Latest Advances in Acoustics and Music

Chromatic Principles in Renaissance Music

Prof. CONSTANTIN RP, PhD., OANA BLAN, PhD. Student
The Gheorghe Dima Music Academy
25 I.C.Brtianu, Cluj-Napoca
ROMANIA
ripatinco@yahoo.com, oana.balan@amgd.ro

Abstract: All written or oral musical cultures which have followed one another along the millenary history of
humanity developed within a tonal-modal system of their own. These systems were structured according to two
intermingled components: the component of the diatonic background and the chromatic component. Whereas
the (universal) diatonic background is relatively common in all cultures, the elements of the chromatic
background rely on principles specific to each particular culture. The musical culture of Western Europe
Renaissance, developed during the 14th to the 16th centuries, also exhibits a distinct and specific configuration.
Key-Words: Renaissance, chromaticism, alteration, mode
Renaissance (starting with Ars Nova in the 14th
century), by establishing the chord verticality (with
the four triads), will develop a process of chromatic
evolution engaging both melody and harmony [2].
This evolution was initially expressed by means of
alterations, subsequently advancing towards that
chromaticism whose contemporary meaning is one
of chromatic succession the natural note and its
alteration.
We shall expose below the principles governing
the logic of chromaticism interpretation against the
diatonic background of Renaissance modes. We will
initially enumerate these principles and afterwards
we shall discuss them individually.
The chromatic principles:
1. the principle of mode infiltration
2. the principle of cadential alteration
3. the principle of tetrachordal
transformation
4. the principle of consonance polyphony
5. the principle of closing with a major
chord
6. the principle of profile alteration
7. the principle of the chromatic caesura
step (the chromatic step of the frottola)
8. the principle of demonstration
chromaticism.

Chromaticisms in Renaissance music originate

precisely in the work of the man who required the
total exclusion of chromaticism from Gregorian
music, namely Guido dArezzo in the 11th century
[1].
At the same time he launched the concept of the
three hexachords (which are nowadays still called
Guidonic) out of which, latently, the sound B
emerged in two hypostases: the B (natural) in the
duorum hexachord (b carr)
Fig. 1

and B-flat (b molle) in the molle hexachord.

Fig. 2

[The surprising situation of the transposition of the

C-A hexachord onto F-D, which did not abide by
the interval of the naturale tetrachord, as it had an
augmented fourth. This led to the emergence of a
phrase announcing for lack of a graphical sign
the transformation of this tetrachord by means of the
rule: Una nota super la Semper est canendum esse
fa (The note above note A, shall always be
rendered as F (that is, at a half-tone).]
This rule lived through the 300 years of the Ars
Antiqua and was the first alteration inherited by the
Ars Nova.

ISBN: 978-1-61804-096-1

1. The principle of infiltration consists in the

Gregorian heritage which groups six modes into
genus naturale and six into genus molle [3]. Genus
naturale represents the modes made up of the natural
steps based on the C scale. Genus molle consists in
the transposition of modes to the superior fourth,
where they will change the note B into B-flat. In the
process of composition, a phenomenon of

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The alterations deriving of the cadential

principle became more numerous in the 16th
century, along with the development of sense of the
leading note and of the relationship between the
dominant chord and the resolution chord, marking
the evolution towards the tonal-functional system.
We can assert that these cadences (with alterations)
were the embryo of the new Baroque system [4].

infiltration between the two genera will be

employed, through which the modes of the genus
naturale will be able to use B-flat, while the molle
modes will use B natural.
Fig. 3

3. The principle of tetrachordal transformation is

mainly a procedure of melodic nature, usually
accomplished along small segments (trichords,
tetrachords), appearing as variations (of chromatic
nature).

Infiltration first evolved towards double molle

(E-flat) and later became an accessible procedure for
obtaining chromaticism, as we can see in the
following example:

Fig. 7 [Phrygian/Ionian]

Fig. 4

Fig. 8 [L. Marenzio, Madrigal for 5 voices, vol. IV,

no. 13]

2. The principle of cadential alteration was born of

the necessities of the harmonic cadences, at first
within the modes which did not have a leading note
(the Dorian and Aeolian ones), and later for all the
internal cadences of all the modes which were
employed on various steps and needed this leading
note in order to form a dominant chord.

4. The principle of consonance polyphony. The

procedure appears in the 13th century and was
already employed by the first Ars Nova composers
(Guillaume de Machaut, Philippe de Vitry). The
principle consists in the compulsory consonance on
the strong beats. According to it, starting from a
sound of the main voice, any chord abiding by the
laws of consonance (including one with alterations)
may emerge on the vertical line.

Fig. 5

Fig. 9

Phrygian cadences were an exception:

[N.B. In this example the main voice - the mottetus
is the alto. Thus the C-sharp requires a consonant
chord on the vertical line, allowing the composer to
accomplish this by means of altered notes F-sharp.]
The principle of consonance polyphony was one
of the principles most frequently employed in order
to obtain chords and relationships between overchromaticized chords, especially in Gesualdos
works.

Fig. 6 [L. Marenzio, Madrigal for 5 voices, no. 5]

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Fig. 14 [Ionian]

Fig. 10

8. The principle of demonstration chromaticism.

This principle was introduced in Renaissance music
by a denatured adoption of the antique Greek
chromatic tetrachord.

5. The principle of closing with a major chord.

Renaissance often showed a predilection for closing
a piece of music in a mode with a minor chord on
step I, by altering its third and transforming it into a
major chord (out of aesthetic necessities).

Fig. 15

Fig. 11 [Lassus, I Love Her (Je laime bien)]

[As we can see in this example, an Oriental

chromaticism was transformed into an Occidental
one.] [5]
Whereas in the initial stage it was used in a
brute state:

This principle was also generalized, being also used

for closing small segments inside the pieces, and
later, in many cases, for changing a minor chord
with a major one.

Fig. 16 [Marenzio, Madrigal for 5 voices, vol. II, no.

100, Voi che respirate]

6. The principle of slope alteration. It is a universal

musical principle, to be found in all musical styles
and genres, which prefers using ascending
alterations on the ascending melodic contours and
descending alterations on the descending ones.

chromaticism was later extended onto trichord

segments,

Fig. 12 [Lassus, Motetts for 2 voices, no. 3]

Fig. 17

and in the stage of the chromatic madrigal it was

extended onto the tetrachord
7. The principle of the chromatic caesura step (the
chromatic step of the frottola). It is a procedure
appearing first in the interior cadences of some
folkloric genres of Renaissance music.

Fig. 18 [Monteverdi, Madrigal, vol. VII, You sleep]

Fig. 13
or onto the entire octave.
Fig. 19

It became generalized in time and was used by

composers in religious works as well.

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The above-exposed principles of chromaticism

were expressed either individually, or in
combinations. The closer we get towards the 17th

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century (the stage of the chromatic madrigal), the

more frequent the combination of principles, which
often intermingled, so that one often needs much
attention in order to distinguish the presence of one
principle or another or even their overlapping.
The culminating moment of the use of
chromaticisms is of course the one in Gesualdos
work, where chromatic density reaches a climax
which seems to no longer justify any logic of its
employment. It is a mere appearance, as on a closer
look, one notices that no chromatic note violates the
principles accumulated by the manifestation of
chromaticisms in Renaissance music.

References:
[1] Those chromaticisms were probably the last

relics of Oriental chromaticisms.

[2] Riski, Vladimir, Chromaticism, Harwood
Academic Pub. 1996, p. 105.
[3] Judd, Cristle Collins, ed. Tonal Structures of
Early Music. New York: Garland Publishing, 1998,
p. 74.
[4] Ongaro, Giulio, Music of the Renaissance.
Westport, Greenwood Press, 2003, p. 33.

[5] An extreme incompatibility between the

oriental (Byzantine) chromaticism and the
occidental (Catholic) one still exists nowadays.

Fig. 20

[6] Rp, Constantin, The Theory of Music Tonal

System, Editura MediaMusica, Cluj, 2010, p. 341.

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