I was under impression is that ALL preclassical music is essentially
2-voice, and the bass line is implied even in unaccompanied melodies.
I agree that the bass part is implied even in unaccompanied melodies. That
is why it is not essential to have a bass part at all in baroque guitar
music and of course unnaccompanied violin music.
And the composing was done from bass up, not the other way around.
That I think I would disagree with. Until the 17th century it was the
tenor voice which generated the other parts. Very basically you start with
a cantus firmus in the tenor and add parts above and below. But perhaps
that is just another way of saying the same thing.
Monica
RT
From: "Lex Eisenhardt" <eisenha...@planet.nl>
I don't think there is very much "polyphony" in the true sense of the
word i.e.continuous 2 or 3-part writing in Foscarini or Bartolotti (or
Corbetta for that matter). And where there is it doesn't work very
effectively.
I take polyphony as different of Renaissance counterpoint. As a texture
consisting of two or more independent melodic voices. Even the so-called
brise type of writing (in certain works of Bartolotti and Corbetta) can
be seen as polyfonic because it is not in one (accompanied or
unaccompanied) voice.
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