What galant schemata are
In the book Music in the Galant Style (Oxford, 2007) Robert Gjerdingen shows that eighteenth-century composers (from Durante and Leo to Haydn and Mozart) composed by combining two-voice formulas learned by heart in the conservatories: a bass movement and a melody, linked by precise figures. He calls them schemata and gives them names (some historical, such as Romanesca, Monte, Fonte, Ponte, taken from the theorist Joseph Riepel; others invented by him, such as Prinner and Meyer, in honor of scholars). Schemata combine like moves in a discourse: an opening, a reply, a sequence, a cadence.
Notation: the numbers are scale degrees (1 = tonic). In C major 1 = C, 2 = D, 3 = E, 4 = F, 5 = G, 6 = A, 7 = B.
The opening schemata
Romanesca
- Bass: 1–7–6–3 by step (C–B–A–E) or in the leaping variant 1–5–6–3 (C–G–A–E), often continued with 4–1 (F–C).
- Melody: 1–5–1–1 or, in the version most common in the late eighteenth century, a stepwise descent 3–2–1–7… over the bass.
- Typical chords in C: C – G/B – Am – Em (or C – G – Am – Em).
- Example: the bass of Pachelbel's Canon (D–A–B–F♯–G–D–G–A) is a leaping Romanesca followed by a continuation; much of the pop that uses I–V–vi–iii–IV–I–IV–V descends from here.
Do-Re-Mi
- Melody: 1–2–3 (C–D–E); bass: 1–7–1 (C–B–C) or 1–5–1.
- Chords: I – V6 (or V) – I. It is the simplest and most direct opening: tonic, dominant, tonic.
Meyer
- Two pairs of events: melody 1–7 … 4–3 (C–B … F–E), bass 1–2 … 7–1 (C–D … B–C).
- Chords: I – V4/3 … V6/5 – I. The first pair "opens" (tonic→dominant), the second "closes" (dominant→tonic).
- Variants of the same family, differing only in the melody: Jupiter (1–2 … 4–3, the celebrated C–D–F–E of the finale of Mozart's Symphony K. 551), Pastorella (3–2 … 4–3), Aprile (1–7 … 2–1).
Sol-Fa-Mi
- Melody 5–4 … 4–3 (G–F … F–E) over bass 1–2 … 7–1.
- Softer than the Do-Re-Mi; Gjerdingen often finds it in slow movements or secondary themes.
The reply: the Prinner
- Bass: 4–3–2–1 (F–E–D–C); melody: 6–5–4–3 (A–G–F–E), in parallel tenths with the bass.
- Chords: IV – I6 – vii°6 (or V6/5, often with a 7–6 suspension) – I.
- Function: it answers an opening and closes the phrase softly, without the force of a perfect cadence. The model is: Romanesca (or Do-Re-Mi) + Prinner, that is, "question and answer" of 4 + 4 bars.
- Modulating Prinner: melody 3–2–1–7, bass 8–7–6–5 (C–B–A–G with a passing F♯ in the upper voice): it leads from C to G, ideal at the end of the first section of a binary form or of the bridge of a sonata.
How to use them
| Position in the phrase | Typical schemata |
|---|---|
| Beginning | Romanesca, Do-Re-Mi, Meyer, Sol-Fa-Mi, Quiescenza |
| Reply | Prinner (also modulating) |
| Middle / after the double bar | Fonte, Monte, Ponte |
| Before the cadence | Indugio, Fenaroli, converging cadence |
| End | simple, compound or double cadence; then Quiescenza as a closing |
Exercise for a producer
- In C major write 4 bars of Romanesca (C – G/B – Am – Em, one per bar) with the melody 3–2–1–7 (E–D–C–B).
- Reply with 4 bars of Prinner (F – C/E – G7/D… or Bdim/D – C) with the melody A–G–F–E.
- You have an 8-bar phrase straight from an eighteenth-century textbook; now change the groove (lo-fi at 80 BPM, Rhodes and upright bass) and hear how "modern" it sounds.
- Try to recognize Romanesca and Prinner in the pieces you listen to: they appear constantly in film music, video games and pop ballads.
Related topics
Galant schemata 2: sequences, prolongations and cadences, Partimento and the Neapolitan school, Rule of the octave, The period, Pop progressions and loops.