The Langloz Manuscript [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

EARLY MUSIC SERIES

THE, LANGLOZ MANUSCRIPT

THE LAI\GLOZ MANI-JSCRIPT Fugøl Improaisøtion through Figured Bøss

EDITION AND FACSIMILE, WITH INTRODUCTORY AND PERFORMANCE NOTES BY

WILLIAM RENWICK

OXTORD

IINIVERSITY PRESS

3L

JL+to

5o

DSSAY

F'ORtrWORD philorheory of music, as distinct from the genuinely is a question not as often askecl as sophical ctntl scientihcaccounts ofit (aesthetics, acoustics), ancl universities (especially in North perhaps it might be. tsy'music theory" schools, colleges .a its notes' achieved through Literate America) mean practical understanding of music and it. So harmony' counterpoint, fugue study,, i.e. through notation and lvritten exercises using performance is called practice' Composition is and related studies are called theory, and only are taught' if at all' and distinct field, and ear-training or listening skills

Whether there is really such a thing

as

allowed to be a separate as

yet another. developments' is experienced But music is sound; and sound, with all its attributes and

ltut obseraaoriginally through cogitation, Its theory is therefore nothing this respect in and the particular cultural context concerned tion oi r.ts prøctice based principles general -*hutJu.. pythagorean rdea of teoriø, the forming of conforms with the original is something with 'theatre', on observed phenomena. 1.n.oryl a word related etymologically

through the

senses, not

observed, experienced through the senses' the classroom of today, William Renwick's As well as obuio,.rrty t .irrg iseful in the studio and greatest a culture producing some of the r'vorld's The Løngloz Mør,ncript deinonstrates how, in of these nature The separated' not were music, its theory, practice, composition and perception

is already clear from the book's subtitle: 'fugal improvisation demonstrations and "r.r"ir., apparently distinct disciplines (creating through frgured bass" for not only does this unite three indicated by a flgured bass-line) but fugues, improvising on the keyboard, realizing harmonies intimate understanding of diatonic harimplies several others. For creating fugues requires an ,works'; improvi-sing r"q.,ir., this too, put also something more in the way of mony and horv it harmony well only come flnally quick musicianship o'd á pru.ti."l gÃspiond realizing figured a quick ear, and a creative style' train"d sense of historic from a knowledge or tt. t "yuorrd,.-" imagination not far removed from that of a composet" withJohann Sebastian Bach is outlined by To what exrenr the manuscript has anything tà do as has sometimes been the case with other the author, and not too much is claimed àn this score) since clearly it does belong to Rach's books. But this hardly affects the value of the manuscript' so-calle d pnrtispecific r,vays, and though the principles tehind such musical culture in t and "ry uliimately Italån, I think, and thus adopted by German m.ent. woÍk*er" *iderp*"¿ young how give of they view the English musicians, i.". ihor" most admiring Italian music That there is no separation of any real musicians in his period and country learnt, is invaluable' from anyone attempting any of the significance between musical theory and practice is clear and an annoted modern edition' Langlozexercises, which are available here in both facsimile modulation' thematic answers' For although one learns from them how to understand harmony' pieces of music all of which could be considered'theoretical' - the and basic counterpoint

-

that result from building on the given material have to remain prayable on the keyboard. Not the least taxing thing learnt by the student from such srudy is ,nË rà creare music thar can be performed by ten fingers. How often "ã"i paper_exercises _ one finds that mere written assignments by even the most conscientious teacher or student ,irn out to be unplayable! It was a clever observation of D. E Tovey that in Trte Art of Fugrr,- *hut urrelse Bach was trying to achieve with the counterpoint at anyone point, he always lãft ir.n"o-p"rrable by two hands. ' That is a difficult skill, but it can be lårnt.

one is bound to wonder whether it was for the best that after the Bach period the language of music was raughr ress through pracicar work in ,imp-uir.à;iü;, Qtørtimento) and. more through special exercises exrracting pure intervar, o' p"p., ø. rírìn, counterþointtaught by Haydn' Mozart, Beethoven and the later conservatories). It could well be the latter that has helped relegate the study of counterpoint to the margins of so -.r.r, -url"-teaching today, in which composers graduate who havà never wri*en Jr,rgu., pã*rir'¿*"lop concert careers who have never improvised, and teachers go into tealize some figured harmony' May the "l"rrro*r'rho have never properly learnt to fresent book help ,o ,"uiu.in. ,practical rheory, of music' producing an inrimate und".rt"rräi'g of the languåge ;;;" from which one can go out in any direction and grasp the narure of íny kind of music! "f Peter Williams

Duke Universit¡ NC and CardiffUniversity,

UK

vlrl

PREFACE Just what sorts of processes were going through J. S. Bach's mind as he improvised a keyboard fugue in three, four, even six parts? And what sort oftraining equipped an organist ofthe early eighteenth century to practise the art of accompaniment and improvisation successfully? The method which linked keyboard technique, improvisation, accompaniment, performance, and the centre composition into a unified theory and practice was none other than thoroughbass of the baroque musician's art. The Langloz Manuscript, originating in the era and proximity of Bach's region of activity, and containing the largest extant collection of partimento fugues, documents this very process and demonstrates the method by which the art of thoroughbass provided a foundation for extemporized fugue. The present edition is the first publication of this manuscript. Pitches are designated by the Helmholtz system: pitches from middle C to the B above are labelled in lower case with a superscript 'r'. Pitches in the octave above are designated with a superscipt '2', pitches in the octave below middle C are notated in lower-case letters, and pitches in the octave below that are indicated by upper-case letters. I am grateful to Arnim Eisenach, SBB, for originally providing a microfilm of the manuscript, and to Helmut Hell, SBB, for kind permission to publish the facsimile. I am particularly indebted to Hans-Joachim Schulze, Direkto¡ Bach-Archiv Leipzìg, for generously providing historical data concerning August Wilhelm Langlotz. Thanks are also due to Claus Oefner, Direktor, Bachhaus, Eisenach; David Schulenberg, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Yoshitake Kobyashi, Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Institut, Göttingen; Joachim Jaenecke, SBB; and Russell Stinson, Lyons College, Arkansas, for their assistance on various musicological matters, and to Gerhard Teuscher, McMaster lJniversity, for assistance in deciphering the text of the Aria. I am grateful to Peter Williams, Richard Jones, and David Ledbetter for reading the entire manuscript and making many helpful suggestions. Finally, to Bruce Phillips and Helen Peres da Costa of Oxford lJniversity Press, I express my appreciation for guiding this work through publication.

w. R. Mc Mø,ster [Jnio e r sity,

Hnmilton, Ontario Januøry,2000

lx

CONTENTS Themøtic Cøtølogue

xlll

1 Partimento Fugue

I

2 Format and Contents of the LanglozManuscript 3 Origins of the LanglozManuscript 4 Principles of Performance 5 The Edition 6 The Facsimile

lll

Ind,ex

189

xl

9

23

29 aa

JJ

7

THEMATIC CATALOGUE Title FuguelinCmajor

Edition (tracsimile)

page

3s (113)

Title Fugue9inDminor

Edition (Facsimile)

page

43

(r?t)

x

Fugue2inCminor

36 (114)

Fugue 10 in D minor

Fugue3inCminor

37 (1ls)

Fugue

r Fugue4inCminor

38

ll

44 (122)

4s (r23)

in D minor

i (ll6)

Fugue 12 in E flat maior

46 (t24)

'1 t

/

Fugue5inDmajor

39

(r7)

Fugue l3 in E flat maior'

47

Fugue6inDmajor

40 (118)

Fugue 14 in E flat major

48 (126)

x

(tzs)

1

FugueTinDmajor

41 (1le)

trugue 15 in E minor

FugueSinDmajor

42 (120)

Fugue 16 in

4e (127)

I

\

x11l

E,

major

49

THEMATIC CATALOGUE

Title

Edition (Facsimile)

page

Title

Edition (Facsimile)

page

Fugue 17 in E major

s0 (128)

Frgue2T in G major

se (137)

Fugue 18 in E minor

st (129)

Fugue 28 in A major

60 (138)

Fugue 19 in F major

s2 (130)

Fugue 29 in A major

62 (140)

r Fugue 20 in F major

s2 (130)

Fugue 30 in A minor

63 (141)

2l in F major

s4 (132)

Fugue 31 in A minor

64 (142)

Fugue

Fugue 22

inF

major

ss (133)

Fugue 32 in B flat major

64 (142)

Fugue 23

inF

major

s6 (134)

Fugue 33 in B flat major

66 (14+)

Fugue 24 in G minor

s7 (t3s)

Fugue 34 in B flat major

67 (t4s)

Fugue 25 in F minor

s8 (136)

Fugue 35 in B flat major

68 (146)

r x1v

THEMATIC CATALOGUE

Edition (Facsimile)

Title

Title

Page

Prelude and Fugue 44 in C

68 (146)

Fugue 36 in B minor

Edition (Facsimile)

minor

Page

80 (158) 6

6"1

5

Fuga

70 (148)

Fugue 37 in B minor

r

L Prelude and Fugue 45 in C

82 (160) ,s

ö6

70 (148)

Fugue 38 in B minor

minor

Tâsto Solo

Fuga

72

Fugue 39 in B minor

s0)

Prelude and Fugue 46 in D

major

J 6 6 6

7s (1s3)

Prelude and Fu gue 41 6in C maior 67

+6

66

6 66

Fuga

4l

5õ

Fuga

Prelude and Fugue 47 in D

major

6'/6

Prelude and Fugue 42 in C 55

6

maior

65 t6t5 1

84 (162)

0

76 (154)

43

86 (164) 6

Fuga

Fuga

Prelude ancl Fugue 48 in D

It4 2

Fugue 43 in C majot'

616

minor I F

78 (ls6) Fuga

rr

x\¡

7 b't

t

87 (165) \o

71

THEMATIC CATALOGUE

Title

Edition (Facsimile) page

Prelude and Fugue 49 in D minor

.7 b6 4 3

4 3

6

88 (1166)

I

Title

Edition (Facsimile)

Prelude and Fugue 54 in E minor 56 6 98

5

43

o

Fuga

'7 6 9 8

t'3 z \

page

e8 (176) 56 43

Fuga

Prelude and Fugue 50 in E flar maior

e0 (168)

6

6i6i4

Prelude 55 in E minor

¡

66

ti

ee (177) 66

66 6 6666

Fuga

Prelude and Fugue 56 in F 6

Prelude and Fugue 5l in E flat 9

major 43

6

major

100 (178)

66

92 (170) Fuga

6

Fuga

Fugue 57 in F major Prelude and Fu gue 52 in E flat mator 6

b6

)4t

4

ei

2

102 (r80)

e4 (172) b6

67

Aria fAlles liebt

Fuga

und paart sich wieder]

Prelude and Fugue 53 in E flat 6964

major

3 s 6

103

(l8l)

96 (174)

4 3 s

Al.les liebt und paart

b6

trugue 58 in F major Fuga

xvl

sich

wie der,

lie

bend

104 (182)

THEMATIC CATALOGUE

Edition (Facsimile)

Title

Title

page

Prelude 62 in A

10s (183)

Fugue 59 in F maior

Edition (Facsimile)

minor

Page

108 (186)

66

106 (184)

Prelude 60 in G major 66666

66666

Prelude and Fugue 6l in G maior

107 (18s)

6

56

Fuga

xv11

Galant sketches

10e

(r87)

7

I

PARTIME,NTO FUGUE of melodies in a circumscribed is founded on thoroughbass' an style baroque the environment of'.or-rro.ru^." u.r.l .lirrorlonce, rise of instrumental forms in the underlying harmonic and voice-leading context. with the motet expandecl into a nerv Renaissance the b".oqn. tte 'point of imitation' that characterized forms of keycontrapuntal new the and profouná for.r-, of musical exp'ession, the fugue. As of the sevencourse the through boorà ."r,zona, cappriccio, ,i.ercàr., and fugue developed ¡6 a1¡-çs¡¡¡¿l point of the musician'5 teenth century, ancl as thoroughbass became the focal emphasis increasing harmonic knolvledge, u..o-pu"rryir1g, improvisation, and composition-an for the new imfoundation as a thoroughbass for models rvas placed on developing p.dugogic*l compositional purposes' Conitative style, rvhetheifoä.orripor",i-"t-rtal, improvisational' or on a gil'en cantus fìrmus counterpoints or trapuntai composition by the layering of melodies father's method thus: his describes c. P. E. Bach was replacecl by a .re.," hur.^o,li"

while

Renaissance polyphony arises from the combination

"pproach.

pieces for the clavier', he brought up his since he [f. s. Bach] himself had composed the most instructive and omittecl all the dry species of pupils on them. . . . He srartecl tiis puiils right rvith rvhat u'as practical, begin their studies by learning pure lourcounterpoint that are giyen in Fux and others. His pupils hacl to palt thorough bass.l

Numerous treatises, the most pracBach rvas by no means alone in this thoroughbass approach' the pervasiveness of thortical of which is perhaps F. E. Niedt's The Mtnicø] Gttitle,2 attest to eighteenth centuf)¡' the of beginning oughbass as a \,vry of thirrki.rg about music around the g. 'His method is the treatise: p. his 1792 p. Bach's description in

Kirnberger amplifiedt. to the most difficglt, and as a result best, for he proceeds steaclil¡,, step by step, from the easiest from one step to the next"3 unclereven the step to the fugue l-rut o"iy th. diffi"ulty of passing through the complexities of scoring the absolute cãntinuum from the simplest thoroughbass P' E' Bach too that by the last quarter of the eighteenth century C' J.

fugue. We neecl to remember years some fifty years earlier and that and Kirnberger were reminiscing about their fofmative stvle and technique that had been musical Sebastian Bach had come to r"p1.r.n, a historic

13Jan. i775, trans. in Christoph Wolfi, ed', The Neø Carl philipp Emmanuel Bach, lctrer roJohann Nicolaus Forkel, 399 1998)' Norton, Bach Retder(NervYork ancl Lonclon: \\1\\¡ Pamcl¿r 2 Fr.icderich Erharclt Nieclt, The fuIusicul cuidt (tlhusikatische Ilonlleittmg,Hamburg, 1700-17), trans. ancl cd' 1989)' Press' Universit¡' Poulin ancl Irmgard Taylor (Oxforcl: Oxford r Jolrann philipp Kirnber ger,Gelunleen iilter ùie xersrhied¿nen Lehrtrten in tler Konposition rtls vttrl¡ereitung zur Fugen' Reatlcr'320' Þtntitnis (Berlin,ii92;,'l-5, tt"nt. in \\¡olff, ed', The Nent Bach

r

PARTIMINTO FUGUE

largely superseded by a galant aesthetic based on rhe grammar ancl rhetoric of instrumental melody supported by simple accompanying harmonies and basses. A logical starting point for the study of fugue through thoroughbass was the accompaniment of instrumental or choral fugue, where the keyboardisi is providäd r,vith a figured bass part for a fugue' Such parts normally contain the lowest sounding part plus figures as a ¿igest of the harmony represented by the upper parts. When the bass rests, the continuo follows the tenor line, or indeed the alto or treble, necessitating considerable use of C clefs. passages such as these were known as lta'sseTto (small bass). Where only two upper parts

part typically shows both parts on a single stave.

are sounding, the continuo

From the study of thoroughbass accompaniment it is a small step to thepørtimento, literally a small score' In the context of baroque music, partimento refers toìn independent figured bass that contains the basic elements of a simple composition. Partimenti fall precisely on the cusp between musical exercises and compositions. They exhibit

associated

the formal properties normally with complete compositions) yet their iocus is pedagogical, leading to studies in

improvisation and fugal composition.+ Partimenrofugue,trrerr, .ãr.].s to partimento composia main theme in various registers through the course ofa piece.s

tion in fugal style' based on restatements of

Perhaps the most prolific composer of partimenti was Bernardo pasquini, Itary,s ,Apollo of music', and a remarkable virtuoso at the keyboard. Pasquini's hundreds oÌ"*tunt p".ti-.nti are preservecl in two manuscrípts, Loncktn, British Librarlt Ã45 Atld. 3I S0l and Rome, Bibliotltecø del Conserotûorio rJi Mttsica Santa, Cecilia, ltIS A/400.iThe shortest and simplest of pasquini,s partimenti, found in the section of the London manuscript entitled ,102. Versetti in Basso continuo Per rispondere al coro', are intonations or interluàes that could be elaboratecl upo' u, organ preludes or versets in a liturgical context. They are grouped by key or tone) and several contain overt references to psalm-tone ìntonations. Èxamll. i illurt.rt.s three of these.The first partimento sets forth a simple imitative motive in semiquavers followed by a cadence. The second is a freely developed bass-line. The third is a point oiimitotion on rhe fifth psalm-tone. A second style is represented by lengthier basses that contain considerable mod;ic development and figuration as well as modulations to related keys. A third group would be partimento fugues, which generally repeat brief subjects in diverse rLgisters anã rranspositions. Example 2 is such, arranging seven subject statements in a variet| of registers, f'ollo1ved by a formal cadence in mode l. Pasquini's unique contribution to the iiteratule is his numerous partimento sonatas for two keyboards. These contain two independent but related continuo parts that are to

r

Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, ðsv4, on the Tnrc Art of plu.ying Ke.1,þoortl Instruntenrs (l/erntth iiber dic ton hre Art das zu spieletr (Berlin, 1753-62)),ttans. ancl ed. \À¡iltiam À4itchell (London: cassell, 1949),442 5, discusses ancl illus-

cltxiu

trates hos,such

a bass can be developed into a completed inprovisecl composition. 5 As David Schulenberg points out, 'there is little difference benvee n frce fugal improvisation and rhe realization of a figure d bass accompanime nf in ln 0 t0þþcllt f\g,re'. David schulenberg, 'composition ancl Improi,isation in the school ofJ. S.Bach' , Bach Persþertixesl, ecl. Russell Stinson (I"incoln, Nebr.: Unir.ersiÛ, ofNebraska press, 1 995), 14. ú Facsimile edirions:Aleranclersift:ìger,eð,.,London,Bri'tishLihrar.l,,niiui,ii.jtioì

grnlh), sexentcenth

centur.¡r Kel'þ¡nr¿ 'ùIusíc, vol.8 (New Y-ork: Garland, lggs), Bil¡lio¡heca de! Conscruotorio tli 14usita Srnta Cetilia,,ùI'S ¿j/400,Seaanteenti Crut,u.l, Garland, 1987).

2

¡:àrrrnrropnrq,tinï,partiarAuro_

ani Alexancler silbig-e¡ ed., Ronte, fry¡on,tl Musìc,r,ol. l3 (Nes,york:

7 PARTIMI,NTO FT]GUE

performed simultaneously. One can imagine no more effective means for master and apprentice to work together in the development of thoroughbass technique.

be

(a)

{3

Soli

.

43f

oTo 4

(b)

2

6

165 344

+

o

't

(c)

't i6

16

'7b6j

416

'Ex.

1.

Pasquini, London, British Librarl', MSAdd. 31501: (ø)

II-24';(c)Il-52'

??

+

a

/ Ex. 2. Pasquini, London, British

Liblar¡ MSAdd. 31501:

(ø)

III-5'

Precepts and Princi|tles for Playing the Thorough-Bøss or Pnrts, to J. S. Bach, support the view that Bach himself advoFour attributed Accomþanlting in cated the use of partimento in his teaching.T While much of the music inthe Preceþts und Princip/es is decidedly inferio¡ fourteen admirable figured-bass exercises founded on descending scales and sequences contained in the section'Principles for Playing in Four Parts', may indeed be byJ. S. Bach. Each exercise utilizes a different combination of figures. Exercise 13, for example, teaches the resolution of suspension chords in third inversion. Example 3 shows a possible realization in small notes. Simple cadences, repetition in closely related keys, and a dn cøpo, develop a rudimentary ternary form in this elementary figured-bass exercise. Studies such as this would be practised in all the familiar keys and in due course would become a natural part of

The examples in the manuscript

1 J. S. Bach's Precepts and Principles.þr Pltl,ir¡g ¡ft¿ Thorough-Bass or Accompnnying in Four Purts (Vorschriften und Grunrlsritze zun t;ierstimnrigen Spielen tles Generulbnses (Leipzig, 1738), trans. ivith facsimile, introtluction and notes bv Pamela L. Poulin (Oxford: Clarendon Press, i 994). 'fhis rvork also appears inJohann Phillip Spitta, johmn Sebnstiun Buh,

A. Fullcr-Maitlancl (London: Novello, 1883-5), iii. 315-47 (Appendix l2), and in Hans David and Althur Nlendel, The Bach Readet', 2nd edn. (Nerv York: Norton, 1966),392-8. Parts of the rvork are taken from Niedt's I/¡¿ .Mu s ica! Guitle. Carl August Thieme, rvhose handrvriting appears on the title page and in correctio ns through the course ofthe volume, lvas a stuclent ¿t the Thomas-Schule from 1 735 to 1 745. Hans-Joachim Schulze, ' "Das Stück im Goldpapier" Drmittlungen zu einigen Bach-Abschriften des frtihen 18. Jahrhuntlerts', Barh Jahrbuch,64 (1978), 19 42' has cast cloubt upon Bach's involvement rvith this rvork. See also Hans-Joachim Schul ze, S I udiett :u r Bt tlr- Ùherlicfer ung int I 8. jnhrhundert (Leipzig: Edition Petels, 1 984), 1 26-7. 3 \'ols., rÍâns. Cl¿ra Bell andJ.

3

PARTIMENTO FUGUE

the musician's vocabulary. One need only compare an exercise such as this r,vith the early versions of Bach's figuratecl I4/ell-Tbmpered Claoier I preludes to understancl how these p*,t...r, could form the basis not only of improvised 'prelucling', but also genuine of composition.s

rFrî 4

ó

t rt

'

6

2

-F¿;z 4

1

4 2

2

2

rÍfr

a

4

6

2

t

r

rrr

t 6

6 4

rf f f '

;¡|-]-l-

7¿e D,C

4

4 2

2

Ex. 3. Precepts and Principles,,Rules for play ing en quarre, ,No. 13

The Preceþts and Principles also contains five brief partimento fugues ranging from fourteen to twenty-one bars in length. Example 4 is typical. It is to be regrer;d rhar thesã eramples have

been the most widely available partimento fugues. Their bãrely competent, certainly unimaginative realizations, possibly by a student of Bach, give little id.a of rhe range of musical possibilities inherent in partimento fugue.e

In the course of the'Narrative ofTacitus', an imaginative allegory of the merits of thoroughthe difficulties of the old German tablature contained in Niedt's ,M usical

bass as against

Gulde,

it is suggested that the thoroughbass method allows students quite easily to ,make a fugue and the like ex temþore' .10 In order to support this claim, Niedt incìudes an example of partimento

fugue near the end his treatise. Example 5, much longer than any in the precepts antl principles, includes several subject statements in each part. In this particular type of partimento fugue all entries of the subject are notated.rr This fugue appears again as Fugue 22 in the Langlo, irurrrscript (see Chapter 3). s

William Rcnrvick, '4røl¡ zing Fugue: A Schenþerian Approrch (Stuyvesant, -. this connection. e Theruclimentarystyleanclglaringerrors*'erenoteclbyspitta,

.

Arnold in 10

Ny: pendragon,

1995), ch.

l,

illustrates

inJohannsebøstiattBach,andbl,Franckrhomas

The

,4rt of slcconr paninenr ft'ont o Thorough-Boss,2 i,ols. (Lo ndon: oxforcl univer.Jf,

lbrd.i.222. tt In The Musico I Guide this patrimento fugue

is

incorrectly identifiecl

4

as a

,lfivo-part

Fugue,.

;l ;;;:

t

d,

ii t.';ì,.

"""'"'

7 PARTIMENTO FUGUE

r t.z-

ip'ffi

È

1)lrl

.)

Ê?+ tsÊi

a

Ê

+-

+l^

2+

,

?

4 2

!,tt

tl

I

76

7

5

Ex.4.

Precepts and Principles,

6

6

43

'Elementary Instruction in Figured Bass', Ex. l2

76

7õ

b5

1l

l6

r õ

2t

26

6

'7

6

6

76

â

6

Ex. 5. Niedt, The,Musicøl Guide,48-50

.5

PARTIMENTO FUGUE G. E Handel composed several partimento fugues, apparently in the course of his instruction for Princess Anne, eldest daughter of George II.12 Handel's examples are comparatively sophisticated, indicating in letter notation the starting pitch of each entry of the subject, thereby facilitating entries in the upper parts above the bass. In his commentary on Handel's sketches and thoroughbass exercises Alfred Mann concludes that'in Handel's instruction the study of fugue evolved from thoroughbass technique'.13 The distinction between partimento fugue and fully-composed fugue can be slight indeed. Example 6 (ø),fromanorgan prelude by Buxtehude, shows how little additional detail is in fact required beyond the partimento to realize a simple yet genuine fugue. The descending order of entries allows complete freedom of motion in the upper parts, just as in a typical partimento fugue. Once the music reaches three parts in bar 48, the counterpoints revert to the simplest continuo harmony, throwing the quick notes of the subject into relief. Example 6 (å) shows how the same music might be represented as a partimento. Pachelbel's fugues in C major and A minor, and the first fugato of Bach's early Prelude and

FugueinAMinor,nwv55rareconceivedonequallysimplelines.ra Thesepiecesrepresentthe final step to genuine fugue; the final step in a gradual process which is documented at each step as a pedagogical tradition, precisely as outlined by C. P. E. Bach and Kirnberger. Fugues such as these may be the most representative examples we possess of what extemporized fugue was actually like as it was practised by countless organists throughout Germany around the beginning of the eighteenth cenrury. In the logical development from simple thoroughbass to fugue, partimento fugue occupies a central position. Partimento fugue adds imitative counterpoint to the framework of pure voiceleading, and it is the essential link between a basic harmonic framework and an elaborative contrapuntal texture.15 Partimento fugue reflects a method of conceptualizing fugal composition and improvisation as an extension and refinement of thoroughbass, rather than as an extension of counterpoint. It illustrates a harmonic rather than a contrapuntal conception of fugue and attests to the attempt on the part of composers and improvisers to conceive of fugue in terms of thoroughbass during the baroque era.16 For the baroque keyboard musician, performing meant reading figures, composing meant working with figured basses, improvising meant spinning out and elaborating motives with their implied harmonies. We must remember too the manifold duties demanded of an organist or keyboardist during this period: preluding on a harmonic basis as outlined by Niedt and f2 George Frederick Handel, Aufzeiclmtngen

I,

zur Kompositionslehre ('Composition Lessons'), Høllische Htíndel-

Ausgalie, Sutrplement, Band ed'. Alfred Mann (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1978). See esp. 44-52. See also David Ledbetter, Continuo Plaling Accortling to Høndel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990). 13

¡{

Handel, Aufzeichnungen zur Konryositionslehre, 45. Johann Pachelbel, orgeluerke,ed. taugott Fedtke (NewYork: c. E Perers, 1973),vol.4,20-3,

r0r+.

r5 Partimentofuguewasalsousedtotrâinintheaccompanimentofimitativevocalpolyphony.Indeed,occasionallythe

continuo part of a concerted fugue taken by itself resembles a partimento fugue. The parrimento fugue in Johann David Heinichen's D¿r Generøl-Boss in der Conposition (Dresden, 1728) is conceived in terms of an accompaniment to a concerted fugue. See George J. Buelow, Thorough-Bass Acconryaniment Accortling to Johønn Døz:id, Heinichen, rev. edn. (Ann Arbor:

UMI Research Press, 1986),208-10.

r6 AlfredMann,'Bach¿ndHandelasTèachersofThoroughbass',Bach,Hantlel,Scarlat¡iTercentenøDtEssa,!s,ed.Peter Williams (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 256, an dIFrand,el, Aufzeichnungen zur Kompositionslehre,4T .

6

Y_ PÀRTIMENTO FUGUE (a) g

a

ta o a oa a aa o o o oa a aa

::::

'-- - .---\:! .aa

-lÒ =_l

i

-

a la a

l

=Q:

a

tl

-t

--t

t?

l

-

) )J1

-a

T+

,a

l-

--

)

+

(b)

?

t) )

4'1

r.

9

oe oooo..oto. -41

a

-

()

6

a 6

tt

b

6

50

i1

l-

aa

a

rE

T

a

'toì

163' bars 44-52 Ex. 6. Buxtehude, Prelucle in G minor Bux WV

of the next century in the r'vork of C.p.E. Bach and still illustrated as late as the beginning and imin thoroughbass, harÃo nizing and elaborating chorales, J. C. Kittel;ri accompa;;i;g

posts. These same keyboardists were provising, including i-proîr"a fugrres at the prestigious from the keyboard and for realizing conresponsible for directini rehearsals'ancl performances concerted fugues' Since all of this tinuo parts for everythiíg from simple chor"1., to eight-part p.ouid" a sun'ttlxø of musical art in the first activity centred o., figu.ãd bass, C.þ. E. Bach could Tiue Art of Plajting Keyboard InstrumenTí half of the eighteenth century with his Essalt on the and composition; a unified means of dealing Thoroughbass was the foundation of performance and performer' teacher' and rvith the substance of music that bouncl together composef student. bci

r7

JolrannChr.istianKrftel,DerongehendeprnÞtischeOrganist,oderAntt'eisuttgztnnzntecþnrissigexGel¡rnuchtlerOrgel Gottistt errh run grn in Be isp ie Ien, (Erfurt, 1801-8)' 7

PARTIMENTO FUGUE

The influence of thoroughbass and the partimento inevirably waned in comperition with the ascendant currents of Fuxian counterpoint, Ramellian fundamental bass, and, gølønt melody in the latter part of the eighteenth century, during which time Vienna emerged as the centre of the nascent classical style and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger in particular reformulated Fuxian counterpoint within this new context. Albrechtsber gef s Ëlernentørjt Method. of Hørmonjt ønd Composition (Leipzig 1790) substantially influenced Cherubini's Tþeøtise on Counterþoint ønd Fugue (Paris, c'1837) in widening the gulf between counterpoint and harmony in peãagogical terms. The legacy of this division for counterpoint in the later nineteenth and early tweniieth centuries was thefugue d"école as codifredbyAndré Gedalge in Tieøtise on the Fugue (paris,190l). Mattheson's brilliant 48 Probe-stüc,åe or 'test-pieces', published in 173 1, was the last important German collection of partimenti. In Italy the practice continued for some time, for we find a considerable collection of partimenti composed by Fedele Fenaroli around the end of the

eighteenth century and reprinted throughout the nineteenth century.rsVirtually a lost art

today, partimento fugue makes clear Kirnberger's point that even the fugue, as taught by - J. s. Bach, is only one further step along a continuous path of ever growing complexity. f

8 Fedele Fenaroli, Pørtinenti ossiø basso numerøto, 9th edn. (Florence and Milan: Giovanni Canti, 1863).

I

Y_

2

F'ORMAT AND COI\TENTS OF'

THE LANGLOZ MANUSCRIPT

Mus. ms. Bach P 296 (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preussischer Kulturbezitz ISBBI) is perhaps the most important of all the surviving German sources of partimento fugue. It is one of the largest extant collections of partimento fugues and it bears an attribution toJ. S. Bach. Despite its central position as a bridge between theory and practice in baroque figured bass and its possible connection to the Bach circle, P 296has received scant critical attention. It is tantalizing to imagine that this collection may in some way represent Bach's methods of improvisation and composition, yet it remains doubtful that any of its contents stems directly from Bach. Known as the'Langloz'manuscript after its scribe, P 296is listed as rtem22 in the preface of Schmieder's catalogue of Bach's works.rThe cover of the 17x20.5 cm oblong octavo volume is simply marked Bassi cifr ati,Italian for figured bass, in an elegant but unknown hand. The titlepage reads: '39. I PRAELUDIA et FUGEN I d,el Signor I Joha,nn Sebøstian I Bach'.Inthe lower right corner the same hand has inscribed'Possessor I A.W. Langloz I ANNO 1763'. The name Langloz has been struck out on the manuscript and a later 'Possessor I J. C. Westphal' inscribed above. This refers to one of the two Hamburg organists and music publishersJohann Christoph Westphal (1727-99) or more likely his son Johann Christian (1773-1828), sometimes also known as Johann Christoph.2 To the left of these two is the notation 'Voß | aus der Westphalschen I Auction', indicating that when Westphal's collection of books and manuscripts was sold by auction in 1830 P 296 was offered as cat. no. 1326-'ahandwritten collection of preludes and fugues' (Ein [Conuolut] mit Prcilud. u. Fugen. Geschr.).3'1326. Ad. No 4'in the lower left centre of the title-page refers to the listing ofthis item in the auction catalogue.P 296 was acquired by C. Schwoemstaedt, a Hamburg book commissioner acting as agent for Count Carl Otto Friedrich vonVoss (1786-1864). Voss acquired much of Westphal's Bach Nachløss Portions of this chapter and the next appear in 'Praeludia et Fugen del signor

J. S.

Bachl: SBB Mus. ms BachP 296' , B ach

PerspectiaeslY, ed. David Schulenberg (Lincoln, Nebr.: University ofNebraska Press, 1999), 137-58.

1 Wolfgang Schmieder, Thematisclt-systentatisches Verzeichnis der musil¿nlischen WerÞe aonJohønn Sel¡astinn Bach,2nd edn. (Leipzig: Breitkopf& Härtel, 1990), xxxi-xxxii, item 22. Curiously, Schmieder gives the date as 17 56.P 296 is listed in Paul Kast, Drz Bach-Hnndschriften

der Berliner Staatsbiltliothek (Trossingen: Hohner-Verlag, 1958),21,as Incerta

65.Here

the scribe is identifìed as'W. Langloz'.

2 Krst, Die Bach-Hnndvhrifren,2l and 148, inexplicably identifies Westphal as the Mecklenburg organist and collector JohannJakob Heinrich Westphal (1774-1835), no relation to the Hamburg Westphals. See MiriamTèrry, 'C. P. E. Bach ancl Clarification' , journøl of the American Musicologica I S ociet¡r,20 / 1 (1969),106-15. J. J. H. Westphal -A Joharn Selsastian 3 Dietrich Kilian, ßaclt: Neue Ausgabe Sàintlither WrÞe,SeriesIY,vols.5-6, Krìtivher Bericht, vol. 1, 239.

FORMAT AND CONTENTS OF THE LANGLOZ MANUSCRIPT

and in I B5 I donated his collection, including P 296, to the Royal Library in Berlin, the precursor of SBB.+'Mus. ms. Bach P 296' in the upper left corner indicates the call number in SBB. No watermark appears.i Thus the title-page records to a great extent the transmission history of the manuscript. It is impossible to know whether there were intermediary owners betlveen Langloz and Westphal. However, Schulze places considerable confìdence in the reliability of the transmission of Bach manuscripts through Westphal.6

Since the main body of the title-page, the titles of the individual pieces, and the figures appear to be in a single hand, we can confidently identify the scribe as A. W. Langloz and can assume that he made the copy for his own purposes ín 1763, probably while an l8-year-old student of Kittel in Erfurt. We will take up the story of Langloz and Kittel again in Chapter 3. The verso of the title-page is blank, after rvhich the music begins on the following recto. This and the following pages are numbered 1-75 in a later hand. The manuscript itself is generally legible and clear but could not be described as elegant or stylish. The majority of the pages have six staves ruled at even intervals. Seven staves appear on pp. 1, 5, 15, 25, 32,52,and 53. In the case of seven-stave pages, all seven staves contain music except on p. 1, where the seventh staffis blank. Perhaps in setting out the staves Langloz decided to test on p. t how well seven staves would fit before ruling the entire book. It is evident in any case that the layout r,vas for the most part planned in advance, since apart fi'om page 1 a seventh staffappears only when needed, and only on pp. 5 and 25 does it appear to have been squeezed in as an afterthought. \\¡e can conclude that Langloz copied the layout ofan earlier source) page for page. Tì'anscription of didactic works and compositions from copies belonging to teachers lvas common throughout the thoroughbass era. This practical method of study gave students the opportunity to develop their own collections of musical resources.T Many of Bach's keyboard works have been preserved in precisely this way by students such asJ. P. Kellner andJ. C. Kittel among others.sAs r¡,ell, the misattribution of music to Bach has resulted from Bach's own practice of copying the music of others for his own use. The Langloz manuscript follows this tradition as a student copy from the collection ofa teacher. P 296 contains tll,o sets of partimento compositions comprising sixty numbered items and seventy-five movements in all. The first set, pp. 1-40, contains thirty-eight fugues ordered in an ascending series of the fifteen most familiar major and minor keys from C major toB minor. These are numbered consecutively from I to 25 and 27 to 39-hence the number 39 on the title-page. Fugue 26 is missing. This is not to say that a page containing Fugue 26 is missing from the book, but rather that Fugue 26, which most likely existed in the source, was never r The Voss collection s'as the thircl lalgest collection of Bachiana to be acquirecl b¡, SBB, after those of Georg Polchau and the Singakademie. Kilian, Bach: '9antliche I(erÞe, Series IV, vols. 5-6, Kritischer Berirht, vol. 1, 239ff.; Bettina Faulsticlr, Die',1'lusikaliensanmluttg der Familie uon I/oss (Kassel: Bärcnreiter, 1997) [Catalogus NIusicus. XVI],218 no. 814. 5 Yoshitake Kobavashi, in a personal communicarion, g Sept., 1985. 6 HansJoachimschulze,StutlicnzurBnrlrÙberlicferuugimls.Jahrhundert,(Leipzig,EclitionPeter.s, lg84),26.

i

'Kei'board plalcrs clepended mainlv on handrvritten copies, passed from hand to hancl, as sources for their performing and teaclring repertory.'Robert Hill, ed., Kq,l¡oanl Music.fi.on the Antlretts Bnth Booþ and the Möller À4muscript (Cambridge, Mass.: H¿n'ard Universitl.Press, 1991), xv 8 See Russell Stinson, The Bath Manuscri\îs o.f Johann Peter Kellner and his Cirtle: A Case Stutþr in Rercption Historlr (Durham, NC, and London: Duke Univelsity Press, 1989).

l0

FORM,\T AND CONTENTS OF THE LANGLOZ MANUSCRIPT

copied into the book. Fugue 40 appears only as a title and key indication H mol (B minor). It is doubtful that Fugue 40 appeared in the source. While the presence of a key suggests that the piece may have existed, on the other hand no other key could have been admitted into the formal scheme of the collection. Surely Langloz would have noticed the omission of Fugue 40 when he began copying the second set of pieces on the following recto. Furthermore, the title-page would then have read '40' and not '39'. The title of the volume remains a mystery for other reasons, however. If'39' refers to the fugues in the first set, why does it say '39. Praeludia et Fugen' and not simply'39. Fugen'l If the title-page refers to the entire collection, why does it not then say'62. Praeludia et Fugen'? The second set of pieces, pp. 4l-74, prefaced by no title or other distinguishing marks, contains twenty-two works: fifteen preludes and fugues, three preludes, and four fugues, numbered sequentially from 4l to 62 and arranged in an ascending sequence of only nine keys.q Many ofthe preludes and fugues are arranged so as to span a verso and recto, as are several of the more lengthy independent fugues. The less orderly nature of the second set and its omission of the higher keys G minor, A major, B flat major, and B minor, suggests that it is an incomplete set that may have been planned originally as approximately thirty prelude-and-fugue pairs. Page 7 5 contained six blank staves upon which a later hand penned several galant sketches, probably for violin. These sketches have been identified by Paul Kast as belonging to the 'Kittel-Schule', that is, in the style associated with Kittel and his students.r0 It is not impossible to consider that this might also be the hand of Langlozbut at a later period. There are considerable similarities in the style of the clefs and rests, but there are also differences. For example, the down-stems which are consistently on the right in the fugues are almost always to the left on p. 75. The accidentals are more clearly drawn on p. 75, too. Page 69 contained four blank staves lvhich were later used for a rustic aria, seemingly in a diffelent hand again. The first set of fugues includes all of the white-key major and minor keys except B major plus two flat keys, B flat major and E flat major, ordered for the most part in an ascending sequence of major and minor keys (refer toTäble 1).1tThe key sequence of the second set is an incomplete replica of that in the first set. The selection of keys is identical to that found in Bach's l5 Inventions and Sinfonias, and is also very similar to what Don Franklin identifies as the early stage key-schema for WTCII.t2This selection of keys represents a standard that was considered progressive in 1700 in that it eschewed any reference to modal practice and which remained standard through the middle of the eighteenth century. Indeed, apart from the WTC,all Bach's other keyboard music except the Toccata for Clavier in F sharp minor, Bwv gro, is limited to these fifteen keys. e ForthisreasonKast,DieBoch-Handschrificn,2l,andothersdescribethecollectionas'62'rathelthan'60Praeludien und Fugen'. ¡0 Ibid.

rr The

fact that E flat major is alrvays titled Drs-rfur (D sharp najor) is of no impoltance. This curious designation, rvhich

may have hacl its origins in tablature notation, occurs frequently in lSth-cent. German sources. 12

DonO.Flanklin,'Reconstructingthe UrltrtiturfolWTCII',inDonFranklin,ed.,-Bachstutlies(Cambridge:

Cam-

bridge University Press, 1989), 240-78. B¿ch's original ordering in the inventions wâs not the ascending sequence ofits final presentation but an interspersion of ascending and descencling major and minor keys. See Elhvood Derr; 'The TuoPart Inventions: Bach's Composers'Vademecum', -Music Theor¡, Spectrum,3 (1981),26-48.

l1

FORMAT AND CONTENTS OF THE LANGLOZ MANUSCRIPT

T¡¡re l. Kels in the eigh reenth-centu'.y (Etnres. Keys øre arrangerl ns a circle offfths nr ttÐo roDS, major and minor

LanglozMS, Set I

f Langloz MS, Set 2

f'omflnts

to shørþs,

E'BiFCGDAE cgdaeb EbFCGD cdac

Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias (c.1720) Bach's keyboard music

nottncludingWTC E E. Niedt,

The

Musical

Cuide,Pr.l (1700) Walther's,Mas

bb

iþ alis c he

Leúcon(1732),Thb.VII

EbBbFCGDAE cgdaeb EbB'FCGDAE fcgdaebfü B'FCGDAEB f cgclaeb Ai, E'BbFCGDAEB f egdaeb f

et,

The object ofsuch a series ofkeys was to provide practice on playing in keys built on each note of the scale while avoiding keys that require many flats or. sharps ãr. k.ys which sound unacceptably discordant in an uneven temperament. Other cont.*poår.ous sources do not neces-

sarily include exactly the same set of keys. Niedt's listing of keys jn The Musicttl Gui¿e,partI, for example, omits E flat majo¡ which was considered pi'oblematic on the organ, but includes both B flat minor and R major, although Niedt cautions against using the former on the organ.r3 A priority for Niedt in his list was pairing of parallel major and Ãi.,o. fo. each key. AÃong contemporaries, J. K. E F ischer explored a relatively lvide range of keys in his keyboard music, foreshaclowing the complete set of the I4/TC,whrleHandel's rãnge of keys remained compara-

tively limited' We can say therefore that the key scheme r.pr.r.nrl.d inp 296is entirely co.,sirtent with Bach's practice and with contemporaneous theory of the first decades of the eighteenth century. As in Bach's early practice, partial key signatures occur frequently inp 296.1+ For instance, all the C minor pieces have signatures of only two flats. This is of especial importance in interpreting the figures' which must be unclerstood in the context of the notatecl key signature rather than in tern-rs of the key in its modern sense. In some instances, howe\¡er) the key signature conflicts with the accidentals and figures, inclicating that it has been changed fì.om the source. For example, Fugue l4 in tr flat major, rvith a key signature of three flats, omits A naturals in the modulation to the dominant, suggesting that the piece at one time haã a ke1, signature of only trvo flats' Perhaps at the time P 296 rvas copied Langlozmade an attempt to rationalize the kev signatures to some extent. 15

'r Friedrich Erhardt Nietlt, T'he Musicol Guide (À4usikolische Hnndleitung,Hrml:urg, i700-17), rrans. and ecl. pamel¿ Poulin and Irmgard Ta¡'lor (Orford: Oxf'or.d Univer.sity press, l9g9), part I , 52_.t. rr Partialkevsignatut'esare frequentlyfound,inthci,Iällertwanuvriptas-rcltheAnlreosBttchBook,forexrmple.rnThe Musital Guide,Nieclt recognizes an optional flat in c minor, n minor, and G ninor, and an optional sharp inA major. l'i A paltial ke1'signature for.D minor appears in as late and as progressive a composition as Ha¡,cln,s String euartet 1 I in D rnajor, Op. 2 No. 5 (Trio of the fir.st Nlenuetro), composed in 1764. t2

7_ FORMAT AND CONTENTS OF THE LANGLOZ MANUSCRIPT

Langloz,or the copyist or composer of the source manuscript, was ctreful to avoicl page turns

within pieces. Consideration of a page turn may account for

an apparent reordering of Fugues

24 and 25 and may also have been a factor in the omission of Fugue 26. The reason that the order of Fugues 24 and 25 seems wrong is that the rising key sequence is broken at this point. Fugue 24 is in G major and Fugue 25 is in F minor. Langloz may have reversed these pieces so as to ¿ccomnrodate the more lengthy Fugue 25 across a verso-recto pair, pp. 24-5,andthen utilized the following recto for the next piece, the G major fugue. Had Fugue 25 originally occupied a recto in the source and the G major fugue (Fugue 24) the following verso, the missing F ugue 26 could have occupied the following recto. But by allotting part of a second page ro Fugue 25 Langloz may have neglected to reserve sufficient space for Fugue 26. Fugue 27 occupies the remainder of the following recto, and perhaps Langloz intended to include Fugue 26 at a conr,enient spot and later forgot, since Fugues 28 and 29 both require a verso-recto layout. The seconcl set of pieces comprises primarily prelude and fugue pairs. These appear with

considerable consistency from No. 4l to No. 54, following which the series concludes with isolated preludes and fugues and only two further paired preludes and fugues, Nos. 56 and 61, giving the impression of a score that was abandonecl in an incomplete state. The music is generally r,vell spaced and cleanly drawn, rvith only a small amount of crowding to the right margin. While the preludes are confined to the bass clef except for two brief passages in Prelude 49, most of the fugues use soprano, alto, tenor', and bass clefs, following the principles of four-part choral composition and accompaniment which used these clefs exclusively. Eight fugues include a treble clef in order to accommodate an extencled range. All but one ofthese are in the first set. In none ofthe prelude and fugue pairs, and in no piece from No. 44 onwards, cloes a treble clefappear. At each clefchange the key signature is included, except in instances where a clef appears as the final element of a stave. In some instances the indications 'Cant:', 'Alt:', 'Ten:', or 'Bass:' appear in conjunction with clef changes. This practice occurs consistently in Fugue I as if to establish a model, whereas in the majority of cases only one or tr,vo such indications appear.l6 The most commonly noted indications are 'Ten:' and to a lesser extent'Alt:', perhaps in recognition that these two clefs u'ould be somewhat less familiar to baroque keyboardists than soprano, bass, or treble clefs. Eight fugues have no prose indications of clef change whatsoever. The custos (guicle or direct) appears infrequently and only in instances u,here a partial bar concludes a stave. Fugues 14,21, and 32 are clistinguished within the collection by using treble and bass clefs exclusively Two of these fugues are exceptional in other ways as well. The subject of trugue l4 bears close rhythmic and intervallic relationships to Bach's F'ugue in G minor (WTC I) and to Fischer's Fuga V in E flat major (Arindne A4usicøe,1702).This particular subject type embodies the special characteristic of two parts that can combine in invertible counterpoint with each other, yielding stretti. Bars l1-12 of Fugue 14 attempt a stretto formation at the octave. Fugue 32 is unique in its adoption of a binary form with repeats and projects something of a concerto style that is unusual in the collection. Each of the two parts of Fugue 32 uses a different subject. l6 Thcsc notations should not be confused rvith the markings occasionallt,found in partimento lugues that indicate upper voice subject entt'ies, as in those ofHandel, for example.

13

FORMAT AND CONTDNTS OF THE LANGLOZ MANUSCRIPT

The second is very similar to the subjects of two of Handel's fugal partimenti preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum.li Perhaps Handel's early exposure to partimento fugue was through a source similar to that of P 296. The fugue subjects are not on the level of Bach's great fugue subjects, but they are by no means trifling either. Spitta's main argument against their attribution to Bach, that'there is no single fugue theme which can be recognized as like anything of Bach's elsewhere, and the composition is so poor that I do not believe it to be by him'1s overstates the case, particularly when these partimenti are considered as pedagogical material comparable to other contemporaneous partimenti. The subjects of P 296 are consistently more fully developed than those found in the Preceþts and Principles, for example, or in the work of Pasquini, and are certainly comparable to Handel's partimento subjects. Indeed, for pedagogical purposes partimento fugues ought predominantly to contain commonplace motives rvhich can be easily adapted as required by immediate circumstances. Nevertheless, the subjects are by and large more representative of the style of Pachelbel and Buxtehude than of Bach. Many have a repeated note opening, as in Fugue 21. Longer ones such as Fugues 20 and 30 are often sequential. Only the subject of Fugue 37 in B minor bears any hint of modality. Several subjects are reminiscent of known subjects by recognized composers. For example, the subject of Fugue 1l is similar to Buxtehude's Toccata in D minor, Buxwv r55, bars 29-30, and the sequential subject of Fugue 12 is reminiscent of the G minor fugue in WTCII.In addition, this fugue contains the potential for invertible counter-

point at the tenth and twelfth,

as actually occurs

in Bach's fugue. The subject of trugue l7

resembles the C sharp major subject in WTC II. Fugue 25 bears comparison to Bwv 537, second idea (bars 56ff.), as well as to Pachelbel's Ricercare in C n-rinor. The subject of No. 42 resembles the subject of Bach's organ fugue nwv 54r, and the head of the fugue subject of No. 48 is the same as that of The Art of Fugue as Schmieder has noted. The subject of Fugue 3l begins in the same way as that in the spurious Fugue in D minor, nrw Anhang 98. Hower.er, considering the general propensity of composers to borrow subjects from one another during this period, no definite attributions can be inferrecl from such connections. Perhaps more telling is the general stylistic affinity of the fugue subjects especially with many of those found in Pachelbel's collection of some 100 Magnificat fugues dating from his Nuremburg years, 1695-1706.1') Indeed, this collection bears not only considerable similarities in the general style and character of the subjects, but also in the ordering by tones albeit in church tones in the case ofthe Magnificat fugues, and keys in the case of P 296 as well as in the proportions and layout of the compositions, and in their general level of workmanship and simplicity of style. Nevertheless, no specific characteristics that can be positively identified rvith Pachelbel's personal style are to be encountered among the fugues ofP 296. r7 See David Ledbetter, Continuo Plal,ing l¡rr,'¿¡,tg to Hnndel (Oxford: Oxford University Pless, 1990), 46 and 50. These ¿lso appear in Hrndel,,4ufzeichnungen zur Konpositionslehre ('Composition I-essons'), Hnllische Htindel-zlusgalte , Suppletnent, BandI,eð,. Alfrecl N{ann (Kassel: Bärenreiter; 1978) ,49 and 63. rs Johann Phillip Spitta,Johann Seltustion Bath,trans. Clara Bell andJ. A. Fuller À4aitland (London: Novello, 1883-5),

ii.107,n.153. re Johann Pachelbel, Magnifcat-Fugen (Leipz,ig: Edition Petels, 1985). See l.lso Denþntn!¿r der Totþunst iu Osten¿ith (Vienna, 1901), viii. 2.

14

YFORX4AT

AND CONTINTS OF THE LANGLOZ MANUSCRIPT

While the great majority of the fugues contain an exposition of four entries in the clescending order SATB, other patterns occasionally appear. Several fugues have five entries in the exposition, providing the formal structure subject-ansr'ver-subject-answer-subject (Fugues l, 4, B, 18, 39, and 43). Only Fugues 7 ,14,21,22, and 59 begin rvith the alto voice. The alto beginning r,vas a favourite plan in Bach's keyboard fugues but not in his vocal fugues. Fugue 7 appears to have only three entries, but it can in fact accommodate a tenor entry in the realization immediately after the bass entry. In Fugue 2l,only three entries appear in the exposition. Fugue 38 is the only one in which the exposition begins in the bass, marked tosto solo (to be played r¡'ithout accompaniment). In the case of the paired preludes and fugues, the fugue sometimes begins r,vith the answer instead of the subject (Fugues 41 and 45). This technique was used by Bach among others as a tonal means of linking choral fugatos with preceding material. Partimento fugues by their nature can accommodate considerable freedom in their realization as to number of palts, complexity of texture, and degree of motivic imitation. Example 7 illustrates one possible realization of Fugue 1. In Example 7 the adcled parts, for the most part in slon er note values, represent simple yet authentic four-part music. The realized upper parts contain faster notes only where the given bass contains long notes (bars 12, 2l,and 26). Howevet maintenance of strict four-part music is by no means obligatory in this repertoire. Extensive use can be made of three-part realization as rvell as of fuller harmonies, particularly at cadential points. Frequently the beginning ofan upper-voice subject entry overlaps with a cadence in the bass. Typically in these cases the first few notes of the subject are omitted in order to accommodate the notated bass part. In Example 7 this occurs at bar 13. Since the bass in bars23-24 is essentially the same as the treble of bars 2-3,the realization takes the opportunity to include an ans\,ver in invertible counterpoint in the treble. Example 7 is also representative of the way in rvhich sequential episodes contribute to formal clesign in the fugues of P 296. Here the contrasting episodes delineate the tonal and formal aspects in the simplest possible manner. Many of the fugues, however, contain episodes that are based clirectly upon motives of the subject. Fugue I is certainly one of the simpler of the pieces inP 296.It nevertheless exhibits a clear and r,vell-thought-out compositional method with decisive sequences and cadences and welltimed sub ject entries. P 296 as a r'vhole is replete r,vith a fine variety of styles and textures, I'et it never strays from its focus upon a traditional keyboard style. It thus emphasizes standard figurations and passage work rather than exceptional or original ideas. This pedestrian characteristic, which Spitta and Schmiecler have interpreted as a shortcoming, is in fact its strength, for a natural ability to use standard figurations and textures is much more basic to the development of a fluent improvisational ability than is the cultivation of unique qualities. The average length of the fugues lnP 296 is 25-30 bars. The shortest, Fugue 41, is only thirteen bars and the longest, Fugue 39, the concluding piece of the first set, occupies fifty-nine bars. The most basic form r,r'hich these fugues exhibit is an exposition of four entries (SATB) followed by a modulation and cadence on a closely related key such as V (major keys) or III (minor keys); a pair of additional entries in the order SB, and a continuation to a formal cadence on I at the end. Fugues 6, 11, 15, 16, 19, 31,47,50, 56, and 6l follorv this plan precisely. Pachelbel's short fugues are extremely close in style and form to this plan. This structure is l5

FORMAT AND CONTENTS OI.- THE LANGLOZ MANUSCRIPT

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YFORMA'I' AND CONTENTS OF THE LANGLOZ MANUSCRIPT

unusual among partimento fugues, r,vhere descencling series are the norm. Stretto groupings are occasionally to be found, as in Fugues 17,21, and 30 for instance. Subject statements occur only at tonic and dominant levels throughout the fugues, lvith exceptions in only six fugues, all contained in the first set. In these cases additional subject entries occur in closely related keys and define secondary harmonic areas. There are no plagal answers of the type that one frequently finds in Pasquini's work, for example. Although common time occurs most frequently, all the standard metres except for 9/8 are represented at least once. Fugue 39, the final one in the first set, contains a metl'e change at the lralf-way point, from common time to 6/8, and continues u,ith a rhythmically altered form of the subject in the manner of the fugue-caprice pair familiar in the repertoire of Froberger in particular, or in the Praeludia and Toccatas of Buxtehucle. Paired prelucles and fugues always share the same metre and their rhythmic values suggest that the prelude and fugue pairs maintain a single tempo. In addition, in some instances prelude ancl fugue share motivic elements. The fugue subject of No. 41, for example, incorporates the quaver figure ofits prelude, while in Fugue 44 the fugue subject uses the first four notes ofits prelude. Thus the association of prelude and fugue is closer here than is typical of Bach's work. In three or four treble passages of P 296 a simple accompaniment in a lor,ver part seems warranted, even though none is inclicated rvithin the confines of a partimento score. In two instances in Fugue l8 such an accompaniment does appear ancl block chords accompany treble statements of the theme. Example 8 illustrates two other instances that invite the creative performer to respond to the context imaginatively. (a)

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While the manuscript is quite legible, it contains errors of various kinds. Errors include occasional missing notes, ties, and barlines, occasional inaccurate note placement, and divergences between accidentals and key signatures. The figures by ancl large make sense. Flolvever, there are passages n,here the figures have apparently been omittecl. In other instances the figures are incorrectll'aligned u,ith the music. In still other instances it appears as though the figures have been copied from the wrong line of the score. Errors in the figures may have arisen from the source manuscript itself or through Langloz's rvork. It could lvell be that the source tvas somewhat corrupt or that it lvas a loose collection of bifolios with several layers of alterations.

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FORMAT AND CONTENTS OF THE LANGLOZ MANUSCRIPT

The fact that none of the errors has been corrected suggests that the original transcription process included no rigorous proof-reading, neither in the process ofcopying nor subsequent to completing the work, and that the manuscript may have been seldom used for practical siudy. Indeed, by 1763, when Langloz copied the manuscript, the era of the partimento was already drawing to a close. While keyboard pedagogy was turning to the sonata, composition was

becoming increasingly a melody-driven, phrase-gesture oriented process that relegated the bass to an accompanimental role, as witnessed by the gøLtnt sketches that appear inlhis ,re.y volume. Thus it is not surprising that while the manuscript may have been copied while Langloz was a student of Kittel who was himself trained in the methods of 1700, thl period

of

Bach's apprenticeship, it quickly lost its relevance in relation to late eighteenth-century practice and became for practical purposes a historical curiosity.

A most interesting facet of this manuscript is its frequent use of invertible counterpoinr, whether actual or implied.20At the entry of the answer the accompanying music is often inve.tible and it sometimes takes on the character of a countersubject. Occasionally such a counterpoint is indicated at subsequent locations through figures such as '3' or '8' that would otherwise be superfluous. Invertible counterpoint is explicit in the subject-countersubject patterns ofat least twelve fugues, as well as in the stretto opening of Fugue 38 and in the episodes of three other fugues. Nine additional fugues have the potential for invertible counrerpoint which is never realized since the countersubject never appears in the lowest sounding part. However, such an invertible counterpoint could well provide the basis of an improvised extrapolation in the middle of a partimento fugue. Five other fugues imply but do notìemand inveriible counterpoint. Thus fully thirty of the fifty-eight fugues include some form of invertible counter-

point. Fugue 25 is elaborately conceived in terms of a systematic invertible counterpoint (see Example 9) which bears compat'ison toBwv 537, second idea, as well as to Pachelbel,s Ricercare in C minor' In each of these cases a similar two-part invertible counterpoint is generated, which itself operates in melodic inversion as well. The underlying structureis a simple alternation of sixths and thirds against a rising or descencling chromatic line. The realization in Example 9 provides the maximum utilization of the invertible counterpoint implied by bars,t-7. Mattheson cited the identical structure and its contrapuntal extrapolatio.rs, apparently borrowed from the fugue of Bach's Sonata in C major for unaccompanied violin, nwv ioo3, an example of what ", might be expected in an improvised fugue as would be required in the examination lor a major organ post such as Hamburg Cathedral.2rAn organist who had mastered the patterns embodíed inP 296 would have excelled at this part of Mattheson's exam. Several of the fugues in P 296 have unusual elements that merit attention. The subject of Fugue 3 appears to be an expansion of that of Fugue 2, suggesting a compositional relatiánship between the two and also documenting an important facet of compositional technique througir 20 Handel included examples of double-fugues in his collection of partimenti. See C¿ ntinuo pla.ying According to Htrndel, 50ff' Heinichen's example is also a double-fugue. see GeorgeJ. Bu elol, Thorough-Bass Accontparttnunt atcnr¿i4g to Johnrm Doaid Heinichen, rev. edn. (AnnArbor: UMI Research press, 19g6), 20g_10. 2r

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borrowing and manipulation of ple-existing materials. Using a shortened form of the subject but beginning lvith the ansrver, F'ugue 41 is six bars shorter than Fugue 16. trugue 49 is essentially the same as Fugue 9. The subject of Fugue 49 is differentiated only by the employment of a dotted rhythm that provides a motivic connection to its prelude. In addition, bar 20 of Fugue 9 contains first and second endings which repeat back to bar 3. These repeats do not occur in Fugue 49. The ending of the subject of Fugue 54 also shares the same concluding figure as Fugues 9 and 49. The subject of Fugue 57 interpolates four quavers in the middle of rvhat is otherwise the same subject as that of Fugue 28. The head of the subject of Fugue 45 is the retrograde of the head of the subject of Fugue 44. Interestingll,, many of these similarities of content cross from one set to the other, suggesting that even if the two sets ll,ere originally separate collections they were in all likelihood substantially composed and compiled by a single musician. Fugue 4 contains a fer:mata in bar 11, at the full cadence in the relative major, preceding a clirect return to the tonic and a restatement of the subject alone in the treble. This unusual design creates a pronounced binary form. Fugue 6 contains repeat signs embracing bars 3 to 14. While repeated passages such as this are most unusual in fugues, they do occur occasionally. Telemann employs this type of repetition in Nos. 3 and 15 of his Tirenty Small Fngues.22 22 G. P Telemann,

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AND CONTINTS OF TËiE LANGLOZ MANUSCRIPT

varying in length betr'r'een eight bars (No. 4l) ancl thirty-four bars (No. 60), the preludes suggest a full chordal texture throughout, rvhether in block chorcls or arpeggiatecl patterns. The most significant design aspect of the prelucles is that man1. of them follorv the tonal plan used in the Preceþts nntl Principles's 'Principles for Plal,ing in Four Parts' (pp. 46-55): transposecl repetitions of a gi'en passage in tonic, clominanr, anJ relative n-rinor; ioìloo,.¿ by a restatement in the tonic' Full1'ten of the eighteen prelucles in the Langloz Manuscript are based on this plan: Preludes 44,45,46,49, 52, 53,54, 55, 60, and ó2. The opening porrng. shorvn in Example r0 (bars l-5) is lepeated in the clominant (bars 6-10) and in-the re'lative major (bars l7-21), after

rvhichitreturnsagaininthetonic (barc22-6)inanriten outtlocaþo.Thissequenc.of.åpetltions u'ithin a minor kel', r'vhich establishes an effective if rudimentåry flrrm, is analogous to the major-key sequences of the Precepts u,nd Principle.ç. Bars l1-16 act as a transition and in'ite a simple imitative counterpoint in the upper parts. Tko further prelucles, Nos. 55 and 60, use

pattel'ns of clescencling scales as a structural basis, again reminiscent of the patterns roun,l i' tlre same section of the Precepts anrl Principl¿s. The pedagogical ach,antage of instructional music such as this is that it teaches harmon1,, key relationshìpl, fo.ro, transposition, ancl style

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