
in the main
text.
Heinichen, however,
completely
distances
himself from the
procedure
of
systematicthird-stacking,
and thus from the basic
principle
of
basse
onda-
mentale.His
term
Verwechslung
recombination)
designates
a concrete
proce-
dure of
compositional
technique
-
the
regrouping
of
a
sonority (usually
with
an
eventual return to its
starting position;
Heinichen
1728,
624-25).
32
Thus,
each
chord can
become "recombined": f
a six-four-twochord is followed
by
a
seventh
chord,
built with
the same notes
(Kellner
describes this
concept
of
inversion as
based
on
a relation of
"pitch
classes";
1732,
32),
then
this
later
chord
represents
the
"first
nversion"
(
Verwechslung)
f the
first,
and
so forth.
To
speak
in
Ramellian
terms,
every type
of
chord can be
considered
as
a
"root
chord."
Rameau's idea of
inversion, however,
is
theoretically
an a
priori
every
sonority
has to be
reduced to
its stack-of-thirds
prototype.
Beyond
third-stacking:
Toward an
Italian
morphology
of
chords
For
Heinichen,
the
functional
meaning
of a chord is
not determined
by
the
principle
of
third-stacking.Just
as
he
brings
leaping
bass
motions under the
interpretive
authority
of the
Rule of
the Octave
by
falling
back
on traditional
categories,
so
too he
explains
the
complex
chord
morphology
of the
advanced,
32 In
this
regard,
Daube
follows Heinichen
(see
Diergarten
2008).
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen,
Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
33
"theatrical"
armony
of his era his own focus with the traditional terms of
Italian
music
theory.
To
begin
with,
his
concept
of chord has an
entirely
dif-
ferent basis from that of Rameau. For Rameau the chord is its own entity,an
inherently
closed unit. Even here
the
ideal of the four-voice texture
(
Vierstim-
migkeit)
tands
in the
background. Though
certain functions and tendencies
for linear
motion are attributed to
individual elements
(notte
ondamentale,
otte
sensible,
dissonance
majeure
nd
mineure,
tc.),
these constituents
always
pre-
sent themselves
in
combination
and remain
functionally
invariant even in the
process
of
inversion,
as
will be shown.
They
are
subject
to a
rigid,
hierarchi-
cal
organizing
principle.
For
Rameau,
chords are
primarily
vertical blocks of
stacked-up
thirds
in which the linear tendencies
have been frozen.
Heinichen
's
way
of
thinking
was
shaped
by
his
early
"contrapuntal"
schooling in Germany,but above all by the Italian tradition of apprenticeship
that he
got
to know so
well
during
his
long
stay
in
Italy
(Buelow 1994).
Yet
even
though
his
theory
of
thoroughbass
stands well
apart
from
contemporary
sources
on account
of
its
high
degree
of theoretical
awareness,
neither
with
him nor
with
any
other
contemporary
author does
one find a
comprehensive,
systematically
rticulated
theory
of chord.
In what
follows,
I
have tried to
work
out
the
"implicit"
ystematics
of Heinichen's
theory
of chord.
For Heinichen
and
traditional
Italian music
theory,
the
polyphonic
chord
at
heart was
always
something put together
-
a
composite.
The
contrapuntal
pairing
of
two main
voices
formed the framework
of a
composite sonority,
which
could
be
supplemented by
Neben-Stimmen
secondaryvoices;
Heinichen
1728,
171)
to create
a texture
of
three,
four, five,
or
more voices. Understood
in this
way,
a distinct
hierarchy
controls
multivoice
sonorities,
giving priority
to the
chordal
components,
which
effectively
determines
the
comprehension
and
functionality
of the
chord,
and which
has
consequences
for the
forma-
tion
of voice
leading,
consequences
that extend the
far
beyond
the
chord-
progression,
part-writing
rules of the
modern
Harmonielehre
radition.
A
digression
on
counterpoint
This other
concept
of chord
also
presupposes
another
concept
of
counterpoint.
It is
significant thatJohann Joseph Fux's Gradusadparnassum(1725), the founding docu-
ment of
the
modern,
autonomous
teaching
of
counterpoint,
originated
and was
pub-
lished
in
close
chronological
proximity
to
Rameau s
Traitéde l'Harmonie.
n
terms
of
reception
history,
Fux's
treatise
plays
a role
quite comparable
to
that of the Traité. t
monopolized
the
term
counterpoint
uch as Rameau
s treatise did
for
that
of
harmony.
It
is above
all the
idea of
"strict
counterpoint"
(strenge
Satz)
or even more
so what
the Fux
reception
made
of
it,
that
obstructs
the view of
what,
at the
beginning
of the
eighteenth
century, "counterpoint"
really
was. In the
nineteenth-century
Harmonie-
lehre
radition,
"strict
counterpoint"
changed
from
a
stylistic category
(stilo
antico,
the
"Kônigsdisziplin"
f
counterpoint)
to the
epitome
of
counterpoint
itself.
As
a result
of
this
development
the
intrinsically comprehensive
doctrine
of
counterpoint
became
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34
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
bound to
a
markedly
narrowand invariable
concept
of dissonance and
resolution.
The
dissonant intervals are
static sizes.
Not
only
are the
"false" ifth and
"major
ourth,"
as
diminished and augmented intervals, alwaysdissonant, but also the technical voice-
leading
behavior of the dissonances
second, fourth,
seventh,
and ninth
is fixed
once and for all. With the
fourth, seventh,
and
ninth,
the
upper
note
is
dissonant.
With the
second,
the
lower
note.
Thus,
dissonance
completely
solidifies into intervallic
quality
and
abandons what it was
in
the consciousness
of the
early eighteenth
century
when it
actually represented
something
more: a
rhythmic
constellation.
Significantly,
Berardi treats the dissonances
under
the
heading
"Introduction
to
syncopation
or dis-
sonances"
("Introduzione
aile
legature
owero
dissonanze"; 1687,
134).
Essential for
the
contrapuntal concept
of dissonance
in the late seventeenth
or
early eighteenth
century
is the distinction between
subsyncopatio
nd
supersyncopatio.
he fourth
of strict
composition
is a
quarta upersyncopata
4ta
sopra
yncopata)
which resolves
to a third.
By
contrast a quartasubsyncopata4ta sotto yncopata;Heinichen 1728, 171), in which the
lower note must be
"bound,"
resolves in the ideal case
to the sixth
(as
in
\
to
§).
In addi-
tion,
an
intrinsically
consonant interval
can,
by
virtue
of a
tie,
become a dissonance
or
be treated like a dissonance.
("Often
the
quintaperfecta
s used as a dissonance
and a
quintasyncopata"
Heinichen
1728,
179],
as in
f.)
In
place
of
rigid
intervallic
categories,
the
early eighteenth century
recognized
an abundance
of intervallic functions
(quarta
consonans,
quarta
dissonans
[quarta
sopra
syncopata], Hulffsquarte
[quarta
sotto
syncopata],
quarte irregolare
quarta
italica],
quarta
transiens,
quarta
suavis,
quinta perfecta,
quinta syn-
copata,
exta
perfecta,
exta
syncopata,
tc.;
see
Muffat
1699,
8-bis).
It is this
open
concept
of interval
that allows
harmony
and
counterpoint
to be conceived
as a
unity.
Examples 14 and 15 clarifythe differences between Rameau's and Hei-
nichen's
concept
of
chord,
using
the case of the dominant seventh chord and
its inversions.
For
Rameau,
not
only
the
(dominant)
six-five chord
(V
ccord
de la
fausse
quinte;
Example
14b),
but also the four-three chord
(/
'accord e la
petite
sixte-,
Example
14c)
and
the four-two chord
(Vaccord
u
triton;
Example
14c)
are
nothing
but derivative forms
of the stack-of-thirdsdominant seventh
chord
(dominante-tonique;xample
14a).
The functional roles of the chordal
components
are
clearly
distributed:G is the root
(basse
ondamentale),
he third
B
is
the
leading
tone
(notte
sensible)
and must move
up
a
step
as a dissonance
majeure,
he
chordal fifth D
takes on
the role of filler
voice,
and
F is
disso-
nant
seventh,
which
must
resolve down
a
step
as dissonance
mineure
Example
14e).
The
structurally
controlling
interval is the seventh. It
is,
so to
speak,
the
mother
of all
(chordal)
dissonances. For
Rameau's
thinking
about
inversion,
it is
essential
that the
functional roles of
chord tones
remain
fixed once and
for
all,
and
persist
in
every
inversion.
Thus,
B
is
always
a
leading
tone,
F
a dis-
sonant
seventh,
D
always
a
filler
tone,33
and
G
always
a
root,
regardless
of
the
particular
constellation in
which
the
tones occur.
33
Significantly,
the fact that
the chordal fifth
in
effect ful-
filled a
dual
function- both that
of the filler tone
and that
of the
tenor
clausula
-
hardly
plays
a
role
in
Rameau's
idea
of inversion.
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen,
Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
35
(a)
(b)
(c) (d)
(e)
£ IB I[°g
I,ub
!...§ II~^" I*'"" II
Example
14
(a)
(b)
(c) (d)
J B
I " "
I » "
"
Û (6) r(o)i (oi _ -
\
ramework
,
^ ^ (6V
Ô\
(O)
_
65)
=
I
voices
<ro
(9L
l/ffL4-z »~'\ gS
H
=
-9-J^-
-Gt-*=3é=
'Toi
few
E
\/
rVici
l^*^
" Uvel
Secondary
/ X X
voiccs
ft _. .X-^ X^y^
»
l$(o?
ft _.
rof
V FO)
o]
1
»>
Example
15
In
contrast o
this
novel,
invariant hord
morphology,
ne can
posit
a
concept
of chord that
clearly
derives ts
origin
from
the
contrapuntal
hink-
ing
of
the sixteenth
and seventeenth
centuries,
and
in whose tradition
Hei-
nichen
also stands.
n
Example
15,
one
again
sees
Rameau's
asic
chord and
its forms
of
inversion,
but
now examined
n
light
of
Heinichen's
concept
of
chord
(Example
15).
Eachchord
s based
on a two-voice
ramework
Example
15,
staff
I).
It is assembled rom
those chord
tones
most
clearly
and
unmis-
takably
ble
to
represent
each
sonority
n a two-voice
etting.
This two-voice
frameworks far more than a systematic ategoryof organization.Rather,t
designates
an "ideal
placement,"
real
aesthetic
and didactic
standard
or
the
relationship
etweenbassand
melody.
The fact that
as a
theory
of
correct
voice
eading
t
was
assigned
o
training
n
counterpointprovides
vidence
or
the
extensive,
till ntact
unity
of
contrapuntal
nd
harmonic
hinking.
Under
the term
of
disposizione
r
besteLage
Fôrster
818,
1)
it wasa
central,
practical
topic
of
eighteenth-century
omposition
eaching.
This
compositional
ramework
an most
clearly
be
derived
by way
of a
reductive
process,
one that at the
same time
uncovers
he internal
hierarchi-
cal structure f the chords.
For
nstance,
he chordal
ifth
occupies
he lowest
levelin the hierarchy f Rameau's asicdominantchord{dominante-tonique).
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36
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
It
is a classic
filler voice that
enjoys
a relative freedom
in
voice
leading.
It can
appear
both as a classic
"pedal"
or
"common tone"
(Liegestimme)
nd as a tone
free to leap; it can (in the sense of a tenor clausula) be treated like a voice in
parallel
upper
thirds
with the chordal
third
(the
leading
tone)
or even like
a voice
in
parallel
lower thirds
with the chordal seventh.
The chordal third
(leading
tone)
is one
hierarchical
level below the
framework
tones,
which are
formed
here
by
the
mandatory
bass note and
the "characteristic" issonance
of the
seventh.
The chordal
third thus
supplements
the two-voice framework
to achieve
the ideal
three-voice
setting.
In
Example
15a, I,
square
brackets
ndicate framework
ones of the dom-
inant
seventh
chords
that form
a diminished
fifth
between the tones
B
and
F.
This alternative
framework
refers
to the
alleged
"root" one G
being
at times
able to appear as a secondaryvoice, as a lower third to the leading tone. That
is
especially
the case
when
the dominant
seventh
chord
does not
progress
with
a
genuine
root
progression
(i.e.,
by leap)
to a
(cadential)
chord
of
resolution,
but
almost
appears
in transitu
tself,
that
is,
appears
to be a
passing
chord
(see
Example
lOd).
In the
six-five
chord
(Example
15b)
the
framework
is formed
by
the
framing
interval
of
the diminished
fifth.
The sixth
(G),
as bearer of
the dis-
sonance,
is an
important
but
nevertheless
hierarchically
subordinate
voice.
Functionally,
it can
appear
upper
sixth
to the bass
note
(B).
Here,
the
third
(D)
takes
over the
role of the
supplementary,
filler
voice.
In the four-three
chord
(Example 15c),
the
framework
set is
formed
by
the
major
sixth
between
the
bass
note
and the
leading
tone.
The third
(F)
as a
voice
in
parallel
thirds
with the
bass,
supplements
the
two-voice
framework
to
form
a three-voice
setting.
The
fourth
(G)
is,
however,
pure
filler a dissonant
common
tone
that
received
special
attention
from
contemporary
theorists
due
to its
special
dissonance
treatment.
It was
called
quanta
rregolaris,
uanta
irregolare
Heinichen
1728,
151),
or
quarta
talica
(Muffat
1699,
8).
The
special
position
of
this fourth
highlights
the
fact
that
for
many eighteenth-century
theorists
thus
also
for
Heinichen
-
the
four-three
chord did
not
appear
as
an
independent
chordal
category,
but
was
treated
as a
special
form
of the six-
three
chord.
Quarta
rregolaris,
ften
not
marked
even
in a
figured
bass
("The
irregular
fourth is not alwaysexpressly indicated above the notes" ["Eswird
aber
. . .
diese
irregulaire
4 ...
nicht
iederzeit
ûber
denen
Noten ausdrûck-
lich
angedeutet"];
Heinichen
1728,
151),
was a
quasi-"improvisational"
ddi-
tion
to the
basic
three
voices
of a
six-three
chord.
The French term
petite
ixte
testifies
to
this
origin.34
34
Riepel
perceived
the
quarta irregolaris
as a fashionable
aberration.
He labeled
such
intervals
pejoratively
as "Turkish
fourths"
since
they
reminded
him
of Turkish
"fifes"
blowing
"a
loud series
of fourths one
after the
other,"
which he had
heard
"in
the
year
1737
near
Banja
Luka"
(1757,
39).
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen, Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
6 6 6
15
4
14 I
3 3
Example
16.
Two
of
the
examples
Heinichen
gives
for the 3a
syncopata
Naturally,
hat is not the
only
form
in
which the
four-three hord can
occur. t can alsoappearas a terzayncopatas shown n someexamplesbyHei-
nichen
(see
Example
16)
(Heinichen
1728,
163).
The four-three hord
with
terza
yncopata
ost
closely
resemblesa Ramellian hord
of inversion.Yet
n
the
improvisatory
nd
compositionalpractice
of the
eighteenth
century,
his
chord,
when
compared
o the four-three
hord with
quarta
rregolaris,
s
just
the
exception.
Heinichen stresses hat the
"syncopated"
our-three hord
is
properly
understoodas a variant
f
the four-two
hord
("related
o the
synco-
pated
second"
["der
2da
syncopata
. .
anverwandt"];
einichen
1728,
163).
And in factthe chord s also mostoften utilized n thisform
(see
Arnold
1931,
632,
his
example
9).
Finally,
he six-four-twohord
(Example
15d)
rests
on the framework
f
theaugmented ourth(F-B).Heinichendescribes hisfourth,whichresolves
to the
sixth,
as
a
"helper-fourth"Hulffs-4te)
as ancilla dae
handmaiden
o the
second) (Heinichen
1728,
171).
Here,
one
can
clearly ecognize
how
the hier-
archical
concept
of chord also
implies
a hierarchical
oncept
of
dissonance.
The
notion
of the
ancilla2dae
s
based
on
the central
distinctionbetween
dis-
sonantiadominans nd dissonantia oncomitans
Heinichen
1728,
186),
between
a
"controlling"
nd an
"accompanying"
issonance.For
Heinichen,
he disso-
nant fourth s an
"accompanying"
issonance,
n
upper
third o the
"control-
ling"
dissonant
econd.In
the musical
practice
f
the
eighteenth
century,
ow-
ever,
he circumstanceseem to be
just
the reverse: he seventhscale
degree
is the "ideal" ppervoice for the fourthscaledegreein thebass,andonlythe
augmented
ourth can
unambiguously epresent
he six-four-two
hord
in
a
two-voice
etting.
Yet
for
Heinichen this fourth
(B)
is,
according
o its
inner
nature,
an
upper
hird o the second
(G).
Conversely
he G becomes
he lower
third o the
leading
tone
(B).
The sixth
(D)
appears
as its
upper
third
or as a
"free"
econdary
oice. In the
special
case of this chord one can
hardly
peak
of
a hierarchical
riority
etween he two
secondary
oices.
In
order to make this
hierarchical
oncept
of
chord
still
clearer,
Exam-
ple
1
7 constructs
few chords not
from
the
perspective
f Ramellian nver-
sion,
but ratheron the basis
of
the
relationship
etweena two-voice
omposi-
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38
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
(I) (ID
(HI)
(a) (fo éfl3LXT ̂ | J I J <\ | j l[g U |.w] J^ [ j 1 bjg [ j 1 -f]g [rfTzz
®
-Ô-W^J
-«J.I «J »J- r ... *J r ji «L TfJi
"«"""
M^
r
il N il
i^|
.J,
\f\4m^
Example
17
tionalframework nd
secondary
oices.The
"leading-tone"
ramework
oices
determine
the function
of chords on the
ascending
and
descending
second
degree
in
major
and
minor,
on the
descending
ixth
degree
in
minor,
and
on
the
descending
ourth
degree
in
major
and minor
(Example
17,
col.
I).
They
mark he invariantsf the functional
concept
of chord.The
obligatory
hird
joins
in as
the first
secondary
oice added to the
sixth on the second
degreeand to the
augmented
ixth on the sixth
degree (Example
17,
col.
II,
stavesa
andb)
and eithera sixth
(Example
17,
col.
II,stafFd)
r a second
(Example
7,
col.
II,
staff
e)
can be addedwith
equal
effect as a thirdvoice to
the tritone
on
the fourth
degree.
For
the
fourth,
"filler"
oice,
even
more tones are
possible.
Not
only
the
fourth but also the diminished
or
perfect
fifth can
supplement
the sixth
on
the second
degree (Example
17,
col.
Ill,
8taff
).
A
fourth
or fifth
can be added to the
augmented
ixth on the sixth
degree (Example
17,
col.
Ill,
staff
b).
And if a sixth is added as thirdvoice to the tritone
on the fourth
degree,
the
second,
the minor
third,
or the
major
hird can
enter as a
filler
voice
(Example
17,
col.
Ill,
staff
e).
Differentchords
(with
"step
unction")
canthusrepresent he scaledegree. Thoughthe choiceof the fillertone can
crucially
hape
the auraand color of a
chord,
the function
of that
cbord
its
dynamic
endency
is
exclusively ssignedby
the framework
oices.
The function of chord tones
In Rameau's
heory,
chord
tones
retainthe
same
functional
qualities
n
vari-
ous inversion hat had accrued to them
in
the
"root-position"
hord.
The
function-defining
issonanceremains he same
in all inversions.
n
the
Ital-
ian
thoroughbass
raditionas
systematized y
Heinichen,
however,
hordal
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen,
Rameau,
and
Italian
Thoroughbass
39
elements are
subject
to a
great degree
of functional
variability.
The
inter-
connected circles
n
Example
15
try
to
clarify
his
point.)
Not
only
do these
elementsbelong to differenthierarchical hordlevels,thushavinga differ-
ent structural
ignificance
n
different
chords,
but
they
also alter
theirvoice-
leading properties
n
the context of differentchords.
Only
the
leading
tone
maintainsts
function,
evenfor
Heinichen,
n all formsof Ramelliannversion.
The
seventh,however,
ppears
n
three
functionally
istinct
orms
(Example
18):
(1)
as
prototype
f the
(suspended
r
passing)
dissonance,
t
appears
nly
in the
basic,
root-position
hord itself
(Example
18,
1)
and
in
the
six-four-two
chord
(Example
18,
II); (2)
in
the six-five
hord,
it
forms
a
"semiconsonant"
diminished ifthwith
the
bass,
which
does not
requirepreparation
Example
18,
III);
and
(3)
in
the four-three
hord it
appears
as
a
parallelupper-third
voice to thebass,consequently s an imperfect onsonancenotsubject o the
need to resolveand thus free to move
stepwiseup (Example
18,
FVa),
own
(Example
18,
IVb),
or even to
leap (Example
18,
IVc).
With
Rameau,
he chordal
ifth
takes
over
the function
of a fillervoice.
It
approaches
his functionwith Heinichen
too,
but
in
the
four-three hord
it
lies
in
the bassvoice and there its function
changes.
It becomes the
penul-
timate one of a tenor
clausulaand
is
therefore
ubject
o
a need to
progress
stepwise Example
18,
IV).
The second scale
stage
(the
chord
fifth)
is func-
tionally
ambiguous.
t can be
understoodas a
component
of a tenor clausula
or
as
a
pure "patch
one"
(Riepel),
as so to
speak
a variant f an alto
clausula.
(la)
(b) (lia) (b) (III)
(IVa)
i f j
\ h ' j | i l j d i | d
j i H
l i U d
> n
I
r l i
H r
I r r ' r
I ' '
1 ^ ^
(b)
(c) (Va) (b)
(Via)
(b)
lA-J I'll-] L'l II P lj
J
IJ J IJ J Ile g le Ë II
Example
18
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40
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
Also
with
the
six-three, six-five-three,
and six-four-twochords
they mostly pro-
gress stepwise,
in
the sense of a
tenor
clausula.
This
voice
leading
is
not,
how-
ever, mandatory.The fifth of the root chord can likewise leap to the fifth of
the
chord of
resolution,
even
if it should result
in
consecutive fifths
(Example
18,
Va)
or
if
a fifth
in
the
outer voices is reached
by
direct motion
(motus
rec-
tusr,
xample
18,
Vb).
If
the
chordal fifth of the six-four-twochord lies in the
upper
voice,
then
a
leap
is
actually
the
rule: it is
necessary
to avoid the
empty
cadential
perfect
consonance of the octave
in
the
outer voices of the chord of
resolution
(Example
18,
Via)
and to
go
instead to the
imperfect
tenth
in
the
outer
voices
(Example
18,
VIb).
The
difference,
however,
with Rameau s static
functionality
shows
itself most
clearly
when
one
regards
the functional vari-
ability
of
the
very
voice
that,
in Rameau's
theory, represents
the foundation of
the chord. For Heinichen as well, the "root"appears in three distinct forms.
In
the
six-five
and six-four-two
chords it
is the lower third or
upper
sixth of
the
leading
tone,
and
thus
simply
a
secondary
voice.
In the four-three
chord,
as
quarta
rregolaris,
t
actually
takes the
lowest
place
in
the
chordal
hierarchy.
Only
in the
basic,
root-position
chord
is it what Rameau saw
in it the centre
harmonique
f the
Klang.
If one allows
a "contrast-enhanced"
ormulation
of
Heinichen
's
theory
of
chord,
then there
are two basic
chords
from which all other chord
forms
are derived
the five-three
sonority
and the
six-three chord. One sees the
old
opposition
of
perfect
and
imperfect
consonance
that
already
determined
Hei-
nichen's concept of the Rule of the Octave, seamlessly brought
forward
into
modern
chord
theory.
In
harmonic
discourse,
the
third,
on which the whole
Ramellian
system
is
based,
had
long
become an
unmarked filler interval
that
indiscriminately
characterized
the
pattern
of all
chords,
whether consonant
or dissonant.
And so there
are
essentially
two intervals
that determine
the
nature
of chords:
a fifth or
sixth
distinguishes
the
basic functional orientation
of a
sonority.
The crucial difference
between Rameau's
basic
chord and its inverted
forms
can be
viewed
from the
perspective
that while the basic chord
is deter-
mined
by
"static"
ifth,
the
inversions are characterized
by
the
"mobile" nterval
of the
sixth. This
difference
is
categorical
in
nature
and cannot be waived
by
a
simple process
of derivation,in the sense of Rameau's idea of inversion. For
Rameau,
dissonance
connects
the basic
chord with its inversional forms
and
makes obsolete
the
differentiation
between
perfect
and
imperfect
consonance.
In this
understanding
of
chord,
however,
the dissonant
character of a
sonority
replicates
the distinction
between fifth
and
sixth,
since it is these intervals that
determine
the
fundamental
dynamic
nature of sonorities.
Rameau's inver-
sion
forms
are
first and
foremost sixth
chords and
require stepwise
motion
(a
"variety
f sixth
chords";
Christensen
1993,
172).
The fifth of the basic
chord,
by
contrast,
requires
a
leap.
Dissonance
is added to the sixth or the
fifth,
as it
were,
externally.
To the sixth
one can add a fifth
(Example
19,
la),
or a fourth
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen, Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
41
(Ilia)
(b) (c)
(Via) (b)
(c)
n ï
r ^ t
* *
(I) (a)\
(b) (c) (II) (a)
/
Step
6
A-
6
¥cendiPS Ç
,
..
l^aP
/
ascending
-
4
descending
4
descending
..
/
a
6 5
3 2 5
7
(IVa)
(b)
v'
(Va)
/
(b)
Example
19
and third
(Example
19,
Ib),
or a fourth
and second
(Example
19,
Ic).
To the
fifth one can add a seventhas its
upper
third
(Example
19,Ha).
In so
doing,
the
original
endencies or motionare
onlystrengthened y
the
requirement
or dissonance esolution. t is as if dissonance
epresents
n
autonomous
ontrapuntal
lementwithin he chord.The dissonant
"auxiliary
note"does not
change
the
fundamental unctional haracter
f
the
chord,
but
rather
ntensifies ts
tendency
or motionand
spécifies
tsdirectionof
motion.35
The added fifth lends a
risingtendency
o the six-three hord
(Example
19,
la)
because
moving
downward
tepwise
asily
eadsto
parallel
ifths
(Example
19,
Ilia),
an addedfourth
(whether
"Turkishourth" r as
an
accompanying
note to the terza
yncopata)ermits
motion
in
either direction
(Example
19,
IV),and an added second forces the sixth downward Example19,V). The
chords
are
not
strictly
bound to these forms of motion. The six-five
hord
can
resolvedown a
step
into a six-four
uspension Example
19,
IIIc),;and
n
certainharmonic
ormulas he dominant ix-four-twohordcan
move
up step-
wise
(Example
19,
Vb).
Notwithstanding
he
inganno
deceptive
cadence),
a
35
"Vonder
Sextenkette,
die zur Oktave strebt unterscheidet
sich Rameaus
Septakkordfolge
deren
Ziel ein
Dreiklang,
ein
Accord
parfait'
bildet,
zwar
graduell,
aber
nicht
prinzipiell"
(Dahlhaus
1990,
27).
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42
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
stepwise
scending
eventhchord
s
often a
passing
hord
(septima
n
transitu)
(Example
19,
Via)
or an
unresolved
-6
suspension
a
"retarded"ixth chord
so to saythatfinds its resolution n the followingconsonanceor dissonance
(Example
19, VIb,
c).
But
according
o their basictendencies he six-five s a
rising
chord,
the six-four-two
s a
falling
chord,
and the four-three hord can
either
rise or fall.
* *
*
The idea
of
chord
and
sonority Klang)
dealt with here is
fundamentally
if-
ferent
romthatof
Rameau.His
rigidsystem,
made
up
of a fewbasic
elements
and
based
on a
logic
of chord
derivation,
s
set
against
a
sophisticated
rame-
work
of variation
nd
relational
omplexity.It is
perhaps
his
very
richness hat
spelled
doomfor this
understanding
of chord:
as
is well
known
historically,
t was
to succumb
o Rameaus
theory.
It could
raisescant
opposition
o
the manifest
ogic
of
Rameau's
rinciple
of
inversion.
We
can assume
hat
Rameau's
heory
wasable
to
gain
such
popu-
larity
only
because
his
concept
of chord
filled a
widelyperceived
vacuum.
t
seems
self-evident
hat
the modern
harmonic
anguage
of the seventeenth
and
eighteenth
centuries
craved
a new
explanatory
model that transcended
the
old
counterpoint
nstruction
f the
sixteenth
and seventeenth enturies.
Rameau
offered
a
clear and
at the same
time
simple response
o a
question
that
had never
been
put
quite
so
explicitly
before,
but that had
clearly
been
hanging n the air:what s Klang}
Heinichen
also
offers
a
resoundingresponse
in
favor
of the Italian
tradition,
s it were.
But much
of whathas
been
"implicitly"
econstructed
n
this
essay
remains
unspoken
by
Heinichen,
as
in
the
entire Italian
horough-
bass tradition:
he
neither
develops
the
concept
of
framework
oices
in
any
consistent
manner
nor
systematizes
he
functionality
of
steps
and
leaps
conclusively.
No modern
approach
an
remedy
his
alleged
lack
of
systematic
hink-
ing,
and this
text,
too,
bearswitness
o
the
difficulty
of
coming
closer to
a
concept
of chord
and
tonality
dealt
withhere
in a
very
imited
way)
hat ies
beyondthe Ramellian onceptof inversionand third-stacking.he internal
contradictions
f
an account
that
describes
a
four-voice
hord,
on the
one
hand,
as
being
a
five-three
r sixth
chord
supplemented
by
a
"contrapuntal"
auxiliary
note,
and
on the
other
hand,
as
a
composite
sonority
made
up
of
a two-voice
ramework
nd
secondary
oices,
are
obvious:
ollowing
he
first
interpretation,
he dominant
six-four-two
hord
on the
descending
fourth
degree
s
a
variant
f
a sixth
chord,
withthe
sixth
being
the
function-defining
interval.
Following
he
second
interpretation,
he tritone
appears
as the cen-
tralbasis
and
the
sixthas a
secondary
oice,
a
hierarchically
ubordinate ote
that
could
easily
be omitted
rom a
three-voice exture.
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Ludwig
Holtmeier
~
Heinichen,
Rameau,
and Italian
Thoroughbass
43
Upon
closer
nspection,
however,
we must
concede that t is not so
much
a
contradiction
s ratherone
and the same
phenomenon
viewedfrom dif-
ferentperspectives.f the idea of chordprogressionss basedon the dichot-
omy
of
perfect
(vollkommeri)
nd
mperfect
unvollkommeri)
hords,
dissonance
becomes a subordinate
parameter.
But if the
movementof
the dissonances
itself s the focus
of
consideration,
he
distinctionbetween
perfect
and
imper-
fect consonance
becomes
of
secondary
mportance.
It s
precisely
he
uxtaposition
f thesedifferent
perspectives
hatreflects
the historical
ituation round he
turnof the
century:
he modern unctional-
ity
of the Rule
of the Octaveand the traditional
ontrapuntal
extureof the
trio
sonata
compete
with each
other,
though
the one
grows
out of the other
in an
organic
ashion,
as
I
have
attempted
o demonstrate.
Onemightconsider tadeficit hat he tradition f Italian horoughbass
does not
offer a
comprehensive
nd
straightforward
ystematics,
ut
perhaps
this s
precisely
where
ts true
strength
ies: hat t does not seek to deduce har-
mony
and
melody,
ine and
sonority Klang),
hord
and
counterpoint
rom a
single
coherent
principle,
as
Rameau
does,
but
permanently
works
hrough
the tension
between hose
poles
in
a dialectical
way.
Heinichen
constantly
wavers
etween he new
chord
functionality
f the
Ruleof the
Octave
and the
"classical"
heory
of
counterpoint
nd
dissonance
treatment.
This is
not
merely
a
sign
of his theoretical
ndecision,
however,
but also
reveals
his
deep-seated
aversion
o a certain
concept
of natureand
science
that
he sees
prevailing
n Rameaus
theory:
he confronts
his form of
systematic
hinking
withhis "rules f art"
Arth-Regeln)
hat
"German,
rench
and
Italian
authors
. . have
provided
or the use
of
unfigured
horoughbass
a
long
time
ago,
which he
latter
[i.e.,
the Italian
authors]
ince then
brought
to the
highest
perfection"
"welche
deutsche,
franzôsische
und italienische
Autores
...
vom
General-Bass
hne
Signaturen
heils von
langer
Zeit her
zu
geben
angefangen,
heils
etzterezeithero
zurVollkommenheit
ebracht";
Heinichen
1728,
19).
Heinichen
draws he
principles
f his
theory olely
rom
musical
practice
and tradition:
or
him,
"nature"
manifests
tself
n
the "con-
ventional
schemata
of
composition"
"den
gebrâulichen
passibuscomposi-
tionis";
9),
but
it cannot
be deduced
from the
physical
nature
of
the
corps
sonore.t is thisproximityo compositionalpracticeand musicalexperience
in
particular
hat
makes
he Italian
(and
accordingly
he
Italian-influenced)
thoroughbass
radition
o
interesting
or
us
today.
It
goes
without
aying
hat he
complex
concept
of harmonic unctional-
ity
on which
his
Italian
radition
f the
late seventeenth
nd
earlyeighteenth
centuries
s based
would
always
avemerited
our historical nterest.
Another
question,
however
and
perhaps
actually
he crucial
one is what
we are to
makeof
this renaissance
f
Italian
music
theory.
t
opens up
the
possibility
f
interpreting
nd
analyzing
he
compositional
echniques
of
the seventeenth
and
eighteenth
centuries
n
a different
way.
Elucidating
he
possible
nature
of
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44
JOURNAL
of
MUSIC THEORY
this
different
way
would exceed the
scope
of
this
essay;
a
study
of such a
kind
is
in
progress,
however,
and will
appear
at a later date.
Works Cited
Aerts,
Hans.
2006.
"Thoroughbass
in
Practice,
Theory,
and
Improvisation."
Zeitschrift
er
Gesell-
schaftfur
Musiktheorie .
http://xjuww.gmth.
e/zeitschrift/artikel/01
5/01
15.html.
.
2007.
"'Modeir und
Topos'
in der
deutschsprachigen
Musiktheorie
seit Riemann."
Zeitschrift
er
Gesellschaftur
Musiktheorie
/1-2.
http://www.gmth.de/zeitschrift/artikel/0123/
0123.html.
Albrechtsberger,Johann Georg.
1790.
AnweisungzurKomposition
mit
ausfuhrlichen xempeln,
um
Selbstunterrichterlautert.
Leipzig:
Breitkopf
and Hârtel.
Arnold,
Denis.
1978.
"The
Corellian
Cult in
England."
Studi
Corelliani2:
37-51.
Arnold, Franck Thomas. 1931. TheArtofAccompanimentroma Thorough-Basss Practicedn the
XVIIthand XVIIIthCenturies.Oxford: Oxford
University
Press. Facs.
New York:
Dover,
1965.
Bach,
Carl
Philipp
Emanuel.
1753/62.
Versuch berdie wahre
Art das Clavier
zu
spielen.
Berlin:
Christian Friedrich
Henning/Berlin: Ludewig
Winter.
Bach,
Johann
Sebastian.
1930.
Vorschriften
nd
Grundsàtze
um
vierstimmigen pielen
des General-
Bass. In
fohann
Sebastian
Bach,
ed.
Philipp Spitta,
2
vols.,
4th ed.
Leipzig:
Breitkopf
and
Hârtel.
Reprint.
Darmstadt,
1962,
913-50.
Barbieri,
Patrizio. 1991.
"Calegari,
Vallotti,
Riccati e le teorie
armoniche
di Rameau:
Priorita,
concordanze,
contrasti." Rivista Italiana
di
musicobgia
26: 241-302.
Bazin,
François.
1875. Coursd'harmonie
héorique
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Ludwig Holtmeier teaches music theory at the Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg and historische
Satzlehre
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Richard
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U*v