78048 - Elements of Harmony and Counterpoint

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student: develops faculties of intuition and intelligence of morphologies, relationships, and processes of tonality; knows how to create cognitive maps of what he/she is listening, or reading in the musical score and imagining; possesses an analytical, historical, stylistic knowledge of tonal phenomena in the evolution of Western musical thought.

Course contents

Fundamentals of harmony and counterpoint in J.S. Bach

An overview of the "rules" of tonal harmony and counterpoint observed with the aid of the analysis of Bach's compositional practice.

Readings/Bibliography

(1) Chapters 1-6, 9, 16, 17, 20 of: W. Piston, Harmony, Norton, New York 1987 (fifth ed.).

(2) Chapters XI (pp. 113-126), XVI (165-172), XVIII (185-191), XX (210-225), XXI (226-239), XXII (240-256), XXIII (257-286) of: L. Ratner, Harmony. Structure and style, Mc Graw-Hill, New York 1962.

(3) H. Keller, Il Clavicembalo ben temperato di Johann Sebastian Bach. L'opera e la sua interpretazione, Ricordi, Milano 1991, pp. 9-29, 127-129, and the pages concerning the two pieces chosen for the exam.

(4) [facultative] D. Ledbetter, Bachs Well tempered clavier: the 48 preludes and fugues, Yale University Press, New Haven 2002, only the pages of the book's Commentaries concerning the two pieces chosen for the exam (starting from p. 143 and p. 235, respecively for the pieces of the first and the second volume of the Well tempered clavier).

(5) M. Mastropasqua, Studi preliminari sull'armonia di Bach [being published]

(6) --, Che cosa pensava realmente Bach degli accordi di settima diminuita? [being published]

(7) partial translation, provided during the course, of: E. Platen, Fuge, in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik, begründet von F. Blume, neubearbeitete Ausgabe, hrsg. von Ludwig Finscher, Bärenreiter, Kassel Metzler, Stuttgart 1994, Sachteil III, col. 930-937.

Those who wish to practice further in four-part writing by means of harmonic schemes, can usefully take as models the progressions in the chapters IV to XV of: A. Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony, University of California Press, Berkeley-Los Angeles 1983.

Teaching methods

The first half (approximately) of the course aims to understand, from the very beginning, the harmony and the four-parts writing compatible with Bach's Chorale style. Students who already know these topics, are recommended to assiduously attend the lessons of the second half of the course, more specifically dedicated to the analysis of the repertoire.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of a written test and an interview; the two parts will be assessed with one final mark.

1. Written test

Realization of a melody as free flourished counterpoint (fifth species) to a given part, of about 8 bars, assigned by the Commission on the day of the exam. The given part is provided with harmonic ciphers, which the counterpoint to be created must respect.

Maximum time allowed for the written test: 2 hours. Students may take the oral examination maximum on 3 exam dates following that of the written test - if passed.

2. Oral examination

(a) knowledge on the topics included in the bibliography;

(b) discussion of the analysis (harmony, syntax, form), previously realized by the student, of one prelude and one fugue from Well tempered clavier (vols. I and II), except for the first prelude of Book 1. Selection criteria for the pieces: the prelude must be chosen from one of the two volumes of the Well tempered clavier and the fugue from the other.

Very useful for harmonic interpretation of this last part:

Winold, Allen, Bach's cello suites: analyses and explorations, Indianapolis university press, Bloomington 2007, 2 volls. [in vol. 2, musical examples with harmonic ciphering).

On the day of the exam, the student must dispose of a copy of the musical texts that he has analyzed. This copy will be free of any annotations or added marks.

Teaching tools

Students who wish to take this exam but, in a degree courses or of any sort, have already taken a similar exam (covering topics such as harmony, counterpoint, and so on), they shall contact the teacher.

Of course, to sit the examination, students are required to read music fluently, at least in the two main clefs. Those who wish to begin, may be helped by the following ideal path (the texts are not part of the exam bibliography). (1) Students are required to study "Grammatica della musica" (pp. 1083-1095) from the Enciclopedia della musica Garzanti (Torino 1996), or Otto Karolyi, La grammatica della musica. La teoria, le forme e gli strumenti musicali, a cura di G. Pestelli, Einaudi, Torino 1972. (2) Students are required to practice the intonation of intervals and of tonal melodies of any kind. (3) Students are required to make the exercises of intonation proposed in Paul Hindemith, Teoria musicale e solfeggio, Suvini Zerboni, Milano 1984.

Office hours

See the website of Mauro Mastropasqua