The

BAROQUE GERMAN
VIOLIN BOW

"The old way of playing the fiddle" and the "New Way".... illustrates very
simply the differences between the traditional baroque German violin bow, and
the Italian style. The German baroque violin bow was quite different from the
Italian bow in design, construction and method of use. The two types of bow in
current use during baroque times reflected the German, and the Italian musical
traditions and the music which these traditions produced.
Italian music was light and airy, requiring agility and rapidity. German music
was more introspective; tempi were slower, and the music frequently required
individual string players to produce true chords.
These two musical styles were reflected in the violin bows. The Italian bow
was slim and light, the bow strings fixed in relatively high tension, while the
German bow was highly arched, and the string tension was fairly loose. In
contrast to the Italian technique of holding the bow lightly from above with
curved wrist, the German bow was held with the thumb placed under the bow

strings. In this way the player could tighten or relax the bowstring tension at
will. A tighter tension in the bow was used for single string, single melodic line
playing, while a relaxing of the bowstrings' tension permitted playing on two
or more strings simultaneously, and thus of course, the playing of true chords.
Bach, himself an accomplished violinist, was familiar with both types of bow,
choosing to use and to compose for one or the other as best suited the
music and circumstances in performance.
In the works of JS Bach, baroque music, particularly in its three major forms of
canon, fugue and chaconne, reached its peak. Bach also pushed the limits of
performance, often requiring extreme dexterity from players who, until Bach's
time, had been accustomed to playing the keyboard using only the middle three
fingers. Similarly with his organ works. Pedals had hitherto been used mainly
to reinforce leading bass chords; Bach's solo Pedal Exercise (BWV 735) must
have tested many an organist, and even in his organ works for manuals and
pedals Bach would often include a pedal cadenza, as for example on the
popular Toccata & Fugue in d.
In his Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, Bach also pushed performers to
their limits, requiring the frequent alternation between chords and single-line
melody. Indeed the very intensity of digital challenge presented by these pieces
has not only led modern performers to substitute arpeggios for the written
chords, but the violinist community has succeeded in establishing a climate of
opinion persuading the listener that this is historically correct. While the
majority of listeners appear to have accepted the arpeggio style of
performance, there remains a stubborn minority who say this doesn't sound
good and furthermore, it simply isn't what Bach wrote. Indeed it was not.
Bach was not a sloppy writer. He made sure that his manuscripts conveyed
every precise detail necessary to render the piece to his satisfaction. Indeed he
annoyed many of his contemporary performers by his frequent habit of fully
writing-in the trills and ornaments normally considered the performer's perks,
to be performed as the performer's own taste and mood of the moment dictated.

If Bach wrote chords, then chords were what he intended to be played.

Did Bach ever intend or imagine that these pieces would be performed using
an Italian bow, thus requiring broken chords or arpeggios instead of full
chords? Hardly. At several points in these solo violin works, when a long chord
is to be accentuated, Bach writes "arpeggio". Why would he single out the
occasional chords, if all chords were to be performed as arpeggios? This
"internal evidence" alone would seem to indicate quite clearly that, other than
where expressly indicated, chords were to be played as full chords and not as
arpeggios.
Bach composed a Sonata for Solo Flute. The flute cannot play chords, and
Bach wrote no chords.

But Bach's contemporary violinists could indeed play chords, using the simple
expedient whereby the bow-hairs of an arched bow were held under tension by
the player's thumb and relaxed for the performance of chords. There are many
contemporary illustrations of the curved bows used in Germany in Bach's time.
A drawing made by the organist, of musicians in the gallery of Freiberg
Cathedral around 1712, clearly shows outwardly-arched, German-type bows,
as does the engraving which forms the frontispiece to the Musikalisches

Lexikon edited by Bach's cousin J.G. Walther and published in 1732,

illustrated at left. Bach wrote chords because that was what he intended. And
that is what his contemporary musicians would play.
Frequent references may be found in baroque literature to the arched German
bow with its accompanying technique of thumb-pressure on the hairs. Georg
Muffat for example, gave this description in his preface to Florilegium
Secundum, 1698: In Angreifung des Bogens spielen die meisten Teutschen,
indem sie die Haare mit dem Daumen nach Bedarf andrcken, und seyend
hierinnen von den Welschen, als welche die Haare unberhrt lassen,
unterschieden. When grasping the bow, most Germans play while pressing the
hairs of the bow with the thumb as required, thus having the option of
tightening the hairs or leaving them loose.
Otto L. Bettmann gives this picture of Bach's violin composition at Cthen in
his book J.S. BACH - As His World Knew Him
"Aside from composing and conducting violin concertos in Cthen, Bach was
also engaged in exploring, and infinitely expanding, the range of works for
solo violin. Violin works to this date were intended to display the violin's
potential for evoking melodic beauty. Bach extended the instrument's range in
a series of three Sonatas and three Partitas for solo violin, which he completed
in 1720. The Chaconne of his second Partita (in D minor) made up of twentynine variations is universally acknowledged as one of Bach's greatest, most
imaginative works. To this day, it remains the ultimate test of violinistic
virtuosity. Essentially, the violin was designed to produce simple, single-toned
melodies, imitative of the human voice. Within the course of these Sonatas,
however, the violinist finds himself confronted with intricate three-and fournote chords, in complex chordal passages that vastly extend the range of this
instrument.
"For the violinist of Bach's time such as Pisendel this did not, perhaps,
present an insurmountable problem. The violin bow then in use was curved and
loosely strung, enabling the performer to touch the instrument's four strings
simultaneously. Today, a straight and tightly strung bow permits the player to

intone the notes only successively, creating an arpeggio effect."

(New York 1995 Carol Publishing Group)
Nikolaus Bruhns (1665-1697), organist in Husum, produced three and four-part
polyphony on the violin, according to a report of his contemporary Johann
Matheson (1681-1764). Even Leopold Mozart (1719-1787) in his well-known
violin anthology, is of the opinion that three-part chords should be played
simultaneously with one stroke of the bow. The style of playing of Niccolo
Paganini (c1782-1840) was described in detail by Carl Guhr, at the time
Director of the Frankfurt Opera, in his violin anthology of 1829. Guhr followed
Paganini over a long period, observing his performances, and according to him
Paganini, playing his own compositions in which there are numerous three and
four part chords, played them simultaneously.
Rudolf Ghler, a modern exponent of the curved bow writes: It is not only
that the manner of playing with the modern curved bow is considerably closer
to Bach's notation; but the usual pauses between four-part chords are omitted
and a bass theme does not have to be performed arduously with the help of the
unbeautiful sounding reverse arpeggio. In addition, the dynamic span is
considerably increased as, for example, even polyphonic passages can be
played piano, while a variety of hitherto unknown nuances of timbre results
from the slackened horse-hairs of the bow. This in turn makes possible a
greater abundance of expressive subtleties.
So why not simply use an arched bow today, when performing Bach's solo
violin works? Several reasons may be suggested. For example, techniques of
fingering involving the thumb of the left hand are witnessed to in compositions
of the baroque period, but most critics of the curved bow are ignorant of them,
which makes their verdict on supposedly unplayable passages in Bach invalid.
Critics also claim that the few curved bows seen in 18th century illustrations
are simply not up the task. While they may be capable of 2- and 3-part
polyphony, the performance of full chords using all four strings simultaneously
requires a depth of at least 10cm which is not apparent in baroque period

illustrations. And even if a deeper bow might be produced today, it would be

technically difficult to produce a performance of these challenging works
which would match the expectations of today's audiences, accustomed as they
are to recording and concert-hall perfection.
The die-hard curved-bow supporters however, return over and over again to
one pivotal point: Bach wrote chords. Chords were what he intended, and
chords are what the violinist should play. This produced a number of attempts
to re-create a bow which is not only capable of playing Bach's Sonatas and
Partitas as they were written, but doing so with the degree of facility expected
by modern audiences.
The Polyphon-Bogen by Hermann Berkowskis (Berlin), improved by Hans
Baumgart (Rastatt 1925) paved the way, while other models were developed by
Gnther Hellwig (Lbeck), Georges Frey (Mulhouse) und Rolph Schroeder
(Kassel). Schroeder and Otto Bchner used the Curved Bow in concerts and
recitals.
A prominent supporter of the curved bow was Albert Schweitzer. "Every one
who has heard these [solo violin] sonatas must have realized how sadly his
material enjoyment of them falls below his ideal enjoyment," Schweitzer wrote
in his comprehensive 1908 study of Bach's music. For Schweitzer, there was
no question but that Bach meant for the chords to be played as simultaneities
and not as arpeggios. He declared arpeggiation "a particularly bad effect, even
in the finest playing," and he could not allow that Bach would have
"overstepped the bounds of artistic possibility."

Schweitzer and Schroeder promoted the Curved Bow between 1933 and 1952
in a series of publications. Finally a collaboration between Schweitzer, worldrenowned violinist Emil Telmanyi, and violin-maker Knud Vestergaard would
result in the Vega Bach Bow (Vega being an abbreviation of the maker's name,
Bach-Bow being Schweitzer's nomenclature). The main feature of the Vega
Bow was the substitution of a simple lever for the nut a crucial alteration in
respect of the historical prototype rendering a modern curved bow equal to
the demands of polyphonic playing.
On hearing performances of the Bach unaccompanied violin works in which
the Vega bow was used, Schweitzer declared: "Anyone who has heard the
chords of the Chaconne played without any restlessness, and without
arpeggios, can no longer doubt that this is the only correct and, from the artistic
standpoint, satisfactory way of playing it." He loved its softer tone, which is a
result of the lower tension on the bow hair. Recognizing that the sound of the
curved bow would not carry in a large hall, Schweitzer dreamed of the day
when "the works for solo violin would disappear from the programmes of the
larger concerts, and be restored to the chamber music to which they really
belong." Playing with the curved bow allows for a quieter and subtler style of
Bach playing, a style that Schweitzer found particularly beautiful and true. In
the recording studio of course, a smaller, more intimate atmosphere allows for
softer, more intimate performance.

Performance of German music using the correct German type of bow would
have several significant effects.
First it would slow down some of the breakneck tempi adopted by many
musicians today; it is easy to play rapidly when the bow is held from above in
the Italian style because in this position the flexibility of the wrist can be used
to full effect. When the bow is held in the German style with the thumb under
the strings the wrist is permitted relatively little play; thus the performer is
compelled by physical limitation to respect the slower, more deliberate tempi
which naturally reflect the introspective, often contrapuntal style of German
composition.
A second effect of using the German bow with its generally looser tension is
that it would yield a much softer, more mellow sound rather than the rougher,
more aggressive sound which so often assails the listener's ears in "authenticinstrument" performances.
In addition of course, the violinist would be able to play full chords when
required to do so.
Bach's solo violin sonatas and partitas would benefit particularly from the use
of a proper German bow, especially in the wonderful chaconne from the Partita
2 in d-minor BWV 1004, where the alternation between single-line melody and
chordal harmony is such an important feature of the musical structure.
The Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas played by Emil Telmanyi
are available from BaroqueCDs.com

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote in the old German tradition of polyphonic

composition for stringed instruments, but in this as in other respects his
compositions represented the baroque era's terminal and culminating point.
Thus it is his unique distinction to have created with his Sonatas and Partitas
for Solo Violin a body of work representing the culmination of a genre. As
Richard Strauss, who was unreserved in his enthusiasm for the curved bow,
summarized: "To write something like that you've just got to be a Bach
yourself".
Yet such is the beauty to be found in violin or cello polyphony that
contemporary composers have specifically exploited the potential of the
Curved Bow. Helmut Bornefeld composed a Sonata for Solo Violin dedicated
to Rudolf Ghler. Cellist Michael Bach developed a different Curved Bow to
perform Bach's Cello Suites BWV 1007-1012; John Cage and Dieter Schnebel
wrote compositions for Violoncello with Curved Bow. Michael Bach performs
these works using the bow shown at left developed by the 'Bach.Bogen'
workshops.
Despite ongoing doubts, even insults, attempts will continue to perform Bach's
Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas as Bach wrote them.

References and links:

1) Rudolf Ghler: Der Rundbogen fr die Violine - ein Phantom? ConBrio
Verlagsgesellchaft, Regensburg 176 pp, 11 illustr, musical examples, order #
COBR 1058. Price Euro 5.00 plus postage. Internet: ConBrio Verlag
2) Otto von Irmer: Cover notes Teldec LP AWD 9801 Bach/Telmanyi
3) Bach-Bogen in Lexikon der Violine, Laaber-Verlag 2004
4) Bach.Bogen web pages include documentation and video clips: Bach.Bogen
Workshops

Emil Telmnyi (1890-1988) was born in Hungary, though his birthplace, Arad
would become part of Romania after the first world war. However Telmanyi's
fortunes would lie elsewhere. Telmnyi first visited Copenhagen in 1912
together with the Polish pianist Ignaz Friedman. Here he was to settle for the
rest of his life. Telmanyi's reputation as a violinist took him on concert tours
throughout Europe and America. He became closely associated with the
composer Carl Nielsen as a friend, as a performer of Nielsen's works, and
ultimately as Nielsen's son-in-law when he married Nielsen's daughter Anne
Marie. The marriage took place on 6 February 1918, and Carl Nielsen's
wedding present was the dedication of his recently completed orchestral piece
Pan and Syrinx. Telmnyi was later to make a decisive contribution to the
promotion of Nielsen's music, first of all as a violinist but later increasingly as
a conductor, and finally as a collaborator on the revised versions of some of
Nielsen's works. The two solo pieces Prelude and Theme with Variations
(1923) and Preludio e Presto (1928) were both composed for Telmnyi.

The BAROQUE MUSIC HOME PAGE - www.BaroqueMusic.org

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Baroque Music Defined

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Portraits of the major baroque composers.

A Baroque Music Sampler

Over two hours of music samples, major baroque composers, and Bach
of course.

The Lute-Harpsichord: A Forgotten Instrument

GOTTFRIED SILBERMANN: Master Organ-Builder of the German

Baroque.
Friend and colleague of JS Bach, famed for his celebrated "silver
sounds".

[citation info]

The
baroque
LUTEHARPSICHOR
D:
A Forgotten
Instrument

Learn about one of Bach's favorite keyboard instruments

which is now almost impossible to hear on record.
It's a truly wonderful instrument with a deep, rich and resonant sound.
No wonder Bach had one custom-built to his own specifications.

Over a period of some three centuries there are plenty of references to gut-stringed
instruments that resemble the harpsichord and imitate the delicate soft timbre of the lute
(including its lower-sounding variants, the theorbo and chitarrone or archlute) or the harp, but
little concrete information. Not a single such instrument has survived, nor is any
contemporary depiction known apart from a rough engraving of the early 16th century. Fewer
than ten lute-harpsichord makers are known, and there are reasonably detailed descriptions of
instruments made by only two or three of them. Nonetheless, the instrument is mentioned
fairly frequently in music books of the early 17th to the mid-18th century.
Much of the available information relates to three 18th century German instrument makers:
Johann Christoph Fleischer of Hamburg, Johann Nicolaus Bach and the organ builder
Zacharias Hildebrandt.
Fleishcer built two types of instrument. The smaller had two 8-foot gut-stringed stops with a
compass of about three octaves; in the lower two octaves these could be coupled with a 4-foot
stop, by analogy with the pairs of octave-tuned bass strings (courses) on the lute. Below the
soundboard of the instrument an oval resonator in the shape of a shell, resembling the body of
a lute was attached.
Fleischer called his larger instrument the "Theorbenflugel" (theorbo-harpsichord). Its two
gut-stringed stops together made up a double-tuned, 16-foot stop, with the pairs in the lower
octave-and-a-half tuned an octave apart, and in the upper range in unison. In addition there
was a 4-foot metal-stringed stop, and the combination of the 4-foot and the 16-foot stops
produced a "delicate and bell-like" tone. This larger instrument was in the shape of a regular
concert harpsichord.
Johann Nicolaus Bach (a second cousin of Johann Sebastian) was a composer, organist and
instrument maker in Jena. He too built several types of lute-harpsichord. The basic type
closely resembled a small wing-shaped, one-manual harpsichord of the usual kind. It only
had a single (gut-stringed) stop, but this sounded a pair of strings tuned an octave apart in the
lower third of the compass and in unison in the middle third, to approximate as far as possible
the impression given by a lute. The instrument had no metal strings at all.
According to contemporary accounts, even this simplest of versions made a sound that could
deceive a professional lutenist, a fact considered almost miraculous at the time. But a basic

shortcoming was the absence of dynamic expression, and to remedy matters J. N. Bach also
made instruments with two and three manuals, whose keys sounded the same strings but with
different quills and at different points of the string, so providing two or three grades of
dynamic and timbre. J. N. Bach also built theorbo-harpsichords with a compass extending
down an extra octave.
J.S. Bach's connection with and interest in the Lautenwerk was considerable. He clearly liked
the combination of softness with strength which these instruments are capable of producing,
and he is known to have drawn up his own specifications for such an instrument to be built
for him by Hildebrandt. In an annotation to Adlung's Musica mechanica organoedi, Johann
Friedrich Agricola described a Lautenwerk that belonged to Bach:
The editor of these notes remembers having seen and heard a "Lautenclavicymbel" in Leipzig
in about 1740, designed by Mr. Johann Sebastian Bach and made by Mr. Zacharias
Hildebrand, which was smaller in size than a normal harpsichord but in all other respects
similar. It had two choirs of gut strings, and a so-called little octave of brass strings. It is true
that in its normal setting (that is, when only one stop was drawn) it sounded more like a
theorbo than a lute. But if one drew the lute-stop (such as is found on a harpsichord) together
with the cornet stop [?the 4' brass stop undamped], one could almost deceive professional
lutenists.
The inventory of Bach's possessions at the time of his death reveals that he owned two such
instruments, as well as three harpsichords, one lute and a spinet.

Of the few attempts to reconstruct and record a lute-harpsichord, one of the more successful
is the instrument built by the Hungarian player Gergely Srkzy, an initial sketch of which
appears as the heading to this page. His beautiful instrument gives a truly wonderful sound,
very rich and sonorous but with a soft attack. The Baroque Music Club has produced a
recording entitled Bach's Domestic Keyboard Instruments, BACH 740 in which some
important though lesser-known Bach keyboard and lute works are performed on harpsichord,
pedal-harpsichord, clavichord, lute, and lute-harpsichord by Gunnar Johansen, Michael
Thomas and Gergely Srkzy. The accompanying note explains the technical differences in
construction of the different instruments.

Gergely Srkzy's lutes were built for him by Hungarian instrument maker Tihamer Romanek
whose father, Andras, was the very first to make lutes in Hungary. The craftmanship of
lutherie enchanted Tihamer, who following his graduation as an instrument maker, decided to
explore the construction of a lute-harpsichord. Among other instruments, he now offers two
models of lute-harpsihcord from his own workshops.

Click for larger image

Tihamer Romanek's Website
Anden Houben, another contemporary harpsichord-builder who also attempts reconstruction
of the lautenwerck, or lute-harpsichord, describes some of the essential differences in
construction between the harpsichord and the lute-harpsichord.

The lautenwerck or lute-harpsichord differs from the harpsichord in several important

respects. While historical references indicate differing approaches to design, there is general
agreement that whereas harpsichords are designed to be strung in metal, the use of gut strings
is of primary importance in a lute-harpsichord. However simple replacement of metal strings
with gut will not give satisfactory results.

Generally, a gut string requires a longer scale (or length at a given pitch) than a metal string,
which in turn infers a larger instrument. Pitch for a given string length however, is a function,
not only of length, but also of string material and tension. The lower pitched strings of the
lute-harpsichord are thicker and under less tension - a technique known as "foreshortening".
Thus lautenwercke are often smaller than their metal-strung relatives. Extreme foreshortening
of the scale in comparison to the harpsichord, reduces the tension a lautenwerck must bear.
Lighter construction is made possible, enabling a lautenwerck to better respond to the less
energetic gut string. This is especially true of the soundboard, which can be half the thickness
normally found in harpsichords.
Gut stringing has other implications for lautenwerck design. As gut strings have more internal
friction than their metal counterparts, they generally have less sustain. This allows one to
dispense with dampers to a large degree. Individual instruments will dictate where dampers
are needed (and how effective they need be), but one rarely finds lautenwercke fitted with
dampers on every string. Any resulting "over-ring" is likely to enhance the lute-like effect.
The lautenwerck also demands special attention concerning string layout. Thick gut strings
vibrate more vigorously than thin metal ones at higher tension. This requires that more space
be given between adjacent strings to avoid interference. This consideration encourages the
builder to keep his design simple. Two choirs of gut strings seems to be the practical
maximum, though a third choir strung in brass is sometimes found.
Harpsichords normally have one dedicated jack per string. Lautenwercke often have more
than one jack independently serving the same string. Tonal variation is achieved by plucking
the string at different points along its length. Dynamic and color variation can also be pursued
by using plectra having different properties. This sort of elaboration is most often reserved for
instruments having more than one manual. Adding more strings to achieve tonal interest is
avoided, and resonate construction maintained.
Historical references indicate that in some lautenwercke the internal volume of the instrument
was determined by a dome-like structure shaped much like the back of a lute, and indeed
modern instruments have been made in which a "lute shell" defines the exterior shape of the
instrument. Internal structures placed below the soundboard are also found. Other references
however, make no mention of this feature and indicate the construction normally associated
with keyboard instruments.

Anden Houben
Anden Houben Harpsichords
501 Main Avenue
Northport, Alabama, 35476
Telephone (205) 758 8471
Email AndenH@aol.com

Where to next?
Check
The BAROQUE MUSIC HOME PAGE - www.BaroqueMusic.org
for a complete listing of all our Baroque Music pages.

Baroque Music Defined

Baroque Music Performance: "Authentic" versus "Traditional"

Baroque Composers and Musicians - biographies and notes

The Baroque German Violin Bow: A Lost Art

The Baroque Composers' Portrait Gallery

Portraits of the major baroque composers.

A Baroque Music Sampler

Over two hours of music samples, major baroque composers, and Bach of course.

GOTTFRIED SILBERMANN: Master Organ-Builder of the German Baroque.

Friend and colleague of JS Bach, famed for his celebrated "silver sounds".

WELCOME
to our
BAROQUE COMPOSERS' PORTRAIT GALLERY

Bach at age 35
JS Bach: A Detailed
Biography

Bach in old age

Bach's Leipzig in Pictures

Arcangelo Corelli (16531713)

Biography | A Baroque
Concert CD

Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751)

Biography | "Italian Baroque"
CD

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-

1725)

1757)

Baroque Composers - Italy |

Biography | Keyboard Sonatas

Orchestral Works CD

CD

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

Biography | Vivaldi Concertos
CD

Georg Philipp Telemann (16811767)

Biography | Telemann's Best
Concertos CD

Johann Joseph Fux (16601741)

Biography | Chamber music
CD

Unico Willem van Wassenaer

(1692-1766)
Biography | Six Concertos CD

George Frideric Handel

(1685-1759)
Biography | Handel CDs

John Stanley (1712-1786)

Biography | Six Concertos CD

Francesco Geminiani (16871762)

Biography | Concertos after
Corelli

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Biography | Purcell CDs

William Boyce (1710-1779)

William Croft (1678-1727)

Music of Boyce & Croft CD

Music of Boyce & Croft CD

Jean-Philippe Rameau (16831764)

A Concise Biography

Franois Couperin (1668-1733)

A Concise Biography

Where to next?
Check
The BAROQUE MUSIC HOME PAGE - www.BaroqueMusic.org
for a complete listing of all our Baroque Music sites.

Baroque Music Defined

Baroque Composers and Musicians - An Overall Survey

A Baroque Music Sampler

Over two hours of music samples, major baroque composers, and Bach of course.

The Baroque German Violin Bow: A Lost Art

The Lute-Harpsichord: A Forgotten Instrument

GOTTFRIED SILBERMANN: Master Organ-Builder of the German Baroque.

Friend and colleague of JS Bach, famed for his celebrated "silver sounds".

Click for copyright information.

BAROQUE COMPOSERS AND MUSICIANS

Historical context, Geography, Biographical Notes

BAROQUE MUSIC: historical and geographical context

Italy
Italy to Germany
Germany
England
France

Spain
Europe to the New World
BAROQUE COMPOSERS: Individual Biographies
BAROQUE COMPOSERS' PORTRAIT GALLERY

BAROQUE MUSIC: historical and geographical context.

Given the difficulties of travel and communication two centuries ago, it might easily be
assumed that composers would know relatively little of other composers and other countries.
Nothing could be farther from the truth! Travel by stage-coach may have been lengthy, and
probably only for the well-to-do. But the many post-coach monuments still to be found in
Germany, with their journey timings between towns precise down to one-eighth of an hour
attest to the high degree of organization and reliability in this mode of travel. Music-making
was highly prized by many of the princely and kingly courts, and leading musicians would
often be financed for their journeys to bring back the latest styles and compositions. During
the first half of the 1700s, German music adopted the Italian forms of the concerto and
sonata, and with them, much of the Italian baroque "vocabulary" together with the latest
Italian compositions.
ITALY
The papacy returned to Rome in 1377, and after the middle of the 15th century the city
became a center of Renaissance culture. Massive papal patronage of the arts began to enrich
Rome. During the papacy (1447-1455) of Nicholas V the defense walls were repaired,
palaces built, and churches restored. Major artists and architects now worked in Rome, and
by the end of the century it had supplanted Florence as the primary focal point of the
Renaissance. The sack of the city in 1527 by Habsburg mercenaries was a temporary setback.
During the 16th century Michelangelo, Donato Bramante, Raphael, and other artists worked
for the popes, and construction of the new Saint Peters Basilica progressed. It was not until
the reign (1585-1590) of Pope Sixtus V, however, that the dense, confused medieval urban
pattern began to be modernized. Three major streets were laid out to radiate from the Piazza

del Popolo to the center of the city. Sixtus also built squares and fountains, and he restored
the Acqua Felice aqueduct. In addition, old churches were refurbished, and Saint Peters
dome was completed.
It was hardly surprising that music too should flourish against this rich visual background.
Typical of baroque musicians active in Rome was the composer and violinist Arcangelo
Corelli (1653-1713), whose style of playing became the basis for the violin technique of the
18th and 19th centuries, and whose chamber music compositions were far-reaching in their
influence. Born in Fusignano, he studied in nearby Bologna and after 1675 lived in Rome.
There his patrons included Queen Christina of Sweden and, after 1690, Cardinal Pietro
Ottoboni, (1667-1740), librettist and important music patron who as vice-chancellor of the
church resided in the Palazzo della Cancelleria where Poetico-Musicali Accademie were held
and operas and oratorios performed. The most widely published and reprinted composer
before the Austrian Joseph Haydn, Corelli was the first composer to gain an international
reputation solely on the basis of his instrumental music. Many elements of his style became
commonplace in the 18th century, and his works are early examples of the newly evolved
system of major and minor tonality. As the preeminent violin virtuoso of the day, he taught
many leading violinist-composers of the 18th century, among them the Italian Francesco
Geminiani.
Many eminent composers of the baroque period, notably Handel for example, sojourned in
Rome, and Corelli's influence was to spread itself throughout Europe. Rome was of course
also featured on the Grand Tour, which the wealthy of Europe and especially England were
enjoying in increasing numbers during the 1700s.
Rivalling Rome in its musical influence if not in its architectural and artistic splendor, Naples
owed its outstanding position in music to the inordinate number of talented musicians to
which the city gave birth - as well as to its music conservatories which educated and served
them so well. Indeed Naples has aptly been called the conservatory of 18th century music and
did in fact boast four conservatories of the highest musical caliber.
Scarcely any great composer of the first half of the settecento was not influenced by
Neapolitan music. Indeed, most great musical figures of the time visited Naples or stayed and
worked there for some time. The brilliant Nicola Porpora (b. Aug. 19, 1686, in Naples; d.
there February 1767), for instance, not only taught Joseph Haydn but knew intimately such

world-renowned figures as Bononcini, Farinelli, Handel, and Hasse. In 1733, he went to

London, joining first Hasse, then Bononcini, to compete with the giant Handel. Some say that
Porpora's influence modernized Handel's late operatic style of composition or at least had
had that tendency up until Porpora's departure from England for Italy in 1737.
The universally acknowledged master of Neapolitan Baroque music was Alessandro Scarlatti
(b. May 2, 1660, in Palermo; d. October 24, 1725, in Naples). Almost overnight he
revolutionized the provincial musical atmosphere prevailing at Naples before he arrived in
February of 1684 as new maestro di cappella at the Viceregal Chapel. Direct inheritor of the
grand Italian traditions of opera, oratorio, cantata, and instrumental composition received
from Pietro Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676), Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674), Alessandro
Stradella (1642-1682), and Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690), Scarlatti was well equipped to
revolutionize Neapolitan musical life. The abrupt resignation of the old Neapolitan Guard Francesco Provenzale (ca. 1627-1704) and six of his colleagues, all disappointed that
Provenzale was passed over in favor of Scarlatti upon the death of Pietro Andrea Ziani (ca.
1630-1684), cleared the way for Scarlatti's breath of fresh air. Scarlatti's operas and cantatas,
his serenatas and oratorios, and especially his instrumental works soon brought new life to
Neapolitan music. He was to write over one hundred operas, six hundred cantatas and a
number of oratorios. He was also frequently commissioned by members of the European
nobility to compose sonatas for wind and string instruments as well as cembalo pieces and
concerti grossi. His set of Sinfonie di Concerto Grosso are currently available in the Philips
label performed by I Musici.
Domenico Scarlatti (b. Oct. 26, 1685, in Naples; d. July 23, 1757, in Madrid) was the sixth
son of Alessandro Scarlatti. The father no doubt exposed Domenico to the best possible
training in Naples, taking him in about 1708 to Venice to study with Francesco Gasparini
(1668-1727), himself a pupil of Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713). From Venice the younger
Scarlatti journeyed to Rome with Handel, according to report where both performed
before Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. About 1720 he moved to Lisbon, and some ten years later to
Madrid. He is perhaps best-known today for his keyboard sonatas, in which he borrowed
liberally from Hispanic folk tunes and rhythms creating a unique blend which might be called
"Iberian Baroque".
Francesco Durante (b. March 31, 1684, in Fratta Maggiore; d. August 13, 1755, in Naples)
was the busiest of Neapolitan teachers, holding posts at both the Sant' Onofrio and Santa

Maria di Loreto conservatories, and teaching, playing, and composing elsewhere as well. His
career developed at the best possible time for taking maximum advantage of the new depths
and richness, the new musical fluency which Alessandro Scarlatti had created for Naples.
Durante so profited from these fortunate circumstances that Rousseau was encouraged to
name him "the greatest harmonist in Italy, that is to say, of the world." For further information
on this composer see the link at the bottom of this page.
But for consistently high inspiration few composers of the time, Neapolitan or otherwise, can
compare with Giovanni Batista Pergolesi (b. January 4, 1710, in Jesi; d. March 16, 1736, in
Pozzuoli). His career also coincided with the most fruitful period of Neapolitan musical
history. It was Pergolesi's destiny to take advantage (within two and a half decades of a
tragically foreshortened life) of the grand opportunity for completely new musical
formulation which Scarlatti's works provided. Almost single-handedly Pergolesi forged a new
dramatic style, utilizing for his purposes the lowly opera buffa, and bringing to the stage and
concert hall all the subtleties of psychological, idiomatic, and motivic development and all
the dramatic flexibility so vital to the art of musical characterization which Mozart was to
bring to perfection.
Venice, the great independent trading city-on-the-water in the north, was also a place of great
wealth, architectural masterpieces, and musical influence, the most famous among its musical
sons being Antonio Vivaldi. Venice also featured on the European nobility's "Grand Tour". In
retrospect however we may perhaps sadly note that the economic power and wealth of Venice
was already in decline, and by the end of Vivaldi's lifetime economic recession had set in
from which Venice was never to recover.
An underlying, all-pervading and inspirational influence on Italian baroque music was
provided by its violin-makers, mainly centered in Cremona - the Amati family in the 16th and
17th centuries, the Guarneri and Stradivari families in the 17th and 18th. It might be
suggested that in a similar way the great organ-builders of Germany, Arp Schnitger in the
north and Gottfried Silbermann in the south, inspired and challenged composers such as
Buxtehude and JS Bach to compose organ works which would exploit to the full the varied
and majestic tonalities of these notable instruments.

Italian Baroque CD
Concertos, harpsichord & chamber music by
Albinoni, Alessandro Scarlatti, Pasquini, Corelli, Geminiani
BAROQUE MUSIC COLLECTION
FROM ITALY TO GERMANY
Johann Georg Pisendel (born 1687, died at Dresden in 1755) was not only one of the
foremost German violinists of the 18th century, but also a musical personality of international
renown. At the age of ten he went to Ansbach, where Giuseppi Torelli became his teacher.
When he was 25 he entered the Dresden Court Orchestra, and in 1728 he was appointed as its
leader, occupying that post with great distinction until his death. It was largely to his work
that the Dresden Court Orchestra owed its fame throughout Europe. Johann Friedrich
Reichardt wrote in 1774: "Good though the Berlin orchestra has always been, those people
qualified to judge and who were acquainted with both always preferred the Dresden orchestra
under the leadership of the renowned Concertmeister Pishndel." With the permission of the
Court, Pisendel traveled to France in 1714 and to Italy in 1716/17. He studied under Vivaldi
in Venice, also coming into contact with other prominent Italian masters of the day, and after
his return to Dresden he introduced the latest Italian violin compositions.
We know that Pisendel played a concerto by Torelli for the Leipzig Collegium Musicum,
while Dresden was, at that time, the center of the German cult of Vivaldi, under whose
influence J.S. Bach composed his organ concertos. The political and cultural links between
Saxony and Italy were made even stronger by the coronation of Marie Amalia of Saxony as
Queen of Naples. The royal residences in Munich, Stuttgart and Hanover also allowed
themselves the luxury of Italian musical establishments, and many of the smaller princely
courts where the music was directed by Germans ordered the latest scores from Italy.
Pisendel's significance and stature as an original composer were long underestimated. While
he was not a prolific writer, those compositions of his which survive are of a high quality, and
demonstrate an individual creative purpose. A sonata for violin solo is a highly exacting work
both from the musical and violinistic viewpoint, and tends to confirm the theory that
Pisendel's playing and style may have led to the composition of Bach's solo sonatas. Indeed it
has been suggested that Bach's Six Sonatas/Partitas for solo violin were composed precisely

as a challenge to Pisendel during a visit with Bach at the Kthen Court where Bach was then
in service.
Likewise, the Capellmeister of Gotha, Gottfried Heinrich Stlzel (1690-1749), went to Italy
in 1713 in order to come into personal contact with the foremost musicians of the age, and to
miss no opportunity "where anything was to be heard''. He met Alessandro Scarlatti in Rome,
and in Venice Vivaldi, Marcello, and his fellow-countryman Johann David Heinichen. His
journey took him by way of Florence, Pisa and Leghorn, and the return journey through
Bologna, Venice and Trieste to Innsbruck, then via Linz and Budweis to Prague.
Stlzel's 'Concerto a quattro chori' for example, was a splendid highlight in the court music
making of the time. The very scoring of this work, with its two groups of trumpets, a group of
woodwind and subdivided strings, creates the air of festive splendor characteristic of the later
Baroque period, with its sheer joy in making music. J.S. Bach knew and probably valued this
splendid-sounding work by his colleague at Gotha; he used the fugal theme from the Finale
of this Concerto in his G minor Bourre from the "Clavierbchlein'' for Wilhelm Friedemann
Bach - in which a "Partia di Signore Stelzeln'', in several movements, has a place of honour.
GERMANY
Though highly influenced by developments in Italy, Germany was in fact grafting these forms
and styles onto its own indigenous traditions.
The Reformation, led by Martin Luther and formally begun in 1517, brought religion to the
masses, both through Luther's translations of biblical texts into German, and through the
extensive use of the chorale as an essential textual/musical accompaniment to the church
service. From the traditional chorale melodies much of German baroque music was to grow
and develop. Cantatas and Passions were frequently chorale-based, and if not, were simply
extensions of the chorale tradition. Organists too would elaborate on the chorale for the week,
either by adding interpolations between verses, or by composing whole sets of variations
based on a specific chorale melody.
To this tradition must be added the instinctive German love of order, manifested still today in
so many aspects of German life. Thus German composers were attracted to the fugue, the
canon and passacaglia for their basis of fundamental form, pattern and unity.

One of several early baroque composers who contributed significantly to the marriage of
chorale and counterpoint was DIETRICH BUXTEHUDE. Of Danish origin and born at
Oldesloe, Holstein (then a Danish possession), in 1637, he died at Lbeck in 1707 aged sixtynine or seventy. In addition to his compositional contributions, his artistry on the organ was
legendary. His performance of sacred music, instrumental and vocal, made Lbeck a place of
pilgrimage for musicians anxious to advance in their art, and the young Sebastian Bach
himself traveled two hundred miles to hear them and to sit at the feet of the Master. In Bach's
Cantatas and Passions, and in his numerous chorale preludes and variations, the development
of the chorale reached a peak which has never subsequently been exceeded.
The chorale has continued, and continues to occupy a place of fundamental in German life,
both Protestant and Catholic. The chorales have been continually heard in the homes as much
as in the churches. It was customary for centuries for church choirs to perambulate the streets
during the week, singing them before the houses. Even in the 1880s Steinert, the Boston
piano dealer, re-visiting his native Bavarian town after an absence of forty years, found the
night-watchman in the streets still marking the hours by singing his hymn verses to their old
chorale tune, as he does in another Bavarian town in Wagner's Mastersingers. The chorale,
indeed, has permeated German religious, communal, and domestic life. A private traveler in
Germany today may be surprised to learn how many of those he or she meets are regular and
enthusiastic participants in church choirs, once again attesting to their deep love of choral
music.

Baroque German Organ Music

Pachelbel, Hanff, Lbeck, Buxtehude, Bhm and Bach,
performed on the 1738 historic organ, Kampen, Netherlands.
BAROQUE MUSIC COLLECTION
ENGLAND
The 1600s proved to be a century of political upheaval and change in England - change from
autocratic to parliamentary monarchy. As the century opened Britain was ruled by a highly
autocratic monarch who would have nothing to do with the young and aspiring parliament.
The showdown came with the trial by parliament and subsequent execution of King Charles I
in 1649. This was followed by an attempt at a republic under Cromwell - which proved to be

chaotic and disastrous. The restored monarchs - Charles II and James II - were still somewhat
reluctant to accept the supremacy of parliament, until parliament itself called upon James's
daughter Mary and her Dutch husband William of Orange to rescue the country from its
political instability. This they did in 1689, reigning jointly thereafter as William III and Mary.
This brief history will explain why, after the cultural vacuum and chaos of the revolution, the
republic and its ensuing years, music would once again flourish as the century drew to a
close.
Henry Purcell was born in 1659, and though he was to live a very short life (he died in 1695)
he was able to enjoy and make full use of the renewed flowering of music.
He devoted much his talent to writing operas, or rather musical dramas, and incidental stage
music; but he would also write chamber music in the form of harpsichord suites and trio
sonatas, and became involved with the growing London public concert scene. For a young
London Musical Society he produced Odes to celebrate Saint Cecilia's day (the Patron Saint
of Music) - which any music-lover so desirous may celebrate on November 22nd.
As the son of a musician at court, a chorister at the Chapel Royal, and the holder of
continuing royal appointments until his death, Purcell worked exclusively in Westminster for
three different Kings over twenty-five years, and facts about Purcell's activities at court are
fairly well documented. Among other works written for the Court, he produced Odes for
royal birthdays, among which is the lively and tuneful "Come ye Sons of Art".

Come ye Sons of Art,

Welcome to All the Pleasures (for St Cecilia's Day)
other Purcell anthems and Chamber Music on CDs from the
BAROQUE MUSIC COLLECTION
Queen Mary's death was a devastating blow which deeply affected the country. Mary had
been a much-loved monarch and the public demanded a funeral which reflected its devotion.
No expense was spared. Sir Christopher Wren had ensured that the route to Westminster was
lined with black railings. Three hundred somber women led the entourage dressed in black
capes with boys carrying their trains. Purcell was also called upon to provide an ode for the
death of his (and the country's) beloved Queen Mary. How perfectly the occasion leant itself
to Purcell's evocative and bitter-sweet music. In November of that same year Westminster

Abbey would also be the setting for Purcell's own funeral, at which the combined choirs of
the Abbey and the Chapel Royal would commemorate the premature passing of 'the English
Orpheus'.
During the last decades of the 1600s England had learned much about Italian and French
musical styles from Purcell and would enter the new century warmly receptive to continental
fashions.
English musical life during the first half of the 1700s was dominated by the giant figure of
Handel, who had settled in London in 1712; here once again, royalty had played its
influential part.
Following his early studies in Germany, Handel went to Italy where he spent more than three
years, in Florence, Rome, Naples and Venice. In Rome he studied with Corelli, and may also
have met Vivaldi in Venice on his return.
Handel left Italy early in 1710 and went to Hanover, where he was appointed Capellmeister
to the Elector, George Louis. The Royal Houses of Britain and Europe had always been
closely inter-related, and the Act of Settlement of 1701 which secured the Protestant
succession to the Crown, made George's mother heiress-presumptive to the throne of Great
Britain. In 1705 George had already been naturalized by Act of Parliament, and in August
1714 the death of Queen Anne made him King. Handel, who had already visited London and
apparently found it to his liking, was to follow the Elector in adopting British nationality, and
indeed part of Handel's success in London was due to the royal patronage of the Elector of
Hanover, now King George I.
Handel's influence both upon the cultural milieu of his day and upon his younger English
contemporaries can hardly be overstated. It was the beginning of the age of the "Grand Tour,"
when educated and wealthy citizens embarked on the "Grand Tour' to Italy, France, Germany
and The Netherlands. As often as not they returned home full of enthusiasm for the
academies, theatres, opera houses and concert life which they had encountered in Europe.
England, in short, became a welcoming host to foreign virtuosos, impresarios, singers and
composers. As the Hamburg theorist, critic and composer Johann Mattheson noted in 1713
(Das Neu-Erffnete Orchester): "He who in the present time wants to make a profit out of
music betakes himself to England."

In England, as to begin with in Germany, the chief model for instrumental music was Corelli,
whose compositions first became known in London towards the end of the seventeenth
century. In 1715 John Walsh senior - he and his son were soon to become Handel's publishers
- issued Corelli's 12 Concerti Grossi Op. 6, from which time they were performed, adapted,
and from all accounts, universally loved. The English music historian Sir John Hawkins
mentions an occasion in 1724 when an enthusiastic group of amateurs, having just acquired
Corelli's Op. 6 from a bookseller, "played the whole 12 concertos through, without rising
from their seats" (History of the Science and Practice of Music, 1776). Concertos by Corelli's
contemporary, Torelli, and the up-to-date fashionable Venetian concertos by Vivaldi were also
published and became popular in England.
Among the very first composers to have concertos printed in England was Francesco
Geminiani. Geminiani was born in Lucca and studied the violin under Corelli in Rome. It is
also possible that he studied composition with Alessandro Scarlatti in Naples. In 1707
Geminiani returned to his native town of Lucca, where he played in the town orchestra for
three years before taking up a position in Naples in 1711 as leader of the opera orchestra. In
1714 he came to England where his playing quickly gained him the support of leading figures
at court and among the aristocracy. Geminiani left London for Dublin in 1733 where he built
up a fine reputation as a teacher, performer, concert promoter and theorist. In that year he
opened a Concert Room in Dublin, apparently using the upstairs premises for music and the
rooms below for trading in pictures.
FRANCE
The contribution of France to baroque music, particularly in its earlier period, 1650-1700,
was comparatively small. This was due entirely to the influence of one Giovanni Battista
Lulli (1632-1687), an Italian of noble birth who, as a young man, journeyed to France, taking
up service in 1653 at the Court of Louis XIV. Here he used his influence with the king,
combined with an aggressive sense of business, to create for himself a virtual monopoly over
French music which was to last beyond his death and well into the early 1700s, it being only
with Rameau and Couperin that France began to find itself musically once again. The
stranglehold of Lully (to use his later French spelling) on French music at the time could
hardly be over-emphasized. A series of highly restrictive royal patents gave him a total
monopoly on the use of music on the French stage. Aggressive and shrewd in business, Lully
bought up the leading theater venues, and to strengthen his position he even persuaded the

king to issue an ordnance limiting the number of singers and instrumentalists that could
perform with other Parisian theater troupes.
The major influence which France did exert over the baroque age was one of courtly
opulence. In 1669 Louis XIV (1638-1715) decided to convert an old hunting lodge at
Versailles into a palace of unprecedented magnificence. It was completed in 1682, and the
court moved in 1683. There was not a kingly or princely court in Europe which could match
Versailles for the opulence of its gilded interiors, its mirrors and chandeliers, with an
appropriately matching flamboyance of courtly ceremony, and there was not a kingly or
princely court in Europe which did not, either openly or secretly aspire to match this model.
Lully (now naturalized French as Jean-Baptiste Lully with a 'y') reflected this ideal in the
magnificence of his operas and operatic settings, staged with the aid of all kinds of machines
by which suns and angels could fly about and ships could ride the wild stormy seas. His
operatic texts praised the king and reflected the latest royal thinking at every turn, which of
course served to strengthen his position. At the same time however, it must be stressed that
his performances were not to be missed. His operas and sacred works displayed a richness
and majesty (the French-style Ouverture being one of his contributions) which would attract
the interest admiration of audiences, and visiting musicians from Italy and Germany.
Though much or Europe's royalty was to make the pilgrimage to Versailles, none was to
know that Louis and his country were overburdened by the debts which the costly Versailles
imposed on them. In addition France during the latter years of the 1600s was to suffer two
famines and a series of disastrous military defeats. The splendor of Versailles gradually faded
along with the king's vigor, and his death in 1715 signaled both an end for Versailles (though
it would later revive), and a rebirth of (non-Lullian) music in Paris with a boom in sheetmusic printing and music lessons for the bourgeoisie, Musical freedom and vitality were
reborn in Paris, and would continue to flourish even after Louis XV moved his court back to
Versailles.
SPAIN
The Moorish presence (roughly 800-1500) gave Spanish music much of its distinctive flavor,
bequeathing a legacy of complex Arabic rhythms, microtonic scales, and an ongoing love of
the plucked instrument, the vihuela and the guitar. Itinerant gypsies would later add regional

variety in rhythm and melody. It was this rich and varied folk mixture which Domenico
Scarlatti would later explore and exploit with such flare and enthusiasm.
When Emperor Charles V united the Netherlands, Burgundy, Naples and Spain under one
crown, Spain would open to the whole European musical world. In Charles' reign and that of
his son Philip II, together covering the period 1516-1598, Spanish music reached a highpoint.
During this period organ building also flourished; organ-builders became enterprising and
inventive as Spain's prosperity flowed into the churches. Philip II himself presented the organ
in Granada Cathedral - it is still in regular use. The blind organist-composer Antonio de
Cabezn (1510-66) was one of the world's earliest composers for keyboard, his works
exhibiting a fairly advanced style.
Significant musical developments during the baroque period however, took place in other
areas of Europe. Looking at the names of Spanish composers of 1650-1750, we find not one
of any special note.
The major figure of the Spanish baroque was Domenico Scarlatti who was born, and received
his musical training, not in Spain but in Italy. In Scarlatti's 500 or so Sonatas we find all the
richness and excitement, the melodic and rhythmic variety of traditional Spain.
A comprehensive list of Iberian composers
From EUROPE to the NEW WORLD
As the 18th century progressed, European music was also becoming increasingly familiar in
the United States, a particularly enthusiastic exponent being Thomas Jefferson, politician,
diplomat, foreign minister to France, vice president under John Adams, two-term president of
the United States, and of course, author of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas
Jefferson, whose spirited pursuit of excellence has few parallels in American history,
regarded music as "a delightful recreation through life" and "this favorite passion of my
soul." Once again we encounter the ubiquitous Corelli, who is known to have been one of
Jefferson's favorite composers.
See Thomas JEFFERSON for more detail on Jefferson and European baroque music.
INDIVIDUAL COMPOSER NOTES

We give below a listing of some of the prominent composers and musical personalities of the
baroque period. Those underlined as links will take you to a short biographical article on that
particular composer. Again, most of the individual composers' stories show the great extent of
their travels, their interactions with and influence upon one another.
1653-1713 - Arcangelo CORELLI - Rome
1659-1695 - Henry PURCELL - England
1660-1725 - Alessandro SCARLATTI (father) - Italy
1660-1741 - Johann Joseph Fux - Austria
1668-1733 - Francois COUPERIN ("the Great") - France
1670-1747 - Giovanni Battista Bononcini - Italy
1671-1751 - Tomaso ALBINONI - Italy
1678-1741 - Antonio VIVALDI - Venice
1679-1745 - Jan Dismas ZELENKA - Prague, Dresden
1680-1762 - Francesco GEMINIANI - Italy, England
1681-1767 - Georg Philipp TELEMANN - Germany
1683-1764 - Jean Philippe RAMEAU - France
1685-1759 - George Frideric HANDEL - Germany, England
1685-1750 - Johann Sebastian BACH - south Germany
1685-1757 - Domenico SCARLATTI (son) - Italy, Spain
1692-1766 - Unico Willem van Wassenaer: the mystery composer - Holland
1712-1786 - John STANLEY - England
Why did Bach assemble some of his best cantata movements into four short masses,
liturgically unsuitable for use in Leipzig, for a Bohemian Count? Read the fascinating story
of
Count Frantisek Antonin von Sporck (16621738)
One of Bach's great friends and colleagues was his contemporary Gottfried Silbermann
(1683-1753) - a Master Organ-builder, expert acoustician, part "inventor" of the fortepiano...
with help from JSB!
Quite a number of the biographies listed here make reference either to John Walsh in London
or Estienne Roger in Amsterdam as printer/publishers. Read about their activities and

influence in
Music publishing in Baroque Europe

The BAROQUE MUSIC COLLECTION

offers an extensive collection of CDs devoted to the music of the baroque period with a
special section for JS Bach. CDs can be ordered direct through the internet, or download
direct to your PC. Links to full information and music samples for every CD.

Where to next?
The BAROQUE MUSIC HOME PAGE - www.BaroqueMusic.org
for a complete listing of all our Baroque Music sites.

Baroque Music Defined

Baroque Music Performance: "Authentic" versus "Traditional"

The Baroque German Violin Bow: A Lost Art

The Lute-Harpsichord: A Forgotten Instrument

The Baroque Composers' Portrait Gallery

Portraits of the major baroque composers.

A Baroque Music Sampler

Over two hours of music samples, major baroque composers, and Bach of course.

GOTTFRIED SILBERMANN: Master Organ-Builder of the German Baroque.

Friend and colleague of JS Bach, famed for his celebrated "silver sounds".

Click for copyright information.

BAROQUE
MUSIC
PERFORMANCE:
"Authentic" or "Traditional"
A discussion of the
essential issues involved.

It has become fashionable over the last ten years to talk of authentic performances as if
others are not, though in truth, the attempt to rediscover baroque music and its spirit has been
with us since the mid-1800s.
But if there is a need to rediscover it, how was it lost in the first place? There is much
evidence that until Bachs death in 1750 the musical tradition was very much continuous. The
music played and sung in the Leipzig church services when Bach was Cantor (from 1723
until his death in 1750) was not confined to what we would now call baroque. Far from it.
Interwoven into the service among Bachs own compositions were chorales and plainsong
chants going back one, two and three hundred years in an unbroken tradition.
After Bachs death however, music took on a different style, and, perhaps for the first time in
musical development, the older style was considered unfashionable. There was a major
break with the past. The break was not complete of course, but it was such that baroque music
could be rediscovered a hundred years later as something of a new revelation. Mendelssohn
and his sister played Bach regularly in their home, their favorite works being the "48"
Preludes and Fugues. And it was Mendelssohn's promotion of the St Matthew Passion in
1829 which marked the first public "revival" of Bach and his music.

This ground-breaking performance was given with a choir of some three or four hundred certainly not at all as Bach would have known it. But this was not an intentional
"romanticization" of Bach; rather it was something of a relief to Mendelssohn personally, and
ultimately a triumphant re-birth.
Mendelssohn himself, though personally enthusiastic and dedicated to the revival of the St
Matthew Passion, had been very dubious as to its reception by the public; indeed he was
equally dubious as to his choirs reception of it. If they didnt like it they would slowly drift
away. Would he be left with a choir of four voices by the end of rehearsals?! And would
anybody be at the concert to hear it? In fact the opposite was the case. Such was the choirs
enjoyment of this work that its numbers swelled with every rehearsal as the word went
around. Hence the rather over-large vocal section, which may not have been ideal for a Bach
performance, but in the circumstances made Mendelssohn very happy!
Wilfred Blunt gives this account in his detailed and perceptive biography of Mendelssohn:
The choir of the Singakademie, which it had been feared would gradually fade away as
rehearsals proceeded, grew ever larger and ever more enthusiastic under Felix's inspired
direction: they noticed, too, that he knew the work so intimately that he dispensed with a
score; his musical memory was extraordinary.
Excitement in the cultural world of Berlin mounted as the great day approached, for the
choirs, three or four hundred strong, had passed the word round that the work was a
revelation: that old Bach was after all capable of drama, passion and melodiousness; that
here was 'an architectonic grandeur of structure' undreamed of by those familiar only with
his smaller instrumental works.
Everything had gone so well it seemed impossible that on the day itself the standard achieved
during rehearsals could be surpassed. Yet it was. 'Never', wrote a contemporary participant,
'have I known any performance so consecrated by one united sympathy. Our concert made an
extraordinary sensation in the educated circles of Berlin. If only old Bach could have heard
our performance!' The King and his whole Court were there, and the hall was completely
full. More than a thousand people had been unable to get tickets, and two further
performances which were called for followed almost immediately.

That performance marked the beginning of the move towards what we would now call a
baroque revival. The Bach Gesellschaft (Society) began in 1850 the task of publishing all
Bachs works (all that could be found that is), a project which they completed fifty years later
in 1900.
In the early 1900s, Wanda Landowska re-invented the harpsichord, which had been almost
completely supplanted by the piano for home and concert performance. Her great "iron
grand" was, to say the least, unlike anything built during the baroque period. But to have the
prestigious Paris firm of Pleyel temporarily abandon their piano manufacture in order to
attempt a re-creation of this peculiar antique instrument was a major pioneering achievement
in the rediscovery of the baroque. Landowskas performances, incidentally, though the
recorded sound is not of todays technical quality, are still exemplary, and Landowska's
interpretations are rarely matched today in their insight and technical precision.
So the movement of rediscovery gradually progressed. In 1950 the advent of the long playing
record created a new vehicle and a new public for classical music, followed in 1960 by stereo
with the parallel improvement both in recording equipment, and in the standard of home
sound reproduction.
During the 70s and 80s further valuable research was conducted into the music and
performance of the baroque, applied in practical recording and concert performance. It was
during this period that performances began to bear the title "authentic" or "on period
instruments".
At the same time however, it should also be understood that performance to a major degree
reflects the spirit of the times, and some of today's "authentic" performances have less to do
with historical accuracy, attempting rather to produce a performance which, in John Eliot
Gardiner's words, will "excite modern listeners". Thus it is that "authentic" performances,
while aiming to please modern tastes, often make presumptions which lack historical
authenticity and which fail to bring out the full potential inherent in the music.
Nor has "authenticity" fully percolated through to the recording and balance engineers, who
are still failing to pay enough attention to contrapuntal clarity which requires very delicate
balancing - the harpsichord particularly suffers consistently from adverse balancing
treatment.

Tempi, balance, and instrumental timbre: these key issues of performance and recording
practice may be reviewed one by one.
Tempi
Many "authentic" performances of Bach's cantatas adopt a fast, almost racy tempo which
would never have been considered or tolerated in the staid atmosphere of a Lutheran church
service in 1730. Tempi if anything would have been slower and more deliberate than we
today would probably want to accept. Likewise many authentic performances of orchestral
and solo works adopt a tempo the speed of which may display the players dexterity but
obscures much valuable and enjoyable detail. Many a time I have listened to a racy
performance; having heard many slower and clearer performances and studied the scores I at
least know what Im missing, but I feel sad for those listening for the first time, who will miss
so much wonderful detail. The tempo should never be faster than that which will allow the
fastest (=shortest-value) notes to be articulated clearly.
Another issue of authenticity might also be considered in relation to tempi: the question of
relative tempi as between movements of a concerto. Many believe that the ultra-slow middle
movement contrasting with excessively fast and often hectic outer movements was a 19th
century creation. The respected Romanian/French conductor/composer Georges Enesco
believed that the three movements of a baroque concerto (or sonata for that matter) should be
approximately equal in duration, that the slow movements should be faster than current
practice, and the "fast" movements should be slower. He put this principle into practice in his
wonderful Bach clavier concerto recordings, now long ago deleted. Internal evidence of the
music itself suggests that the difference between the two outer, and the middle movement was
one of character not speed. The outer movements would be lively and outgoing, while the
center movement would be more introspective or lyrical. Thurston Dart, a major pioneer in
the search for authenticity in performance during the 1960s, was also of this view.
As a simple rule, "slow" movements should move along gracefully, never drag, while "fast"
movements should never express haste, and should always respect the player of the fastest
notes, so that every note is distinct. As Alessandro Scarlatti wrote in a letter to the Grand
Duke Ferdinando de' Medici: Where 'grave' is marked, I do not mean 'melancolico'; 'allegro'
should be judged so that too much is not demanded of the singer. And the literal translation of
the Italian Vivace is "lively" - not ultra-fast!

Many "authentic" performances also adopt unsteady tempi, so that the music seems to move
in waves, or fits and starts, ignoring the fact that a regular tempo was universally accepted in
baroque times when the major concern was keeping unruly players and singers together.
Indeed it was quite usual for conductors to beat time with a heavy object on a desk, or, more
commonly still, on the floor with a staff. The French composer Lully was conducting a Te
Deum to celebrate Louis XIV's recovery from illness; he was banging loudly on the floor
with a staff when he struck his foot with such force that it developed an abscess, from which
the unfortunate Lully died shortly after. Slow, steady and deliberate tempi were the order of
the baroque day. And clarity of contrapuntal line was paramount, which itself dictated a slow
and deliberate rendition.
Balance
The importance of contrapuntal clarity leads to the issue of balance. Many recording
engineers and studios will record a harpsichord concerto one session and a piano concerto the
next; in both cases there is a keyboard soloist set against the orchestral background. Yet while
the piano is given prominence in the piano concerto, the harpsichord will be pushed into the
soundscape background for the harpsichord concerto! It is not always easy to find recordings
of Bach's harpsichord concertos in which the harpsichord is given correct prominence; and as
for the poor Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, often (and rightly) billed as the world's first Triple
Concerto, it seems impossible to find one recording from the zillions available in which the
harpsichord is given the same prominence as the violin and flute, the other two solo
instruments. The harpsichord is doing lots of wonderful things, but balance and excessive
speeds usually render most of the player's work inaudible. When the harpsichord emerges
into its beautiful solo cadenza it is barely audible; indeed in one recent "authentic" recording
the harpsichord volume is actually turned up for the solo, either during the recording, the
mixing or mastering - a shameful practice hardly worthy of any self-respecting recording
company!
The tradition of the Inaudible Harpsichord is probably based on the perception of the
harpsichord as being solely a continuo instrument, there only to keep the rhythm and to fill in
the background harmony. While this may be a true reflection of the harpsichord's major
traditional role, this fine instrument was obviously much more significant to Bach, who
pioneered its use as a solo-in-concerto.

Another example of poor balance which fails to reflect Bach's own view of the harpsichord's
role can almost universally be found in his sonatas for violin and keyboard. These were
written as 3-part Trio Sonatas, one part for each keyboard hand, and the third for the violin.
But once again the harpsichord is generally relegated to the rear of the sound spectrum, the
result being an almost solo violin with a faint tinkling in the background. Thus when the
counterpoint moves from violin to harpsichord it is all but lost. The same applies with the
sonatas for flute - or viola - and harpsichord. In choral music too, balance is often
inappropriate musically, when for example the choir is given prominence over the
instruments, although baroque composers generally and Bach in particular wrote equally for
instruments and voices, taking the musical lines freely from one to the other. A good Bach
performance and recording might be summarized in one simple objective: "if Bach wrote it,
the listener should hear it".
In the case of Bach's cantatas and choral works, most performances and recordings use a
small portable organ for the continuo, ignoring the church's main organ in the gallery. This
arrangement, while no doubt preferred by conductor and recording engineer, may be adequate
for the accompaniment of arias and recitatives, but not for the opening choruses in cantatas
such as 29 and 146 which feature what amounts to a solo organ concerto movement. Here the
thin, almost pitiful sound of the little chamber organ is simply not up to the task. This is one
fine aspect (among many others!) of Karl Richter's cantata recordings for Archive, where the
big organ is always used. In the accompaniment of concluding chorales too, the big organ
provides what Bach would call gravitas. A document in Meissen Cathedral written by JF
Doles (1715-97) gives detailed organ registration recommendations for the performance of
Preludes, and for the accompaniment of chorales sung by the congregation. Since Doles was
a pupil of JS Bach for five years (1739-44) his recommendations may be presumed to reflect
Bach's own views. Full organ is recommended for congregational accompaniment, including
the 16' Posaune in the pedal. Doles incidentally, after a spell at Freiberg Cathedral, took over
Bach's old post as Thomaskantor in 1755 which he held until his death.
Timbre
The third major issue to be considered is that of timbre, or sound quality produced by the
instruments, in particular the violin and the harpsichord.

The harpsichord sound generally associated with most "authentic" performances is, in the
words of one outspoken reviewer, tinny and jangly. Was this the sound Bach would have
preferred from his own harpsichord? This is not a rhetorical or unanswerable question, for we
can ascertain Bach's taste in harpsichord sound with some accuracy. To begin with, the
harpsichords built today as copies of baroque instruments normally copy the lighter French
and Flemish designs. German harpsichords of the baroque period however, were much
heavier and more solid, giving a deeper, richer, rounder tone. Even this was not entirely
satisfactory to Bach, whose ideal was a harpsichord more resembling the soft tone of the lute.
In pursuance of this ideal, Bach had two "lute-harpsichords" custom-built with gut strings and
other modifications rendering an even gentler, more rounded sound. Though an actual
example of a lute-harpsichord has not survived, there are historical records of orders and
specifications, and a wonderful reconstruction has been made for Gergely Srkzy (among
others) whose equally wonderful performances of Bach can be heard on the Hungaraton
label. It would seem fairly conclusive that this is the sort of sound Bach would have
preferred. For more detail about the lute-harpsichord check the link at the bottom of this
page.
Nor was Bach in any way opposed to the use of the 16' stop in harpsichord performance (as
"authentic" performers imply); the inventory of Bach's possessions at the time of his death
reveals that as well as two lute-harpsichords, he owned several harpsichords of which his
main instrument had a 16' stop on its lower manual.
Also fashionable in "authentic" circles is to scorn such "bells and whistles" as foot pedals for
registration changes, and - perish the thought - Venetian swell-shutters for volume variations.
Once again however, "authentic" ideology disregards historical accuracy. Among the
instruments in the Fenton House Collection, London, is a harpsichord built by Burkat Shudi
and John Broadwood in 1770. In addition to its six hand stops, it also has three pedals to
control the lute, machine and buff stops for quick registrational changes. When the machine
stop is put into the 'on' position the upper keyboard commands the upper eight foot stop, and
the lower keyboard the three sets of strings. On depressing the lute pedal this combination is
changed to: upper keyboard, the lute stop: lower keyboard, the lower eight foot. The case also
contains a Venetian swell, an inner lid consisting of eleven hinged shutters covering the
whole soundboard area. These shutters can be opened by depressing the buff pedal, which
permits crescendo and diminuendo, and also alters the tone color.

Similarly in the case of the violin, the research movement into "authentic performance" has
totally overlooked one very important aspect of baroque performance on stringed instruments
generally: the ability of the performer to produce true chords, a technique which required a
type of bow widely used in German baroque performance.
The German baroque violin bow was quite different from its Italian counterpart, reflecting
differences in German musical taste. The Italian bow was slim, light, almost straight, and
very similar to those in general use today. The German bow was heavier and deeply arched;
the strings were loose, and the tension was maintained by the pressure of the player's thumb
which was placed under the bow strings. The more cumbersome method of holding the bow
which this required, would have dictated slower performance speeds. But more significantly,
the tension, being maintained by the players thumb, could be tightened for single-line
melody, or loosened to play chords on three or all four strings simultaneously. This technique
was expounded by one Emil Telmanyi who recorded Bach's solo violin sonatas and partitas
for German Decca (Das Alte Werk series) many years ago using a modern reconstruction of
the baroque German violin bow. His performance brought out for the first time the alternation
between chord and solo line which is such an important feature of Bach's solo string writing all other performances play broken arpeggios which are not the same as true chords.
There need be no doubt as to the historical validity of the arched German baroque bow, with
its associated technique of using the thumb to control tension and play chords or single line as
required. A cursory glance at the frontispiece to the Musikalishes Lexikon published in 1732
and edited by Bach's cousin Gottfried Walther clearly shows players using arched bows, their
thumbs holding the tension of the bowstrings. And there is other documentation, as for
example in the written comments by Georg Muffat (1698). A further point is that Bach was
not the sort of slapdash musician who would write chords for an instrument incapable of
playing them. His solo flute sonata has no chords which the player must replicate with
arpeggios. Bach wrote chords in his solo string sonatas and partitas because chords were what
he intended to be played and chords were what he himself would have played (he learned the
violin at an early age and was very fond of the viola). In the absence of a revival of the
baroque German bow and a fund of expertise in its use, the only way at present to render a
truly authentic performance of Bach's solo violin and solo cello sonatas and partitas authentic in the sense of how Bach visualized and would have heard them - would be to use a
quartet.

Fuller detail on the German baroque bow together with the illustration mentioned above and
several others can be found by following the link at the bottom of this page.
Another very prominent feature of string playing in today's "authentic" performances is the
almost total absence of vibrato, resulting in a flat, plaintive and lifeless tone. It seems quite
unclear as to where this aspect of "authenticity" derived from, since much evidence supports
quite the contrary view. A star pupil of Corelli, Geminiani moved from Naples to London in
1714 and was to become the most important Italian violin virtuoso resident in Britain, also
teacher, composer and the author of an immensely influential treatise addressed to advanced
players, The Art of Playing on the Violin (1751) as well as several other advanced musical
treatises. He published several challenging collections of violin sonatas which require
dramatic flair from the player. Geminiani provided ornaments for both slow and fast
movements as well as cadenzas in his treatise; he advocated the use of vibrato 'as often as
possible', and the expressiveness of his playing was much admired by both Hawkins and
Burney. Vibrato was also well known and much valued during baroque times in its
application on the clavichord, known in German as Bebung. There are also many references
in baroque musical literature, both to the importance placed on warmth and vibrato in vocal
performance, and to the ideal in violin playing of replicating the human voice. A further,
more practical consideration arises from the fact that musical instruments in those days were
not maintained to the same high standard of tuning as they are today, since they were usually
stored and often played in damp, cold conditions. It was recommended that instruments play
in groups of at least three in order to minimize this problem, and vibrato likewise would have
helped overcome the perception of imperfect tuning.
Period instruments
A word or two might also be said about the use of the term "period instruments". Some rare
and unusual instruments have indeed been revived, but with very few exceptions, these are
more relevant in the performance of mediaeval music rather than baroque. The use of the
(wooden and much softer) baroque flute is important, as opposed to its more strident metal
counterpart - this is a matter of balance, between the flute and harpsichord or other
instruments. In the case of stringed instruments however, few stringed instrument players of
any standing have ever used an instrument produced more recently than the mid-1800s. The
violin, viola and cello players recorded in the 1960s, 70s and 80s were all proud owners of
original baroque instruments. Thus the use of the term "period instruments", while it may be

indisputably accurate, should not be taken to imply that this is an exclusively modern-day
revival phenomenon.
Clarity of diction in arias and recitatives
It is important to understand that baroque listeners to cantatas and other sacred works were
not there simply for the musical entertainment, as may be the case with today's listener.
Bach's cantatas, for example, formed a major part of the lesson for the day, and his texts were
expected to reflect the gospel and theme of the sermon. Arias and recitatives were an essential
tool in the telling of a biblical story or the communicating of the lesson. Thus the diction
would always have been clearly articulated, the voice projected from the front of the gallery
for the whole congregation to hear. In many performances of vocal works heard today it is
difficult to tell what language the singer is using, let alone the precise words. Such a
performance on the part of the vocalist is neither authentic nor useful.
The Baroque Spirit
While the debate on authenticity in baroque performance will continue, certain essential
characteristics should be present, if the performance is to reflect the true baroque spirit. The
musicians must first and foremost show a respect and an affection for the music; this is most
important. A violinist or singer performing with real sensitivity, even just for a few lines,
immediately seizes one's attention. Tempi also are extremely important; if the tempo is too
slow the piece drags; too fast and vital detail is lost as the musicians scramble to grapple with
unnecessary challenges of physical dexterity. Too many performances today reflect this
unseemly haste. Balance is vital too, so that everything can be heard.
In the performance itself it is very important, particularly in the works of JS Bach, to display
the "architecture" of the piece, especially in his organ preludes and fugues, many of which are
constructed in the form of an arch with side pillars at beginning and end, curves and a
keystone at the top, with excursions into carved embellishments along the way. A good
performer will study the architecture and reflect it in performance through changes in
registration. All too often today such considerations are dispensed with, and indeed there is a
school of thought which supports performance from start to finish on one manual with one
selection of stops, overlooking the fact that much of Bach's organ-writing was produced
specifically for and at the request of students and colleagues who wanted pieces which would

show off the full power and also the individual sounds of newly built organs which they had
been invited to test and approve.
There is a spirit to every age, every composer, and every piece of music. In baroque times
secular and sacred life were very much inter-related, and music was to be enjoyed, but also
respected as a spiritual gift. Bach spoke often of a piece, its performance, and the
instrumentation or style with which it was performed as requiring gravitas. More importantly,
the spirit of the baroque is characterized above all by clarity, for the music is very
contrapuntal (fugal/canonic) and every note, every line has its place. Love and respect for the
music, enjoyment in performance, and above all, clarity in the articulation, ensemble and
recording balance. These are the true essentials of baroque music. If performance practices
billed as authentic on "period" instruments can reveal these qualities and this spirit then
that is true authenticity. If modern instruments can do the same, then that too is authenticity.
Its the spirit that counts.
Michael Sartorius
SOME ILLUSTRATIVE MUSICAL EXAMPLES
courtesy of the Baroque Music Library - CDs or downloads.
BACH

Harpsichord Partita 6

A full-bodied harpsichord of the type

7045

BWV 830

used in Germany during Bach's time.

BACH

Concerto BWV 595

The harpsichord with organ-type pedal-

707

Pedal-harpsichord

board was popular in Bach's time.

BACH

Bach: Partita in c

740

minor BWV 997

The lute-harpsichord - a baroque attempt

to give the harpsichord a softer, lute
sound.

Fux: Harpeggio &

The use of vibrato in the clavichord can

Fuga Clavichord

clearly be heard.

Bach: Concerto for 4

The harpsichord as a concerted

Harpsichords

instrument? Here are four!

BACH

Bach: Violin and

Both instruments should balance, as they

719

Harpsichord Sonata

do here. Note also violin vibrato.

BMC 28

BMC 18

Telmanyi Bach Partita

Violin played with arched bow, capable

2 Chaconne

of performing true chords.

BACH

Bach: Cantata 29

Opening of the Sinfonia to Cantata 29 -

733

Sinfonia

with full-bodied organ!

BACH

Bach: Chorale BWV

In this chorale excerpt, hear the 16'

738

725

Posaune (trombone) base.

BACH

Bach: Chorale from

Hear the powerful use of the organ in

733

Cantata 56

this chorale.

BHP 910

*** A talk on Authentic Performance by George Malcolm ***

*** Violins Old and New ***
A blind test between four instruments, by two violinists and a violin dealer.

Check
The BAROQUE MUSIC HOME PAGE - www.BaroqueMusic.org
for a complete listing of all our Baroque Music sites.

The Baroque German Violin Bow: A Lost Art

The Lute-Harpsichord: A Forgotten Instrument

The Baroque German Harpsichord

Baroque Music Defined

Baroque Composers and Musicians - An Overall Survey

The Baroque Composers' Portrait Gallery

Portraits of the major baroque composers.

A Baroque Music Sampler

Over two hours of music samples, major baroque composers, and Bach of course.

GOTTFRIED SILBERMANN: Master Organ-Builder of the German Baroque.

Friend and colleague of JS Bach, famed for his celebrated "silver sounds".

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BAROQUE
MUSIC
DEFINED
Baroque
music
expresses
order, the
fundamental
order of the
universe.
Yet it is
always
lively and
tuneful.
Follow the
developmen
t of music
through this
brief
outline,
from the
earliest
times to the
present day,

with
baroque
music set in
historical
context.

The English word baroque is derived from the Italian barocco, meaning
bizarre, though probably exuberant would be a better translation more
accurately reflecting the sense. The usage of this term originated in the 1860s
to describe the highly decorated style of 17th and 18th century religious and
public buildings in Italy, Germany and Austria, as typified by the very baroque
angelic organist adorning the Gottfried Silbermann organ completed in 1714
for the Cathedral in Freiberg, Saxony (illustrated above). Later, during the
early-to-mid 1900s, the term baroque was applied by association to music of
the 17th and early 18th century, and today the term baroque has come to refer
to a very clearly definable type or genre of music which originated, broadly
speaking, around 1600 and came to fruition between 1700 and 1750.
Listen to music of the 1200s and 1300s. It's relatively primitive in terms of
melody and harmony. If we move to the 1500s we find a great difference, as
Italian music began to blossom and English composers like Dowland, Morley
and Tomkins produced the wonderful melodies and surprisingly sensitive
poetry which accompanied them - or vice versa. A major theme underlying
music at that time however was the exploration of form. There was still so
much new to discover: new melodic lines and harmonic progressions to be
explored, new combinations of instruments, and new forms in music such as
the fugue, canon, and variations on a bassline, a popular tune or a chorale. As
the 1600s progressed, so these different musical forms took on definite shape,
and the period from 1700 to 1750 can clearly be seen as the "high baroque".
Two geographical influences were at work here. In north Germany and
Holland, composers such as Froberger, Kerll, and particularly Dietrich

Buxtehude were concentrating mainly on the art of counterpoint, especially the

fugue. Here, organ and voice were the major elements. At the other end of
Europe, in Rome, the instrumental forms of the sonata and concerto were
formalized. Every period in music has certain recognizable clichs, and much
of what is typical in baroque music, specific cadences and snatches of melody,
can be traced back to one Arcangelo Corelli, who seems to have influenced just
about everybody, from his Italian contemporaries and students to Handel who
sojourned in Rome from 1704 to 1710. From Rome, the "Italian" influences
spread northwards while the stricter north German forms flowed southwards,
intermingling to produce a common baroque vocabulary. Indeed, the intermingling of musical trends from different parts of Europe was surprisingly
extensive, considering the relatively primitive methods of travel and
communication. Vivaldi, Geminiani, Corelli, Scarlatti, Handel and many others
all met one another or were thoroughly conversant with one another's music.
Bach journeyed north from his "base" in Thuringia and Saxony, southern
Germany, to hear Buxtehude, and his later travels included Dresden and Berlin.
Bach owned and/or copied the music of many of his contemporary composers,
often re-writing them for different instruments. Indeed this was a recognized
method of study widely practised in baroque times.
It is also important, when studying the composers and their music of the
baroque or indeed any age, to review the circumstances in which
composers worked. Take Vivaldi for example. Though he wrote many fine
concertos (like the Four Seasons and the Opus 3) he also wrote many works
which sound like five-finger exercises for students. And this is precisely what
they were. Vivaldi was employed for most of his working life by the Ospedale
della Piet. Often termed an "orphanage", this Ospedale was in fact a home for
the female offspring of noblemen and their numerous dalliances with their
mistresses. The Ospedale was thus well endowed by the "anonymous" fathers;
its furnishings bordered on the opulent, the young ladies were well lookedafter, and the musical standards among the highest in Venice. Many of Vivaldi's
concerti were indeed exercises which he would play with his many talented
pupils.

Two major influences in Germany were the Church and the State, or
rather, States. Neither Italy nor Germany existed then as we know them today.
Germany was a complex mass of small princely states, each with its own Court
and, with any luck, Court Musicians. Alliances came and went as princely
families inter-married thus uniting, for a time anyway, their respective
territories. That is why so many princely titles of those days were hyphenated,
as for example, Anhalt-Kthen or Saxe-Coburg. Many a composer's fortunes
rose or fell with the status accorded to music at the court in which he was
serving, and composer-musicians would try to seek a position in a city or court
where music was known, for the time being anyway, to be thriving under the
patronage of an enthusiastic king or prince. The direction of Bach's music was
influenced in his early years by several courts at which he was employed; the
greater part of his working life however was spent in Leipzig where his
position as Cantor of St Thomas' Church required church cantatas in abundance
(200 have come down to us, some 100 more are supposed lost).
A brief look at the life of Handel illustrates both the mobility, and the
influence of royal patronage on a composer typical of the baroque age.
Georg Friederich Hndel was born in Halle (Germany), on February 23rd,1685,
just a month before JS Bach was born in Eisenach, not so far to the south.
Handel's father intended him for the law, but his own musical inclinations soon
prevailed. Following his studies in Germany, Handel went to Italy where he
spent more than three years, in Florence, Rome, Naples and Venice. In Rome
he studied with Corelli, and no doubt met and exchanged ideas with a number
of other Italian composers.
Handel left Italy early in 1710 and went to Hanover, where he was appointed
Kapellmeister to the Elector, George Louis. The Royal Houses of Britain and
Europe had always been closely inter-related, and England's Act of Settlement
of 1701 which secured the Protestant succession to the Crown, placed George
directly in the line of succession. In 1705 George was naturalized by Act of
Parliament, and in August 1714 the death of Queen Anne made him King of

England. Handel, who had already visited London and apparently found it to
his liking, was to follow the Elector in adopting British nationality, and indeed
part of Handel's success in London was due to the royal patronage of the
Elector of Hanover, now King George I.
Handel became deeply involved, both artistically and commercially, in the
growing London opera scene. Later, during the 1730s he would lean more to
the English musical forms, the oratorio, ode and the like, and his Messiah
belongs very much to the anglican anthem tradition. When Handel died on
April 14th, 1759 he was buried in Westminster Abbey, recognized in England
as the greatest composer of his day. In his association with royalty and royal
occasions, Handel followed a tradition set fifty years earlier by Purcell, and is
still regarded as one of England's greatest composers.
In the music of JS Bach, the different forms and styles of the baroque came
together and were brought to perfection. Johann Sebastian Bach came from a
musical family stretching back through many generations, and the Bachs were
well-known throughout their "home ground" of Thuringia in what is now
southeast Germany. The Bach family members were church and court
musicians, teachers, and one or two were instrument-makers. Though Bach
himself traveled less than some of his contemporaries, he seems to have been
able to draw freely and widely on the developments taking place throughout the
western musical world as indeed were all the other major composers. Later in
Bach's life, during his Leipzig years, his son Carl Philipp Emanuel wrote that
"no musician of any consequence visiting Leipzig would fail to call upon my
father". Leipzig was an important and cosmopolitan university city, and visiting
musicians would call upon Bach or stay at his apartments in the Thomas School
building where they would make music together on whatever ensemble of
instruments the occasion could muster. Many of Bach's later concertos were
written or modified for such occasions - the 3 and 4 harpsichord concertos for
example.
When Bach died in 1750 he left a legacy which summarized his art, his life's
work in which he had, by general recognition, brought baroque musical forms

to the peak of their development. He left 48 Preludes and Fugues for the
keyboard adopting the new "equal temperament" enabling all keys to be played
equally and modulation between keys; he left us the Art of the Fugue
(complete, though many deny this, attaching an incomplete fugue which is not
part of the "Art"), and the Goldberg Variations, a set of 30 Variations on a
popular tune. He also left numerous collections of chorale variations, canons,
and fugues, as well as many pieces in more standardized form such as preludes,
sonatas and concertos. Add to that, some 200 cantatas, the Passions, and the
monumental B-Minor Mass (plus the Four Shorter Masses which Bach
"assembled" drawing upon what he considered as his finest cantata
movements).
After Bach music took a different turn. Even the music of his sons, with the
possible exception of Wilhelm Friedemann, was quite different in character,
expressing the new "gallant" style which was lighter, with less stress on pure
form - and having its own set of "clichs"! Here we find composers such as
Haydn and Mozart, to be followed by the "romantic" composers such as
Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. It was however in the baroque period that the
essential language of music was defined, and it is interesting to note how
successive composers would often "return to base", studying and playing
Bach's works, writing fugues in the baroque style, or adapting the works of
baroque composers. Mendelssohn led the baroque revival, while Mozart,
Schumann, Beethoven and many others produced fugues in strict baroque style.
Max Reger, as well as writing many pieces in baroque contrapuntal style,
adapted Bach's Six Brandenburg Concertos for two pianos.
Many instruments reached the peak of their development at the height of the
baroque era; the organs of Arp Schnitger (north Germany) and Bach's close
friend Gottfried Silbermann (Saxony, south Germany) were among the period's
finest and are still regarded as such today. Likewise the violins and other
stringed instruments of the baroque Italian masters are the prized possessions of
today's professional string players. The domestic, and later concert keyboard
instrument provides an example of disappearance, replacement, then
rediscovery. The baroque age favored the harpsichord, in which the strings are

plucked and the player cannot vary the tone through finger touch. After 1750
the piano took over, offering touch sensitivity, and developing later into the
"iron grands" needed for concert-hall performances of the great romantic
concertos by such as Beethoven. Interestingly however it was the organ builder
Gottfried Silbermann, working with Bach, who contributed substantially to the
development of the piano. King Frederick the Great is said to have owned no
less than fourteen Silbermann fortepianos (as they were then called) in his Sans
Souci palace at Potsdam, just west of Berlin, and it was ostensibly in order to
"try out" such an instrument that JS Bach was invited to Potsdam in 1747. The
result of this visit was the Musical Offering.
Music which is melodious yet so constructed as to reflect the "perfect
order" of the universe: that is the essence of the baroque. In the words of
baroque composer and theorist Johann Joseph Fux: "A composition meets the
demands of good taste if it is well constructed, avoids trivialities as well as
willful eccentricities, aims at the sublime, but moves in a natural ordered way,
combining brilliant ideas with perfect workmanship."
These days more and more people are seeking a return to music for the mind,
music combining beauty with the order of an underlying architecture and
structure. So we are witnessing a resurgence of interest in the baroque, and
those who are fortunate enough to be as yet unfamiliar with it have a wonderful
experience awaiting them.

Where to next?
The BAROQUE MUSIC HOME PAGE - www.BaroqueMusic.org
Articles, biographies, portraits, music samples.

Baroque Music Performance: "Authentic" versus "Traditional"

Baroque Composers and Musicians - biographies and notes

The Baroque German Violin Bow: A Lost Art

The Lute-Harpsichord: A Forgotten Instrument

The Baroque Composers' Portrait Gallery

Portraits of the major baroque composers.

A Baroque Music Sampler

Over two hours of music samples, major baroque composers, and Bach
of course.

GOTTFRIED SILBERMANN: Master Organ-Builder of the German

Baroque.
Friend and colleague of JS Bach, famed for his celebrated "silver
sounds".

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