Counterpoint — two voices that sound together and stay singable apart
Five pairs to listen to. On the left the setting you do not write, on the right the correct one — plus a whole setting over eleven bars.
Counterpoint means two voices running at the same time, each a melody in its own right. That is more than sounding well together — an accompaniment that dutifully moves in thirds is faultless and still not a second voice. The art lies in having both at once: a sonority that holds, and two lines you could sing separately.
The teaching is ordered in species; the first one stands here, note against note. Both voices have the same note values, so every sonority is a single decision. That is what makes the first species the test: there are no passing notes behind which a poor sonority could hide.
Five pairs stand side by side here. On the left the setting in question, on the right the same opening set correctly. Both can be listened to, and the difference is usually there at once: with the parallels the voices melt into one, with the cadence the ending stays open.
Parallel fifths
Three fifths in a row, both voices rising: this is the best known mistake in two-part writing. The fifth is a perfect consonance, and two of them side by side make the voices melt into one — you hear a single melody with a colour, not two lines. On the right the lower voice is the same, the upper one moves against it, and at once there are two voices again.
Parallel octaves
The same with octaves, only more plainly: the upper voice doubles the lower one and stops being a voice of its own. Anyone listening will notice that the impression hardly differs from a single melody. On the right the upper voice goes from the octave through the sixth into the third, and the doubling becomes a counter-voice.
Dissonance on the beat
In the first species a consonance stands on every beat. On the left there is a fourth and two sevenths — sonorities that would have to be prepared and resolved in two-part writing and here simply stand there. On the right come third, third and fifth. The fourth is the case most argued over: between two upper voices it is usable, above the lowest note it is not.
The cadence at the end
At the end the upper voice carries the leading note: the second-to-last sonority is a major sixth widening into the octave. On the left the leading note is missing and the sixth stays minor — the setting does end on the octave, but it does not really arrive. Both are allowed and both sound different; the old teaching asks for the major sixth at the close.
The chain of thirds
This chain is expressly allowed, and that is exactly why it stands here: not every parallel is forbidden. Thirds and sixths may follow one another as often as you like. But the voices stay tied together — they make the same move, and the ear hears one melody with an accompaniment. On the right a single contrary move is enough to turn the accompaniment into a voice.
A whole setting over eleven bars
Below lies the cantus firmus, the given melody; above it stands the counter-voice. Every sonority is a consonance, no perfect one is repeated in parallel, and the ending goes through the major sixth into the octave. Contrary and parallel motion alternate — the counter-voice never follows the lower one for more than two steps.
The four rules of the first species
Only consonances sound together: unison, third, fifth, sixth, octave and their extensions into the next octave. The fourth does not belong in two-part writing — above the lowest note it counts as a dissonance. That is not a matter of taste but the ruling the whole teaching rests on.
Two perfect consonances of the same kind one after another are forbidden when both voices move in the same direction: parallel fifths and parallel octaves. The reason can be heard and is not merely a rule — the voices melt together, and two become one. In thirds and sixths you may move in parallel, but the voices then stay tied to each other.
The ending goes through the cadence: the second-to-last sonority is a major sixth, the last one an octave, and the upper voice rises through the leading note to get there. The rules in this form are set out by Johann Joseph Fux, Gradus ad Parnassum, 1725 — school material ever since, and on this page they are not asserted but computed back from the sound.
What stands next to it
What the distances between two notes are called: Intervals. How a setting closes: Cadences. What key a melody like this is in: Modes.
Music symbols · Music notation glossary
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