Dissonanze in cadenza e tirate di legature nelle Sonate a tre, op. 3 di Arcangelo Corelli: le regole del contrappunto e l’invenzione

The aim of the study is to analyze some specific aspects of Corelli’s style, remaining close to the references of his time, i.e. by considering the trends of the current style and the crystallization of these trends in contemporary treatises on counterpoint. The analysis was systematically conducted on two contexts in which Corelli commonly uses suspended dissonance: the final cadence and the descending chain of suspensions. In the case of the cadence, the formula is almost always placed in the upper parts, while in the chains of dissonances it is arranged in any pair of voices; the implementation of the third part follows, as was already common in the practice of sixteenth-century polyphony. The composition of the bass part — according to the possibilities granted by the rules of counterpoint in the tonal field — precedes that of the other voices only in the case in which it is entrusted with the subject, in other cases it is subsequent. In the chains of suspended dissonances, the parts, bound by the rules of use of dissonance, naturally stretch out in scalar movements that give coherence and trajectory to the conducts. Corelli most often avoids the automatism that would be implicit in the application of the formula. Among schemes — endowed with an already potentially organized exten- sion — and rules of counterpoint — open to various applications, even if limited — Corelli chooses the latter.