English cadence

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English cadence

Etymology

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

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

Etymology

Noun

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