Clausulae

the Latin term chosen by medieval l writers to describe the perceived sense of closure and finality brought about by certain melodic figures was clausal (pl. clausulae; a close, conclusion, or end).1 In time, this sense was transferred to formulae involving two contrapuntal voices, and then much later to formulaic successions of multivehicle chords. The example below shows a four-voice formula that Johann Gottfried Walther (1684–1748), organist at Weimar, maestro to the young Prince Johann Ernst, and friend of J. S. Bach, described in 1708 as a clausula formalis perfectissima2—what is commonly described today as a “perfect authentic cadence.” Perfectissima invites translation as “most perfect,” but the intended meaning was nearer to “most complete,” referring to the degree of closure. Hence the title of the example could be rendered as “a close in the most complete form.”

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