The Appreciation of Music - Vol. 1 (of 3)

CHAPTER V.

Chapter 202,799 wordsPublic domain

THE SUITE.

I. DERIVATION OF THE SUITE.

Once musicians had begun to realize how dances could be developed into finished pieces, like the gavotte of Bach, which we discussed in the last chapter, they were quick to avail themselves of this advantage by combining several such dances into a group, thus making a composition of some length and dignity and yet of popular, easily comprehensible style. Such compositions, known in England as "Lessons," in France as "Ordres," and in Germany as "Suites" and "Partitas," became numerous in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The first historical step in the development of the suite was taken when the great violin-makers of Cremona and Brescia, in Italy, brought the violin to a wonderful mechanical perfection early in the seventeenth century. Virtuosos on this brilliant instrument were not slow to appear, and they dazzled their audiences with pieces known as sonatas, though having little in common with what we nowadays call a sonata. Their _sonata da chiesa_, or church sonata, was a group of pieces, all polyphonic in character and derived from the old choral madrigals and canzonas; the _sonata da ballo_, or dance sonata, was a group of dance tunes; the _sonata da camera_, or chamber sonata, combined both types. Gradually the first become obsolete, and the second and third took respectively the names _suite_ and _partita_, although the nomenclature was inexact, as suites often contained movements of strict and severe polyphonic style as well as dances. The greatest of the violin virtuosos was Arcangelo Corelli, whose "sonatas" retain their charm even for our modern ears, as may be seen from the sample of his work studied in the last chapter.

About the end of the seventeenth century the keyed instruments, such as the harpsichord, the clavichord, the spinet, and other precursors of our modern pianoforte, first reached the degree of mechanical perfection which enabled them to rival the violin; and it was accordingly not until then that important pieces for such keyed instruments began to be written. At the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, however, we find interesting music for these instruments by composers of several nations. In France Couperin (1668-1733) wrote what he called "Ordres," short series of pieces "in dance style, piquant in rhythm, melodiously graceful, profusely embroidered with embellishment;"[12] and he was followed by Rameau (1683-1764) with similar works. A curious whim of these French masters was the appending of picturesque titles to their pieces, such as "The Tambourine," "The Hen," "The Return of the Birds," etc.--a practice which anticipates the program music of to-day.

Italy had one extraordinary genius in this department of music, Domenico Scarlatti (1683-1757). He was a most brilliant performer on the harpsichord, delighted in all feats of agility, and loved to surprise and astonish his audience. In short he was a virtuoso, and his performances must have created the kind of sensation in the seventeenth century that Liszt's did in the nineteenth. "For vivacity, wit, irony, mischief, mockery, and all the category of human traits which Beethoven's scherzo served so brilliantly to express," says Parry, "the world had to wait for a full century to see Scarlatti's equal again." Some of the preludes, sarabandes, minuets, courantes, etc., composed by him, still retain their interest. His beautiful Pastorale in E-minor, and his "Cat fugue," written on a theme played by a pet cat running across the keyboard, are sometimes heard in recitals.

It was in the hands of the German masters, Bach and Handel,[13] however, that the suite reached its highest state. These two great composers, born in the same year, 1685, possessed not only the sense of technical effect which made Scarlatti great, and the high spirits, enthusiasm, and sense of proportion which are needed for the production of idealized dance movements such as Couperin and Rameau have given us, but they had great musical learning, and much experience in the use of the strict choral style of polyphonic writing, which they showed by introducing into their suites certain movements much more serious in style and exalted in sentiment than dances. The English and French Suites, so called, of Bach, and the Twelve Harpsichord Suites, or "Lessons," as they were called in England, of Handel, deserve to rank among the great masterpieces of musical art.

II. THE SUITES OF BACH.

The six English and six French Suites of Bach, which deserve a more detailed study than any others, consist generally of from five to eight separate pieces or movements. The first, derived from the severer type of the _sonata da chiesa_, and thus, more remotely, from the choral madrigal and canzona (see above), is always more intricate and elaborate than the others. In the English Suite it is a long contrapuntal prelude, with imitations and sequences such as we studied in the invention and the fugue. In the French Suites it is an allemande, less elaborate but still dignified and impressive. We see this to be appropriate when we remember that the hearer is best able to follow intricacies when his mind is fresh and unjaded.

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 5.

_Bach: Prelude to English Suite, No. 3, in G-Minor._

_The Motives_: The thematic material out of which this prelude is developed is very simple, consisting of just two motives, which we will call (_a_) and (_b_).

[Music: score] Motive (_a_) (imitated through four voices.)

[Music: score] Motive (_b_) (imitated by a second voice) measures 33-36.

FIGURE XVIII. MOTIVES OF BACH PRELUDE IN G-MINOR

Note the effective contrast between the bold, assertive character of motive (_a_) and the more graceful character of (_b_).

_Structure_: The prelude divides itself into seven clearly marked sections, each ended by a well-marked cadence. Let us examine these briefly in turn.

Section I, measures 1-32, key of G-minor: Founded on motive (_a_), with many sequences which the reader should now be able to trace for himself.

Section II, measures 33-66: Begins in G-minor, modulates to B-flat major, the "relative major." Motive (_b_) in soprano, measures 33-34; in alto, measures 35-36; in bass, measures 43-44. Motive (_a_), measures 35, 36, 37 (alto), 38, 39, 43, 44, 53, 54, etc.

Section III, measures 67-98, key of B-flat: An almost exact copy of Section I, in a different key.

Section IV, measures 99-124: Begins in B-flat major, modulates to D-minor, the "dominant" of the original key. Both motives tossed about from voice to voice. (The reader should locate each instance for himself.)

Section V, measures 125-160: Begins in D-minor, modulates to E-flat major, thus giving variety of key in the middle part of the composition, which we begin to see is an important principle of form. (Compare the Gavotte of the last chapter.) Very similar in treatment to Section II.

Section VI, measures 161-179: Modulates back from E-flat major to the home key, thus preparing the way for the final statements and conclusion. In measures 175-178 the insistence of the bass on the tone D, the "dominant" of the original key, will be noticed. Such an insistence on one tone is called a "pedal point," because so frequently found in the pedal part of organ music, and serves admirably here to prepare the mind for the triumphant return to G-minor in the final section. The rest of Section VI is made up of sequences, thus: 162-165, 166-169, 170-173; and then, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178.

Section VII, measures 180-213: Almost entirely in the home-key, thus emphasizing the sense of finality. The bulk of this section is furthermore identical with Section I, thus affording a fine example of the principle of _restatement after contrast_.

Altogether this is a most interesting movement. In the great effect made with simple means we recognize again, as we did in the case of the invention and the fugue, the splendid power of Bach's mind. The principles of imitation of motives from voice to voice, of transpositions of a single motive in a single voice giving rise to the many sequences, and of restatement after contrast, all discussed in the first chapter, are illustrated more brilliantly than by any other composition we have thus far examined. Finally, in the variety of key of Section V, placed in the middle of the piece, and in the unity of key of the first and last sections, we get a striking anticipation of a principle of construction which we shall later see to be at the root of the most important of modern forms, the sonata-form.

After listening to such a movement as this we naturally wish to relax a little; and we are, therefore, pleased to hear a series of dances of various rhythms and qualities of expression, cast in simple "binary" or "ternary" forms, and either frankly homophonic in style or not too elaborately polyphonic. It is impossible to describe in detail here all the dances found in suites, but the table on page 68 will give an idea of the more important ones.

The gavotte studied in the preceding chapter gives an excellent general impression of the livelier dances used, which may be farther defined by a glance at such typical pieces as the bourrées of the first and second English Suites, and the gavottes of the third English and fifth French Suites. There is generally also to be found in Bach's suites, introduced for the sake of contrast and in order to represent the more emotional side of musical expression, a sarabande or other such slow, stately, and sometimes truly noble movement. Let us take, as an example of this element, the Sarabande from the second English Suite.

FIGURE XIX.--THE CHIEF DANCES USED IN SUITES

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 6. _Bach: Sarabande in A-Minor from English Suite_ II

The melodic germ from which the piece is developed is the following very serious and earnest phrase:

[Music: score] FIGURE XX.--THEME OF BACH SARABANDE

a phrase in which great depth of almost tragic feeling is expressed. Against this is set, for the sake of relief, the lighter and more suave melody of measures 5 and 6, treated in freely sequential fashion. The whole sarabande is built from these two brief melodic figures.

This sarabande serves as an admirable illustration of the type of beauty common in the music of Bach. Its phraseology, if we may use the term, is quite different from that in use in the music of to-day; it is full of quaint and archaic turns of musical speech--formal sequences, little motives that sound to us almost mechanical. It is like an etching of Dürer's, full of detail, each line carefully drawn, and the whole picture instinct with life. Thus its type of beauty differs so materially from that to which we are accustomed that it often fails in its appeal. Only by using our imagination are we able to project ourselves, so to speak, into another _milieu_, another time, another point of view. And this is the test with which any archaic work of art confronts us. Without imagination in the beholder a picture by Botticelli, for example, is a curiosity rather than a work of art. Its strange allegory, its quaint idea of landscape, its figures with their unusual posing--all these are beautiful or merely curious according as we look at them. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

The repetition at a higher pitch of the main motive in measures 3-4 is highly poignant; and throughout the expression is intensified by the use of rich and often complex harmony, as particularly in the last four measures of all.

Notwithstanding the earnest and impassioned character of this sarabande, its derivation from the dance is clearly revealed in the regularity of the balance of phrases consisting of equal measure groups, which divide up as follows: 2, 2, 4, 4 (double-bar); 2, 2, 4, 2, 2, 4. The symmetry is much more precise than in an invention or a fugue.

The form is binary or two-part. Part one, measures 1-12, begins in A-minor and ends in the "relative major," the key of C. Part two, measures 13-28, begins (with the original motive) in C-major, and returns to A-minor.

The sequence of measures 23-24, with measures 21-22, is very beautiful and deserves special notice.

Following the sarabande the reader will observe a more florid version of it, bearing the caption, "Les agréments de la même Sarabande"--"Ornaments for the same Sarabande." This is an example of the practice, common in Bach's day, of weaving a net-work of grace-notes, trills, and other decorations about a melody, a practice due in part to the natural fondness of all musicians for "effect," and in part to the fact that the instruments of that day were so small and poor that a tone could only be sustained by being struck many times. This custom of ornamenting melodies with all manner of embroidery gave rise to the "theme and variations," a form which we shall study later.

All the other English Suites of Bach contain very beautiful sarabandes; those in the French Suites are less interesting, though the first contains a fine example.

All of Bach's twelve suites end with gay and vigorous gigues, the most rollicking of all the dances used. This is natural enough, in view of the desirability of closing the suite with an impression of energetic vitality. These gigues are in the headlong 6-8 or 12-8 meter; they are polyphonic in texture, and constructed in the binary form. Often-times a high degree of contrapuntal skill is shown in their composition, but usually this does not interfere with their light and almost careless character. A curious feature of most of them is that in the second half the motive is inverted or turned upside down.

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 7.

_Bach: Gigue, from French Suite_ IV _in E-Flat_.

[Music: score] Theme of Gigue, Bach's French Suite IV, and its Inversion.

[Music: score] Inversion of theme, beginning of second half.

FIGURE XXI.

The gay little theme is composed of two motives, as indicated in Figure XXI, in which the long brackets show the theme and its imitation by the second voice to enter, and the short brackets show its component motives, of contrasting character. In measures 5 and 6 the theme is again imitated by the third voice (left hand part). In the course of the development a still more lively figure makes its appearance in measures 19, 23, 24 and 25.

The now familiar sequences are found at every turn. The form is binary (Part I, measures 1-26; Part II, measures 27-60). The inversion of the theme, shown in Figure XXI, makes the subject of the second half. The key-system is perfectly simple. Part I modulates from the tonic, E-flat, to the dominant, B-flat; Part II begins there and returns to the home-key.

III. THE HISTORIC IMPORTANCE OF THE SUITE.

In the course of the eighteenth century the suite gradually waned in popularity, and gave place to the more highly organic sonata. Modern suites, notable among which are such delightful works as Bizet's "L'Arlesienne," Grieg's "Peer Gynt," Dvorák's Suite for small orchestra, opus. 39, Tschaikowsky's "Nut-Cracker Suite," and Brahms's "Serenades" for orchestra, are, after all, exceptional and infrequent, and not the inevitable mould in which the composer casts his ideas.

But the historical importance of the suite was great, and it fell into disuse only after its lessons had been thoroughly learned. Through it musicians developed the dance element which must always be one of the two main strands of all music; through it they learned to substitute for the ancient polyphonic style which is suitable to voices the homophonic style best adapted to the capacities and the limitations of instruments; and through it they became familiar with those simple binary and ternary forms in which such instrumental music is most conveniently and effectively cast.

Thus the suite formed the bridge between, on the one hand, (_a_) crude folk-songs, (_b_) primitive dances, and (_c_) strict polyphonic forms such as the invention and the fugue, and on the other, the sonatas, quartets, concertos, and symphonies of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

SUGGESTIONS FOR COLLATERAL READING.

_Dickinson: "The Study of the History of Music," Chapters XIII and XIV. Parry: "Evolution of the Art of Music," Chapters VIII and IX; Mason: "Beethoven and His Forerunners," Chapter IV._

FOOTNOTES:

[12] Edward Dickinson, "The Study of the History of Music," page 84.

[13] Handel, though he lived in England, was in his music a German.