Cantare Super Librum - improvisation on existing melody

 Think about the concept of improvisation in Western music, the first thought possibly is jazz or a cadenza in concerto (although lots of late romantic composers wrote out the cadenza.) The practice of notation has been solid for centuries. The notation has been developed into more and more sophisticated. The general impression of western is all written out elaborately and has little room for performers to interpret. This contributed to the rise of the independent identity of "composer". The composer as the central figure of a piece has all the explicit control of all the details.

Traced back to the Renaissance period, the score is definitely cleaner and did not offer so much detail that we would expect today. The role of a composer in that period was a musical material provider. In many cases, the role of composer and performer were hard to separate.

Speaking of improvisation, there are different levels of it. How many materials provide for the performers? How much is the uncertainty? If a player is improvising by himself, it is not big trouble, the uncertainty is very limited. If a group of players improvises with little given material, the uncertainty is higher and harder.

The Cantare Super Librum is an improvisation practice during the Renaissance period. The singers often sing without text (Barker,2019). Usually, 3-4 or even more singers, improvised based on an existing tenor melody (Resfacta/Cantus firmus). This kind of improvisation is quite difficult. Performers had to work out the counterpoint at the spot. Each voice is equally important and successful improvising counterpoint should avoid similar successions of consonances. It is more than just singing in a parallel context (Bent, 1983). 

On keyboard solo

In the periods of Renaissance and Baroque, there were four major types of improvisation on keyboard instruments: fantasia, intavolatura, spartitura, and basso seguente, all of which imply improvisation to a greater or lesser extent, but fantasia, or the playing of counterpoint, is accorded highest status (Bent, 1983). The most cases, the player incorporates a given melody into the improvisation, like the example below.

The contrapuntal improvisation at the keyboard was a learned skill, acquired through methodical practice at the keyboard over long periods of time, as well as through memorization of contrapuntal rules and patterns of voice-leading and embellishment.


Barker, N. J. (2019) The Italian Keyboard Toccata c.1615-1650: A Repository for Oral Compositional Practices. Research chronicle - Royal Musical Association. [Online] 50 (1), 1–28.

Bent, M. (1983) ‘Resfacta’ and ‘Cantare Super Librum’. Journal of the American Musicological Society. [Online] 36 (3), 371–391.


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