Scan 62
Grove's Dictionary Of Music And Musicians Vol I A. To E., 1904
15 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. Printed page 44. See the scan on archive.org.
1violins in unison and basses; while Bach very frequently accompanies his airs with one solo instrument, either wind or stringed, and the basses. In such cases it is sometimes sufficient merely to add an inner part; at other times a somewhat fuller score is more effective. The following quotations will furnish examples of both methods.
3HANDEL, 'Sharp violins proclaim.'
4('Ode for St. Cecilia's Day.')
6BACH, 'Ich hatte viel Bekümmerniss.'
8In the first of these extracts nothing is added but a viola part; in the second Franz has added the string quartet to the solo oboe, and again treated the parts in that polyphonic style which experience has taught him is alone suitable for the fitting interpretation of Bach's ideas.
105. In all the cases hitherto treated, the melody being given as well as the bass, the task of the editor is comparatively easy. It is otherwise however when (as is sometimes found with Handel, and still more frequently with Bach) nothing whatever is given excepting a bass, especially if, as often happens, this bass is not even figured. In the following quotation, for example, taken from Bach's 'Magnificat' ('Quia fecit mihi magna'),
12it is obvious that if nothing but the bass part be played, a mere caricature of the composer's intentions will be the result. Here there are no figures in the score to indicate even the outline of the harmony. The difficulties presented by such passages as these have been overcome in the most masterly manner by Robert Franz, who fills up the score thus—
14By comparing the added parts (which, to save space, are given only in compressed score) with the original bass, it will be seen that they are all founded on suggestions thrown out, so to speak, by Bach himself, on ideas indicated in the bass, and it is in obtaining unity of design by the scientific employment of Bach's own material that Franz shows himself so well fitted for his self-imposed labour. It has been already said that Bach requires more polyphonic treatment of the parts than Handel. The following extract from Franz's score of 'L'Allegro' ('Come, but keep thy wonted state') will show the different method in which he fills up a figured bass in Handel's music. Here it will be seen there is no attempt at imitative writing. Nothing is done beyond harmonising Handel's bass in four parts. The harmonies are given to clarinets and bassoons in order that the first entry of the strings, which takes place in the third bar, may produce the contrast of tone-colour designed by the composer. The result is as follows:—
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