Yale University Department of Music

Rosalia, Aloysius, and Arcangelo: A Genealogy of the SequenceAuthor(s): Daniel HarrisonSource: Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Fall, 2003), pp. 225-272Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of the Yale University Department of MusicStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30041091Accessed: 29/06/2009 07:02

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ROSALIA, ALOYSIUS,

AND ARCANGELO:

A GENEALOGY OF THE SEQUENCE

Daniel Harrison

Introduction

Among the structures of tonal composition, the sequence is perhaps the most distinctive. Others equally important, such as the harmonic triad, the cadence, and directed voice leading, are found, by way of con- trast, in both predecessor and successor compositional styles, making them generic rather than distinctive. Further, while the use of unprepared accented dissonance sharply distinguishes common-practice tonal proce- dures from those of the Renaissance polyphonic style, experimentation with this feature continues well beyond the boundaries of tonal tech- nique; Schoenberg's "emancipation of the dissonance" is, in this sense, the ultimate and fitting contrapuntal end of the seconda prattica. Yet the sequence is most pointedly not a characteristic of the fully emancipated style, having fallen into disuse in the late nineteenth century as obvious thematic repetition became undesirable; those composers working with tonality in the twentieth century, such as Hindemith, Shostakovich, Brit- ten, and others, eschew it nearly altogether in favor of other kinds of transposed repetition. At the other extreme, the sequence is hardly used before the advent of common-practice procedures in the later seventeenth

225

century, and even then, as will be shown, more as a special rhetorical effect than as a regular compositional technique. It is not only a distinc- tive technique of the common practice, but also co-extensive with it.

At this point, it is useful to define the term, even if it is clear that this paper is not concerned with a category of medieval Latin chant. A good starting point is provided in the work of Jairo Moreno, who defines it as "a musical phenomenon consisting of the successive repetition of a musi- cal object... at two or more levels of a pitch array" (1996, 6).1 Further refinements suggest themselves, such as consideration of the nature and extent (size) of the "musical object," the relationship among levels of a given pitch array, and the number of repetitions of the object. About the latter, for example, the general rule seems to be the larger the musical- object unit, the fewer repetitions a composition can afford before break- ing the bank with boredom. Further, music-theory lore identifies the number 3 (object + two repetitions) as ideal for the sequence, which con- strains the unit size.2

Relying on Moreno but tightening his definition somewhat, this paper treats a sequence along the following lines:

1. A pattern is a musical object constituted by harmonic, melodic, rhythmic, and metric features. The length of the pattern can be described by its rhythmic/metric duration as well as by the num- ber of its discrete harmonic states (chord changes). A standard pattern has one or two harmonic states and lasts up to four beats; a long pattern has more harmonic states, lasts longer, and can be heard as a small, self-contained phrase. The standard pattern is typical for the common-practice period. A pattern may also con- tain motivic subpatterns.

2. The immediate repetition of the whole pattern at a different, non- octave, pitch level produces a pattern transposition. The features of the pattern are preserved in this operation.

3. Another immediate repetition of the pattern at a pitch level "in line" with the pattern and its first repetition produces a pattern sequence, or simply, sequence. By "in line," I mean that the direc- tional vector in pitch space established by a pattern transposition is continued without deviation, subject to a single-octave register change to accommodate certain pitch-space limits.

4. A pattern transposition creates a musical line segment between two points. A sequence, however, implies potential open-ended linear continuation. A sequence is thus projective, in a sense con- sonant with Christopher Hasty's usage (1997, 78-95).3 Being a tonal-rhythmic event rather than a purely rhythmic one, however, sequential continuation creates expectations for eventual closure

226

and change. Sequences can thus be used for a number of rhetori- cal effects, such as transition and climax, that are unavailable to pattern transpositions. Structurally, sequences (especially those with short patterns) create linear progressions according to Schenkerian analysis.

Some features in each of the claims above can be altered without changing underlying properties. For example, the main outlines of se- quence structure remain clear even if the pattern is varied or elaborated in repetition, and even if the directional vector is adjusted slightly to avoid voice-leading problems or to create a rhetorical effect. Such alter- ations became prominent and useful in the nineteenth-century sequence, as Richard Bass has documented (1996).

We will take our compositional bearings from the works of Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), which are situated at the confluence of various streams of pattern repetition and which formed the background of subse- quent developments in instrumental music. As we will see, these streams have headwaters in techniques roughly a century old. Corelli and his con- temporaries used these techniques to create new and powerful means of controlling tonal flow. But Corelli made such control, by sequence and other techniques, an explicit (perhaps even the main) feature of his han- dling of tonal materials, a characteristic that led Manfred Bukofzer to write that he "was the first to put the tonal formulas to systematic use" (1947, 222) and could "take the credit for the full realization of tonality in the field of instrumental music" (220).4 This, combined with other cir- cumstances described later in this paper, makes Corelli's music an appro- priate starting point for what Walter Piston (writing in 1941, only a few years before Bukofzer) called the "common practice." In this light, exam- ining Corelli's sequential technique-including its origins as well as its immediate dissemination and development by others-can shed light on the early history of tonal music.

Corelli's sequence types have two immediate predecessors, samples of which (excerpted from trio-sonata movements) are shown in Example 1.5 The two passages share a common harmonic feature-root motion by descending fifth-a point of comparison whose significance will be assessed later on. But on a strikingly large number of counts, these two sequences are quite dissimilar. The passage at (a) is motivically concen- trated, dissonant by virtue of its constant sevenths, and, as a result, con- trapuntally engaging. By comparison, (b) is motivically expansive unto thematic, triadically consonant, and contrapuntally limpid. Compared to (a), (b) seems the more typically sequential of the two from a later, com- mon-practice perspective, and we will therefore begin our genealogical investigations with it and its ancestors.

227

Rosalia

The sense of familiarity that Example 1(b) offers is due not only to its large patterns and leisurely pace of harmonic change compared to (a), but also to its multi-layered metric and motivic effect. The "fast" level is located at the dotted-quarter beat (parsed according to the ascending eighth-note pattern); the "medium" level, marked as a on the example, is at the half measure and is delineated by the registral transfer of the dou- ble eighth-note pattern; and the "slow" level is at the measure, delineated by transposition of the pattern marked R down a second. The movement of a between different instruments and/or registers demonstrates a tech- nique of motivic alternation characteristic of Corelli's style and that of other trio-sonata composers. This effect is a descendent of polychoral and echo techniques developed at the turn of the seventeenth century by, among others, Giovanni Gabrieli in Venice. Peter Allsop has traced the lineage of these effects in Italian instrumental music from Corelli's gen-

(a) 6

Violin 1

Violin I

Violone e Cembalo

6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 5 6 4 3

(b)

Violin I

Violin II

Violone e Cembalo

R R

R (alt)

tt b 6

22

Example 1 (a) Corelli 2.9.1, mm. 6-8

(b) Corelli 3.5.3, mm. 22-5

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eration back to Gabrieli through other Venetian composers such as Gio- vanni Battista Ricci and Dario Castello. In describing the textural ideals of the Venetian sonata, Allsop points out that

Much of the rhetoric of the Venetian sonata a2 [i.e., two solo instruments and supporting basso continuo] actually has its origins in 'echo' compo- sitions rather than vocal monody, and this coloured the development of the medium through the remainder of the century. This type of composi- tion is essentially antiphonal rather than polyphonic and its transference to the a2 medium lent itself to the cultivation of a limited range of basic textures which became the stock in trade of the Venetian stil moderno sonata (Allsop 1992, 87).

Among the textures he cites are:

* Motivic dialogue: A motivic fragment, often articulated by a rest, is passed between the two instruments;

* Antiphonal statement: differing from the above in greater length of the subject; and

* Parallel movement: extensive parallel thirds between the treble instruments.

In Example 1(b), motivic dialogue (between the continuo and violins) and parallel movement (between the first and second violins) are clearly evident.6 While dispositive evidence of the influence of Venetian echo techniques may be lacking in this case, examples of "echoed" or other- wise "motivically doubled" sequences of the Example 1(b) type abound in Corelli's works. Example 2 shows one instance in which forte/piano alternations quintessential to the original echo technique are used sequen- tially. A multi-layered effect is present here, as in the previous example. The fast subpatterns are marked by dynamic changes, and the slow pat- terns are again marked by transposition down a second of the pattern, labeled once again as R.

A more complex case, without the obvious forte/piano alternations but with "faux" antiphonal effects from alternations of concertino and concerto grosso, is shown in Example 3. And finally, Example 4 presents a sequence without echo or antiphonal effects, but one having the char- acteristic motivic doubling associated with those techniques; note that the doubled material, a, could easily be orchestrated after the manner of Example 3, with the first a given to the concerto grosso and the second to the concertino.

These last three examples bring increasingly to the fore a certain cru- dity in the connection of the patterns, which have been marked as R in the preceding examples. The wealth of material within the R patterns focuses attention on the patterns themselves at the expense of transitions between them. The overall effect is one of simple joinery: each pattern is butted to

229

39

Violin I

Violin II

Basso Continuo

R 42

Vln

Vln

Vc.

6 6 9 6 5 5

Example 2. Corelli 3.5.2, mm. 3944

its successor without any mediating (and strengthening) mortising, result- ing in conspicuous seams in the local structure. Questions arose rather early in the history of music criticism whether this kind of motivic join- ery was artless and to be disparaged. Early criticisms focused on contra- puntal legalities and licenses, as we will see below. These were incon- clusive, but questions of artistic value continued to dog the technique well into the eighteenth century. For example, writing about the composer Franz Xaver Richter in 1772, Charles Burney noted that

His detail and manner of treating [his subjects] is frequently dry and steril, and he spins and repeats passages in different keys without end. The French and Italians have a term for this tediousness, which is wanting in our language, they call it Rosalie, or Rosalia. (The term is derived from the name of a female saint remarkable for repeating her Pater noster, and stringing her beads more frequently than even St. Dominic himself, or than any other pious person than has merited a place in the Golden Leg- end.) An Italian cries out, upon hearing a string of repetitions, either a note higher, or a note lower, of the same passage or modulation, ah, santa Rosalia! Indeed this species of iteration indicates a want of invention in a composer, as much as stammering and hesitation imply a want of wit or memory in a storyteller.7 (Scholes 1959, 240)

230

Burney's account was translated into German, rather freely by J. J. C. Bode, in the following year. Bode curiously ascribed the term Rosalia to the French alone and then omitted Burney's mention of St. Rosalia as well as of the ironic "ah, santa Rosalia" exclamation. More- over, he added a footnote of his own:

The Germans call it a "cobbler's patch" [Schusterfleck], and one can eas- ily see why. I have also heard it rather humorously referred to as a "cousin Michel" [Vettermicheln]. Anyone who has ever heard the well-known song

Concertino

Concerto Grosso

Example 3. Corelli 6.7.1, mm. 24-35

231

Concertino

Concerto Grosso

R R

61

Vc.

Vc.

R R

Example 4. Corelli 6.4.4, mm. 56-67

"Last night cousin Michel was here" will know immediately what is meant when someone says, "this or that composer 'cousin Michels'." (Burney 1959, 267)

Bode's footnote suggests that discomfort with this kind of motivic butting was not confined to the French (and Italians) alone, and, moreover, that by the eighteenth century critical reaction to them tended towards the humorously cutting.

Perhaps stimulated by Bode's translation of Burney, C. E D. Schubart published a short article, "Concerning Rosalias," in a 1774 issue of his Deutsche Chronik. His explanation for the origin of the term differs from Burney's: "A Rosalia is successive repetition of the same motive without preparation. The name comes from an old secular folksong, 'Rosalia, mia cara,' the chorus of which presents a repetition even cruder than in our German "Cousin Michel" (Schubart [1774] 1839, 164).8 He then quoted the passage in question, which is presented in Example 5(a).9 For com- parison, the chorus of "Cousin Michel" is shown at (b). Unlike Burney and Bode, Schubart was of two minds about the aesthetic value of Rosa-

232

lias. Although he viewed them as symptoms of a superficial and trendy Italian style, he nonetheless did not condemn them outright. "Truly, Rosa- lias always bespeak of a spiritual poverty; in music the listener must never be able to guess what will follow," he writes in summary; "Yet there are cases in which Rosalias are permitted-indeed, in which they create real beauty," going on to mention a "Halleluja" by Caldara in which "a sim- ple Rosalia made an extraordinary impression upon my heart." Further along these conflicted lines, Schubart avers that "Rosalias are insuffer- able on the piano, but bearable on the organ... [And] in sacred music they offend less than in opera" (ibid., 165-6).0o

All of Schubart's musical examples of Rosalias involve ascending transposition, despite both his silence on matters of transpositional direc- tion and Burney's explicit indication above that they involve repetitions "either a note higher, or a note lower."" This happenstance may be the cause for the current understanding of Rosalia as an "identical repetition of a melody a step higher."'2 Further, Schubart's examples exhibit possi- bilities for a single type of harmonic support. This has led one scholar further to restrict the meaning of Rosalia to only those sequences that use the harmonic pattern I-IV, II-V, etc. (Jersild 1982). In the following, I will resort to something closer to Burney's original sense of the term and use it to cover cases where prominent seams can be heard between trans- posed patterns. Those by step are the classic cases, but, as we shall see, the technique covers other transpositional intervals as well. The promi- nence of the seams can range from the subtle, as in Example 1(b), to the obvious, as in Example 4. But all involve foregrounding both the motivic content and the transposition of individual patterns at the expense of tran- sitional techniques linking the patterns.

(a) after Schubart 1774

(b)

Example 5 (a) "Rosalia, mia cara," chorus

(b) "Gestern Abend war Vetter Michel da," chorus

233

R R R I I I I

4 R

Example 6. Bull, "Dr. Bull's my selfe," mm. 1-4 (Fitzwilliam Virginal Book #189)

Both Bode and Schubart emphasize the crudity of Rosalias by linking them to folk songs, and Bode's "cobbler's patch" metaphor (via Riepel) further likens the technique to that of a lowly artisan. This suggests that we might look to the schemas of popular music for other ancestors of the sequence. To be sure, the lines of communication between "high" and "low" musical art were not so constrained that the cultured Schubart, Bode and their critic friends did not know (or could not sing) the street ditties "Vetter Michel" and "Rosalia, mia cara." In fact, Rosalias can be found in hybrid repertories that occupy the middle between high and low, such as dances or variation sets on popular tunes. Such is seen in Exam- ple 6, the first strain of an early seventeenth-century variation jig by John Bull in which the bracketed motivic pattern R is repeated twice, first a step higher and then back to the original level. This passage exhibits the characteristic motivic butt-joints of the Rosalia; what it lacks, however, is the consistency of transpositional direction that is essential to the sequence. That is, the passage shows two pattern transpositions, the first upwards, the second downwards.13

It is an open question whether the closely transposed stepwise repeti- tion typical of the Rosalia arose first in art or popular repertories. It cer- tainly found a congenial setting in popular repertories, where repetition has always been a positive value, and Corelli's da camera works in par- ticular have a distinct popular touch. But opportunity was also available in echo compositions; these originally concentrated upon paired motivic statements at the unison, but they eventually used other transpositional intervals. In any case, the technique certainly shows up alongside the

234

extended echo and antiphonal techniques that Allsop discusses in the repertory of Venetian a2 sonatas. Example 7, an excerpt from a 1629 sonata by Dario Castello, is a case in point, with its figurational dialogue extended towards climax (perhaps overly so) by means of Rosalia.

The Castello excerpt quite clearly exposes an important cause of technical-aesthetic discomfort with Rosalia for contrapuntists, different perhaps from those affecting Schubart et al. For the series of ascending five-three chords exhibits a careless disregard for cherished values of composition-namely, variety in harmony, interval, and linear direction. To be sure, consistency of linear direction is one of the features of sequence, and this consistency has potential for positive aesthetic effect, especially in the creation of registral climaxes and nadirs. But, in Exam- ple 7 at least, the structural implication of parallel perfect fifths at every

31

Treble I

Treble II

Trombone & B.C.

34

I

II

Trb./B.C.

36

II

Trb./B.C.

6 6 7 5 4

Example 7. Dario Castello, Sonata #12 for two treble instruments, trombone, and continuo. Allegro #3, mm. 31-38.

235

Violin I

Violin II

Basso Continuo

6 , 6 , 6 ! 7 > ,6-5- b

Example 8. Corelli 2.5.4, mm. 17-20

chord change is difficult to ignore. Further, even if the skilled thorough- bassist avoids them in the accompaniment by the usual contrary-motion methods, prominent perfect fifths are projected in the instrumental parts at every downbeat.14

To a greater or lesser extent, Rosalias give rise to faulty perfect- interval parallel motion. In some cases, such as in Examples 4 and 7, the impression is particularly strong; in others, such as in Examples 2 and 1(b), it is softened somewhat by mediating contrapuntal events. Even so, the problem of contrapuntal continuity is always present. Lovers of Rosa- lias could claim that the seams between motivic patterns constitute what Knud Jeppesen, following Riemann, called "dead intervals," that, in other words, the seams effectively seal off each motivic pattern as a self- contained contrapuntal entity (1970, 160). Certainly, this explana- tion must be invoked for a situation such as the pattern transposition shown in Example 8, where the quarter rests (attempt to) cut off commu- nication between the patterns of the Rosalia and "prevent" the creation of parallel fifths. But even this idea-that rests in a Rosalia could inoculate against bad intervals-was subject to dispute, as will be discussed later in this paper.

Aloysius

This discussion of the potential crudities and contrapuntal inadequa- cies of Rosalia brings us now finally to consider, by way of contrast, the contrapuntally irreproachable passage of Example 1(a). While it shares root motion and directional vector with (b), the passage at (a) has none of its butt-jointed seams, the patterns connected by the much stronger over- lapping joint. Passage (a) also is made up of very brief motivic patterns involving suspension chains, a "learned" device unknown to the ignorant Rosalia or Cousin Michel. It is useful to consider (a) as not directly related to Rosalia, but rather from another part of the family tree.

236

The generating principle of Example 1(a), the chain of suspensions in the upper voices, references a compositional technique far older than the echo and antiphonal effects of early seventeenth-century vogue. Suspen- sion chains and their sequential treatment can be found as early as Josquin, and Example 9 shows a particularly effective case. The excerpt is taken from the most profound point in Josquin's lament for Ockeghem, a passage in which he sounds the names of those who should be Ock- eghem's principal mourners: Josquin himself, Brumel, Pierchon (de La Rue), and Compere. This startling direct address to living people is expressed by means of a canonic device involving suspensions, produc- ing a sequence. The motivic material of the canon consists basically of an unordered intervallic motion {+1,-2 }, where the numbers indicate dia- tonic steps and the plus/minus signs indicate direction. In the deployment of this basic interval motion, ordering constraints come into play, so that the upper two parts use (+1,-2) in a canon at the lower fifth with a one- measure time interval.15 The lower parts use (-2,+1) also in canon at the lower fifth, but with a one-half-measure time interval; the lower canon begins a half-measure after the upper. The net result is outer voices mov- ing in parallel tenths, an alto moving in contrary motion with the outer voices, and a tenor who, because of the half-measure time interval from his dux, presents with a series of ligatures. This remarkable passage is clearly rhetorical in intent; the unusually persistent syncopation of the

118

Jos - quin, Bru - mel, Pir

Jos - quin...

Jos - quin...

Jos - quin...

123 chon, Com - - p8 - - re

Example 9. Josquin Desprez, La Diploration de Johan. Ockeghem, mm. 118-26

237

tenor allows for a metrically consistent repetition of the syllables of each composer's name, emphasizing the direct address.

These suspensions, however, are all consonant: 5-3-5-6 as reckoned from the bass. And this points up the principal difference between six- teenth-century suspension chains, composed of consonant syncopes, and seventeenth-century ones, in which dissonances are chained, as in Exam- ple 1(b). Whereas the consonant syncope-chain develops as a rhetorical device of the Renaissance polyphonic style, underscoring, as we have just witnessed, a particular point or sentiment in the text,16 the dissonant chain originates from an early seventeenth-century technique of exten- sion through repetition of cadential figures-of what Rameau appropri- ately called "avoiding cadences while imitating them."17 This technique is illustrated in simple strict-contrapuntal terms in Example 10. The sit- uation at (a) is a standard three-part formula involving a cadential 2-3 suspension between the cantus firmus in the descant and a fourth-species line in the middle voice; a first-species line is in the bass. The prototype of cadential prefixion, shown at (b), projects the cadential suspension backwards for some measures, increasing the power of the final cadence by starting the cadential drive sooner. The rhetorical effect of this device can be increased further by coordinating with the third voice to create "deceptive" cadences, an effect shown in the example in the third mea- sure of (b). There, the possibility of a C in the bass following the previ- ous G sets up a cadence on C-which is, of course, avoided by the sus- pending of B. This effective intensification of cadential extension brings forth a sequence, as the brackets show.

Before exploring the sequential possibilities of cadential prefixions, it

(a)

(b)

Example 10. Cadential Extension

238

10 10 10 10 10

( 5 6 5 5 6 5 6 5 6 5 6 5 6 5)

so 1 (2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3)

Example 11. Frescobaldi, Canzona Prima (Second Book of Toccatas, etc.), mm. 82-8

is worth noting that chains of both consonant syncopes and dissonant cadential suspensions were used extensively in the early seventeenth cen- tury-that, in other words, both techniques of suspension were merged into a joint "fourth-species" technique. A characteristic, and by no means isolated example, is shown in Example 11, the conclusion of Frescobaldi's Canzona Prima (Second Book of Toccatas, 1627). The passage is in two sections, a climax based upon a series of ascending 5-6 syncopes, as indi- cated by thoroughbass signatures (added by the present author), and an extended cadence, using a descending chain of 2-3 suspensions in the upper voices. While neither part is strictly sequential, both are motivically concentrated, as in Example 1(a). In the first part, after the alto subject entrance is completed (at the second beat of the second measure), the upper voice moves (with one displacement by octave) in parallel tenths with the bass, using, at first, a motivic rhythmic figure. The tenths and the figure are shown with arrows and brackets, respectively. In the second part, constant sixteenths in the left-hand part are organized into a consis- tent motivic contour. Again, neither part is a sequence because of motivic variation within the patterns, but both have the motivic concentration characteristic of the sequence.

The initial development of this kind of fourth-species technique into the sequence is located by Allsop in the instrumental works of the early seventeenth-century composer Tarquinio Merula:

239

More than any other composer of his generation, [Merula] utilizes con- sistent harmonizations of recurrent bass patterns as an important compo- sitional device. The commonest are those formed upon scalic basses, typ- ically chains of [X] ij chords in rising passages and, slightly less usual, a series of [Y] 7-6 suspensions on a descending bass... Another much used pattern alternates a rising second with a descending skip of a third- almost invariably harmonized with a series of [Z] i chords. These for- mulas, which occur in both fast and slow movements, of course became the staple fare of the late seventeenth century, but before Merula they are remarkably rare, and their consistent use constitutes one of his most sig- nificant contributions. (Allsop 1992, 135)

The boldface letters in the passage (added by the present author) refer to three different fourth-species types. The first, X, is the series of 5-6 syncopes already encountered in Example 11; the second, Y, is the dis- sonant cadential prefixion, with the counterpoint lines inverted so that the 2-3 suspension is made into the 7-6; and the third, Z, is based on a com- bined-species prototype of the cadential prefixion, sketched in Example 12.

(a)

6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

(b)

6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Example 12. Tarquinio Merula II quatro libro delle canzoni da suonare a 2-3. (a) La Loda, mm. 14-15

(b) L'Anselma, mm. 29-30

240

It might be thought that invoking fourth-species counterpoint in the present context is somewhat simplistic and even anachronistic, consider- ing that Merula's music predates Johann Joseph Fux's famous treatise by some seventy years.18 Of course, this gap is the opposite of what it at first seems, for Fux's theory was, if not based on Palestrina's late sixteenth- century style, then conceived as an homage to that "celebrated light of music"-who died the year Merula was born. Further, it appears that, for Fux, composers after Palestrina's time (likely including Merula and his contemporaries) often evinced an "unrestrained insanity" of technique not suitable, to say the least, for study and imitation (Fux [1725] 1943, 17-18). Despite this impasse, forcing Fux's alter ego Aloysius into dia- logue with Merula et al. results in the disclosure that Fux's fourth-species counterpoint ends up modeling Merula's sequential technique more closely than it does Palestrina's suspensions.

To arrive at this unexpected conclusion, we must first get past Aloy- sius's own explanations, which amounts simply to the fact that fourth species "is called ligature or syncope, and can be either consonant or dis- sonant" (ibid., 55).19 While this statement hides the separate stylistic ori- gins of consonant and dissonant suspensions, merging the two techniques into a single category, it also seems to reduce fourth-species counterpoint to a possibly indiscriminate use of suspensions. Dissonant suspensions, in particular, suffer from a lack of stylistic context in Aloysius's presen- tation, being explained in the most general terms and not as a special device for cadences:

One can see that it is easy to find the consonance into which any disso- nance must resolve; that is to say, it must be resolved to the consonance which would occur on the downbeat of the following measure if the retar- dation were removed. Therefore, if the cantus firmus is in the lower voice, the interval of the second must be resolved to the unison, that of the fourth to the third, that of the seventh to the sixth, and that of the ninth to the octave. (Ibid., 56-57)

From this list, Aloysius restricts the usage of 2-1 and 9-8 suspensions, prohibiting them in series on account of illicit parallels; yet he still allows single cases, since there is nothing wrong with the underlying conso- nances they displace. Even so, there is but one illustration of a two-part 2-1 or 9-8 suspension in both the fourth- and fifth-species chapters, with one additional three-part illustration in the fourth-species chapter, and two more in the fifth.20 Clearly, while Aloysius allows the single 9-8 in the- ory, he gives little encouragement in practice. This subtle favoring and disfavoring of certain dissonant suspensions suggests that Aloysius's ex- planation of dissonant suspension as displaced consonance, while cover- ing the mechanics properly, allows for too many dissonant suspensions that have no stylistic precedent or contexts. Simple contexts can be found,

241

(a)

(b)

Example 13 (a) Fux [1725] 1943, fig. 143 (b) Fux [1725] 1943, fig. 94

however, in Aloysius's own counterpoints and those of his student, Jose- phus, and they suggest a further refinement of the concept of fourth- species dissonant suspension.

In counterpoints of three or more parts, the single suspensions 4-3 and 9-8 are always treated as components of 53 and '9 respectively, mean- ing that a 2-3/7-6 relationship exists between the upper parts. In other words, both the 9-8 and the 4-3 can be understood as cadential 2-3/7-6 types with an additional third part below. In the two-part counterpoints, the 9-8 is so rare as to be an exception, and the 4-3 is, perhaps surpris- ingly, only somewhat less so, being used only twice.21 In contrast, the 2-3/7-6 formation is used frequently in two-, three-, and four-voice set- tings, so much so that it appears to be the default dissonant suspension of fourth-species counterpoint. The other dissonant suspensions, as the pre- vious discussion has suggested, can easily be understood as versions of the default with added bass parts.22

Significantly, in the model counterpoints, the 2-3/7-6 formation is the only suspension type used in series.23 Aloysius pointedly discourages overuse of this formation; but once again his composed examples belie his own advice, this time in the other direction.24 In the contest between the ideals of contrapuntal "harmony," where variety of melodic and har-

242

monic interval is prized, and the effective compositional rhetoric of cadential prefixion illustrated in the dissonant suspension, the latter often prevails in Aloysius's fourth-species environments and, as a result, pro- duces rudimentary sequences. Indeed, Aloysius passes over without com- ment the remarkable three-part counterpoint shown in Example 13(a), in which the first-species line in the descant is entirely in parallel tenths with the cantus-firmus bass. While not strictly sequential (save for the caden- tial prefixion), the counterpoint shows a telltale sign of sequential tech- nique-pattern transposition-in the strict dependence of the first-species line upon the varying "transpositional interval" of the cantus-firmus line.25 The utility of fourth-species counterpoint as preparation for a se- quential technique involving both consonant and dissonant cadential sus- pension chains, suggested by circumstances discussed above, is spectac- ularly confirmed in Example 13(b), which is taken from that portion of Gradus ad Parnassum dealing with fugue (Mann 1958, 94). This coun- terpoint obviously models the passage from Merula shown in Example 12, as well as the many similar passages found in the work of later com- posers, including Corelli. It does not-pace Aloysius-model anything found in Palestrina.

Arcangelo

Although Merula and his contemporaries may have begun to restrict the cadential prefixion motivically, creating thereby the suspension se- quence, Arcangelo Corelli and his contemporaries refined it using com- paratively sophisticated contrapuntal techniques that increased the num- ber and type of suspension sequences. As we will see later, they also betrothed these to Rosalia, an alliance that was eventually fully consum- mated in the works of Vivaldi, whence it descended to J. S. Bach, among others, to become a settled-and anonymous-technique of the common practice.

The following discussion engages in a detailed examination of the contrapuntal structures, conditions, and possibilities that affect Corelli's sequential technique. The narrative here perforce brackets historical con- text-the genealogy-while examining structural properties-the genetic code-against a background of strict-counterpoint prototypes. These prototypes are organized into seven classes: four with descending vectors and three with ascending. The rates of descent and ascent can vary within each class depending upon the use of additional elaboration, which rules out the more usual sequence classification by consistent pattern-transpo- sitional interval (e.g., descending third, ascending fifth).

Descending prototypes, based on 2-3/7-6 cadential prefixions, are examined first. At the outset, we must make a distinction between these two inversionally-related structures and reserve the "2-3" label for those

243

formations where the suspended voice is in the bass, retaining "7-6" sit- uations where it is in an upper voice.26

Example 14 presents a catalog of increasingly complex elaborations of the basic 7-6 formula that is shown by the staff combination Al (i.e., staves A and 1 sounding together). Examples of each elaboration in Corelli's works are shown in the boxed text, except for Al itself, the Me- rulan formula so common that specific examples are redundant.27 While the increasingly complex elaborations of this type in combinations A2-A5 are largely self-explanatory, we should take note of suggestive connections to less complex elaborations, ones in which the 7-6 suspen- sion is implied but nonetheless suppressed. The most important is the suc- cession of descending parallel6 chords-as ubiquitous in Corelli's music as Al itself-which would appear initially to be unrelated to cadential prefixion. Example 15, however, suggests otherwise. There, two related

A

1.1.2, mm. 32-3; 1.3.2, mm. 38-9; 1.12.4, mm. 26-8

7 6 5 1.4.3, mm. 3-6; 1.5.2, mm. 2-3 3 3

7 6 6 3 3

7 6 5 3 3

1.8.2, mm. 4 and 14

3.3.4, mm. 19-20

6 7 6.7.5, mm. 58-63; 1.12.1, mm. 2-3

Example 14. Class A sequence types (descending): 7-6 suspension chain in outer voices, inessential seventh chords

244

A

1

2

3

4

5

Violin 1

Violin 2

Violone e Organo

Violin 1

Violin 2

Violone e Organo

5 6 6 7-6 6 7-6 6 7 5 S4

Example 15. Corelli 1.2.3, mm. 1-8, 24-9

cadential approaches, mm. 5-8 and mm. 24-29, are paired in such a way that the former could profitably be thought of as a deformation of the lat- ter-that is, as a cadential-prefixion figure with the suspensions removed. The approach to the Phrygian cadence in mm. 5-8 uses parallel 6 chords; but in a similar approach at mm. 24-9, cadential-prefixion suspensions appear, resulting in combination A3 of Example 14, a variant that pre- serves the half-quarter rhythm characteristic of the movement. Parallel | chords in Corelli are sometimes described with reference to fauxbourdon, as if these formations were unaltered remnants of a fifteenth-century vocal technique. The alternative presented here may be superior: as non-sus- pending variants of cadential prefixion.

Another related elaboration is shown in the alternate descant line of Example 14, A'. This line, either by itself or in combination with line A', is not found in Corelli's works. Examples can be found in the work of earlier composers, however, in contexts that apparently did not interest Corelli.28 Example 16 contains two passages from a work by Samuel Scheidt commonly known as the Canzona Bergamasca.29 The first pas- sage, mm. 29-34, contains a combined AA'. Although the fifth leaps to a third over the 6 chord instead of progressing to the sixth as in the A' model, this license frees the cadential prefixion from potentially confus- ing interference from the A' line. The second passage, mm. 122-8, is the

6 t 6 6 6 6 6

24

245

Example 16. Scheidt, Canzona Bergamasca SSWV 64 (Ludi Musici I, 1621)

triple-meter motivic relative of the first. Here is found only line A', with- out the 7-6 series. (The fifth can move to the sixth in this case without fear of encumbering a cadential prefixion.) Even so, despite the absence of the 7-6 prefixion, its spirit seems nonetheless to pervade the passage in the same way as it did in the Corelli excerpts in Example 15. In this way, both the 5-6-(8) motion of line A'and motion by parallel 6 chords seem enabled by an underlying structure of 7-6 cadential prefixion.

Returning now to the more elaborate versions of class A shown in Example 14, we note that by equalizing the duration of ornamental tones in A2-5, another 7-6 type results in which the resolution of the 7-6 sus- pension occurs over a change of bass.30 Combinations of this type belong to another class and are shown in Example 17(a). Staff B contains the basic 7-6 suspension (cf. the treble and bass ofAl), and staff 1 contains the middle voice of staves 3 and 4 from Example 14, now made rhyth- mically even and placed underneath the suspension voices.31 Corelli fre- quently ornaments this Merula-style sequence (B 1) as in B 1 la; instances are given in the boxed text. Subposing the leaping bass from A4 and A5 results in combination B 1+2.32 Combination B3 (the equal-duration ver- sion of A5) produces a 7-7 series, although the voicing of the chords is not consistent, as the thoroughbass indicates; the first chord lacks a fifth, and thus conforms to the traditional 7-6 suspension-chord construction. The second chord has a fifth but lacks an octave. Fully consistent voicing is obtained in version B3b, which adds a line in parallel with the 7-6 sus- pension. The differences between B3 and B3b might seem slight, but by

246

voicing all the chords in the sequence consistently as seven-five-three chords, B3b completes the development of the sequence type as a series of essential seventh chords out of the original inessential 7-6 context. Line b adds not only textural richness to the sequence, but also an additional source of energy since, by doubling the bass on the second half of the measure, it dissonates with the upper line of 3. One way to understand the contribution of line b is as a metrically shifted 2-3/7-6 formation with the upper line of 3, illustrated in Example 17(b). In this way, the leaping notes of line 2 can be seen as alternating "castings out" from the whole- note lines of (b), appearing at every change of whole note. In Corelli's

(a)

B

1

2

3

6 5 5 3

1.12.1, mm. 11-12; 3.11.2, mm. 35-6; 4.2.1, mm. 2-3 etc.

8 5 5.3.4, mm. 20-2; 3.7.4, mm. 3-6 7 3 3 8

etc.

8 7 3

8 b: 7

3

(b)

B

2

line 3 top

line b

Example 17. Class B sequence types (descending): 7-6 suspension chain in upper voices, essential seventh chords with bass

in descending fifths

247

C

1

2

6 6 (6) 5 5

B1

4 3

9 6 3.5.4, mm. 30-2; 3.6.2, mm. 5-6

9 8 3.3.3, mm. 5-6; 6.5.3, mm 9-12

6.8.5, mm. 15-18; 2.10.1, mm. 10-11

Example 18. Class C sequence types (descending): 7-6 suspension chain in upper voices, double-length unit

5

Violin 1

Violin 2

Violone e Cembalo

7 9 6 5 9 6i 5 6b 5 9 6 6 6 9 6 6 1t 4 3 4b 3 5 5 5 5

C2a Cl

Example 19. Corelli 2.5.1, mm. 5-10

works, examples of B3 and B3b cannot be distinguished by thoroughbass alone, but by foreground figuration (see Example 25 below) or by differ- ing voice-leading contexts to which a thoroughbassist would be sensitive. However, the basic type, with or without line b, is quite common; one instance-shown in Example 1(a)-inaugurated our entire discussion of Corelli's sequences.

The third class of 7-6 formation, apparently an original contribution of Corelli, is shown in Example 18. Here, the unit of sequence pattern, shown by the dotted bracket, is twice as long as in the previous types. The first half of the pattern consists of a B 1, and the second of a cadential-res- olution figure that seems to "resolve" the first half. (See the discussion above concerning the similar situation illustrated in Example 10.) The

248

second half of the pattern can receive thereby a mild tonic accent, which can be strengthened by altering the B 1 fragment so that both chords are in 6 position as well as by adding some or all of the parenthesized acci- dentals. C2 extracts a "first-species" version from Cl that Corelli seldom uses; more frequent is a "third-species" elaboration of C2, a typical ver- sion of which is C2a.33 That Corelli considered C1 and C2 fundamentally similar is shown in Example 19, a passage in which a 2-3 suspension chain in the violins is treated sequentially first by C2a and then by Cl. Note that the change here is not a simple matter of figuration; the switch takes place after C2a moves from D to Bb, whereupon Cl picks up Bb before moving to G, making the BL, area of the passage twice as long as the other harmonic areas.

So far, we have seen three classes of sequences based on the 7-6 caden- tial prefixion. Using principles of invertible counterpoint, Corelli fash- ioned certain 2-3 forms of these classes, although his options were quite limited, as we will see. Some of the possibilities are shown in Example 20. The 2-3 series is on staff D, and above it are the admittedly prob- lematic supplementary lines that forced Corelli to use Dl almost exclu- sively, with one important exception to be discussed below. The contra- puntal problems of D1- if one were to be a stickler-are between the whole-note line of D and the suspended line of 1, which moves by 5-4/4-5 progression (the difference depending on whether line 1 is between the elements of line D, which, if so, would have to be realized as 9-10); the issue is whether the progression of fourths and fifths legitimately destroys

6 - 6 2--- 23

5---6 2 3

4-----5 3-----4

5- 6 4 5 5 6 2-3 2--3 2 3

1

2

3

4

D

Example 20. Class D sequence types (descending): 2-3 bass-suspension chain

249

any consecutive fifths.34 The lower line of 1, which alternately converges on the interval in question and then leaps down to an imperfect conso- nance, takes attention away from the questionable line. The problem of consecutive fifths is greater in D2, where the fifths are formed with an outer voice and accented to boot. These fifths are mitigated, however, by being broken up by sixths. Unlike Dl, there is no flexibility of realizing the 2-3 motion of D as 9-10; were line 2 interposed between the voices of D consecutive fifths would result with the whole-note line (with no intervening interval to mitigate them).35 Corelli never used D2. Nor did he use D4, a double-length pattern inverted from type C, which offers a line in breves to break up consecutive fifths; the immobility of line 4 surely posed compositional problems he would have rather avoided.

But he did try D3 once, in a slightly ornamented version that both made the fifths dangerously apparent and played into a weakness of thorough- bass notation that, in this case, worked to suggest that consecutive fifths were a compositional intention. The passage, shown in Example 21, sparked one of those ardent controversies between learned musicians so characteristic of seventeenth-century Italy; Allsop has termed it the "Affair of the Fifths."36 The reduction shows the underlying basis of the passage in D3, a basis that Corelli explicitly claimed. But he both deco- rated the resolution of the suspension by anticipation and put a rest where the moment of suspension was to occur. The anticipations placed the fifths closer to the beat, making them more apparent, and the rests in the bass voice prevented him from writing the 4 thoroughbass signatures since rests normally do not take signatures.37 What is left in the thoroughbass is a series of blatant 5s. Interestingly, the arguments in the controversy fo- cused on whether rests in general, and the eighth rests here in particular, were sufficient to "save" the fifths. The fact that the implied suspension was a dubious 4-5 and that it was deployed in series seems not to have been pertinent.38 All in all, Dl has the fewest contrapuntal problems of the 2-3 types and thus was used extensively whenever Corelli wanted to vary the basic 7-6 formulas through invertible counterpoint.

We turn now to the ascending prototypes. Example 22 shows a sche- matic of a technique for which Corelli became justly famous: the braid- ing of upper lines in a series of 2-3 suspensions to create an overall ascending effect. Note that the general ascent belies the origin of 2-3 sus- pension chains in cadential prefixion; the invention of this figure marks the independence of the dissonant-suspension sequence from its struc- tural origins. Interestingly, while the 2-3 braid easily lends itself to se- quential treatment in the bass, Corelli chose such treatment only occa- sionally since impressions of parallel octaves were all too easy to create. El shows his typical treatment, breaking up the octaves with sixths, although in both instances from op. 4 Allemandes cited in the example, Corelli ornamented the bass as in la, which repairs (if that is the word)

250

Violin 1

Violin 2

Violone Cembalo

Reduction

Vln. 1

Vln. 2

B.C.

5 5 5

5 6 6 6 7 5 4 5 5 4

Red.

Example 21. Corelli 2.3.2, mm. 3-6

the broken-up octaves. Of course, any parallel octaves are really illusory from the perspective of contrapuntal theory, since they are not consecu- tive between the bass and the same upper voice. Corelli's interest in find- ing and exploiting loopholes in the contrapuntal law met with success in this case, since no controversy like the "Affair of the Fifths" arose in response to treatments like Ela.39 Combination E2 is rare in Corelli's works, although three short instances are cited. Yet it is notable for the connection of variant 2b, via techniques shown in Example 14, to ascend- ing sequences involving 5-6 motions, which will be discussed shortly. Combination E3, a double-pattern sequence, has but one derivative in Corelli's works, as shown in the example.

Corelli invented a variant of the 2-3 braid shown in Example 23 in which the upper two voices alternate as agent and patient in a suspension series. By moving a voice up a fourth (the crossover interval of the orig-

251

2 3

2 3

2 3

6 4.1.4, mm. 9-10; 4.11.3, mm. 6-7

4.2.4, mm. 44-6; 3.6.4, mm. 28-9; 3.3.4, mm. 47-9

Example 22. Class E sequence types (ascending): 2-3 suspension braid in upper voices

F 2 36 7 63

4 3 4 3 3.1.2, m. 31; 6.2.4, mm. 44-6

Example 23. Class F sequence type (ascending): Alternating 2-3/7-6 suspension braid with bass in ascending fifths

252

9 8 cf. 4.11.3. mm. 1-3

inal braid) at the resolution of 2-3 and 7-6 suspensions, a sixth and third respectively are created, indicated on the example as 2-[3]6 and 7-[6]3. Although neither of the upper two voices actually crosses over the other, each takes a turn as a 4-3 suspension with the bass in combination Fl.

In addition to the cadential prefixion, fourth-species technique also encompasses consonant syncopes, as was discussed on page 239. Only one basic type was cultivated, which involves stepwise ascent using 5-6 motion. The passage from the Frescobaldi toccata shown in Example 11 suggests the reason for this restriction: to provide an ascending counter- part for the descending types based on cadential prefixions. Consonant suspensions are fundamentally indifferent to direction, since no down- ward pressure is exerted by the requirements for dissonance resolution; they can support general ascent or, as was shown in the passage from Josquin (Example 9), general descent. Having both a wealth of descend- ing sources for sequence and a newly invented but not particularly adapt- able source for ascent in the 2-3 braid, Corelli focused attention on the basic type illustrated in Example 24. Gl, invariably voiced as shown with

G

a 3.7.4, m. 16; 3.12.5, mm. 6-8; 5.8.2, mm. 13-14

1

2

3

G

4

5 6

5 6 2.7.2, mm. 22-3 (with Ga); 4.1.4, mm. 25-6

14.5.4, mm. 8 10

|3.12.3, mm. 9-11; 4.7.3, mm. 9-14, 17-21

b

Example 24. Class G sequence type (ascending): Consonant 5-6 syncopes in upper voices

253

Basic Direction Type suspension Characteristic feature Example

A 7-6 Inessential seventh-chords 14 B 7-6 Essential seventh-chords 17

Descending C 7-6 Double-length unit 18 D 2-3 Bass suspension 20

E 2-3 Braid 22 Ascending F 2-3 Alternating braid 23

G 5-6 Consonant syncope 24

Table 1

the top voice in syncopes, was inherited directly from Merula, who cul- tivated this combination extensively (Allsop 1999, 85). A not infrequent single-line expression, often found in the violin sonatas, op. 5, is Gal, in which the top voice leaps from the third of a | chord to the sixth of a 6, occasionally filling in with a passing note the connection to the next third. Combination G2 is Corelli's main embellishment, which afforded him more rhythmic activity than Gl. Frequently in fast movements, the dotted-half note of the example was further embellished with a complete lower neighbor. Corelli did not use G3 as a rule, although one (highly embellished) example is provided. However, an effect very similar to G3 is found in G'4, in which the formerly whole-note voice of G moves in parallel with the 5-6 half-note voice. Because this motion would produce a fourth if the bass remained as in line 1, the bass is constrained to move in order to provide consonant support. The upper voices are typically dis- posed as in line b, which produces a more fluid, contrary-motion line with the bass while preserving the upper-voice parallel-third motion found in many of Corelli's Rosalia sequences.

A tabular summary of the seven strict-counterpoint prototype classes is presented in Table 1, keyed by direction, lettered type, motivating sus- pension, and characteristic feature.

Rosalia and Aloysius

Despite the different origins and developmental paths of the Rosalia and the fourth-species sequence--epitomized in Examples 1(a) and (b) and the associated discussion-these two types began to be strongly allied in late seventeenth-century northern-Italian instrumental music, with the result that distinguishing features of the two were merged to various ex- tents. Starting from the property of pattern transposition common to both, we can note essential similarities between the prototypes discussed in the last section and various serial transpositions of thematic patterns, of which

254

that by second constitutes the classic Rosalia. Corelli and his contempo- raries expanded the purview of the Rosalia to encompass not only trans- position by second but also transposition by third, which was compara- tively rare before this time. Combined with the possibilities of serial transposition by fifth or fourth, a feature of imitative writing since the six- teenth century,40 these transposition types constituted a repertory of sequential techniques paired by direction and transpositional interval, which is shown in Table 2. Two examples of each Rosalia type are given according to the number of repetitions of the thematic pattern; those with two patterns (pattern transposition) remind us that Rosalias need not form sequences themselves-something already suggested by Examples 6 and 8. Three-pattern Rosalias (i.e., sequences) are also shown in all but one case.41 Each Rosalia type is matched to a strict-counterpoint prototype based on interval of pattern transposition. Different kinds of foreground figuration affect the analysis of transpositional interval shown in the table.

The situation is illustrated in the relationship between "Descending fifth" and "Descending second by descending fifth."42 Example 25 shows a typical situation in which the descending motion by second (shown with brackets) is crossed with the faster descending-fifth rate marked out by the beamed arrows. The figuration is not quite consistent, which emphasizes the descending-second motion at the expense of the other. As we shall see, in Vivaldi's style, the two are often fully equalized.

Example 26 presents a more complicated case that also illustrates one way by which the Rosalia and fourth-species types were combined into a single entity. Measures 26-9 contain Rosalias in descent, the patterns of which are marked by the "R" brackets. These measures as a whole do not form a standard sequence, since the intervals of transposition are not

Rosalia type Examples (# of units) Fourth-species type Ascending 4th 4.6.1, mm. 21-4 (2)

B3b = Descending 5th 6.7.1, mm. 24-30 (3)

Ascending 3rd 3.5.3 mm. 1-4 (2)

E3 4.5.2, mm. 13-19 (3) 3.3.4, mm. 38-41 (2) E1,2 Ascending 2nd by Ascending 5th Ascending 2nd 4.9.4, mm. 5-10 (3) G F

Descending 2nd 2.2.1, mm. 5-6 (2) Descending 2nd by Descending 5th 2.2.2, mm. 25-30 (3) B, Dl

3.1.3, mm. 32-5 92) Descending 3rd C, D4 1.73., mm. 35-40 (3) Descending 4th 4.6.3, mm. 6-8 (2) F = Ascending 5th

Table 2

255

Concertino

Concerto Grosso

Example 25. Corelli 6.12.2, mm. 5-7

Violin

Violone e Cembalo

6 6 5 6

30

Vln.

B.C.

7 7 4 5

Vln.

B.C.

B B

Example 26. Corelli 5.1.5, mm. 26-36

256

6 7 6

"in line": they differ from the first to the second pattern (B-A, descend- ing second) and the second to the third (A-Ft, descending third); a pat- tern on G is omitted because of the difficulties it would have created for the upcoming modulation to Ft minor. In the following phrase, mm. 31-5, the thematic material of the previous Rosalias is deployed as figuration over a class-B sequence, the bass/root notes being indicated by the beamed arrows. As in the previous example, the violin figuration brings out the slow transpositional interval by descending second, which the brackets delimit. But the beamed arrows show that the bass-line figuration and its fast chord-root rhythm are consistent as well.

One detail missing from the passage in mm. 31-5 is the presence of the type-B suspensions and seventh chords-which are, after all, defin- ing features of all fourth-species types. While the bass and underlying voice leading could easily support them, the figuration, which uses a toni- cizing lower neighbor at the beginning and ending of the figure, is incom- patible with a suspension since it would be cross-related to the lower- neighbor note. The A in m. 32, for example, cannot be suspended through the B-minor chord of the measure because of the Ats on the third and sixth eighth notes (and so on through the rest of the sequence). As a result, the suspensions have to be suppressed. This adjustment signals an important compromise of the strict-counterpoint prototypes in order to accommo- date the comparatively expansive figurational patterns of the Rosalia.

One motivation for making this compromise comes from Corelli's interest in pairing sequences by direction as well as transpositional inter- val, a signature feature of his sequence technique. Example 27 illustrates the use of contrasting sequences sharing common figuration. Passage (b) is a standard G'b4, the figuration of which hides the underlying 5-6 lig- ature and brings out its Rosalia characteristics. This passage is an answer to passage (a) from earlier in the movement, constructed from a basis in C2 but without the 2-3 suspensions. (The putative suspensions are shown for comparison.) Unlike the previous example, where the suspensions had to be removed to avoid cross relation, here their removal is motivated entirely by figurational consistency with the other sequence at (b).43 By itself, passage (a) sounds normal with the suspensions-like, in other words, many other passages using C2 in Corelli's works-but the point of the contrast with passage (b) would be lost if they were not suppressed. Another illustration of contrasting paired sequences (Example 28) shows that Corelli could be sensitive to chord-root motion as well as to general direction. Both the Fl and B-type sequences move by slow second, the first up and the second down. But they also move by fast fifths-again, the first up and the second down. The result is a perfectly balanced pas- sage in which both slow and fast motions are contrasted.

257

(a)

Violin 1

Violin

Violone e Cembalo

(b)

Violin 1

Violin Violone

e Cembalo

Gmb4 G Cob4 G b4

Example 27. Corelli 3.12.3, 1-4, 9-13

10

Violin 1

Violin 2

Violone e Cembalo

b 6 n

Fl

Vln. 1

Vln. 2

B.C.

5 7 , 5 p , 71 5 3 4 4 4

B B

Example 28. Corelli 4.2.2, mm. 10-15

258

p 6

B

Rosalia, Aloysius, and Arcangelo: Their Descendents

Although Corelli's works have been a focus of this paper, they are not isolated from the development of the instrumental sonata during the last quarter of the seventeenth century by composes such as G. M. Bononcini, G. Torelli, and G. B. Basani. Sequences in the works of these composers are little different from Corelli's, so Corelli cannot be credited with "in- venting" the technique single-handedly, even if his imaginative and thor- oughgoing use of the sequence was particularly noteworthy.

Yet, from another perspective, he might have well been so credited, since Corelli is the first composer to have experienced the benefits of a modern printing and distribution system (albeit in its infancy), and, as a result, he is the first composer to have achieved continental fame during his lifetime and to have his works cited as models both in Italy and abroad. Perhaps the previous composer who came closest to the kind of international fame Corelli enjoyed was Josquin. Significantly, both com- posers enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with a pioneering pub- lisher; just as Josquin is associated with Ottaviano Petrucci, so Corelli is with Estienne Roger. To be sure, the excellence of Corelli's music was its own best selling point, but without the efforts of Roger, Corelli's fame may have been much more limited and local.

The great interest in Corelli's works created additional demand for similar Italian instrumental music that Roger was delighted to meet, pro- moting thereby a kind of "Italian Invasion," with Corelli playing the role of the Beatles. Since Roger had agents in many major European cities, he was able to distribute his carefully edited and high-quality engravings widely, with the result that Corelli's music became the touchstone for an international style, being copied, imitated, and studied throughout Europe.44 The well-known examination of passages from Corelli by Rameau is but one example;45 even in far-away Scotland, Alexander Mal- colm could recommend (1721, 426) that students study Corelli's works to learn the basics of composition.

While one result of "Corellimania" was a stimulation to build from Corelli's models-meaning that they were instruments both of stylistic consolidation and of controlled stylistic change-another was the whole- sale adoption of effects initially associated with Corelli but that soon came to be regarded as part of the public domain. The famous "Corelli clash," the resolution of a 2-3 cadential suspension simultaneous with an antic- ipation of the cadential tonic note, was, as its name suggests, too associ- ated with Corelli to be so regarded.46 But other techniques were easily incorporated into new styles, idioms, and genres. The 2-3 braid, for exam- ple, was still being used a century later by Mozart in the opening of the Recordare from the Requiem.47 But the most far-reaching incorporation was certainly the combined Rosalia-suspension sequence.

259

The most well-known and important early adopter of this sequence was Antonio Vivaldi-significantly, another composer in the Estienne Roger stable. While there is still debate about the extent of possible influ- ence of Corelli upon Vivaldi's style, the use of Corellian sequence tech- nique is undeniable.48 Vivaldi's sequences generally achieve a greater bal- ance between Rosalia and suspension elements than do Corelli's, which, as Examples 25 and 26 suggested, favored Rosalia in most mixtures of the two. In addition, Vivaldi's sequences consistently avoid the extremes represented in Example 1: the unadorned cadential prefixion of (a) and the butt-jointed Rosalia of (b). Vivaldi's technique benefited from caden- tial-suspension technique to soften the seam between local patterns but used extensive figurations reminiscent of the Rosalia that slowed down harmonic rhythm and encouraged expansive thematic constructions. One favorite figurational pattern was the simple quick repeated note- Vivaldi's adaptation of the stile concitato that Monteverdi made famous-which offered voice-leading and contrapuntal clarity and excit- ing motor-rhythms simultaneously. Vivaldi used sequences hardly any less than did Corelli, but along with his narrowing of sequence style to the via media of Rosalia and Aloysius, Vivaldi also narrowed the reper- tory of Corellian sequence types. The descending cadential-suspension types of A and B predominate, with types C (descending third) and F (descending fourth) being nearly altogether absent, leaving him the 5-6 ligatures of type G as the only ascending sequence type. Because of these restrictions, and because Vivaldi deploys (generally slower-moving) se- quences just as often as does Corelli, the sense that sequence dominates Vivaldi's textures, perhaps overly so, is a typical reaction to his style.

A characteristic set of passages is shown in Example 29, from the last movement of Vivaldi's op. 3, no 11 (RV 565, transcribed and arranged by J. S. Bach as BWV 596. The thoroughbass signatures are the present author's, based on Vivaldi's originals.) The opening is a 2-3 braid, but with an ingenious use of an incessant pickup note, A4, that gives an impression of multiple points of imitation.49 The unclear status of any bass line, another Vivaldian stylistic signature, makes identifying a par- ticular accompanying line-1, 2, or 3 from Example 22-a moot point. The following passage, mm. 4-6, is clearly type Dl embellished with chromaticism in the bass (not unknown in Corelli's technique) as well as in the upper parts (unusual in Corelli), leading to consistent augmented fourths in the 4 chords and minor sixths in the following 6s. Both this and the previous passage show eighth-note versions of the stile concitato repeated-note figuration. Measures 7-10 is a passage using B3b (every chord a seven-five-three) in which the period of the chord changes is fast, at the half measure, while the middle part takes on a sixteenth-note figu- ration whose period is the slow whole measure. In this it resembles the passage from Corelli's op. 6.12.2 shown in Example 25, but the empha-

260

10

B3b

(4) 6)

Example 29. Vivaldi, op. 3, no. 11, mvt. 4, mm. 1-14

sis in the former was on the slow, Rosalia period, while in the Vivaldi the emphasis is on the faster one. The final sequence of the set, mm. 12-13, is also the one that Bach had to adapt somewhat freely. Instead of the six- teenth-note concitato figuration of the original, which would have been impossible to play on the organ, Bach arpeggiated through the chords in sixteenths with occasional thirty-second flourishes, maintaining the energy of the original, while reassembling the broken concitato bass line into a quarter-note pedal line. More significantly, he added another sus- pension line beneath the original 7-6, figured as 5-4, which results in the thicker-textured progression 4o. This passage clearly pairs with the sec-

261

3, 6 j, 6 4r 6 h~

L)1

ond, mm. 4-6, in its use of a chromatic descending bass from D3 and in its foundation in cadential-extension technique.

While Vivaldi frequently pairs sequences for varied repetition, he paired them for opposition or contrast far less frequently than did Corelli, which is why he needed fewer sequence types; a balanced roster of ascents and descents was unnecessary. Even so, one outstanding case of con- trasting pairing is shown in Example 30, from the fugal second movement of op. 3, no. 11 (RV 565/BWV 596). The answer and motivically related countersubject are shown at (a). The second half forms a type-D (2-3) suspension sequence, with the substitution of a sixth for a third at the res- olution (cf. Example 23). The figuration of the countersubject organizes the sequence into Rosalias related by descending third, shown by the dot- ted brackets. The episode at (b) has material in the outer staves that is motivically related to the tail of the subject/countersubject. Because the passage uses B2, an alternation of seventh and common chords, it is easy to emphasize the slow descending-second Rosalia movement from sev- enth to seventh chord, which Vivaldi does through the figuration shown in the second staff. The dissonant sevenths, however, provide agreeable mortising that smoothes over the seams between patterns. Later in the fugue, Vivaldi reverses the figuration's direction and places it in another episode, in which the countersubject sounds in the middle of the texture. In attempting to preserve the suspension series, Vivaldi runs into some trouble contrapuntally. The top two lines contain the 2-3 cadential- prefixion series, leaving the countersubject to shadow the lower of the two in thirds. The inverted figuration, located in the bass, is left with strong-beated dissonances of a ninth and fourth that resolve over a change of bass. However, the bass is also left with perfect fifths on each strong beat. Given the inherited figurational pattern that emphasizes strong-beat arrivals, it is impossible not to notice a series of parallel fifths between top and bass voices. Perhaps because Corelli's "Affair of the Fifths" ended ultimately in favor of Corelli (the contretemps was never a factor in the subsequent reception and criticism of his music), no one apparently both- ered Vivaldi about this infelicity.51

In presenting examples of Vivaldi's works that were transcribed by J. S. Bach, I have wanted to show the direct transmission of the combined Rosalia-suspension sequence from its apparent source in Corelli's works through early adaptors like Vivaldi and then into the works of other com- posers, most effectively by those who learned it copying and transcribing model pieces. Certainly another source of dissemination was the various partimenti manuals that circulated as late as the early nineteenth century, which preserved idiomatic figurations of the seventeenth-century trio- sonata sequence as compositional schemas--even those, such as many of the ascending type using suspension braids-that were stylistically obso- lete after Vivaldi's time. Example 31 shows a typical case from Fenaroli

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(a)

2 3]6 2 [3]6 2 [3]6 2 [3]6

(b) 21

B2

(c) 34 5 5 5 5

6 9 6 6 9 6 9 6 9 6 7

Example 30. Vivaldi, op. 3, no. 11, mvt. 2

[1800] 1978: compare (a) with Example 22, sequence E2; and (b) with Example 23. Both exercises sound like trio-sonata passages transcribed for keyboard, and may in fact have gained a place in thoroughbass peda- gogy originally as practice for accompanying such common passages.52 They may have remained after newer composers displaced Corelli and his cohort, for the valuable, concentrated practice they afforded prepar- ing and resolving dissonances. Eighteenth-century composers who had partimento training and relied on its schemas thus may have unwittingly learned and transmitted a basic Corelli idiom without knowing a note of his music.

After Vivaldi embraced the combined Rosalia-suspension sequence with enthusiasm and made it one of the many attractive and influential features of his style, few refinements of the technique took place after- wards; certainly, Bach's sequence technique owes much to what he learned in transcribing his Vivaldi models. The contrapuntal technique having been perfected, the main development of the sequence thereafter was

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(a) A

6 8 8 7 46 8 7 6 8 7 6 8 7 6 8 7 6 8 7 6 5 3

(b)

85 S 4 3 4 3 4 3 4 3 4

Example 31. Sequential passage exercised in Fenaroli 1978 [1800] (a) Fenaroli, Partimenti, p. 45; Example [V] (b) Fenaroli, Partimenti, p. 53; Example A.u.

rhetorical rather than technical: sequences were used less routinely and with purposeful restraint as transitional rather than expositional devices. Whereas both Corelli's and Vivaldi's quick-tempo music seems con- stantly either to be playing out cadential formulas or breaking into se- quence, Bach and other northern composers developed other thematic techniques, and were able thereby to use sequence strategically instead of habitually.

The Rosalia-suspension sequence maintained a place in nineteenth- century compositional technique. Brahms used B3b (|: ), for example, quite frequently (recall its memorable effect in the "Hille, wo ist dein Sieg!" passages in the sixth movement of Ein deutsches Requiem). Even the "progressive" Bruckner used the same prototype in the last movement of his Fourth Symphony (mm. 282-6). Liszt, characteristically, upped the voltage of this effect by heaping minor ninths onto it in mm. 34-8 in "II Penseroso" (from the Italian volume of Annees de Pelerinage), a pas- sage that is otherwise strikingly similar to Example 1(a). But, at the same time, the combination also became undone in the works of Wagner, Liszt, and others of the "New German School," who rehabilitated Rosalia for new expressive purposes; the opening of the Tristan prelude is perhaps the most famous example, the patterns of which are separated-success- fully this time-by rests.53 The cadential prefixion-indeed, any kind of prepared accented dissonance that resolved down by step-was, in this light, an antiquated if venerable gesture at a time in which an unprepared accented dissonance could leap away to resolution or even to another

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dissonance. Further, Rosalia fell victim once again to the old "spiritual poverty" criticism that Schubart voiced as premiums were increasingly placed on concise, original, non-formulaic, and non-repeating musical ideas--on "musical prose," as Schoenberg termed it.54 Under these cir- cumstances, the Rosalia-Aloysius line eventually died out at the turn of the twentieth century. Having endowed the art of music with many won- derful passages and effects for two hundred years, it passed peacefully into the history of compositional technique.

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NOTES

I would like to thank Elizabeth Bonheim Bodek for her assistance in the early stages of research for this article. For their comments and suggestions, I also thank William Rothstein and Jennifer Williams Brown.

1. Ricci 2004, §1.1, provides a detailed history of definitions and associated termi- nology.

2. See Ricci 2004, § 1.1.1, for various authors' views on the amount of repetition in a sequence.

3. Bass 1996 uses "projection" as a technical term differently from Hasty, but the coincidence is suggestive.

4. By "tonal formulas," Bukofzer means sequences, cadences, and functional chord progressions.

5. A shorthand will be used for all citations from Corelli's works: dots will separate opus, number, and movement. Thus, op. 3.6.1 is the first movement of op. 3, no. 6. In Chrysander's edition of Corelli's works (reprinted by Dover), movements are separated by concluding double bar lines.

6. Allsop 1992 makes a useful distinction between the a2 and a3 textures that is per- tinent to the present discussion. The crucial difference between the two is ". .. the role of the continuo which in the sonata a2 acts largely as a non-thematic har- monic support above which the trebles indulge in an interplay of figurations, and the elaboration or extension of thematic material remains throughout strictly their domain. In the sonata a3 on the other hand, each of the three melodic voices par- ticipates equally in the imitative texture while the continuo merely doubles the lowest part, often simplifying it in the manner of the basso seguente of the previ- ous century" (26). Corelli's "trio" sonatas are of the a3 type, but Allsop's obser- vations concerning the echo and polychoral effects of the Venetian a2 sonata are equally valid for the sonata a3.

7. Scholes 1959, 240. Spelling and punctuation are Burney's original, which the edi- tor, Percy Scholes, did not update. I have, however, placed within parentheses a passage that was originally a footnote and have slightly altered the punctuation before and after the passage in question.

8. Burney visited Schubart in Ludwigsburg in mid-August, 1772. See Scholes 1959, 39-40.

9. Schubart's version (mistakenly?) has a C5 on the second beat of m. 1 instead of a sequentially expected Es. I have not been able to locate a source for "Roslia, mia cara" outside of Schubart. "Vetter Michel" is given in full in Erk and Friedlaender 1880, 50.

10. Schubart's views are discussed at length in Moreno 1996, 336-44. For a more eas- ily available overview of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century sequential repetition, see Moreno 2000.

11. Pfannkuch 1994 notes that the use of "Rosalia" to cover both ascending and de- scending stepwise motion is found in Castil-Blaze, Dictionaire de musique mod- erne (1828) and persists even in Eberhard Thiel's Sachworterbuch der Musik (1962). Schusterfleck appears to have been coined by Joseph Riepel in connection with his Monte phrase stereotype. See Riepel [1752-86] 1996, 39, 150. Riepel is also uncomfortable with the obvious simplicity of the technique, and recommends to readers that they learn to hide them by varying surface figuration (p. 349). Hein-

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rich Chritsoph Koch took over Riepel's usage (without reference to Monte). See Koch 1802, s.v. "Schusterfleck."

12. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, s.v., "Rosalia." 13. This transpositional pattern, especially the initial acending step, is typical of the

English virginal pieces based on popular tunes. 14. These fifths might be understood to be broken up by intervals on the second beats,

yet these intervals are perfect octaves, the succession of which perhaps saves the situation but not without protest from purists.

15. The angled brackets indicate specific ordering of the melodic intervals. In order to create a more exciting series of attacks, Josquin delays the alto entrance by half a measure but then shortens the initial note by half, thereby restoring the one-mea- sure interval.

16. Cf. Josquin's celebrated Ave Maria ... virgo serena, in which a series of ascend- ing 6-5-6-5-6-5 syncopes in mm. 44-50 is twice transposed up a step.

17. See Rameau [1722] 1971, 83 ft. The technique of cadential extension can be found in the work of Tinctoris (Tinctoris [1477] 1961). See, for example, the formations marked 3p in Examples 8 and 9 in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musi- cians (Second Edition), s.v. Counterpoint.

18. Barnett, 1997, 191, explicitly endorses this connection of Fuxian fourth species to contrapunto legato.

19. Mann translates sincope as "syncopation," which currently has pop-music rhyth- mic connotations that I prefer to avoid. I have substituted "syncope."

20. See Fux [1725] 1943, p. 61, m. 7 of fig. 77, for the two-part example, and p. 101, m. 4 of fig. 146 for the three-part fourth-species illustration. (I am leaving aside an example illustrating a theoretical point, fig 136, since it is not freely composed but rather manufactured.) For the fifth-species examples, see p. 104, fig. 154, m. 9, and fig 155, m. 9. These two are based on the same Dorian cantus firmus and are the same cadential formation, the only difference stemming from the relative positions of the first- and fifth-species lines. The same cadential formation is used here in Example 10(b), m. 3.

21. See Fux [1725] 1943, p. 61, m. 7 of fig. 75 and m. 8 of fig. 77. In both cases, the 4-3 can be understood as a replacement for 2-3/7-6. In fig. 75, a counterpoint over an idiosyncratic Hypophrygian cantus firmus that contains an ascending octave leap, the 4-3 occurs immediately after this contrapuntally stressful event; were the leap A-A avoided and the following compensating descending stepwise motion to G made unnecessary, the cantus firmus line could easily be made to pass upwards through D as a replacement for G, making the suspension a 7-6. In fig. 77, the 4-3 follows upon the 9-8 hapax legomenon discussed previously. The con- text for both suspensions is again influenced by stressful disjunct events in the Lydian cantus firmus, which is unusually disjunct as a whole. In mm. 7-10, the cantus firmus leaps three times in succession: from F up to C, followed by descending motions through A to F. The 9-8 occurs over the first F, and the 4-3 over the C. The cantus firmus thus behaves in these measures more like an added first-species bass line, with the "real" cantus firmus being implied above the fourth-species line. This implied line has A and G over F and C respectively--cre- ating a series of 2-3 formations with the fourth-species line.

22. This view contrasts with that of Schenker's Kontrapunkt: "In spite of the three- voice texture, syncopes in three-voice counterpoint are conceived only in relation

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to the lowest voice" (1987, 2:83). See also §4(a), where he emphasizes that "when the syncopated voice is an inner or upper voice, it is not appropriate to distinguish conceptually or verbally in addition to its relationship to the bass voice also some further syncope-relationship to the third voice" (ibid., 2:100-1). Schenker wishes, of course, to emphasize outer-voice structure, which is an Ursatz in his theory of musical structure.

23. In a survey of three- and four-part sections in the Masses of Palestrina, Hanson 1983 corroborates the general frequency distribution of suspended dissonances suggested in the previous paragraph. Because the author takes a thoroughbass approach to analyzing suspensions, the connections from the 4-3 and 9-8 forma- tions to the 2-3/7-6 cadential structure are not explicit.

24. See Fux [1725] 1943, 60-1, fig. 73, where the cadential approach at mm. 8-10 contains three 7-6 suspensions in a row.

25. That is, if each measure of the cantus firmus is considered a motivic unit of one note, then the first-species line transposes according to the motions of the unit, just as in a sequence. It is useful to compare Example 13 with Fux [1725] 1943 (60, fig. 73), where almost the same fourth-species line over the same Dorian cantus firmus is used. The only difference between them is the motivic repetition D-C in mm. 5-6 that is allowed in the three-part version, but which Josephus wanted to avoid as a "bad repetition" in the two-part counterpoint.

26. Because the bass is unspecified in the 7-6 situation, it is possible for the upper- voice suspensions to be expressed as 2-3. However, some of the 7-6 formations to be examined have the suspension in an upper voice against the bass, in which case there can be no voicing of the suspension as an upper-voice 2-3.

27. Two passages using an unusual voice-exchange technique, which Corelli used only in op. 1, are shown in the boxed text at Ala.The boxed examples are drawn from a catalog of sequences in Corelli's oeuvre, opp. 1-6, made by the author; the interested reader is invited to consult these to examine the types of light embel- lishments Corelli uses with suspension sequences.

28. In their extensive survey of sequence technique on pp. 246-67, 524-32, Aldwell and Schachter 1989 do not consider the line-A' possibility, what they might term "descending by step with voice-leading 6 chords." (Cf. a likely chromatic deriva- tive using augmented-sixth chords shown on p. 530.) This sequence, perhaps be- cause of Corelli's lack of interest in it, did not enter the common-practice sequen- tial technique. Interestingly, Vivaldi did use the AA' combination on occasion. An example will be seen in Example 29 below. Also, see the last movement of op. 3, no. 3 (RV 310; transcribed by J.S. Bach as BWV 978), mm. 9-13.

29. From the Ludi Musici of 1621. The title in the complete works and in the thematic catalog is Canzon d 5 voc. Ad imitationem Bergamas Angl. The English connec- tion to which the title alludes may be Giles Farnaby, whose "Rosasolis" (Fitz- william Virginal Book #143) shares the same basic thematic material as the Can- zona Bergamasca.

30. The relationship between the two kinds is explicitly noted in Salzer and Schachter 1969, 206, and Gauldin 1997, 320. Schenker [1922] 1987, 2:85-6, 2:101-2, is very sensitive to this difference and its possibilities for development in free composition.

31. Note that by equalizing the rhythm of the "filler" voice and making it a bass voice in B 1, a previously ornamental escape tone from a middle voice is promoted to a

268

structural role greater than that of the downbeat note, which reduces out to leave a series of parallel | chords broken up by downbeat 6 chords. This promotion is shown to be confirmed in B2 and B3 as the structural note is "cast out" to the new bass line.

32. In 1.4.3, mm. 25-6, Corelli figures a seventh on every other chord, giving the sequence the form of B 12; the second violin part, however, is ornamented in a way to suggest B3. Even so, the thoroughbassist is well-advised to avoid adding sev- enths where Corelli explicitly does not call for them in order to maintain the clar- ity of the second violin line.

33. Note that both C2 and C2a confirm the structural promotion of the former escape tone of Example 14, mentioned in note 31.

34. Schenker [1922] 1987, 2:110-11, offers a perhaps surprisingly lenient view on this matter with the aid of a few mitigating circumstances [Milderungsgrunde, a legal term]: continuing "compulsion" of the ligature series, the urge towards triadic com- pleteness, and afterbeat placement. Much of this leniency is a result of privileging outer-voice relationships mentioned in note 22.

35. See Salzer and Schachter 1969, 96, for a discussion of these dangers. 36. The affair is discussed in detail, with lengthy extracts from the letters through which

the controversy raged, in Allsop 1999, 35-40. For another account, see Arnold 1965, 901-2.

37. However, see Example 25 below for a counter-example from the op. 6 Concertos. But another instance where Corelli's thoroughbass habits favor surface over struc- ture is 1.7.1, mm. 24-5, where occurs a hybrid of A4 and B2. A 7-6 in the first violin resolves with an anticipation before the change of bass makes the interval a tenth, but the second violin, moving in parallel underthirds, progresses 5-4 before the bass change creates an octave. Corelli is forced to figure the anticipations, and the two chords of the sequence are figured 7 .

38. Salzer and Schachter 1969, 97, admonishes: "Of course, it is not possible to employ the f__ progressions consecutively because of the fifths." As mentioned in note 34, Schenker would allow these progressions. See 2:111, Ex. 193.

39. A perhaps more spectacular legal victory occurs in the opening phrase of 4.11.2, where prominent parallel fifths present themselves to the ear. Again, because dif- ferent upper voices are responsible for the effect, no prosecution based on the let- ter of the law could be successful.

40. For example, in Scheidt's Canzona Bergamasca, discussed on page 23 (Example 16) above, a thematic block is transposed from C to G, back to C, and then finally to F before a cadence is made back in G. See mm. 108-12. Stein 1994 provides an excellent overview of seventeenth-century motivic transpositional technique- albeit in the works of a single composer, Giacomo Carissimi. She notes (p. 127) the prevalence of transpositional intervals by fourth and fifth, the possibility of those by second, and the rarity of others.

41. There are no examples of ascending-fifth three-unit Rosalias in Corelli's works. Successive root motion by ascending fifth is not uncommon, but Corelli deploys this within units that are transposed by ascending seconds.

42. The double-interval terminology for sequences (e.g., "descending second by de- scending fifth") is suggested by the practice of Laitz 2003.

43. The fictive suspensions in Ex. 27 bring to mind Rameau's practice of reading sup-

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pressed suspensions in Corelli's work. See Lester 1992, 305-19, for a translation with commentary of the well-known passage in the Nouveau systeme in which Rameau analyzes passages from op. 5.

44. See Allsop 1999, 153 ft. for an appraisal of Corelli's profound influence and reach, including the surprising information that Corelli's works were known even in China. Besides Roger's editions, the influence of pirated editions of Corelli's works should not be discounted. While Roger himself pirated freely, he was also a victim, frequently of London's John Walsh.

45. See note 43 above. 46. Michael Talbot points out that this device was "... an asperity fashionable in

dance music around 1680, but hardly appears in [Corelli's] works outside op. 2." (The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Second Edition. Vol. 6. S.v. Corelli, Arcangelo, 460.) While it may not have been an innovation of Corelli's, the fact that it is associated with his name testifies to the extensive influence of Corelli's techniques, even those not invented or developed by him. Although I do not know who coined the term, it seems likely that it was someone from a time when the only music from around 1680 still esteemed and studied was that of Corelli.

47. Mozart was fond of this and related Corellian sequence techniques, as can be seen in the last movement of his String Quartet, K. 387. In mm. 31-7 is an E3 type (sus- pension braid), which yields a pattern transposition by ascending third, a very rare effect in the late eighteenth century. An even more antique effect (combined with a prevailing ombra atmostphere) is found at the beginning of the development, mm. 125 ff., where an F-type sequence (overlpapping braids and pattern transpo- sition by ascending fifth) is deployed. This sequence effects a large-scale modu- lation from G major to Bb minor, rising by perfect fifth through various passing keys.

48. Cf. Selfridge-Field 1975, 179 ff., 234; Allsop 1999, 166-7. 49. Selfridge-Field 1975, 236, cites this passage as an example of Vivaldi's "fondness

for quasi-fugal imitation in which a fourth in one part is answered by a fifth in another."

50. Vivaldi's original voicing of the 7-6 called for a fifth along with the seventh, which then resolved downwards to a third. Cf. the passage from Scheidt's Can- zona Bergamasca shown in Example 16.

51. Talbot 1992, 84, notes that "The type of passage which once embroiled Corelli in an acrimonious dispute with critics in Bologna occurs again and again in Vivaldi's compositions."

52. The first appearance of sequential passages in the partimenti literature is roughly contemporary with the perfection of the Rosalia-suspension technique in instru- mental music. For example, the ascending 5-6 pattern through the octave is in Gasparini [1708] 1963, 26; the descending 7-6 (Al) is on p. 36. Gasparini's use of these patterns is significant because he was a pupil of Corelli and Pasquini, and his manual was widely known. (That Corelli, Gasparini, and Pasquini were active in Rome-midway between Bologna, the epicenter of the later seventeenth-cen- tury instrumental sonata, and Naples, where partimento pedagogy was especially cultivated, is a particularly suggestive geographical circumstance. Cf. Grampp 2004.) Whether these sequences are intended to illustrate anything other than chord-connection and finger technique in preparation for accompanying trio

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sonatas and concerti is an interesting, open question, as is the relation of peda- gogical material to artistic composition.

53. See Rothfarb 1991, 135-43 for Ernst Kurth's discussion of Rosalia sequence in Wagner.

54. See Dahlhaus 1980, 40-64, for an overview of the issue.

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