COUNTERPOINT, in music, means the setting of a harmony of one or more parts to a melody. In the early age of the science, notation was represented by mere points on th-. lines. The setting of parts to a melody already represented by a row of dots or points was therefore called punctura contrapunctum. In this respect C. is nothing else but the uniting of various harmonious parts. In a more circumscribed sense, it is the art or manner of accompanying a given melody with other parts. Simple C. is a musi cal combination where the melody of the parts is not mixed or changed. and may be either all in notes of the same length or of different lengths, as for example: 0 0 01-i v- [. -,t___,._ ..., ..._ , ... I .
1 .... If the parts be constructed in regard to one another so that they can be changed or trans posed over or under each other, without alteration in the movement, or injury to the harmony, it is then called double C., for example: ............ ............. ........ , ,,..
,- __-_-,:- . Ti 6 . ---,. ,... ......, ft.r.,.... ".."=:,_ -Ti 1 .""-- .
==.1 1 ....I 11 , ___ .? I ',.t) 4 . . .. ,..:..ia..-...-$ , i I. . -IF -0- -0- w-d I .,,'.!- ;;11--ar- -4 -ir -0
'---.......----- . As double C. consists of the changing or transposing of one part over or under another, it follows that there must be as many different kinds of it as there are different inter. vals in the scale. We have, therefore, double C. of the octave as above, of the twelfth, tenth, ninth, etc. That of the octave is, however, the most useful, as it is more free in movement, and easier to recognize. The following admits of different transpositions:.
..--,--.....____ ---,,... _ , lirIlli1 j i ri j J. i J 0 --L , ' g L' - Ir ° - .
I I i..' I eamo I.... 9 , I , . 1 6-4 , I The first indication of contrapuntal writing is to he found in the 12th c. by Adam de In Hale, who received a genuine artistic education in the Netherlands, but was far in advance of hi S time, for his style of music was forbidden to be performed in the church by a bull of the pope, who gave Palcstrina an order to replace it with a more simple music. The best masters for C. have been Kirnberger and Albrechtsberger in former times, and in modern times, Schneider, Hauptmann, and Dehn.