Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 1.djvu/556

544 essentially expansions of the plan of the original Branle. In some the first part concludes in the principal, and in some in the complementary key, either Dominant or relative major. A very extended example is found in a Study in D minor, Allegro (no. 7 of a set of 'Pièces pour le Clavecin' published by Cramer). In this there is first a section chiefly in D minor, which modulates to F, the relative major, and concludes in that key&mdash;altogether 22 bars; and then another section, of 21 bars, all in F major, and closing in that key. This concludes the first half, which corresponds with the first half of a modern Sonata movement. The second half sets out with a reference to the first subject in F, and then modulates freely to various keys, ultimately closing in the original key of D minor, and there taking up the thread of the latter section of the first half of the movement, and giving the whole 21 bars almost identically, transposed from the original key of F into the principal key of D. The descent of this movement from the dance type is sufficiently clear without again going over the ground. Its most conspicuous advance is in its relative extension, 22 bars corresponding to 2 in the original example, and the other divisions being in proportion. The free modulation of the second half of the movement is the strict counterpart on a large scale of the changing harmonic basis in the Branle, and this is an advance due to the great increase of musical knowledge and resources. In other respects the similarity between the typical progenitor and its descendant is sufficiently clear. D. Scarlatti's works are almost universally a great advance on Corelli in the clear definition of the subjects and the variety of the rhythms, which enables him to approach much more nearly to modern ideas in what is called the 'development' of the subjects; though it is true that a mere patchwork of short subjects stated one after another often serves the purpose with him of the more continuous and artistic modern development. It will also be noticed that Scarlatti generally abandons the names of the dance tunes while retaining their forms.

There were other contemporaries of Bach and Handel who must be noticed before them for the same reasons as Scarlatti. Their works generally present the feature of extensive repetition of the last section of the first part as a conclusion to the whole, in a very marked manner. Thus in a Corrente from a Suite by Domenico Zipoli (born 1685) precisely the same system is observable as in the example by Scarlatti. And in a Sonata by Wagenseil (born 1688 [App. p.637 "1715"]) in F, op. 1, the first movement is a very extended specimen of the same kind; and the last movement, a Minuetto, is remarkable for the great length of the phrase repeated. The first half of the movement is but 16 bars, of which the latter 12 are all in the Dominant key; and the whole of these 12 bars are repeated at the conclusion, the first 4 having been disposed of at the commencement of the preceding 'development,' as in the Study of Scarlatti.

Bach and Handel present an extraordinary variety of forms in their works. Some are identical with the form of the Branle and 'Ein' feste Burg'; others are like the primitive Rondo on a very extended scale; and many exhibit various stages of progressive development up to perfect types of the complete modern forms as used by Mozart.

A very large number of the movements in the Suites of both Bach and Handel are in the same form as the previous examples. The first half is divided, not very strongly, into two sections, in which the principal key and the complementary key alternately predominate. The second half sets out with development and free modulation, and concludes with a quotation of the concluding bars or features of the first half. To take Bach's 'Suites Françaises' as examples, the following, among others, will be found to conform to this simple scheme:&mdash;Gigue of No. 1, in D minor; Courante of No. 2, in C minor; Gigue of No. 3, in B minor; Courante of No. 4, in E&#x266d;; the Allemande and the Courante of No. 5, in G; and the Courante and the Bourrée of No. 6, in E. As examples of the same from Handel's Suites the following may be taken:&mdash;the Courante in No. 1, in A; the Allegro in No. 2, in F; the Courante in No. 4, in E minor; the Allemande in No. 5, in E major; and the Gigues in the 5th, 7th, 8th, and 10th Suites. In many of these there is a systematic development of the figures of the subject in the first section of the second half of the movement; but a tendency is also observable to commence the second half of the movement with a quotation of the commencement of the whole, which answers practically to the first subject. This was also noticed in the example quoted from Scarlatti. Bach not unfrequently begins the second half with an inversion of the characteristic figure of the commencement, or treats it in a free kind of double counterpoint, as he sometimes does in repeating the conclusion of the first half at the conclusion of the whole. (See the last 4 bars of the Allemande in the Partita No. 2, in C minor.) How the subject reappears is however a matter of subsidiary importance. What is chiefly important is the fact that the first subject gradually begins to make its appearance clearly and definitely in the second part as a repetition from the first part; and it is very interesting and curious to note that there was a long hesitation as to the position in the second half which this repetition should occupy. The balance for a long time was certainly in favour of its appearing at the beginning of the second half, and in the complementary key of the movement. A very clear and easily recognisable instance of this is the opening 'pomposo' movement of the Overture to Handel's 'Samson,' which differs in form from the first movement of a modern Sonata or Symphony in this one particular only. But there are specimens of form in both Bach and Handel which are prophetic of the complete modern system of Mozart. The fact is so interesting and instructive that it will be worth while to give an analysis of the shortest