Counterpoint and Partimento: Methods of Teaching Composition in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples

by Peter Van Tour

During the second half of the eighteenth century the city of Naples had three music conservatories: the Conservatorio di Santa Maria, della Pietra, de Turchini. Through disciplines such as solfeggio, partimento, and counterpoint, the students at these institutions received highly professional training in singing, instrumental playing and composition.

This study reveals new evidence that partimenti were used not only as exercises in keyboard playing, but also as exercises in written counterpoint; as counterpoint exercises, partimenti were used either as bass lines over which students wrote one or several contraptuntal parts, or as nontational devices that facilitated the sketching of figures.

Genres: Music

318 pages, Paperback

First published June 11, 2015