Breve Introdução ao Tratado “Contraponto Móvel Em Estilo Estrito” de Serguei Taneyev

This article presents an introduction to the techniques created by the Russian composer, pianist, music theorist and pedagogue Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915) for the composition of movable counterpoint with vertical and horizontal shifts according to the strict style, as presented by him in his 1909 treatise “Convertible Counterpoint in the Strict Style”. After a brief biographical note on Taneyev, the paper presents the concept of complex counterpoint and its capability of keeping itself correct after certain vertical or horizontal shifts, after which follow explanations on the mathematical method developed by Taneyev to effect such counterpoint, with instructions and exemplifications on how to write it for two and three-voice counterpoints. As a conclusion, Taneyev’s methodology is briefly compared to other 19th and 20th-century counterpoint pedagogical formalizations, attesting to its unique, meticulous and complete character, which provides to those who study it the keys to difficult processes of polyphonic musical writing.

Keywords:
Convertible Counterpoint; Movable Counterpoint; Complex Counterpoint; Sergei Taneyev