species counterpoint

noun

1

: a traditional method of instruction in 16th-century counterpoint based on five increasingly demanding types of two-voice contrapuntal writing based on a preexisting cantus firmus

The discipline of species counterpoint was first put forth by Johann Joseph Fux in Gradus ad Parnassum (1725) as a tool for teaching composers.

—Markand Thakar, Counterpoint, 1990

called also strict counterpoint

compare first species, second species, third species, fourth species, fifth species

2

: counterpoint that follows the rules of species counterpoint

More recently, Schubert's exercises in species counterpoint and fugue for Salieri and Sechter have attracted attention …

—R. Larry Todd, Mendelssohn's Musical Education, 1983

called also strict counterpoint

Word History

First Known Use

1947, in the meaning defined above

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