Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/539

SKETCHES. has pointed out, the change is not a mere melodic one, but seriously affects the Counterpoint.

In the Fifth Fugue, in D major, the Subject, at a certain bar, is given in one copy in the original key, and in another in the Relative Minor. A hundred other examples might be cited; but these will show the Composer's method of working, and prove that, though he made no trial Sketches in the earlier stage of the process, he was no less subject to changes of intention afterwards than the most fastidious of his brethren.

Handel, as a general rule, wrote currente calamo; making but a single copy, and frequently completing it without the necessity for a single erasure. But though his pen was emphatically that 'of a ready writer,' it could not always keep pace with the impetuosity of his genius; nor were his ideas always unaccompanied by instantaneous afterthoughts: and in these cases he altered the MS. as he proceeded, with reckless disregard to the neatness of its appearance; intruding smears, blots, and scratches, with such prodigality, that it is sometimes not a little difficult to understand his final decision. But these changes bear such unmistakable evidence of having been suggested at the moment, that they can scarcely be regarded as afterthoughts. When he really changed his mind—as in 'Rejoice greatly,' 'But who may abide?' and 'Why do the nations?'—he made a second copy. Sometimes, also, he made a Sketch. Very few examples of such preparatory studies have been preserved; but these few are of indescribable interest. Among others, the Fitzwilliam Library at Cambridge possesses one, which can only be compared to a 'trial plate' of Rembrandt's. This priceless fragment—here published for the first time—is a study for the 'Amen' Chorus in the 'Messiah.' Before deciding upon the well-known passage of Canonic Imitation, which forms so striking a feature in this wonderful Movement, the Composer has tested the capabilities of his subject, as Shepherde tested his, two hundred years before him; only, not content with trying it once, he has tried it three times, at different distances, and in the inverted form. The identity of the passages marked (a), (b), and (c), with those of the finished Chorus marked (e), (d), and (f), is indisputable; though the Sketches are in the key of C, and in Alla breve time.