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Species counterpoint generally offers less freedom to the composer than other types of counterpoint and therefore is called a "strict" counterpoint. The student gradually attains the ability to write free counterpoint (that is, less rigorously constrained counterpoint, usually without a cantus firmus) according to the given rules at the time. [17]
Two-voice counterpoint remains for Schenker the model of strict writing. Free composition is a freer usage of the laws of strict counterpoint. One of the aims of the analysis is to trace how the work remains subject to these laws at the deepest level, despite the freedom taken at subsequent levels. [17]
The principles of strict counterpoint constitute one of the fundamental components of Schenker's musical theory (see Schenkerian analysis).For Schenker, the study of counterpoint is the study of voice leading; in particular, contrapuntal theory is separate from and independent of harmonic theory, which is concerned with scale-steps (see Harmony).
Baroque forms such as fugue, which might be called polyphonic, are usually described instead as contrapuntal. Also, as opposed to the species terminology of counterpoint, [clarification needed] polyphony was generally either "pitch-against-pitch" / "point-against-point" or "sustained-pitch" in one part with melismas of varying lengths in ...
Voice exchange is also used in Schenkerian analysis to refer to a pitch class exchange involving two voices across registers, one of which is usually the bass. In this sense, it is a common secondary structural feature found in the music of a wide variety of composers. [12]
In music theory, contrapuntal motion is the general movement of two or more melodic lines with respect to each other. [1] In traditional four-part harmony, it is important that lines maintain their independence, an effect which can be achieved by the judicious use of the four types of contrapuntal motion: parallel motion, similar motion, contrary motion, and oblique motion.
In music, an invention is a short composition (usually for a keyboard instrument) in two-part counterpoint. (Compositions in the same style as an invention but using three-part counterpoint are known as sinfonias. Some modern publishers call them "three-part inventions" to avoid confusion with symphonies.)
In Schenkerian analysis, the fundamental structure (German: Ursatz) describes the structure of a tonal work as it occurs at the most remote (or "background") level and in the most abstract form. A basic elaboration of the tonic triad , it consists of the fundamental line accompanied by the bass arpeggiation .