Tl;dr click here for contents (all figures, searchable, and sortable),

This part of fourscoreandmore provides the full cantus firmus exercises of Johann Joseph Fux’s iconic pedagogical treatise, ‘Gradus ad Parnassum’ which is in three sections:

  1. Two Voices (46 exercises)
  2. Three Voices (45 exercises)
  3. Four Voices (32 exercises)

For each of these sections, we provide four files:

  1. Exercises: all of the cantus firmus exercises with only the cantus firmus present.
  2. Solutions: all of Fux’s solutions to those exercises – i.e. both the cantus firmus and the additional part(s).
  3. Annotations: Those solutions annotated with the interval that every note in each additional part forms with the cantus firmus.
  4. Distinct: Every distinct cantus firmus in all parts. All of the exercises are based on this format, so these simple files distill all possibilities: you can use this file to do any species exercise, on any cantus firmus, in any part arrangement.

Everything is provided in an editable format for teachers to adjust freely for their own class’ needs and released under a correspondingly open licence.

Each exercise includes the following information:

  • Figure number (in the modern Norton/Mann edition, 1965).
  • Species type,
  • Modal final,
  • Cantus firmus part

Full details of the contents (all figures, searchable, and sortable) are provided here,

Open Music Theory textbook

The Open Music Theory textbook has a series of chapters engaging this material, written in digital-first, but other relatively traditional textbook fashion. starting here. Here is a full list:

  1. Introduction to Species Counterpoint
  2. First-Species Counterpoint
  3. Second-Species Counterpoint
  4. Third-Species Counterpoint
  5. Fourth-Species Counterpoint
  6. Fifth-Species Counterpoint

Each of these chapters is by Mark Gotham and Kris Shaffer.

Downloads

Whole Part Downloads (Part I, II, III)

You can download a whole part at once directly and in your choice of format: .pdf, .mscz, or .mxl. PDFs are known to most and not the main use case here. The .mscz format is for MuseScore specifically; you can open the .mxl files in any music notation software.

Part Exercises Solutions Annotations Distinct
I .mxl,.mscz,.pdf .mxl,.mscz,.pdf .mxl,.mscz,.pdf .mxl,.mscz,.pdf
II .mxl,.mscz,.pdf .mxl,.mscz,.pdf .mxl,.mscz,.pdf .mxl,.mscz,.pdf
III .mxl,.mscz,.pdf .mxl,.mscz,.pdf .mxl,.mscz,.pdf .mxl,.mscz,.pdf

Individual figures (5, 6, 11, …, 204)

Full details of the contents (all figures, searchable, and sortable) are provided here, These can be downloaded or viewed and engaged with directly online via the Verovio Humdrum Viewer (VHV).

Cantus firmus

Fux’s use of cantus firmus broadly centres on one cantus firmus for each modal final that stays broadly constant throughout all exercises and parts. For more details see the GitHub repo.

Acknowledgements, Contribution, and Licence

Thanks to Jay Wilson for the initial transcription and permission to use them for this expanded initiative. All subsequent annotation, analysis, code etc. by Mark Gotham.

Contributions are welcome. Please submit a PR or get in touch.

Licence:

  • Code = MIT licence, 2026
  • Rendered scores = CC0 (Public Domain). Mark Gotham and FourScoreAndMore.org waive all rights to those documents.