Review of Peter Schubert's "Modal Counterpoint"

Society for Music Theory

Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style by Peter N. SchubertReview by: Pamela L. PoulinMusic Theory Spectrum, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Autumn, 2000), pp. 267-270Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Society for Music TheoryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/745966 .Accessed: 14/07/2013 16:46

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Reviews 267

Peter N. Schubert. Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Reviewed by Pamela L. Poulin

You want, then, to learn the art of composition? Yes. But are you not aware that this study is like an immense ocean, not to be exhausted even in the lifetime of a Nestor? You are indeed taking on yourself a heavy task, a burden greater than Aetna. If it is in any case most difficult to choose a life work-since upon the choice, whether it be right or wrong, will depend the good or bad fortune of the rest of ones life-how much care and foresight must he who would enter upon this art employ before he dares to decide. For musicians and poets are born such. You must try to remember whether even in childhood you felt a strong natural inclination to this art and whether you were deeply moved by the beauty of concords.

So reads Fux's response to the would-be student of counterpoint. Suffice it to say that if this were our catalog prerequisite to modal counterpoint, there would be no students in modal counterpoint class today!

The market is not exactly flooded with modal counterpoint books, and Peter Schubert's Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style is a welcome addition, suggesting an increased general peda- gogical interest in Renaissance music.2 What sets this book apart from others of its kind is its effective use of musical examples and theoretical principles from Renaissance counterpoint/composition treatises (Morley, Zarlino, Cerone, Diruta, and Banchieri) to illus-

'Johann Joseph Fux, Steps to Parnassus: The Study of Counterpoint [Gradus ad Parassum, Vienna, 1725], trans. Alfred Mann with the collabora- tion of John St. Edmunds (New York: Norton, 1943), 2.

2Thomas Benjamin, The Craft of Modal Counterpoint: A Practical Approach (New York: Schirmer Books, 1979); and Robert Gauldin, A Practical Approach to Sixteenth-Century Counterpoint (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice- Hall, 1985; second printing, Prospect Heights, Ill: Waveland Press, 1995), are clear front runners in terms of sales of modal counterpoint books and employ a direct approach rather than the traditional species approach of the volume under discussion.

trate and confirm the rules and concepts under discussion. Quo- tations from these treatises also lend flavor to the book. On the one hand, Schubert quotes Morley's dictum against approaching the octave using similar motion-an act which Morley calls "hit- ting the octave on the face" (26). On the other, Morley's direction to "let the ears be the judge" (29), included by Schubert without comment, might be a bit dangerous for today's student ears.

The musical examples drawn from these treatises do not, however, always make for the best music. This point is clearly demon- strated in an excerpt from music by Pietro Cerone of Spain, shown here as Example 1. Cerone writes a long scalar span against a repeated note followed by a stepwise line. It also would be useful for examples such as Cerone's to have a title (e.g., Example 3-7a, 39), and to include a citation of the author/composer, treatise/ composition, and approximate date(s). For several of the examples, Schubert adds commentary directly on the music (e.g., 57); this is very helpful and might have been done more consistently.

Divided into twenty chapters, the spiral-bound textbook in large format focuses first on two-voice counterpoint in the various species, then on studies of the motive, cadence formulas, imitation, and two-voice invertible counterpoint (Chapters 1-13). This is followed by three chapters on three-voice writing and four de- voted to four-voice writing. The author states that his book is intended for first-semester freshmen, third-year students, and graduate students, optimally in classes that meet three times a week so that assignments can be collected, graded, and returned with fre- quency. The text might be a little difficult for freshmen, for whom more explanation of terms and concepts may be needed.

Chapters generally begin with a listing of hard rules-rules that should not be broken-which, when followed, according to the author, reflect the development of a vocal style of ca. 1570. Soft rules are those that do not always need to be followed because, depending on style, they are not always followed by composers. The author suggests that one point be deducted from a student's grade for each violation of a soft rule (at the instructor's discretion) and that a third of a letter grade be deducted for each


268 Music Theory Spectrum

Example 1. From Pedro Cerone, Melopeo (1613): counterpoint against a cantus firmus that has repeated notes followed by step (Schubert's Example 5-8, 63)

7Ja J~i_ F_jj A J J J - J - CF

: oo o o , : oo 0

violation of a hard rule (e.g., A- to B+). He states that the adherence or non-adherence to particular soft rules accounts for the differences in style among various Renaissance composers.

The rules (hard and soft) are generally followed by corre- spondingly numbered illustrations (musical examples confirming the rules). (Exceptions are the beginning of Chapter 6, where the illustrations precede the rules, and those illustrations appearing without numbers in Chapters 5, 6, and 14, making for possible student confusion.) Since the musical illustrations are presented separately from the rules, brief titles or descriptions would have been very helpful for the student, especially when there are several possibilities given. In the illustrations, it is not always clear why bar lines are omitted or included (cf. Chapter 2, Nos. 1-5 without bar lines and Nos. 6-8 with bar lines; No. 2 would benefit from bar lines). A cardboard tear-out summary listing of hard and soft rules for two-voice, three-voice, and four-voice writing would also have been most helpful.

The rules themselves are more specific, at times quite scien- tific, which should make them easy for the student to follow. For example: "Use a maximum of fourteen quarters, seven halves, three syncopated wholes in a row. These rather arbitrary quantities will keep variety foremost" (89). Also: "Use more dissonant than consonant fourth species. Try to have dissonant suspensions in twenty-five percent of the measures, and break into second species as little as possible, say, once in every 4-6 [half-note values]" (76).

Starting in Chapter 9, brief repertory examples for singing, playing, and analysis are incorporated into the body of the text,

with instructions for the students to notice/find specific features. Composers represented include Sermisy, Praetorius, Palestrina, Willaert, Jacquet, Josquin, Marenzio, and Lassus. It would have been useful to include composers' names in the index. Victoria's 0 Magnum Mysterium (a favorite composition of the author) is re- ferred to here and there throughout the text and in its entirety at the end of Chapter 20. A facsimile of the original cantus of this work appears on the textbook cover (and on p. 5), providing the opportunity to expose students to Renaissance white notation. Facsimiles of puzzle canons by Cerreto also appear (207, 208).

Suggestions to students for repertoire are given at the end of some chapters, with a full list of modern editions in the bibliography (Musica Renascementale, 128, mentioned in the text, is not included). As many of these volumes may not be available in all libraries (they would, in any case, normally be non-circulating items), it would be useful if there were a small anthology of com- positions, especially music of Lassus and Palestrina, at the end of the book for singing and playing in two, three, and four voices (as one finds in Benjamin's modal counterpoint text). One anthology not mentioned in the bibliography, out of print but perhaps available in some libraries, is that of Gustav Soderlund.3

A useful feature of the text is the author's graphic diagrams, often, but not always, called "schema," in which the music is

3Gustav Frederic Soderlund, Examples of Gregorian Chant and Works by Orlandus Lassus, Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina, and Marc Antonio Ingegneri for Use in Classes of Counterpoint (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1946).


Reviews 269

mapped out in a visual description/representation (e.g., 224, 302). Again, titles would be welcome (as well as a summary listing of the schema).

Another of the text's strengths is the student exercises, in four categories. "Warm-ups," intended to develop speed and to be completed in class, often explore every possible combination or permutation of notes, rather like stretch exercises. They are de- signed for students to work on individually or in pairs in class, and then quickly to go over together. "Find the Errors" exercises are fun and can also be done quickly in class. The other types are grouped into shorter and longer exercises and are intended to be collected, graded, and returned with the instructor's suggestions. Exercises are interspersed throughout each chapter, thus giving students the opportunity to develop skills immediately after study- ing a concept. It would be helpful to have an instructor's manual with hints for presentations and solutions for exercises (especially for "Warm-ups" and "Find the Errors").

Schubert emphasizes the importance of developing an ear for the music of the Renaissance and recommends that students read this book at a piano, or while sitting around singing with friends, not at a desk. This is a fine suggestion. We simply cannot pretend that all of our students can hear music in their heads, having magi- cally learned how to do this before they come to us.

The text is clear and easy to read and will thus be accessible to students. Schubert writes in a colloquial style, using contractions throughout and expressions such as "spooky," "voice-leading chops," "clunky," "no big deal," and "just any old suspension." However, it is not always clear what example is being so color- fully described, because sometimes an example may precede its description and sometimes, follow. Specific references would have been most helpful. The absence of titles potentially com- pounds the confusion: some examples from treatises of bad counterpoint could be mistaken for good counterpoint examples. This could easily happen, for instance, with the examples of Morley's student work, Chapters 3-4a (34, also 102, 103, and 105) and with one of the Find the Errors exercises (24). Also, it would be

better to call voices "voices," and save the word "parts" for structural units; "part" sometimes refers to both voices and structural units (e.g., 267). Finally, it would also be helpful if voice names (SATB) and cantus firmus lines (CF) were consistently labeled on the score. A listing of errata appears on the author's web site.

Instructors may find the following list of Schubert's abbrevia- tions useful in grading: d3q, a dissonant third quarter note (56); A and v, used to indicate both changes in direction in the melodic line (56) and high and low notes (115); tfd, tie from a dissonance; sfd, skip from a dissonance (employed, 57; defined, 75); PDR, di- minished fourth species (112); t and d with numbers, used to refer to time (in terms of half notes) and intervallic distance with refer- ence to entrances of voices (269, however, is confusing); sp., species (180); and X, indicating errors in the music. Arrows going in two directions with an intervening line are not defined (116, 283, and 284); check marks have different meanings, but generally indicate "Take note of this. This is good/interesting" (e.g., 32, 36, 213). I believe -3 means a descending third and +6, an as- cending sixth, although at first I thought they indicated m3 and M6; arrows to the left of the integer might have been clearer. Asterisks and daggers are used to draw the reader's attention to items of interest in the music (short labels might be clearer). It would also be useful to have a list of terms as a glossary, even though most are in the index (e.g., falsebordoni, 244, and chanson idiom, 248, are not defined; and palindrome is introduced before it is explained [304]).

The author shows that Schenkerian ideas work surprisingly well with Renaissance voice-leading (97), demonstrating ample potential for further investigation in this area.4 He also mentions the importance of connecting performance and analysis in the study of Renaissance music. That the alto clef is used consistently throughout the text is a good feature: we should assume this ability among students and reinforce our expectation through use.

4Robert Gauldin's Practical Approach to Sixteenth-Century Counterpoint also contains reductive analysis of this sort.


270 Music Theory Spectrum

Although instructions for text setting are given briefly for the full composition project in Chapter 20 (also in Appendix 1), more assignments that use texts and a bit more instruction on how to set texts would have been useful. Setting music with texts reinforces the idea that this is indeed vocal music being studied and has the added advantage of making assignments fun and interesting. The use of "Row, Row Your Boat" for a three-voice invertible canon is an unexpected and nice touch.

More explanation could be given for cadences (82, 132, 178-79); cambiata (252); canon (sometimes canon refers to the imitation of head motives, 282, 284), tonal answer (282, 284); how mirror inversion and inversion have different meanings for the author (288); and countersubject (296).

The author wisely states:

This book is only as historically correct as it needs to be for its audience. I believe it is efficient to refer to elements that the student may already know, even if they were not expressed [that way] at the time. These elements include scale degree, leading tone, pitch class, key, and the II6 chord. (10) Schubert uses the standard abbreviation pc to signify pitch class, yet ic signifies not interval class but invertible counterpoint ("inv. cpt." might be better). The use of recent terminology seems sensi- ble (although the use of dashes with suspensions might be confus-

ing, since this means in figured bass symbols to continue the same interval). If, today, we have a more comprehensive terminology to better describe what is going on in the music, why not use it? In this vein, instructions to double the soprano, alternate doubling to avoid parallel octaves with 6 triads (241), and terms such as Picardy third might well be employed.

Although the author uses the word "chord," he seems reluctant to use the word "triad"; rather he uses the expression three-pitch- class sonority, which takes some getting used to. The symbol 6 for first inversion seems preferable to "6/3" (although this may be a printing problem). Chord symbols by letter name, quality, and inversion (a modified popular-music symbol analysis) might have been useful for writing and understanding three- and four-voice sonorities (such notation is used briefly, e.g., 177). Using these symbols might speed up the comprehension and ease of use by the student, especially for juniors and graduate students, making the differences and similarities between Renaissance and Baroque composition more real, more apparent.

The suggestions in this review notwithstanding, for its breadth, clear language, choice of material, and well-thought-out pedagog- ical approach, Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style is well worth adoption by modal counterpoint instructors as a classroom text.


Article Contentsp. 267p. 268p. 269p. 270

Issue Table of ContentsMusic Theory Spectrum, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Autumn, 2000), pp. 135-280Front MatterScale and Mode in the Music of the Early Tamils of South India [pp. 135 - 156]Dialectical Opposition in Schoenberg's Music and Thought [pp. 157 - 176]Chromatic Features of E-Major Works of the Classical Period [pp. 177 - 204]Stravinsky as Serialist: The Sketches for "Threni" [pp. 205 - 224]Questions of Attribution and Chronology in Three Medieval Texts on Species Theory [pp. 225 - 235]Reviewsuntitled [pp. 236 - 245]untitled [pp. 246 - 257]untitled [pp. 258 - 263]untitled [pp. 264 - 266]untitled [pp. 267 - 270]untitled [pp. 271 - 275]

Correction: Stravinsky's "Construction of Twelve Verticals": An Aspect of Harmony in the Serial Music [p. 276]Back Matter [pp. 277 - 280]

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Review of Peter Schubert's "Modal Counterpoint"