Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/769

SUITE. ' and also 'Bruit de Guerre.' In the eleventh Ordre a series of pieces represents 'Les Fastes de la grande et ancienne Mxnxstrxndxsx,' in five acts, the fourth of which is 'Les Invalides,' etc., in which the right hand is made to represent 'Les Disloqués' and the left 'Les Boiteux,' and the last is 'Désordre et déroute de toute la troupe: causés par les Yvrogues, les Singes, et les Ours.'

In Germany, composers kept their faces more steadfastly set in the direction of purer art-form, and the prevalence of uniformity in their distribution of movements soon became remarkable. Kuhnau's examples have been already referred to, and an example given in Pauer's Alte Clavier Music illustrates the usual order absolutely. Spitta mentions that the famous organist Buxtehude made a complete suite out of variations on the choral 'Auf meinem lieben Gott' in the form of sarabande, courante and gigue. Twelve sets of 'Pièces de Clavecin' by Mattheson, which were published in London as early as 1714, two years before Couperin's first set, are remarkably regular. The first, in D minor, has a prelude, allemande and double, courante and double, sarabande and gigue. The second begins with a toccatina, the fifth with a fantasia, the ninth with a 'Boutade,' and the tenth with a 'Symphonie,' but in other respects most of them follow the same outlines of general distribution. The 'Six Suits of Lessons' of the Dutchman Johann Loeillet, published a little earlier still, are equally precise. From these facts it is quite clear that by the beginning of the 18th century certain definite principles of grouping the movements were generally known and accepted; and that a nucleus, consisting of allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, had become the accepted type of the art-form.

The differences between the structure of suite movements and sonata movements have already been traced in the article. It remains here only to summarise, with more special reference to the suite. While sonata movements constantly increased in complexity, suite movements remained almost stationary. They were based upon the persistence of the uniform type of a dance rhythm, throughout the whole of each several movement. Hence the ground principles of subject in sonata and suite are altogether different. In the former the subjects are concrete, and stand out in a marked manner both in contrast to one another and to their immediate context; and it is a vital point in the form that they shall be fully and clearly recapitulated. In the suite, on the other hand, the subject does not stand out at all prominently from its context, but is only a well-marked presentation of the type of motion and rhythm which is to prevail throughout the movement. To this there is no contrasting subject or episode, and definite recapitulation is no part of the scheme at all. In a few cases—which must be regarded as accidents in relation to the logical principles of the form—the opening bars happen to be sufficiently marked to have something of the character of a sonata subject; and in such cases it may also happen that they are repeated with sufficient simplicity to have the effect of recapitulation. But nevertheless it must be maintained that this is not part of the principle of construction. And with reference to this point it is well to remember that composers did not attain the ultimate distinct outlines of sonata and suite with a definite purpose and plan before them; but that in working with particular materials they were led almost unconsciously to differentiate the two forms. The plan is found to exist when the work is done; but it was not theoretically propounded and then worked up to. It is not therefore a matter for surprise that in early times some points in the development of abstract form of the sonata kind were worked out in dance movements of the suite type, and applied and extended afterwards in works which had more distinctly the sonata character. Nevertheless the sonata is not an outgrowth from the suite; but, inasmuch as both were descended from a kindred stock, before the distinctions had become well defined, it is natural that many works should have continued to exhibit suggestions and traits of both sides promiscuously. On the whole however it is remarkable how soon the distinct types came to be generally maintained; and from the number of instances which conform, the system can be fairly deduced.

The most marked external point is the uniformity of key. In Corelli's earlier Sonate da Camera, which in general are decided suites, the one exception which marks a sonata tendency is that the slow dance is often in a different key from the rest of the movements. In later suites of all sorts the uniformity of key throughout is almost universal. In the whole of Bach's the only exceptions are the second minuet of the fourth English Suite, and the second gavotte in that known as the 'Overture in French Style.' Hence the contrast is purely one of character between the several movements; and this is emphasised by the absence of any marked contrast of key or subject in the movements themselves. They are almost invariably constructed upon the simple principle of balanced halves, each representing the same material in different phases; and each strengthened by repetition. The first half sets out from the tonic key, and without any marked pause or division modulates so as to settle into the key of the dominant or relative major, and closes in that key. The second half begins afresh from that point, and proceeding in most cases by way of the key of the subdominant, settles well back again into the original key and concludes. The only break therefore is in the middle; and the two halves are made purposely to balance one another, as far as may be, without definite recapitulation. In a few movements, such especially as sarabandes and intermezzi, the second half is somewhat extended to admit of a little development and free modulation, but the general principles in the average number of cases are the same, namely to diffuse the character of the