TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
9th Biennial Conference on Baroque Music
ABSTRACT
Harmonic Theories and Harmonic Practices of the Spanish Baroque as Presented
in the Works of Andrés Lorente, Pablo Nassarre, and José
de Torres
Paul Murphy
The author will delineate the emergence of a Baroque conception of harmony
among selected Spanish writers whose lives and thought encompassed a transitional
period in Baroque musical culture. This time period spans a monumental
event in Spain's history: the transfer of rule in 1700 from the Hapsburg
dynasty to the Bourbon dynasty. Philip V and his Italian wives brought
to Madrid's Real Capilla interest in French music and dancing, and
a host of foreign musicians, mostly from Italy. These changes in
musical culture exemplify a change in harmonic practice from one that retained
features of Spain's prima-prattica tradition to one that cultivated
a more cosmopolitan Baroque conception of harmony and dissonance control
found prominently in thoroughbass accompaniment.
Much of the research undertaken for this project was completed in conjunction
with the author's forthcoming monograph to be issued by Indiana University
Press. The first objective of the paper is to introduce the
treatises of Andrés Lorente (1624-1703), Pablo Nassarre (1664-1724),
and José de Torres (c. 1670-1738) in a brief comparative summary
of their works to present a context for this change in harmonic thought.
The second objective is to clarify differences in harmonic vocabulary among
the authors and to explain their pedagogical methods for utilizing harmonies
in "progressions." The third objective treats dissonance control
in the contexts of Spain's prima prattica tradition, preserved through
much of the seventeenth century, and the fully-developed modern approach
to instrumental accompaniment found abundantly in Spanish music of the
eighteenth century.
Last updated on 22 March 2000 by Yo
Tomita