Cadential clause
Closing formula in vocal writing.
What it means
A Klausel is a melodic closing formula in the polyphonic vocal writing of the Renaissance. Unlike the later cadence, which is described as a sequence of chords, the Klausel rests on the movement of individual voices: each voice reaches the final note in a fixed manner, and from the coincidence of these movements the close arises. The Latin word clausula designates the same thing; in Latin it can also mean a section of the organum.
Musical use
The formulas were named after the voices in which they typically lie. The discant clausula leads a semitone upward from the leading tone to the final note, often with a preceding suspension; the tenor clausula leads stepwise downward from the second degree. Both together form the framework of the close, at which the voices open from the sixth into the octave. The bass clausula leaps from the fifth to the final note, the alto clausula fills out the sonority. In later view, the combination of these formulas corresponds to the progression dominant–tonic.
Since the leading tone was not part of the scale in many modes, it was obtained in the discant clausula through musica ficta. In scholarly editions this raising can be recognized by small accidentals above the staff.
Clausulae stand not only at the end but also articulate the interior of a piece. Their sequence — on which notes they stand and how strongly they close — determines the layout of a piece and stands in connection with the mode.
The most important clausulae were named after the voices in which they typically occur: the discant clausula rises with the semitone step into the final note, the tenor clausula falls with a whole-tone step, the bass clausula leaps a fifth downward or a fourth upward. Together they form the later authentic cadence.
Performance practice
Recognize at closes which clausula your voice sings, and lead it deliberately to its goal. Sing the discant clausula with a close leading tone. And settle in the ensemble which final notes are raised; inconsistent leading tones are audible at once.