Il

Contrappunto Barocco – Il Terzo Libro

Gradus ad Lipsiam – Capitoli VII–VIII Bernard Greenberg
Luglio 2018

Now in MS3

    
      
VII. Le Ligature e le loro Durezze

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 
              
BWV 572, Gravement
29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Johann Seb. Bach

           
     
8 7 6 5 10 9 8 7 5


10 5 5 6 5
5 3 3 9 8 7 6 3 4 10 10
4 3 9
Organo 3 9 8 7 6 3 3 8
8
8
8 7
8
6

      
 
8 7 5 8 7 5 6 5 6 5 5 6 7 8 7 5 4 3
All of these numbers are intervals over the bass, with octave ad lib.

Although “traditional order” proceeds from 2-against-1 and 3-against-1 to 4-against-1 (Fux’s third species), I have
decided that a treatment of suspensions would be most useful at this juncture, as I see incipient composers every day
misunderstanding this fundamental construct of common-practice-era music. The above (playable) opening of the
5-voiced Gravement of Bach’s magnificent Pièce d’Orgue, an incomparable lengthy essay in suspensions in the
“old style” (for Bach) (stile antico), shows their power to mold and sculpt all levels of drama. The whole Gravement
can be found and heard (on a great (virtualized) organ), along with more counterpoint explanation, at
https://BernardGreenberg.com/Scores/1987591 .

Although I have not yet spoken about the composition of counterpoint in more than two voices, I will offer, in
addition to Bach’s example above, these two examples (the red-stricken ones) of things I see every day in the efforts
of beginning composers that demonstrate exactly what (classical) suspensions are not. Of course, if these examples
are just your style, and you want your piece to sound exactly like that, and you don’t care what people with
preconceived notions of “right” think, or your piece is titled Rêve inconsolable d'une faune mystique, or you are looking
for a modern, avant-garde pop sound, no need to read on. But, if you really are trying to sound “right” to ears trained

            

           
on the classical masters, and master the effects Bach deploys in the example above, you might want to heed this advice.

 
Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4


2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

               
C D C D C C C D C C D C C D C C C C D C

Maybe the two “bad’ examples really wanted to be as these mm 7-12

In both the “bad” examples and their “good” possible rewrites, C and D stand for consonance and dissonance,
these terms used precisely as defined in Chapter I, and refer to the intervals between the moving part, that is,
the one executing the putative suspension. When “C” is written, all the parts are consonant with each other
(which includes perfect fourths between voices neither of which is the bass). Anything else is marked “D”. The
notes causing the dissonance are marked in red in all four cases.
©2018 Bernard Greenberg
Every classical suspension is a drama in three acts, a “setup” in Act I, a “crisis” in Act II, and a “resolution” in Act III.
The crisis, the crux, has to be Act II, and, as in classical drama, is the result of a situation that existed “happily” up to that
point, but in a new situation, finds itself literally discordant, and thenceforth takes a step down to fit into the new
environment. What is more, the “crisis” must fall on a strong beat, between the weak beats of the “setup” and
”resolution”. The “strong beat” need not be the downbeat of the measure, but often is; if the rhythm is 2/2, there
are only two beats per measure, so it must be (on the downbeat). As with other non-harmonic gestures we have
already studied, one can also use suspensions between smaller notes than the beats of the measure, but the
relation must be the same – the relatively strong/weak eighth-note beats must serve the above roles. Examples 1 and
2, the red-slashed ones, do not conform to this model; they are music, but not classical suspensions, and manage
consonance and dissonance in a way foreign to Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven.

This is easily demonstrated in 2/2 rhythm in half-notes, the Fux “gold standard”. Again, C and D denote consonance

       
and dissonance, and the dissonant notes in the moving voice are marked in red:

       
Example 5 Example 6 Example 7
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
“Soprano”

       
     
8 4 3 3 2 3 2 3 4 3 8 8 7 6 5 6 7 6 8
C D C C D C D C D C C C D C C!! C D C C
“Tenor”

Each suspension comprises those three “acts”, or phases, which are formally known as:

1. Preparation. All is consonant and well. If there is to be a suspension, in 2/2 this must be on the upbeat,
the weak beat of a measure.
2. Percussion (dissonance). This must be on the downbeat, the beginning of the next measure following
the preparation. Some particular note (or notes, in multiple-voice “multiple suspensions”) is tied over from
the preparation. When the note was “prepared”, it was consonant, but now, at the downbeat, sustained, it
is dissonant (in two voices, there is, of course, only one other voice with which it will be dissonant).
3. Resolution.The suspended, dissonant note goes one diatonic step (one note name) downward to sound a
consonance. If the note below is not consonant with respect to the other voice, e.g., a fourth under a
diminished fifth trying to resolve to it, the suspension is not possible.

There are idioms where resolution is “postponed” or “ornamented”, i.e., the expected resolution one step down is
“diverted”, but let’s leave that aside for a bit. Also, sometimes resolutions are a step up, not down, but those
(sometimes called retardations as opposed to suspensions) are a “specialized idiom” we will leave to later, too
(and uncommon in “strict/antico style”).
In Example 5 above, the upper voice enters on the weak beat of m. 1; the upper G is the preparation of the suspension,
the octave, a consonance, above the lower G. The upper G is tied over to m. 2, the accented beat (downbeat) of m. 2,
where it becomes a dissonance, a fourth, when the bass moves up to D. On the following, unaccented beat of m. 2.
the upper voice resolves by moving a step down, as required, to a third, which is consonant. All three phases are
present and correctly aligned with respect to accent. This gesture is, thus, called a 4→3 suspension.

2 ©2018 Bernard Greenberg

In Example 6 above, the suspensions are in both voices at different times, as always the case in real compositions;
they are in the lower voice for most of the example, and the upper in m. 7, but this does not affect the model at all.
The intervals (the number) are “octave reduced” (e.g., what is labelled “4” is really an 11th), which (at least in these
cases) does not affect their analysis or handling, and facilitates the use of standardized terminology.

The lower voice comes in in m. 4 a third (actually a tenth) below the upper voice, a consonant interval, preparing the
first suspension. The upper voice descends a step in m. 5, which makes the suspended tenor C dissonant, a second
(actually a ninth). The tenor must now descend one step, to B, a consonant “third” (i.e., a 10th) below the soprano.
This is (thus) called a 2→3 suspension (in which a lower voice always resolves downward) (We read this, “two three”,
not pronouncing the arrow, which latter is necessary to distinguish in writing “2→3” (two goes to three) from, say,
“9–7” (nine and seven sound simultaneously)).

Looking at Example 6, we see in (the last beat of) m. 5, and m. 6, an exact repetition of the 2→3 suspension pattern
seen in the preceding beats (including the last beat of m. 5). The soprano D is matched by the tenor B which resolved
that last suspension, preparing its tied continuation into m. 6, when the soprano steps down to C, making the tenor C
be a dissonance of the “second” (actually ninth, but that designation is reserved for a different pattern), which
resolves similarly downward by step to A, forming a third (tenth) with the soprano on the weak beat of m. 6.

In mm. 4, 5, and 6, we see a pattern of identical (in “type”, i.e., 2→3) suspensions, with two voices continuing their
roles (in this case, the tenor creates suspensions “against” the soprano), with the resolution-note of one suspension
also serving as the preparation-note of the next. This is exceedingly common, especially in Baroque music, and
often goes on for many “repetitions”, many measures, or the bulk of a movement. When many voices are involved,
the same pattern can be protracted at length with different voices participating; the whole of the BWV 572 movement
quoted at the outset is at its core that, executed with genius (9–7 suspensions (over the bass) can be seen at the
downbeat of each measure)

At m. 7 (Example 6), we break from the suspension chain, and use the C in the soprano as the preparation of a 4→3
suspension against the tenor, as we have seen in Example 5. M. 8 is the “resolution” of the cadence expressed by m. 7,
a standard gesture at the close of sections of a composition, not the “resolution” of any dissonance. This is an
authentic cadence in the key of C. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadence_(music) .

Now let’s look at Example 7, in mm. 10-14 above. Here, as in Ex. 5, the suspensions are all in the upper voice. As in
both previous examples, the suspending voice enters its first preparation at the octave (although this is surely not
necessary, but it must enter on a consonance!). In the next measure, the tenor ascends by a step, reducing the octave
to a seventh (minor in this case), which is dissonant. The soprano resolves downward to F#, a sixth (here major)
above the tenor, a consonance. Thus, we meet our third fundamental suspension type, appropriately named 7→6.

©2018 Bernard Greenberg 3

In m. 11 and 12, we see what appears to be another “link” in a suspension chain; the F# in 11 is consonant, and
suspended into 12, and followed by a G, which is consonant, too (but upward). However, the “crux”, the “crisis” note,
the extension of the F# into m. 12, is not dissonant at all, but consonant! The “percussion” does not happen!
So this is not a “true suspension” at all, because it lacks dissonance in all its “phases”! But, unlike Examples 1 and 2,
it does not mismanage dissonance! It is thus neither a “good suspension” nor a “bad one”, but not a suspension at all.
This pattern occurs very frequently in Baroque music in long, continuous patterns of suspensions and suspension
chains in order to sustain the pattern, or, in multi-voiced textures, accompanying true suspensions at the third or sixth.
I call them pseudo-suspensions.

The pattern of tied sixths becoming fifths on the downbeat as the bass rises creates a sequence of downbeat fifths
that might raise alarm about parallel fifths, but Baroque composers seem to accept this pattern. As a matter of fact,
if you look at mm. 31–33 of the BWV 572 example above, left hand and pedal, you can see exactly that. (Similar
downbeat fifths in mm. 29–31, the fifths are broken by “essential contrary-motion activity” in quarter notes, as
well as granted some forbearance on account of the 5-voice texture).

In mm. 13 and 14 of Example 7, we see another 7→6 suspension, of course, properly prepared and resolved,
demonstrating a higher-level “cookbook” pattern, “how to accompany a melody in a lower voice which descends
mi, re, do (i.e., third, second, and tonic scale degrees)”. This, too, is an “authentic cadence”, but only an
“imperfect authentic cadence”, because the “chords” (there are no “chords” in two-voiced counterpoint) are not
both in root position. While you can say “oh, the chord in m. 14 is G major!” with some credibility, the chords in
m. 12 and 13 are not so clear! In fact, the (one possible) expression of this pattern in four voices might look like

  
this (the tenor of Ex. 7 has been set an octave down, to bass, to open space for inner voices).

     
Example 8 Note that there is no D or D7 chord involved in m. 13! A D
G 13 ~Am7 F♯dim14 G

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15 12
would create a fourth over the bass A, which is impermissible
(in a fundamental, non-passing, sonority). The C, and F#, as

    

well as the tenor A, are all consonant over the bass A. This

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6 7 6
3 3 3
8 is a classic, stile antico cadence over a [2]→[1] (scale degrees)
3
bass. It occurs all over Bach and the Baroque, esp. when
canto fermo in basso. This is an antique (but really good!)
cadence pattern. Note, too, that “Am7” and “F#dim” are only

          
approximate descriptions of these purely contrapuntal artifacts.


Example 9

  
15 2 3 4 5 6 Example 10 8 9 Example 11
10

       
   
10 9 8 7 6 8 8 9 8 3 2 1

In Example 9, we meet the final everyday simple (single-voice) suspension, the 9→8, which comes with a couple
of caveats. As visible in m. 2, a ninth, a dissonance, is prepared by a consonance, here a tenth (but it need not be;
a twelfth (fifth plus an octave), or even fifth, are common, too). The dissonance of the ninth resolves down to
the octave. As with 4→3, 7→6, and 2→3, 9→8 is everyday fare in Baroque music. But look at Example 10:
you may not prepare the 9→8 with the octave: if a suspension is “removed” by moving the resolution to the
downbeat (i.e., the C in soprano moved back to the downbeat) and forbidden parallels result (in this case, parallel
octaves), the suspension is invalid and may not be used.

4 ©2018 Bernard Greenberg



Example 10 is forbidden. In Example 11, the soprano is now transposed down an octave to the alto, and the 9→8
becomes a 2→1; the latter is categorically invalid and not in the Baroque (or Fux) vocabulary; a note may not be
suspended against its own resolution (although the insertion of the octave changes the calculus; yet, in multi-voiced
writing, even 9→8 is limited to use against the lowest voice.
In Example 12, the suspension of the ninth is over the bass, B being the third scale degree, the “mediant”, of the
regnant G major, thus creating the common French-originned “mediant ninth” In example 13, the suspension is
not of the ninth, but a 4→3. The suspended C, however, is a ninth over the tenor B: this construction is forbidden
by the set of rules just discussed (what would the continuo figure be? Is it a 4 or a 3?). A note may not be suspended
against its resolution in the same or another octave, unless the lower voice is the lowest of all.

     
     

  
Example 12 Example 13


11 2 3 4 5

    
  
9 8 4? 3
5 6

One will occasionally meet what appear to be 2→1 suspensions/resolutions between the tenor and bass of Bach
four-voiced chorales (ex. TBS) in the tenor range. In all such cases, there is a contrabass playing on the bass line
as well, providing the suboctave which creates the ninth below the tenor and the 9→8 effect. In a cappella or
keyboard writing, this would be less permissible. Yet, in Bach’s heartbreakingly poignant three-part Sinfonia in


G minor (BWV 797) we see this:

            
      
Exanple 14
69 BWV 797 70 71 72 The A in the alto in m. 70 is exactly a suspension of

       
the second against the left-hand (tenor) G, already


sounding, and, modulo the F# ornament, also sounding

      
against its own resolution, resolves to a unison with it.


Do not try this unless you are Bach! The three-note
cluster G-A-B♭ is extremely beautiful and poignant,
at the climax of this composition very much so
throughout, and looks forward to the XX century.
See also BWV 105, #6, for expressive use of clusters,
https://musescore.com/user/1831606/scores/5007268

©2018 Bernard Greenberg 5

 VIII. Le Ligature del Basso
Suspensions may occur in any voice. While in two voices, there are only two choices, suspensions in the lower, or
lowest, voice, form a distinct category. Even the massive, complex suspension in the BWV 572 example are all of
the “upper voice” category. Now we will deal with suspensions “in the lower voice”, in these examples, the lower
of two.

Each of the suspensions explained above has an “inversion at the octave” analogue, not all of which, however, are
true suspensions, and not all of which are useful or permitted, in part because of the asymmetry of the fourth and
its octave-inversion, the fifth, not both being consonant or dissonant. By the same rationale, a truly important
new suspensions joins the “club”, without a treble analogue.
By far the most useful and common lower-voice suspension is the “2→3” (with a padding octave 9→10), which
we demonstrate here. It is the octave-inversion of 7→6, but that is not important until we consider writing invertible

               
counterpoint.


Example 15 Example 16 Example 17
73 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

                    
3 2 3 1 1 2 6 3 1 2 4 5 3
res. res.
prep perc. prep perc. prep perc. res.


In Example 15 above, the basic 2→3 paradigm is demonstrated in its simplest case. The preparation phase is almost
always, but not necessarily, a third. The upper voice moves to the percussion phase, a dissonance of a second on the
accented beat. Thereupon, the lower voice moves down stepwise to consonance, which is almost always a third under
the same upper voice note which formed the second, but need not be.

What is most essential and characteristic is that the percussion, properly prepared from consonance, is a second, and
that it resolves down by step (delayed/evasive resolution is also possible, esp. in multiple voices, but that’s for later).
Example 16 shows a lower-voice suspension of the second not surrounded by thirds; it is not really fair to call this
a 2→3 suspension, but that is the effect to the ear. Passages similar to this are common in Baroque music; one should
learn to think of patterns like this as a way of adding a powerful, cogent counterpoint to a melody such as that
in the upper voice of Example 16!

In Example 17, although the immediate resolution of the 2d is to the dissonant 4th, the “real resolution” is the
diminished fifth, what I call a “semi-consonance” properly resolved to the 3rd of m. 9, the 4th being taken as a
passing-tone. This sort of thing is common, too, although it is important to keep in mind how the meter and tempo
affirm the passing role of the latter dissonance; in eighths or sixteenths this would “look better”.
Example 18 shows the same suspension pattern at the distance of an octave (note the lower-staff clef change), 9→10,
although it is still best classified and studied as 2→3. Also, we here show how either may be formed into suspension
chains (resulting in something sounding very much like repertoire), each resolution doubling as the preparation of
the next suspension in the chain:

6 ©2018 Bernard Greenberg

        
        
Example 18 Example 19

 
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21


               

  
10 9 10 9 10 9 10 8 10 9 10 9 9 8
10 10

5 5 6 6 6 6 6
2 4 4 5
2 2
Example 19 presents a typical expansion/expression of Example 18 in four voices, with continuo figuring. Note that
the lower staff (and voice) are now in the bass clef, but the notes of the top and bottom lines are identical to those
in Example 18 (although the lower voice has been set yet an octave lower).
Note that these standard “bass suspension patterns”, including not just a notation for the dissonant chord, but a
“standard” resolution, never mention a 9, but always a 2, whether or not there is an octave (or two, as here)
between the dissonanting notes. Note also that at the percussion points, internal voices sometimes double the upper
note, but never the (dissonant) bass note.
Now that bass line might not be the most imaginative, original, or appealing for this five-note scale (pentachord)
“cantus”, which actually appears in many chorales (e.g., Jesu, meine Freude). So we will now present another
example in four voices, with the same cantus, but a differing and more typical (for Bach) bass line. But we must
not forget how we have gotten here, and the gravamen of Chapter VIII! Thus, the original 2→3 suspensions, as
a chain (Example 15, chained as in 18) appear in the alto (upper Pan Flute) voice in mm. 1-3. Although it could
have easily continued into 4, completing the accompaniment of the cantus in 2→3 suspensions, I have
moved the suspension to 9→10, i.e., to the bass, in mm. 3-4, with a typical ornamental resolution.

Measure 6 contains a bonus 2→3 suspension in alto and tenor, standard preparation and resolution at 3, but with
an ornamental “twidle” resolution. Note that that internal 2→3 suspension produces a 9→8 suspension over the bass,
but we do not see the 8 because of the “simultaneous dissonant resolution” hack (see my monograph here); the real
resolution is to the 6 on F.

Note also that the extremely standard 4→3 (over the bass, as figured 4 #) cadential suspension in the tenor creates,
with the alto, a perfectly-formed 2→3 suspension. This is extremely common in multiple (more than 2) voices,
that one dissonant voice creates differing dissonant gestures, esp. suspensions, against different voices. Here,
as in mm. 1-3, only the “view from the bass” counts in the continuo figuring.

There are some “bold, dissonant passing tones” in red, including two accented ones. Note the appearance of the 5 2
figure on m. 5, beat 3, same as Example 19 m. 18 et al., but here as a bass accented passing tone, not a suspension.

©2018 Bernard Greenberg 7

    
    
S violin
Example 20 2 3 4 5 6 7

  
            
                       
3 3 2 3 2 3
------ Elaborated plagal cadence in A --------
A pan fl

                  
     
10 9 10 9 10 9 3 2 3
T pan fl
bass/tenor in


B vcl (to soprano)
tenths/sixths mm. 1-2

9 6 6 6 6 9 5 6 6 7 5 APT6 9 6 4 
  5 4 5 2  5 5
2

The seventh resolving downward, as a bass suspension, to the octave, is not permitted; although totally sensible, this
sound, Ex. 22, the octave inversion of the 9→8 suspension (Ex. 21) is simply not one that Baroque composers
accepted, at least in two voices, but examples in four voices can be found in Bach, e.g., ex. 23, from the closing
chorale of the Cantata BWV 159. The bass and alto execute this figure of a bass suspended as a second of a chord’s
root, with the chord over it. It is, however, rare. One can also “normalize” it by adding an “honest” bass as per ex. 24.
Note the crossing of the inner voices between mm. 10-11, perhaps Violin 2 and Viola; without that, the F, which
was consonant over the D4, where G4 would not be (and thus not permitted, i.e., “bad 6-4-3”), is dissonant over the

    
G2 bass, and must resolve downard; Thus, a “good” realization in one hand is not really possible.

          
Ex. 23

          
Ex. 21 Ex. 22 BWV 159.5 mm. 9-10 Ex. 24
2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12

          
            
   
    
9 8 7 8

 
7
4
6
4
7 9 8 6
4
2 2 2
Fourths resolving down to perfect fifths (Ex. 25) are technically possible, but extremely rare, and should be considered
unavailable. Note, as with other resolutions to perfect consonances, it is all too easy to create “parallels by delay”
(Ex. 26), which are always impermissible. Note, however, that resolution of a fourth to a diminished fifth (Ex. 27)
is very common, and good in two voices; obviously, the diminished fifth dons its “semi-consonance” hat here,

 
resolving as a dissonance. In Ex. 27, the resolution (the downbeat of 22) is actually a dissonance which only then

            

resolves (m. 22), but this handling of a cadential diminished fifth is extremely common (better justification needed).
13 14 Ex. 25 15 16 17 Ex. 26 18 19 20 Ex. 27 21 22 23

 

         
          
3 4 5 5 4 5 5 4 5 4 3

8 ©2018 Bernard Greenberg

Ex. 28 shows how this might be handled in four voices; note again how our increasingly familiar figure for bass
suspensions, 6-4-2, absorbs this case as well (downbeat of m. 25). The soprano and bass voices again reflect the
two-voice examples just shown. The alto voice introduces the E over the D in 25, a 9→10 in that measure, acting
simultaneously with the putative 4→5, but the convention and standard analysis is to understand it as a single
bass suspension, as we do, not simultaneous (multiple) suspensions. A 9→8 suspension in the alto from 25 to 26

   
has been added as well, as is common in this pattern, also creating 3→2 (S/A) as discussed above.

      
Ex. 28

   
24 25 26 27 28

 
      
4


5


5 3


(Soprano over bass)

6 6 9 3 6 
4 5 5
2
Lastly, one of the most important bass suspensions, the tritone, an augmented fourth expanding. Example 29, the
theoretical case of a well-prepared augmented fourth expanding to a fifth via the lower voice descending, is to be
avoided as out-of-vocabulary; the invariable shape of this gesture involves the upper voice simultaneously ascending,
the fourth expanding to a sixth, as show in Example 30, or as often seen, Example 31 (with an internal ornamental
4→3 resolution in the upper voice (such “nested gestures” are not uncommon!). All three phases, preparation,

               
percussion, and resolution, are present in all examples.
Ex. 29 Ex. 30 Ex. 31
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

           
5  5 5  6 5  3  6

In four voices, this is nothing more than one more case of the omnipotent 6-4-2, the “third-inversion seventh chord“,
and is easily chained into highly evocative structures of massive power, e.g., Ex. 32, highly characteristic of
Baroque music. In this example, the tritone 6-4-2’s are in the tenor (and bass) in mm. 11 and 13, but in context,
there is nothing special about them in the five-measure 6-4-2 chain in which they participate. Note that the


                                    
soprano and bass are performing their 9→10 suspension chain, equally well swept into the 6-4-2 chain.

   
Ex 32.


10 11 12 13 14 15 16

     
     
6 6 6 6 5  6 6 6 7 6 5 
4 4  4  4 4
2 2 2 2
Post-finally, I present a single-voiced line which is so figured that it asks you to hear suspensions. It is the introduction
of the remarkable duetto from the cantata BWV 10, (Meine Seele erhebt den Herrn), Er denket der Barmherzigkeit.
Below is the 5-measure continuo introduction. The figures say that you should hear the middle notes of the first
three measures, including the very second note of the movement, as 5-2 bass suspensions! The meaning of these
suspensions will be revealed when this motif is combined with the cantus firmus!

©2018 Bernard Greenberg 9

  
                           
Ex. 33


Continuo BWV 10, # 5 2 3 4 5

5 6 6 6 5 6 6 6 5 3 6 5 
2  4 2 4 4 2 5 4
2 2 2 2

         
With properly realized continuo, it sounds like this. The whole of this remarkable, brief movement may be


   
visited and heard here: https://BernardGreenberg.com/Scores/5177781 .

              
 
 
   
             
2 3 4 5 6

      

 
                        
      
5 6 6 6 5 6 6 6 5 3 6 5 
2  4 2 4 4 2 5 4
2 2 2 2

(END)

10 ©2018 Bernard Greenberg