YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY TEXTBOOKS
ON SIXTEENTH-CENTURY COUNTERPOINT *
Thomas Holme Hansen
University of Aarhus
During the twentieth century an increasing number of textbooks on sixteenth-century
counterpoint have been published, and recent debates on counterpoint taking place
on international e-mail discussion-lists 1 indicate a continuous interest in the different
problems related to these books. Among the issues under discussion are the adherence
to traditional species counterpoint versus other didactic approaches, ‘abstract’
versus ‘stylistic’ counterpoint, Renaissance repertoire examples versus treatise rules,
and so on.
No doubt, one of the most important and best known textbooks is Knud Jeppesen’s
landmark study, Kontrapunkt (Vokalpolyfoni). Since its first publication in 1930
Jeppesen’s book has served as a ‘classic’ manual in counterpoint teaching in many
educational institutions throughout the world. Considering, though, that nearly every
aspect of sixteenth-century music since then has been the subject of specialized
research, it is interesting that Jeppesen’s work maintains an authoritative position and
is still in use around the world.
Taking Jeppesen’s textbook as a starting point, the present study will take a closer
look at some of the other textbooks published since Jeppesen’s. It is obvious that a
systematic and detailed rule-by-rule comparison on melody, dissonance-treatment,
text-setting, and so forth, among a substantial number of textbooks would be an undertaking
of vast dimensions clearly exceeding the scope of this short presentation. So,
with the purpose of pointing to some of the most important changes and continuities
in twentieth-century textbooks on sixteenth-century counterpoint, the following exa-
* This work was supported by a grant from the Danish Research Council for the Humanities. Prior to the presentation
at the 17th International Congress of the International Musicological Society, Leuven, August 2002,
elements of the text were presented in two papers delivered: (1) at the 13th Nordic Musicological Congress,
Aarhus, August 2000 (cf. T.H. HANSEN ed., 13th Nordic Musicological Congress – Aarhus 2000. Papers
and Abstracts, University of Aarhus, 2002, p. 164); and (2) at the 1. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für
Musiktheorie, Dresden, October 2001. Portions of the text have been translated and revised from T.H.
HANSEN, Knud Jeppesens ‘Kontrapunkt’ – og de andres. Nogle observationer vedrørende kildegrundlaget
for et udvalg af lærebøger i vokalkontrapunkt fra det 20. århundrede [Knud Jeppesen’s ‘Counterpoint’ – and
that of others. Some Observations on the Sources for a Selection of 20th-Century Manuals on 16th-Century
Vocal Polyphony], in Dansk Årbog for Musikforskning, 28 (2000), pp. 35–52. An investigation of half note
dissonance in two-part counterpoint conducted on a similar selection of twentieth-century textbooks as in the
present article, can be found in T.H. HANSEN, Die Satzlehre zur ‘klassischen’ Vokalpolyphonie. Satztechnische
Realitäten zwischen deutschen und anglo-amerikanischen Forschungstraditionen?, in L. HOLT-
MEIER, M. POLTH and F. DIERGARTEN eds., Musiktheorie zwischen Historie und Systematik. 1. Kongreß
der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie, Dresden 2001, Augsburg, 2004, pp. 263–274.
1 For example, the list of the Society for Music Theory (during March 2001).
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