Music and the Making of Modern Science

Kepler and the Song of the Earth 85

and prescribed resolutions, individual to the six terms (as with vocal parts) and marking

and distinguishing by those notes the immensity of time. ”^72 Here he refers to the practice

of “ evading the cadence ” ( fuggir la cadenza ) or deceptive cadence, which Zarlino describes

as “ useful when a composer in the midst of a beautiful passage feels the need for a cadence

but cannot write one because the period of the text does not coincide, and it would not be

honest to insert one. ”^73 For example, Lasso ’ s In me transierunt has a beautiful deceptive

cadence in measures 6 – 7 ( figure 5.5 ; ♪ sound example 5.8). As Claude Palisca remarks,

“ Lassus and other masters of the new music depended greatly on the evaded cadence,

which permitted them to break up their texts into short phrases for descriptive and affective

Figure 5.5

The deceptive cadence in measures 6 – 7 of In me transierunt ( ♪ sound example 5.8).