English cadence

plural English cadences

1. entertainmentA perfect cadence characteristic of English Renaissance music, involving a flattened seventh note played against the dominant chord (containing a regular raised seventh). Conventionally, the flattened seventh is played as part of a suspension on the penultimate beat, before resolving downwards to the sixth and then fifth of the final chord, while the raised seventh is held before resolving upward to the first; however, more complex variations are also possible.First known use 20th c.

   A typical English cadence in C major, involving a B♭ that resolves to A followed by G, suspended on the third beat against a B♮ that resolves to C

2. A more complex example in G major, from the end of William Byrd’s Browning à 5
3. 1841 June 3, “Review. The Music of ‘the Favourite Scotch Opera the Deer Stalkers,’ Consisting of the Overture—‘Tullochgorum’—‘I Ne’er Shall Hear His Voice Again’—‘The Flower that Grows upon the Thorn’—‘Bonnie Maiden’—and ‘If the Light should Leave the Flower’ Words by Mark Lemon. Music Composed and Arranged by E. J. Loder. D’Almaine and Co.”, in George Macfarren], editor, The Musical World, a Magazine of Essays, Critical and Practical and Weekly Record of Musical Science, Literature, and Intelligence, volume VIII, number CLXXIX (New Series; volume XV, number CCLXXI overall), London: […] John Leighton, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 361
4. 1841 June 3, “Review. The Music of ‘the Favourite Scotch Opera the Deer Stalkers,’ Consisting of the Overture—‘Tullochgorum’—‘I Ne’er Shall Hear His Voice Again’—‘The Flower that Grows upon the Thorn’—‘Bonnie Maiden’—and ‘If the Light should Leave the Flower’ Words by Mark Lemon. Music Composed and Arranged by E. J. Loder. D’Almaine and Co.”, in George Macfarren], editor, The Musical World, a Magazine of Essays, Critical and Practical and Weekly Record of Musical Science, Literature, and Intelligence, volume VIII, number CLXXIX (New Series; volume XV, number CCLXXI overall), London: […] John Leighton, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 361: This movement has a very long English cadence at the end of it, and was evidently written as a show off for the composer [Edward James Loder]'s father, Mr. John [David] Loder, of Bath.
   1. This movement has a very long English cadence at the end of it, and was evidently written as a show off for the composer [Edward James Loder]'s father, Mr. John [David] Loder, of Bath.
5. 1953 February, R. Alec Harman, “The Musician’s Bookshelf: ‘Musica Britannica,’ Vol. 1: The Mulliner Book. Edited by Denis Stevens [Stainer & Bell, 35s.] ‘The Mulliner Book’: A Commentary. By Denis Stevens [Stainer & Bell, 12s. 6d.] [book review]”, in The Musical Times and Singing-class Circular, volume XCIV, number 1320, London: Novello and Company […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 67, column 1
6. 1953 February, R. Alec Harman, “The Musician’s Bookshelf: ‘Musica Britannica,’ Vol. 1: The Mulliner Book. Edited by Denis Stevens [Stainer & Bell, 35s.] ‘The Mulliner Book’: A Commentary. By Denis Stevens [Stainer & Bell, 12s. 6d.] [book review]”, in The Musical Times and Singing-class Circular, volume XCIV, number 1320, London: Novello and Company […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 67, column 1: Stylistic features should be discussed much more fully—for instance the treatment of dissonance, the V–I, ‘Landini 6th’, and ‘English’ cadences and false relation.
   1. Stylistic features should be discussed much more fully—for instance the treatment of dissonance, the V–I, ‘Landini 6th’, and ‘English’ cadences and false relation.
7. 1965, David Lumsden, “Notes on the Music [Edmund Rubbra: Sanctus and Benedictus (Missa Cantuariensis)]”, in Gerald H[ocken] Knight, William L[eonard] Reed, editors, The Treasury of English Church Music, volume 5 (1900–1965), London: Blandford Press, →OCLC, page 209
8. 1965, David Lumsden, “Notes on the Music [Edmund Rubbra: Sanctus and Benedictus (Missa Cantuariensis)]”, in Gerald H[ocken] Knight, William L[eonard] Reed, editors, The Treasury of English Church Music, volume 5 (1900–1965), London: Blandford Press, →OCLC, page 209: […] Cantoris bass adds a final melisma, in which the G flat is reminiscent not only of the only other chromatic chord in the movement but of a much earlier school of composers in one of their most characteristic ‘English’ cadences.
   1. […] Cantoris bass adds a final melisma, in which the G flat is reminiscent not only of the only other chromatic chord in the movement but of a much earlier school of composers in one of their most characteristic ‘English’ cadences.
9. 2002, Trevor Hold, “Armstrong Gibbs”, in Parry to Finzi: Twenty English Song-composers, Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, →ISBN, page 253
10. 2002, Trevor Hold, “Armstrong Gibbs”, in Parry to Finzi: Twenty English Song-composers, Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, →ISBN, page 253: There are constant modal inflections, but of a modest character, usually limited to flattened 7ths and the occasional English cadence, picked up from his [Armstrong Gibbs's] acquaintance with Tudor music.
    1. There are constant modal inflections, but of a modest character, usually limited to flattened 7ths and the occasional English cadence, picked up from his [Armstrong Gibbs's] acquaintance with Tudor music.
11. 2015, David Wulstan, “Complex Key”, in Listen Again: A New History of Music, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, pages 88 and 89
12. 2015, David Wulstan, “Complex Key”, in Listen Again: A New History of Music, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, pages 88 and 89: [page 88] In the Renaissance, the simultaneous sounding of the leading-note against its flat seventh counterpart (simultaneous major and minor thirds of the dominant chord) led to the progression known as the ‘English Cadence’, […] [page 89] The ‘English Cadence’ was frequently used by composers from the period typified by [Thomas] Tallis to [Henry] Purcell (and indeed by composers of earlier and later times).
    1. [page 88] In the Renaissance, the simultaneous sounding of the leading-note against its flat seventh counterpart (simultaneous major and minor thirds of the dominant chord) led to the progression known as the ‘English Cadence’, […] [page 89] The ‘English Cadence’ was frequently used by composers from the period typified by [Thomas] Tallis to [Henry] Purcell (and indeed by composers of earlier and later times).