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{{Short description|Pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition}}

In [[music]], '''cantus firmus''' is the basic material to be set using [[polyphony]]. The cantus firmus was originally always taken from [[Gregorian Chant]] and was the fixed [[melody|melodic]] material, moving in [[whole note]]s, around which other more [[florid]] lines, instrumental and/or vocal, were composed. (This line was usually allocated to the [[tenor]], from the Latin verb 'tenere', to hold). Eventually the cantus firmus came to be set in a different rhythm in different movements of the same composition, or be made up or taken from a source besides chant (from popular music).

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[[Image:Dufay Mass cantus firmus.png|thumb|350px|[[Guillaume Dufay|Dufay]] – [[Mass (music)|mass]] cantus firmus, derived from "[[Se la face ay pale]]".<ref>Ultan, Lloyd (1977). ''Music Theory: Problems and Practices in the Middle Ages and Renaissance'', p.151. {{ISBN|978-0-8166-0802-7}}.</ref> {{audio|Dufay Mass cantus firmus.mid|Play}}]]

In [[music]], a '''''cantus firmus''''' ("fixed melody") is a pre-existing [[melody]] forming the basis of a [[polyphony|polyphonic]] [[composition (music)|composition]].

Probably the most widely set of the secular cantus firmus melodies was [[l'homme armé]]. Over 30 settings are known. Most early renaissance masters each set at least one mass on this melody, and the practice lasted into the seventeenth century, with a late setting by [[Giacomo Carissimi | Carissimi]]. Some have suggested that the 'armed man' represents St Michael the Archangel, whilst others have suggested it merely represents the name of a popular tavern (Maison L'Homme Arme) near Dufay's rooms in Cambrai.

The plural of this Latin term is {{lang|la|cantus firmi}}, although the corrupt form ''canti firmi'' (resulting from the grammatically incorrect treatment of ''cantus'' as a second- rather than a fourth-[[Latin declension|declension]] noun) can also be found. The Italian is often used instead: {{lang|it|canto fermo}} (and the plural in Italian is {{lang|it|canti fermi}}).

Other secular examples include 'Fortuna Desperata', 'Mille regretz' and '[[The western wynde]]'.

==History==

Setting the cantus firmus was the essential pedagogical tool in Gradus Ad Parnassum by [[Johann Fux]] and formed the basis of teaching his species [[counterpoint]].

The term first appears in theoretical writings early in the 13th century (e.g., Boncampagno da Signa, ''Rhetorica novissima'', 1235).<ref>M. Jennifer Bloxam, "Cantus Firmus", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'',, second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]] (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).</ref> The earliest polyphonic compositions almost always involved a cantus firmus, typically a [[Gregorian chant]], although by convention the term is not applied to music written before the 14th century.<ref>Randel, Don, ed. (1986). ''The New Harvard Dictionary of Music'', p.135. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-61525-5}}.</ref> The earliest surviving polyphonic compositions, in the ''[[Musica enchiriadis]]'' (around 900 AD), contain the chant in the top voice, and the newly composed part underneath; however, this usage changed around 1100, after which the cantus firmus typically appeared in the lowest-sounding voice. Later, the cantus firmus appeared in the tenor voice (from the Latin verb 'tenere', to hold), singing notes of longer duration, around which more florid lines, instrumental and/or vocal, were composed or improvised.

Composition using a cantus firmus continued to be the norm through the 13th century: almost all of the music of the [[St. Martial school|St. Martial]] and [[Notre Dame School|Notre Dame]] schools uses a cantus firmus, as well as most 13th century [[motet]]s. Many of these motets were written in several languages, with the cantus firmus in the lowest voice; the lyrics of love poems might be sung in the vernacular above sacred Latin texts in the form of a [[Trope (music)#In Medieval music|trope]], or the sacred text might be sung to a familiar secular melody.

==Reference==

In the 14th century, the technique continued to be widely used for most sacred vocal music, although considerable elaboration began to appear: while most continental composers used [[isorhythm]]ic methods, in England other composers experimented with a "migrant" cantus firmus, in which the tune moved from voice to voice, but without itself being elaborated significantly. Elaborations came later, in what was to be known as the [[paraphrase mass|paraphrase]] technique; this compositional method became important in composition of masses by the late 15th century. (See [[paraphrase mass]].)

Sparks, E. H. 'Cantus firmus in Mass and Motet', Berkeley, (1963)

The [[cyclic mass]], which became the standard type of mass composition around the middle of the 15th century, used cantus firmus technique as its commonest organising principle. At first the cantus firmus was almost always drawn from [[plainchant]], but the range of sources gradually widened to include other sacred sources and even sometimes popular songs. The cantus firmus was at first restricted to the tenor, but by the end of the century many composers experimented with other ways of using it, such as introducing it into each voice as a contrapuntal subject, or using it with a variety of rhythms. During the 16th century the cantus firmus technique began to be abandoned, replaced with the parody (or imitation) technique, in which multiple voices of a pre-existing source were incorporated into a sacred composition such as a mass. Yet while composers in Italy, France, and the Low Countries used the parody and paraphrase techniques, composers in Spain, Portugal, and Germany continued to use the cantus firmus method in nationally idiosyncratic ways.<ref>Gangwere, Blanche (2004). ''Music History During the Renaissance Period, 1520–1550'', p.216. Westport, Connecticut, Praeger Publishers. {{ISBN|978-0-313-29248-4}}</ref>

Probably the most widely set of the secular cantus firmus melodies was "[[L'homme armé]]". Over 40 settings are known, including two by [[Josquin des Prez]], and six by an anonymous composer or composers in Naples, which were intended as a cycle. Many composers of the middle and late Renaissance wrote at least one mass based on this melody, and the practice lasted into the seventeenth century, with a late setting by [[Giacomo Carissimi|Carissimi]]. There are several theories regarding the meaning of the name: one suggests that the "armed man" represents St Michael the Archangel, while another suggests that it refers to the name of a popular tavern (Maison L'Homme Armé) near [[Guillaume Dufay|Dufay]]'s rooms in Cambrai. Being that this music arose shortly after the [[Fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, it is possible that the text "the armed man should be feared" arose from the fear of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]], who were expanding militarily towards central Europe.<ref>Alejandro Enrique Planchart, The Origins and Early History of "L'homme arme", ''The Journal of Musicology'', Vol. 20, No. 3 (Summer 2003), pp.&nbsp;305–57. Citation on p.{{Page needed|date=May 2015}}<!--It does not require 52 pages to establish such a specific claim.--></ref> There are numerous other examples of secular cantus firmi used for composition of masses; some of the most famous include: "Se la face ay pale" (Dufay), "[[Fortuna desperata]]" (attributed to [[Antoine Busnois]]), "[[Fors seulement]]" ([[Johannes Ockeghem]]), "[[Mille Regretz]]", and "[[Westron Wynde]]" (anonymous).

German composers in the [[Baroque music|Baroque period]] in Germany, notably [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]], used [[chorale]] melodies as cantus firmi. In the opening movement of Bach's ''[[St. Matthew Passion (Bach)|St Matthew Passion]]'', the chorale "[[O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig]]" appears in long notes, sung by a separate choir of boys "in [[ripieno]]".

==As a teaching tool==

* Using a cantus firmus as a means of teaching [[species counterpoint]] was the basis of ''[[Counterpoint#Species counterpoint|Gradus ad Parnassum]]'' by [[Johann Joseph Fux]], although the method was first published by [[Girolamo Diruta]] in 1610.{{Citation needed|date=May 2015}}<!--Not the title of Diruta's treatise (presumably ''Il transilvano, seconda parte'', officially published in 1609 rather than 1610), but rather a source confirming that Diruta was the first to teach species counterpoint in this way.--> Counterpoint is still taught routinely using a method adapted from Fux, and based on the cantus firmus.{{Citation needed|date=May 2018}}<!--And which cantus firmus is that?--> Cantus firmi<!--plural--> used to teach counterpoint adhere to certain rules of [[music theory]], including beginning and ending on a tonic note, and only containing consonant intervals.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Cantus Firmus|url=http://rothfarb.faculty.music.ucsb.edu/courses/103/Cantus_Firmus.html|access-date=2022-02-16|website=rothfarb.faculty.music.ucsb.edu}}</ref>

==As metaphor==

Several writers have used "cantus firmus" as a metaphor. Kate Gross used it for those childhood pursuits that give her happiness and define her - pursuits that she calls the "enduring melody" of her life.<ref>Gross, Kate (2014). "Late Fragments: Everything I Want to Tell You (About this Magnificent Life)", page 179. London, William Collins. {{ISBN|978-0-00-810345-3}}.</ref>

[[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]] also uses the metaphor for love for God in his "Letters and Papers from Prison".<ref>Bonhoeffer, Dietrich (1971). "Letters and Papers from Prison", page 303. New York, New York, Touchstone. {{ISBN|978-0684838274}}.</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

* M. Jennifer Bloxam: "Cantus firmus", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed November 7, 2006), [http://www.grovemusic.com (subscription access)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516041031/http://www.grovemusic.com/ |date=2008-05-16 }}

* Sparks, E. H. ''Cantus firmus in Mass and Motet'', Berkeley, (1963)

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