A Complete History of Music / for Schools, Clubs, and Private Reading

by W. J. Baltzell

Early Instrumental Music.—The history of pianoforte composition and playing really begins with that of the preceding keyed instruments with strings, to all of which the convenient name of “Claviers” will be given. As these early instruments were at first merely substitutes for the organ, which in turn was used simply to reduplicate voice parts, the music first played on them was in no wise different from the vocal and organ music of the day. When, moreover, music written for the organ had some features distinct from purely vocal music, it was frequently inscribed to be played on the organ or clavier, without discrimination.

Influence of the Renaissance.—As most of the patterns of musical form have proceeded from Italy, so it was there, in Venice, that instrumental music seems to have emerged from its union with vocal music, and to have assumed the elements of a style of its own. This was directly the result of the general awakening of thought after the Dark Ages, known as the Renaissance, which, leading to independent investigation in the domains of science and art, brought in the once unheard-of inventions and the discovery of new worlds, and in the other a freedom of treatment fitted to express the new ideas surging throughout the civilized world. Thus, in the first part of the 16th century, while Raphael and Michael Angelo were voicing these thoughts in their immortal creations, in Venice, a school of musicians was turning its attention toward instrumental music, and striving to produce in music a richness of color, just as the great Venetian painters, like Titian and Giorgione, were producing similar effects upon canvas. Teachers and students were congregating there, enthusiastic over the new ideas in music; and the focal point of all this activity was the Church of St. Mark’s, whose magnificent double organ furnished an incentive to genius.

The First Sonata.—Among these musicians were a number of apostles of the Netherlands school, of whom Adrian Willaert (1480-1562) was especially honored and beloved. He and his successors, as organists at St. Mark’s, wrote compositions for organ or clavier, which they taught to young ladies in the convents. Such compositions were made the more possible by the fact that into the old Church Modes, formed by using only the tones represented by the white keys of our piano, “chromatic” or colored tones came to be inserted; so that, in the course of the 16th century, the modern scales, with their characteristic keynotes, or tonalities, came to vie with the old modes, and ultimately nearly to displace them, thus giving a chance for a variety and grouping of harmonies necessary in the elaboration of instrumental music. The name Sonata, or “sound” piece, was at first given indiscriminately to such instrumental works, in distinction from the Cantata, or vocal work.

Willaert and His Pupils.—Willaert was especially successful as a teacher, and thus left a number of accomplished pupils to carry on his labors. Of these, Girolamo Parabosco (1593-1609) was noted for his free fantasias, and his improvisations of sonatas on the harpsichord; while Claudio Merulo of Correggio (1533-1604) wrote a number of toccatas, in which the old church chorale style was relieved by contrasting passages consisting of brilliant runs. The Toccata, or touch piece, had, as its characteristics, such quick running passages, probably first suggested by the light tone and action of the Clavier. While these runs had at first very little relevancy to one another, they were much delighted in by these early pioneers, who sported with them as a child plays with a new toy.

The Gabrieli’s.—Two other organists of St. Mark’s, Andreas Gabrieli (1510-1586), and his nephew and pupil, Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1613), added to the resources of instrumental music. The first of these, a pupil of Willaert, himself became a famous teacher; and both contributed many canzone and sonatas to organ and clavier literature. In all these the subjects were distinct, and, in the canzone especially, the many quick passages and changing rhythms were used in a manner that contributed to unity.

The Harpsichord in Opera.—A new factor now appeared in Florence, destined greatly to further the cause of clavier music: namely, the Opera. Taking the position of the conductor’s instrument, the harpsichord became the most useful member of the orchestra, and was employed constantly to fill in vague harmonies, and to strike chords as a support to the musical declamation of the singers. Such chords were not generally written out, but were suggested by their bass note, over which figures were written to show their positions. To this shorthand system the name of Thorough-bass was given. In this way the value of chord combinations came to be recognized, and the relationships of such chords studied entirely apart from the voice writing; so the idea of a single melody, supported by occasional chords, was transplanted from the Opera, and the modern harmonic style of music came into being.

Dance Tunes.—But, in this new style, the old basis for Unity in the composition, furnished by the imitation of one part by another, had to be abandoned, since only one melodic part existed at a time; hence a new basis had to be found in the manner in which harmonies succeeded each other. In determining such chord relationships, composers were obliged to look elsewhere than to the old Church music; and so turned their attention to the forms of Dance Tunes which had already been in use for a long time among the people in their Folk-songs, and in the performances of the wandering minstrels. Most of these dance tunes were formed in a very simple two-part design of harmony, consisting in a transition from the initial key to a contrasting key, for the first part, and a return from the contrasting key to the first key, in the second part.

Origin of the Suite.—A book of such dances, based, however, on the clumsy church modes, was published in 1551. Later, however, such dances came to be written in the new harmonic style; and by putting together a set of dances all in the same key but differing in rhythm and mode of expression, a larger form of composition was devised, combining Variety with Unity. To this form the name of Suite was given.

Girolamo Frescobaldi.