Minor

keys.

Music, this way only leaves us in suspense as to the key we are in, and we may be said to continue in the above key be- Music. cause we avoid what would be directly contrary to modulating in it, as well as doing that which would decide our being in another key, as will be more distinctly explained when we treat of modulating from one key to another. The way to which we above allude consists in taking the imperfect concords of the key as fundamental basses, by making their fifths instead of their sixths accompaniments to them. For this is the characteristic which distinguishes fundamental from supposed basses. The harmony of the first being its third, fifth, and eighth, of the latter the third, sixth, and eighth; the former being named the Common, the latter the Uncommon Chord. The imperfect concords of the key may also have their supposed basses, borrowing their harmonies from them as principals; as the supposed basses of the perfect concords did from their fundamental basses, the supposed basses differing from the others, inasmuch as the supposed basses of the perfect concords are sharp thirds above them, and those of the imperfect concords are only flat thirds above them.

In the above examples it will be perceived, that they keep in the natural notes of the key; thus the supposed bass to E, the third of the key, will be G, the fifth of the key; and the supposed bass to A, the sixth of the key, will be C, the octave of the key. Now if these supposed basses had been sharp thirds to their fundamental basses, we should have no doubt as to the key we are in; for having G instead of G 4, we must have gone from it into the key of A; and having C# instead of C 4, we must have proceeded to the key of D.

Hence it is apparent that by the intermixture of fundamental and supposed basses, of the perfect and imperfect concords of the key, we may have a great variety as well in the melody as in the harmony of the key used.

The major keys have been treated of with the key of C, as an example by which the reader is unembarrassed with sharp or flat signatures; for the same reason we choose the key of A as an example for minor keys.

The perfect concords of this key, as those of major keys, viz. the unison, fourth, fifth, and octave, require their common chords for their harmony; with this difference, that in it the key note and the fourth only have their thirds flat. The fifth of the key retains the sharp third, although naturally left flat in the diatonic scale of this key; for if it were left flat the key would not be decided as that of A. Hence in this, as in all other keys, the third of the fifth of the key is always major.

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The imperfect concords and the discords of the key take the uncommon chords for their harmony, but the G

Music, must be sharpened if we decide the key of A: and here we will observe, that no accidentally sharpened note Music should be ever doubled in plain counterpoint, either in a major or a minor key.

If the imperfect concords and the discords of the key are used as basses, with the uncommon chords for their accompaniments, those basses are supposed basses in all keys minor as well as major; but the seventh of the key of E in the diatonic scale, is accompanied by a fifth instead of a sixth. As the supposed basses take their harmonies from those of the fundamental which they represent, the third in a minor key consequently borrows its harmony from that of the key note. The sixth from that of the fourth of the key. The seventh being in lieu of the fifth of the key, takes its harmony from that of the fifth; and the ninth in flat as well as sharp keys is a supposed bass to the fifth of the key, except as above in E, where the ninth being only a semitone major above the octave cannot be a supposed bass to the fifth of that key, being but its defective fifth.

The difference between the supposed basses of the perfect concords of minor and major keys, is, that in the latter the thirds are sharp above their fundamental basses, whereas in the former the third and sixth of the key are supposed basses, a flat third above their fundamentals; but the seventh of the minor key is a supposed bass, a sharp third above its fundamental bass, inasmuch as in the key of A, the G must be sharpened to decide the key. The ninth of a minor as well as a major key of a supposed bass, must have its flat third, fourth, and sharp sixth as its accompaniment; the sixth being sharp, because, as above mentioned, the G must be sharpened to decide the key of A. Hence the third, fourth, and sixth of the ninth of a minor key being the same as in a major key, the explanation need not be repeated. The same rules also apply to accompaniments upon the third, sixth, seventh, and ninth when they become supposed basses, merely observing, that if any notes are accidentally sharpened, such must not be doubled in the parts.

The rules for making the imperfect concords of the key fundamental basses in major keys, by putting their common chords for their harmonies, and of having, in their turn, sets of supposed basses, may also be used in a minor key, with this caution, that whereas in a major key the supposed basses of the imperfect concords of the key are flat thirds above their fundamentals, so in the supposed basses of the imperfect concords of a flat key the thirds are sharp above their fundamentals.

The same attention should be paid to the melodies going by degrees and leaps, and the mixture of fundamentals and supposed basses in a minor as well as in a major key.

The following rule is a general one for keeping in any key; it is, however, included in what has been given in the preceding pages, of which it may be considered a summary. It is, that the second of the key must always have a sharp sixth, the fourth of the key always have a third similar to that of the key note, that (in E excepted) the fifth of the key a sharp third, and the seventh of the key a flat sixth, (except in E.)

counter

Descant, which is the art of composing in several parts, is threefold. Plain, which is the groundwork and Descant, foundation of all Musical compositions, consists entirely in the proper placing of several concords as accompani- figurate ments to every note of the key we are in. The Italians call it canlo fermo; in English it is known by the name point. of plain or simple counterpoint, as being an arrangement of note against note in concords only. The preceding portion of this Part has been devoted to this section of the subject. Double descant is that in which the parts are so contrived that the treble or any high part may be made the bass, and the contrary; this will incidentally be noticed in speaking of figurate or florid descant, which consists in a mixture of concords and discords following each other, and may be termed the ornamental and rhetorical part of Music, as it induces all the varieties of points, syncopes, diversities of measures, and all that is capable of adorning a composition. By the Italians it is called canto figurato. Preparatory to entering upon this it will be necessary to consider the method of preparing and resolving discords.

It has already been stated that seconds and sevenths are the natural discords; before, however, showing how they Preparatio are to be used, we will observe that they may be prepared and resolved either in the upper part or in the bass, and resol the interval being reckoned either as ascending from the bass to the treble, or as descending from the upper part cords to the bass, as the discord may chance to be employed.

In harmony, discords are considered as so made by the note next immediately above them being struck with them. Thus the second and seventh, as also any other note, as a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or an eighth, may be made a discord. Therefore a discord is in harmony the lowest of two adjoining notes that sound together.

tion of dis

Music.

Hence in the case of the second, which is not really the discord though so called, it is the unison at the bottom Music which is the discord, being so made by the second; and it might fairly be said that the rule is vague in terms which declares that the second must be prepared and resolved in the bass. Practice, however, having so established the terms, we leave them as we find them to avoid intricacy.

In practice, although there be only two natural discords, three discords are reckoned, namely, the second, the ninth, and the seventh. The ninth is, indeed, only a replicate of the second if simply considered, yet being differently used it is differently treated; inasmuch as the ninth being made a discord by the third, its necessary accompaniment, it is always prepared and resolved in the upper part, whereas the second is universally prepared and resolved in the bass; besides which it may be used in two parts, which is not allowable with the ninth.

It is most common to prepare and resolve the seventh in the upper part, but it is nevertheless sometimes prepared and resolved in the bass, on which account, perhaps, it has had two different names to distinguish it; but practice has not encouraged the distinction, because the seventh prepared and resolved in the bass is in fact nothing but the second; because this seventh in the bass is made a discord by the second or its replicate, or the note next above it, as it is also its necessary accompaniment; whereas the seventh in the upper part is really what it is called, being made a discord by the bass, the octave (below) to the note which makes such seventh a discord, and which is represented by the octave below.

When a note is treated as a discord it must be prepared in the unaccented part of a bar, by being there struck as a concord; in the following accented part of the bar, the same note holding on, is made a discord by sounding with it the note next above it or its replicate; and in the next following unaccented part of the bar, the discord is resolved by descending a single degree, either of a whole tone or semitone major to a concord. Where there are, in common time, two equal notes in a bar, the first is accented and the second unaccented; but as we have already explained accent, we refer our reader back to what has been said under that head, merely subjoining here an illustration of the rule just above mentioned.

The second.

There are two sorts of seconds, major and minor; the former consists of a whole tone, while the latter contains a semitone major. Both of them are prepared in the bass or lower part. The major second may be prepared by any of the concords, and resolved in any but the eighth; it must consequently fall to the resolution, that is the lowest note of the two sounds, or discord must.

Besides this resolution of the second, a false or defective fifth may be the resolution, in the treble rising a third to it; but then, the bass must afterwards rise one degree, and the treble at the same time descend one degree, in order to resolve the false fifth. In three parts, the accompaniment to this second is sometimes the fourth and sometimes the fifth.

Music.

If the fourth be taken with the second, and the two upper parts keep on the notes they previously had, the bass descending one degree for the resolution, the second thus becomes a third, and the fourth will become a perfect or a false fifth, the last being preferable. When, however, the fourth instead of holding on rises one degree it becomes a sixth.

If the fifth is taken with the second, and the two upper parts hold on the same notes, the bass descending one degree for the resolution, the second thereby comes to be a third, and the fifth a sixth. In four parts, this second is accompanied by the fourth and sixth. The fifth may also be used instead of the fourth and sixth.

When the fourth and sixth are taken with the second, if the bass descend one degree to the resolution, the fourth rises one degree and so becomes a sixth, and the sixth descends one degree and thus continues to be a sixth; in using this method the sixth is doubled, which is the best way.

Music

Music.

There is another way by which, at the time of the resolution, the second keeping on becomes a third, and the Muce fourth dropping a third also becomes a third. The sixth falls one degree and continues a sixth; by which

method the third is doubled.

If, at the time of the resolution, the second by keeping on becomes a third, and the fourth keeping on becomes

a fifth, the sixth by rising a fourth, or falling a fifth, makes the third again double.

The last and least harmonious way is, when the fourth rising one degree becomes a sixth, the sixth rising one degree becomes an eighth, and the second by keeping on becomes a third on the resolution,

If the fifth is taken with the major second, instead of the fourth and sixth for completing the fourth part, the

fifth or the second must be doubled. It is preferable to double the former