books

Counterpoint and Partimento

Peter van Tour, Counterpoint and Partimento: Methods of Teaching Composition in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2015). ISBN 978-91-554-9197-0. 318 pp.

The 189 Partimenti of Nicola Sala, vol. 1

The 189 Partimenti of Nicola Sala: Complete Edition with Critical Commentary. Edited by Peter van Tour. Volume 1: Partimenti Nos. 1–100 (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2017). ISBN 978-91-554-9778-1. 206 pp.

The 189 Partimenti of Nicola Sala, vol. 2

The 189 Partimenti of Nicola Sala: Complete Edition with Critical Commentary. Edited by Peter van Tour. Volume 2: Partimenti Nos. 101–189 (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2017). ISBN 978-91-554-9779-8. 168 pp.

The 189 Partimenti of Nicola Sala, vol. 3

The 189 Partimenti of Nicola Sala: Complete Edition with Critical Commentary. Edited by Peter van Tour. Volume 3: Critical Commentary (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2017). Online Edition.

Studies In Historical Improvisation, ed. by Massimiliano Guido

Studies in Historical Improvisation: From Cantare Super Librum to Partimenti, edited by Massimiliano Guido (London: Routledge, 2017). [Chapter 8: pp. 131–48] Peter van Tour, “Partimento teaching according to Francesco Durante, investigated through the earliest manuscript sources.” ISBN 978-1-4724-7327-1.

Musical Improvisation in the Baroque Era, ed. by Fulvia Morabito

Musical Improvisation in the Baroque Era, edited by Fulvia Morabito (Turnhout: Brepols, 2019). Speculum Musicae, 33, XVI+ 405 pp., ISBN 978-2-503-58369-3. pp. 371–82: Peter van Tour, «Taking a Walk at the Molo»: Partimento and the Improvised Fugue.

The Universal Instrument, ed. by Philipp Teriete and Derek Remeš

Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on “Applied Piano”, ed. Philipp Teriete und Derek Remeš (ed.). Schriften der Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. Band 6 (Hildesheim: Olms Verlag, 2020). ISBN: 978-3-487-15858-7.
publications

1. Peer-reviewed Articles

2025 [Scheduled] “New Light on Langlotz.” [...] Article on German Thoroughbass Preludes and Fugues (1680-1730).
2025 [Forthcoming] “Johann Gottlieb Naumann and Naples.”
2025 “‘Senza numeri’: The Pedagogy of the Unfigured and Underfigured Bass in Eighteenth-Century Italian Sources,” in: Historical Performance. Accepted for publication.
2025 “Two Neapolitan Partimento Manuscripts attributed to Giovanni Paisiello.” Thinking Music: Global Sources for the History of Music Theory. Edited by Thomas Christensen, Lester Hu, and Carmel Raz. Chicago: Chicago University Press. In Print.
2025 “Luca Sorgo’s Lessons in Counterpoint and Fugue in Eighteenth-Century Dubrovnik.” Project on Luca Sorgo, in collaboration with Nicholas Baragwanath and Jelica Valjalo Kaporelo. On invitation from Jelica Valjalo Kaporelo. In Print.
2025 “«Come in uno Specchio»: Counterpoint in Eighteenth-Century Italy and the Instruction through Models,” in: «Sicut in coelo, et in terra»: Commissioning and Production of Sacred Music in Italy (Studies on Italian Music History), edited by Galliano Ciliberti and Thomas Neal (Turnhout: Brepols, 2025). In Print. Publication scheduled October 2025.
2024 “Variation Counterpoint in Eighteenth-century Naples and Bologna,” in: The Oxford Handbook of Musical Variation and Thematic Techniques. Edited by Jeffrey Swinkin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024. In print.
2024 “Solfeggi as Models for Instruction in Practical Counterpoint and Fugue,” in Music Theory and Analysis (MTA). International Journal of the Dutch-Flemish Society for Music Theory. Volume 11, #I, May 2024, pp. 118–45. Leuven University Press. https://doi.org/10.11116/MTa.11.1.6
2024 “Introduction,” co-authored with Nicholas Baragwanath, in Music Theory and Analysis (MTA). International Journal of the Dutch-Flemish Society for Music Theory. Volume 11, #I, May 2024, pp. 1–4. Leuven University Press. https://doi.org/10.11116/MTa.11.1.6
2023 “The Teaching of Counterpoint and Partimento in the School of Francesco Feo,” in: Basso Continuo in Italy: Sources, Pedagogy and Performance (Musica Incarnata: Pedagogy, Performance and Market, 1). Edited by Marcello Mazzetti (Turnhout: Brepols, 2023), pp. 211–28. ISBN: 978-2-503-60850-1.
2023 “Nicola Zingarelli as Teacher of Opera Composition,” [chapter 12], in: Nicola Zingarelli: the Master, the Composer and his Time. Edited by Paolo Sullo and Giovanna Carugno, pp. 335–58. Naples: Editoriale Scientifica, 2023. ISBN 979-12-5976-606-9.
2020 “Some reflections about ‘il metodo di Cotumacci’,” in: Studi Pergolesiani /Pergolesi Studies 11 (ISSN 2235-2678), ed. Claudio Bacciagaluppi and Marilena Laterza (Bern: Peter Lang, 2020), pp. 163–88.
2020 “Integrating Aural and Keyboard Skills in Today’s Classroom: Modern Perspectives on Eighteenth-Century Partimento Practices,” in: Das Universalinstrument: »Angewandtes Klavierspiel« aus historischer und zeitgenössischer Perspektive / The Universal Instrument: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on “Applied Piano,” ed. Philipp Teriete und Derek Remeš, pp. 217–40. Schriften der Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. Band 6 (Hildesheim: Olms Verlag, 2020). ISBN: 978-3-487-15858-7.
2019 “‘Taking a walk at the Molo’: Partimento and the Improvised Fugue” in: «Musical Improvisation in the Baroque Era» edited by Fulvia Morabito, Turnhout, Brepols, 2019 (Speculum Musicae, 33), pp. 371–82. ISBN: 978-2-503-58369-3.
2018 “Improvised and Written Canons in Eighteenth-Century Neapolitan Conservatories” in: Journal of the Alamire Foundation 10 (ISSN 2032-5371), pp. 133–46. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2018.
2017 “Partimento Teaching according to Durante, Investigated through the Earliest Manuscript Sources,” in: Studies in Historical Improvisation: From Cantare Super Librum to Partimento. Edited by Massimiliano Guido, pp. 131–48. London: Routledge, 2017. ISBN: 978-1-472-47327-1.

2. Non Peer-reviewed Articles

2022 “Concatenating Imitative Stock Patterns in Eighteenth-Century Naples,” in: The Organ Yearbook: A Journal for the Players and Historians of Keyboard Instruments, Vol. 49 (2020), ed. Paul Peeters (Laaber: Laaber Verlag, 2022), pp. 93–123.
2019 “Learning Counterpoint through Partimenti and Disposizioni,” in: The Organ Yearbook: A Journal for the Players and Historians of Keyboard Instruments, Vol. 47 (2018), ed. Paul Peeters (Laaber: Laaber Verlag, 2019), pp. 79–98.

3. Monographs

ca.2026-27 [Projected] Monograph.The Italian Fugue: Investigated through Young Apprentices in Eighteenth-Century Naples and Bologna. In preparation.
2015 Doctoral Dissertation, Uppsala University, Sweden. Counterpoint and Partimento: Methods of Teaching Composition in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples. (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Musicologica Upsaliensia. Nova Series 25, 2015). ISBN: 978-91-554-9197-0.

4. Published Books and Book Chapters

2017 [Two published books] The 189 Partimenti of Nicola Sala: Complete Edition with Critical Commentary (Three volumes, 415 pp. Two printed volumes [352 pp.], the third volume is the Critical Commentary [63 pp.], which is published online). Edited by Peter van Tour. (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Musicologica Upsaliensia. Nova Series 27a–c, 2017).

5. Articles in Conference Proceedings

2020 “The Missa S.ti Idelfonsi and the Missa Triplicato: Two Early Masses by Francesco Durante in the Light of his Partimento and Counterpoint Pedagogy,” keynote lecture to be read (in absentia) at il Convegno internazionale di studi Stile antico/Stile moderno. Francesco Durante fra Napoli e Roma organized by the Conservatory “F. Cilea” in Reggio Calabria between 30 September and 1 October 2019.
2017 “‘Taking a walk at the Molo’: Nicola Sala and the improvised Fugue” [paper accepted] at the International Conference Musical Improvisation in the Baroque Era, organized by Centro Studi Omnia Luigi Boccherini, Lucca. See under Peer-reviewed Articles.
2017 “The Do-Re-Mi revisited: Historical Underpinnings of a Schema,” read at The 9th European Music Analysis Conference (EuroMAC 9 – IX CEAM) in Strasbourg from 28 June to 1 July 2017, as part of the pre-organized session “Analyzing Models and Creativity in the Long Eighteenth Century,” with Robert Gjerdingen, Giorgio Sanguinetti, Vasili Byros, and Nicholas Baragwanath. For publication details, see under Peer-reviewed Articles (Article renamed: “Improvised and Written Canons in Eighteenth-Century Neapolitan Conservatories”).

6. Published Performance Editions and Transcriptions

2025 [scheduled] The Stecher Realizations. Monuments of Partimento Realizations, volume 3. Volume and Series Editor: Peter van Tour. Visby: Wessmans Musikförlag, to be published 2025.
2025 [scheduled] The Modena Manuscript. Monuments of Partimento Realizations, volume 5. Volume Editor: Riccardo Castagnetti. Series Editor: Peter van Tour. Visby: Wessmans Musikförlag, to be published 2025.
2024 Francesco Durante: Regole e Partimenti. Vol. 2: Partimenti Diminuiti & Fugues. Article number: 202451. Editor: Peter van Tour. Wessmans Musikförlag.
2024 Francesco Durante: Regole e Partimenti. Vol. 1: Regole & Partimenti Numerati. Article number: 202450. Editor: Peter van Tour. Wessmans Musikförlag.
2024 Carlo Cotumacci: Regole, e Principj di sonare lezzioni di partimenti. Vol. 1: The 50 Lessons. Article number: 202424. Editor: Peter van Tour. English Translation by Massimo Redaelli. Vol. 2: The 75 Partimenti. Article number: 202425 Wessmans Musikförlag.
2021 Stanislao Mattei: Scales and Versets in all Major and Minor Keys; Three Partimento Realizations from the Ricasoli Collection. 89 pp. Edited by Peter van Tour. Article number: 202145. ISBN: 979-06-616-9001-6 (Visby: Wessmans Musikförlag, 2021).
2020 Giambattista Martini: Libro per Accompagnare (1737–38). 86 pp. Edited by Peter van Tour. Article number: 202029. ISBN: 978-91-877-1079-7 (Visby: Wessmans Musikförlag, 2020).
2020 The Parma Manuscript. Monuments of Partimento Realizations, volume 4. Volume Editor: Ewald Demeyere. Series Editor: Peter van Tour. Visby: Wessmans Musikförlag, 2020.
2017 The Vessella Manuscript. Monuments of Partimento Realizations, volume 2. Volume Editor: Nicoleta Paraschivescu. Series Editor: Peter van Tour. Visby: Wessmans Musikförlag, 2017.
2017 The Gallipoli Manuscript. Monuments of Partimento Realizations, volume 1a and 1b. Volume and Series Editor: Peter van Tour. Visby: Wessmans Musikförlag, 2017.
2017 Edition attached as an appendix to my article “Some reflections on ‘Il metodo di Cotumacci’” showing parts of Carlo Cotumacci’s counterpoint treatise [Transcription of the anonymous counterpoint notebook B-Lc 1042827, f. 16v–21r]. This edition has been published on the online database MIMTT (Manuscripts of Italian Music Theory in Translation), edited by Massimo Redaelli.
1995 “Tre stycken för spelur, transkriberade från ett spelur av Pehr Strand.” Edition transcribed by Peter van Tour. Slite: Wessmans Musikförlag, 2017. Artikelnummer: 9526.

7. Research Review Articles

2013 “The lost Art of Partimento.” Review of the monograph “The Art of Partimento” by Giorgio Sanguinetti (Oxford University Press, 2012) in: Early Music, May/2013.
2009 Review of: “Canons and Canonic Techniques, 14th-16th Centuries: Theory, Practice, and Reception History,” red. Bonnie J. Blackburn och Katelijne Schiltz (Leuven Studies in Musicology 1), Leuven: Peeters, 2007. 498 s., ill., notex., in: Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning, Vol. 91, pp. 155–156.

8. Music Journalism (Selection)

1994 “Gotland är oerhört rikt på folkmusiktraditioner” in Gotlands Tidningar Kulturbilagan, 1994.
1994 “Lars Edlund gör ny musik: nu tonsätter han dikter av Tomas Tranströmer” in Gotlands Tidningar Tisdagen den 7 juni 1994.
1994 “Pastorns pojke tog ton igen: Eric Ericson i sin gamla hemkyrka ‘på backen’” in Gotlands Tidningar Måndagen den 12 september 1994.
1994 “Han dansar bara sin egen melodi: Einar Englund skriver sina memoarer inför 80-årsdagen” in Gotlands Tidningar Måndagen den 14 november 1994.

9. Research Blogs

2017 [on aural training pedagogy] “Some Reflections about Thoroughbass Pedagogy Today.” Guest blog 14 March 2017 on the Website of the Society of Music Theory Interest Group for the History of Music Theory, edited by Leon Chisholm and Steffi Probst.

10. Presentations (Selection)

2024 «Figured, Unfigured, and Underfigured Bass: New Insights into Eighteenth-Century Neapolitan Pedagogy». Opening Lecture at the 5th Biennial Conference of the Brazilian Society for Music Theory and Analysis. Associação Brasileira de Teoria e Análise Musical TeMA. Saturday 17th October 2024. Salvador de Bahia (Brazil).
2024 «Partimento and Vocal Counterpoint in the Modern Theory Classroom». Keynote Lecture for the Korean Society for Music Theory (KSMT), 21st June 2024. Seoul (South-Korea).
2024 «Unfigured and Underfigured Bass in Eighteeenth-Century Naples». Online Lecture at the Music Theory Seminar Mozarteum, Salzburg, Thursday 23rd May 2024.
2023 «Singing Counterpoint through Figures». International conference: Musicianship in Development Playing, Singing, Improvising, and Composition in Eighteenth-Century Music. Organized by Ewald Demeyere and Peter an Tour. Conservatorium van Antwerpen. 23-24 November 2023.
2023 “The Partimenti of Nicola Sala (1713–1801).” Two online-workshops for San Francisco Insight Chamber Players. 21 October 2023.
2023 “Come in uno Specchio (‘As in a Mirror’): Exemplars for the production of Sacred Music in a Bergamese ‘travel library.” International conference: «Sicut in coelo, et in terra»: Commissioning and Production of Sacred Music in Italy from the Middle Ages to Today. organized by Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini. 6-8 October 2023.
2022 Conference ‘Galant Schemata in Theory & Practice’. Recorded paper: “Concatenating Imitative Stock Patterns in Eighteenth-century Naples”. Online: Sept. 30 – Oct. 2, 2022.
2022 The University of Oregon Musicking Conference (online paper): "Giambattista Martini’s ‘Libro per Accompagnare’: Thoroughbass and Counterpoint in Eighteenth-century Bologna. University of Oregon School of Music and Dance. Eugene, Oregon (USA), April 22, 2022.
2022 Colloquium Early Music Performance (online guest lecture) "Problems and Considerations in Making a Modern Edition of Durante's Regole e Partimenti, at Indiana University, Bloomington, 16 February 2022.
2022 “Partimento Pedagogy Today,” online guest lecture at the Juilliard School of Music, New York. 20 Jan 2022.
2019 [Conference paper] “The Italian Counterpoint Notebooks by Johann Gottlieb Naumann and Ludwig Pitscher from 1761–62,” read at the conference Music Research Today 2019 in Göteborg, 13 June 2019.
2019 [Conference workshop] (90 minutes) “Reflections on Italian Eighteenth-Century Practices, part 1: Musicianship Skills and Harmonic Awareness,” read at the conference Sentiamoci a Parma in Parma (Italy), 28 January 2019.
2019 [Conference workshop] (90 minutes) “Reflections on Italian Eighteenth-Century Practices, part 2: Ear Training through Partimenti,” read at the conference Sentiamoci a Parma in Parma (Italy), 28 January 2019.
2017 [Guest Lecture and Workshops] “Per li principianti di contrapunto: Kontrapunktausbildung am Klavier in Italien um 1750,” read at the Luzern Hochschule für Musik, Luzern (Switzerland), 4 May 2017.
2017 [Guest Lecture] “The Making of Musicians: Partimento Pedagogy in 18th-century Naples,” read at Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Netherlands), 16 February 2017.
2017 [Guest Lecture and Workshops] “The Making of Musicians: Partimento Pedagogy in 18th-century Naples,” read at Conservatorium van Maastricht, Maastricht (Netherlands), 6 February 2017.
2016 [Keynote Lecture] “Recent Developments in Aural Training Pedagogy: Implications of the Neapolitan partimento tradition” at the Conference on Aural Training “HEAR-UP” [Hearing–Reading–Understanding–Performing], organized by The Academy of Music and Drama, University of Gothenburg. 1–3 June 2016.
2015 Sounding Lecture on Eighteenth-Century Music Pedagogy “Alla Napoletana” at Stockholm Early Music Festival, 4 June 2015 at Storkyrkosalen, Stockholm.
2013 Poster Presentation “Modulatory Segments in Partimenti by Nicola Sala and Fedele Fenaroli” at the Conference Con la mente e con le mani. Improvisation from ‘cantare super librum’ to partimenti at Fondazione Giorgio Cini. Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice. 9–11 November 2013.
2011 Paper “Nicola Sala's partimenti: om en kritisk edition” at the Conference Musikforskning idag. 14 June 2011, Uppsala University.
2007–08 Klingande klossar. Master’s thesis in Music Theory, Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. http://www.academia.edu/1619691/Klingande_Klossar.
1999 “Kompositionsteknik under renässansen.” Tidig Musik 1999/1.
1998 “Contrapunctus vocalis (3).” Tidig Musik 1998/1.
1997b “Contrapunctus vocalis (2).” Tidig Musik 1997/4.
1997a “Contrapunctus vocalis [1].” Tidig Musik 1997/2.

11. Translations

2019 Solmisation och kyrkotonarter (Translation of Solmisation und Kirchentonarten by Ina Lohr (from German and Dutch to Swedish). Accepted for publication, Norges Musikkhøgskoles forlag (in preparation, 2019).
compositions (selection)
See also my: Composer's Homepage at “Föreningen Svenska Tonsättare” (FST).
2025 (in progress) Wind quintet Fancy Dancing, Commissioned by Stiftelsen Gotlandsmusiken (duration ca. 10 minutes).
2010 Chamber Music for ten players (5 winds and 5 strings) Circles and Clouds (2010). Commissioned by Stiftelsen Gotlandsmusiken and premiered in Den Haag April 27th 2010 by The Gotlands Wind Quintet and the Polish String Ensemble Multicamerata.
2008 Wind quintet Clocks. Premiered by Gotlands Blåsarkvintett, Maj 2008. Five movements. The fifth movement of this composition can be heard here, or click to download the score.
2008 Brass quintet Full fathom five. Premiered by Linnékvintetten, Uppsala, June 2008.
2008 Big-band arrangement Isn’t it Romantic? Performed by the Big-Band of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.
1998 Moria (for girls choir). Publisher: Sveriges Körförbunds Förlag, Stockholm.
1996 Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae (for mixed choir). Premiered March 2012 by the Kantorei ZHdK [click for performance] under the direction of Beat Schäfer. Bass Solo: Johannes Luchsinger. Publisher: SK Gehrmans förlag, Stockholm.
1995 Ein Winterabend (Text: G. Trakl). Sveriges Körförbunds Förlag, Stockholm.
1994 Två Religiösa Folkdikter Dedicated to Eric Ericson. Sveriges Körförbunds Förlag, Stockholm.
1991 Les étincelles d'air for church bells. Recorded by Claes Holmgren on the church bells of Visby Cathedral. CD: Elévation, Claes Holmgren CDMO 1.
databases

Partimento Database

UUPart, also called The Uppsala Partimento Database, represents the work of cataloguing and linking the repertoire of the Italian partimento for the time span roughly between 1700 and 1850. Through an identification string of the first ten pitches, UUPart facilitates the searching and identification of concordant sources within the repertoire of the Italian partimento.

© Copyright by Peter van Tour, 2014–18.

Solfeggio Database

UUSolf, also called The Uppsala Solfeggio Database, represents the work of cataloguing and linking the repertoire of the Italian solfeggio for the time span roughly between 1730 and 1830. Through an identification string of the first ten pitches, UUSolf facilitates the searching and identification of concordant sources within the repertoire of the Italian solfeggio.

© Copyright by Peter van Tour, 2014–18.