English cadence

English[edit]

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English cadence

Etymology[edit]

From English +‎ cadence. Coined in the 20th century due to its popularity with composers of the English Renaissance of the late 15th to the early 17th centuries.

Noun[edit]

English cadence (plural English cadences)

(music) A perfect cadence characteristic of English Renaissance music, involving a flattened seventh note played against the dominant chord (containing a regular raised seventh); conventionally, the flattened seventh is played as part of a suspension on the penultimate beat, before resolving downwards to the sixth and then fifth of the final chord, while the raised seventh is held before resolving upward to the first; however, more complex variations are also possible.

Examples

A typical English cadence in C major, involving a B♭ that resolves to A followed by G, suspended on the third beat against a B♮ that resolves to C:

${ \new PianoStaff << \new Staff << \new Voice \relative c'' { \override Staff.TimeSignature.stencil = ##f \stemUp \clef treble c2 \once \override NoteHead.color = #red b? \glissando | c1 \bar "|." } \new Voice \relative c' { \stemDown f4 g_~ g f | e1 } >> \new Staff << \new Voice \relative c' { \override Staff.TimeSignature.stencil = ##f \stemUp \clef bass a4 \override NoteHead.color = #red bes^~ bes \glissando \override NoteHead.color = #black a \glissando | g1 } \new Voice \relative c { \stemDown c2 d | c1 } >> >> }$

A more complex example in G major, from the end of William Byrd's Browning à 5:

${ \new GrandStaff << \new Staff \with {midiInstrument = "reed organ"} \relative c'' { \override Staff.TimeSignature.stencil = ##f \clef treble \key g \major \time 6/4 r2. r2 a4 | d f e d4. c8 a4 | b1. \bar "|." } \new Staff \with {midiInstrument = "reed organ"} \relative c' { \override Staff.TimeSignature.stencil = ##f \clef treble \key g \major \time 6/4 r2. e4 a c | b a4. g8 g2 \once \override NoteHead.color = #red fis?4 | g1. } \new Staff \with {midiInstrument = "reed organ"} \relative c' { \override Staff.TimeSignature.stencil = ##f \clef "treble_8" \key g \major \time 6/4 r2 a4 c2 c4 | d2 c4 b a8 g a4 | g1. } \new Staff \with {midiInstrument = "reed organ"} \relative c' { \override Staff.TimeSignature.stencil = ##f \clef "treble_8" \key g \major \time 6/4 r2 e4 a,4 c8. b16 a8 g | fis g a fis g4 r8 g d'4. \once \override NoteHead.color = #red f8 | e4 d d1 } \new Staff \with {midiInstrument = "reed organ"} \relative c' { \override Staff.TimeSignature.stencil = ##f \clef bass \key g \major \time 6/4 r4 a c4. b8 a g f e | d2 e4 g d2 | g,1. } >> }$

English cadence

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Noun[edit]

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