Little free counterpoint quiz

[Quijote]

Exposed 4th: Is this really a problem? It goes by so fast that I can't believe this would produce any noticeable negative effect. Rather, it seems like the listener would process the two separate melody lines here and absorb the overall harmony (G major) in the second half of this measure.

It is a 'problem' in terms of common practice counterpoint (hereafter CPC) as I just alluded to above. According to CPC then, the 4th is considered to be a dissonance and needs careful treatment. In my working, you will note a 4th in bar 6 (E-flat-G-C Violin I / C-D-E-flat Violin II). In it, the 4th is treated as a 'passing 4th' creating the typical 'horn effect'. Your 4th is 'exposed' and contrapuntally weak because it is not treated as 'passing', you land 'wham' on the 4th. Agreed, if played fast its 'exposed' position is somewhat reduced, but according to the rules of CPC it is an error of writing.

[Quijote]

Please bear with me as I continue to take each of Chris's points one by one ...

[Quijote]

Modulating sequence here: OK, it seems you were looking for, starting in the fourth measure, F, B-flat, E-flat, A-flat. To be honest, I thought you were laying a trap for us here. Because that's the obvious thing to do, but it also doesn't sound that good. As I said, it sounds like some kind of exercise, chugging through the circle of fifths. I also don't like it because that's a lot of major chords in a row for something that is in C minor and very short. It winds up giving an overall impression of something that starts in a minor key, jumps to major and stays there, and then goes back to the minor to finish up. I wanted something more balanced here that would remind us we are in a minor key. So my solution was F, B-flat, G minor, A-flat add 6. To me this seems to fit the cantus firmus just as well, especially since the last beat in the B-flat part adds the minor 7th (A-flat), which seems to take us nicely enough to G-minor in this case.

No, no trap was laid! Now here's the important thing: the lower of the two parts, whatever its pitch or designation, must function as a bass. Therefore, in the C minor exercise I gave, the Violin II part screamed out its harmonic basis, which is why I just couldn't figure out where you saw G minor! If my version sounds like an exercise that is precisely what it is: a 'solution' to a given 'problem'.
In fairness, the Violin II part could very well have been a 'cello line (so much of the 18th century repertoire plays out like the exercise) and as such I'm very familiar with such lines.
But I still maintain that to my ears you have not confirmed G minor in no shape or form whatsoever. The second half of your bar 4 going into the first half of bar 5 goes all 'floppy' to my ears, which is why I wrote 'padding' in my annotations.

[Quijote]

"padding"; harmonically unclear: Is it really? The first measure contains F and A natural which seems to establish F major well enough to my ear. Then the cantus firmus itself seems to take care of the B-flat major especially because it adds the 7th, so I don't think there can be much confusion as to what is happening there. Then in the next measure I have the G and D together, which granted does not hammer home G minor, because there is no minor third, but to me the overall minor tonality of the piece takes your ear there more than anywhere else. Now, that could just be me, because that's how I'm thinking about it, and I don't really know how to imagine how other people are hearing it. But I am also kind of appealing to a counterpoint principle here that I have heard before, which is to give priority to the horizontal rather than the vertical dimension. I like these melodies and I think they go well together, so whatever chords actually do or do not show up as a result are of secondary importance.

I think you have answered your own objections there, quote: "Then in the next measure I have the G and D together, which granted does not hammer home G minor, because there is no minor third...." Or perhaps an F# I would add! What you say after about the horizontal over the vertical has its merits, clearly. Here's a quote from my Lovelock counterpoint 'bible' : "The doctrine that the two parts should move as much as possible in contrary motion is sound enough, provided that the resulting implied harmony is also sound."
As I said much earlier in this thread, your Violin part is melodic enough taken alone, but in 2-part CPC it has one or two 'wobbly' moments.

[Quijote]

Unresolved 7th: This seems like the "exposed 4th" above in that it seems to pass too quickly to matter, just serving a melodic function.

Had your note been an E-flat instead of the D you actually wrote, then that F just after (where I annotate 'unresolved 7th') would indeed have passed as an 'inessential' note (i.e. simply a passing note). This is exactly the moment to my ears where it all goes a bit 'floppy' or 'modal'.

[Quijote]

Unresolved tritone: Same

Not really. Again, a tritone can be treated according to CPC rules harmonically as I do in bar 3, last quaver (8th note) Violin I E natural / Violin II B-flat, i.e. an implied V7 in F major. Once again, you land 'wham' on a devilish dissonance. Whilst in itself not a hanging crime, Bach would have eaten you for it. Shostakovaitch on the other hand would probably have applauded you!

[Quijote]

Please bear with me, I've nearly finished (I think) ...

[Quijote]

Parallel fifths: B natural to F natural is not a fifth

I'm afraid Chris you have committed the heinous crime (not a hanging offense, only 50 lashes) whose name I cannot mention. Alright, I will : parallel 5ths !!!
In your working, the last quaver beat (8th note) of bar 5 to the first quaver beat of bar 6 creates a textbook example of this. You have Violin I (F) & Violin II (B natural) moving up a step in parallel 5ths. OK, a diminished 5th followed by a perfect 5th, but in 2-part counterpoint a big no-no. In 4-part harmony that would be allowed between any of the voices but not with the bass.

[Quijote]

Implied 7th unresolved: Same as above again. I wouldn't hold long on something like this, but when the notes are this short it just seems like a brief interesting dissonance that doesn't beg for any specific resolution or at least is trumped by the G major leading you home to C minor.

Sorry Chris, but once again in terms of CPC it doesn't work, though I see very well what you are attempting musically (and for which I applaud you). So, whilst faulty in terms of CPC, what I like about this passage in your working (bar 6) is how the first 3 quavers (8ths) in your Violin I 'reverse echo' the rising Violin II part and then directly 'echo' or 'continue the line' in the second part of the bar. 'Compositionally' speaking it works.

[Quijote]

Could have been decorated: Actually, I interpreted the instructions to mean this should be a single note, but even had I not done that I think I would have made this choice. This is a nice strong C minor theme, and it seems a stronger and more appropriate ending to have the octave Cs.

Well, I did say 'could have'. Here it's more a question of taste than 'musical grammar'. Your long held Cs are fine, I just preferred to keep that chugging 6/8 pulse going for a bit longer. On the very last C I wanted some sort of Bach-like ornament (mordant?) but I couldn't find the right symbol in my Finale programme!

[Quijote]

I can see that your solution does avoid these things, but it seems to me to come at a cost. You are forced to skip around a lot to avoid some notes that are apparently undesirable and get all the notes in there that sufficiently establish the chords you are trying to get across, but it makes for a line that seems more like accompaniment than a good melody in its own right and a suitable partner for the cantus firmus.

My Violin I line is certainly not vocal, I'll grant you that! Personally, I think it quite a good Violin line that is academically correct (20/20 for me) but hardly inspired. The most convincing passages are (in my humble opinion!) bars 1-3 and the last two bars. The 'sequences' in bars 4-5 do come across as a bit 'mechanical'.

[Quijote]

OK then, I think I've covered all the points. Thank you Chris for taking the time to make your points. Will you try the second exercise I posted (A minor)? It's a lot simpler. A bit boring really, but it's an exercise!!

[Quijote]

I'm happy to relate that Arno has sent me his working via PM and has agreed for me to post it. Please see attachment. I won't make any comments about these working until you've all posted your efforts!

[Quijote]

Sorrano and Enrique : would you like me to expand on my annotations, or else all is clear for you?

[Sorrano]

Sorrano and Enrique : would you like me to expand on my annotations, or else all is clear for you?

My rendition simply earned me a good pinning of the ears. In truth, I was more excited about writing notes than making them harmonically and contrapuntally correct. After posting the sample I had a severe case of poster's remorse and will endeavor to focus more on the assignment this time!