Books › Dictionary of music and musicians, 1908 › scan 47
Scan 47
Dictionary of music and musicians, 1908
14 lines. Read by computer on 7 September 2026. Printed page 23. See the scan on archive.org.
1end of the 18th century English organs were without pedals of any kind, and when these were added they were for fifty years made to the wrong compass. There was no independent pedal organ worthy of the name; no sixteen-feet stops on the manuals, although Father Smith's organ at St. Paul's went down to CCC on the manuals; the swell was of incomplete range; and mechanical means, in the shape of composition-pedals for changing the combination of stops were almost entirely unknown; so that the means for giving a good instrumental rendering of the suggested accompaniments to the English anthems really only dates back about fifty years.
3The best mode of accompanying a single voice in compositions of the kind under consideration was fully illustrated by Handel in the slightly instrumented songs of his oratorios, combined with his own way of reducing his thorough-bass figuring of the same into musical sounds. Most musical readers will readily recall many songs so scored. The tradition as to Handel's method of supplying the intermediate harmonies has been handed down to our own time in the following way. The late Sir George Smart, at the time of the Handel festival in Westminster Abbey in 1784, was a youthful chorister of the Chapel Royal of eight years of age; and it fell to his lot to turn over the leaves of the scores of the music for Joah Bates, who, besides officiating as conductor, presided at the organ. In the songs Bates frequently supplied chords of two or three notes from the figures on a soft-toned unison-stop. The boy looked first at the book, then at the conductor's fingers, and seemed somewhat puzzled, which being perceived by Bates, he said, 'My little fellow, you seem rather curious to discover my authority for the chords I have just been playing'; to which observation young Smart cautiously replied, 'Well, I don't see the notes in the score'; whereupon Mr. Bates added, 'Very true, but Handel himself used constantly to supply the harmonies in precisely the same way I have just been doing, as I have myself frequently witnessed.'
5Acting on this tradition, received from the lips of the late Sir George Smart, the writer of the present article, when presiding occasionally, for many years, at the organ at the concerts given by Hullah's Upper Singing Schools in St. Martin's Hall, frequently supplied a few simple inner parts; and as in after conversations with Hullah as well as with some of the leading instrumentalists of the orchestra, he learnt that the effect was good, he was led to conclude that such insertions were in accordance with Handel's intention. Acting on this conviction he frequently applied Handel's perfect manner of accompanying a sacred song, to anthem solos; for its exact representation was quite practicable on most new or modernised English organs.
7Of this fact one short illustration must suffice. The introductory symphony to the alto solo by Dr. Boyce (1710-79) to the words beginning 'One thing have I desired of the Lord' is, in the original, written in two parts only, namely, a solo for the right hand, and a moving bass in single notes for the left; no harmony being given, nor even figures denoting any. By taking the melody on a solo stop, the bass on the pedals (sixteen feet) with the manual (eight feet) coupled, giving the bass in octaves, to represent the orchestral violoncellos and double basses, the left hand is left at liberty to supply inner harmony parts. These latter are printed in small notes in the next and all following examples. In this manner a well-balanced and complete effect is secured, such as was not possible on any organ in England in Dr. Boyce's own day.
9Solo.
11Pedal 16 ft., with manual 8 ft. coupled.
13Notice may here be taken of a custom that has prevailed for many years in the manner of supplying the indicated harmonies to many of Handel's recitatives. Handel recognised two wholly distinct methods of sustaining the voice in such pieces. Sometimes he supported it by means of an accompaniment chiefly for bow instruments; while at other times he provided only a skeleton score, as already described. In the four connected recitatives in the 'Messiah,' beginning with 'There were shepherds,' Handel alternated the two manners, employing each twice; and Bach, in his 'Matthew Passion Music,' makes the same distinction between the ordinary recitatives and those of our Lord. It became the custom in England in the early part of the 19th century to play the harmonies of the figured recitatives not on a keyed instrument, but on a violoncello. When or under what circumstances the substitution was made, it is not easy now to ascertain; but if it was part of Handel's design to treat the tone-quality of the smaller bow instruments as one of his sources of relief and musical contrast, as seems to have been the case, the use of a deeper-toned instrument of the same kind in
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.