Willaert’s Elusive Counterpoint Explained
Main Article Content
Abstract
Abstract
Willaert’s contrapuntal idiom in Musica Nova (1559) has been characterized as “elusive” because it “largely eschews imitative textures, clear cadential articulations, distinctive rhythmic patterns and tuneful melodic ideas (soggetti).” (Fromson 2001) This study aims to elucidate Willaert’s contrapuntal techniques in a late madrigal, “Io mi rovolgo.” He uses five different techniques, and boundaries between them coincide neatly with boundaries between the structural members of Petrarch’s sonnet. Several of the techniques have not been identified before, and their analysis sometimes requires breaking long melodies into tiny fragments, using the basic principle of “motivicity.” (Rifkin 1998)
Article Details
Copyright © 2019 by the Society for Music Theory. All rights reserved.
[1] Copyrights for individual items published in Music Theory Online (MTO) are held by their authors. Items appearing in MTO may be saved and stored in electronic or paper form, and may be shared among individuals for purposes of scholarly research or discussion, but may not be republished in any form, electronic or print, without prior, written permission from the author(s), and advance notification of the editors of MTO.
[2] Any redistributed form of items published in MTO must include the following information in a form appropriate to the medium in which the items are to appear:
This item appeared in Music Theory Online in [VOLUME #, ISSUE #] on [DAY/MONTH/YEAR]. It was authored by [FULL NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS], with whose written permission it is reprinted here.
[3] Libraries may archive issues of MTO in electronic or paper form for public access so long as each issue is stored in its entirety, and no access fee is charged. Exceptions to these requirements must be approved in writing by the editors of MTO, who will act in accordance with the decisions of the Society for Music Theory.
This document and all portions thereof are protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Material contained herein may be copied and/or distributed for research purposes only.