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Counterpoint , meaning point against point, is the art of combining two or moreindependent melody lines executed simultaneously in one musical piece so that they sound

harmonically well together, even though harmony can be only considered a secondary

preoccupation on this type of composition.

Extensively elaborated during the Renaissance, it was during the Baroque Period when the

counterpoint found its apex with composers such as Johann Joseph Fux and Johann

Sebastian Bach. The first, Fux, had a vital contribution to the systematisation for further

teaching techniques on counterpoint. He was the author of Gradus ad Parnassum , a treatise

on counterpoint, which has become the single most influential book on the teaching of

Renaissance polyphony. Almost all modern courses on Renaissance counterpoint, one of the

main subjects in higher musical education, are indebted to some degree to this work by Fux.

The second, Bach, used the counterpoint techniques in many of his compositions, and also

explored systematically all its possibilities in works such as The Art of Fugue.

At about the same time during the Baroque Period, counterpoint underwent two different

changes. Due to the work of Bach and Fux, the melodic style of counterpoint during the

Renaissance, called first practice, was preserved and systematised. Fux created a system

known as species counterpo int. It consists initially of a fixed melody line of long evennotes named cantus firmus (fixed song). In first species one adds a second part in notes

with same length. In second species the counterpoint line contains two or three notes

against one in the cantus firmus. In third species, however, there is a progress to four or

more against one. In fourth species the counterpoint is one note against one, but moving

alternately, and finally, one adds a part that combines all of these methods. This latter part

is also known as the fifth species or florid counterpoint. This method became importantin the teaching of composition.

At the same time, a style of counterpoint called second practice has emerged, which

allowed breaks from the strict system of rules governing first practice. This style used

dissonances more freely and began to employ a richer use of tone colour, through scoring

and instrumentation. In figured bass compositions the counterpoint line was contained

between the melody and the bass line, each of which stood out because of their different

tone colour. The concerto style, in which a soloist or small group is contrasted with theentire orchestra, is another example of baroque polyphonic counterpoint. These effects

were also used in madrigals and operas. During the Baroque period, counterpoint

developed a more relatively free use of dissonance and tone colour and the species

counterpoint was defined and codified.

It is a common misconception and somewhat pedantic find that counterpoint is defined by

these five species and, therefore, any other kind of counterpoints that does not follow these

rules, is not an appropriate counterpoint. Although many counterpoint compositions of the

period between the Renaissance and Romanticism follow such rules, and do so quite often,

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literally, there are many exceptions. Fux's book and his species concept was simply a

teaching method, not a prescriptive or definitive set of rules for counterpoint.