Article: Some observations on the origins of contrapuntal techniques in Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven

Frédéric GONIN

Professeur agrégé, Docteur es Lettres et Arts, Habilité à Diriger des 
Recherches

Abstract

Among the different sources that contributed to make the practice of counterpoint durable in the works of the Viennese classical composers, the teaching based on Fux’ Gradus ad Parnassum occupies an important position. Reminiscences of this teaching are numerous and varied in Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven. They concern in some cases the usage of specific technical processes (rhythms inspired by the Fuxian species, or writing on a cantus firmus). They may serve as reference to church music. More often and at a deeper level, they express that strictness of writing that was to be the force of Viennese classicism and that inspired many later composers, among which Boëly.