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Scan 69
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1918
8 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. Printed page 47. See the scan on archive.org.
1ADDITIONAL ACCOMPANIMENTS
3music if played only with strings and oboes, or sometimes with strings alone, would sound so thin as to be distasteful. Hence no reasonable objection can be made to the filling up of the harmony, if it be done with taste and contain nothing inconsistent with the spirit of the original.
59. There yet remains to notice one of the most interesting points connected with our present subject. It not seldom happens that in additional accompaniments new matter is introduced for which no warrant can be found in the original. Sometimes the composer's idea is modified, sometimes it is added to. Mozart's scores of Handel are full of examples of this kind; on the other hand Franz, the most conscientious of arrangers, seldom allows himself the least liberty in this respect. It is impossible to lay down any absolute rule in this matter: the only test is success. Few people, for instance, would object to the wonderfully beautiful wind parts which Mozart has added to 'The people that walked in darkness,' though it must be admitted that they are by no means Handelian in character. It is, so to speak, Mozart's gloss or commentary on Handel's music; and one can almost fancy that could Handel himself have heard it he would have pardoned the liberty taken with his music for the sake of the charming effect of the additions. So again with the trumpets and drums which Mozart has introduced in the song 'Why do the nations.' No doubt Handel could have used them had he been so disposed; but it was not the custom of his age to employ them in the accompaniments to songs, and here again the excellence of the effect is its justification. On the same ground may be defended the giving of Handel's violin part to a flute in the air 'How beautiful are the feet,' though it is equally impossible to approve of the change Mozart has made in the air and chorus 'The trumpet's loud clangour' in the 'Ode to St. Cecilia's Day,' in which he has given a great portion of the important trumpet part (which is imperatively called for by the words) to the flute and oboe in unison! The passages above referred to from the 'Messiah' are so well known as to render quotation superfluous; but two less familiar examples of happily introduced additional matter from the 'Ode to St. Cecilia's Day' will be interesting. In the first of these, from the song 'Sharp violins proclaim,' it will be seen that Handel has written merely violins and basses. The dissonances which Mozart has added in the viola part, are of the most excellent effect, well suited, moreover, to the character of the song which treats of 'jealous pangs and desperation.' Our last extract will be from the song 'What passion cannot music raise and quell?' in which Mozart has added pizzicato chords for the strings above the obbligato part for the violoncello.
710. It has been said already that additional accompaniments must in all cases be judged upon their own merits. The question is not whether but how they should be written. Their necessity in many cases has been shown above; and they will probably continue to be written to the end of time. While, however, it is impossible to lay down any absolute law as to what may and what may not be done in this respect, there are two general principles which may be given as the conclusion of the whole matter. First, that all additions to a score merely for the sake of increasing the noise are absolutely indefensible. At many operatic performances, Mozart's 'Don Giovanni' and 'Figaro' were formerly given with copious additional accompaniments for trombones; and a conductor has even been known to reinforce the score of Weber's overture to 'Euryanthe,' which already contains the full complement of brass, with two cornets and an ophicleide. All such procedures are utterly inartistic, and cannot be too strongly condemned. And lastly, no one who writes additional accompaniments has any right whatever to tamper with the original text, either by adding, cutting out, or largely modifying passages. By all means let such additions be made as are needed to adapt the music to our modern requirements, but let the changes be such as to bring out more clearly, not to obscure or alter the thought of the composer. These additions, moreover, should be in unison with the spirit, as well as the letter of the original. To hear, as is sometimes to be heard, Handel's music scored after the fashion of Verdi's grand operas shows an equal want of artistic feeling and of common sense on the
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