Channels, Spring 2017

31 Channels • 2017 • Volume 1 • Number 2 Page who could have confronted his basse fondamentale with a competing concept.” 34 Rameau’s theory lacked an opponent partly because the Neapolitan schools never explicitly posited the theory found in partimento pedagogy. The pedagogy was contrary to their modus operandi. Although the maestri of the Neapolitan schools never attempted a treatise describing partimento theory, Johann David Heinichen, a German, did. In the Baroque era, German music was heavily influenced by Italian music; many German musicians would travel to Italy in order to learn the Italian musical styles. Heinichen himself wrote, “Why do we go through effort, danger, and expense to travel around from nation to nation. . . ? Simply and solely to develop our good taste.” 35 After studying with Kuhnau in Leipzig, Heinichen worked for various patrons and finally traveled to Italy around 1710. People highly acclaimed his operas acclaimed in Venice for Heinichen adopted the Italian musical style in a very effective manner. 36 In 1728, Heinichen revised his previous treatise on thoroughbass and published the second edition of Der General-Bass in der Composition . The second half of this edition (“On the Complete Science of Thoroughbass”) collects and explicates Italian partimento theory. In his treatise, Heinichen basis his theory on the règle de l’octave and the concept of chord without abandoning the emphasis on contrapuntal linearity. In the words of Holtmeier, the strength of Heinichen’s presentation of partimento theory is “that it does not seek to deduce harmony and melody, line and sonority ( Klang ), chord and counterpoint from a single coherent principle, as Rameau does, but permanently works through the tension between those poles in a dialectical way.” 37 Heinichen’s conception of the règle de l’octave (the linearity of the bass line remains stepwise with no leaping fundamental bass beneath it) shows the dialectical treatment of verticality and linearity. The chords remain diatonic throughout his conception, unlike both Rameau’s and the traditional règle de l’octave , which contain the leading tone of the fifth degree (see Ex. 2, 3, 4). Despite the flexible strength that characterized the partimento theory, Heinichen’s treatise could not compete with Rameau’s much simpler theory. 38 Heinchen’s treatise often left theoretical frameworks implicit and forewent systematic presentation in favor of preserving complexity. In an Enlightenment environment where clarity and systematization prevailed, Rameau’s theory gained influence while partimento pedagogy declined. 34. Holtmeier, “Heinichen, Rameau, and the Italian Thoroughbass Tradition,” 26. 35. George J. Buelow, Thorough-Bass Accompaniment according to Johann David Heinichen (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1986), 2. 36. Ibid., 4-11. 37. Holtmeier, “Heinichen, Rameau, and the Italian Thoroughbass Tradition,” 43. 38. Ibid., 42.