False Relations in an English Town
False Relations in an English Town: “Dalza’s basse danse meets the english cadence”.
Figure 1: “False Relations in an English Town” Motif
As far as I remember, in this improvisation I ripped off one of Joan Ambrosio Dalza’s basse danses or pivas. However, the main gist was to test out a final cadence with false relation; also known as “english cadence” in renaissance music.
To preview the track (then go grab the album for “name your price in Bandcamp!):
It might make sense in the future to relate this improvisation with the style of renaissance lute composers such as Luys Milan, but right now I will leave this post deliberately short. A few points for the future:
- techniques by other renaissance composers to improvise on top of a drone or single-note bass,
- Luys Milan and other composers utilizing guitar-friendly imitations between bass and upper voices,
- english cadences by english composers, Thomas Tallis comes to mind,
- and finally, other false relations: late renaissance or early baroque France comes to mind.
Here’s the recording session video of the piece: