{{About, the musical feature
The cauda is a characteristic feature of songs in the conductus style of ''
a cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...
'' music which flourished between the mid-12th and the mid-13th century. The conductus style placed strict rules on composition, and some such rules were devoted to the cauda, which came at the penultimate syllable of each verse. It takes the form of a lengthy section of
counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...
- where several simultaneous melodies are combined into one - slurred over the one syllable. The cauda was repeated in each verse.
The significance of the cauda in conductus music is such that most conducti were divided into the categories ''conductus cum cauda'' and ''conductus sine cauda'' (conductus with or without cauda.) The latter made up less than a third of the repertoire.
The writing of medieval music did not include strict rhythmic notation, but when multiple notes were given to one syllable, known as a melisma, special notation, known as rhythmic modes, were used. As the cauda is a specific type of melisma, it contains this special notation.
The word "cauda" is derived from the Latin word for
tail
The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, r ...
. Conceptually, it is easy to see in the cauda, the root of the modern term, coda, which arrived when Latin was replaced by Italian as the musical
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
.
Two notable examples occur in ''Vetus Abit Littera'', a four-voice
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
conductus from the Florence manuscript, and ''Dic Christi, Veritas'', a tirade against clerical
hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is the ...
monophonic
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...
version and in the Paris sources in an elaborate three-voice setting, laden with caudae.
See also
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Coda (music)
In music, a coda () (Italian for "tail", plural ''code'') is a passage that brings a piece (or a movement) to an end. It may be as simple as a few measures, or as complex as an entire section.
In classical music
The presence of a coda as a str ...