Johann Sebastian Bach - booksnow.scholarsportal.info

. -^ThisAPPENDIX. 319Cap.IV.OF TIME OR MEASUREMENT.Of this much need not here be said, for it is presupposed that aperson wishing to learn figured-bass will not only have learnt the notesbut also the intervals before doing so, whether by previous practice ofmusic or from some other cause, and also the differences of time. Forno one can inculcate a knowledge of time all at once. . must,however, be noticed, that in the present day one single kind of timeis indicated in two ways, thus :, the second way being usedby the French in pieces that are to be played quickly or briskly, andthe Germans adopting it from the French. But the Germans andItalians abide for the most part by the first method, and adopt a slowtime. If the piece is to be played fast the composer expressly addsAllegro or Presto to it; if slowly, the pace is indicated by the wordAdagio or Lento.Cap. V.OF THE HARMONIC TRIAD.The harmonic triad belongs properly to the subject of composition,but as figured-bass is a beginning of composition, and may even,because of the arrangement of consonances and dissonances, be calledan extemporaneous composition, made by the person who plays thefigured bass, the subject of the triad may be fitly mentioned in thisplace. Now if a person who desires to learn the subject can makegood progress in this subject, and can impress it upon his memory, hemay be sure that he has already mastered a great part of the entireart. The harmonic triad is a combination of the third and fifth whichis placed above a bass note, and it may be constructed on all the notes,and both in the major and the minor^-i= =?$--V.— pt— '^'-^= ;:^=^MS— S- —^— —^^^——^=And so on through all the notes. This is called Radix harmonica,because all harmony springs from it. And this harmonic triad iseither simple or full {simplex or auctd). (i.) The simple root {Radixsimplex) is the simple triad, properly so-called, and consists only of thethree notes, as shown in the example. (2.) Radix auctor or the increasedor full triad has the octaves added in, as may be seen here :" This set of examples exactly agrees with the MS., notwithstanding thewant of connection in the case of the fifth, and the wrong signature in eitherthe sixth or seventh triad.