What great king invited Bach to visit his court?
Describe the “Well-Tempered Clavichord.”
Mention other clavier works by Bach.
What improvements in technic did Bach introduce?
LESSON XXIX.
The German Sonata Composers, to Haydn.
Formation of Harmonic Design.—Side by side with the ultimate development of polyphonic music in its perfected instrumental form, the forms of the new harmonic style were being worked out, by long processes of development. Finally, just as the Fugue came to be adopted as the highest form of the old school, so the Sonata was chosen as the most dignified exponent of the new art. But, while the old school arrived at a high state of perfection at the hands of Handel and Bach, the necessity for inventing and experimenting with the possibilities of the new forms made the first attempts in this direction seem childish and crude beside Bach’s work; so that it was several generations after him before the harmonic style was brought to the stage at which it could be made to express ideas of equal magnitude, and do it successfully.
Development of the Sonata.—The original plan associated with the Sonata was that of combining several movements in such a way as to appeal, in the completed product, to all kinds of emotion, intellectual, spiritual and physical. In the hands of its founders, the Italian violinists, the exposition of this thought had been mainly contrapuntal. We have seen how Domenico Scarlatti arrived at a style in which a single part, supported by an accompaniment, was applied to the clavier, in a manner which brought out its striking characteristics; and we have now to trace the progress of this style in Germany, up to the point where the various contributions of different composers could be united into a systematic and fixed form, sufficient for the free expression of the highest musical inspiration, and adapted to all the varied demands of instrumental music.
Essential Elements of a Sonata.—Certain points seem to have been generally agreed upon as necessary components of the Sonata. The first was its union of several movements, from two up to five, or occasionally even more. The second was that the first movement should display the most ingenuity and elaboration. This movement thus came to receive the most attention, and showed a process of evolution from the simple dance form consisting of a modulation from a principal key to a contrasting key and back again, to a highly organised and conventional art-form—a form, moreover, of such a capacity that it could be used as the mould for the principal movement of a wide range of compositions, from a short pianoforte sonata to a grand symphony.
Changes in the Old Dance Form.—In this evolution, the first half of the dance form was made to consist of a Subject, either thematic or melodic, clearly defining the key, and then a modulating passage, generally freer in its runs and arpeggios, leading up to the point of contrast; and the first section was then repeated. The greatest changes took place in the second half. At first, this consisted in the repeat of the Principal Theme in the contrasting key, and a return to the first key through modulations similar to those in the first section; later, however, since this design gave little opportunity for a display of the composer’s originality, the enunciation of the Subject in the contrasting key was followed by a free passage, which gave ample scope to the composer’s fancy; after which the subject again appeared in the principal key, with a concluding passage in the same key.
Establishment of the Cyclic Form.—The form as a whole was now practically divided into three sections, and a better balance was given to this division by the omission of the second appearance of the Subject in the contrasting key, and the substitution of other material, either relevant or contrasting. The movement now assumed a cyclic form—a statement, leading to a point of contrast, a free fantasia, and finally the statement, leading to a close. This was practically the course of development of what has been named the Sonata Form, up to the time of Haydn. We are now prepared to consider the especial contributions of composers to this form.