Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2005 Jean-Benjamin de Labore's Abrégé D'Un Traité Dde Composition: The Merger of Musica Speculativa and Musica Pratica with an Emerging Musica Historica Donald Craig Filar Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC JEAN-BENJAMIN DE LABORE’S ABRÉGÉ D’UN TRAITÉ DE COMPOSITION: THE MERGER OF MUSICA SPECULATIVA AND MUSICA PRATICA WITH AN EMERGING MUSICA HISTORICA By DONALD CRAIG FILAR A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2005 Copyright © 2005 Donald Craig Filar All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Donald Craig Filar defended on 19 October 2005. ______________________________ Jane Piper Clendinning Professor Directing Dissertation ______________________________ James R. Mathes Committee Member ______________________________ Jeffery Kite-Powell Committee Member ______________________________ William Cloonan Outside Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ................................................................................................................vi Abstract ........................................................................................................................vii INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................1 1. LABORDE: A BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH ..................................................................14 The Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne ....................................................23 2. LABORDE AND THE STATE OF MUSIC THEORY IN FRANCE AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY .................................................34 3. LABORDE AND THE TRADITION OF THE ANCIENTS......................................51 Definitions of Antiquity: Who were the Ancients?...............................................53 Laborde and the Abbé Roussier ...........................................................................67 The Ancients in Laborde’s Abrégé d’un Traité de Composition ...........................71 Intervals.....................................................................................................72 Modes and Keys.........................................................................................84 Enharmonics ..............................................................................................97 4. LABORDE AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES IN FRENCH MUSIC THEORY ............................................................................................. 116 Rameau: The Generator of Modern Harmonic Theory ....................................... 117 D’Alembert: Interpreter of Rameau.................................................................... 125 Rousseau: A Nemesis of Mimesis...................................................................... 132 The Primacy of Melody vs. Harmony: The Case of the basse fondamentale....... 139 Eighteenth-Century Theories of Music in the Abrégé d’un Traité de Composition.................................................................................................. 154 Melody..................................................................................................... 155 Harmony.................................................................................................. 159 Harmony and the Ancients ....................................................................... 165 Fundamental Bass .................................................................................... 167 5. LABORDE’S ABRÉGÉ D’UN TRAITÉ DE COMPOSITION .................................. 173 Laborde’s Methodology..................................................................................... 173 Musica Historica in the Abrégé d’un Traité de Composition.............................. 188 Notation................................................................................................... 188 iii Scales and Solfège ................................................................................... 192 Chant sur le livre and Plainchant.............................................................. 200 Tablature.................................................................................................. 212 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................... 217 APPENDIX A: Translations from Laborde’s Essai sur la musique.............................. 223 Translator’s Introduction.................................................................................... 223 Foreword ........................................................................................................... 226 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 228 The Abrégé d’un Traité de Composition ............................................................ 238 1. On music.................................................................................................... 238 2. On sound.................................................................................................... 238 3. On intervals ............................................................................................... 240 4. What are the consonances, why they are perfect; What are the dissonances, why they are imperfect...................................... 241 5. On composition.......................................................................................... 248 6. On melody ................................................................................................. 249 7. Figures or characters that have been used at different times to notate the music of the Ancients............................................................. 263 8. Ranges of the voices .................................................................................. 266 9. On the modes or keys................................................................................. 267 10. Cadences.................................................................................................... 271 11. On harmony ............................................................................................... 273 12. On scale of the Greeks and ours ................................................................. 280 13. On the chromatic........................................................................................ 281 14. On the enharmonic..................................................................................... 282 15. On the fundamental bass ............................................................................ 288 16. The basso continuo .................................................................................... 290 17. The ground bass......................................................................................... 291 18. The upper parts .......................................................................................... 292 19. On the design............................................................................................. 293 20. On imitation............................................................................................... 294 21. On canon.................................................................................................... 294 22. On fugue .................................................................................................... 295 23. On counterpoint ......................................................................................... 296 24. On the Chant sur le livre ............................................................................ 300 25. On plainchant............................................................................................. 302 26. On the accompaniment and the chords ....................................................... 307 27. On tablature ............................................................................................... 310 APPENDIX B: Laborde’s Chart of the Greek Modes and Modern Keys...................... 313 APPENDIX C: Laborde’s Ranges of Musical Instruments........................................... 324 iv APPENDIX D: Musical Canons in Laborde’s Composition Treatise ........................... 327 REFERENCES............................................................................................................ 338 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ....................................................................................... 351 v LIST OF FIGURES 3.1 Roussier’s chart for the triple progression................................................................70 3.2 Laborde’s chart of the ratios for octaves and fifths...................................................78 3.3 Laborde’s chart of the ratios for octaves, fifths, and fourths.....................................79 3.4 Laborde’s chart of Pythagorean ratios......................................................................80 3.5 Laborde’s chart for the derivation of the major sixth and minor third.......................81 3.6 Laborde’s list of the modern modes, or keys............................................................88