What is fauxbourdon in music?

Fauxbourdon is a musical texture that was common in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It features three voices moving in parallel motion, creating intervals that correspond to the first inversion of the triad. Guillaume Dufay is credited with introducing fauxbourdon into written music. This technique was embraced by other 15th-century composers, especially for hymns and psalms needing clear enunciation. Fauxbourdon facilitated the transition from the medieval emphasis on perfect consonances to the euphony that defined the a cappella polyphony of the Humanist era. In 16th-century Italy and Spain, simple chord settings of psalms were labeled falsobordone, which differed from earlier fauxbourdon by being based on chords in root position.

Where and when did fauxbourdon start being used?

Fauxbourdon, a musical texture from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, features three voices moving in parallel motion, forming the first inversion of the triad. Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400–74) is credited with introducing fauxbourdon in written music. Other Burgundian and Netherlandish composers of the early 15th century adopted this homophonic technique, especially for hymns and psalms. Some scholars suggest fauxbourdon was adapted from an English extemporaneous singing style using 6/3 chords. In 16th-century Italy and Spain, falsobordone, simple chord settings of psalms, became common, differing from fauxbourdon by using root position chords.

What is the basic structure of fauxbourdon?

Fauxbourdon is a musical texture that was common in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It features three voices moving in parallel motion, creating the sound of a first inversion triad. Typically, only two voices were written out: a plainchant melody and a lower voice a sixth below. A singer would then fill in the middle voice, a fourth below the plainchant. This resulted in a "sweet" sound, contrasting earlier music. Though Guillaume Dufay is credited with introducing fauxbourdon in written music, other composers like Gilles Binchois also used it. Some scholars believe fauxbourdon is an adaptation of English extemporaneous singing that used 6/3 chords. In 16th-century Italy and Spain, falsobordone was used which was based on chords in root position, unlike fauxbourdon.

How does fauxbourdon differ from other types of harmony?

Fauxbourdon is a musical texture from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance featuring three voices moving in parallel motion, creating a series of first-inversion triads. Two voices were notated, with the third voice realized by the singer. In contrast to earlier music that used passing dissonances, fauxbourdon created a "sweet" sound. English composers also used fauxbourdon, adapting it from an English style of singing that added upper and lower voices to a chant melody to form 6/3 chords. In 16th-century Italy and Spain, simple chord settings of psalms called falsobordone were based on root position chords, unlike earlier fauxbourdon.

Who were some famous composers who used fauxbourdon?

Fauxbourdon is a musical texture from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, featuring three voices moving in parallel motion. Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400–74) is credited with introducing fauxbourdon into written music. Other composers from the Burgundian and Netherlandish regions also adopted this homophonic technique, especially in settings of psalms and hymns. Gilles Binchois (died 1460) varied and ornamented the fauxbourdon texture in his Magnificat settings.

How did fauxbourdon influence later music and harmony styles?

Fauxbourdon, a musical texture from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, featured three voices moving in parallel motion, creating a "sweet" sound compared to earlier music. Guillaume Dufay is credited with introducing fauxbourdon into written music. Other composers embraced this homophonic technique for psalms and hymns, emphasizing clear enunciation. Fauxbourdon played a role in the transition from medieval perfect consonances to the euphony of the Humanist era. In the 15th century, English composers favored successions of 6/3 chords, a style also called English descant, faburden, or fauxbourdon. The adoption of parallel 6/3 chords by continental composers enriched harmonies, blending pure intervals with English preferences for thirds and sixths.

fauxbourdon

Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Quick Facts

(French), English:: false bass

Also called:: faburden

Key People:: Guillaume Dufay

Related Topics:: musical composition

See all related content

fauxbourdon

music

Also known as: faburden, false bass, falsobordone

Written and fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

Top Questions

What is fauxbourdon in music?
Fauxbourdon is a musical texture that was common in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It features three voices moving in parallel motion, creating intervals that correspond to the first inversion of the triad.

Guillaume Dufay is credited with introducing fauxbourdon into written music. This technique was embraced by other 15th-century composers, especially for hymns and psalms needing clear enunciation. Fauxbourdon facilitated the transition from the medieval emphasis on perfect consonances to the euphony that defined the a cappella polyphony of the Humanist era.

In 16th-century Italy and Spain, simple chord settings of psalms were labeled falsobordone, which differed from earlier fauxbourdon by being based on chords in root position.
2 Britannica Sources
1. fauxbourdon
2. Definition of fauxbourdon
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Where and when did fauxbourdon start being used?
Fauxbourdon, a musical texture from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, features three voices moving in parallel motion, forming the first inversion of the triad.

Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400–74) is credited with introducing fauxbourdon in written music. Other Burgundian and Netherlandish composers of the early 15th century adopted this homophonic technique, especially for hymns and psalms. Some scholars suggest fauxbourdon was adapted from an English extemporaneous singing style using 6/3 chords.

In 16th-century Italy and Spain, falsobordone, simple chord settings of psalms, became common, differing from fauxbourdon by using root position chords.
2 Britannica Sources
1. fauxbourdon
2. Definition of fauxbourdon
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What is the basic structure of fauxbourdon?
Fauxbourdon is a musical texture that was common in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It features three voices moving in parallel motion, creating the sound of a first inversion triad.

Typically, only two voices were written out: a plainchant melody and a lower voice a sixth below. A singer would then fill in the middle voice, a fourth below the plainchant. This resulted in a "sweet" sound, contrasting earlier music.

Though Guillaume Dufay is credited with introducing fauxbourdon in written music, other composers like Gilles Binchois also used it. Some scholars believe fauxbourdon is an adaptation of English extemporaneous singing that used 6/3 chords. In 16th-century Italy and Spain, falsobordone was used which was based on chords in root position, unlike fauxbourdon.
2 Britannica Sources
1. fauxbourdon
2. Definition of fauxbourdon
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How does fauxbourdon differ from other types of harmony?
Fauxbourdon is a musical texture from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance featuring three voices moving in parallel motion, creating a series of first-inversion triads. Two voices were notated, with the third voice realized by the singer.

In contrast to earlier music that used passing dissonances, fauxbourdon created a "sweet" sound. English composers also used fauxbourdon, adapting it from an English style of singing that added upper and lower voices to a chant melody to form 6/3 chords. In 16th-century Italy and Spain, simple chord settings of psalms called falsobordone were based on root position chords, unlike earlier fauxbourdon.
2 Britannica Sources
1. fauxbourdon
2. Definition of fauxbourdon
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Who were some famous composers who used fauxbourdon?
Fauxbourdon is a musical texture from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, featuring three voices moving in parallel motion.

Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400–74) is credited with introducing fauxbourdon into written music. Other composers from the Burgundian and Netherlandish regions also adopted this homophonic technique, especially in settings of psalms and hymns. Gilles Binchois (died 1460) varied and ornamented the fauxbourdon texture in his Magnificat settings.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How did fauxbourdon influence later music and harmony styles?
Fauxbourdon, a musical texture from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, featured three voices moving in parallel motion, creating a "sweet" sound compared to earlier music.

Guillaume Dufay is credited with introducing fauxbourdon into written music. Other composers embraced this homophonic technique for psalms and hymns, emphasizing clear enunciation. Fauxbourdon played a role in the transition from medieval perfect consonances to the euphony of the Humanist era.

In the 15th century, English composers favored successions of 6/3 chords, a style also called English descant, faburden, or fauxbourdon. The adoption of parallel 6/3 chords by continental composers enriched harmonies, blending pure intervals with English preferences for thirds and sixths.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

fauxbourdon, musical texture prevalent during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, produced by three voices proceeding primarily in parallel motion in intervals corresponding to the first inversion of the triad. Only two of the three parts were notated, a plainchant melody together with the lowest voice a sixth below (as e below c′); occasional octaves (as c–c′) occurred as well. The middle part was realized by the singer at the interval of a fourth below the plainchant melody (as g below c′). The result was a particularly “sweet” sound in contrast to the mixture of passing dissonants and open sonorities favoured in earlier music.

Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400–74) is said to have been the first to introduce fauxbourdon into written music. Other early 15th-century Burgundian and Netherlandish composers, too, embraced this essentially homophonic technique, especially for psalm and hymn settings requiring distinct textual articulation and clear enunciation. In more elaborate compositions the fauxbourdon texture appeared at times greatly varied and ornamented, as in several settings of the Magnificat by Gilles Binchois (died 1460). Fauxbourdon was, therefore, an important element in the transition from the medieval emphasis on perfect consonants to the euphony that characterized the a cappella polyphony of the Humanist era.

At least one school of musical scholarship holds that fauxbourdon represents a continental adaptation of an English method of extemporaneous singing in which upper and lower voices were added to a chant melody to form 6/3 chords. If so, it would seem that by the mid-15th century the designation fauxbourdon, anglicized to faburden, was being applied to the original practice. At any rate, English composers did favour successions of 6/3 chords in any number of written compositions with the crucial melody in the middle or at the top and the rest often richly enhanced. This style of composition, too, is often called English descant, faburden, or fauxbourdon. In addition, English composers employed fauxbourdon in its continental form as well. It is now generally believed that English descant originally involved singing in two parts with an upper voice extemporaneously added to a plainchant, frequently in contrary motion, as opposed to the parallel motion typical of fauxbourdon.

Young girl wearing a demin jacket playing the trumpet (child, musical instruments, Asian ethnicity)

Britannica Quiz

Sound Check: Musical Vocabulary Quiz

In 16th-century Italy and Spain, simple chord settings of psalms, usually in four parts, were frequently labelled falsobordone. But unlike the earlier fauxbourdon, falsobordone was based on chords in root position. Even though inversions do not necessarily alter the harmonic implications of chords, root positions do convey a greater sense of harmonic stability, since the fundamental tone, the chord root, appears in the bass, acoustically its natural habitat.

Finally, in the 16th century, English keyboard music, too, was sometimes based on a cantus firmus, or underlying melody, called “faburden of the chant,” consisting not of the original plainchant but of its transposition to a lower pitch, as in the second voice of a fauxbourdon. “O Lux on the faburden” by John Redford (died 1547) is a well-known example based on such a derivative melody.

fauxbourdon

Thank you for signing up!