Fifth species (florid) counterpoint

Fifth species or florid counterpoint: mixed rhythms, eighth notes, dotted notes and decorated suspensions. Rules and examples you can hear.

Florid

Fifth species

All the species mixed, bar by bar: halves, quarters, a pair of eighths, and ties that make suspensions. Choose a rhythm for each bar, then write the notes.

Practise fifth species

Quarter, two eighths, a half tied over into a 4 → 3 suspension.

Each note keeps its own rule

Struck downbeats are consonant. Dissonant halves pass; dissonant quarters pass, neighbour or form a cambiata; dissonant ties resolve down by step.

A half note, then quarters: G is a passing 4th, handled as in third species.

Eighths move by step

In and out, usually as a pair on the 2nd or 4th quarter of the bar.

G and F, a pair of eighths, step down; so does the passing E after them.

Decorating a resolution

In florid counterpoint a suspension may be ornamented before it resolves: short consonant notes after the tie, most often a 3rd down and back up, as long as the step down arrives by beat 4.

D is tied over as a 7th; B (a 5th) decorates it, and C resolves it on beat 4.

Dotted notes

A dotted quarter and an eighth, or a dotted half and a quarter, give the line a lilt. Dotted notes start on a beat; the eighth after a dotted quarter moves by step. Press . to dot the selected note.

A dotted quarter and an eighth: the eighth, G, steps on to F.

Vary the rhythm

The same rhythm three bars in a row sounds like a lower species. Let the line speed up and slow down.

Halves, then quarters, then eighths: the line speeds up towards the end.

Practise it now

Write fifth species (florid) counterpoint exercises in your browser. Every rule is checked as you write, and you can hear your lines.

Open in Parnasso