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What Do Signatures Signify?The Curious Case of Seventeenth-Century English Key

What Do Signatures Signify?The Curious Case of Seventeenth-Century English Key At the beginning of the seventeenth century English composers used only a handful of keys: they combined five keynotes (G, A, C, D, and F) with the three signatures documented in English solmization theory (♮,♭, and♭♭). By the end of the century English theorists described eighteen keys—all of the modern major and minor keys with up to four signature accidentals. But the route from eight to eighteen keys was not straightforward. This article traces this route by examining how the function of signature flats and sharps changed in seventeenth-century England. At the beginning of the century signature flats and sharps were clefs, mere notational symbols that provided a shorthand for the probable pitches in a composition. As a result, English musicians used adjacent keys (i.e., ♮-D and -D), which were distinct, well-formed versions of a broader category of D minor. In the middle of the century, composers and theorists used ad hoc and asymmetrical strategies ♭ to create new keys. Composers explored new flat keys through the process of signature creep, while theorists devised new sharp keys when they identified the parallel key relationship. Finally, theoretical interventions at the end of the century “fixed” keys into our modern system but obscured the varied pitch structure that still animated musical practice. The messy, flexible circumstances in which keys arose complicate several assumptions about modern key; this evidence challenges notions of transpositional equivalence and reveals that different kinds of keys may be built on different conceptual foundations. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Music Theory Duke University Press

What Do Signatures Signify?The Curious Case of Seventeenth-Century English Key

Long, Megan Kaes
Journal of Music Theory , Volume 64 (2) – Oct 1, 2020
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55 pages

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Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by Yale University
ISSN
0022-2909
eISSN
1941-7497
DOI
10.1215/00222909-8550771
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

At the beginning of the seventeenth century English composers used only a handful of keys: they combined five keynotes (G, A, C, D, and F) with the three signatures documented in English solmization theory (♮,♭, and♭♭). By the end of the century English theorists described eighteen keys—all of the modern major and minor keys with up to four signature accidentals. But the route from eight to eighteen keys was not straightforward. This article traces this route by examining how the function of signature flats and sharps changed in seventeenth-century England. At the beginning of the century signature flats and sharps were clefs, mere notational symbols that provided a shorthand for the probable pitches in a composition. As a result, English musicians used adjacent keys (i.e., ♮-D and -D), which were distinct, well-formed versions of a broader category of D minor. In the middle of the century, composers and theorists used ad hoc and asymmetrical strategies ♭ to create new keys. Composers explored new flat keys through the process of signature creep, while theorists devised new sharp keys when they identified the parallel key relationship. Finally, theoretical interventions at the end of the century “fixed” keys into our modern system but obscured the varied pitch structure that still animated musical practice. The messy, flexible circumstances in which keys arose complicate several assumptions about modern key; this evidence challenges notions of transpositional equivalence and reveals that different kinds of keys may be built on different conceptual foundations.

Journal

Journal of Music Theory – Duke University Press

Published: Oct 1, 2020

References

  • The Survival of Plainsong in Anglican Music: Some Early English Te-Deum Settings
    Aplin John
  • Instrumental Music from the Library of John Browne (1608–1691), Clerk of the Parliaments
    Ashbee Andrew
  • Symposium on Seventeenth-Century Music Theory: England
    Atcherson Walter
  • Concepts of Key in Seventeenth-Century English Keyboard Music
    Bailey Candace Judd Cristle Collins
  • Orlando Gibbons, Keyboard Music, and the Beginnings of the Baroque: New Considerations of a Musical Style
    Bailey Candace
  • Key Signatures before Keys: Conceptualising and Notating Pitch Relations in the Seventeenth Century
    Barnett Gregory Churnside Carrie
  • Music Theory in the British Isles during the Enlightenment
    Chenette Louis Fred
  • A Manuscript of John Wilson’s Songs
    Crum Margaret
  • Seventeenth-Century Lyrics. Oxford, Bodleian, MS Mus.b.1
    Cutts John P.
  • Tonal Types and Modal Equivalence in Two Keyboard Cycles by Murschhauser
    Dodds Michael R. Judd Cristle Collins
  • The Baroque Church Tones in Theory and Practice
    Dodds Michael R.
  • Scale
    Drabkin William
  • The ‘Curious’ Art of John Wilson (1595–1674): An Introduction to His Songs and Lute Music
    Duckles Vincent
  • Jenkins and the Cosmography of Harmony
    Field Christopher D. S. Ashbee Andrew Holman Peter
  • The Education of Choristers in England during the Sixteenth Century
    Flynn Jane E. Morehen John
  • Music Manuscripts of John Browne (1608–91) and from Stanford Hall, Leicestershire
    Fortune Nigel Fenlon Iain Bent Ian
  • Vincenzo Galilei’s Manuscript ‘Libro d’Intavolatura di liuto (1584)’: An Introductory Study
    Gásser Luis
  • Key Signature
  • The Vocal Music of John Wilson
    Henderson Hubert Platt
  • Key
    Hyer Brian
  • Solmization in English Treatises around the Turn of the Seventeenth Century: A Break from Modal Theory
    Johnson Timothy A.
  • My Lady’s Tears: A Pair of Songs by John Dowland
    Leech-Wilkinson Daniel J.
  • Incipient Tonal Thought in Seventeenth-Century English Theory
    Lewis Christopher Orlo
  • The Tonal Language of John Dowland’s Lutesongs: Character of the Airs and Constructive Use of Gestures
    Meyer Jeffrey
  • Tallis, the Parker Psalter, and Some Known Unknowns
    Milsom John
  • Concepts of Pitch in English Music Theory, c. 1560–1640
    Owens Jessie Ann Judd Cristle Collins
  • Beyond Mode: Theorizing ‘Key’ in the Music of Cipriano de Rore
    Owens Jessie Ann
  • Should (Early) Baroque Music Be Equally Tempered? Vincenzo Galilei’s 1584 Libro d’intavolatura di liuto and Its Wider Implications for Historical Performance Practice
    Ozmo Žak
  • Tonal Types and Modal Categories in Renaissance Polyphony
    Powers Harold
  • Is Mode Real?
    Powers Harold
  • Charles Butler—Musician, Grammarian, Apiarist
    Pruett James
  • Giacomo Gorzanis’ ‘Intabolatura di liuto’ (1567) als Dur- und Molltonarten-Zyklus
    Reichert Georg Hüschen Heinrich
  • Continuo Lutes in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century England
    Sayce Lynda
  • A Shorte Introduction into the Science of Musicke.” 1562
  • Thomas Morley and the Teaching of Modal Composition in the Renaissance
    Stern David
  • Thomas Morley’s ‘Plaine and Easie’ Introduction to the Modes
    Stevenson Robert
  • New Light on Songs by William Lawes and John Wilson
    Walls Peter
  • Benjamin Cosyn: Sources and Circumstance
    Willetts Pamela J. Banks Chris Searle Arthur Turner Malcolm
  • Blow, John
    Wood Bruce
  • The Survival of Plainsong in Anglican Music: Some Early English Te-Deum Settings
    Aplin John
  • Instrumental Music from the Library of John Browne (1608–1691), Clerk of the Parliaments
    Ashbee Andrew
  • Symposium on Seventeenth-Century Music Theory: England
    Atcherson Walter
  • Concepts of Key in Seventeenth-Century English Keyboard Music
    Bailey Candace Judd Cristle Collins
  • Orlando Gibbons, Keyboard Music, and the Beginnings of the Baroque: New Considerations of a Musical Style
    Bailey Candace
  • Key Signatures before Keys: Conceptualising and Notating Pitch Relations in the Seventeenth Century
    Barnett Gregory Churnside Carrie
  • Music Theory in the British Isles during the Enlightenment
    Chenette Louis Fred
  • A Manuscript of John Wilson’s Songs
    Crum Margaret
  • Seventeenth-Century Lyrics. Oxford, Bodleian, MS Mus.b.1
    Cutts John P.
  • Tonal Types and Modal Equivalence in Two Keyboard Cycles by Murschhauser
    Dodds Michael R. Judd Cristle Collins
  • The Baroque Church Tones in Theory and Practice
    Dodds Michael R.
  • Scale
    Drabkin William
  • The ‘Curious’ Art of John Wilson (1595–1674): An Introduction to His Songs and Lute Music
    Duckles Vincent
  • Jenkins and the Cosmography of Harmony
    Field Christopher D. S. Ashbee Andrew Holman Peter
  • The Education of Choristers in England during the Sixteenth Century
    Flynn Jane E. Morehen John
  • Music Manuscripts of John Browne (1608–91) and from Stanford Hall, Leicestershire
    Fortune Nigel Fenlon Iain Bent Ian
  • Vincenzo Galilei’s Manuscript ‘Libro d’Intavolatura di liuto (1584)’: An Introductory Study
    Gásser Luis
  • Key Signature
  • The Vocal Music of John Wilson
    Henderson Hubert Platt
  • Key
    Hyer Brian
  • Solmization in English Treatises around the Turn of the Seventeenth Century: A Break from Modal Theory
    Johnson Timothy A.
  • My Lady’s Tears: A Pair of Songs by John Dowland
    Leech-Wilkinson Daniel J.
  • Incipient Tonal Thought in Seventeenth-Century English Theory
    Lewis Christopher Orlo
  • The Tonal Language of John Dowland’s Lutesongs: Character of the Airs and Constructive Use of Gestures
    Meyer Jeffrey
  • Tallis, the Parker Psalter, and Some Known Unknowns
    Milsom John
  • Concepts of Pitch in English Music Theory, c. 1560–1640
    Owens Jessie Ann Judd Cristle Collins
  • Beyond Mode: Theorizing ‘Key’ in the Music of Cipriano de Rore
    Owens Jessie Ann
  • Should (Early) Baroque Music Be Equally Tempered? Vincenzo Galilei’s 1584 Libro d’intavolatura di liuto and Its Wider Implications for Historical Performance Practice
    Ozmo Žak
  • Tonal Types and Modal Categories in Renaissance Polyphony
    Powers Harold
  • Is Mode Real?
    Powers Harold
  • Charles Butler—Musician, Grammarian, Apiarist
    Pruett James
  • Giacomo Gorzanis’ ‘Intabolatura di liuto’ (1567) als Dur- und Molltonarten-Zyklus
    Reichert Georg Hüschen Heinrich
  • Continuo Lutes in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century England
    Sayce Lynda
  • A Shorte Introduction into the Science of Musicke.” 1562
  • Thomas Morley and the Teaching of Modal Composition in the Renaissance
    Stern David
  • Thomas Morley’s ‘Plaine and Easie’ Introduction to the Modes
    Stevenson Robert
  • New Light on Songs by William Lawes and John Wilson
    Walls Peter
  • Benjamin Cosyn: Sources and Circumstance
    Willetts Pamela J. Banks Chris Searle Arthur Turner Malcolm
  • Blow, John
    Wood Bruce