Le 29 juin 2017
de 15h00 à 15h30
Le Patio (université de Strasbourg)
22 rue René Descartes, 67000 Strasbourg
salle 3208
Pré-acte / Acte
Auteur : Anne-Emmanuelle Ceulemans
Since Bernhard Meier’s publication of Die Tonarten der klassischen Vokalpolyphonie (1974), the role played by the modes in 16th-century music has been highly debated. Do they constitute an a priori compositional system comparable to harmonic tonality, as Meier believed? Are they an a posteriori classification system, as has been sustained by Harold Powers?
This contribution attempts to answer these questions through the analysis of two cycles by Orlando di Lasso: the Psalmi Davidis poenitentiales (1584) and the Lagrime di San Pietro (1595). In order to assess Lasso’s vision of the modes, both cycles are subjected to a detailed analysis of tessituras and cadential turns. In this corpus, Lasso’s view of modes turns out to be shared by many contemporary theorists. Nevertheless, Lasso felt free enough to compose an a-modal work too. The motet Vide Homo, which finishes the Lagrime cycle, cannot be linked with any mode. It clearly shows how independent modes and counterpoint can be from each other. Counterpoint is self-sufficient and does not need modes.
Through these analyses, I will try to show that Meier and Powers both developed an incomplete and somehow one-sided view on 16th-century modes. Meier ascribed them a key role they did not necessarily fulfill, whereas Powers underestimated their possibly structural impact in compositional practice.
