Summary
The Palestrina style is the polyphonic vocal style of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525–1594), regarded as the apotheosis of 16th-century polyphonic vocal writing. It seeks a balance between the melodic independence of individual voices and their harmonic cooperation: melody is primary, and harmony arises secondarily from the combination of melodic lines. The style is marked by graceful melodic smoothness and careful treatment of dissonance. Knud Jeppesen’s The Style of Palestrina and the Dissonance and Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the 16th Century are key studies of the style.
Key Points
- Melodic writing is mostly stepwise; leaps are restricted and must be compensated.
- Rhythm is restrained: avoid opening with rapid notes unless offbeat, bring voices in one at a time after rests, and follow tied-note length rules.
- Dissonance is tightly controlled: accented dissonance is generally limited to the suspension, and dissonance normally resolves immediately by step; the cambiata is a recognized exception.
- Voice independence requires avoiding parallel and direct fifths/octaves, parallel fourths, and excessive repetition of the same interval between two voices, subject to specified exceptions.
- Harmonic and modal concerns govern beginnings, endings, doubling, and chromatic cross-relations.
Concepts
- Cantus firmus
- Suspension: preparation, dissonance, and resolution
- Cambiata
- Consonant fourth
- Essential tones
- Tessitura
- Direct fifths and octaves
- Parallel fifths, octaves, and fourths
- Cross-relation
- Mode
Details
Melodic pitch
The melodic ideal is mostly stepwise motion with occasional leaps handled carefully. Avoid leaps larger than a fifth, except for octaves (ascending or descending) and the ascending minor sixth. Avoid successive leaps unless their direction changes or they outline a triad; limit any allowed successive leaps to two. If three ascending notes begin with a leap, the second interval should be smaller than the first; in a three-note descending figure, the smaller interval should come first. This rule may be skipped if the first note is offbeat. Avoid ascending leaps from accented notes, such as downbeats.