Cadence as a “Metaphor of Instability” and “Conclusive Unity”: A Brief Excursus Between Grammar and Music

Abstract

The structural development of what we understand as cadence has a long and complex history associated with an awareness and appreciation of musical elements assimilated by a decodification process that is related to adapted morphology. Thus, the connection between music and text goes beyond its joint praxis: it lends structural elements from its main vehicle (text), engendering a true corpus grammaticae musicae. In general terms, this principle resulted in parameters from both synchronic and diachronic dimensions, i.e., a specific set of intervals with a particular melodic progression. The argument presented in this study aims to exam the musical treatises through the end of the fifteenth century in testimonies that contain evidence that corroborate a probable dichotomy between understanding of cadence as a “metaphor of instability” and “conclusive unity”'.

Keywords

• history of music theory
• theory of cadence
• music grammar
• 15th-century music theory.