Further to Aloysius's Interest in Sequences

A fair maiden of folk song, a learned master of counterpoint, and a world-famous violinist and composer were the inspiration for a previous study of the harmonic sequence.[1] Rosalia’s simple charms faded upon familiarity. Aloysius, the patient professor in J. J. Fux’s celebrated Gradus ad Parnassum, propounded sophisticated counterpoint, but mostly in boring whole- and half-note examples. Arcangelo Corelli’s music was suspected as being a highly influential hybrid—Rosalia taught manners by Aloysius, rather like Eliza Doolittle under the tutelage of Prof. Henry Higgins—and the previous study was mainly concerned with substantiating that claim.

It must be admitted that the full extent of Aloysius’s methods were, at that time, not detailed as clearly as possible. Recent work in historical music theory has improved the situation considerably, and the linked text renews Aloysius’s approach equipped with insights from its recent scholarship as well as critiques of its current limitations.

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[1] Daniel Harrison, "Rosalia, Aloysius, and Arcangelo: A Geneaology of the Sequence," Journal of Music Theory 47.2 (2003): 225–72