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Species counterpoint is a pedagogical framework codified by Johann Joseph Fux in his 1725 treatise Gradus ad Parnassum, organizing two-voice counterpoint into five species of increasing rhythmic complexity. First species (note-against-note) allows only consonances. Second species (two notes per beat) introduces passing tones on weak beats. Third species (four notes per beat) allows more passing and neighbor tones. Fourth species (syncopated) introduces suspensions — dissonances prepared on weak beats and resolved downward on strong beats. Fifth species (florid) combines all previous species freely. Fux's method systematically introduces dissonance treatment, requiring mastery of each layer before adding the next.
Work through species in order, writing counterpoint against a cantus firmus in each species before proceeding. Do not skip first species — writing only consonances builds the ear for the dissonance treatment in later species. Check work by singing both voices aloud while playing the other at the keyboard.
Species counterpoint is a teaching method, not a compositional style. Johann Joseph Fux designed it in 1725 as a controlled environment for learning to handle dissonance — not by avoiding it, but by introducing it one layer at a time against a pre-existing melody called the cantus firmus. You already know the basics of counterpoint: the intervals permitted between voices, the importance of contrary motion, and the prohibition on parallel fifths and octaves. Species counterpoint is the structured practice regime that turns those principles into muscle memory.
The five species work by increasing rhythmic complexity while progressively allowing more types of dissonance. In first species (note-against-note), every note must be consonant — only unisons, thirds, fifths, sixths, and octaves are permitted. This seems restrictive, but the constraint is pedagogically essential: you cannot approach dissonance treatment until you have deeply internalized what consonance sounds and feels like in two-voice writing. Each note requires a fresh decision about which consonant interval to place above (or below) the cantus firmus, forcing you to think in terms of intervals rather than individual lines.
Second species (two notes per cantus firmus note) introduces passing tones: dissonances that appear on weak beats as a smooth step between two consonances. The first note of each group must be consonant; the second may be a passing tone if it is approached and left by step in the same direction. This is the fundamental definition of a diatonic passing tone — preparation, dissonance on a weak beat, resolution by continued step. Second species embeds this pattern so deeply that it becomes automatic.
Fourth species introduces the most powerful contrapuntal device: the suspension. A suspension is a note held over from one beat to the next, creating a dissonance on the strong beat that was consonant on the preceding weak beat. The three-stage pattern — preparation (consonant, weak beat), suspension (held, now dissonant, strong beat), resolution (step downward, usually) — is the essence of expressive dissonance in Baroque and Renaissance music. The 7–6, 4–3, and 9–8 suspensions each have their own characteristic sound and resolution. Fifth species (florid counterpoint) combines all previous species freely, giving you the full vocabulary: consonances, passing tones, neighbor tones, and suspensions woven together in rhythmically flexible lines. This is the closest the species method comes to actual free composition, and the place where the accumulated rules begin to feel like a style rather than a constraint.
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