Lessons · Showcase

Impertinence

Handel: a two-voice quip, imitation and answer

% Handel's Impertinence is a two-voice joke: a cheeky subject
% (lifted verbatim from the verified grammar) that refuses to sit
% still:
 
bpm 104
instrument plain
meter 4
unit 1/4
key g harm
 
Subject ::= 1 _2 .7 _2 1 _8 .5 _8 2 _2 3 _2 4 _4 3 _4 2 _4 3 _8 1 _8
Subject
 
 
% IMITATION: the left hand repeats the quip an octave down, one
% measure late, baroque conversation in one structure:
 
{Subject Subject, - _16 {Subject}@-12 {Subject}@-12}
 
 
% Turn the joke over: the subject INVERTED around the tonic
% answers itself upside down:
 
Subject {Subject}^
 
 
% And in the harmonic minor the raised leading tone gives the
% cadence its bite, the tail of the subject, closing properly:
 
Tail ::= 4 _2 3 _2 2 _2 .7 _2 1 _8
 
Subject Tail
 
 
% THE WHOLE QUIP, note for note: twenty measures of the tune with
% nothing under it but Handel. The form is three speeches: mm.1-8
% the sally, mm.9-17 the retort, mm.18-20 the last word.
%
% All of it grows from one two-note PROD, the supertonic shoved up
% to the mediant. It is written at a third of its value, which is
% why one name covers both of its lives: `_3` spells it as the pair
% of eighths that starts every phrase, `*3` as the shake that ends
% the piece.
 
bpm 104
meter 4
unit 1/4
key g4 harm
mode diatonic
 
Prod ::= 2 _2/3 3 _2/3
 
assert Prod _3 == 2 _2 3 _2
assert Prod _3 == a4 _2 bb4 _2
assert Prod*3 == Prod Prod Prod
 
% And the Subject already carries it. From its fifth item on the
% prod is right there, carrying up to the fourth and winding back
% down to the tonic, so the quip's second half wants no new name,
% only a slice:
 
assert Subject[4:6] == Prod _3
assert Subject[4:] == Prod _3 4 _4 3 _4 2 _4 3 _8 1 _8
assert Subject[4:] == a4 _2 bb4 _2 c5 _4 bb4 _4 a4 _4 bb4 _8 g4 _8
 
 
% Only one other figure recurs, and it is the prod a step higher:
% the LIFT climbs to the dominant and steps back down. It closes
% the first long phrase at m.5 and the second at m.13, both times
% handing the line on rather than landing on it.
 
Lift ::= Prod@~1 _3 5 _4 4 _4
 
assert Lift == 3 _2 4 _2 5 _4 4 _4
assert Lift == bb4 _2 c5 _2 d5 _4 c5 _4
assert Lift == Subject[4:6]@~1 5 _4 4 _4
 
 
% mm.1-8: THE SALLY. A curtain-raiser measure drops the Subject on
% its own downbeat: dominant, tonic, third, second, four plain
% quarters and no prod in sight. Then the Subject itself (mm.2-5),
% and the Lift.
%
% mm.6-8 turn toward the dominant and the sevenths say so. `.7b` is
% F NATURAL, the leading tone let down while the line leans away;
% at the cadence it is `.7` again, F sharp: the bite the harmonic
% minor was raised for. Three double-stops carry the close, and they
% are the only chords the tune plays until m.16.
 
assert .7b == f4
assert .7 == f#4
assert {4, 2} == {c5, a4}
assert {6, 1} == {eb5, g4}
assert {5, .7} == {d5, f#4}
 
Sally ::= | .5 _4 1 _4 3 _4 2 _4 |
  Subject Lift
  | 3 _4 {4, 2} _8 .7b _4 |
  5 _4 {6, 1} _8 1 _8 {5, .7} _12
 
Sally
 
 
% mm.9-17: THE RETORT, and it is all the Subject's second half,
% entered three times, a step lower each time. First at the fourth
% above in semitones, where the turn keeps its own quality; then
% two scale steps up from where it began, where it bends to the
% mode instead; then the Lift, which is what it was aiming at.
 
assert Subject[4:]@5 == d5 _2 eb5 _2 f5 _4 eb5 _4 d5 _4 eb5 _8 c5 _8
assert Subject[4:]@~2 == c5 _2 d5 _2 eb5 _4 d5 _4 c5 _4 d5 _8 bb4 _8
 
% mm.14-15 sink instead of climbing: the same turn with its ending
% cut off, then two more prods walking the line down to the tonic.
% Then mm.16-17 vault an octave to g5 over the dominant chord and go
% on up to bb5, the highest note the tune reaches.
 
assert Subject[4:8] == Prod _3 4 _4 3 _4
assert {2, 5, 7} == {a4, d5, f#5}
 
Retort ::= 5 _4 Subject[4:]@5 Subject[4:]@~2 Lift
  | 3 _4 Subject[4:8] |
  | 2 _4 3 _4 Prod _3 1 _4 |
  '1 _4 {2, 5, 7} _8 {5, 1} _8 '1 _4 '2 _4 '3 _2 '2 _2
 
Retort
 
 
% mm.18-20. THE LAST WORD is the Subject's own head an octave up:
% `{Subject[:4]}@12`, the four notes that opened the quip, said from
% the top. Then a plain scale down from the sixth to the third, and
% the prod three times at the speed it was written at: six notes in
% one beat, which is the shake it was spelled short for all along.
%
% The close is a shrug: an eighth on the supertonic, a sixteenth of
% silence, and the tonic twice: short, then held.
 
assert {Subject[:4]}@12 == g5 _2 f#5 _2 g5 _8 d5 _8
assert 6 _2 5 _2 4 _2 3 _2 == eb5 _2 d5 _2 c5 _2 bb4 _2
 
LastWord ::= {Subject[:4]}@12 6 _2 5 _2 4 _2 3 _2 Prod*3
  | 2 _2 - 1 1 _12 |
 
LastWord

% Handel's Impertinence is a two-voice joke: a cheeky subject
% (lifted verbatim from the verified grammar) that refuses to sit
% still:

bpm 104
instrument plain
meter 4
unit 1/4
key g harm

Subject ::= 1 _2 .7 _2 1 _8 .5 _8 2 _2 3 _2 4 _4 3 _4 2 _4 3 _8 1 _8
Subject

% IMITATION: the left hand repeats the quip an octave down, one
% measure late, baroque conversation in one structure:

{Subject Subject, - _16 {Subject}@-12 {Subject}@-12}

% Turn the joke over: the subject INVERTED around the tonic
% answers itself upside down:

Subject {Subject}^

% And in the harmonic minor the raised leading tone gives the
% cadence its bite, the tail of the subject, closing properly:

Tail ::= 4 _2 3 _2 2 _2 .7 _2 1 _8

Subject Tail

% THE WHOLE QUIP, note for note: twenty measures of the tune with
% nothing under it but Handel. The form is three speeches: mm.1-8
% the sally, mm.9-17 the retort, mm.18-20 the last word.
%
% All of it grows from one two-note PROD, the supertonic shoved up
% to the mediant. It is written at a third of its value, which is
% why one name covers both of its lives: `_3` spells it as the pair
% of eighths that starts every phrase, `*3` as the shake that ends
% the piece.

bpm 104
meter 4
unit 1/4
key g4 harm
mode diatonic

Prod ::= 2 _2/3 3 _2/3

assert Prod _3 == 2 _2 3 _2
assert Prod _3 == a4 _2 bb4 _2
assert Prod*3 == Prod Prod Prod

% And the Subject already carries it. From its fifth item on the
% prod is right there, carrying up to the fourth and winding back
% down to the tonic, so the quip's second half wants no new name,
% only a slice:

assert Subject[4:6] == Prod _3
assert Subject[4:] == Prod _3 4 _4 3 _4 2 _4 3 _8 1 _8
assert Subject[4:] == a4 _2 bb4 _2 c5 _4 bb4 _4 a4 _4 bb4 _8 g4 _8

% Only one other figure recurs, and it is the prod a step higher:
% the LIFT climbs to the dominant and steps back down. It closes
% the first long phrase at m.5 and the second at m.13, both times
% handing the line on rather than landing on it.

Lift ::= Prod@~1 _3 5 _4 4 _4

assert Lift == 3 _2 4 _2 5 _4 4 _4
assert Lift == bb4 _2 c5 _2 d5 _4 c5 _4
assert Lift == Subject[4:6]@~1 5 _4 4 _4

% mm.1-8: THE SALLY. A curtain-raiser measure drops the Subject on
% its own downbeat: dominant, tonic, third, second, four plain
% quarters and no prod in sight. Then the Subject itself (mm.2-5),
% and the Lift.
%
% mm.6-8 turn toward the dominant and the sevenths say so. `.7b` is
% F NATURAL, the leading tone let down while the line leans away;
% at the cadence it is `.7` again, F sharp: the bite the harmonic
% minor was raised for. Three double-stops carry the close, and they
% are the only chords the tune plays until m.16.

assert .7b == f4
assert .7 == f#4
assert {4, 2} == {c5, a4}
assert {6, 1} == {eb5, g4}
assert {5, .7} == {d5, f#4}

Sally ::= | .5 _4 1 _4 3 _4 2 _4 |
  Subject Lift
  | 3 _4 {4, 2} _8 .7b _4 |
  5 _4 {6, 1} _8 1 _8 {5, .7} _12

Sally

% mm.9-17: THE RETORT, and it is all the Subject's second half,
% entered three times, a step lower each time. First at the fourth
% above in semitones, where the turn keeps its own quality; then
% two scale steps up from where it began, where it bends to the
% mode instead; then the Lift, which is what it was aiming at.

assert Subject[4:]@5 == d5 _2 eb5 _2 f5 _4 eb5 _4 d5 _4 eb5 _8 c5 _8
assert Subject[4:]@~2 == c5 _2 d5 _2 eb5 _4 d5 _4 c5 _4 d5 _8 bb4 _8

% mm.14-15 sink instead of climbing: the same turn with its ending
% cut off, then two more prods walking the line down to the tonic.
% Then mm.16-17 vault an octave to g5 over the dominant chord and go
% on up to bb5, the highest note the tune reaches.

assert Subject[4:8] == Prod _3 4 _4 3 _4
assert {2, 5, 7} == {a4, d5, f#5}

Retort ::= 5 _4 Subject[4:]@5 Subject[4:]@~2 Lift
  | 3 _4 Subject[4:8] |
  | 2 _4 3 _4 Prod _3 1 _4 |
  '1 _4 {2, 5, 7} _8 {5, 1} _8 '1 _4 '2 _4 '3 _2 '2 _2

Retort

% mm.18-20. THE LAST WORD is the Subject's own head an octave up:
% `{Subject[:4]}@12`, the four notes that opened the quip, said from
% the top. Then a plain scale down from the sixth to the third, and
% the prod three times at the speed it was written at: six notes in
% one beat, which is the shake it was spelled short for all along.
%
% The close is a shrug: an eighth on the supertonic, a sixteenth of
% silence, and the tonic twice: short, then held.

assert {Subject[:4]}@12 == g5 _2 f#5 _2 g5 _8 d5 _8
assert 6 _2 5 _2 4 _2 3 _2 == eb5 _2 d5 _2 c5 _2 bb4 _2

LastWord ::= {Subject[:4]}@12 6 _2 5 _2 4 _2 3 _2 Prod*3
  | 2 _2 - 1 1 _12 |

LastWord

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Impertinence · Showcase