Benjamin Britten's 1963 Nocturnal after John Dowland for solo guitar is a set of variations on Elizabethan composer John Dowland's 1597 lute song Come Heavy Sleep. Unlike most theme and variation forms, however, the theme appears at the end, rather than the beginning of the composition. The eight variations, based on melodic fragments of Dowland's song, depict various stages of insomnia, and have the character of fleeting, nightmarish episodes. The interaction of notes, chords, and keys a semitone apart is a salient feature of the variations. The tension generated by this dissonant harmonic relationship dissipates when Dowland's song is quoted at the end of the composition.

Works: Britten: Nocturnal after John Dowland (35-40, 46-48).

Sources: Dowland: Come Heavy Sleep (46-48).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Scott Grieb

Since its premiere in Gershwin's 1930 musical Girl Crazy, the song I Got Rhythm has been performed, arranged, and recorded countless times. In these subsequent realizations of Gershwin's song three approaches can be identified in which the original material is treated as (1) a song played and sung by popular performers, (2) a jazz standard, a piece known and frequently played by musicians in the jazz tradition, and (3) a musical structure, a harmonic framework upon which jazz instrumentalists have built new compositions. These new compositions, called contrafacts, include examples such as Duke Ellington's 1940 Cotton Tail, Charlie Parker's 1940 Steeplechase, Parker and "Dizzy" Gillespie's 1945 Shaw 'Nuff, and many others. Tables listing titles of Parker I Got Rhythm contrafacts and recordings of I Got Rhythm contrafacts (up to 1942) are included.

Works: Ellington: Cotton Tail (229-30), Parker: Steeplechase (232), Red Cross (232), Moose the Mooche (233), An Oscar For Treadwell (233); Parker and Gillespie: Shaw 'Nuff (239).

Sources: Gershwin: I Got Rhythm (213-44).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz, Popular

Contributed by: Scott Grieb

The five-note theme from Josquin's 1502 Missa La sol fa re mi was borrowed by subsequent composers and used in vocal and instrumental compositions at least until 1626. Examples include vihuelist Diego Pisador's 1552 Fantasia del quarto tono sobre la sol fa re mi, lutenist Albert de Rippe's 1555 Fantasie XVII, Neapolitan composer Rocco Rodio's 1579 Quinta Ricercata, and Girolamo Frescobaldi's 1624 Capriccio sopra la, sol, fa, re, mi. The Bordeney Codex (ca. 1581), an anthology containing instrumental music from the middle of the sixteenth century, contains several anonymous ricercares, one of which uses the Josquin theme. Although the 1581 copy of the Codex does not name the composer of these ricercares, a previously unstudied nineteenth-century copy (Uppsala) attributes them to Neapolitan composer and lutenist Fabrizio Dentice. The case for attributing this ricercare to Dentice is strengthened by the fact that, although the piece is copied in score form (instead of lute tablature), it can be transcribed for lute without adjustment.

Works: Rippe: Fantasie XVII (42-43); Rodio: Quinta Ricercata (42-43); Dentice: Ricercare (37-40, 44-47).

Sources: Josquin: Missa La sol fa re mi (37, 40, 45).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Scott Grieb

Vocalese, as referred to in jazz, is the name for a vocal composition created by setting newly composed lyrics to music taken from existing recordings of jazz instrumental music, including the improvised solos. The resulting compositions often require a high degree of vocal virtuosity because the singer is performing music that is not idiomatic for the voice. This practice, which began in the early 1950s and remains popular today, has been unjustly marginalized by most jazz critics, mainly because it does not involve improvisation. Some examples of vocalese are Eddie Jefferson's 1952 Moody's Mood for Love, based on James Moody's I'm in the Mood for Love, Jefferson's version of Charlie Parker's Now's the Time, Jefferson's version of Dizzy Gillespie's Night in Tunisia, and John Hendrick's version of Gillespie's Night in Tunisia.

Works: Jefferson: Moody's Mood for Love (292-94).

Sources: Moody: I'm In the Mood for Love (292-94); Parker: Now's the Time (291); Gillespie: Night in Tunisia (292-93).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Scott Grieb

The search for unnamed musical models that were adopted by sixteenth- and seventeenth-century composers is problematic because the musical language of the time made extensive use of stereotyped formulas. For example, it would be misleading to think of the descending chromatic passage of a fourth in John Dowland's lute solo Forlorn Hope Fancy as a "theme" composed by Dowland, because it was simply a commonly used formula of the time. Dowland's famous tune Lachrymae (which was quoted throughout the seventeenth century in a large number of compositions) also consists of a descending scalar line and therefore poses similar problems in that it could be merely an example of a common melodic formula. It is possible, however, that Cipriano De Rore's frequently printed 1548 madrigal Quando lieta sperarai was the model for Dowland's tune. It contains a very similar melodic passage set to the words "Lagrimae dunque." It is likely that Dowland became familiar with this madrigal on his 1595 trip to Italy and incorporated it into his composition.

Works: Dowland: Lachrymae (65-68).

Sources: Rore: Quando lieta sperarai (65-68).

Index Classifications: 1500s, 1600s

Contributed by: Scott Grieb

The four-voiced chanson Doulce Memoire by Pierre Sandrin (c. 1490-1561), first published in 1538, was so popular that it was frequently reprinted for almost 90 years. It became the subject for a large number of instrumental and vocal arrangements, including versions for solo lute, viola da gamba with keyboard instrument, and solo keyboard instrument, as well as versions for two-, three-, four-, five-, and six-part vocal ensemble. Among these examples are an instrumental improvisation manual (1553) by Spaniard Diego Ortiz that teaches the user to improvise on the chanson, a 5-part parody mass (1577) by Orlando di Lasso, and a highly embellished version for viola da gamba and keyboard instrument (1626) by Vicenzo Bonizzi. Of the 36 versions of the chanson discussed here, 24 have been transcribed complete into modern notation.

Works: Ortiz: Recercada Prima (17, 50-51), Recercada Segonda (54-57), Recercada Tercera (58-61), Recercada Quarta que es una Quinta Boz (62-65); Clemens non Papa: Magnificat (91-93); Orlando di Lasso: Missa ad imitationem moduli Doulce memoire (20); Cipriano de Rore: Missa super Dulcis memoria (20).

Sources: Sandrin: Doulce Memoire (1-22).

Index Classifications: 1500s, 1600s

Contributed by: Scott Grieb

Jazz performers and composers adopted the chord structure of George Gershwin's 1930 song I Got Rhythm both as a useful improvisational vehicle and as supporting harmony for newly composed melodies. Gershwin's chord structure, known as "the Rhythm Changes," was subjected to a variety of harmonic alterations by subsequent users, including adding chords between two original chords, changing minor chords into major, and substituting new chords for selected originals. The resulting variety of versions of "the Rhythm Changes" is so great that there is no "standard" version used by a large number of jazz performers or arrangers. Sonny Rollins's Oleo, and J. J. Johnson's Turnpike (both included here in notated versions) are two frequently played examples of the many new melodies composed to "the Rhythm Changes." They include extensive alterations to Gershwin's original chords. A partial list of other compositions based on "the Rhythm Changes" is included, as well as a list of recordings of these compositions.

Works: Johnson: Turnpike (216-17); Rollins: Oleo (217-18).

Sources: Gershwin: I Got Rhythm (203-19).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Scott Grieb

Many modern jazz and popular compositions have been written based on the chord progressions of standard popular songs and other jazz compositions. They provide a fresh approach, both melodically and harmonically, to familiar material, and serve jazz musicians in jam sessions as an acceptable common denominator of chord progressions known to all. In addition to brief introductory comments, this book lists groups of compositions (more than one hundred compositions are included) that share the same chord progressions. Compositions based on the twelve-bar blues harmonic scheme and George Gershwin's song I Got Rhythm are not included.

Index Classifications: 1900s, Popular

Contributed by: Scott Grieb

As suggested by John Ward and others, when a sixteenth-century composition borrows only melodic material from another work, the term "paraphrase" should be used rather than "parody." By contrast, "parody" should refer to the practice of appropriating "vertical slices" (chords and imitative structures) of the thematic complex of the borrowed music in a fairly strict manner. Giovanni Paolo Paladino's 1560 monothematic fantasia based on Vincenzo Ruffo's madrigal Alcun non puo saper subjects the original madrigal to a variety of techniques that include modification of the basic imitative structure (changing the distance between points of imitation), rhythmic alterations such as diminution and augmentation, and transposition of some of the melodic material to different modes. The intent of Paladino's borrowing remains an open question. Given the diatonicism of subjects and the control of dissonance in sixteenth-century counterpoint, it is possible that many "borrowed" relationships may simply arise from the use of a common subject. Paladino's Fantasia occupies a middle ground between parody and paraphrase since it appropriates, but radically alters, the vertical structure of Ruffo's madrigal.

Works: Paladino: Fantasia on "Alcun non puo saper" (1-12).

Sources: Ruffo: Alcun non puo saper (2-10).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Scott Grieb, Jir Shin Boey

Many free instrumental compositions from the Renaissance, including fantasias, ricercares, and tientos, were modeled on the contemporary vocal repertory. Two fantasias by Francesco da Milano show a significant relationship between intabulations and free compositions. Francesco's intabulation of Richafort's chanson De mon triste desplaisir leaves harmonic and thematic materials largely unchanged, while his Fantasia de mon triste parodies the vocal model up to a certain point, after which it departs from the original by introducing new subjects and motives. The fantasia, though intentionally based on a vocal model, can still be loosely related to the original; when a fantasia is well composed, it evokes the model without directly quoting from it. Francesco's Fantasia 22 contains melodic musical material that appears to be derived from Jacob Arcadelt's madrigal Quanta beltà. Francesco had previously intabulated the Arcadelt madrigal, and the model for Fantasia 22 may be Francesco's own arrangement of the madrigal, rather than the madrigal itself. Melodic materials developed in the fantasia are drawn from modified versions of the melody in the intabulation. There are, however, still correspondences between the fantasia and the madrigal. Motives borrowed from the madrigal are reworked in the fantasia in the same order in which they occur in the vocal model. The two fantasias show how free instrumental works, with the mediation of intabulations, were still closely modeled on contemporary vocal repertory.

Works: Francesco da Milano: Intabulation of De mon triste desplaisir (10), Fantasia de mon triste (10-11), Intabulation of Quanta beltà (13-15), Fantasia 22 (13-16).

Sources: Richafort: De mon triste desplaisir (10); Arcadelt: Quanta beltà (13-15).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Jir Shin Boey, Scott Grieb

The Nocturnal after John Dowland, Op. 70, for solo guitar can be described as a set of variations on Come Heavy Sleep, a song for voice and lute from John Dowland's First Book of Songs (London, 1597). The "theme" appears at the end, rather than the beginning of the composition. The composition is in nine sections, the final section of which is a transcription of the Dowland song. The eight preceding variations consist of "bits and pieces" of the song, subjected to various techniques such as abbreviation, transposition, inversion, and other forms of manipulation. All of the variations are somber in character; the overall effect of the composition is macabre, sparse and anxious, with the exception of the final section, which is calm and peaceful.

Works: Britten: Nocturnal after John Dowland (15-16).

Sources: Dowland: Come Heavy Sleep (15-16).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Scott Grieb

The anonymous popular ballad As I Went to Walsingham frequently appeared as thematic material in sixteenth-century instrumental compositions. Examples for lute solo include theme and variation sets such as Francis Cutting's Walsingham, John Dowland's Walsingham, Edward Collard's Walsingham, and John Marchant's Walsingham. Examples for keyboard (harpsichord or virginal) include William Byrd's Have With You to Walsinghame. In addition to sharing the same thematic material (the As I Went to Walsingham melody) these compositions often shared similar or identical melodic fragments, called "figures," that were perhaps specific to compositions based on the Walsingham melody. This shared use of musical figures is perhaps analogous to the way in which poets such as Sir Walter Raleigh would adopt literary phrases from other poets when writing about similar subjects.

Works: Cutting: Walsingham (20-21); Collard: As I Went to Walsingham (22, 27); John Dowland: Walsingham (22-24); John Marchant: Walsingham (23-24); Byrd: Have With You to Walsinghame (26-28).

Sources: Anonymous: As I Went to Walsingham (19-36).

Index Classifications: 1500s, 1600s

Contributed by: Scott Grieb

In bebop music, especially that of Charlie Parker, new compositions were created by composing new melodies to pre-existing chord progressions and forms. By analogy to contrafactum (the practice of fitting a new text to a pre-existing melody), which dates from the Middle Ages or earlier, this technique is called "melodic contrafact." The two most common songs or forms that provided the harmonic and formal material for contrafacts were George Gershwin's I Got Rhythm and the twelve bar blues. Many bebop contrafacts, like Parker's Ornithology,Perhaps, and Cool Blues, employed previously used improvisational "riffs" (short melodic-rhythmic passages). Pragmatic applications of the jazz contrafact include the "jam session," wherein musicians who did not regularly perform together would congregate and improvise on these familiar chord progressions, and recording sessions in which there was a very limited amount of time to record unrehearsed material. In addition, recording companies could avoid paying royalties to the composer of the source song because the chords of a song were not protected by copyright laws. Contrafacts and their harmonic innovations were an outgrowth of bebop ideology, which was characterized by Afro-centrism and emphasis on virtuosity.

Works: Bechet: Shag (3); Parker: Dexterity (3, 13), Ornithology (4, 17), Scrapple From the Apple (4, 13, 19), Now's the Time (4), Relaxin' at Camarillo (4), Klactoveedsedstene (4, 13), Billie's Bounce (4), The Jumpin' Blues (7), Perhaps (7-8), Cool Blues (8, 19); Gillespie: Dizzy Atmosphere (8), Salt Peanuts (9-10); Ellington: Cotton Tail (9); Sampson: Don't Be That Way (9), Carter: Pom Pom (10); Parker: Red Cross (12), Tiny's Tempo (12), Bongo Bop (13-14), Dewey Square (13), The Hymn (13), Bird of Paradise (13), Bird Feathers (13), Quasimodo (14-15), Parker/Gillespie: Moose the Mooche (17, 18), Yardbird Suite (17); Parker: Klaun Stance (18).

Sources: Gershwin: I Got Rhythm (3, 5, 8-13, 17); Kern: All the Things You Are (13, 18); Gershwin: Embraceable You (15); Kern: The Way You Look Tonight (18).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Scott Grieb, Eytan Uslan

Scholars have distinguished between two mutually exclusive categories of sixteenth- century instrumental compositions: (1) those that are more or less elaborated versions of vocal models such as masses, motets, madrigals, and chansons and (2) fantasias or ricercares that are independent of vocal models. This distinction is imprecise and misleading because many fantasias and ricercares contain musical material derived from vocal models, usually without attribution. In comparatively rare instances a fantasia or ricercare names the title of its model, such as lute music composer Jean-Paul Paladin's Fantasia sopra Quand'io penso al martir', a fantasia based on Arcadelt's madrigal Quand'io penso al martir', or Paladin's Fantasia sopra Ave sanctissima, based on Sermisy's motet Ave sanctissima. These two works demonstrate the wide variety of compositional techniques used by fantasia composers in their approach to borrowing from vocal models, ranging from brief oblique references to lengthy passages of exact quotation. They also demonstrate that fantasia composers often mixed (apparently) original with borrowed material. It is thus not reasonable to view sixteenth century instrumental music as forming only two categories (derived from vocal music or "free"), because most of it lies somewhere between these two extremes.

Works: Paladin: Fantasia sopra Quand'io penso al martir' (20-29), Fantasia sopra Ave sanctissima (32-35).

Sources: Arcadelt: Quand'io penso al martir' (20-29); Sermisy: Ave sanctissima (32-35).

Index Classifications: 1500s

Contributed by: Scott Grieb

André Hodeir was perhaps the first writer to apply the term paraphrase to jazz. He used the term in 1956 to describe a type of improvised melody that lies between two extremes: the unaltered, original melody (called the “head” by jazz musicians) and the ostensibly new melody (called the “chorus phrase”) created by the jazz improviser over the harmonic framework of the original melody. In jazz pianist Oscar Peterson’s 1965 recording of Victor Young’s 1946 song Stella by Starlight, Peterson begins with a version of Young’s melody that stays close to the original, but departs from it sufficiently so as to warrant being designated as paraphrase. In the 1960s Peterson continued to begin performances of Stella by Starlight with this same paraphrased version of the song. It thus represents Peterson's “composed” version of the original melody.

Works: Peterson: Stella by Starlight (25-43).

Sources: Young: Stella by Starlight (25-43).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Scott Grieb