Pavl Hamburger Palestrina

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The Ornamentations in the Works of PalestrinaAuthor(s): Povl HamburgerSource: Acta Musicologica , Vol. 22, Fasc. 3/4 (Jul. - Dec., 1950), pp. 128-147Published by: International Musicological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/931796Accessed: 29-04-2016 14:51 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at

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128 The Ornamentations in the Works of Palestrina

The Ornamentations in the Works of Palestrina

by Povi Hamburger (Copenhagen)

The first impulses to the following examinations were received by me while practising as a teacher of vocal counterpoint. One day, when going through a student's work in which among others the following ornamentations were to be found,

the idea suddenly struck me: To be sure, such leaps in crotchets are in them- selves well balanced, and one also finds them frequently employed in text- books with exercises of the >>Third Species


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The Ornamentations in the Works of Palestrina 129

to unaccentuated crotchets are practically non-existent in Palestrinian music and consequently have to be forbidden in vocal counterpoint text-books. On the other hand, the descending leap from both the accented and the unaccented crotchet and the ascending leap from the unaccented crotchet should be al- together quite legitimate. No doubt these rules are quite just as a principle. In my view, however, the formulation seems in itself to a certain extent to be too summary and liberal with respect to the three last mentioned categories of leaps by giving full legitimacy and so to be more exact the formulation must be restricted in some way.

To prove this assertion, the following examinations are being published.

ABBREVIATIONS

Ambros V = Ambros: Geschichte der Musik, Vol. V (Kade), 3rd Ed. 1911. L. = Orlando di Lasso, Siimmtliche Werke, Breitkopf & Hiirtel, Leipzig. Laude = Knud Jeppesen: Die mehrstimmige italienische Laude um 1500 (1935). M. D. = Musica divina. Annus primus, (Vols. I-IV) published by Carl Proske, Re.

gensburg, Pustet, 1853.

P. = >>Pierluigi da Palestrinas WerkeStyle of P.< = Knud Jeppesen: The Style of Palestrina, London, 2nd Ed. 1946. Torchi I = L. Torchi: L'arte musicale in Italia, Vol. I. Wagner M = Peter Wagner: Geschichte der Messe, I, Breitkopf & Hiirtel, Leipzig, 1913.

The musical quotations are generally given in accordance with the principle employed by Knud Jeppesen in his treatise )The Style of Palestrina


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a be d l 2 ....i 1r ' li I

In the Exx. a and b the concluding tone of the leap is of greater value, a minim and a minim tied respectively. This mode of expression belongs to that which is the most characteristic in the melodic style of Palestrina. It is somewhat different in the case of the figures of the second category (c and d), in which the leap is made to another crotchet. In proportion to the first cited instances, phrases like these are so definitely in the background in Palestrina, that it is impossible to think it accidental. Consciously or unconsciously to Palestrina himself, this reluctance must be due to a principle. But to which? Let us begin by looking at the matter from a merely statistic point of view. With regard to the latter kind of ornamentation, the following forms are to be found in Palestrina:3)

3 7 5 12 38 6 39 60 7

mop IHopm F I I F H 1OP.FlI n F I I 1 .

At the outset, the ornaments 6 b and 7 with the greater leaps (fifth and octave respectively) may be considered non-characteristic, their occurence being limited in the entire works of Palestrina to one and two cases respectively. Like-

wise the ornament 39, representing a leap of a fourth quitted by a step in the same direction, which does not occur more than twice4). Furthermore, ornament 12 is a unique case (cf. P. XXI, 14, 4, + 3) which occurs, moreover, in a situation clearly indicating a makeshift (transfering of the voice to a lower, vocally more favourable position). Comparatively, the most common ornament is No. 5 which occurs no less than 38 times in the authentic works of Palestrina. It differs, however, from the other ornamentations mentioned on account of its special form: descending third succeeded by ascending third. The second leap returns to the level of

the starting-point so that the two leaps in some ways neutralize each other; at any rate, the effect of the ascending leap is essentially weaker that of the larger sized ornaments 6, 38, 6 b and 7 (fourth, fifth and octave), in which the concluding tone is, moreover, the high-note of the figure. Considering its relative frequency, ornament 5 can hardly be looked upon as quite contrary to the style of Palestrina. On the other hand, it does not show features particularly characteristic with respect to the present problem.

3) The numeration of the ornaments refers both here and in following quotations to >Style of P.


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The Ornamentations in the Wlorks of Palestrina 131

Comparatively speaking, more attention must be paid to the remaining ornaments: 37, 38 and 6 with their more marked outlines owing to the leap to the high-note of the figure. In all, Jeppesen has noticed 20 instances of this kind in the authentic works of Palestrina, but at the same time these ornamentations are also found with the leap to a stressed time unit, for instance

S 4L -

do ,. I 'I' l, . [ I

and in this form the figures are to be found 32 times in all, the total sum thus amounting to fifty-two in the authentic works of Palestrina'). Even if this number is relatively greater than that of ascending leaps to unac-

cented crotchets, it cannot in itself be considered a particularly great one. In view of the enormous production of Palestrina (90 authentic masses and more than 400 motets, etc.) it must rather be called a remarkably small one. At any rate, further evidence of a marked tendency to leap upwards from crotchet to crotchet is nowhere to be observed. To prove this, we may take by chance any one of the masterpieces of Palestrina, for instance the famous 6-part >>Missa Papae MarcelliideallyRepleatur os meumSacerdos et PontifexSicut lilium inter spinas


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would scarcely be wrong in estimate the complete number in the 90 masses of Palestrina at about fifteen hundred, and in his entire works at several thousand. Even beforehand, one would therefore be inclined to think that Palestrina himself was not quite in agreement with the leap upwards from one crotchet to another, and that he only employed this mode in special circumstances. With respect to the technic itself, it might not, generally speaking, have been more difficult for Palestrina to leap upwards to crotchets than to notes of greater value. In reality, he would only have profited by being able to employ these forms indiscriminately. An examination of the various situations in which the ornaments 37, 38 and 6 occur in Palestrina, seems in fact to prove the above presumption. In the great majority of these cases, the leap obviously occurs more or less as a constraint, that is to say, not according to free melodic impulses. An example of ornament 37 from the 4-part mass >>Pater noster>noIn Minoribus Duplicibusc>Quam pulchri sunt


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P. XIII, 27, 2,+3. ,,Missa Secunda"

A

rA gnus De I-

qui tol- A - gnus D

...._ _ _ _ _ _ 'L L The 2nd theme of Agnus Dei II is introduced here by the tenor I and the alto in 'close' order, in the alto with the leap of the fourth to a minim, in the tenor to a crotchet. The F in the tenor, however, is part of the theme (and therefore indispensable) and the texture, moreover, forbids the continuation of the G as a half-note. In the example from the mass >>In Minoribus Duplicibus>Cruci- fixus


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with the soprano (which voice for the same reason must follow a direction contrary to that of the bass), and finally the downwards progression in crotchets is again in conformance with the first version of the theme. In the 4-part mass >>Quam pulchra es


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Finally, the two examples which follow are of a special character

P. XV, 124, 3,+2. Missa:,,Ave Maria"'

P XV 4 7, 4, 2 A

1 9e t i nv

1 '

In ex. a the last crochet in the upper voice is a Portamento-note which is, as a matter of fact, indispensable here on account of the progression of the lower voice. In ex. b the irregular leap seems to be due to certain difficulties in the textual distribution. With respect to the harmony, the second C in the alto might very well have been a minim, but for the sake of correct de- clamation, it is better for the syllable >>in>vi


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phenomenon which arouses the attention of the listener. With regard to the attitude of Palestrina towards this matter, Jeppesen has emphasized the >>fine discrimination with which everything is avoided which makes too strong a claim upon the attention, and consequently creates the impression of too great activity>Style of P.


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being descending and unaccented, the attention is perceptibly less engaged here than by the following ascending leap. Behind phrases such as

21 It " I F

the following is therefore heard as the essential

22

' f I F ---

It is different in cases of constant crochet movement. In such cases the

attention is claimed to approximately the same extent for each single note, and

consequently the activity of the leaps is manifested in a proportionally more emphatic manner. Moreover, the fact that the ascending leap from an accented crotchet cannot be employed to notes of greater value, is due to the imposssibility of syncopating crotchet to crotchet, when the half-note is the time unit. In rare cases, however, instances like the following are to be found:

P. X, 8, 3, 4

(see further P. XVIII, 50, 3, + 1), but obviously the crotchets are here for the time being reckoned as units.

Finally some observations with regard to the origin of the ornamentations mentioned above. The problem is whether it is a question of archaism or modernism in Palestrina, in other words, whether these phrase must be looked upon as technical remnants of earlier period or, on the contrary, as the be- ginning of a decline of the classic-pure ornamentations together with a tendency

towards a more free development of the melodic lines. There can be no doubt that the latter supposition must be maintained. Until the middle of the century, one finds everywhere in the ecclesiastical music of the Italian and Dutch composers that by means of the ascending movement from crotchet to crotchet the step-progession is strictly observed'0), the relatively few exceptions being in most cases limited to leaps of the third, unaccented as well as accented, in the latter case by a preference for the form of the ornament 5.

With respect to Palestrina's contemporaries, in so far as they belong to the

Roman School, ascending leaps by constant crotchet movement can no more be considered characteristic of the style. It is not until the time of Francesco

10) It is thus notesworthy that in the extremely valuable work by Jeppesen >>Die mehrstimmige italienische Laude um 1500%, containing 98 4-part pieces, the ascending leaps from crotchets only occur in all 23 times, all with the leap to a note of greater value.



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Suriano, a pupil of Palestrina, that I have encountered phrases of this nature exceeding the usus of Palestrina himself. For instance, in the 6-part mass >>Super voces musicales>> we find the following ornamentations

SN M, I, 247, 1, 3 24 NJ 0 1 1 F1

n o - - b s

SN M, I, 245, 2, 3

5 2 -

- - : ,

In the first example the ornament 6 occurs twice within the limits of the same melismata, the character here being already much more in conformance with the melodic principles of the 17th and 18th centuries than with those of the cinquecento"). In the second example a descending fourth is succeeded by an

26 1Io

o We -

ascending fourth quitted by a step in the opposite direction. This figure, in reality a 'broken' harmony of the dominant seventh"2), is to my knowledge nowhere employed in Palestrina.

11) Compare for instance the following melismata in the motet >Jesu meine Freude


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It is in the masters of the third Dutch School, especially Orlando di Lasso, that the prevalence of the new melodic ideal may first be seriously noticed. What are licences in Palestrina, are essential features of Lasso's style, an out- come of a tendency towards word-painting and representation of purely human affections. To be sure, Lasso also employs the traditional mode of writing, but more often he indulges in phrases like the following

L X, 2, 3, 1ff L X, 2,3, 3 9 30

re cur - cur - s um

which are characterizised by harsh outlines and the indiscriminate employment of accented and unaccented crotchet leaps, here and there, moreover, without even taking into account the more elementary considerations with regard to melodic balance.

II

As already mentioned, melodic movement when ascending claims the attention to a greater extent than when descending. It is no wonder, therefore, that the

downward leap is relatively much more frequent in Palestrina even in cases of constant crotchet progression. That the leap of the third is at any rate quite legitimate in such circumstances, accented as well as unaccented, is revealed by the fact of its innumerable occurence everywhere in the works of the master. In the first rank come the following two figures, those of No. 36 (cambiata) and No. 15, which could justly be called the 'classical' ornamentations:

3 6 15

3 1 1 .. . .I -H1 j-I Im 1 I I -, I i but also figures like the following are to be found relatively often

3 13 14

32-

All these ornamentations, which were used already in the first half of the 16th century, especially from about 1520-30, contribute in a beneficial manner to soften the melodic lines, which were, on account of the predominant scale- like crotchet progression, generally somewhat stiff in the case of the earlier Dutchmen. 3 ) In comparison to the predominant use of the descending third by crotchet movement, the greater intervals, fourth, fifth and octave, are rather seldom in

13) Cf. >>Style of P.


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Palestrinian music. Such leaps from unaccented crotchet never occur in Palestrina, the cambiata being the only possibility here. But they are also used so sparingly from accented crotchets, that they can scarcely be considered characteristic of the style'"). There is in fact only one figure which claims our attention to an even greater extent, i. e. the ornament 16, occurring in all 18 times in the authentic works of Palestrina:

16

3 3

Compared with the kindred ornament 15, which is to be found several thousand times in Palestrina, the occurrence of ornament 16 seems infinitesimal. Never- theless, an examination of the circumstances in which this phrase is to be met should be valuable with respect to the present problem as a whole. We may begin by placing it side by side with the ornament 15. The most common progression of the latter is the upward step; to be sure, leaps are also found, but hardly one in a hundred times. The opposite is the case with regard to the ornament 16; with only few exceptions the progression here occurs by an ascending leap of a third:

1 5 16

Even beforehand, by a mere glance at these two figures, it seems difficult to repress the supposition of the latter being a melodic deformation of the former. The following examples seem in fact to prove this:

P. XIV, 2, 1, 1 2, 2,1 3 5I -, . I I

?~~~~~2 2, ]- 'J rr"r35

. .. . , ~ ~OE ---I , . . . - * , i

-. . .. - , .-. . .,, i ... r/ I I

In this example (from the 4-part mass >>JEterna Christi muneraTe Deum laudamus


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The Ornamentations in the Worksof Palestrina 141

P. V, 89, 2, 1 36I

With regard to the rhythm, the B flat in the middle voice could not have been a half-note, and the next crotchet written as a passing-note would have caused consecutive fifths, the leap of the fourth being thus the only possibility here. In the following example, too, the leap of the fourth was inevitable

P. XVI, 16, 4, +2

37 A '.r

In order to avoid consecutive fifths, the G could not have been a half-note and the leap of the third is dissonant here. (See also the instances in P. X, 35, 4, +1, where the leap is required to avoid isolated crotchets upon an accented beat). Finally, the following is an interesting case:

P XXIII, 37, 2, 1 ff

38 ' . -,. ," -I- I

R

r

A , - " ' 1 ,, L.. While the leap of the fourth is constraint in the 5th measure (also in this case for the purpose of avoiding irregular dissonance treatment), the third could certainly have been employed in the preceding measure, being here consonant with the harmony. On closer examination, it is, however, apparent that the leap of the fourth in this case, hardly has its origin in a free melodic impulse either, but must be considered a product of the vertical progression. The harmonic foundation of this measure is a cadence in the Mixolydian mode (with a double suspension in the soprano and the alto, the theme being introduced in the alto). The ornament 15 is intended here (just as in the bass), and its first note, being consonant, may progress by the passing-note F



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undisturbed up to the octave G, but here the >>misfortune


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but they are also found in other combinations, for example, fourth-third, third- fifth, fifth-fourth, etc.

The psychological explanation of the almost stereotyped use of the descending movement immediately before the syncope, is obviously the desire to counteract the stiffness of the formula itself by making it rhytmically somewhat more elastic, a function similar to that of the Portamento note. To this may be added the considerations with regard to the melodic balance, especially in places where ascending step-progression would otherwise have been succeeded by a leap in the same direction. Therefore figures such as

| ,i ? l - ' ' I--- H are nowhere to be found, but are still replaced with ornamentations such as

43::112 I , . , . ;' 1 ' .... . (yet in the first-quoted instance in alternation with step-progression downwards or upwards). And even in cases like the following

44

the stifness of the figure is generally softened in this way

45Ii Ei - a mode of expression, which, with its wonderfully plastic rounding, might be called the 'classic' cadence formula of this style'"). However, the succession fourth-fifth is also found occasionally in the above situation. As the downward leap could in reality be dispensed with in this case (the melody having in itself no claims upon it), the question is whether this variation is also due to free melodic impulses. To my knowledge, however, the leap of the fourth occurs only in situations where the leap is vertically constrained and the employment of the third forbidden on account of the harmonic progression. The following example illustrates this point:

16) Already about the year 1500, this phrase was very common in the case of both Italian and Dutch composers; for instance Laude, 14, 1, + 2; 93, 2, + 3; 165, 2, 2; Torchi I, 153, 3, 1 (Animuccia); Ambros V, 171, 2, 2 (Brumel); 190, 1, 2 ff. and 192, 3, + 2 (Ghiselin); 226, 2, 3 (Gomberth). The same is true with respect to the phrase quoted in Ex. 43 b; cf. for instance Torchi I, 33, 3, 1 (Giov. Spataro); Ambros V, 91, 2, + 1 and 3, 2 (Josq. de Pres); 217, 4, 2 (Carpentras); Wagner M, 462, 2 and 525, 2, + 1 (Cr. Morales).



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P. XIX, 39, 3, 2

46

In order to avoid consecutive fifths, the voice must leap downwards; the third being dissonant, the fourth is the only possibility in this case. The same thing applies in the following situation,

P. XIV, 56, 4, 3

' r i , I

where a step-wise descending half-note is for the same reason divided into two leaps of crotches, a fourth and a third respectively. (Cf. also P. XVIII, 121, 3, + 1 and P. XXII, 122, 3, 3; furthermore: Ambros V, 128, 1, 2 (Josquin de Pres) and 597, 1. 2 (Cr. Morales)). To what extent Palestrina seems to have preferred the 'classic' cadence formula to any others, is moreover indicated by the following instance from the 4-part mass >>Veni sponsa


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however, that the fourth also occurs in cases where the third would be consonant, that is to say in chords with the fifth omitted, for example

P. III, 46, 1,+3 501 1

I F ... . rpm 4. (See also: P. I, 104, 3, 2; XX, 8, 3, + 2; XXI, 7, 1, 3 and 4).

But for what reason? No doubt, a purely harmonic perception may have exercised the predominating influence here. The harmonic relation being in reality the triads of the Tonic and the Dominant, Palestrina has obviously preferred the completion of the harmony to the changing of the chord (i. e. the triad of the 'submediant' in the first inversion). On the whole, this phrase resembles most of all the 'breaking' of a harmony, the merely linear qualities being proportionally weaker. Moreover, this 'harmonical' fourth is relatively often employed by the pre- decessors of Palestrina, evidently for the same reasons. Two cases, especially interesting, are to be found in Laude, 151, 2, 2 (1508) and Wagner M, 471, 2, 1 (Morales, 1540) respectively. Finally, we have the succesion fifth-octave, for instance

P. XI, 138, 1, 5 P. XVIII, 82, 3, +2

51PYQ rk-

OF

It is evident that the third could not have been employed in Ex. a; on account of the suspension in the soprano, the leap of the fifth was the only possibility here (parasitic dissonance )"1). In Ex. b the leap of the third would have been succeeded by the leap of the major sixth's). But even in cases where the descending leap of the third would have been succeeded by the minor ascending sixth, the descending fifth is nevertheless most often found, for instance

P. XVIII, 35, 4, 1 5 2

IL* _

17) See further: P. X, 139, 2, + 3; 150, 1, + 2; XXXI, 158, 3, + 2. 1s) See further: P. VIII, 15, 3, 3; 158, 3, 1; X, 63, 4, 2; XIII, 126, 3, 3; XV, 80, 3, + 1;

XXI, 128, 1, + 3.



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The ascending leap of the minor sixth being quite a legitime mode of expression in the style of Palestrina, it seems somewhat difficult to give a satisfactory explanation to the above phrase'9). It is a matter of fact, however, that the interval of the ascending minor sixth is upon the whole very much in the background in relation to that of the octave, the latter being (in its quality of 'displaced' tone-repetition) after all more favourable vocally. One of the relatively few cases of descending third succeeded by ascending (minor) sixth is found in the Sanctus of >>Missa Brevis>> (cf. P. XII, 61, 5, 2). Probably, the employment of this phrase is due to the simultaneous dissonance of note against note: The alto makes a leap of the third to the D, which is at the same time stationary in the bass, by means of which the dissonance of the ninth is perceptibly softened; on the contrary, the dissonance of the 'Triton', caused by the leap of the fifth, would have been comparatively more harsh. The succession fifth-(minor) sixth occurs, probably as a unique case, in the following conjunction

P. III, 36, 3, 4 5 3 I N

the leap of the third being excluded here on account of the leading-note Cis.

As is evident from the investigation above, the descending crotchet leaps of the fourth and the fifth, when succeeded by a leap upwards to an unstressed minim, most often a tied one, cannot be considered contrary to the style of Palestrina, their occurrence being relatively too common. From a purely melodic view-point, however, these ornamentations may hardly be appreciated quite on a level with that of the third, which seems after all to be ideal to the mind of Palestrina. A circumstance apparently in favour of this supposition, may furthermore be mentioned here: In the works of Palestrina and other compocers of the 16th century, a crotchet movement like the following occurs now and then2o)

P. XXIV, 3, 3, 3 5 4

As stated by Jeppesen, downward leaps greater than that of a third, when preceded by a series of crotchets moving in the same direction, do not belong

19) See further instances in P. X, 138, 3, 2; XII, 84, 3, + 2; 152, 3, 3; XIX, 2, 1, + 1; 9, 3, + 2; 86, 3, + 2; XX, 111, 2, + 3; XXIV, 11, 1, 5; 75, 3, + 3.

20) See also: P. II, 51, 2, 3; 143, 1, - 3; III, 83, 3, 4; V, 163, 3, 3; IX, 102, 2, 4; X, 138, 3, 2; further: Ambros V, 480, 2, 2 (Leonh. Schroeter) and M. D. II, 302, 1 (Marenzio).



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to the style of Palestrina. As this rule is not followed here, it is evident that the greater interval was only employed by constraint, and that the third was the interval really intended. A matter of significance with respect to the question of the descending third is, furthermore, that figures like the following, which are always to be found with the ascending leap to a note of greater value

bCd

are nowhere employed in the entire works of Palestrina, who in circumstances like these never exceeds the interval of the third (cf. the ornamentations

quoted in Ex. 3, - apart from the special case of ornament 12). Being already utmost reserved in the use of the relatively harmless ornaments 37, 6 and 38, Palestrina has totally refrained from the use of the above figures with outlines which are obviously too harsh21).

To summarize the investigation above, the following may be stated: 1) With respect to ascending leaps from one crotchet to another, the style of Palestrina is extremely sensible. Leaps to unaccented crotchets merely occur

as exceptions (as already stated by Jeppesen); leaps to accented crotchets are to be sure relatively more often found, but on the other hand not so frequently that they can be considered characteristic of the style. At all events, such leaps cannot be employed indiscriminately (cf. in Ex. 3 the ornaments 12, 39, 6 b and 7, which occur only one, two or three times in the authentic works of Palestrina). 2) As for downward crotchet leaps, there seems to be a notable tendency to avoid intervals greater than that of the third. By constant crotchet movement, the exceptions art limited to scarcely a dozen instances in Palestrina. When

succeeded by upwards movement to a note of greater value, generally a syncope, the leaps of the fourth and the fifth may be found, too, but apparently most often in situations where the third, owing to more important considerations (correct dissonance treatment, ascending sixth), could not have been employed.

21) With respect to the phrase shown in Ex. 55 a, compare with p. 138 ff. of this treatise.

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