Fifth species

Fifth Species Counterpoint

Fifth species is also known as florid counterpoint. It is a combination of the first four species. This is not the same thing as free counterpoint, since the florid part is still confined to just one accompaniment voice. All additional parts remain in first species:

How to write in Fifth Species

Melodic movement:

(Modified) No voice should make a leap larger than a fifth, except for the octave and minor sixth. But large leaps are not allowed between notes less than half the value of the c.f.'s notes. Very quick notes (eighth notes in our examples: notes 1/4 the value of the beat) must be stepwise.

(As before) Avoid making successive same-direction leaps in the same voice unless they outline a triad. If they can't be avoided they should at least total less than an octave.

(As before) Leaps greater than a fifth should be compensated by stepwise movement in the opposite direction.

(As before) No voice should move by a chromatic interval (any augmented or diminished interval).

(New)You should take care not to outline a tritone in melody. A tritone is outlined if the melodic line changes direction at the notes that form it:

(As before) Avoid repeating a pitch in the lowest voice. In upper parts you can repeat a pitch as many as three times successively if necessary.

(As before) Avoid writing the same melodic interval twice on the same pitches.

(As before) Keep each voice confined to a singable range for the part, preferably not exceeding a 10th from its highest to its lowest pitch.

Rhythm:

(New) One voice of your accompaniment may freely mix elements of Species 1-4, and you can add pairs of eighth notes as well (see below). Dotted notes will not be used. Additional voices remain in First Species.

(New) Avoid beginning a passage with rapid notes, unless the first note is offbeat.

(As before) The faster voice should begin after the cantus firmus, following a rest. The parts will still end together and can use the same note value for the final sonority. In three or more parts only one voice will be moving faster than the others; the others can still enter together.

(New) Avoid beginning a measure with the rhythm known as Anapest (short-short-long) unless the long note is tied forward.

(New) When you tie a note forward in the Fourth Species style, you should make the second note half the value of the first except at a final cadence. In Fourth Species both notes would have the same value, but in Fifth Species this pattern is modified.

(New) Assuming that the c.f. moves in whole notes, you should avoid using more than two eighth notes in any measure, and they should always appear in pairs and only in metrically weak positions.

Independence of voices:

(As before) Avoid writing parallel fifths or octaves (moving two voices in the same direction from one fifth or octave to another).

Avoid parallel fifths or octaves between the downbeat (accented) notes of two successive measures, unless the faster voice leaps by more than a third from the first perfect interval, or if an intervening note are consonant.

(As before) Avoid writing direct fifths or octaves (moving two voices in the same direction to a fifth or an octave). There are exceptions: these may be acceptable at a cadence, or if one voice is inner and the exposed voice moves stepwise. Direct 5ths in the outer voices will be accepted if the upper voice moves by step.

(As before) Avoid parallel fourths unless the lower tone of the fourth is not the bass and the pitch class a third below that note is present (that is, parallel 1st-inversion triads are OK). Fourths can also be allowed if one of the tones is nonessential.

(As before) Do not let two voices leap to a perfect interval unless one of them is an inner part.

(As before) Upper voices can sometimes cross if necessary, but avoid "overlapping" (in an overlap voices do not cross, but one moves to a position that is at or beyond the previous pitch of another voice).

(As before) In all species of counterpoint, use contrary motion frequently to emphasize the independence of voices.

(As before) The faster voice should begin after the cantus firmus, following a rest. The parts will still end together and can use the same note value for the final sonority.

(As before) Avoid writing more than three of the same interval in a row in any two parts (e.g. four consecutive thirds or four consecutive sixths).

(As before) One perfect interval can follow another in the same voices only if one of the voices moves stepwise.

(Modified) The unison is acceptable at the beginning or end of the composition, and in passing within it if not accented.

Dissonance Handling:

(As before) With the exception of the Cambiata figure in Third-Species passages, dissonances are resolved stepwise.

(As before) Any dissonant downbeat note must have been approached by suspension as in Fourth Species, and must be left by downward step.

(As before) When resolving a suspension dissonance it is best if the note of resolution is not already present in the sonority at the time of the dissonance.

(New) In Fifth Species you'll be allowed to delay by one note the resolution of a suspension, as in the following example from Fux. The intervening note must be a concord.

Harmony:

(As before) If in two parts the music must begin with perfect consonances (octaves, fifths, or unisons) and end with octaves or unisons. In three or more parts you can begin and end with full triads, but the ending must be either a major triad or a perfect consonance. Fux advises that if the mode does not contain a major third over the tonic, then it is best to leave the third out of the final chord rather than to raise it to a major third.

(As before) The c.f. will always begin and end with the tonic. If the c.f. is in an upper voice be sure not to harmonize it with a fifth below at the beginning. That would give the impression of a different mode.

(As before) Avoid doubling a seventh.

(As before) Avoid placing the chromatically altered form of a note immediately adjacent to its unaltered form in a different voice (i.e. cross relation).

(As before) In two-part writing, avoid adjacent use in different voices of two pitches that form the tritone (tritone cross relation).

(As before) In general keep to the pitch classes of the mode expressed by the cantus firmus. Unless you transpose a cantus firmus this will in practice mean the "white key" notes in Counterpointer's species exercises. Nonmodal tones may be introduced, however, if they accord with conventional principles for altered tones.

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