A type of arrangement involving only a melody, not the accompanying parts in the original, if any; in some repertories, such as folksong arrangements, the two terms are often used interchangeably. Vocal settings typically adopt the same text as the original, unless contrafactum is also involved. Changes to the melody are relatively few, although an introduction or interludes may be added.
Early polyphonic treatment of chant might be classed as setting but is generally considered organum or discant. The earliest large repertory of settings in the modern sense is found in 15th-century hymns, the Magnificat repertory and mass movements, by Du Fay and others, that Paraphrase a chant melody in the top voice and accompany it with simple harmonization in the other parts (see Borrowing, ex.5). Cantus firmus treatment can be considered a setting as long as the melody remains clear and retains its text if sung, as in the German Renaissance Tenorlied; the use of a cantus firmus in a motet or mass is clearly a different procedure, in which the borrowed tune serves as a foundation and is not the featured melody. Settings of chorales, psalm melodies and hymn tunes are frequent from the 16th century on, including harmonizations in four parts with the melody in the upper voice or tenor, cantus-firmus settings, and settings for organ or other instruments with imitative or figurative accompaniment or with an embellished presentation of the melody over relatively simple accompaniment (see Chorale settings and Chorale prelude). The multiple settings of the Passion chorale ‘O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden’ in Bach's St Matthew Passion illustrate the variety of harmonic progressions that can accompany a single modal tune. By the late 18th century, settings of existing tunes tended to present the melody relatively unaltered over a simple or figured accompaniment, as in Haydn and Beethoven's folksong settings, or in harmonizations for choral performance. This has remained the pattern for vocal settings and for most instrumental settings. Folksongs, chorales and hymns, popular songs, national anthems, Christmas songs and black American spirituals are among the types of melody most frequently treated in settings.
See also Text-setting.
For bibliography see Borrowing.
J. PETER BURKHOLDER