Breve Introdução ao Tratado “Contraponto Móvel Em Estilo Estrito” de Serguei Taneyev

Marcus Alessi Bittencourt; Lilian Cristyelen Martins

doi:10.33871/vortex.2026.14.11205

Authors

Marcus Alessi Bittencourt Universidade Estadual de Maringá https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5108-1777
Lilian Cristyelen Martins Universidade Estadual de Maringá https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9629-3917

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33871/vortex.2026.14.11205

Keywords:

Convertible Counterpoint, Movable Counterpoint, Complex Counterpoint, Sergei Taneyev

Abstract

This article presents an introduction to the techniques created by the Russian composer, pianist, music theorist and pedagogue Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915) for the composition of movable counterpoint with vertical and horizontal shifts according to the strict style, as presented by him in his 1909 treatise “Convertible Counterpoint in the Strict Style”. After a brief biographical note on Taneyev, the paper presents the concept of complex counterpoint and its capability of keeping itself correct after certain vertical or horizontal shifts, after which follow explanations on the mathematical method developed by Taneyev to effect such counterpoint, with instructions and exemplifications on how to write it for two and three-voice counterpoints. As a conclusion, Taneyev’s methodology is briefly compared to other 19th and 20th-century counterpoint pedagogical formalizations, attesting to its unique, meticulous and complete character, which provides to those who study it the keys to difficult processes of polyphonic musical writing.

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Author Biographies

Marcus Alessi Bittencourt, Universidade Estadual de Maringá

Marcus Alessi Bittencourt (b. 1974) is a Brazilian composer, pianist, conductor, and music theorist. He holds master’s and doctoral degrees in music composition from Columbia University in the City of New York, and a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He is currently a professor of composition, music theory, conducting, and computer music at the Universidade Estadual de Maringá (State University of Maringá), in Paraná, Brazil.

Lilian Cristyelen Martins, Universidade Estadual de Maringá

Lilian Cristyelen Martins is a Brazilian musician and composer, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Music Composition from the State University of Maringá, Paraná, in Brazil. Her work encompasses musical creation, musicological research, and piano performance, articulated through an interdisciplinary perspective within the field of music sciences.

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