"but I await word from the experts..." And the experts have spoken! When the rubber of canon meets the road of practice, things seem to get a little muddy. DvO "I hear the third on the 4th quarter being held into the fifth." and Stewart "but the treble moves to b flat (d1)before moving to the E flat major chord in bar 2." - while Tayler maintains that it is still a citeable traffic infraction.
My classes in theory and counterpoint were so long ago- "We must have gone to different counterpoint classes. ;-)" -that I don't know how different they were. When I got to playing the Lachrimae, I didn't spot the parallel (or not parallel) fifths, but I did know that I preferred the sound of the disputed transition from LoST. I may have forgotten all the rules by then anyway. But it is wonderful to be examining this immortal classic so closely- I haven't played it in a long time, and it really is amazing. I will be tracking down the augmented second next- thanks for the tip. Dan >Dear Dan, > >I can't see any parallel fifths. The passage in outline (treble and bass >only) is as follows: > > |\ |\ |\ |\ | > | |\ | |\ | > |. |\ | | | >__a_______________d_________d__c__a____ >______d__b___a________|______________e_ >______________________|________________ >______________________|________________ >______________________|__d___________c_ >__a___________________|________________ > >It is true that the treble is a fifth above the bass (a2 above a6) half >way through the first bar, and is also a fifth above the bass (d1 above >d5) at the start of the second bar, but the treble moves to b flat (d1) >before moving to the E flat major chord in bar 2. That's not parallel >fifths. > >This would be parallel fifths: > > |\ |\ | |\ | > | |\ | |\ | > |. |\ | | | >__a______________________d__d__c__a____ >______d__b___a________|______________e_ >______________________|________________ >______________________|________________ >______________________|__d___________c_ >__a___________________|________________ > >but that isn't what Dowland wrote. > >If you really want to see Dowland break the rules in Lachrimae, look at >the inner parts of the LOST setting, and you'll spot an augmented >second, acceptable now, but not at the time of Dowland. > >Best wishes, > >Stewart McCoy. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
