Ornamentation In J.S. Bach's Organ Works (Paperback)

PUTNAM ALD RICH Ornamentation in J. S. Bachs Organ Works NEW YORK COLEMAN-ROSS COMPANY INC. 1950 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 The Historical Approach 4 17th-Century Ornamentation 6 Bachs Use of Ornamentation 9 General Character of the Agrements 10,1. THE TRILL 15 Evolution of the Cadence Trill 16 Bachs Use of the Cadence Trill 19 Interpretation of the Cadence Trill 20 The Short Trill 27 The Long Trill 29 Trills in Fugue Subjects 31 2. THE MORDENT 33 Bachs Use of Mordents Fully Written Out 35 Interpretation of Bachs Mordents 37 3. THE APPOGGIATURA Vorschlag 41 The Appoggiatura from Below 43 The Appoggiatura from Above 46 The Double Appoggiatura from Below Schleifer 50 4. THE TURN Doppelschlag 51 5. COMPOSITE ORNAMENTS 54 Appoggiatura and Trill 54 Trill and Mordent 54 Turn and Trill 56 Appoggiatura from Below and Trill 57 CONCLUSION 60 Table of Ornaments from J. S. Bachs Clavierbuchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach 1770. Introduction ORNAMENTATION writes Paul Henry Lang In his monumental study of music in western civilization, is the most typical feature of baroque style, equally prominent in all phases of baroque art. 1 Musical ornamentation is no exception. It is now generally recognized that the ornaments form an integral part of the mu sical language of Bachs time, and that a performance of his works in which the trills, turns, appoggiaturas, and mordents are omitted or interpreted incorrectly, does violence to the musical ideas he intended to express. Organists who are conscientious mu sicians and devoted to Bachs works doubtless feel a sincere desire to cany out the composers intentions. But they are often per plexed as to just how to proceed in order to do so, being handi capped at thestart by a lack of reliable guides. Modern editions of Bachs works conflict with each other in regard to the signs and placing of the ornaments as well as in their directions for executing them. Efforts to solve the problem by consulting the works of scholars such as Pirro, Schweitzer, and Dannreuther only lead to further confusion the experts disagree among themselves. There are two reasons for these discrepancies and for the un reliability of editors and commentators 1 these scholars base their interpretations upon documents that were written too late i Music in Western Civilization New York W. W. Norton Co., 1941, p. 359. 1 2 ORNAMENTATION IN J. S. BACHS ORGAN WORKS to be trustworthy guides to Bachs practice 2 they undertake their quest for authenticity along the lines of 19th-century re search, which are not applicable to the Baroque period. Both Pirro 2 and Schweitzer 3 are guilty of lapses in scholar ship when they base their discussions of Bachs ornaments upon directions given by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Quantz, and Turk in treatises that were not published until after Bachs death. Dannreuthers treatment of Bachs ornamentation is marred by similar inconsistencies after dealing competently with 17th-century ornamentation as exemplified in the works of Bachs forerunners, he proceeds, in the case of Bach himself, to adduce numerous exceptions to the common practice of the period exceptions, needless to say, that Bach had never heard of and to introduce, arbitrarily, new ornaments such as the so-called Tralltriller, whose invention actually dates from the following genera tion. 4 Caspar Koch, the most recent contributor to the literature of this subject, falls into the same errorthat his predecessors did, by citing, in support of his directions, realizations of orna ments extracted from treatises by Marpurg 1750, Quantz 1752, C. P. E. Bach 1753, Leopold Mozart 1756, Dom Bedos de Celles 1778, Rellstab 1789, and Turk 1789. 5 Now it so happens that the last half of the 18th century is pre cisely the period of the most rapid changes in both the composi tion and performance of music changes which brought about the disintegration of the Baroque ideals and the formation of the Classic style of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven...