A Treatise on Simple Counterpoint in Forty Lessons

A practical, lesson-based manual delivers forty graded lessons on the art of simple counterpoint, opening with definitions of intervals, consonance and dissonance, and the cantus firmus. It systematically develops the five species—note against note, two-against-one, four-against-one, syncopated, and florid—through two-, three-, and four-part writing, with examples and progressive exercises. The text explains melodic and harmonic progression rules, allowable dissonances in specific cases, and advises engraving practices such as writing in open score; use of C‑clefs is left to instructors. Fundamental harmony is assumed, and later lessons focus on imitation, florid melodies as cantus firmi, and original writing exercises.