DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

76 FOEM FORM
call the complementary key, or key of the Dominant,
instead of merely passing to it and back
and closing in the principal key—by that means
establishing more clearly the balance between it
and the principal key ; and secondly, the first
part of the second half of the movement presents
some attempt at a development of the features
of the subjects of the lirst part, and real free
modulation. The Corrente and Giga of the
seventh Sonata of the ' Opera Seconda ' are also
remarkably clear specimens of repetition of the
end of the lirst part as a conclusion to the wliole,
since full six baj's in each are repeated. Both examples
are, however, inferior to the above-quoted
Giga in respect of the conclusion of the first part
being in the principal key—like the older
examples first quoted as typical— though like
that Giga they are superior to tlie older examples
in the free modulations and reference to the
conspicuous figures of the subjects in the first
section of the second half of the movements.
Domenico Scarlatti (1683-1757) was a contemporary
of Hanilel and Bach, being but two
years their senior ; nevertheless he must be
considered as historically prior to them, inasmuch
as the very power of their genius would make
them rather the prophets of what was to come
than representatives of |>revalent contemporary
ideas. Domenico Scarlatti left many examples
of Studies or Sonatas which are essentially
expansions of the plan of the original Branle.
In some the first part concludes in the principal,
and in some in the com|>lementary kej', either
Dominant or relative major. A very extended
example is found in a Study in D minor, Allegro
(No. 7 of a set of ' Pieces jiour le Clavecin
published by Cramer). In this there is first a
section chieHy in D minor, which modulates to
F, the relative major, and concludes in that key
—altogether twenty- two bars ; and then another
section, of twenty-one bars, all in F major, and
closing in that key. This concludes the first
half, which corresponds with the first lialf 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 tlie movement, and
giving the whole twenty-one bars almost identi-
cally, transposed from the original key of F into
theprincipalkey of D. The descent of tliis movement
from the dance type is sufficiently clear
without again going over the ground. Its most
conspicuous advance is in its relative extension,
twenty-two bars corresponding to two in the
original exampile, 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 clianging 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
though
called the 'development' of thesubjeots ;
it is true that a mere patchwork of short subjects
stated one alter 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 worksgenerally
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 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
sixteen bars, of which the latter twelve are all
in the Dominant key ; and the wliole of these
twelve bars are repeated at the conclusion, the
first four 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 iden-
tical with the form of the Branle and ' Fin' teste
Burg' ; others are like the p)rimitive Rondo on a
very extended scale ; and
many exhibit various
stages of progressive development up to the 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 theprincipal key and the complementary
key alternately predominate. The second half
sets out with development and free modulation
and concludes with a quotation ol' the concluding
bars or features of the first half To take Bach's
' Suites Fran(;aises ' as examples, the following,
among otheis, will be found to conform to this
simjile scheme :—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 Efc> ; the AUemande
and the Courante of No. 5, in G ; and the
Courante and the Bourree of No. 6, in E. As
examf>les of tile same from Handel's Suites tlie
following maybe taken :—the Courante in No. 1,
in A ; the Allegro in No. 2, in F ; the Courante
in No. 4, in E minor ; the AUemande in No. 5,
and the Gigues in the 5th, 7th, 8th,
in E major ;
and 1 0th Suites. In many of these there is a