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Scan 81
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927
8 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026. Printed page 37. See the scan on archive.org.
1may be mentioned here that when Professor Prout produced an edition of Handel's 'Saul' with additional accompaniments by himself, he was careful to distinguish them from those of the composer by the use of initials P. and H. against the parts in the full score, and a similar method was adopted by Franz, but not consistently. Professor Prout's article was written for the first edition of this Dictionary (1879), and the following is his summary of the material before him:
3'Among the earliest examples of this mode of treatment are Mozart's additional accompaniments to Handel's "Messiah," "Alexander's Feast," "Acis and Galatea," and "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day." These works were arranged for Baron van Swieten, for the purpose of performances where no organ was available. Many other musicians have followed Mozart's example with more or less success, among the chief being Ignaz Franz Mosel, who published editions of "Samson," "Jephtha," "Belshazzar," etc., in which not only additional instrumentation was introduced, but utterly unjustifiable alterations were made in the works themselves, a movement from one oratorio being sometimes transferred to another; Mendelssohn, who (in early life) rescored the "Dettingen Te Deum," and "Acis and Galatea"; Dr. Ferdinand Hiller, Sir G. A. Macfarren, Sir Michael Costa, Sir Arthur Sullivan, and last (and probably best of all) Robert Franz. This eminent musician has devoted special attention to this branch of his art; and for a complete exposition of the system on which he works we refer our readers to his Offener Brief an Eduard Hanslick, etc. (Leipzig, Leuckart, 1871). Franz has written additional accompaniments to Bach's "Passion according to St. Matthew," "Magnificat," and several "Kirchengantaten," and to Handel's "L'Allegro" and "Jubilate.'"
5It will not be necessary to extend the examination far beyond this material. Though a few works by other composers, notably Astorga's Stabat Mater, have been given additional accompaniments, Handel and Bach are the only two composers whose work has been subjected to this treatment on any large scale. Moreover, though certain musicians in Germany since Robert Franz have added to the stock of additional accompaniments to certain of Bach's works, for example Felix Mottl, who scored for modern full orchestra the church cantata, 'Bleib bei uns,' and the secular cantata, 'Der Streit zwischen Phöbus und Pan,' the method which has been regarded as essential to Handel has never become generally accepted with regard to Bach. The general trend of feeling is now against any additions to his scores not absolutely required by local circumstances.
7The history of the additions made to Handel's oratorios, however, is a long and complicated one; it requires some outline. In the latter part of the 18th century the artistic conscience with regard to details of performance was exceedingly lax. The composition of the orchestra for the Commemoration of Handel held in Westminster Abbey in 1784 (see Burney, Commemoration of Handel) shows that musicians of the period had no idea but that the use of as many instruments and voices as possible must enhance the effect of the music. The composer's intentions did not come into consideration at all. When, therefore, a score of 'Messiah' was published in Germany and described as 'nach W. A. Mozarts Bearbeitung' it was readily accepted in this country as an improvement on the original of Handel. This score, Professor Prout has pointed out (preface to the full score of 'Messiah,' 1902), contained, besides Mozart's additional accompaniments, certain additions by John Adam HILLER (q.v.), and was based on an imperfect edition of Handel's text. Meantime, Mozart's manuscript of 'Messiah' was lost, though those of the other three of Handel's works arranged by him ('Acis and Galatea,' 'Ode for St. Cecilia's Day,' and 'Alexander's Feast') were preserved and passed to the Royal Library at Berlin. From this point, therefore, the instrumentation of 'Messiah' went forward from one confusion to another. Many editions were made in manuscript and some were published. The most important in the 19th century were those of Costa, Franz, Macfarren and Prout. Each accepted some material from Mozart and added and altered more or less at will. Other of Handel's oratorios were provided with additional accompaniments by Costa, Macfarren, Sullivan and others. But in the majority of these cases the arrangers were working on the original scores, whereas in the case of 'Messiah' each was an arrangement of an arrangement, not excluding Professor Prout's score, which may be taken as the most generally used one at the present day. Prout's edition, however, is the work of a scholar who realised the confusion and collated the scores of other arrangers with the original text of Handel. In his preface he declared his desire to retain Mozart's additions only where, in his judgment, they did not conflict with Handel's intentions. He restored Handel's wood wind parts (oboe and bassoon) in the choruses 'He trusted in God' and 'Let us break their bonds'; he advocated the use of the piano, representing the harpsichord, to accompany the recitative, a reform which has not generally been adopted; but he himself wrote new additional parts wherever he considered that Mozart had not sufficiently filled up the harmony, and he left out all Handel's figuring. His object was to produce a practical score for modern performance, and this he undoubtedly did. Meantime, Sir Frederick Bridge had made an attempt to return to Handel's own score in the performances of 'Messiah' by the Royal Choral Society (1897), and throughout his tenure of office as conductor till his retirement in 1922 only Handel's parts were used at the Albert Hall, the organ supplying the harmonies of the figured-bass. Sir Frederick Bridge did not, however, reintroduce the harpsichord or its modern successor the piano, in the accompaniment
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