Francesco Durante Partimenti diminuiti Embellished Basses Formatted by Harold Bott from images at the archived Monuments of Partimenti website. Editor's Notes by Robert O. Gjerdingen Durante, an eighteenth-century composer from the J. S. Bach generation, was perhaps the central figure in the partimento tradition. In 1728 he succeeded Gaetano Greco as master at one of the Neapolitan conservatories, where he taught important young composers like Pergolesi and future maestros like Fedele Fenaroli. As a composer, Durante concentrated on church music, a focus that may reflect his experiences in Rome as a young man, where he probably studied with Pitoni and Pasquini, the latter a pioneer of partimento teaching. As a teacher, Durante was known as an authority on the fine points of harmony and counterpoint, and as author of the sophisticated and rich studies presented in this series. His partimenti set a very high standard for the combination of artistic merit and paedagogical utility. Like Chopin's Etudes or J. S. Bach's The Art of Fugue, Durante's partimenti represent significant compositions. But unlike those other collections, these partimenti must be reconstructed to reveal their full effect. Francesco Durante 1 Partimenti diminuiti No. 1 Editor's notes: Three ways of embellishing the ascending half step in the bass from the leading tone to its tonic. The three styles, labelled in the manuscript as Primo Modo, Secondo Modo, and Terzo Modo, are in the key of A major, with a "Mixolydian" key signature of only two sharps instead of the modern three. Francesco Durante 2 Partimenti diminuiti No. 2 Editor's notes: Durante shows how the leading-tone-to-tonic bass often leads into a cadenza composta- -the "compound cadence" that presumes a suspended 4th (or 6th and 4th) above the first of the two eighth-note Ds. For examples of this cadence, see Furno's Regole in the section on cadences. Francesco Durante 3 Partimenti diminuiti No.3 Editor's notes: Another leading-tone-to-tonic bass with ascending arpeggios that end with (1) a rising appoggiatura or (2) a re-to-fa (A5 to C5) downward leap. Francesco Durante 4 Partimenti diminuiti No.4 Editor's notes: Durante shows how the leading-tone-to-tonic bass often leads into a cadenza semplice -- the "simple cadence," here presented in a triple meter (3/8). Francesco Durante 5 Partimenti diminuiti No.5 Editor's notes: Two ways to embellish the neighbor-note motion between the tonic D4 and its leading tone C#4. Francesco Durante 6 Partimenti diminuiti No.6 Editor's notes: The leading-tone-to-tonic bass motion in the minor mode. The key signature of one sharp is "Dorian" in relation to the modern key of A minor. Francesco Durante 7 Partimenti diminuiti No.7 Editor's notes: The opening of a version of the Romanesca bass (with chord changes every half-note time value--see the partimento mm. 1-3); The two styles of embellishment or "diminution" differ only in that Style 2 includes a 7-6 suspension (A5 resolving to G#5 on the last quarter-note time value). Francesco Durante 8 Partimenti diminuiti No.8 Editor's notes: The Romanesca in the minor mode. Francesco Durante 9 Partimenti diminuiti No.9 Editor's notes: A stepwise ascending bass with thirds above it (Styles 1 and 2) or (Style 3) with a 5-6-5-6... progression For Style 3, see Giovanni Furno's Method, especially the second of the "Stock Moves" or movimenti). Francesco Durante 10 Partimenti diminuiti No.10 Editor's notes: Three ways of embellishing the neighbor-note motion from a tonic to its leading tone and back (cf. partimento no. 5). Francesco Durante 11 Partimenti diminuiti No.11 Editor's notes: The bass alternately rises a third and falls a second. In his Regole, Fenaroli details three realizations of this movimento (called "Up a 3rd, down a step"). Francesco Durante 12 Partimenti diminuiti No.12 Editor's notes: Another embellishment of the ascending-scale movimento. The first sixteenth note is a perfect fifth, "5," above the bass C3. The second sixteenth note is "6," and that 5-6 pattern continues sequentially until the cadence (for the 7-6 suspension in m. 3, cf. partimento. 8, Style 2). Francesco Durante 13 Partimenti diminuiti No.13 Editor's notes: The ascending-scale movimento initiated on the third scale degree in A major. For both styles, the upper voice sounds a third above the bass, "3," on the downbeat. "6" sounds on the second (Style 1) or third (Style 2) eighth note. Though Style 1 retains elements of the 5-6-5-6... pattern, Style 2, in a fast tempo, will sound more like parallel 6/3 chords or, as the effect was once called, fauxbourdon. Francesco Durante 14 Partimenti diminuiti No.14 Editor's notes: Another ascending-scale movimento. This one, however, includes a downward leap in m. 4 that separates the long ascent into larger descending three-measure groups. In the partimento, the opening pattern of descending 6/3 chords sets an interpretive context for the above pattern. Francesco Durante 15 Partimenti diminuiti No.15 Editor's notes: The up-a-third, down-a-step movimento (cf. partimento no.11, Style 2) , which bears affinities to a doubly slow ascending-scale movimento. There is an assumed alternation of 5/3 and 6/3 chords (e.g., 5/3 on F3, 6/3 on A3, 5/3 on G3, etc.). Francesco Durante 16 Partimenti diminuiti No.16 Editor's notes: Another up-a-third, down-a-step movimento followed by a circle of fifths (i.e., down-a- fifth, up-a-fourth, etc.). Style 1 begins with the embellishment of No. 15. It has the fuller sonority and more complex patterning while Style 2 has the more fluid line. Francesco Durante 17 Partimenti diminuiti No.17 Editor's notes: Style 1 presents a fast version of the up-a-3rd, down-a-step movimento in triple time. Style 2 presents a diatonic descent of parallel 6/3 chords from a tonic G3 to its dominant, D3. Francesco Durante 18 Partimenti diminuiti No.18 Editor's notes: Two ways of treating stepwise descents that end with a half-step to the third scale degree of the local key (first C major, then D major). In the partimento, the third such descent ends on E major, which becomes the dominant of A minor. Durante later introduces variants of the descents which terminate with a whole-step, requiring the final tone to be a tonic. Francesco Durante 19 Partimenti diminuiti No.19 Editor's notes: Style 1 presents the first stage of an up-a-fourth, down-a-third movimento. Style 2 show a chain of suspensions where the dissonance (on the strong eighth-notes) is a 6/4/3 chord. Francesco Durante 20 Partimenti diminuiti No.20 Editor's notes: Both Styles begin with the up-a-third, down-a-step movimento, but harmonized as an ascending scale of quarter notes. Francesco Durante 21 Partimenti diminuiti No.21 Editor's notes: Three ways to treat the up-a-fourth, down-a-third movimento. Francesco Durante 22 Partimenti diminuiti No.22 Editor's notes: The first three Styles show various ways of accompanying the neighbor-note motion between tonic and its leading tone. The last two Styles present circles-of-fifths (the up-a-fourth, down- a-fifth movimento), with Style 4 diatonic and Style 5 chromatic. Francesco Durante 23 Partimenti diminuiti No.23 Editor's notes: Another instance of the up-a-fourth, down-a-third movimento (cf. no. 21). Francesco Durante 24 Partimenti diminuiti No.24 Editor's notes: The up-a-fifth, down-a-fourth movimento. Francesco Durante 25 Partimenti diminuiti No.25 Editor's notes: Leading-tone-to-tonic basses (mi-to-fa in the Neapolitan style of solfeggio) where the accompaniment provides fa-to-mi across the barline. Francesco Durante 26 Partimenti diminuiti No.26 Editor's notes: A rising sequence. As in no. 25, the bass moves from leading-tone to tonic and the accompaniment moves from scale degrees 4 to 3 across the barlines (mi-fa bass matching fa-mi treble). Both Styles end with the same cadenza composta. Francesco Durante 27 Partimenti diminuiti No.27 Editor's notes: Ascending chromatic basses, with each pair of tones (beginning with E3) treated as a leading-tone and tonic. Francesco Durante 28 Partimenti diminuiti No.28 Editor's notes: Interval progressions of 5-6-5-6, presented in the soprano and alto (Styles 1 and 2) or in the tenor and bass (Style 3). Francesco Durante 29 Partimenti diminuiti No.29 Editor's notes: The up-a-third, down-a-step movimento in half notes. Francesco Durante 30 Partimenti diminuiti No.30 Editor's notes: Three versions of the up-a-fourth, down-a-third movimento, the third of which is inflected to match the 5-6-5-6... pattern ("5" would be the Bb chord in Style 3, "6" would be its final interval from bass Bb3 to treble G5, etc.). Francesco Durante 31 Partimenti diminuiti No.31 Editor's notes: The up-a-fifth, down-a-fourth movimento, with a passing 4/2 chord (the dominant of the next chord) at the end of the first measure. Francesco Durante 32 Partimenti diminuiti No.32 Editor's notes: Two florid accompaniments to the up-a-sixth, down-a-fifth movimento. Francesco Durante 33 Partimenti diminuiti No.33 Editor's notes: Style 1 continues the up-a-sixth, down-a-fifth movimento introduced in no. 32, but now in the minor mode (C minor).