In sixteenth-century polyphony, which figure involves a voice skipping down from a dissonance to a consonance instead of resolving by step, then moving to the expected note of resolution?

• A. Appoggiatura
• B. Cambiata
• C. Suspension
• D. Neighbor Tone

Answer: (B)

In sixteenth-century polyphony, the figure described is cambiata, a melodic pattern where a voice that creates a dissonance does not resolve the dissonance by step as expected. Instead, it skips down to a consonant pitch on the next note, and only then moves by step to the pitch that would complete the resolution. This distinctive move—dissonance on a weak beat, leap down to a consonance, then step to the resolution tone—gives the line a characteristic, slightly altered contour that composers used to enrich melodic motion without altering the underlying harmony.

Why this fits: appoggiatura involves resolving a dissonant note by step after a leap to the dissonance, not a skip to a consonance first. A suspension keeps a note tied into the new chord and resolves downward by step, not via a preceding consonant skip. A neighbor tone is approached and left by step around a chord tone, not through a downward skip from a dissonance. The cambiata specifically matches the described pattern of skipping down from a dissonance to a consonance before finally arriving at the expected resolution.