The study of the suite contained in the last chapter has brought us for the first time into contact with a cyclic form. We have seen that, as instruments developed, as the technique of playing them advanced, and as the themes and their harmonies became more plastic, composers naturally sought some larger plan than that afforded by a single dance form; they thus arrived at the suite. But the suite was inclined to be monotonous. The same key was used for all the separate movements, there was an almost invariable stated length for each, and the rhythms were too insistent to admit of great variety of expression. So composers began to experiment with other forms, chief among which was the sonata.[14]
Through all the rest of this book we shall be dealing directly or indirectly with the musical forms that go to make up the complete sonata. In the present chapter we shall deal with one of its simplest and most primitive types of structure, the rondo.
Sonatas were written as far back as the seventeenth century. Kuhnau's celebrated "Bible Sonatas," crude attempts at program music, are among the notableexamples of primitive sonatas. These were indeed "sound-pieces," but their resemblance to a real sonata, as we understand the term, is slight. Bach and Handel each wrote sonatas; and some of Bach's are masterly examples of the then prevailing style. His sonata for violin and piano in F-minor (number V in Peters' edition) may be studied as an example of the form. It contains four movements, the first, second, and fourth of which are purely polyphonic, the third being one of those beautiful meditative pieces of a somewhat rhapsodical style in which Bach seems to have specially delighted. Italian contemporaries of Bach also wrote sonatas, and some of those by D. Scarlatti (1683-1757) and A. Corelli (1653-1713) were of considerable importance in the development of the form. All these early specimens, however, were either vague and indeterminate in form, or were hampered in their expression by the old polyphonic methods. The modern sonata first begins to emerge in the work of Philip Emanuel Bach, son of John Sebastian, and his compositions in this style will be the subject of a later chapter.
Our investigations into the formal element of early dance music have thus far revealed two plans, "binary" and "ternary,"i. e., two-part and three-part. For such short pieces as the inventions of Bach, and for many of the separate dances in suites, the two-part form was adequate, but when instrumental music began to developon broader lines, so that each of the halves was extended to a considerable length, the advantage of the three-part form with its "restatement after contrast" was readily perceived, and it came to be frequently used.
Among the early experiments in form we find a kind of extension of ternary form by the repetition of its separate parts. Such pieces sometimes consist of but one stable phrase (A) with alternating phrases of an indefinite character, while others alternate two set phrases, as: A, B, A, B, A, B, A, etc. The one fixed principle in these pieces seems to be that they should end with the phrase with which they began. In primitive songs this fixed part constituted the chorus, with which the solo melody alternated, having, of course, different words for each verse.
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FIGURE XXII. NOUEL DE LAS FLOUS. (CAROL OF THE FLOWERS)
Chorus.Come with us, sweet flowers, and worship Christ the Lord,Let your perfumes hover round the Babe adored.
Chorus.Come with us, sweet flowers, and worship Christ the Lord,Let your perfumes hover round the Babe adored.
Chorus.
Come with us, sweet flowers, and worship Christ the Lord,
Let your perfumes hover round the Babe adored.
1st & 2nd Sopranos.
1st & 2nd Sopranos.
1st & 2nd Sopranos.
Chorus.Come with us, &c. (D.C.)
Chorus.Come with us, &c. (D.C.)
Chorus.
Come with us, &c. (D.C.)
1. Modest violet, hiding in the grassy shade,Thou canst say how humble He for us is made.Come with us, &c.
1. Modest violet, hiding in the grassy shade,Thou canst say how humble He for us is made.Come with us, &c.
1. Modest violet, hiding in the grassy shade,
Thou canst say how humble He for us is made.
Come with us, &c.
2. Lily fair, low bending in the sun's warm light,Thou dost tell that He is pure as thou art white.Come with us, &c.
2. Lily fair, low bending in the sun's warm light,Thou dost tell that He is pure as thou art white.Come with us, &c.
2. Lily fair, low bending in the sun's warm light,
Thou dost tell that He is pure as thou art white.
Come with us, &c.
3. As thou, Pansy, shinest forth in bright array,So doth He His majesty to man display.Come with us, &c.
3. As thou, Pansy, shinest forth in bright array,So doth He His majesty to man display.Come with us, &c.
3. As thou, Pansy, shinest forth in bright array,
So doth He His majesty to man display.
Come with us, &c.
4. As thou, Rose, wide-opening dost thy scent impart,So His love expanding, draws each sinful heart.Come with us, &c.
4. As thou, Rose, wide-opening dost thy scent impart,So His love expanding, draws each sinful heart.Come with us, &c.
4. As thou, Rose, wide-opening dost thy scent impart,
So His love expanding, draws each sinful heart.
Come with us, &c.
"The question is sometimes raised whether in the primitive carol the chorus began, or whether, as in many of our own popular songs, it waited until the end of the first solo verse. Probably the former is of the greater antiquity; in any case, it is from it that the rondo[15]is derived."—Hadow, "Sonata Form."
An example of this primitive type of carol will be found in Figure XXII.
This is an ancient carol from the old province of Bas-Quercy (now Lot-et-Garonne) in the southwestern part of France.
The obvious weakness of this form, when applied to instrumental music, is its monotony. One would soon weary of a bald repetition over and over again of two phrases or two melodies to which no variety was imparted, such as the change of words supplies in the foregoing carol. In order to avoid this disadvantage the natural step to take would be to impart, by some means or other, variety to the music; and this was soon perceived by composers. The idea of a fixed part remained,i. e., the chief musical idea was retained in its original form, but the secondary melodies were varied. Once this change had taken place the rondo became a frequent medium of musical expression. Specimens of the early rondo may be found in Purcell's song, "I Attempt from Love's Sickness to Fly," and in Bach's, "Passepied en Rondeau," from the fifth English Suite. The formula for these two pieces is A, B, A, C, A.
Another interesting point is the plan of the harmony of the contrasting sections in the rondo. The first of these (B) would naturally follow the prevailing custom for "sections of contrast," and be in the dominant, or, if the piece were in minor, in the relative major (see Chapter II.); but the second (C) offered a further means of variety, and the instinct of composers led them to treat it in a freemanner and not confine it to any one key. Each of the examples of rondo form referred to above adopts this method of procedure.
While this early form of the rondo possessed a certain charm, it was somewhat rigid in effect, since the various sections were separated from each other by a full close or complete pause. They were like little blocks that fitted together into a definite, if somewhat stiff pattern.
The primitive rondo was chiefly cultivated by the French harpsichord composers of the early eighteenth century, of whom Couperin (1668-1733) and Rameau (1683-1764) were the most distinguished. Reference has been made in our chapter on "The Suite" to the "Ordres" of these composers, and to the perfecting, at the end of the seventeenth century, of the instrument for which they were written, the harpsichord. The strings of the harpsichord were not struck by hammers, as in the modern pianoforte, but plucked by quills, as the strings of a banjo are plucked by the fingers of the player. It has been said of the harpsichord that it produced "a scratch with a tone at the end of it." The tone produced in this primitive way was weak and of brief duration, so that composers not only had to keep re-enforcing a tone by striking it again, as in the trills and other ornaments so characteristic of their music, but had to avoid altogether any long sustainedpassages such as are common in modern music. They had also to substitute for the polyphonic style, the entire effectiveness of which depends upon the sustainment of its melodies, a homophonic or one-voiced style which, while distinct from that usual in modern piano music, was historically an important factor in its development.
Couperin: "Les Moissonneurs" ("The Harvesters").
This na?e and delightful piece is a good example of the prevailing style of French domestic music in the eighteenth century. It is notable for its character of elegance; it issalonmusic, but at the same time it reveals a certain mimetic quality common among the French. The swing of its rhythm seems to catch a little of the idea conveyed by the title. Couperin's pieces have been called "a sort of refined ballet music," and they are, as a whole, based on well defined rhythmic movement. But we may trace in them the gradual progress away from dance forms and towards a freer and more idealized expression.
Couperin was called by his contemporaries "Le Grand," and was an important figure in the musical life of Paris during the reign of Louis XIV. His influence extended beyond France; even John Sebastian Bach adopts some of his methods in writing his French suites.
"Les Moissonneurs" may be formally tabulated as follows: