Little free counterpoint quiz

[Sorrano]

Oh shoot, I just realized my attempt to "Bach-ify" this resulted in parallel octaves. Curse this musical Rubik's Cube! I would fix it before Quijote sees it, but I suppose one can't take back a quiz one has just turned in

You do have to watch for those Bachian syntax errors.

[Enrique]

What a melodic bass you got, Sorrano! I'm a newbie.

[Quijote]

Oh shoot, I just realized my attempt to "Bach-ify" this resulted in parallel octaves. Curse this musical Rubik's Cube! I would fix it before Quijote sees it, but I suppose one can't take back a quiz one has just turned in

No problem, if you've noticed a mistake you can change it!

[Quijote]

You do have to watch for those Bachian syntax errors.

Those 'Bachian' syntax errors are also 'common practice' / academic treatise errors, don't forget !!

[Quijote]

What a melodic bass you got, Sorrano! I'm a newbie.

Methinks Sorrano is a bass singer !

[Quijote]

OK Enrique, Sorrano and Chris, many thanks for your 4-part efforts in the 'Bach' idiom. I won't annotate anything tonight (too tired), plus we'll wait for Chris's modification. I'll get back to you as soon as.

[Sorrano]

Methinks Sorrano is a bass singer !

Yes, I do sing bass (but I think my fellow bass singers spell it base) when I sing.

[Chris]

All right, well this fixes the parallel octaves problem, though it makes the bass line and overall harmony less interesting. But the more interesting I try to make it, the more likely I am to break some rule, so I think I'll just play it safe and leave it this way.

[Quijote]

OK, here are my annotations for Enrique's working of the Bach chorale.

[Quijote]

And the annotations for Sorrano's working of the same.

[Quijote]

And the same for Chris.

[Quijote]

And here is my own version. I think we all agree that the chorale melody itself is quite a solid, four-square one. Our harmonizations seem to reflect this! In the next two posts I will give you two other versions of this melody that I have done, proving that one can create interesting vocal lines for the Alto, the Tenor and the Bass !!!
In fact that is what Bach most often does, given that the chorale melodies are a bit dull on the whole (as they were for congreational singing). So, given a boring melody, Bach places the interest in the other voices.
Anyway, here's my first 'academic' / to-the-rule-book version.

[Quijote]

Here's my second version. Quite a different kettle of fish all together, wouldn't you say?

[Quijote]

And my 3rd version. same as version 2 (harmonically), but more 'jazzed up' rhythm !!
PS: There is one mistake in my working (same place as in version 2 as well) that I could have easily changed, but I'll leave it as it is. See if you can find it ! If not, I'll let you know where it is and the rule that applies.

[Quijote]

OK, here's my attempt.

Now I will say right off that I know I've gone a step above the usually accepted tenor range for this kind of thing. And to make it worse, it's at the end of a bit of an upward leap. I don't know how bad a foul that is, so if it's an instant fail, so be it. I could have done something else in that second to last measure that avoided it, but not without sacrificing other things I liked. So, as a tenor myself, I say we need some excitement, because we never get anything interesting to do. I may not have the mythical list of rules for this, but one thing I do know is that if your tenor part is as uninteresting as possible, you are apparently on the right track. So the tenors are just going to have to man up and get 'er done for this one. In my opinion, if you can't hit the high A, you need to get out of the choir loft and go back to sweeping the floor!

Ah, in the Bach chorale harmonizations his Tenors (and Altos !) do some pretty amazing things, in fact. My versions 2 and 3 make a humble approach to that. Whoever made up that rule about being "on the right track if the tenor part is uninteresting" should be shot! Probably written by some 19th century Anglican clergyman !!!!!!!!