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Grounds and counterpoint in three early modern airs

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Grounds and counterpoint in three early modern airs

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Content GROUNDS AND COUNTERPOINT IN THREE EARLY-MODERN AIRS
by
Zachary Haines
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC THORNTON SCHOOL OF MUSIC
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(EARLY MUSIC PERFORMANCE)
August 2022
Copyright 2022 Zachary Dakota Haines
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures............................................................................................................................... iii
Abstract..........................................................................................................................................vi
Chapter One: Introduction...........................................................................................................1
Chapter Two: The Ballad and Popular Tune, or Air.................................................................. 2
Chapter Three: Grounds and Contrapuntal Procedures...........................................................4
a. Faburden, Fauxbourdon, and Falsobordone........................................................................5
b. The Frottola......................................................................................................................... 8
c. The Passamezzo.................................................................................................................13
d. The Romanesca..................................................................................................................16
e. The Folia............................................................................................................................20
f. The Ciaccona and Passacaglia..........................................................................................21
g. The Bergamasca/Bergamask............................................................................................. 23
Chapter Four: Case Studies in Three Airs................................................................................ 24
a. When Daphne From Fair Phoebus Did Fly.......................................................................25
b. Fortune My Foe................................................................................................................. 36
c. La Vignonne....................................................................................................................... 43
Chapter Five: Diminutions and Grounds................................................................................. 57
a. Salmi Passaggiati.............................................................................................................. 57
b. Examples of Diminutions in Tunes................................................................................... 60
b.1. Greensleeves......................................................................................................... 60
b.2. When Daphne from Fair Phoebus did Fly............................................................63
b.3. Fortune my Foe.....................................................................................................67
b.4. La Vignonne.......................................................................................................... 69
b.5. Practice in Making Diminutions on an Air........................................................... 71
Chapter Six: Conclusion............................................................................................................. 75
Bibliography................................................................................................................................. 77
ii
LIST OF FIGURES
1. First type of faburden around the tenor of Veni creator spiritus..................................................5
2. Fauxbourdon seen in Conditor alme siderum by Guillaume Dufay............................................6
3. A falsobordone by Giovanni Agostino Casoni, with improvised cantus.....................................7
4. The beginning of Ostinato vo’ seguire by Bartolomeo Tromboncino.........................................9
5. Measures 3-6 of Oimé el cor......................................................................................................11
6. Caminata, with descending melodies in brackets......................................................................12
7. The Passamezzo Antico and Moderno as defined by Richard Hudson......................................13
8. The Passamezzo, reduced to a cantus-tenor duet.......................................................................14
9. The Passamezzo Antico in cantus-tenor framework with added contratenor............................ 15
10. The Passamezzo Antico found in Henry VIII’ s Psalter............................................................15
11. A four-voice Passamezzo Antico in a Cantus-Bassus framework........................................... 16
12. The Romanesca, also referred to as the Passamezzo Romanesca............................................17
13. A transcription of two partimenti containing the Romanesca bass figure...............................18
14. Greensleeves with a Romanesca bass line, by me................................................................... 19
15. Richard Hudson’s reduction of the harmonic-melodic formula of the Folia...........................21
16. Richard Hudson’s early Folia harmonic-melodic outline, or scheme..................................... 21
17. The early Italian Ciaccona.......................................................................................................22
18. The Passacaglia ostinato......................................................................................................... 22
19. The Bergamasca, also called the Bergamask in England........................................................ 23
20. Melody and lyrics to Daphne...................................................................................................27
21. Engelsche Daphne, in Valerius’ Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck..........................................29
22. Doen Daphne from a 1649 print of Van Eyck’s Der Fluyten Lust-Hof................................... 30
23. The first 2 parts of Dafne by Richard Sumarte in the Manchester Gamba Book.................... 31
24. Opening of both Daphne and of Greensleeves........................................................................ 32
25. Similar phrases in Daphne and Greensleeves.....................................................................33-34
26. The B part of Daphne, outlining most of a Romanesca, with a transposed ending.................35
iii
27. A transcription of Fortune my Foe with the text from a c.1685 ballad sheet..........................37
28. Measure 2 of a transcription of Fortune by William Byrd...................................................... 37
29. Fortune by John Dowland, the second time through the tune, measure 25.............................38
20. Engelsche Fortuyn in Valerius’s 1626 Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck................................ 39
31. Fortune my Foe in Recueil de pièces pour virginal.................................................................39
32. Fortune my Foe by Thomas Tomkins......................................................................................40
33. The 5th and 6th variations of Fortune my Foe in MS 1122, by Tomkins................................42
34. Composite version of La Vignonne..........................................................................................44
35. Deuxième Sur L’air mondain De la Vignonne......................................................................... 45
36. Cantus-bassus contrapuntal approach borrowed from the Romanesca....................................46
37. Bass voice part from the Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck......................................................47
38. Ballard’s La Vignonne transcribed from lute tablature............................................................ 47
39. Vallet’s L’avignonne transcribed from lute tablature...............................................................48
40. The beginning of La Bocanne by Jacques Cordier.................................................................. 49
41. La Bocanne with alternate major harmonization.....................................................................49
42. La Bocanne with contrapuntal-harmonic gestures outlining a G minor sonority....................50
43. 5-voice setting of La Vignonne by William Brade...................................................................51
44. Measure 24-26 of Valerius’s setting in Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck................................52
45. The opening of the courant from the Drallius Tablature of 1650........................................... 53
46. The opening of Courrante Lavigon from the Copenhagen Tablature c.1626-1650................ 53
47. The opening of La Viona from manuscript by Thomas Ihre of Visby c.1680......................... 53
48. Measures 5-9 of William Brade’s La Vignonne....................................................................... 54
49. A transposed version of Monteverdi’s Zefiro Torna, the Ciaccona ostinato........................... 54
50. A Song from Orestes to the tune of La Vignonne, set by me...................................................56
51. Laudate, pueri, verse 8, from Conforti’s Salmi Passaggiati....................................................58
52. Selection from Miserere a 4 voci, from Severi’s 1615 Salmi Passaggiati.............................. 59
53. The last variations of Green Sleeves to a Ground with Division by John Playford.................61
iv
54. The beginning of Green Sleeves to a Ground by John Walsh................................................. 62
55. Derde, Doen Daphne…, the third Daphne in Der Fluyten Lust-hof........................................63
56. The beginning of the 3rd variation of Daphne in the Camphuysen Manuscript..................... 64
57. The bassus line in the same variation of Daphne.................................................................... 65
58. A selection from Dafne for viola da gamba by Richard Sumarte............................................66
59. De Engelsche Fortuyn in the Camphuysen Manuscript.......................................................... 67
60. The end of Fortune [my Foe] by Richard Sumarte................................................................. 68
61. Modo 3. of Tweede l’Avignone, the second appearance in Der Fluyten Lust-hof....................70
62. Reintroduction of the first part of the melody of Ballard’s La Vignonne................................ 70
63. Daphne for 3 voices, bass by Wigthorpe (attr.), tenor and diminutions by me....................... 72
64. First stanza of Daphne with vocal ornaments. Keyboard part from Wigthorpe (attr.)............ 73
v
ABSTRACT
In the 16th and 17th centuries, both melodies and harmonizations of popular ballads and
airs were the result of a complex relationship between dance, verse, counterpoint, and
ornamentation, each element informing the others. In this thesis, I offer a brief definition of
ballads and airs, trace the history of the Romanesca ground bass progression and related
grounds, and I explore the interrelationship between elements of the ground bass progressions in
the songs When Daphne from Fair Phoebus did Fly, Fortune my Foe, and La Vignonne. I
speculate and set a possible English text for La Vignonne, and I discuss the rich tradition of
applying dimunitions to these songs in performance, adding diminutions to Daphne. Through
this, we can determine building blocks of counterpoint that 16th-17th-century musicians had at
their disposal to employ in both composed and extemporized settings, and we can explore ways
in which they were likely to employ them, by considering the interwoven contexts of dance,
verse, and cadential functions.
vi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Early-modern Europe enjoyed a strong tradition of song, linking music, verse, and dance.
The same songs that were used for dancing were also set to secular verse, with many added
contrafacts of new texts, both political and sacred. And performers, both vocal and instrumental,
enhanced these dance songs with copious ornaments and variations.
In language, our colloquialisms and typical ways of composing sentences come from a
shared lexicon that stems from our culture and its dissemination. In Western European music of
the 16th and 17th centuries, we find much the same types of shared tradition, and in the case of
ballads and airs, this shared compositional toolbox can be found in their contrapuntal building
expressed through the standardized ground bass dances. Harmonization via simple counterpoint
in a mostly homorhythmic progression can create the illusion of Tonal harmony. While it would
be incorrect to say that there was no concept of harmony in the 16th and 17th centuries, it was
not until later in the 18th century that composers and theorists adopt the Tonic-Dominant tonal
relationship as the basis of musical analysis and composition. Before this, harmony was mostly
conceived and achieved through the deliberate manipulation of counterpoint against a main voice
or melody. The careful attention paid to consonances and dissonances between intervals, within
the confines of an open-closed dance structure and poetic form, generated standardized
contrapuntal chunks and formulas that can be found within ballads and airs.
In this thesis, I will trace the intimate links between dance, verse, counterpoint, and
harmonic elements in some of the most popular songs of the 16th and 17th centuries. I will
define and provide context for the terms ballad and air, and outline the role of ground bass
progressions, including their joint origins in contrapuntal progressions and dance forms,
employing the famous song Greensleeves to exemplify the patterns of the Passamezzo.
1
Additionally, I will show how these progressions informed three of the most popular airs of the
period: Fortune my Foe, When Daphne from Fair Phoebus did Fly, and La Vignonne. I have
chosen songs because of their simultaneous popularity across Europe, particularly in England,
the Netherlands, and France, and these three tunes appear as ballads in Adrianus Valerius’s 1626
Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck. Finally, I will show how all of these songs enjoyed a rich
tradition of performance with ornamental diminutions that were themselves informed by the
rules of counterpoint, harmony, and the conventions of ground bass progression. In doing so, I
hope to illustrate the intimate links between dance, song, counterpoint, harmony, and ornament
during this period.
CHAPTER TWO: THE BALLAD AND POPULAR TUNE, OR AIR
Popular songs from the 16th century and onward are given a variety of names generally
considered to be “a short popular or traditional song that normally frames a narrative element,”
and the broadside on which they were usually printed is just the term for an inexpensive sheet of
paper containing the verses and woodcut or other decorations.
1
Similarly, an Air is “[a] term used
in England and France from the 16th century onwards, frequently and rather loosely as
synonymous with ‘melody’, ‘tune’ or ‘song’.”
2
Both ballads and airs in the Early Modern period have implicit associations with dance
and dance forms, which is made evident through the etymology of the terms. Concerning the
ballad (and related terms ballet, and ball), “All three words [are] derive[d] from the Old French
2
Nigel Fortune, David Greer, and Charles Dill, "Air (i)." Grove Music Online. 2001.
https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.libproxy2.usc.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561
592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000048638.
1
James Porter, Jeremy Barlow, Graham Johnson, Eric Sams, and Nicholas Temperley, "Ballad."
Grove Music Online. 2001.
https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.libproxy2.usc.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561
592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000001879.
2
baler, to dance—a term derived in turn from the post-classical Latin ballāre. Variations of balete,
balade, ballata, and ballad as a song for dancing are recognized by the Oxford English
Dictionary in Old French, Middle French, thirteenth-century Italian, and early modern English
respectively.”
3
The air (and ayre as the English would spell it, or in Italian, aria) also has connections to
dance terminology as “[a] similar relationship between ‘aiere’ and ‘maniera’ occurs in the
15th-century dance treatises of Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro and Antonio Cornazano”
4
In the
context of Renaissance dance, Maniera can be understood as “certain movements of the upper
body which should occur when performing the steps: the term includes both motion and repose”,
and aire is “rising movements of the body which
must accompany the steps.”
5
Thus the approach to music composition in this period was largely
informed by dance as much as poetry.
The broadside ballad is a type of popular song unique to England and northern Europe,
and the British broadside ballad in particular, has a history that spans centuries from its
emergence in the early 1500s.
6
One of the first known English ballads on a broadside is
estimated to have been published around the year 1500, but the practice did not become
widespread until a few decades later.
7
Arguably the most defining feature of the broadside ballad
7
Jenni Hyde, “Mere Claptrap Jumble? Music and Tudor Cheap Print,” Renaissance studies 35,
no. 2 (March 2021): 212.
6
Claude M. Simpson, The British Broadside Ballad and Its Music, (New Brunswick, N. J:
Rutgers University Press, 1966): ix.
5
Jennifer Nevile, “‘Certain Sweet Movements’ the Development of the Concept of Grace in
15th-Century Italian Dance and Painting,” Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for
Dance Research 9, no. 1 (Spring 1991): 5.
4
Jack Westrup, Marita P. McClymonds, Julian Budden, Andrew Clements, Tim Carter, Thomas
Walker, Daniel Heartz, and Dennis Libby, "Aria," Grove Music Online. 2001.
https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.libproxy2.usc.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561
592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000043315.
3
Bruce R Smith, “Putting the ‘Ball’ Back in Ballads,” Huntington Library Quarterly 79, no. 2
(Summer 2016): 323.
3
is the fact that it was printed on one side of a large broadside paper, the size of a folio. Beyond
this was the omission of musical notation in most sources. In place of notation, ballad writers and
publishers typically named the melody that was intended for the lyrics. These melodies were
assumed to be well known or readily available to learn, but often even the recommended tune is
absent. The omission of the musical notation was not only practical from an economical printing
perspective, it created a space for the melodies to be freely adjusted to fit a text, and for harmony
to be improvised or composed with great variety. By the end of the 16th century and throughout
the 17th century, the repertoire of popular ballad melodies became a vehicle to deliver numerous
contrafacts. Moreover, many of these same melodies appeared primarily in instrumental settings.
These ballads and airs were often in a binary or ternary form depending on their text, and
the typical shapes found within a melody, and to a large degree their harmonizations in other
voices was not solely spawned from the genius of a balladier. Rather, they were often a result of
specific contrapuntal procedures and norms standardized in the common ground bass
progressions of dance music.
CHAPTER THREE: GROUNDS AND CONTRAPUNTAL PROCEDURES
Arguably the most relevant musical structures that informed composition and
improvisation during the late 16th and early 17th centuries were ground bass progressions, and
the improvisatory nature of Italian falsobordone and its related forms. I have compiled a small
list of ground basses, and context concerning the falsobordone to use as references for
subsequent case studies.
4
a. Faburden, Fauxbourdon, and Falsobordone:
Faburden, is mostly an English phenomena beginning prior to the 15th century. As
Guilielmus Monachus recognized, there were three types of standard faburden. An additional
fourth version of faburden existed in the sixteenth century based on the treatise of an anonymous
Scottish theorist, and it that closely resembles the falsobordone mentioned later.
8
The first type of faburden is summarized by Brian Trowell, who describes that “The
plainchant was thought of as the mean or middle voice, from which the other two parts were
derived, although of course the chant was also present in the treble, which doubled it at the upper
4th while the bottom part sang 5ths or 3rds beneath it.”
9
Figure 1: First type of faburden around the tenor of Veni creator spiritus
10
A second way of creating faburden is by placing two voices above a tenor melody, one a
3rd above, and the other one a 6th above. This procedure is arguably exemplified by medieval
carols like the Agincourt Carol and There is no Rose. In a third type faburden, the chant is
placed in the top voice, with two voices below it, one a 4th below, and the other one a 6th
10
Fabrice Fitch, “Making Polyphony: Sources and Practice,” in Renaissance Polyphony, 9–23.
Cambridge Introductions to Music. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), 20.
9
Brian Trowell, “Faburden.” Grove Music Online. 2001.
https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.libproxy1.usc.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561
592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000009199.
8
John Aplin, “‘The Fourth Kind of Faburden’: The Identity of an English Four-Part Style.”
Music & Letters 61, no. 3/4 (1980): 250.
5
below.
11
This is often written as a duo between Cantus and Tenor, with the rubric “Fauxbourdon”
indicating a third voice to be created by singing a 4th below the cantus. Fauxbourdon is a
Franco-Flemish term referring to their most common way of doing faburden in the 15th century,
which theorist Guillelmus Monachus describes as a 3rd voice generated between a
previously-composed Cantus and Tenor, that moves in 4ths underneath the Cantus, which in this
style contains the chant melody.
12
Figure 2: Fauxbourdon seen in Conditor alme siderum by Guillaume Dufay
13
All three types of faburden can be understood to be an improvisatory and compositional
Cantus-Tenor framework. Though the procedure can be generated by any of the three voices, in
all of these, the counterpoint progresses in mostly parallel 3rds and 6ths, resolving cadentially to
octaves and 5ths above the bottom voice and word or phrase endings.
13
Guillaume Dufay, Conditor alme siderum, ed. Leonardo Lollini (CPDL: November 2020), 2,
https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/1/1e/Dufay-Conditor.pdf.
12
Guilielmus Monachus, De præceptis artis musicæ et praticæ compendiosus libellus. Late 15th
century, in Scriptorum de musica medii ævi, ed. Edmonde de Coussemaker. (Paris: A. Durand &
Pedone-Lauriel, 1869), 288–89.
11
Frank L Harrison, “Faburden in Practice,” Musica Disciplina 16 (1962): 12–14,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20531952.
6
It is arguably with the arrival of a low contratenor, or bassus voice that the origins of
ground bass progressions become apparent. In this context, falsobordone is an Italian expression
of this same concept of composed or improvised polyphony with standard contrapuntal rules and
functions.
14
Monachus describes the falsobordone as having a Cantus that starts and finishes at
the octave above the Tenor, and throughout the rest of the sung portion, it moves in parallel 6ths.
An Altus voice alternates between 3rds and 4ths depending on the decisions of the Bassus voice.
It is the voice that starts in a 5th above the Tenor and might end in a 5th as well. The Bassus
starts at the unison (or octave) with the Tenor, and alternates between 5ths and 3rds below it,
ending with a unison (or octave).
15
Figure 3: A falsobordone by Giovanni Agostino Casoni, with improvised cantus
16
16
Giovanni Agostino Casoni, Manuale choricanum ab utriusque sexus choricistis concupitum,
(Modana, G.M. Farroni: 1629), 235, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k51498w/f251.item.
15
Monachus, De præceptis artis, 293.
14
For more information, see Murray C. Bradshaw,“Performance Practice and the Falsobordone,”
Performance Practice Review: V ol. 10: No. 2 , Article 6 (1997): 224–247., and Bradshaw’s entry
in Grove Music Online
7
Similar to this is the previously-mentioned fourth kind of faburden in England that is
similar to the procedure described by Monachus, which Frank Ll. Harrison summarizes nicely:
Four parts; the plainsong is in the tenor untransposed, the treble moves in parallel sixths
above it, the counter in parallel fourths above it, and the bass uses unison with it or a
third, fifth or octave below it.
17
In his article, Harrison makes clear that the improvisational procedure described by the
anonymous Scottish writer can be contrapuntally problematic, and offers an explanation:
It is perhaps more reasonable to think that the theorist was attempting to codify a style
well known to him, which was clearly derived from that three-part improvised tradition
whose influence continued to operate in premeditated four-part composition. The wholly
improvised three-part practice may still have been used for the simplest kinds of
treatment of vernacular psalms and canticles, while Fourth Kind technique was reserved
for efforts which, though they in themselves might not be especially worthy of
preservation, were nonetheless granted the importance of notation, the point being that it
was only worth writing out in full something that could not be produced at sight.
18
Through these formulaic contrapuntal guidelines, one can see several ways in which
melodies were given harmonic interest going into the 16th century, and how this intervallic play
reinforces standardization of voice functions. These contrapuntal norms and voice part functions
would also inform the development of ground bass progressions, which contain standardized
chunks of counterpoint that belong to a shared musical tool-kit from which a composer may have
drawn from.
b. The Frottola:
By the 16th century, performers and composers faced with a given melodic pattern were
aware of potential accompanying contrapuntal voices, and in this period the tenor melodies
(cantus firmus) are often found in the cantus voice as well. The Frottola is “a courtly Italian
genre descended from an improvised tradition of poetic declamation that flourished in the first
18
John Aplin, “The Fourth Kind of Faburden,” 250.
17
Harrison, “Faburden in Practice,” 14.
8
decade of the [16th] century.”
19
Frottole are rhythmically and harmonically distinct from the
competing Franco-Flemish polyphonic style, they are generally simpler with fewer divisions and
much more homophonic in texture. They are influenced by several poetic forms like the
barzelletta, but they retain their formal title of frottola in many publications.
20
Figure 4: The beginning of Ostinato vo’ seguire by Bartolomeo Tromboncino
21
21
Bartolomeo Tromboncino, “Ostinato vo' seguire,” ed. Allen Garvin, transcribed from Frottole,
Libro 9. Venice: Ottaviano Petrucci, 1508, (IMSLP: Hawthorne Early Music 2019), 1,
https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/8/87/IMSLP601562-PMLP195785-15-tromboncino--ost
inato_vo_seguire----0-score.pdf
20
For more information about poetic form and the frottola, See: Anthony M. Cummings, John T.
Gossick, and Christopher A. Ulyett, “The Genus ‘Frottola’, the Species ‘Frottola’, and the
‘Barzelletta.’” Musica Disciplina 61 (2018): 65–107. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45217761.
19
Megan Kaes Long, "Humanism and the Invention of Homophony," In Hearing Homophony:
Tonal Expectation at the Turn of the Seventeenth Century. (New York: Oxford University Press,
2020), 204.
9
Typical of frottole (though not all of them), is that the cantus voice includes the text,
which like faburden/fauxbourdon, indicates that the cantus contains the tenor melody from which
the other voices are generated. But this reversal of voice function does not necessarily alter the
nature of how the duo voice is composed in a cantus-tenor framework, nor even how the voice
functions would behave in cadences. Dahlhaus clarifies this in saying:
In his "Regula ad componendum cum tribus vocibus non mutatis" ["The Rule for
Composing with Three Unaltered V oices"] Guilelmus Monachus describes a type of
three-voice composition with a soprano as cantus prius factus, a "secundus sopranus"
[second soprano] that forms parallel thirds with a unison beginning and ending, and a
contratenor as a supplementary voice. The parallel thirds below a discant cantus firmus
are nothing but an inversion of the parallel sixths above a tenor cantus firmus.
22
Like falsobordone, the frottola usually has both an added bassus and altus voice to the
cantus-tenor duet.
23
Megan Kaes Long adds “...in the frottola the principles of two-voice
composition gradually merge with and are replaced by those of four-voice composition, wherein
all voices are conceived simultaneously as equal partners in a framework that may be either
polyphonic or chordal.” It is in this space, with four voices moving simultaneously all seeking
consonances and avoiding parallels, reflecting the text and driving the poetic structure to proper
cadences, that we see harmonic-melodic progressions take shape, that then lead to some
becoming standardized. It is tempting to think that this is where the cantus-bass framework
finally appears as a widely acknowledged and employed technique, and indeed, some frottle
seem to reflect that compositional approach. But Dahlhaus reminds us to avoid anachronisms
when adding: “Composition with a discant-bass framework is already clearly marked in many
frottolas from the early 16th century, but only at the end of the century was it conceived as a
special type by Thomas Morley.”
24
24
Carl Dahlhaus, Studies on the Origin of Harmonic Tonality, 98.
23
Carl Dahlhaus, Studies on the Origin of Harmonic Tonality, 281-82.
22
Carl Dahlhaus, Studies on the Origin of Harmonic Tonality, trans. Robert O. Gjerdingen.
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), 97.
10
Edward Lowinsky was eager to interpret the bass voice in frottole as a harmonic
foundation, and used Marco Cara’s frottola, Oimé el cor as an example of the Passamezzo
Antico.
Figure 5: Measures 3-6 of Marco Cara’s Oimé el cor
25
Dahlhaus first criticizes the approach by reiterating that it is simply a result of necessary
voice leading to avoid parallel motion, but he nuances this by explaining that a specific harmonic
progression can be sought by composers of this era, even if it is through their use of
counterpoint:
…the connection that Lowinsky discovered with the passamezzo antico is undeniable. Of
course the supposition that the bass of Oimé el cor was a variant of the passamezzo antico
is poorly substantiated. The reverse is more plausible: many phrases that fre quently recur
in the added basses—phrases determined by the typical parallel thirds and sixths of the
upper voices—marked themselves as stock formulas and became "emancipated" to an
independent existence and meaning. Thus the bass in Oimé el cor represents more the
prototype of the passamezzo antico than a transformation of it.
26
A similar moment exists in the instrumental repertoire of this period, predating this
frottola. The first known Passamezzo Antico pattern appears around 1500 in a piece titled
26
Carl Dahlhaus, Studies on the Origin of Harmonic Tonality, 282.
25
Carl Dahlhaus, Studies on the Origin of Harmonic Tonality, 281.
11
Caminata. It has no surviving text, but it is possibly linked to an earlier frottola in form,
cementing the interconnectedness of verse, dance, and song in this period.
27
Figure 6: Caminata, with descending melodies in brackets
28
In a Cantus-Bassus framework in this example, (where the tenor melody is now in the
cantus voice), the bassus voice responds to the cantus by seeking consonances at octaves, 3rds
and 5ths. The tenor voice moves in mostly parallel 6ths with the cantus voice (avoiding the
parallel 5th with the bassus in the second measure by later skipping up to the intended note), and
the altus fills in the missing spots depending on what the bass decides to do. Interestingly, the
28
Adam Knight Gilbert, “Thundering to the tune of Greensleeves,” 104. For more discussion of
this, see Gilbert, Adam Knight. “Iuxta Artem Conficiendi: Solmization and Counterpoint Ca.
1500.” Historical Performance 2 (2019), 25–54. (p. 44-45)
27
Adam Knight Gilbert, “Thundering to the tune of Greensleeves,” Hands-on" musicology :
essays in honor of Jeffery Kite-Powell, ed. Allen Scott, (Ann Arbor: Steglein Pub., 2012): 104.
12
second half of this piece contains the harmonic-melodic building blocks of the Bergamasca or
Bergamask dance.
c. The Passamezzo:
The Passamezzo is a ground bass dance that stems from a long tradition beginning in the
early Renaissance, where a composer might add (or potentially improvise) a bass voice to music
that was originally composed within a cantus-tenor framework. This was also in combination
with the growing desire to set text and music within a binary form, such as rhyming couplets or
the Psalmody during a Catholic mass expressed in falsobordone.
29
Binary form is achieved
through the inherent open and closed phrase structure, “[t]he framework chords are spaced at
metrically equal intervals as the music unfolds in two phrases, the first leading to V , the second
to I.”
30
There are two types of Passamezzo progressions, the Passamezzo Antico and the
Passamezzo Moderno, with the Antico rooted in a minor tonality, and the Moderno a major one.
The standard Antico pattern is seen expressed as i-VII-i-V-III-VII-i-V-I, and the Moderno is
commonly seen expressed as I-IV-I-V-I-IV-I-V-I.
31
Figure 7: The Passamezzo Antico and Moderno as defined by Richard Hudson
32
32
Hudson, “The Concept of Mode,” 166.
31
Gerbino, “Passamezzo.” and Richard Hudson, “The Concept of Mode in Italian Guitar Music
During the First Half of the 17th Century,” Acta Musicologica 42, no. 3/4 (Jul.-Dec. 1970): 166.
30
Giuseppe Gerbino and Alexander Silbiger, "Passamezzo." Grove Music Online. 2001.
https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.libproxy2.usc.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561
592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000021027.
29
Adam Knight Gilbert, “Thundering to the tune of Greensleeves,” 102.
13
While it is anachronistic to apply 18th-century chordal analysis to music of the
Renaissance, this is one of the few cases in which the difference between pure equal-voice
counterpoint, and the melody-over-bassline compositional approaches become blurred. This
should not imply that these ground bass formulas were composed with an 18th-century
understanding of Tonality, indeed there is no conscious Tonic-Dominant relationship present, but
there is clearly a shared understanding of how a composer in the 16th and 17th centuries might
typically harmonize a melody, or how one would compose/improvise a melody above a standard
bass pattern. The ways in which these harmonies are navigated are dictated by the functions of
the voices, and the ways in which the voices function are more or less dictated by the
compositional approach. As mentioned earlier, in the beginning of the 16th century, one of the
dominant ways to compose polyphonic music was through the Cantus-Tenor framework, which
later began competing with the Cantus-Bassus (when the tenor melody is in the cantus)
framework.
33
The Cantus-Tenor framework is when a Tenor melody is the central voice that the
Cantus voice (and subsequent voices like Contratenor and Bassus) is composed around. Here is
an example of the Cantus-Tenor framework of of the late 15th century, applied to the
Passamezzo, with the typical Cantizans and Tenorizans cadential functions of the voice parts
preserved:
Figure 8: The Passamezzo, reduced to a cantus-tenor duet
33
Carl Dahlhaus, Studies on the Origin of Harmonic Tonality, 287.
14
In the 16th century, the Contratenor or Bassus voice was commonly added below the
tenor, creating the most recognizable form of the Passamezzo as we know it to be.
Figure 9: The Passamezzo Antico in cantus-tenor framework with added contratenor
A much beloved example of this very compositional procedure can be found in 1518, in a
song titled Pastyme with good companye:
Figure 10: The Passamezzo Antico found in Henry VIII’s Psalter
34
34
Henry VIII Tudor (attr.), Pastyme with good companye, ed. Sardus Orpheus, (IMSLP: Sardus
Orpheus, 2018), 1. Transcription from the Henry VIII Psalter manuscript, (c. 1518), BL Add.
31922 ff. 14v-15r.
15
Once we apply a Cantus-Bassus framework where the cantus has our original tenor
melody, the shape of the Passamezzo can be seen taking a shape similar to early 16th-century
frottole:
Figure 11: A four-voice Passamezzo Antico in a Cantus-Bassus framework
The Passamezzo is simultaneously a melodic and harmonic formula that is derived from a
Cantus-Tenor or Cantus-Bassus mode of composition. When standard 16th or 17th-century
contrapuntal norms are applied to the voices, and given the constraint of a binary dance form
desiring open and closed phrases, it creates a relatively consistent harmonic progression that can
be seen expressed in a variety of contexts outside of the dance itself.
d. The Romanesca:
Closely related to the Passamezzo is the Romanesca. It is another binary dance form that
was primarily used for singing and instrumental variations in the 16th and 17th centuries.
35
It is
characterized by its open-closed phrase structure that obeys the same principles as discussed in
the Passamezzo section, but this dance is in triple (perfect prolation), but it is distinguished from
35
Gerbino, Giuseppe Gerbino. "Romanesca." Grove Music Online. 2001.
https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.libproxy2.usc.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561
592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000023732.
16
the Passamezzo Antico by its tempus perfectus with perfect prolation, and the starting bass note
being the III ``chord” of the “key”, when using 18th-century Tonal analysis. Dr. Stephen
Schönlau summarizes Musicologist Ernst Apfel’s theory in saying, “The Romanesca and
Passamezzo lies in a descant-tenor framework in parallel sixths or tenths, and that the two bass
patterns mererly [sic] represent two different ways to harmonise this upper-voice.”
36
Figure 12: The Romanesca, also referred to as the Passamezzo Romanesca
37
These descending 3rds and 6ths against a bass that moves in descending 4ths belong to
the same group of contrapuntal tools first established by the previously-mentioned improvisatory
styles of falsobordone. The movement of the bass descending a 4th and ascending a 2nd became
such an important element of constructing harmony, that in the 18th-century, it appeared in
keyboard pedagogy in the form of partimenti, a collection of small common building blocks and
tropes of music, from which a player would improvise proper harmonization. This was with an
18th-century Tonal understanding of course, but the voice-leading rules from the Renaissance
and early Baroque might still be obeyed even if they are used with the intent of achieving
37
Dahlhaus, Studies on the Origin of Harmonic Tonality, 102.
36
Stephan Schönlau, "Creative Approaches to Ground-Bass Composition in England,
c.1675-c.1705," (PhD diss., University of Manchester, 2019), 26, citing Ernst Apfel, “Ostinato
und Kompositionstechnik bei den englischen Viriginalisten der elisabethanischen Zeit”, AMW
19, no. 20 (1962/63): 29–39.
http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/creative-approac
hes-ground-bass-composition/docview/2409750322/se-2?accountid=14749
17
specific harmonic outcomes within the Tonic-Dominant dichotomy, which is not applicable to
earlier examples of the Romanesca. Here is an example from C minor and G minor partimenti by
Francesco Durante in 1740:
Figure 13: A transcription of two partimenti containing the Romanesca bass figure
38
It would be incomplete to discuss the Romanesca without mentioning Greensleeves.
While Richard Jones has the first known printing license for the ballad and its lyrics in 1580, the
Greensleeves melody itself belongs to the tradition of the Romanesca, following the identical
phrasing and harmonic outline, including the triple division of the beats (though there are duple
versions of this tune).
39
This would have likely been one of the most commonly recognizable
transmissions of the Romanesca to the English population and its musicians, carrying musical
fragments of its own that are seen in similar Romanesca/Greensleeves moments of other tunes.
39
Claude M. Simpson, The British Broadside Ballad and Its Music, 271-72.
38
Robert Gjerdingen and Janet Bourne, “Schema Theory as a Construction Grammar,” Music
Theory Online 21, no. 2 (2015): 3.2.3,
https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.15.21.2/gjerdingen_bourne_networks.html.
18
Figure 14: Greensleeves with a Romanesca bass line, by me
As it relates to religious music or psalm singing, there have been many people throughout
history that believe that the tune was unfit for sacred settings. The most famous evidence of this
is found in several Shakespearean references to the tune that imply the ill-suited nature of the
tune when set to a psalm, but Ross W. Duffin has rebuffed the criticism in an upcoming article:
Certainly, there is no doubt that the tune was used for sacred poems: One of the first
ballads registered after the first known reference to the tune is Greene Sleves moralised to
the Scripture (24 August, 1581).122 That should suffice to justify all of the uses proposed
here for the GGB since none of them is specifically a psalm, and that has been the charge
about the tune. It may be, however, that even psalms could have been sung to tunes like
“Greensleeves.” William Slatyer in 1631 printed his Psalmes and songs of Sion,
containing a Table with dozens of popular tunes recommended for singing his poetic
psalms. He was scolded by church authorities for doing so, but he was a clergyman
himself, and seems to have seen no problem with it until the High Commission reacted.
40
40
Ross W. Duffin, “All my hart ay this is my sang,” in Psalmes & Ballatis. (A-R Editions:
Forthcoming), 142.
19
It is clear that the building blocks of Greensleeves’ melodic-harmonic progression were
acceptable to some in a sacred context, even if Shakespeare jokes that the specific melodic
realization known as Greensleeves is unfit.
Though the melody of Greensleeves is based in the Romanesca, it has become a famous
melody in its own right, to such an extent that when a composer set a Romanesca, Greensleeves
melodic shapes are often found, or where Greensleeves shapes are found in another melody, the
Romanesca is almost certain to be heard underneath.
The Romanesca bass is one of the most contrapuntally functional building blocks of
16th-17th century counterpoint, as it is formed by harmonizing any descending pattern (or
ascending in inversion), leaping 4ths and moving stepwise to arrive at consonances while
avoiding unwanted parallel intervals.
e. The Folia:
The Folia is another ground bass based on a progression that stems from the Passamezzo
family of bass lines. Adam Gilbert writes that “the Folia pattern is a palindromic ascent and
descent of the Romanesca.”
41
It is one of the ground basses that changed in melodic-harmonic
structure during the early-modern period.
Figure 15: Richard Hudson’s reduction of the harmonic-melodic formula of the Folia
42
42
Hudson, “The Concept of Mode…,” 166.
41
Adam Knight Gilbert, “Thundering to the Tune of Greensleeves,” 106.
20
Richard Hudson summarizes, “Most examples come from Spain and Italy and display a
musical framework… that differs in certain melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic respects from the
more familiar type of Folia that began in 1672 with Lully and continued, principally in France a
until the end of the Baroque period.”
43
For the purposes of this paper, I will focus on the early
form of the Folia. Hudson also establishes a common melodic structure that belonged to the
early Folia as shown here:
Figure 16: Richard Hudson’s early Folia harmonic-melodic outline, or scheme
44
There is variety in any contrapuntal realization of a Folia progression, but the
melodic-harmonic structures remain relatively consistent enough to remain recognizable as a
Folia, especially given its similarity to the Passamezzo.
f. The Ciaccona and Passacaglia:
The Ciaccona and Passacaglia are two distinct ground basses whose terms are often used
interchangeably, creating potential confusion. The early Ciaccona or Chaconne is a repeating
ostinato that roughly outlines I-IV(or vi, or both)-V, with a few varying ways of
melodically/harmonically traveling that route.
44
–, “The Folia, Fedele, and Falsobordone,” 400.
43
–, “The Folia, Fedele, and Falsobordone.” The Musical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (Jul. 1972): 399.
21
Figure 17: The early Italian Ciaccona
45
The syncopations characteristic of the early Chaconne carry with it certain connotations
of liveliness and fun, but its other close relative of the Passacaglia, has a tendency to accompany
brooding or lamenting texts given its rhetorical gesture of tears falling, or sighing.
Figure 18: The Passacaglia ostinato
46
Contrapuntally, the Passacaglia requires serious maneuvering and tricks due to the
bassus voice being locked in a stepwise descent. It can be seen as a swap with one of the
unrealized inner voices from the Passamezzo family of grounds, and since there are no leaps for
the bass to use in order to escape parallels, the Passacaglia requires things like suspensions and
more dramatic leaps in the upper voices. These contrapuntal necessities possibly gave the
Passacaglia its characteristic associations. However, as said earlier, it can be seen as
interchangeable with the Chaconne, and applying one set of associations with either dance can
set one up for confusion. Susan McClary helps to clarify by saying:
46
Susan McClary, “The Social History of a Groove,” 198.
45
Susan McClary, “The Social History of a Groove: Chacona, Ciaccona, Chaconne, and the
Chaconne.” In Desire and Pleasure in Seventeenth-Century Music, 1st ed., 193–214. (University
of California Press, 2012), 198.
22
The fact is, however, that most seventeenth-century musicians cared much less about
generic boundaries than do historians, and they sometimes used the two terms
interchangeably. Yet the music of the time often does treat the two in very different ways;
if there exists a gray area of overlap in which one can substitute for the other, there are
also contexts in which the more carefree version of the ciaccona/chaconne has nothing to
do with its melancholy twin, the lamenting passacaglia.
47
g. The Bergamasca/Bergamask:
The Bergamasca is a ground bass that is similar to the Passacaglia in that it is a smaller
contrapuntal chunk that is repeated to create the larger structure. It is a rather simple ground bass
progression of I-IV-V-I:
Figure 19: The Bergamasca, also called the Bergamask in England
There is a likely reason for its simplicity, as Esti Sheinberg synthesizes,
[Judith] Cohen traces the cultural roots of the term to “the comic figure of the facchin
bergamasco—the Bergamascan porter, who migrated into the city in search of work,”
that city being Venice. These porters, who came mainly from the town and surroundings
of Bergamo, spoke a local and allegedly incomprehensible dialect of Italian, which
47
Susan McClary, “The Social History of a Groove,” 206.
23
became the subject of countless theatrical and poetical farces throughout the sixteenth
century, seemingly since as early as 1518.
48
This dance or ground has no provenance before the middle of the 16th century and no
cultural history with the people of Bergamo. In relation to the high-art music of the period,
Sheinberg explains,
...the musical topic of the Bergamasca might have served as an index to the opposite kind
of music, that of the rural, folk, simplistic lowbrow peasantry of the Italian Renaissance.
The first musical Bergamasche, then, would not be folk dances but rather musical satires
on an imaginary entity rooted in a social phenomenon.
49
The momentum of this ground bass can be traced to the cadential moments of other
grounds, and interestingly, if one chooses to avoid the tenorizans cadence and resolve upward,
then the ground can be entirely circular, ending at the beginning.
CHAPTER FOUR: CASE STUDIES IN THREE AIRS
In this section, I will present 3 popular ballads or airs, and I will identify key moments
within the melody that both potentially inform the harmony via counterpoint, and demonstrate
how it may have been informed by previously-existing contrapuntal figures. I use the context and
language of ground bass progressions to further highlight the interconnected nature of music,
verse, and dance in the Early-Modern period.
49
Esti Sheinberg, “In Praise of the Politically Incorrect,” 29.
48
Esti Sheinberg, “In Praise of the Politically Incorrect: The Bergamasca,” Min-ad : Israel
Studies in Musicology Online 13 (2015): 20,
Quoting Judith Cohen, “The Bergamasca: Some Jewish Links?” in Yuval 7, Studies in Honour of
Israel Adler, ed. Eliyahu Schleifer & Edwin Seroussi. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University
Magnes Press, 2002, 397. And Vito Pandolfi, La Commedia dell’Arte, in five volumes (Florence:
W.F. Prizer, 1957), V ol. I, 158-59, quoted in Cohen (2002, 399).
24
a. When Daphne From Fair Phoebus Did Fly:
Among the many songs that captivated the listeners of Early Modern Europe, few were as
well-known and widespread as “When Daphne from fair Phoebus did fly”, (also known as
“Daphne”). This song is believed to have been first composed in late 16th-century England. The
melody survives without text in a collection of lute tablature (Folger V .b.280)
50
dated to the
1590s, and it is seen with its associated text in English for the first time either Giles Earle’s
Songbook, or in a broadside ballad sheet from the Roxburghe collection (1.388), both dated from
approximately 1615-1629.
51
Its popularity lasted well into the end of the 17th century.
The story of Apollo and Daphne is found in the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses,
which was a collection of myths and fables covering a wide range of topics and genres. The
moral teachings of these stories were the main interest of later Christian translators, and though
the first English translation was made by William Caxton in 1480, it wasn’t until Arthur
Golding’s 1565-67 translation that these tales truly captured the imaginations of the English,
even reaching the hands of Shakespeare and Spenser.
52
Apollo (or Phoebus in Greek) and
Daphne appear in Book I, with Apollo taunting Eros (or Cupid in Greek) about his use of the
bow, since he is also the God of archery. This enrages Eros, who then readies two arrows, a
golden arrow of love, and a lead arrow of hate. He shoots Apollo with the arrow of love for the
river nymph, Daphne, and he shoots Daphne with the lead arrow of hatred for Apollo. Daphne
swears to perpetual virginity and flees from Apollo, who is incessant in his chase. As he closes in
52
Raphael Lyne, “Ovid in English translation.” Chapter. In The Cambridge Companion to Ovid,
ed. Philip Hardie, Cambridge Companion to Literature, (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2006), 252.
51
Lindsay Ann Reid, “Translating Ovid's Metamorphoses,” 548-49.
50
Lindsay Ann Reid, “Translating Ovid's Metamorphoses in Tudor Balladry.” Renaissance
Quarterly 72, no. 2 (2019): 548. doi:10.1017/rqx.2019.3. “The music (sans lyrics) is included,
for instance, in the Dowland Lutebook, so called for its associations with John Dowland (ca.
1563–1626). This manuscript, now in the Folger Shakespeare Library’s collections (Folger
V .b.280), is dated to the 1590s.”
25
on her, she prays to her father, the river god Peneus, to have the earth swallow her whole, or to
change out of a human form into something else. Peneus turns his daughter into a bay laurel tree
in a visceral description:
This piteous prayer scarsly sed: hir sinewes waxed starke,
And therewithall about hir breast did grow a tender barke.
Hir haire was turned into leaves, hir armes in boughes did growe,
Hir feete that were ere while so swift, now rooted were as slowe.
Hir crowne became the toppe, and thus of that she earst had beene,
Remayned nothing in the worlde, but beautie fresh and greene.
53
While telling the remainder of the story, Wendy Heller reminds us how early-modern readers
would have likely connected with this tale:
The god is unfazed by the fact that the wood recoils from his touch, since he has never
paid much attention to Daphne’s resistance anyway, and he consoles himself by declaring
that the leaves of the laurel tree will serve as an ornament for his lyre and as a garland to
welcome the heroes of Rome. Here, the structures of feeling in early modern Italy with
regard to masculine desire are manifest in the ease with which Apollo accepts the new
physicality of Daphne, an object of desire without the female body or the power to sing.
54
This male-centric view of unrequited love was a very popular subject in late-Elizabethan
England, and it is seen in lute songs like Dowland’s Can She Excuse My Wrongs and madrigals
such as Gibbon’s How art thou thralled. It is no surprise that this song told from the male gaze
about a woman’s scorn of a beautiful God would become so well-loved.
The form of the song is simple, it is strophic, in triple, and in three parts, with the first
part being repeated. The relationship between the melody and the assumed original text seems to
suggest that it was composed in a declamatory style associated with Baroque rhetoric of dramatic
emotion, with the music responding appropriately to the drama and theatricality of the text.
54
Wendy Heller, “Daphne’s Dilemma: Desire as Metamorphosis in Early Modern Opera,”
Chapter. in Structures of Feeling in Seventeenth-Century Cultural Expression, ed. Susan
McClary, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017), 181.
53
Ovid, “Book I,” in Metamorphoses, trans. Arthur Golding, ed. Madeleine Forey. (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), 10.
26
When Daphne from faire Phoebus did flie,
The West winde most sweetly did blow in her
face.
Her silken Scarfe scarce shaddowed her eyes,
The God cried, O pitie, and held her in chace.
Stay Nimph, stay Nimph, cryes Apollo,
Tarry, and turn thee, Sweet Nimph stay.
Lion nor tyger doth thee follow,
Turn thy faire eyes and look this away.
O turn O prettie sweet,
And let our red lips meet:
Pittie, O Daphne, pittie, O pittie me,
Pittie, O Daphne, pittie me.
Away like Venus dove she flies,
The red blood her buskins did run all adowne.
H[is] plaintiffe love she now denies,
Crying, help help Diana and save my renowne.
Wanton wanton lust is neare me,
Cold and chaste Diana aid.
Let the earth a virgin beare me,
Or devoure me quick a maid.
Diana heard her pray,
And turned her to a Bay.
Pittie O Daphne, pittie, O pittie me,
Pitty O Daphne, pittie me.
She gave no eare unto his cry,
But still did neglect him the more he did mone.
He still did entreat, she still did denie,
And earnestly prayes him to leave her alone.
Never never cryes Apollo,
Unlesse to love thou do consent.
But still with my voice so hollow,
Ile crie to thee, while life be spent.
But if thou turn to me,
I will praise thy felicitie.
Pitty O Daphne, pittie, O pittie me,
Pitty O Daphne, pitty me.
Amazed stood Apollo then,
While he beheld Daphne turn'd as she desired.
Accurst I am above Gods and men,
With griefe and laments my sences are tired.
Farewel false Daphne most unkinde,
My love is buried in this grave.
Long have I sought love, yet love could not finde,
Therefore is this my Epitaph.
This tree doth Daphne cover,
That never pitied lover.
Farewell false Daphne, that would not pittie me,
Though not my Love, yet art thou my Tree.
Figure 20: Melody and lyrics to Daphne
55
55
“When Daphne from Fair Phoebus did Fly,” ed. Joan Izquierdo, (IMSLP: Joan Izquierdo,
2012),
https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/9/93/IMSLP263921-PMLP427822-Daphne_a5,_Sopran
o.pdf
27
Notice that the leap of a tenth into the higher part of the singer’s tessitura at the start of
the B section always happens when one of the characters cries out. or when dangerous things are
mentioned. Moreover, it is always followed by a sweeter comment or gentler request in the
subsequent melodic descent. This setting of text to melody suggests a theatrical performance for
an audience, especially appropriate considering England’s deep connection to the theater. In fact,
most of the English population would have learned about these mythical characters through
ballads rather than from the old poets.
56
Sharing information through ballads, (whether correct or
just for entertainment), was one of the tools of balladry, and this means of sharing information
illustrates a particular expression of the English national identity. The fascination with Ovidian
stories, the glorification of the male pursuit in unrequited love, and the music’s connection to a
strong theatrical tradition all point toward a uniquely English creation. But the song Daphne was
popular outside of England as well, where it adopted new forms and reflected new identities.
There is arguably more love for this tune in the Netherlands than in England, as it
survives in so many more variations and instrumentations. One of the most notable examples
appears in Adrianus Valerius’s 1626 Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck. Valerius inserts an entirely
new text with no mention of the original Greek myth. This new poetic text commemorates the
loss of life during moments of Spanish aggression in the late 16th century and the rise of the
Dutch Republic. Although employing the same melody, as a contrafact with new Dutch text, it
contains diminutions of the original in order to accommodate the new syllables.
This is one of the earliest known recorded movements of the tune into the Netherlands
(with Jan Janz Starter’s 2nd edition of Friesche Lusthof in 1623 being the first), but given the
proximity to England, it is reasonable to assume that it was known well before. It is even referred
56
Ross W. Duffin and Stephen O., Shakespeare’ s Songbook, (New York: W.W. Norton, 2004), 20.
28
to specifically as Engelsche Daphne, acknowledging the original nationality of the tune. This
version of Daphne is interesting because of the intention in its text setting. The Nederlandtsche
Gedenck-clanck is a collection of songs and poems reflecting a Dutch nationalistic perspective,
and anti-Spanish sentiments published in the middle of the Eighty-Years’ War.
Figure 21: Engelsche Daphne, in Valerius’ Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck
57
These two nations were major participants in the struggle that began in 1568, with the
Dutch desiring independence from Hapsburg rule.
58
There is then a new poetic meaning in
presenting this conflict within the well-known Ballad of Daphne, the Dutch would identify as the
Nymph, constantly pursued and desired by Apollo, who represents the Spanish. The Dutch
would be hurt but still plant their roots firmly like Daphne, and never give itself to the Spanish.
This publication demonstrates the expression of a national identity through the intentional use of
another nation’s ballad. This suggests that the malleability and transmissibility of these tunes
58
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Eighty Years' War." Encyclopedia Britannica,
February 29, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/event/Eighty-Years-War.
57
Adrianus Valerius, “Engelsche Daphne,” in Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck, (Haarlem:
d'Ersgenamen van den Autheur, 1626), 30.
29
were assets used by poets as much as ballad writers and musicians. This particular publication
may have established a strong affinity for the tune in the Netherlands, as it is seen there
throughout the rest of the 17th century.
Daphne was not only a popular song, but the melody was also a beloved tool to reflect
instrumental traditions heavily associated with a nation. The first example of this is Jacob Van
Eyck’s Der Fluyten Lust-Hof from 1644, which is one of the largest publications of music for the
recorder in the 17th century. The Dutch tradition of recorder playing is strong to this day, and
there are many publications that showcase the talent for diminutions by historical recorder
players.
Figure 22: Doen Daphne from a 1649 print of Van Eyck’s Der Fluyten Lust-Hof
59
59
Jacob Van Eyck, “Doen Daphne,” in Der Fluyten Lust-Hof, (Amsterdam: Paulus Matthysz,
1649), 3.
30
The English love affair with viols and viol consorts stems back to the Renaissance, and
yet another version of Daphne by viol player Richard Sumarte establishes this connection to
tradition and national identity.
Figure 23: The first 2 parts of Dafne by Richard Sumarte in the Manchester Gamba Book
60
While it is harder to extract meaning from a purely instrumental setting, there may also
be musico-rhetorical play at work in each version. Every instrumental setting of this ballad
highlights the stark differences between the bassline or harmony, and the melody. With disjointed
melodic and harmonic movement and swirling circular figures, each version can be seen as
aurally illustrating Apollo’s chase of Daphne, within the idioms of each respective instrumental
tradition.
60
Richard Sumarte, “Dafne,” in the Manchester Gamba Book, by anonymous hand,
n.d.(ca.1670), ed. Phillip Serna, (Chicago: Dr. Phillip W. Serna, 2020), 1.
https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/e/e2/IMSLP651179-PMLP1044450-Sumarte_-_Dafne_-
_Bass_Viol.pdf
31
Turning to compositional elements, one can see the strong influence of Greensleeves and
the Romanesca in the structure of this tune. While it is in ternary form, it still retains a triple feel,
and several melodic-harmonic moments are shared with Greensleeves. The first similarity is seen
in the opening figure, I will use a 5-voice version of Daphne attributed to William Wigthorpe to
explain how the Greensleeves melodic fragment can be harmonized in either tune:
Figure 24: Opening of both Daphne and of Greensleeves
61
61
“When Daphne from Fair Phoebus did Fly,” in Add MS 17786-91, music for instrumental
ensemble à 5, attr. William Wigthorpe, c.1610, ed. Joan Izquierdo, (IMSLP: Joan Izquierdo,
2012),
https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/4/44/IMSLP263920-PMLP427822-Daphne_partitura_a5
.pdf. And my reduced version of the Greensleeves melody from earlier.
32
This example demonstrates characteristics typical of a cantus-bassus framework. The
voice under the cantus melody moves in parallel 3rds, the bassus moves to seek 3rds and 5ths
against the cantus, and the other voices will in however they can, mostly by skip or diminution.
This is a good example for understanding the many options that composers had when composing
under a melody. The author could have had slower harmonic movement and remained on an F
sonority as seen in Greensleeves, but they decided to have an additional harmonic moment
before the expected F sonority. While it is unclear how this melody was originally danced to
(though John Playford includes his suggestion of a longways country dance for 8 couples in his
1651 Dancing Master), this may better reflect the English idea of the courante dance, a title
given to many Daphne settings.
62
This melody lacks strong hemiolas and the binary form typical
of the French courante, and with its lively harmonic movement, it is likely an English iteration of
the Italian corrente. Another small Greensleeves moment can be identified in the same way:
Daphne:
62
John Playford, “Daphne,” in The Dancing Master, (London: Thomas Harper, for John
Playford, 1651), 30,
https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/c/c9/IMSLP324643-PMLP144608-playford_dancing_m
aster_1651.pdf.
33
Greensleeves:
Figure 25: Similar phrases in Daphne and Greensleeves
63
The composer that set Daphne in this example, decided to harmonize the descending
triadic figures with a bassus voice that meets the cantus at the octaves, not the 5ths as seen in
Greensleeves. But this decision forced the bassus in a tricky position as it still had to avoid the
sound of parallel octaves, by adding another intermediary harmony used by all of the other
voices, the bassus gets to sneak in a descent of a 5th, avoiding the error. Thus, we see harmony
and counterpoint work in tandem to give the composer more ways to follow the rules of
counterpoint while setting a tenor melody in the top voice. This addition of harmonies in the
bassline ends up looking like a Bergamasca figure in minor, i-iv-V-I, as it moves to the cadence.
Daphne also demonstrates its connection to dance and contrapuntal procedures by clearly
quoting the Romanesca (but with a transposed cadence) in the second part of the tune:
63
William Wigthorpe (attr.), “When Daphne from Fair Phoebus did Fly,” 1.
34
Figure 26: The B part of Daphne, outlining a Romanesca, with a transposed ending
64
As mentioned earlier, the Passacaglia bass line can often be seen in one of the upper
voices of a Romanesca, and for Daphne, it is right in the melody. As the melody relates to the
original text, this high-placed Passacaglia fragment appears during the dramatic cries and pleas
for the nymph’s favor. Counterpoint, harmony, dance, and verse all collide into one powerful
moment.
These are just a few of the ways in which Daphne exemplifies the compositional
fragments and contrapuntal procedures that lie within the early-modern musician’s toolbox. It
was a melody that was sung likely as much as it was danced to, and it exists in a musical space
that does not care for much distinction between the two. Shapes and cadences of the poetry
naturally met with shapes and cadences of the music, which also met with the shapes and
cadences of a dance.
64
William Wigthorpe (attr.), “When Daphne from Fair Phoebus did Fly”, 1-2.
35
b. Fortune My Foe:
One of the most recognizable melodies of the 16th and 17th centuries is Fortune, my Foe.
This tune was so popular that, “Some of the 142 Fortune ballads [currently known] are duplicates
or different editions of the same text, but a remarkable 84 separate songs were sung to this one
tune.”
65
It can be dated to at least 1589 with a license granted to the composer Richard Jones for
the ballad called “of the life and death of Dr. Faustus the great Cungerer,” which is set to the tune
of Fortune, my Foe, but it may have also been found as early as 1565-66, when John Cherlewood
was granted a license to print a ballad called “of one complaynynge of ye mutabilitie of fortune”,
but the music is not notated.
66
It exists in a slightly modified form known as Aim not too high,
which appears in about 30 known ballads.
67
Fortune my Foe is associated with more grim and
solemn themes, and it became known as the “hanging tune” as early as 1634.
68
It was so
well-known throughout England and the continent that it even could be found sung or referenced
in plays, and also in composed vocal and instrumental settings, some of which I include in this
paper. Outside of England it is still often recognized as an English melody in the title, appearing
with whatever local vernacular translates to “Fortune.”
68
Christopher Marsh, “The Circulation of an English Super-Tune,” 321.
67
Henk Dragstra, Ottway, Wilcox, et. al. Betraying Our Selves: Forms of Self-Representation in
Early Modern English Texts. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, 177.
66
Simpson, The British Broadside Ballad and Its Music, 225.
65
Christopher Marsh, “12 ‘Fortune My Foe’: The Circulation of an English Super-Tune,” in
Identity, Intertextuality, and Performance in Early Modern Song Culture, (Leiden: Brill, 2016),
312.
36
Figure 27: A transcription of Fortune my Foe with the text from a c.1685 ballad sheet
69
When harmonized in an instrumental solo or consort piece, a closer analysis of the other
voices reveals how composers and improvisers of the era chose to harmonize through their
knowledge of counterpoint.
The first example, the beginning of a keyboard setting by William Byrd found in the
Fitzwilliam Virginal Book c.1610-25.
Figure 28: Measure 2 of a transcription of Fortune by William Byrd
70
70
William Byrd, “Fortune,” in Fitzwilliam Virginal Book Vol. 1, ed. John Fuller-Maitland, and
William Squire, (London & Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1899), 254,
https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/d/da/IMSLP05177-TheFitzwilliamVirginalBookV ol1.pd
f
69
“A sweet Sonnet, wherein the Lover exclaimeth...,” Print facsimile. (British Library:
Roxburghe, n.d., ca. 1685), 3.192. https://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/31025/citation
37
Here the harmonic outline resembles closely that of the Passamezzo Antico. Even though
it is not consistent with the rhythmic structure of the Passamezzo, the melody seems to demand
its harmonic structure. This is seen in other versions as well, such as John Dowland’s lute solo
titled Fortune. Once again the harmonic structure of the Passamezzo Antico guides the melody,
and it raises the question of how closely this song is to the Passamezzo progression.
Figure 29: Fortune by John Dowland, the second time through the tune, measure 25
71
Engelsche Fortuyn, found in the Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck, is a rather uniquely
ornamented version since there are more notes written than syllables sung, contrary to Valerius’s
need to add passing dissonances to fit his text into the Daphne melody. This, along with cadential
functions typical of a cantus voice, suggests that a skillful decoration of the simple, lowbrow
melody was inherent to the performing tradition of this song, and composing or improvising an
interesting harmony underneath it would help it earn its place in courtly circles of high art music.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons that it appears in keyboard manuscripts at varying levels of
complexity.
71
John Dowland, “Fortune,” in The Collected Lute Music of John Dowland, ed. Diana Poulton
and Basil Lam, (London: Faber Music, 1995), 189.
38
Figure 30: Engelsche Fortuyn in Valerius’s 1626 Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck
72
Between 1638-50, an English virginal manuscript was compiled (now kept in France and
titled Recueil de pièces pour virginal), including numerous popular dances, dance songs, and
skillful diminutions of many melodies, but it also includes a particularly simple setting of
Fortune my Foe, with only the two halves of the tune.
Figure 31: Fortune my Foe in Recueil de pièces pour virginal
73
73
Richard or Robert Creighton, copyist, “Fortune my Foe,” in Recueil de pièces pour virginal,
a.k.a. Virginal Book; Manuscript, F-Pn Rés 1186, (n.d. ca. 1638-50), 24.
72
Adrianus Valerius, “Engelsche Fortuyn,” in Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck, 132.
39
I believe that this may have served as either a contrapuntal exercise in setting, or as a
visual aid or template to work from when improvising at the keyboard. To start, the
harmonization differs under the 4th note, creating a Bb sonority, opposed to a Gmin sonority in
previous versions, and the top two voices contain many parallel 3rds, typical of a cantus-bassus
contrapuntal framework. Fortune my Foe has an extensive keyboard and instrumental history
that mostly showcases intricate variations with virtuosity, perhaps this simpler setting could have
helped one practice in hopes of achieving the same level of skill and variety found in a setting by
Thomas Tomkins in 1654.
Figure 32: Fortune my Foe by Thomas Tomkins
74
Tomkins’s setting contains numerous variations of the tune, each labeled with a number
and containing diverse musical material. Like the author of the previous tune, he strives for
parallel 3rds between the top two voices, also employing the inverse, 6ths. When these variations
74
Thomas Tomkins, “Fortune my Foe,” in Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris: Réserve MS
1122. (July 4th, 1654).
40
were written in 1654, Tomkins was an old man in a changing world, and he is even referred to as
“The Last Elizabethan”, which informs the title of a book of the same name.
75
In these variations
of Fortune my Foe, he displays his penchant for highly imitative polyphony, typical of the
late-Renaissance English style. Curiously, in the manuscript containing Fortune my Foe, he
seems to make edits or cut out the cantus and bassus voices in particular, which may indicate that
he was composing within a cantus-bassus framework, (see figure 33). It has been established that
Tomkins owned and annotated a copy of Thomas Morley’s 1597 treatise, A Plain and easy
introduction to practical music.
76
Thus it is reasonable to assume that he read Morley’s
instruction concerning a cantus-bassus framework:
Ma. Then (to goe to the matter roundly without circumstances) here be two parts, make in
two middle parts to them, and make them foure, and of all other cordes leave not out the
fift, the eight and the tenth, and looke which of those two (that is the eight or the tenth)
commeth next to the treble that set uppermost.
77
77
Thomas Morley, A Plain and easy introduction to practical music, (London: 1771), 160,
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc86/.
76
John Irving, “Thomas Tomkins’s Copy of Morley’s ‘A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical
Music,’” Music & Letters 71, no. 4 (1990): 486. http://www.jstor.org/stable/736818.
75
Anthony Boden, D. Stevens, et al, Thomas Tomkins: The Last Elizabethan (1st ed.). Routledge.
https://doi-org.libproxy2.usc.edu/10.4324/9781315084794.
41
Figure 33: The 5th and 6th variations of Fortune my Foe in MS 1122, by Tomkins
78
78
Thomas Tomkins, “Fortune my Foe,” 5th and 6th variation.
42
In each of these different known settings, Fortune my Foe exemplifies how closely
music, dance structure, and verse can be connected, and how the tradition of improvisation can
also inform contrapuntal decisions in other voices.
c. La Vignonne:
Among French tunes from the late 16th to the early 17th century, La Vignonne has
remained largely unchanged, with the exception of its name, as it can be seen with numerous
variant spellings like “La vigonne”, “La vingionie”, “L'Avignon”, and so on. The tune is a type
of French courante, a binary dance that according to dance historian, Wendy Hilton, has “two
essential characteristics: a rhythmic liveliness in the interplay of triple and duple elements, and
an inherent nobility.”
79
These same two characteristics are found in La Vignonne, especially
around the cadences. Originally it was assumed to be related to the dance and melody of the
same name, La Bocanne, as French theorist Marin Mersenne notes in his 1636 treatise,
Harmonie universelle. He writes that the melody to La Vignonne was once different and then
supplanted by a new “air” (indicating a vocal origin) that are familiar with today.
80
80
–, “A Dance for Kings: The 17th-Century French ‘Courante’. Its Character, Step-Patterns,
Metric and Proportional Foundations.” in Early music 5, no. 2 (1977): 163.
79
Wendy Hilton, “Courante,” In The International Encyclopedia of Dance. Oxford University
Press.
https://www-oxfordreference-com.libproxy2.usc.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195173697.001.00
01/acref-9780195173697-e-0424.
43
Figure 34: Composite version of La Vignonne
81
The first known version of the tune is found in Robert Ballard’s 1614 publication of
Diverses pièces mises sur le luth. Ballard is a great contributor to the repertoire of Airs de cour,
and while this piece is not attributed to him, there are several reasons to believe that the melody
originally belonged to a texted song. As mentioned previously, Mersenne referred to La
Vignonne as an air, and also, in the contents of Valerius’s Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck, it is
categorized distinctly in the Fransche voisen section as opposed to the Fransche couranten,
where it would likely go if it was an instrumental piece by origin.
82
Finally, the earliest surviving
vocal setting of this melody is dated to 1619, located in a French collection of religious
contrafacts titled La pieuse Alouette avec son tirelire to airs mondains, or “worldly songs”. There
is a small dialogue/scene depicting the life of St. Cecilia set to the tune of La Vignonne, but
under the title is likely a reference to the original text that reads: “Pourquoy me fuyés-vous,
cruelle? / Regardés moy, c’ét un amant”.
82
Adrianus Valerius, “Tafel van de Stemmen...”, in Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck, viii
81
Alis Dickinson, “The Courante ‘La Vignonne’: In the Steps of a Popular Dance,” Early music
10, no. 1 (1982), 56.
44
Figure 35: Deuxième Sur L’air mondain De la Vignonne
83
This melody was used widely throughout the continent, enjoying a particular fame in the
Netherlands, even lasting through the 18th century.
84
It contains characteristics typical of a
French courante, most obviously the strong hemiolas near the cadences, but it also lends itself to
balladry quite well, as demonstrated by the many contrafacts of the tune. There is a decent
amount of harmonic space to be able to fit a new text in without compromising the overall
84
For a comprehensive list of tune concordances across manuscripts and printings, see Burgers,
J.W.J., Grijp, L.P., and Robinson, J.H, “A Newly Discovered Dutch Lute Book: MS Enkhuizen
1667-1,” The Lute in the Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century: Proceedings of the
International Lute Symposium Utrecht, 30 August 2013. (2016): 301–345. For over 100
Dutch-specific songs and concordances containing this melody, search the melody in the
Nederlandse Liederenbank at http://www.liederenbank.nl/
83
“Sur l’air mondain De la Vignonne” in La pieuse Alouette avec son tirelire...; chansons
spirituëlles. (Valencienne: Jean Vervliet, 1619), 21.
45
structure or feel of the tune, and it remains able to be easily identified despite any new textual
ornamentation.
The melody shares much in common with English ballads, and through the application of
contrapuntal norms of the period, as well as borrowing from grounds and other elements of
17th-century compositional language, one can construct (or potentially improvise) a bassline and
harmony that is mostly consistent with existing sources. Take for example the opening line, a
passage descending stepwise that spans a 5th. One may simply borrow from the Romanesca or
from the standard faburden/falsobordone practice and alternate between 3rds and 5ths in the
melody and the bassline, creating a succession of falling 4ths.
Figure 36: Cantus-bassus contrapuntal approach borrowed from the Romanesca
This is a standard contrapuntal procedure that many instrumental harmonizations do, and for the
sake of continuity, Valerius’s Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck contains a part for the bass voice
that does exactly this:
46
Figure 37: Bass voice part from the Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck
85
To compare with solo lute versions of the tunes, here are Robert Ballard’s 1614 “La Vignonne”
from his 1614 publication titled Diverses pièces mises sur le luth and Nicolas Vallet’s 1615
“L'avignonne” from his 1615 publication, Le secret des muses:
Figure 38: Ballard’s La Vignonne transcribed from lute tablature
86
86
Alis Dickinson, “The Courante ‘La Vignonne’,” 57.
85
Adrianus Valerius, “La Vignonne,” in Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck, 175.
47
Figure 39: Vallet’s L’avignonne transcribed from lute tablature
87
Here we see two very different bass settings, the first is Ballard’s which has a unique
harmonization on the first chord, and the second is Vallet’s, which only has small variants, still
belonging to the more common harmonizations. For Ballard, the ascending stepwise motion
directly counters the stepwise descent of the melody, and the rhythmic offsetting allows it to
create suspending dissonance while still prioritizing octaves, 3rds, and 5ths between the bass and
melody. This is a deliberate contrapuntal gesture of contrary motion that works to facilitate
rhythmic and melodic movement, all while remaining in line with the idiosyncrasies of the lute.
Since this is the earliest known version of the tune, it is possible that this was the original
harmonization, and it actually shares shares a beginning melodic figure that outlines a minor
tonality similar to La Bocanne, the dance composed by Jacques Cordier and discussed by
Mersenne in his Harmonie universelle.
88
88
Wendy Hilton, “A Dance for Kings,” 163.
87
Alis Dickinson, “The Courante ‘La Vignonne’,”, 57.
48
Figure 40: The beginning of La Bocanne by Jacques Cordier
89
In La Bocanne, a G minor harmonization seems much more intuitive, given how the
melody strongly outlines G, Bb and D, but there is nothing ruling out alternative basslines with a
major sonority that would mimic La Vignonne. If one follows the regular alternation of 3rds and
5ths under the melody, Romanesca-like patterns of descending 4ths emerge organically as seen
here:
Figure 41: La Bocanne with alternate major harmonization
Admittedly, this is much less elegant and there is no evidence for it ever having existed,
but by simply taking a fragment from a ground bass and respecting contrapuntal norms, this
89
Wendy Hilton, “A Dance for Kings,” 163.
49
experiment demonstrates how La Vignonne was harmonized in different ways during this period.
Here is my minor sonority version to compare:
Figure 42: La Bocanne with contrapuntal-harmonic gestures outlining a G minor sonority
In Vallet’s L’avignonne (Figure 39), the bassline is standard, following the opening
major-sonority Romanesca fragment that most other composers employ, but it differs after the
opening 3rd between the melody and bass. Instead of an expected 4th descent to the Bb, Vallet
chooses to move up to F in parallel octaves before continuing the Romanesca pattern. Did he
defy a contrapuntal norm? It only seems that way in the reduction, but when considering the fact
that this was composed in a multi-voice context, it’s clear that the bassus and cantus resolve
stepwise to the octave, and the Eb in the “altus” does not resolve, it stops sounding. Also, any
lute player would defend the decision to resolve the bassus up, by reminding those unfamiliar
with the instrument that it is much easier to play the open string on F instead of going to the Bb,
and since Vallet writes a Bb in the opening chord that sustains over, it is implied.
Finally, for a mixed English and Continental perspective, William Brade’s 1621 setting is
left untitled, but it is La Vignonne just the same.
50
Figure 43: 5-voice setting of La Vignonne by William Brade
90
In this setting, Brade changes the melody voice by having it resolve upwards. It could be
that he either learned the melody in this way, or that he deliberately altered it so that the next
voice could complete its proper cantizans cadential function. Either way, the bass retains the
same Romanesca fragment.
One might ask whether this opening bass accompaniment has always tended to be
expressed in this way since its initial composition, and to that I would respond with, “Maybe, but
it doesn’t really matter.” The fact is, many composers who have set or re-texted the tune have
primarily chosen this falling 4ths Romanesca fragment to be the most elegant or intuitive
contrapuntal solution when adding a bassline for this part of the melody. La Vignonne contains
another melodic figure that seems to be always harmonized with the Romanesca fragment, but
90
Wendy Hilton, “A Dance for Kings,” 165.
51
this may also be considered a fragment from the cadential moment in the first half of a Folia. At
approximately measures 11 or 23 (depending on how the edition transcribes the triple meter),
there is a strong stepwise descending motive in the melody:
Figure 44: Measure 24-26 of Valerius’s setting in Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck
91
This could have been an essential moment of the dance given how similar it is across all
settings, but without a full reconstruction of the steps there is no way to be sure. All known
settings employ this bassline, ignoring the octave preference.
The descending 4ths pattern noted earlier is not the only contrapuntal fragments that can
be extracted from a Romanesca. When harmonizing the melody that descends stepwise above
that skipping bassline, it is common to have a lower voice accompany at the 3rd or 6th below the
melody, avoiding forbidden parallels. Here are 3 additional examples that demonstrate this, and
also refer back to Brade’s setting in figure 8 for another appearance of this contrapuntal feature.
91
Adrianus Valerius, “La Vignonne,” in Nederlandtsche Gedenck-clanck, 174-175. Figure
transcribed by me.
52
Figure 45: courant from the Drallius Tablature of 1650
92
Figure 46: Courrante Lavigon from the Copenhagen Tablature c.1626-1650
93
Figure 47: La Viona from manuscript by Thomas Ihre of Visby c.1680.
94
94
–, “The Courante ‘La Vignonne’,” 61.
93
–, “The Courante ‘La Vignonne’,” 61.
92
Alis Dickinson, “The Courante ‘La Vignonne’,” 60.
53
In all versions, the augmented and staggered chordal descent leading to the cadence of
the first section can also be seen as inspired by the early Chaconne or Ciaccona bassline.
Figure 48: Measures 5-9 of William Brade’s La Vignonne
95
Figure 49: A transposed version of Monteverdi’s Zefiro Torna, the Ciaccona ostinato
The resemblance is subtle and does not indicate any intentional reference to the dance
(that would typically require including the rhythms specific to the Chaconne along with a
canonic repeat of the ground). Most versions of La Vignonne contain this polychoral-like
response to the melody, and it likely shows the impact that the late-Renaissance Venetian style
had on the rest of the continent.
The parallel 3rds and 6ths in La Vignonne settings do not come from the Romanesca
alone, nor do I posit that composers intentionally borrowed items from other musical structures
95
Wendy Hilton, “A Dance for Kings,” 165.
54
while setting popular tunes. Instead, this points to an existing harmonic language that has already
been well established, from which composers construct musical sentences. When a dance melody
or tune corresponds to an existing musical form or structure, particularly in a binary and strophic
setting, the musician likely knew a number of ways to properly navigate it.
I decided to attempt setting English poetry to La Vignonne in four voices, since it is
within the realm of possibility for someone like William Brade, and there are a great number of
ballads with no known melody. Ross W. Duffin has suggested a single song without a stated
melody could fit the music, from the 1633 tragedy by Thomas Goffe titled The Tragedy of
Orestes.
96
Here is the text transcribed from the page:
Weepe, weepe you Argonauts,
Bewaile the day
That first to fatall Troy
You tooke your way.
Weepe Greece, weepe Greece,
Two Kings are dead,
Argos, thou Argos, now a graue
Where Kings are buried.
No heire, no heire is left,
But one that's mad,
See Argos, hast not thou,
Cause to be sad?
Sleepe, sleepe wild braine,
Rest rocke thy sence;
Liue if thou canst
To grieue for thy offence.
Weepe, weepe you Argonauts, &c.
97
Based on Ross W. Duffin’s suggestion, I used the settings by Brade and Valerius as
models to guide my melody and bass, and it took a bit of maneuvering to fit the text. While I do
not think it fits the tune perfectly, it fits within the conventional guidelines for employing
appropriate tunes for ballad texts that was such a common historical practice.
97
Thomas Goffe, The Tragedy of Orestes, (London: Printed by I.B. for Richard Meighen, 1633),
65.
96
With thanks to Ross W. Duffin for this suggestion in private correspondence.
55
Figure 50: A Song from Orestes to the tune of La Vignonne, set by myself
56
Melodies, counterpoint, dance, and verse all intersect, but there is one additional area that
also influences the composition of 16th-17th-century repertoire that should be discussed, and that
is the rich performing tradition that is adding ornaments in the form of diminutions.
CHAPTER FIVE: DIMINUTIONS AND GROUNDS
The emergence of grounds and standard contrapuntal procedures created an environment
in which the melodies are quite bare, but they are made more beautiful by the addition of
ornamentation through diminution. Diminution is not only for beauty’s sake, it can assist with
counterpoint and when done across multiple voices, it leads to interesting sonorities and
progressions.
a. Salmi Passaggiati:
Diminutions in vocal music can be traced back through the medieval ages, and one of the
more interesting points in the development of this tradition can be found in the Salmi Passaggiati
of the late 16th-17th centuries. The Italian falsobordone during the psalmody of the Catholic
mass was expanded to include practices of singing in alternatim, between a clergy choir,
instruments, paid singers, and soloists.
98
The solo falsobordone was still sung with instruments,
98
An observation of a mass 16th-century Trent points out that, “The singers who performed the
alternatim chant of hymns at Vespers were not usually the same singers who performed the
polyphony: it was the canons or the members of the monastic or collegiate choir who sang the
chant, and they did not need to read the verses in the books, because they sang from memory and
according to local traditions.” found in Marco Gozzi, “Liturgical Music and Liturgical
Experience in Early Modern Italy,” in Listening to Early Modern Catholicism: Perspectives
From Musicology, ed. Daniele V . Filippi and Michael Noone (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 72.
See also, “A second performance question is exactly who sang these compositions: an ensemble
of soloists, a chorus, or even a soloist with some kind of instrumental accompaniment. All three
are possibilities. A late 15th-century composition... and, indeed, all classical, polyphonic
falsobordoni written in the 16th century, are in a style that points to a choral performance.” in
Murray C. Bradshaw, “Performance Practice and the Falsobordone,” 229.
57
but it made use of only one voice that outlined the simple melodic-harmonic progression
respective of the voice type, decorating it with many florid passages of notes, hence the name
“passaggiati.”
Figure 51: Laudate, pueri, verse 8, from Conforti’s Salmi Passaggiati
99
The salmi passaggiati was likely a response to the monody, another genre growing in
popularity during that time.
100
The first publication about the practice was by the papal singer,
100
Murray C. Bradshaw, “Performance Practice and the Falsobordone,” 241.
99
Murray C. Bradshaw, “Giovanni Luca Conforti and Vocal Embellishment,” 23. The bass voice
still outlines the bass function in the falsobordone, but it adds significant embellishments.
58
Giovanni Luca Conforti, which is considered to contain “the first sacred monodies, the first
[sacred] solo pieces with basso continuo accompaniment to appear in print.”
101
He went on to
publish three collections of Salmi in total, one for the soprano voice in 1601, one for the tenor in
1602, and one for the bass in 1603.
102
Similar to Conforti, another Roman singer named
Francesco Severi published a Salmi Passaggiati in 1615, and this publication is significant
because it reiterates the improvisatory nature of these psalms, and even includes an example of
how one might be embellished across 4 voices, as Bradshaw summarizes:
Severi noted that there are others who sing more difficult embellishments than are found
in his volume, but that his purpose was twofold, "not only to publish embellishments that
seem natural and improvised, but which also conform to the ecclesiastical style of
Rome.
103
Figure 52: Selection from Miserere a 4 voci, from Severi’s 1615 Salmi Passaggiati
104
104
Francesco Severi, “Miserere a 4 voci,” in Salmi passaggiati per tutte le voci nella maniera che
si cantano in Roma, (Rome: Nicolò Borboni, 1615), 74.
103
Murray C. Bradshaw, “Performance Practice and the Falsobordone,” 235.
102
Murray C. Bradshaw, “Giovanni Luca Conforti and Vocal Embellishment,” 16.
101
Murray C. Bradshaw, “Giovanni Luca Conforti: ‘Salmi passaggiati’ (1601-1603),” American
Institute of Musicology, Miscellanea V ol. 5: No.1. (Neuhausen-Stuttgart, 1985): xiii.
59
It is clear that decorating a tenor melody through added voices in falsobordone
counterpoint techniques were not the only ways of ornamenting, and in fact, the
harmonic-melodic progressions created the structure for added vocal diminutions.
b. Examples of Diminutions in Tunes:
As has been mentioned in this paper, melodies in popular ballads and airs were subject to
mutation depending on a variety of factors such as the language sung or verse structure of a new
text, the desire for particular contrapuntal procedures in the other voices, and the idioms and
limitations of a particular instrument. The ground bass formulas that became standardized also
became vehicles for functional music that could be decorated with increasingly complex
diminutions as the counterpoint between other voices was ingrained within the performer.
b.1. Greensleeves:
The Romanesca as exemplified through Greensleeves, enjoyed a long history of adding
diminutions. Greensleeves was even officially associated with a ground by the 17th century,
appearing in several important publications, with the first mentioned here being John Playford’s
The Division Violin of 1685.
60
Figure 53: Variations of Green Sleeves to a Ground with Division by John Playford
105
This same tradition of adding diminutions to the melody in the context of a single instrument
lasted until at least the 18th century, when John Walsh included it in his 1706 publication of The
Division Flute.
105
John Playford, “Green Sleeves to a Ground with Division,” in The Division Violin. (London:
John Playford, 1685), 24,
https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/4/42/IMSLP96722-PMLP198850-Playford_John-_divisi
on_violin.pdf
61
Figure 54: The beginning of Green Sleeves to a Ground by John Walsh
106
Greensleeves served as both a melody option for the Romanesca, and as a tune in its own
right, which allowed for numerous melodic divisions and variations informed by both. V ocally,
the melody was still regularly in use for ballads that did not contain a firm setting in musical
notation, and in the same way that Valerius needed to add passing diminutions and rhythmic
alterations to squeeze in new Dutch texts into Daphne, Fortune my Foe, and La Vignonne, it is
106
John Walsh, “Green Sleeves to a Ground,” in The First and Second Part of The Division Flute
(1706). (Utrecht: Musica Repartita, V ol.51, 1993), 9,
https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/5/58/IMSLP79264-PMLP160577-versao_final.pdf.
62
reasonable to assume that ballad singers would extemporize diminutions for both practical
texting purposes as well as melodic interest.
b.2. When Daphne from Fair Phoebus did Fly:
As seen earlier, Jacob Van Eyck included settings of Daphne with virtuosic diminutions
for the recorder in his first publication of Der Fluyten Lust-hof. There were four initially, but the
later printings saw only three remain.
Figure 55: Derde, Doen Daphne…, the third Daphne in Dery Fluyten Lust-hof
107
Like the Dutch recorder sources, there are also several notable Dutch keyboard sources
that include the same melody with variations, such as the Camphuysen Manuscript.
107
Jacob Van Eyck, “Derde, Doen Daphne,” in Der Fluyten Lust-Hof, (Amsterdam: Paulus
Matthysz, 1649), 66-67.
63
Figure 56: The beginning of the 3rd variation of Daphne in the Camphuysen Manuscript
108
This is typical of what you might find in diminution settings, but what else is interesting
is the composer or copyist also decided to include skillful variations for the bass line, similar to
Conforti and Severi (but for a keyboard instrument).
108
Camphuysen Manuscript, “Daphne,” in NL-Uu Hs.20 A 5, Manuscript, n.d.(ca.1652), 41-42,
https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/1/19/IMSLP547061-PMLP680399-Camphuysen_ms_U
B_Utrecht_Hs._20_A_5_NL-Uu.pdf.
64
Figure 57: The bassus line in the same variation of Daphne
109
This type of diminution is very popular with keyboard and instrumental settings during
this time, as solo instruments rarely had the capability of playing both treble and bass parts with
such distinction. The viola da gamba setting by Richard Sumarte mentioned earlier comes close
with its ability to jump around the range to imply a larger instrumentation, but only so many
notes may be bowed in faster passages.
109
Camphuysen Manuscript, “Daphne,” 42.
65
Figure 58: A selection from Dafne for viola da gamba by Richard Sumarte
110
Daphne was a popular air used for diminutions for a variety of reasons, but most
importantly, these diminutions (especially for the solo instruments) demonstrate a fluency in
counterpoint, and display the knowledge of how the missing inner voices would be moving to
harmonize and arrive at cadences in a dance-song framework.
110
Richard Sumarte, “Dafne”, 2.
66
b.3. Fortune my Foe:
Fortune my Foe has also been mentioned as being a favorite for making divisions,
especially seen through the Byrd and Tomkins examples, but there are other notable renditions
that deserve mention, with the first being from the same Camphuysen Manuscript.
Figure 59: De Engelsche Fortuyn in the Camphuysen Manuscript
111
111
Camphuysen Manuscript, “De Engelsche Fortuyn”, 34-35.
67
This version of Fortune my Foe follows the format of other Dutch sources and increases
in complexity over the duration of the piece. In this example, the composer or copyist prioritized
diminution as a way of arriving at consonances through mostly stepwise motion. This can be
seen by examining the beginning with its many functional skips and leaps, to more florid and
exciting passagework.
Another unique take on this melody is another solo viola da gamba work by Richard
Sumarte in the very same Gamba Book as Daphne.
Figure 60: The end of Fortune [my Foe] by Richard Sumarte
112
Within the running lines of this division setting, Sumarte also employs chordal blocks to
emphasize harmonic movement. While it may be tempting to see this as evidence of bass
112
Richard Sumarte, “Fortune [my Foe]”, in the Manchester Gamba Book, by anonymous hand,
n.d.(ca.1670), ed. Phillip Serna, (Chicago: Dr. Phillip W. Serna, 2020), 2,
https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/4/4b/IMSLP651184-PMLP1044457-Sumarte_-_Fortune
_-My_Foe-_-_Bass_Viol.pdf.
68
harmony-driven composition, it is actually the viol’s way of touching the other missing voice
parts to imply their existence within a contrapuntal framework, though I admit that the octave
leaps reinforcing the cadences are somewhat ambiguous as to whether or not it’s implying
another voice or just enriching the sonority.
The intended audience of these settings are also somewhat vague, since the tune was
regularly associated with grim ideas and cheap ballads, it is confusing why some of the greatest
composers of high art music chose to set the melody. Christopher Marsh comments on this when
writing:
In 1672, Matthew Locke criticised a system of tuning for the viol because it allegedly
prevented the instrument from playing anything except ‘such lean stuff as Fortune my
Foe’. Clearly, there was considerable traffic between high and low society, but it did not
always flow freely.
113
While composers like Locke might not appreciate the melody, to Byrd, Tomkins,
Dowland, and others, this tune was perfectly acceptable and it was a melody of considerable
value that could demonstrate both compositional prowess, and great musical skill with their
instrument.
b.4. La Vignonne:
Appearing in over 39 sources, with some 20 spelling variants, La Vignonne has seen its
fair share of diminution settings.
114
Like Daphne it appears in Der Fluyten Lust-hof several times,
and like the Sumarte viol settings, it uses diminutions to assume the role of multiple voices and
to imply the missing voice lines and melodic-harmonic progressions.
114
Alis Dickinson, “The Courante ‘La Vignonne’,” 56.
113
Christopher Marsh, “The Circulation of an English Super-Tune,” 314.
69
Figure 61: Modo 3. of Tweede l’Avignone, the second appearance in Der Fluyten Lust-hof
115
While Van Eyck’s setting is more virtuosic, we see the simultaneous desire and need of
melodic ornamentation as early as its first known appearance, in Ballard’s 1614 Diverses pisces
mises sur le luth.
Figure 62: Reintroduction of the first part of the melody in Ballard’s La Vignonne
116
116
Alis Dickinson, “The Courante ‘La Vignonne’,” 57.
115
Jacob Van Eyck, “Tweede l’Avignone,” in Der Fluyten Lust-Hof, (Amsterdam: Paulus
Matthysz, 1649), 61.
70
This setting adds interesting coloration of the melody by the use of chromatic alterations,
which may seem unnecessary or appear on the page as awkward voice leading. In fact, the same
principle as before can be applied. The strings on a lute will continue to resonate until they are
pressed on or changed to play another note, and this sustain may not be seen on the page, but it is
still heard in the performance. In the example above, in the 6th-7th measures, the Eb to B ♮ in the
low voice could be viewed as a diminished 4th in one voice, but it can also be described as 2
voices, with the B ♮ as continuation of the bass voice G, and the tenor voice’s Eb ending or
resolving ambiguously.
The use of diminutions and melodic ornamentation to create the illusion of harmonic
progression foreshadows the more famous repertoire of solo instruments, like the Bach cello
suites and violin partitas. They are informed by the contrapuntal procedures happening
throughout the piece, and are themselves used as a means of navigating counterpoint. In ballads,
airs and dances, they are used to fit or enhance text, and to use beauty and motion to drive the
ear to the cadence of the poetry or form.
b.5. Practice in Making Diminutions on an Air:
To put some of these ideas to the test, I have set Daphne with diminutions in both
instrumental and vocal contexts. For the instrumental setting, I decided to use a 3-voice texture,
and with the vocal setting, I reduced the Wigthorpe (attr.) setting to a keyboard part with minimal
changes, and placed the singer on the top line.
71
Figure 63: Daphne for 3 voices, bass by Wigthorpe (attr.), tenor and diminutions by me
72
Figure 64: First stanza of Daphne with vocal ornaments. Keyboard part from Wigthorpe
(attr.)
73
Wigthorpe’s setting contains a few contrapuntal oddities that create some interesting
sonorities, it’s unclear whether one can call them mistakes, or if they’re considered passing
dissonances over larger units of harmonic movement. In any case, for the instrumental setting, I
took inspiration from the Van Eyck settings and attempted to showcase that even middle parts
can have improvised or composed diminutions along with the melody part. In selecting my own
compositional constraints, I have followed Thomas Morely’s suggestion of writing in between
previously composed bassus and cantus parts, with slight alterations made. I made sure that
typical cadential functions were still used, even in the case of the cantus and tenor switching
cadence types at the end. Given an early-modern composer or improviser’s knowledge of bassus
and tenor movement, I would imagine that they would know how to better avoid bad
counterpoint on the spot, and even how to employ certain gestures to cleverly avoid any
contrapuntal problems they may encounter, like parallel intervals.
For the vocal setting, I hesitate in placing it in notation, because the text from each line
would inform how the diminutions are made, even in repeated sections. For example, in the first
measure, “Daphne” is just the subject introduced, but in the repeat, the word sung in that same
spot is “silken” which is a descriptive term that the performer could (and I believe should) treat
differently in some way. There is nothing inherently wrong with performing exciting diminutions
to showcase skill, but in the late Renaissance and early Baroque, composers and theorists were
beginning to speak out against singers that failed to prioritize the poetry of the text, as Giulio
Caccini wrote:
...But now I see many of them circulating tattered and torn; moreover I see ill-used those
single and doubled vocal roulades-rather, those redoubled and intertwined with each
other-developed by me to avoid that old style of passaggi formerly in common use (one
more suited to wind and stringed instruments than to the voice)...
And later:
74
For these most knowledgeable gentlemen kept encouraging me, and with the most lucid
reasoning convinced me not to esteem that sort of music which, preventing any clear
understanding of the words, shatters both their form and content, now lengthening and
now shortening syllables to accommodate the counterpoint (a laceration of poetry!), but
rather to conform to the manner so lauded by Plato and other philosophers (who declare
that music is naught but speech, with rhythm and tone coming after; not vice versa) with
the aim that is to enter into the minds of men and have those wonderful effects admired
by the great writers.
117
This concept of respecting the text is generally referring to composed settings of very fine
poetry, and it is up to the performer to decide how much it applies to popular music and ballads
of the day, which were generally regarded as a lower and more common style of music. Also,
given Daphne’s strophic dance form, I would argue that the goal of ornamenting with variety and
intent is much more difficult to achieve. But as mentioned earlier, in the case of Daphne, I
believe these are the original lyrics to the melody, because of how well the melody matches the
declamatory elements and character of the text.
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION
Through the examination of ballads and airs, one can explore the many ways in which
dance, verse, counterpoint, and ornamentation intersect with each other. Their shared vocabulary
are understood to be building blocks of musical sentences found throughout the compositions of
this period. There is no clear case of “what begat what”, because these concepts constantly
informed each other and developed together, to isolate them completely would not allow for a
complete understanding of their actual history. In future research, I hope to analyze more
melodic concordances between songs—including citations from and paraphrases of other
works— in greater detail, in order to better understand the mechanics of the transmission of a
117
John Bass, “Would Caccini Approve? A Closer Look at Egerton 2971 and Florid Monody,”
Early Music 36, no. 1 (2008): 82. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30136033.
75
melody and its musical material, and to trace the ways in which a popular tune was conceived
and blossomed.
76
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Abstract (if available)

Abstract In the 16th and 17th centuries, both melodies and harmonizations of popular ballads and airs were the result of a complex relationship between dance, verse, counterpoint, and ornamentation, each element informing the others. In this thesis, I offer a brief definition of ballads and airs, trace the history of the Romanesca ground bass progression and related grounds, and I explore the interrelationship between elements of the ground bass progressions in the songs When Daphne from Fair Phoebus did Fly, Fortune my Foe, and La Vignonne. I speculate and set a possible English text for La Vignonne, and I discuss the rich tradition of applying dimunitions to these songs in performance, adding diminutions to Daphne. Through this, we can determine building blocks of counterpoint that 16th-17th-century musicians had at their disposal to employ in both composed and extemporized settings, and we can explore ways in which they were likely to employ them, by considering the interwoven contexts of dance, verse, and cadential functions.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Haines, Zachary Dakota (author)

Core Title Grounds and counterpoint in three early modern airs

School Thornton School of Music

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Early Music Performance

Degree Conferral Date 2022-08

Publication Date 07/22/2022

Defense Date 07/22/2022

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag 16th century,17th century,air,ballad,counterpoint,diminution,ground bass,OAI-PMH Harvest,popular song,Salmi Passaggiati,tune

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Gilbert, Adam Knight (committee chair), Gilbert, Rotem (committee member), Kampani, Jennifer (committee member), Yoshida, Jason (committee member)

Creator Email zacharydhaines@gmail.com,zhaines@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC111373976

Unique identifier UC111373976

Legacy Identifier etd-HainesZach-10921

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Haines, Zachary Dakota

Type texts

Source 20220722-usctheses-batch-961 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

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