A Lesson From Lassus (P. Schubert)

Society for Music Theory
A Lesson from Lassus: Form in the Duos of 1577 Author(s): Peter N. Schubert Source: Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring, 1995), pp. 1-26 Published by: on behalf of the Society for Music Theory Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/745762 . Accessed: 26/03/2014 12:35
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Lesson
from
Lassus:
Form
in
the
Duos
of
1577
Peter N. Schubert
When Lassus expressed the hope that his twenty-four little duos might "in the future be of great benefit and training as much to beginning musicians as to those more skilled in their art," he could hardly have predicted just what a great future they would have.' They were reprinted often in the decades following their first publication, and are now among the bestknown examples of Renaissance polyphony.2 The twelve tex1The quote is from the dedication to the original edition, in Orlando di Lasso, SamtlicheWerke,ed. Franz Xaver Haberl (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hirtel, 1894; facsimile, New York: Broude Bros., 1973), vol. 1, x: "tamMusices tyronibus,quam eius artis peritioribusmagno usui & exercito sint futuri."All examples in this article are based on this edition. The originalfull title of the collection expresses the same pedagogicalaim: Novae aliquot et ante hac non ita usitatead duas voces cantionessuavissimae,omnibusmusicissumme utiles: necnon tyronibus quam eius artis peritioribus summopere inservientes (Miinchen: Adam Berg, 1577). 2RISM 1577c lists nine editions through 1610 (Einzeldriicke vor 1800, des sources musicales, vol. 5, ed. KarlheinzSchlager Repertoireinternational [Kassel:Barenreiter, 1975], 274). The duos were firstcalled motets and ricercars in the 1579 edition, Motettied ricercari... a due voci (Venice: Angelo Gardano, 1579); RISM 1579c. Wolfgang Boetticher lists didactic works in which some duos were reprintedin "Eine franzosischeBicinien-Ausgabe als Karl GustavFellererzum sechzigfrtihmonodisches Dokument," in Festschrift sten Geburtstag,ed. Heinrich Htischen (Regensburg: Gustav Bosse Verlag, 1962), 67-76. The twelve texted pieces can be found in modern clefs, and with translations, in Gustave Frederic Soderlund and Samuel H. Scott, Examples of Gregorian Chant and Other Sacred Music of the 16th Century (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1971), and selections can be found in many other anthologies. For more comment on these duos see WolfgangBoetticher, Orlando di Lasso und seine Zeit (Kassel: Barenreiter, 1958), 460-67. For
ted duos (Nos. 1-12, hereafter called motets) can be found in many anthologies and counterpoint textbooks, while the pieces without text (Nos. 13-24, hereafter called ricercars) are well known among instrumentalists. While their place as etudes and examples of two-part counterpoint is secure, we may still ask what they provide to those "more skilled in their art." This study demonstrates that in these pieces Lassus is giving a lesson on the one aspect of Renaissance music whose omission from treatises most frustrates present-day analysts: form. Treatises teach how to make a theme suitable for each of the various modes, how to treat consonance and dissonance, how to imitate or invert a theme, on which notes to make cadences, and how to write double counterpoint.3 But they never tell us when in the course of a piece these devices and
more on didactic duos in general, see Paolo Emilio Carapezza'sintroduction to MusicheRinascimentali Siciliane, vol. 2 (Rome: Edizioni de Santis, 1971). 3Thedissonancetreatmentin the duos suggests a restrained,formal style. There is only one dissonant lower neighbor at the semiminim level (No. 5, m. 29). There are no dissonant third semiminimsagainst semibreves, and no dissonant cambiatas, echapp6es, or 9-8 suspensions. (Note values in all of the examples presented here are original.) Lassus's treatment of dissonance is more restricted than that expressed in Part 3 of Zarlino's Le Istitutioni harmoniche(Venice, 1558; facsimile, New York: Broude Bros., 1965; translation by Guy Marco and Claude Palisca as The Art of Counterpoint[New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968]), where dissonant lower neighbors and echappees are allowed. The cadences conform largely to Zarlino's prescriptions in Istitutioni,Part 4, translatedby Vered Cohen as On TheModes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983).
Music Theory Spectrum
techniques should be used. Each seems to be a detail; on the relation of these details to large-scale form the theorists are mute. The following close examination of the duos shows how three contrapuntal features are used by Lassus in a way that consistently articulates form.4 The descriptions of these tech4An attempt to define large-scale structurein the Lassus duos has been made by Lyle Davidson in "TheStructureof Lassus'Motets a2 (1577)," Sonus USA 2 (1982): 71-90. Davidson asks many of the same questions asked here, but uses differentmethods (e.g., experimentsin perception) to answerthem. He concludes that large-scale durations are organized according to the Fibonacci series. For a wide-rangingstudy of Lassus's techniques, see Lucie Balmer, Orlando di Lassos Motetten(Bern and Leipzig: Paul Haupt, 1938; facsimile, Nendeln, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1978). For studies of large-scaleform in terms of structurescreated from parallel groups of durations, see Michele Fromson, "A Conjunctionof Rhetoric and Music: Structural Modelling in the Italian Counter-ReformationMotet," Journalof the Royal MusicAssociation 117 no. 2 (1992): 208-46; Jean-Michel Vaccaro, "Anthoine de Bertrand:Las! pour vous trop aymer," in Music Before 1600, Models of MusicalAnalysis, ed. Mark Everist (Oxford: Blackwell Reference, 1992); and Pierre-PaulLacas, liner notes to "Orlandede Lassus Moduli Quinque Vocibus 1571" performed by the Collegium Vocale & Solistes du KnabenchorHannover, conductedby Philippe Herreweghe (n.p.: Astr6e, Atelier de Recherche Valois, 1979). ChristopherReynolds's "Musical Evidence of CompositionalPlanningin the Renaissance:Josquin'sPlus Journalof theAmericanMusicologicalSociety40 (1987): 53-81, nulz regretz," is the only recent study that invokes both contrapuntaltechnique (canon) as a large-scale structuralelement along with durational structuresand recurrence of varied themes; see his note 3 for a list of other authors, going back to van Crevel and Gombosi, who deal in proportional durations. Other studies investigating contrapuntalcombination have not been so much concerned with its contributionto form. Quentin Quereau refers to it as a "complexof relationships"in "Sixteenth-Century Parody:An Approach to Analysis," Journal of the American MusicologicalSociety 31 (1978): 40741. Jessie Ann Owens has identified "contrapuntal events" or "modules"in "The Milan Partbooks:Evidence of Ciprianode Rore's CompositionalProcess," Journal of the American MusicologicalSociety 37 (1984): 270-98. Joseph Kermanused contrapuntalcombinationas an element in his concept of "cell construction"in "Old and New in Byrd's Cantiones Sacrae," in Essays on Opera and English Music, ed. F. W. Sternfeld, (Oxford, 1975). Both Kermanand Reynolds ("MusicalEvidence of CompositionalPlanning")also
niques as given below were inspired by and are largely consonant with, but are not limited to, ideas found in several roughly contemporaneous Italian treatises. The three contrapuntal features associated with formal structure are: 1) time interval of imitation, 2) fuga, or means of melodic variation, and 3) varied repetition of entire contrapuntal "blocks." These features can be labeled in the score of each piece, and then the labels can be strung along a time line along with the cadences. The time line is like a cast made from a wax positive; all the notes of the piece melt away as in the "lost wax" technique, and a clear outline of the piece's structure remains. The time lines reveal norms, as well as some striking exceptions, for Lassus's compositional technique. Among his norms, Lassus maintains consistency through relatively long stretches of music by retaining a single time-interval of imitation; he employs certain types of fuga (e.g., imitation at the sixth or inversion) to provide variety in the middles of pieces; and he uses invertible counterpoint to create brief ritornellos. In doing such analyses, sections are demarcated in the traditional way, on the basis of cadences. So the first step in the analytic process is the identification of cadences. Lassus's use of cadences is so consistent that their definition is, happily, fairly simple: the defining elements are a 7-6 or 2-3 syncopated semibreve suspension with at least one voice resolving to the expected goal note, whose duration must be at least a semibreve. A few exceptions arise in the ricercars because of their shorter note values. Here, the syncopated note can be a semibreve, and the goal note can be only a
refer in passingto time-intervalof imitation, but do not employ this analytical tool systematically.Indeed, some authorsdeny that contrapuntaltechniques influence form; see Bonnie Blackburn, "On Compositional Process in the Fifteenth Century,"Journalof the AmericanMusicologicalSociety40 (1987): 274-78.
A Lesson from Lassus
semibreve.5The second step is the labeling of the three contrapuntalfeatures in the motets and ricercars.A score to No. 6 ("Qui sequiturme"), appearsso labeled in Appendix 1. The third step is to string the labels along time lines. Appendix 2 presents the resulting schematic formal analyses of all twenty-four pieces. The one fully annotated score and the presence of similar notations on many musical examples will enable the reader to verify the methods by which the schematic analyses were derived. Note that treating both motets and ricercarsthe same way means disregardingfor the moment the impact of text on form; that subject is taken up briefly at the end of this study. From the schemas we can draw conclusions about the style of the set of pieces in general and about the behavior of individual pieces. In addition to answering questions about structuralnorms for beginnings, middles, and ends, the schemas provide data to answer questions such as: How do the ricercarsdiffer from the motets? In what ways does text influence form? Do large-scale features replicate small-scale ones? How do contrapuntaltechniques contribute to effects of tension and release? How do contrapuntaltechniques interact with modal shifts?6
TIME INTERVAL OF IMITATION
5Anothercadence-likefigureappearsa few times. It consists of a resolving leading tone in the lower voice while the upper voice holds a fifth above the goal note (see No. 3, mm. 8-9 and No. 10, m. 26). Even though this figure sometimes occurs at textual completions in the motets (the same interval succession appears inverted in No. 2, mm. 16-17), it is not considered a sectional marker in this study. Even if it were, its presence would not significantly skew the results. 6Harold S. Powers shows that Lassus's 1577 collection is organized by mode in "Tonal Types and Modal Categories in Renaissance Polyphony," Journal of the American Musicological Society 34 (1981): 451-52. Powers's modal assignments for the pieces is the point of departure for modal assignments in the present study.
Very little of Lassus's melodic material in these pieces is not repeated, and for the most part melodic materials recur in imitation. Many long imitative segments are in effect quasicanonic, because every note in the following voice, or consequent, can be said to be determinedby a note in the leading voice, or guide.7 The canon (i.e., rule) by which the guide determines the consequent has two aspects: the means of melodic variation(such as transpositionor inversion), and the time intervalof imitation. We must say quasi-canonicbecause Lassus often alters one of the two aspects of the rule. In the musical examples presented here, the time interval of imitation is indicated by a note value above the top staff. A dotted line connects the firstnote of the theme in the guide with the first note of the corresponding theme in the consequent. After a dotted line, it is assumed that every note in the guide has a correspondingnote in the consequent distant by the time intervalof imitationuntil some change takes place (indicated with X, shading, or a new dotted line). Imitationcreates a strong sense of periodicityif the themes are phrased in lengths that are equal to (or are multiples of) the time interval of imitation. In the opening of No. 18, for instance, rests articulatetwo-breve phraseswithin each voice. Because the time interval of imitation is a breve, a rest occurs on every downbeat in mm. 3-8, articulatingregular brevelength periods. This sense of periodicity is fairly subjective; it depends on features of the composed music and cannot be mapped onto the time lines in the way that abstractfeatures can. The time interval of imitation can change in two ways. First, notes (or durationalparts of notes) can be sounded in one voice but not echoed in the other; such notes appear in
7The terms guide and consequent are cognates of the Italian guida and consequenteas used in Zarlino's Istitutioni, Part 3, Chapter 51, 213.
MusicTheory Spectrum
Example 1. No. 2, mm. 17-24: reductionsin the time intervalof imitation

0
fl -f J
+3,
'
j
/
rhythmic unison
7
iI
r r7
fa-fa
Cf
r?er
'f
"
'r-
ir
fa-f rr-r (
fa-fa fa-fa
"( )
rr
Example2. No. 22, mm. 15-18: switchesbetween guide and consequent
Ir
, +5
a/ I+5
16
17
/+8 inv . i
18
4
+5
'+-3
+1'
\-3
'\
\-5
J rb)
a
a)
/ b)
d)
c) d)
parentheses in the score. Since they are sounded in the guide but not in the consequent, the time interval of imitation will shorten as the consequent, not echoing those notes, catches up. The new time interval will equal the old time interval minus the combined values not sounded. In Example 1, the imitationbegins at a semibreve. But because of the shortened note value in the upper voice at the beginning of the fourth measure, the imitation continues at only a minim; another shortened note value at the end of that measure brings the imitationinto rhythmicunison in the fifth measure. Similarly, in No. 6 (Appendix 1), the lower voice is following at a semibreve beginning at the end of m. 9. Because a minim value of the F on "-lat" in the upper voice (in parentheses in m. 11) is not echoed, the lower voice is only a minimbehind at "-in." If the total value of the guide notes without coun-
terpartsin the consequent exceeds the precedingtime interval of imitation, the role of leader switches to the other voice, as at d in Example 2 (and in No. 18, m. 37, not shown here). Conversely, the time interval lengthens if values are added to the consequent that were not sounded in the guide, as in No. 6, Appendix 1, m. 7. If the role of leader switches voices but the time interval remains the same, no new note value appears in the scores or the schemas in Appendix 2. Second, the time intervalof imitationchanges when a note in one voice has two correspondingnotes in the other voice. In this case, two dotted lines show the double correspondence (as at b and c in Example 2; in No. 6, Appendix 1, m. 12; in No. 8, mm. 24-25, not shown here; and in No. 18, m. 39, not shown here). Some situations can be successfully explained in more than one way, but there are few cases in this
set of pieces where the differentiation between guide and consequent is truly ambiguous.8 Imitation breaks off in two locations in these pieces: at cadences and elsewhere. Approaching a cadence, imitation is usually abandoned. This has the effect of disrupting the periodicity of the time interval, and it may set up the sixths (or thirds) that initiate the cadential voice leading. In the analyses here, free counterpoint approaching a cadence is indicated by shaded areas. Free counterpoint not approachinga cadence is indicated by "X." This is usually a matter of each voice going its own way, sounding its own material for a short while. Breaking out of imitation may lead to a new time interval or leading voice (as in No. 8, m. 21), or it may briefly interrupt two adjacent sections having the same time interval (as in No. 18, m. 27). Sometimes shorter segments of free counterpoint serve as substitutes for cadences, as discussed below. Of the relatively infrequent longer non-imitative sections, two types predominate:one type is based on a single melodic fragment; the other type is dubbed a non-canonic fantasy. These differ from the imitative sections in that the ongoing development of the guide and the regular relationship between guide and consequent are broken. There are two ways a single melodic fragment can be set: in one, the fragmentis repeated in one voice againstdifferent counterpointsin the other (as in Example 3a, where resulting different vertical intervals are labeled); in the other, the fragment is repeated in a different voice against a different countermelody not participatingin imitation (as in Example 3b). This type appears to resemble imitation in that a theme is echoed in another voice, but differs in that the roles of guide
and consequent cannot be assigned.9 A melodic fragment repeated and accompanied by the same countermelody constitutes a block, a topic to be discussed later. In a non-canonic fantasy, multiple immediate repetitions of a short theme are presented with rhythmic variation and with irregularitiesin guide-consequent relations. Example 4 shows part of a non-canonic fantasy on a seven-note theme (bracketed at each occurrence) with typical rhythmic variation and free counterpoint.10When such fantasies are indicated in the schemas in Appendix 2, the solmization syllables of the theme are given along with the number of times the theme is sounded. Some sections containing multiple repetitions of a theme, as in No. 18, mm. 14-19, are not called non-canonic fantasies because the theme is not varied rhythmically and because the guide-consequentrelationshipis consistent. (A similar example in a motet occurs in No. 11, mm. 17-21.) An ambiguous example is shown in Example 5. In mm. 1-9 the four-note solmization theme, repeated nine times, is not varied rhythmically except for the conventional removal of half of the first semibreve (solmization themes are discussed below under inganno).1 Of the three fantasies
9Cf. the discussion of ostinato in Balmer, Orlando di Lassos Motetten, 198ff. '0The contrapuntal intention here is held to outweigh the function of cadences to demarcate sections, so cadences within fantasies (like that in m. 37 of Example 4) do not figure in the schemas in Appendix 2. Intervallic variation, like that found in Example 4 at the asterisks, is the subject of the next section of this study. "This convention is more common in the motets than the ricercars,and may be present in order to let a singer breathe. An importantexample is No. 6 in Appendix 1, mm. 17 and 18. The "normal"form of the subject is a semibreve on "sed," but the lower voice has a minim rest and a minim in m. 17; the bracket assimilates the rest to the note. This same principle allows us to assimilate an extra minim to the first note in the lower voice at the beginning of No. 6 (on "Qui"), shown with a bracket. Lassus no doubt did not want the very beginningof No. 6 to sound the semibreve-levelsyncopation
8An example of a situation susceptible of several interpretationsoccurs in No. 19, mm. 17-20.
settings Example3. Two types of single-melodic-fragment a. No. 15, mm. 15-16
656
10
5 58
b. No. 21, mm. 41-43

"I
n?:
i i
fragment
I
r 77Lo-,
r F
III
\'
-fragment
I I1R I m7 7=;
iI 1 I
contained among the ricercars,this one offers the most temptation to label as a straightforwardimitation (as has been done hypotheticallyin Example 5). However, a close reading of the constructionof this passage reveals unusuallyfrequent intrusions of free counterpoint (indicated by Xs). This, coupled with the obsessive repetition of the theme over a relatively long period, characterizethis section overall as a nonimitative fantasy. While the following measures (10ff.) contain the same theme in diminished values, the interruptions cease, and because both the rhythm of the theme and various time intervals are maintained, these measures are characterizedas imitative. When the note values (indicating time intervals of imitation) and the Xs and hatched areas (indicatingnon-imitative
that would have resulted from a time interval of imitation shorter than a semibreve.
sections) are transcribedonto time lines, patterns in Lassus's constructionsemerge. One turnsout to be a stylisticnorm for the whole set of pieces: it may be called the acceleration
model.
The accelerationmodel is based on the gradualshortening of the time interval of imitation on both the large and the small scale. The small scale consists of sections between cadences, within which the time intervalbecomes progressively shorter. The speeding up is not always uniform, but cadences are most often immediately preceded by the closest stretto of a given section. Note that the accelerationmodel has nothing to do with the rate of rhythmicactivitywithin a single line, only with the length of time separating correspondingnotes in the two lines. Table 1 shows the successive time intervalsof imitationfor all twenty-fourduos. Vertical lines indicate cadences and demarcate sections. Asterisks show shorter values followed by
Example 4. No. 23, mm. 33-39: a non-canonic fantasy

33
,I-
~ I~r'I~~ r1~~~
I I
r~
'
(etc.)
t F j_I-^r_ Ta r i r Rjjj Or II
-
I-
r f r r
*
J
I I [eF
Example 5. No. 20, mm. 1-10: a solmization theme in a non-canonic fantasy hypothetically labeled as imitative; N = natural hexachord;
H = hard hexachord;
0
S = soft hexachord
0
8f f
Ire
H rere
N fare
H re fa
- J r r o
x
4):
fa
rr-
Trr
A
Three of the deviations, all occurring in the third sections of motets (bracketed in Table 1) can be accounted for by another formal model that conflicts with the acceleration model, as discussed below. The large scale is defined here by those time intervals of imitation that begin each section. Table 2 collects these, with
longer values, which are deviations from the norm. These occur in 15 out of 58 successions of adjacent time-interval values (disregarding Xs) in the motets, and 19 out of 86 in the ricercars, or about 24% overall. Nothing is entered for duo No. 23 because it contains no imitation as defined here, consisting instead entirely of repeated blocks and a fantasy.
Table 1. Time intervals of imitation within sections. Asterisks mark a longer value following a shorter value. Non-imitative material approaching cadences is not shown. Other non-imitative phrases within sections are shown with X.
Duo No. Io
2
First Section
Second Section J
Third Section * o
Fourth (& Fifth) Section(s)
,J
*o
X - o 0o
XoJ
o
,o
) X
J,
x4'
MXo ~~~~41
o 0
7
7
m* ~xJ
o J
oJ*
0
o*#oXJ
81
9 o
o
*M X o *oJ
X
J
*O
1o x
11 12'
.
0o* X m X oJ*H Xm o ,?
*oXo
x J x*
X * o
X g,
13 142
52
*o
X o
oJ
Jx* *o
xJ
xJxJxJ x*oJX* J
xx*J
J o o JJ
J *J * JJ J* J X*o J*o J o J J
J
HXooJJ
O
-x
*o
16
17
oXo0
J
O X O a*J o X
18
19
202
M oJ
o
J*J
213
0 o*xxP
X
o0
J x
22
23 1,2 24
=
J
o
oJ*oXo
section after those combinations appearsin 1DuosNos. 8, 12 and 23 begin not with imitation,but with repeatedblocks. The value of the firstimitative the leftmostcolumnsfor these duos. No. 4 ends with three repeatedblocks that do not figurein this table. 2The non-canonicfantasiesat the beginningsof Nos. 14 and 20 and at the end of No. 23 are not shown here.
3In the triple mensuration section of No. 21, p = perfect breve; i = imperfect breve.
of sections. Table2. Time intervalsof imitationat the beginnings value show a a shorter one. Asterisks (Eachrow following longer below contains only the leftmost note value from each of the columnsin Table 1.)
1
2
3 4
5
o0* M
0 o
0'
o 0
0-
o*M
6 7 8 9 10 mo O 0 0 O0 0 0
G*m
11 12
13 a
o o0
0 o o
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 22 23 24
o
o 0 o 0 o 0 o o
0 o
J*o
similar values aligned. (Nothing is entered for duo No. 11 because it contains only one section.) Here there is much more consistency, with only 5 cases of deceleration (shown with asterisks) out of 53 successions, or about 9%. No. 17 is the best example of the generalizationthat in the acceleration model, each section is a diminution of the preceding one. Comparison of the motets with the ricercarsreveals that the ricercarsoverall contain shorter time intervals: imitation at the semiminim occurs only once in the motets, as opposed to 36 times in the ricercars;imitation at the fusa never occurs in the motets, but appears 4 times in the ricercars. This is consistent with the greater use of short note values in the ricercars.Also, non-canonicfantasysections occur only in the ricercars.This may be due to the fact that rhythmicvariation is a characteristicof fantasy;if it were used in motets, it might well mutilate the text setting. For instance, the rests in midtheme in Example 4 might break up words. The norms for rate of change of time interval of imitation help confirm the decision to identify Example 5 as a fantasy, since it has an unusuallylarge numberof intrusionsof Xs. Appendix 2 shows clearly that no other opening section has that many interruptions of imitation; indeed, only two duos have any Xs at all in their opening sections (Nos. 2 and 20 have one each). In addition to helping to establish norms, the schemas in Appendix 2 reveal some features specificto individualpieces. For instance, in No. 17 the first three sections get progressively shorter, as do the stretches of free material leading to the first three cadences, so that these durationsparticipatein the accelerationmodel. Another strikinguse of time interval of imitation as a structuringdevice is seen in No. 6, where the time intervals form a palindrome: J o J J o d. This duo, to be discussed further below, is unique in startingwith a short time interval of imitation, and in having the longest one in the middle of the piece.
10
FUGA
The word fuga in the late Renaissance embraces not only pitch intervalof imitation, but other variationtechniques that are applied to melodic material (inversion, retrograde, and inganno), whether the repetition occurs in a single voice or in imitation between two voices. Here, however, the term refers primarilyto the melodic relationship between the two voices, which is indicated in the analytic scores by a dotted line between the note in the guide and the correspondingnote in the consequent, with the labels for the variousrelationships placed next to the dotted lines. After a dotted line, it is assumed that every note in the guide has a corresponding note, in the same melodic relationship, in the consequent. When that relationship changes, a new dotted line and label are placed between the correspondingnotes. One of the most striking features of Lassus's style is that melodic relationships change much more frequently than time intervals of imitation.
The several kinds of fuga include transposition, fuga d'inganno, melodic inversion, and retrograde and retrograde in-
zation names of the notes the theme comprises. Since any solmization name can designate two or three pitch classes, a wide variety of melodic variation is possible. Melodic inversionis shown in the analyticscores and schemas by "inv" and the pitch interval between the first notes. Retrograde, although mentioned by contemporaneous theorists, seems never to be used in these duos between a leading voice and its immediate consequent.12However, the retrograde of a theme may show up later in the piece, and be imitated in inversion, a process which yields the retrograde inversion of the original theme (e.g., No. 18, mm. 14-19). Of the fuga types above, transpositionand inversion have been fairly thoroughly examined in present-day studies.13 Fuga d'inganno, by contrast, seems to be less well known. The term is believed to have been coined by Artusi, and occurs in few other treatises.14In the Lassus duos, inganno
12RoccoRodio, in Regole di musica (Naples: Giacomo Carlino e Costantino Vitale, 1609; facsimile, Bologna: Forni, 1981), shows two examples of retrograde ("fuga cancherizzata")using the famous la sol fa re mi theme that Lassus uses as the subject for a non-canonicfantasy section in duo No. 14 (53). 13See, for instance, Imogen Horsley, "Fugue and Mode in 16th-Century Vocal Polyphony," in Aspects of Medieval and RenaissanceMusic, ed. Jan LaRue (New York: PendragonPress, 1966): 406-22; James Haar, "Zarlino's Definition of Fugue and Imitation,"Journal of the American Musicological Society24 (1971): 226-54; and Paul MarkWalker,"Fuguein GermanTheory from Dressier to Mattheson" (Ph.D. diss., SUNY Buffalo, 1987). '4See Giovanni Maria Artusi, La Seconda parte dell'Artusiovero delle imperfettionidella moderna musica (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1603; facsimile, Bologna: Forni, 1968), 45-57. This passage is discussed in John Harper, "Frescobaldi'sEarly Inganni and Their Background,"Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association 105 (1978-79): 1-12. Rodio, in Regole di musica, 53, describes inganno as fuga in nome ("La fuga in nome e quella la quale nomina le note per varij movimenti, come qui si vede, & molti la chiamano, fuga d'inganno").Camillo Angleria does not use the term, but his examples of variationedi fuga in Chapter 20 of La Regola di contraponto (Milan: Giorgio Rolla, 1622;facsimile, Bologna: Forni, 1983) show a motive whose different segments are transposed by various intervals. The relative
version. Transposition is indicated in analytic scores by a numbernext to a dotted line connecting correspondingnotes; each change of pitch interval of imitation calls for a new number and dotted line. The plus and minus signs indicate which voice is leading (e.g., "+4" means imitation at the fourth above, the upper voice being the consequent; "-1" means the lower voice follows at the unison). In rareinstances when the voices are crossed, two signs are used (e.g., " + -3" means the upper voice follows, beginning a third below the corresponding note in the leading voice, as shown at a in Example 2. One special case of change of pitch interval is fuga d'inganno. This is a change of pitch interval of imitation in midtheme that maintainsthe solmizationsyllables of the original. Inganno is special in that "themeness" resides in the solmi-
11
is often used along with rhythmicvariationin fantasysections. This can be seen in Example 5, where the theme is the names fa re re fa, but the hexachords from which those names are drawn change constantly, creating very different melodic
shapes. 15
Example 6. No. 12, mm. 15-16: solmizationand ficta

H N mi la sol S
I, fa
--
11
II
fa
mi
Recognition of inganno can help to solve ficta problems such as that shown in Example 6, where the melodic variation results from inganno. Some editors suggest flatting the first B of m. 15. But if the upper line is sung with Bf there, then both the guide and consequent can have the same solmization syllablesfa mi la sol fa mi (albeit from different hexachords), as shown.16 Change of transpositionlevel that does not maintain tone/ semitone position is often found in mid-imitationin the Lassus duos. The significanceof level of transpositionhas to do with pitch and interval content. A transposed or inverted theme can maintain the same ordering of interval qualities (Example 7a); this is by far the most common type of inversion. Or the inverted theme can lie in the same space as the original (i.e., having the same pitch-classes at both beginning and end, as in No. 6, Appendix 1, m. 11; and No. 18, m. 35, not shown here); this means it outlines the same species of interval in the same location. Or it can have the
rarity of the idea is striking:Walker ("Fugue in German Theory") surveyed some two dozen Italian and German theorists writing on fuga between 1550 and 1650, and seems never to have run across it. 15Thelow Bb requires a hexachord on low F. Such a hexachord, while outside the Guidonian gamut, was sanctioned by many authors, as noted in Karol Berger, Musica Ficta (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press, 1987), 13-16. In mm. 5-6 the notes F-A-A-BI are clearly another kind of variant of the initial motive, but one whose derivation is harder to define: the first note can only be afa if a hexachordis imaginedon low C, which some authors sanctioned;the second note can be a re only if B-naturalis imagined, yet there are Bbs on both sides. 16Onecould conceive of this passage as fa mi re ut fa mi without altering the conclusion regardinginganno and its influence on ficta. The only reason not to is that most theorists appear to favor mutating on la.
18 fcr + r' p loI I

su-
J
-8
-.
-am_. " Vir--
go go
v inv -8
;Y
sufa I
I r
N
b Io
mi la sol 1I fa I S -am mi
Vir-
rF
go
same pitch-class at eitherthe beginning or end (Example 7b, where the imitations begin on C; and also Example 6 on the word "Virgo"). When the melody outlines a fifth, having a beginning or ending note in common can (but does not always) produce the outline of the same species of interval in a different location.l7 Finally, it can reproduce the intervals
17Two kinds of inversion are described by Angleria in La Regola di contraponto, Chapter 21, 79. Inversion maintainingintervals is called "proprio roverso" while that lying between the same pitch-classes is called "roverso contrario." He begins with a little passage showing the correspondence in "proprioroverso" between the solmization syllable of the first note in the originalmelody and the firstnote in the invertedmelody: "Se la fuga principia in Ut, il suo roverso e il La; Se principia in Re, il suo roverso e il Sol; Se principiain Mi, il suo roverso e il Fa; Se in Fa, e il Mi; Se in Sol, e il Re; Se principiain La, si piglia l'Ut." Example 7a is a textbook case of proprio roverso, the theme lying precisely within the hexachord. Rodio makes a similar distinction (Regole di musica, 52). Using la sol fa re mi (starting on A) as a theme, he defines the inversion that maintainsintervals (startingon G) as fuga contraria,and the inversion that begins on the same note (A), fuga traversa;however, because he adds examples of both types transposeddown a fifth, the second fuga traversa(now startingon D) occupies the same space as the original, makingit equivalentto Angleria'sroversocontrario.For more on "hexachordalinversion,"see James Ladewig, "Luzzaschias Frescobaldi's Teacher: A Little-Known Ricercare," Studi Musicali 10 (1981): 247.
12
MusicTheory Spectrum fourths. Because neither of these species is proper to the principal mode of the piece, their function may be one of variation or of modal destabilization. When types of fuga are added to the time lines, as shown in the complete schematic reductions in Appendix 2, their contribution to form becomes apparent. Generally, many changes of fuga take place within a single time interval of imitation. Thus the time intervalis a single unifyingconstraint that can embrace a dizzyingvarietyoffuga types. Placingfuga types against time intervals shows that imitative sections are canonic with respect to rhythm much more consistently than with respect to pitch. In addition, change of fuga type generally occurs more slowly in opening sections, so that it functions as yet another aspect of the acceleration model. For a striking example, compare the first and second sections of No. 22 in Appendix 2. Imitation at an imperfect or dissonant interval and inversion tend to occur either in the middles of sections or at the beginning of internal sections; thus these types of fuga are used in ways that define middleness.18Why might this be? One reason may have to do with modal stability. Imperfect intervals of imitation and some transpositions of inversions change mode-defining species of fourth or fifth, causing modal instability. The use of foreign species to articulate a middle may be likened to the modulations to more distant keys in the development sections of tonal binary or sonatadesign movements.
18Arare instance of fuga at an imperfect interval at the beginning of a piece appearsin Lassus'sPenitentialPsalmNo. 2, verse 11, where it expresses
a text about ineptitude (Lasso, The Seven Penitential Psalms and Laudate
Example7. Two types of imitationby inversion

a. No. 7, mm. 9-11; S = semitone; T = tone
T T S TT
b-I_-I I|8 F
.J J
inv
J
T
J J
7 T T S T
~_
~(etc.) "-^^-~~~_~~~~
b. No. 3, mm. 16-19

0
o: /rrrTJ fr
/,/inv if+1 ,/ /'inv +8.
o?
of the original only in part (as in Example 2, mm. 17-18, where only the firstfour intervalsare exactly the same). Note that the labels used here do not specify which type of inversion is used. A label like "inv -9" is used here merely for identification;what it means in terms of literally reproducing the intervals of the original depends upon where in the diatonic arrangementthe melody falls and how large a range it covers. The structuralfunction of pitch and interval content of a transposed or inverted theme can be linked to mode. If a guide outlines the important notes of the mode, does the consequent echo the same important notes of the mode, or does it present a different species than the guide, suggesting a different mode? For instance, in the passage of retrogrades and retrograde inversions from No. 18, mm. 14-19, the intervals of the bracketed motives are maintained in order in all cases, but all outline either second-species or third-species
dominum de caelis, ed. Peter Bergquist [Madison:A-R Editions, 1990], 35). Another example from Lassus of imitation an unusual interval is cited by BernhardMeier for a different expressive purpose in The Modes of Classical Vocal Polyphony, translatedEllen Beebe (New York: Broude Bros., 1988),
323; originally published as Die Tonarten der klassischen Vokalpolyphonie
(Utrecht: Oosthoek, Scheltema & Holkema, 1974).
13
Change of species may occasionally be related to the note of an internal cadence other than the final or cofinal, as in Example 1 from duo No. 2 in Dorian. Here the species outlined in the lower voice is the Lydian fifth Bb-F (fa-fa), which can be said to prepare the cadence on F.19
REPEATEDBLOCKS
A block of material is a contrapuntalcombination whose vertical and melodic intervals are repeated. Some blocks occur within imitative textures; others contain unrelated melodic motions.20Blocks are indicated in the scores by boxes beneath which are numbers representing the vertical intervals. The sense of periodicity is especially strong here, where a whole two-voice passage is repeated. In keeping with a general principle of Renaissance music, that of varied repetition, blocks of materialare almost never repeated unvaried in the Lassus duos.21In the analyticalschemas, the boxes are
19Renaissanceauthors differ on the modal function of the intermediate cadence on notes other than the finalor cofinal. Such cadences can apparently be used to make reference to other modes, or can be members of a limited class of cadences that are proper to the principal mode. Zarlino seems to indicate the latter when he says that the proper cadences in the Dorian, for instance, are to D, F, and A (see Istitutioni, Part 4, Chapters 18-19). The cadence to F in that case might not signify F-Lydian but F-in-the-middleof-Dorian. 20In the latter case it can be thought of as a two-voice soggetto, to use Zarlino's term. Zarlino describes the two-voice motive in Istitutioni,Part 3, Chapter 26, and discusses using a two-voice combination as the basis for adding another voice in Chapter 64. Anthony Newcomb refers to it as a "double point" in the introductionto The Ricercarsof the Bourdeney Codex (Madison: A-R Editions, 1991), xiii. See also Balmer, Lassos Motetten,159. 21SeeZarlino, Istitutioni,Part 3, Chapter55, and Giovanni MariaArtusi, L'arte del contraponto (Venice: Giacomo Vincenti, 1598; facsimile, Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1969), 58. In the duos, only two examples of immediate exact untransposedrepetition without ornamentationare found: No. 20, mm. 22-23, and No. 24, a cadence with voice exchangein mm. 25-26. Ornamented
connected by arrows labeled with the type of variation used. There are three principalmeans of variation, excluding mere ornamentation:transposition,double counterpoint,and mirror inversion. Transpositionsor "harmonic"sequences22are labeled in the analyses by a plus or minus sign and the number of diatonic steps: "-3" means the block is transposeddown a third, major or minor. In the schemas, when many short blocks follow one another at the same transpositionlevel, the boxes are run together and arrowsomitted; the numberthen applies to each of the joints between boxes (e.g., No. 18, mm. 21-22 and 37-38). In many cases, especially in the motets, the transposed blocks do not succeed each other immediately, and perhaps should not properly be called sequential (e.g., No. 6, Appendix 1, mm. 15-16 and 18). Double counterpoint causes the vertical intervals in the combination to change by transposing one or both of the voices in the pair. If the voices change their relative positions (upper becomes lower), it is called invertible counterpoint. Invertible counterpoint is indicated in scores and schemas by "ic" and the interval of inversion (e.g., "ic 12" means invertible counterpoint at the twelfth). Like transposition, it can occur in imitative passages, or it can be applied to nonimitative two-voice combinations. Some longer instances that have a clear structural function are discussed below, while others occur as tiny fragments. One of the most technically spectacular examples of the latter is from No. 20, shown in
examples include: No. 16, m. 32, and a block in No. 14, mm. 22-23, which is repeated in mm. 26-27. These are labelled in the schemas. Balmer, Lassos Motetten,119, cites an ornamentedscale appearingas a variationof the simple scale elsewhere in the piece. 22"Harmonic" here refers to the vertical intervals, which are maintained in the sequentialpassage. Artusi, in L'artedel contraponto,discussesthis type of transpositionalong with permissibletypes of repetition (58). He says this type of repetition consists of the same rhythmsand the same verticalintervals but is varied by having different "notes" (i.e., it is transposed).
14
Example8. No. 20, mm. 17-19: blocks of invertiblecounterpointin a non-imitativetexture

B
-4 --
B
3
I"
A'5
-h
3
I
A'
'N = -
In
wl-,
7-r
=i,.
. . .
."
,~ -f I r I I 1 r
I
I I , . .
.
-
_ o
10 ic 12
10 3
9 76 96
310
10 9 9
3 ic 12
(8)
10
-5
Example 8. This passage, which at first seems to consist of free counterpoint, contains a rare flurry of overlapping combinations that must have cost some effort to compose: combinations A, A' and B create a small-scale arch form, shown by the arrows indicating contrapuntal procedures. Note the alteration, at the asterisks in A', of one of the melodies makingup combinationA; this alteration"corrects" the seventh that results from invertible counterpoint at the twelfth when the original combination contains the vertical interval of a sixth. Another little variant is the addition of a passing note in the last combination, B, creating an octave (in parentheses). Mirror inversion reverses both the melodic motions and the relative positions of the voices, so that the sequence of vertical intervals is maintained, as in Example 9.23 Mirror inversion can be combined with invertible counterpoint, as in No. 6, Appendix 1, mm. 8-11, or with retrograde, as in Example 9.
23Zarlinorefers to this technique as "the second mode of double counterpoint" (Istitutioni, Part 3, Chapter 56).
Harmonic sequence is never used at the beginning of any effect duo. Perhapsas in tonal music, it has a pushing-forward inappropriatefor beginnings, where establishmentof tonality and subject are necessary. Furthermore, the levels of transposition that would ensure modal stability (fourth and fifth) are used least frequently overall. Table 3 shows the number of occurrences of interval of transpositionof blocks, broken down by genre. Comparisonof the ricercarsand motets reveals quite different uses of harmonic sequence. The ricercarsfeature numerous short blocks, mostly transposedup or down a second, almost always following each other immediately, and often repeated more than once. In the motets the transposedblocks tend to be fewer, longer, evenly divided among the possible intervals, often separated by interveningmaterial, and rarely repeated more than once. The sequences are often used in the ricercarsto approachthe cadence (some are actuallypart of the cadence), while in the motets they are less heavily concentrated at the cadences. One structuraluse of invertible counterpoint is to begin a piece, as in Nos. 8, 12, and 23. In these cases the blocks
15
Example 9. No. 19, m. 31: mirrorinversionand retrograde

31, \/ , -I
Example10. No. 8, mm. 23-36: repeatedblocks and largearch

23 23
II
e7
1I
F-r
"-
""
r1
9:,
0
A
r
.r1'I
rltrrre
B
llFF
irror
K retrograde
r-r
retrograde
~
K'r
~I~~
Irr
mirror -
iclo-
f
2
27
A' "r IJ
A'
rJ tp
,?
,I'F1
f
B'
?
ial.isP
o
At"
J J j
B"
JJ
.b?
?o
o -9,~~~
< ro
CC -r J X
-5
v r
Table 3. Transpositionlevels of transposedblocks (harmonic sequence) ?+2 Motets

Ricercars
+3 4
5
4 or 5 4
3
Totals 14
44
6
36
Totals
42
58
are non-imitativecombinationsof substantiallength (21/2-31/2 breves) and are repeated in invertible counterpoint at the twelfth or octave. Using invertible counterpoint at these intervals is ideal for the Renaissance composer because it generally maintains the same species of melodic interval in the
original and the inverted combinations, and it maintainsperfect vertical intervals in the same places in both as well.24 These blocks thus function to establish the mode clearly at the beginning of the pieces. Apart from these two uses of repeated blocks (harmonic sequence at cadences and invertible counterpoint at openings), there is at least one other consistent structuralfunction for repeated blocks. It is to create a kind of ABA'C phrase that occurs in six of the twelve motets, and never in the ricercars. Figure 1 (p. 19) examines short segments taken
24SeePeter N. Schubert, "Mode and Counterpoint,"in Music Theoryand the Exploration of the Past, ed. Christopher Hatch and David Bernstein (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), 103-36.
16
from the analytical schemas in Appendix 2, aligned to show their similar construction (actual durations are not represented). In each, A is a combination that recurs varied as A'. B and C can have a variety of relationships: In Nos. 1, 3, 9, and 12, B is a bit of free counterpoint (X) that functions as an ouvert ending with C providing the clos ending. In No. 8, B is a cadence (shaded) that recurs twice: once as B' (B inverted at the octave and transposed down a fourth) and once as B" (B' transposed down a fifth). Finally, in No. 10, B is free counterpoint (albeit resembling a cadence) and C has the ouvert ending. This form is responsible for three of the instances of short values followed by longer values that were shown bracketed in Table 1 (Nos. 1, 3, and 12). If within A, or between A and B, there is a reduction in the time interval of imitation, then the longer value must be picked up again for the varied repeat of A, causing a deviation from the acceleration model. The operations by which the As are varied include invertible counterpoint and transposition at a variety of intervals. The second boxed combination in No. 8 in Example 10 (mm. 27-28) is the first inverted at the tenth. The lower voice in the first box has been transposed up a fifth in the second, maintaining the ut-fa (third-species) melodic intervals that express the principal mode (Lydian). The upper voice in the first box outlines a first-species re-sol fourth of Dorian that had been introduced earlier, perhaps in connection with the cadence on A in m. 17 (compare Example 1); when it is transposed down a sixth in the second box, it also outlines the Lydian fourth, so both voices regain the principal mode. Note that A" (mm. 32-34) is not boxed in the example. Although it uses similar melodic material, the contrapuntal combination is not the same. The passage shown in Example 11 is complicated by a sort of "false start" of A' in which the first part of A is sounded alone before the remainder of A' is sounded. Rests interrupt these two fragments of A, and the second fragment is trans-
posed. The effect is to build from B towards a little climax on the D in m. 29: the high points in mm. 27-29 outline a scale D-E-F-G as the melody in the upper voice seeks to reconstruct itself as it was in mm. 24-25 in a little drama not unlike Romantic phrase construction. A similar use of transposition in the A and B sections of an ABA'C structure to create longer melodic arches arises in No. 8, mm. 25-34 (in Example 10). The descending line in m. 25 starts on D; in m. 30 the ascending line rises to C; m. 33 has Bb as its highest point; and the last descending line falls from A. The linear descent outlined by these high points (circled) directs the modular repetitions towards the end of the piece. The significance of the passages in Figure 1 is that they represent a structural use not just of melodic recurrence, but of the repetition of the entire "harmonic" section. This is different from the periodic repetition caused by imitation because in imitation only one voice is the same in any two adjacent segments. The recurring passage here is more like a mini-ritornello, an abstract structuring device but at the same time clearly bound up with repetition of the text (shown at the right in Figure 1). Simple direct repetition of music and text is not restricted to the ends of pieces, but instances of the ABA'C repetition model shown in Figure 1 is used at (or near, in No. 10) the ends of five of the twelve motets, so it functions as a signal for the end of the piece.25
25PietroPontio, in his Ragionamentodi musica (Parma: Erasmo Viotto, 1588; facsimile, Kassel: Barenreiter, 1959), agrees with Zarlino on the necessity of avoiding repetition of the same consonances and melodic motions "unless it is the repetition of an ending, as Cipriano did in the second part of his canzone, Alla dolce ombra" ("Conviene ancora schivi che il compositore, & contrapuntista[se possibil sia] di non replicare l'inventioni per le medesime consonantie, & movementi conformi;perche non rendano varieta alcuna, eccetto se non fosse una replicatione d'un fine, come fece Cipriano nella seconda parte della sua Canzone, Alla dolce ombra, ma replicata la inventione per diverse consonantie, tal varieta sara molto laudabile," 146).
17
Example 11. No. 10, mm. 24-31

-4
24'r
rj
10 6
r
J
5 6
r?
a
10 -2 6 5
0
rr
101112
656 1011
12
MUSICAL STRUCTURE AND TEXT
In the foregoing, the motets were analyzed as abstract musical structures on a par with the ricercars. Now we can replace their texts and correlate them with some of the abstract musical features pointed out above. The uniqueness of duo No. 6 (Appendix 1), for instance, with its short initial time interval of imitation and palindromic structure, can be related to the opening words "Qui sequitur me" ("He that followeth me"). Close stretto is common in musical settings of texts about following.26We may imagine Lassus beginning with a short time intervalof imitation inspiredby the text and then, in order to provide variety and to ensure the appropriate acceleration towards the final cadence, deciding to use
He follows this statement with an example anticipatingsome of those Artusi would use later in L'Arte del contrapontocited in note 22). 26Horst Leuchtmann, in Die musikalischen Wortausdeutungen in den Motettendes Magnum opus musicum von Orlando di Lasso (Baden Baden: VerlagValentinKoerner, 1972), cites this duo on p. 147, and generalizes:"Wo fuga schon eine Figurist (= Kanon), liegt es nahe, fugere und auchsequi durch auffallende imitation auszudeuten" (61).
imitation at the breve in the middle of the piece. It is only a short step from there to the idea of a palindrome. Text may also account for fuga at imperfect intervals. Again in No. 6 (Appendix 1), at the words "sed habebit" there is imitation at the third and a short block transposed up a third. These intervals of transposition allow the introduction of a third-species fourth (C-F in the lower voice at mm. 15-16) to sound along with the second-species fourths (E-A in both voices in mm. 17-18) that are proper to the Phrygian mode of the piece. Lassus may have chosen this mode for this text on account of the word "tenebris"("darkness"). The subtle infiltration of these fourths smooths the transition to several fourth-species fifths and a third-species fourth (F-C and F-Bb in the upper voice at mm. 17-20) that express the word "lumen" ("light"; compare Example 1).27
27Tosay that the Lydian species express the word "lumen"is to extend Meier's theory of melodic commixture. For Meier, excursions outside the mode (whethercadentialor melodic) primarilyreflectwordshavingto do with different types of change or of negative emotions; the most positive words he lists are in the category of "blessed"and "humble.""Light"is not among the words he lists as expressed by modal means, although he mentions it briefly in the context of word-paintingby melodic ascent (The Modes, 240).
18
Here text expression and structure coincide, since the "loaded" word and the foreign species occur in the middle of the piece. The notion that imperfect interval of transposition is based on text is somewhat borne out by the fact that invertible counterpoint at the tenth (in which one voice is transposed by an imperfect interval) is used only in the motets, never in the ricercars (as shown in Table 4). Finally, text may be responsible for the only example in a motet of a long harmonic sequence. It is at the word "malum"("evil") at the end of No. 5. The setting consists of a short block transposedfour times down a second. Meier has pointed out that repetition and evil are associated.28Here again, expression and structure coincide, since this type of harmonicsequence is mostly used in the ricercarsto approach a cadence, and the word "malum"occurs at the end of the piece (however, we are forced to conclude that what is perfectly normal in a ricercar is evil in a motet). The examples above are not only momentary madrigalisms,but show how abstract long-range schemes can coincide with expressive intent.
cites this same exLeuchtmann,in Die musikalischenWortausdeutungen, ample from Lassus'sduo No. 6 in his exhaustivelist (142), and also discusses it in the text. For him, "lumen" is expressed by quick motion, and in the phrase "lumen vitae" it expresses both "light"and "life," and its effect even spills over into surroundingwords: "Lux. Licht und leuchten werden als Bewegung iibertragen . . . Lux oder lumen erschienen ausgedeutet nur sehr selten; im iiberwiegenden Teil bleiben sei [sic]-wenn auch verschiedene Grinde fur das Ausbleiben beizubringen sind-unberiicktsichtigt. Ein Beispiel aus Motette 6: die Bewegungbeginntschon bei 'habebit.'Hier stehen in 'lumenvitae' zwei Worterzusammen,die-besonders vita-mit Bewegung ausgedeutet werden. Es ist anzunehmen, dass die grosse melodische Bewegung fur beide Worter gilt" (51). 28Meierrecognizes repetition of "repeated tones, intervals, or melodic phrases"for the purpose of expressingwords having to do with bells, trumpets, repetition, duration, and various negative emotions (The Modes, 24345). Leuchtmannsees evil as expressedby melodic descent (Die musikalischen 37), and cites this example from Lassus'sduo No. 5 (141). Wortausdeutungen,
Table 4. Intervalsof invertiblecounterpoint twelfth octave tenth

Motets Ricercars 4 7 3 5 5 -
Totals
12 12
Totals
11
24
CONCLUSION
The young composer who could absorb this lesson from Lassus would have mastered form as the assembly and repetition of many small parts that are varied by means of contrapuntaltechniques. Lassus'sown use of these techniques to articulatebeginning, middle, and end can be summarizedas follows. Beginnings are characterizedby a slow rate of change of fuga and a slow time interval of imitation (an exception might seem to be the fantasy beginnings, but in these Lassus acquires fast-paced variation and change of fuga by trading away the progressive melodic development of a guide). Another option for the beginning is the use of two-voice blocks where repetition is varied by invertible counterpoint. Like imitative openings that maintain a slow time interval of imitation, these blocks offer periodic phrasing, but the periods are longer. Both types of opening ensure modal stability due to perfect intervals of transposition. Middleness for Lassus involves quickening the time interval of imitation and quickeningthe rate of change of fuga types. In addition, certain specificfuga types (imperfect interval of transposition, inversion) are reserved for middles. These features obtain on both the large and small scales, i.e., in the middles of pieces and in the middles of sections of pieces. The imperfect intervals of transpositionare not only used to add variety and to differentiate the middle of a piece or section, but to destabilize the mode, sometimes with the
19
Figure 1. The ABA'C passages

Duo:
o -4+5
A
,0
B
X -4
A'
C(or B')
,sA: -5-4-1
A"
B"
Text:
or "circumspectionem" B & C: "Dei"
No.1
end, mm.23-32
-3 0 oX No. 3 -8 -8 oe -5 -6
X
+5
A: "qui diligunt" B & C: "ilium"
end, mm.22-31
' ic 12 ,mirror x ,X
0
:(s
No.8 end, mm. 23-36
+6 I ~"' iclO10
-5 -5-
+1 -5
A: "ego reddam"
I
ic8-4 5
"vobis"
X0 No. 9 3 -4 5
A: "et tollat cru-" B & C: "-cem suam"
mm. 16-22
~same o0+? +8 +8-4
XenA ''
-2
0 , 6
No. 10
o +8 +4 +8
X inv -12 -5
end, mm.24-35
A: "in gaudium" B & C: "Domini"
'
No. 12 end, mm. 29-35
+5 +5,*+5
+5
'
? -3 -3
A: "qui vitalem" __ B & C: "dat odorem"
&I~~~~~~~~~~~~
20
effect of introducing a cadence on a less important degree than the final or fifth. Ends of ricercars differ from those of motets. In both, repeated blocks are likely to be used, but in the ricercars these repeated blocks are sequences, while in the motets, as a consequence of text repetition perhaps, the repeated blocks sometimes form more complex phrase structures in which the blocks act as little ritornellos. We have been inclined to hold our respect for contrapuntal artifice at a healthy remove from our appreciation of music's more immediate attractions. Yet it is contrapuntal technique that is responsible for some of the most dramatic attributes of Lassus's duos: the contrast between the consistency and slow pace of beginnings with the intensification of quickening time interval of imitation; the relaxation of tension after a cadence with the new start at a relatively slow time interval of imitation; the unpredictability of fantasy; the sense of beginning a block again after intervening material; and the broad melodic arches created by transposed repetitions. All these can be brought out by the performer. In addition to refining our perception of the style and construction of these duos, recognition of their contrapuntal features can also affect our hearing and performance.29
other aspects of Renaissancemusic could be representedin some 29Many shorthand manner and mapped onto the time-lines in Appendix 2, so that furthercorrespondencesand conclusionscould be drawn.These could include motivic derivation (how the various motives in a piece are related), contour functionof high and low melodic points), durationaland metric (the structural structures, arch forms, and rates of rhythmicand melodic activity. On arch form in Lassus, see Balmer, Orlando di Lassos Motetten, 115-30 and 247ff., and Lacas in the liner notes to "Orlandede Lassus Moduli Quinque Vocibus 1571." ChristopherReynolds has identified palindromicstructures("concentric order") made of thematic recurrences("mirrorpoints") in "MusicalEvidence of Compositional Planning," 58ff. The author wishes to thank his seminar students at McGill University who worked through a few of these duos and adapted the methods presented here for use on music in four or more parts.
ABSTRACT This article demonstrateshow contrapuntaltechniques contributeto the formal structure of Lassus's twenty-four famous duos. Three types of contrapuntalevents are identified in each piece: time interval of imitation, fuga (type of melodic variation), and "blocks" (contrapuntalcombinations, usually varied by transposition or invertible counterpoint). Occurrencesof these events are mappedonto time lines for all twenty-four pieces. The time lines suggest conclusionsregardingLassus'snormativeformalprocedures.These procedures can in some cases be related to text and, in others, taken as suggestions for expressive performance.
21
Appendix 1. Duo No. 6: "Qui sequitur me"
Cantus
- o; <
QuiX\ -5\.
&O
" J .L 4 , o
se- qui- tur me,
a J o 0 o
me,
qui
5?
qui
se-
rJ
- qui- tur
me,
qui
se-
...
- qui- tur
me,
Altus
0
0
J J.
se-
r,
se-
3 3f.
qui- tur me,
?
me,~ ~qui~ qui
J
s~e-~ se-
Qui 7
qui- tur
I qui- tur tuer~ me, me, qui-
-\
non
\am- \ x invx -5xx\'5
r *
bulat, am5 O bu6
10
-J
-f
lat,
non
\am-\ \ inv _5\ -5\-4 x12
i?
bu-
lat
) ?r; n
in \ v bulat in
,^r J"
/ te/+5
-ne-
^-J o
bris,
'ro
mirror
non
non
['
o J c ';^
5 5 c
J.
tene-
^
b
-
15
!0
ha-
--
sed_
r -,r J
ha-
'
am6
be-
fr
bit,
r
-bit, sed ha-
r
be-bit
"r
o
bris,
rf
sed
f r f,
-
r
3 4 5 6 33 3-
be-
sed +3
ha-
be4 5 6 3
20
I1
Jiv^ -rr
bit lu-
r-
^--^-rr
/ ,/+5
r
-
f'r
+4,/ 4/ +5 / men
men
- fFr r'- rr
||.
vi-
'r
viJ ^-^30 -
" ff f
tae: tae:
25
f
dicit 4 Dodi-
26
u-
-,,rr r
mi-
f,,
cit
nus, di-
Do-
rr, ,(r(r)
-8
rdj~~~~~
r8
rrr
I
rr
-
r
minus.
r\\\\\\\\\A-\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
| Eb1P
cit
fff
Do-
frrJmi-nus, dicit
r
Do-
'
I~
rrz
minus.
22
Appendix 2. Time Line Analyses of the twenty-four duos. (Unconnected boxes indicate fragment settings.)
M= measure T=time interval of imitation F=fuga type i= inversion B=repeated blocks C=cadential note
L:iii=free materialleadingto cadence
No. 1 M L I T F B 4 i +5
11111
5 1111111
10
15
20
25
30
I I I I l
I o
+3 +5
L_L
+5
o
-5-4-5-4-5 -4
+x
+5
o
-4
$
-5-4-1
E,l
D
C
No. 2 M
L 1I 1I I
5
i 1 1111111
10
I
15
1 1111111111
20
25
111111111
30
I I
35
J
T F B
m +5
X +4+1+4 +5 +4 -8
o
+3
o :I::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-5-4 -6 -5 -1 +5
F .-
C
No. 3 M LII T F B 'I -5 -8 1
11111
ic12
-3
10 I I
15 I
j
20 I I 111 1 1111111
25
30
o
-7
':0
:'.''
i i +1 +8
0
-8
J
-5-6
x o
+5
-5
ELI]
+2 E A
LE
=ic 12-_mirror D
C
No. 4 M L I I -5 I -1-5
10 111111111111111111111111111
15
20
25 I
30 I I J
T
F B C -8 -8 -1
Eli
0 o
-6 -8 -1
liii
s2,Zic IO
F A C D

No. 5 M
L III_ 1
23
5
i 1 1
10 i +6 +8
15 i ii Ii 111111111111111111
20 Ii I I i -5
25 I -4 -5 iI
30 Ii iI J
T F
-' +4 +5
4
+5
o
-6
J Ei x
B C D E A
-2
A
No. 6 M L T F j -5 i I
5 i i
10 i o -5 i i -5 i i i i i ii E
15
111111111
20
25
1 -8
30
J
-5 i -4 i +5 -12
1=1
+3
j Y
1H
o
-4
-5 +5+4+5
~~~B
C No. 7 M L 1 T F B ic8 -3 C H -8 1 -5 1
Ej,,icl 0 A
+3AD
5 1111111 -8
10
1111111111111
15
20
I
25
I
30 1 1 1 1 -5 1 1 J
J7 - E
-7 -7 -5 +5
j
-2-5-4
4
-8-4
Eo
+5 +6
o x
i -8 +-3
J E:
F
+6 +3-5
No. 8 M L i
5 i 111 i
10 i 111
15
20 111 i i
25
1 I I i i
30
i i i I i
35
i
=
T
F ic12 +6
0
+3
[:i
o
-5
J x
-5-6
j
+6 -5
1
-5
X x
ic8
j
C
C
o J
+1 -5
B
C
Fi Cc8 F
F F
A A
icF
F
F
F
No. 9 M L I T F B C o +8
111111
5
i i i [5EL0 61
10
i i i i i 1111111111111
15
i i I i i
20
25
1111111 i I I
30
I I I 1
35
I 1 J
o
-5 -4
<
0 o
-5 E -1 -3
X o
-4
o
-5
Eli
c
+5 +4 +8 +3 +1+10 +4 +8 i -12 -5-8
+4
+-5+-4-5
-4A F
same A F F
24
No. 10 M
L I i I i
5
i i 1
10 1 11 +8 +5 1 1 4 +4-5
15 1 +8+4 I
20
25 x
30 xI I I I
35
T F B C No. 11 M
a' -5
'.
j
+8 +1 +3+8
o
+8 +4 -2
+8i-5 -12
J x xJ:xE
-5 -1 G
[t;,iclO +35-
iclO
10
LIII 1 II I I I 1111111111111111111 1_ I
15
I I I I 1
20
1 1 1 1
25
1_ 1 11
30
1 111 11
35
T F B
a
-5 -8 -5
o
-1-6
m
-8 -5 -4-8-11 i -11 i -3
o
-6-10-4-8-2+3
GJ a
-8
X
-3 +5
-2 C No. 12 M L T F I I G
5 11111 i 14:::.:::::.:. -4
10
1 1 1 1111111111 1
15
I I 1 I 1
20
I i ?
25
i I 11111111111] 1 1 I i
30
I J ? I I
35
J
X a
-5 -8 i -4 -8
X=.E
-5
o
+7
o 0+5
xo x J H
+5 -3
B
C No. 13 M
Z Z II
-ic 12-
:I
D C D G
5 L III 1 I 1 a +8
10 1 +5
15
1111111
20
11111111111111
25
30
11111
35
40
I 1 1 1111111111J 1 I I I
45
I I I J
T F B
J o
-4 +8
J::l
+4
a
+8 +5
Xo::
+10+8
o
-4 -2
J xJ x xJ E
-3 +6+5+8 -2 iD G -2 Bb -6
o
-8-12
J
+8 +4
x J xJxJ E
+8 -4-5 i-8 -5 1111111 -2 G
C No. 14 M L T F
5 I I 1111111111111
10
15 I 11111 ' -6-5 -8
20 I X +8 -5 X
25 111111111 X +8 ornamented
30 I +5+12-8-4-8 1 1 J
(non-canonic fantasy: 23 entries of la sol fa re mi)
B
C G Bb
-2
[D 11IC II1[E ID
-2 -2
-2 G
25
No. 15 M L I T F B a +8
5 l 11111111111111 j 1 1 1 1 +4 +8
10
15
I I I , I 1 1, I
20
I
J Lim x -8-5-6 +8
1 1 1111111
25 I 8 0o +5 -8
30 I I
111111 I I
35
1 1 I
40
J
x
C
J
+8
Eo
-8
IL oJ
-6 -8
oJ
o Jx
+8
J
i-8 +1
-8-5+4-6-8
D
C No. 16 M L I T F B H -8
I 1111111111
ic12 G Bb G
10
15
20
25
L
,
-5 -8
Io
1::. ::::: 0
11 I
II
3( 0
1 1 1 1 1 1
35
J
Xo
X o
x
+5 +8 +5 -8
J
+5
-5-8
i
-9
i +6
J +8
ic12 C No. 17 M L I T F 1 -5 -8 G Bb
+2 G
10
15
20
25
30
1
35
1I
40
1 11111 I 1 J
1 1 IX
-5 -8
I
X o
.o
-8 -7-10-5-8 mirror -4 G
J JEJ
i -8 +1 -5-7 +2 Bb
J EJ
-6 -8 -12-8 -2 A
xJ
-5 +5
E
+2
i -10
Irrm [
-2
WmmII =
-3 -2 -2 G
C No. 18 M LIII T F B C No. 19 M L 1III T F B C 0 -8 -5 a -8 -5 -6
5 1 11
10
11111111111
15 0 i -8 -9
20
1111111111
25
30
11 j
35
1 I I
40
J
-7
-6
i -11
-8-9-6
[
m -2
G
o
-8 -5
XoJJEJ
-11-5-4 -8-5 -8
JJ j E -6i-6-8+5 +8
-6 -2 G
-2 Bb
5 11111111111111111 -8 -4
10 I
15
20
1 1 1 1
25
1 I 1
30
11 1
35
40 . 1 1 1 1 1 1 J
J Mo
-8 i +12 +8+5 +8-5-8-5 C
EJ
-4+5
J
m
-2 +2
J
-5-4-1-8-11-8
EJ
-8 i -7
x
[m
i +13 mirror
JXoJ
111111
Xo o E
+5
J
+8
J
-5 +2
i
-2
+1 +5 i i+8 -12-12
rn
A
%+39
retro.
26
No. 20 M T F B C No.21 M
10
1111111111
15
I 111111
20
I 111
25
111111
30
I
35
I
40
J
(non-canonic fantasy: 9 entries of fa re re fa)
o YJ
+1 -1-8+5+4+5+1+4+8+5+3-8
Y Jx KEI JI
-5 -2[IM?T] /m^ icl2 -4icl2c +8+5i+1+4 +12 same +8-1-5-8
EY
-8-1 +1 +8 F
'
+1 -3-6-8
JxJ
+8+1+5+li +6 +6 -12
[I]
10 I I I I ?i i +6 I I +3-5 I i I
M I T
F -5
I -1
I +3
20 15 I
^ J -6
20
2 I 1I
-4-8-5
i 1
253 25 i
30 I 3
35
I 1111111 I i
40
I 1 III
45
J
J0J
'
+8+5+4
I H
IrmI W
+2 -2
xx
+4
: x
+4 -5
iE
+5 +1+5+8+5-5
J
-7-5 -3 -3
x
-2
-5
B
C No. 22 M L I T F B C No. 23 M L I 1 T F B C No. 24 M L T F B C G III I -4 -5 I I - ic 1 2 I I -ic 12 I i G 9 -5
-2 D E
[m [IDG]
=I I
G
5
111111111111111111
10
15
I j J
20
I
25
I I
30
I I
35
I I IJ
40
mm
-4
JEE j
i +1 +4+5 +8+5+3+7-4
J
-5
j
-6-4-5-7-8
J
+1+8+-2-4 -8
+6+5+1+5
-4-5+5 +8+1+5+-3+8i-3i +1 -9
+2 +2 -2 D C
(Im ln]Fn] m rTm

-2 -2 G
5 1
10 11111111111111111111
15
20
25
I I I
30 I [
'"-
50
I I I I J
(non-canonic fantasy: 31 entries of ut re ut fa mi re ut) I I K-ic 8 -G I G I k-mirror2 I
5 i
111111
10
1111
15
20
25
3C 111
35
11111J
4
-5
j
i -5
Fiii
+8+5
0 +1-8
JoXo:'.-liio
i -11 -5-1-5+4 +4 +1+8+5+8
E j
-5 +4
J j_ xJ ?E
-5 -8
GG

A Lesson From Lassus (P. Schubert)

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