Scan 178

A popular history of music, musical instruments, ballet, and opera, from St. Ambrose to Mozart, 1888

6 lines. Read by computer on 29 September 2026. Printed page 162. See the scan on archive.org.

1performances of it which have been given by the Bach choir.

3For the harpsichord he wrote much; in fact, he may be said to have revolutionized the art of playing on that instrument. In those days the fourth finger was used but sparingly, the thumb not at all, being allowed to hang down in front of the keys in the way which one used to see affected by old-fashioned organists in our own time. Bach used the thumb equally with the other fingers. He wrote two sets of suites, one called the English suites, the other the French. The suite was a composition consisting of a succession of movements written in the rhythm of the dances of the period—the Allemande, Saraband, Gavotte, Minuet, Bourrée, Gigue, etc.—arranged in such order as to contrast in style. The suite was destined to develop into the sonata, of which we shall speak presently.

5But the best known of his instrumental compositions is probably the Wohltemperirte Clavier, or Well-tempered Harpsichord. To explain this title, it is necessary to understand that in an instrument having fixed tones it is only possible for one key to be perfectly in tune. For convenience of performance the same note is made to do duty for C# and D², and so on throughout the scale; but this is not theoretically correct. In the days before Bach, the practice was to make the key of C in accurate tune, leaving the rest to their fate, and this fate was unbearable if the key involved several sharps or flats. This was still more the case where the sound was capable of being sustained, as in the organ, and it was therefore necessary

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