Re: Species Counterpoint: ficta mid-mode?


"Adam Golding" <adamgolding@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

[snip]

yeah, and so far i've found some diminished intervals outlined in some
lassus, but not any augmented intervals yet.

Even if you did, there's probably so few as to call them unstylistic, where
the diminshed ones at least could be accounted for.

[snip]

well many texts, even fux, emphasize that it's important to have a
variety of pitches, and not to repeate one pitch too much etc. my
thinking is that maybe the accidentals can aid in this.

No no no. That's not their purpose at all. Variety of pitches just means
that - especially in 1st species - it's so restrictive it can be easy to get
CPs that go F E D E D E D E F E D or something. In fact, when I was doing
these, I set out purposefully to do thinge like make one example that was
only contrary motion, one that specifically included a 5th (instead of only
3rds and 6ths) in the body, one that was all stepwise, one that had a lot of
repeated notes, etc. There are even some examples in Fux counter to that
info, where Mann has an asterisk and says something like "dependence of the
CP on the CF like this is usually avoided blah blah blah". Pitch variety
simply means to not have to many of the same note in the piece or too many
of a note in close proximity. Part of this also includes the idea that the
line should "go somewhere" (instead of see-sawing around one note), the
somewhere being the climax (high or low point), and not wander about
aimlessly (which is what hovering about a single pitch seems to do). It's
all tied together. But putting a Bb in just because you recently had a Bn is
not a reason to use ficta.


this has reminded me of another mystery--two leaps in the same
direction are considered 'better' if the larger interval is on the
bottom, i.e. if it is 'bottom-heavy' instead of 'top-heavy'. so AGC
(all descending) is better than ADC


but would CEG be considered 'better' than 'EGB' because of the 'secret'
difference of one semitone?

We're talking letter size, not interval size here. A leap of a major third
and minor third are considered equal for those purposes. When they say
different sizes, they mean a 3rd followed by 4th or 5th, etc. It's got to do
with (as everything does) singability. D A C (up) would be considered easier
to sing than D F C (up), and Jeppesen goes into some great detail about this
IIRC. But I bet it also has to do with the mode too. D A C is a common
Dorian pattern. You probably wouldn't encounter it in Lydian (though I'm
guessing).


Steve


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