Musical Offerings ⦁ 2025 ⦁ Volume 16 ⦁ Number 1 19 legend has given him a name in history, it is not the only means in which Palestrina has had an influence. Palestrina was considered the utmost example of prima prattica composition developed from the early fifteenth century.26 During his life, he advanced vocal church polyphony to its height,27 earning himself the reputation of perfecting this Renaissance style. His music is characterized by a mastery of consonance and dissonance, fluidity, skilled alternation between homophonic and contrapuntal textures, balance, “fluent and effortless”28 sound, equality between all the voices, and “flexibility and freedom in [the] melodic lines.”29 Because of his mastery, Palestrina is considered “among the most profoundly influential composers of all times.”30 In his book on counterpoint, Knud Jeppesen states that “from the style of Palestrina we can learn best what has always been the highest goal of the study of counterpoint.”31 Following Palestrina’s example is precisely what has happened over music history mainly due to the contribution of Johann Fux. Johann Joseph Fux (1660–1741) was a Baroque composer best known for his treatise on composition, Gradus ad Parnassum, based upon the contrapuntal style of Palestrina. The contents of Gradus are considered by some to be an idealization of Palestrina’s style.32 Some scholars believe that Fux did not write his Gradus to provide a formula for replicating Palestrina’s style, however. Jen-Yen Chen states that “Fux turned his attention instead to the usefulness of the broader features of the idiom for developing principles to be applied to contemporary music.”33 Thus, the ideas in Gradus are based in Palestrina’s overall style, but the principles are added to and defined by Fux. Fux’s purpose for writing, as stated in his introduction to his work, was to instruct young, willing learners to compose34 by providing a solid foundation in counterpoint.35 His treatise is structured as a dialogue between a master teacher, Aloysius, representing Palestrina, and a pupil, Josephus. In his 26Alwes, 13. 27Jeppesen, Style and Dissonance, 12. 28 Alwes, 13–14. 29 Coates, 84. 30 Jeppesen, Style and Dissonance, 12. 31 Jeppesen, Counterpoint, ix. 32 Kramer, 107–108. 33 Chen, 8. 34 Fux, 17. 35 Kramer, 108.
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