| Uniform title | La polifona clásica. English |
| Contents |
Part I. Paleography. Various conventions and signs used in writing. The voices ; The disposition of voices in manuscripts and printed editions ; The clefs ; Canon ; The direct ; The pause ; Repeat marks ; The flat, sharp, and natural -- The notation of polyphony. The notes and rests ; Note-values in relation to each other -- Note-values in relation to the bar. The bars in use during the sixteenth century ; The existence of the ternary bar in the sixteenth century -- The number of notes in each bar and in each of its parts. The sign of time imperfect (tempus imperfectus) ; The sign of time perfect (tempus perfectus) ; Prolation -- The proportions. The signs of time perfect and time imperfect accompanied by proportional numbers ; Proportional signs by themselves ; Ligatures -- Modality. Rules for determining the mode of a piece of polyphony -- The semitonia. The problem ; The sources -- The semitonia in cadences. The definition of cadence ; Cadences in each mode ; The use of cadences ; The semitonia in the concluding bar -- The use of the semitonia apart from cadences -- Chromatic progression. Ascending chromatic progression ; Descending chromatic progression ; Augmented and diminished intervals -- The underlaying of text. The problem ; The sources of information ; The ten rules of Zarlino -- Part II. Musical forms of classical polyphony. The general theory of musical forms. The materials of construction ; Modality and tonality ; Harmony ; Counterpoint -- The themes. Borrowed themes ; Melodic themes ; Polyphonic themes ; Original themes ; Text and rhythm -- Organization of the complete polyphonic fabric. The beginning ; Organization of the polyphonic fabric during the course of a composition ; Organization of the conclusion of a piece ; Homophony -- The set musical forms of polyphony. The motet ; The mass ; The responsory ; The hymn ; Psalmody -- Observations on the interpretation of polyphony. The meaning of the word 'interpretation' ; General principles ; Expression ; Tessitura ; Tempo ; Color. |
| Abstract |
The author is known to students of Renaissance polyphony for his scholarly articles in learned periodicals, his editorship of different collections of sacred polyphony, and through his edition of the motets of Victory -- Tomás Luis de Victoria, Motetes, Vols. 1-4 (union Musical Española, Madrid -- 1964). Text books--in English--on the subject of sixteenth-century counterpoint are numerous and excellent; but none discusses the classical polyphonic style with quite the understanding affection that the author brings to this task. His treatment of notation, time-signatures, the modes, chromatic alteration, is supported by opposite quotation from sixteenth-century authorities and his discussion of form and texture are based on a knowledge derived from wide experience in performance as well as close analytical study. |
| General note | Translation of La polifonía clásica. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 163-170). |
