Critics praised the music, including its effective melodies and leitmotifs set off by orchestral counterpoint. They included subjects such as piano, violin, singing, theory, harmony, composition, and counterpoint. These subjects were composition, counterpoint, and orchestration. They are sectional compositions that alternate between free improvisation and strict counterpoint. For example, he used classical techniques in his mazurkas, including counterpoint and fugue. Segundo was traditionally a "second voice" singer providing a baritone counterpoint harmony. Very characteristic of his writing is chromatic counterpoint. He also had courses in harmony, counterpoint, and composition. The first theme undergoes four cumulative transformations with decorations, counter-melodies, counterpoint, and a nocturne-like fioritura. This then suddenly leads into an extremely fast, turbulent coda, written in exuberant counterpoint. Rachmaninoff had great command of counterpoint and fugal writing, thanks to his studies with Taneyev. There he received detailed training in the arts of fugue and counterpoint. An important impetus was Constanze, who apparently had fallen in love with Baroque counterpoint. Delightfully, it even serves as a counterpoint in one important scene. Verdi alludes on the counterpoint of Renaissance music.