Handel and Gottlieb Muffat: A Newly Discovered Borrowing

Author(s): Susan Wollenberg

Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 113, No. 1551 (May, 1972), pp. 448-449
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/955427
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 Handel and Gottlieb
A newly discovered borrowing
Susan Wollenberg
The fugue subject in the second movement of the
organ concerto op.7 no.2 in A is characteristicof
Handelat his most vigorous,with its leapingmelodic
line and livelyrhythmicpatterns.This subjectwas in
fact composed by Handel'scontemporary,Gottlieb
Muffat.Handel'sextensiveborrowingsfromMuffat's
printed collection of keyboard pieces, the Com-
ponimenti Musicali,1 have been thoroughly docu-
mented and discussed by various writers." One
such borrowing occurs in the third movement of
op.7 no.2, which, as Gerald Abrahamhas noted,3
is based on 'La Coquette', from the sixth suite of
the Componimenti.As far as I know, no previous
investigationof Handel's borrowingsfrom Muffat
has broughtto light the case of the fugue subjectin
the secondmovementof the concerto, which comes
not from the Componimenti but froman unpublished
work of Muffat. A manuscriptcollection of key-
board music copied by Padre Alexander Giessel,4
includingin its contents32 ricercarsand 19canzonas
by Gottlieb Muffat,is preservedin the libraryof the
Vienna Minoritenkonvent.5 The date 1733 is found
on f.91v: as Muffat's pieces are contained in the
section from f.2v to f.90v, it seems reasonable to
assumethat they werecopied eitherbeforeor during
1733, most probablyfrom the autograph(no longer
extant). Handel'sconcertoop.7 no.2 was completed
on 5 February1743and publishedin 1761by Walsh.
Giessel's copy is the only known source for the
complete set of Muffat ricercars and canzonas,
although some individualpieces from it are found,
usuallyin alteredform, in otherMscopies.6Ricercar
28, from which Handel borrowedmaterialfor op.7
no.2, does not however reappear in any of these
other sources. After the Muffat works, Giessel
Ex.1(a)
F
Tf
" r i-'
1
t Augsburg, c1739; reprinted in Hdndel Gesellschaft, ed. Chry-
sander, supplements, v (1894), and in DTO, Jg. iii/3, ed. Adler
(1896)
2 see Joseph Bennett, 'Handel and Muffat', MT, xxxvi (1895),
149-52; F. Chrysander, preface to his edn. of Componimenti;
J. S. Shedlock, 'Handel's Borrowings', MT, xlii (1901), 450-2,
526-8, 596-600; Sedley Taylor, The Indebtedness of Handel to
Other Composers (1906), pp.1-14
3 in G. Abraham, ed., Handel: a Symposium (1954), p.230 n.3
1 Giessel (1694-1766), a pupil of Fux (as was Gottlieb Muffat),
was regens chori at the Minoritenkonvent in Vienna.
5 MSXIV 712; see F. W. Riedel, Das Musikarchiv im Minoriten-
konvent zu Wien (1963), [catalogue] pp.44-5
6 Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Mus Mss
15780 and 15781; Stift G6ttweig, Ms Muffat 2; Vienna, Mino-
ritenkonvent, XIV 729; Vienna, Archiv der Gesellschaft der
Musikfreunde, Q 11385 (formerly VII 16254); New York Public
Library, Drexel 3276; Berlin, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, Mus
MS 30112
.448
Muffat
later added some fugues and a gigue by Handel,7a
selection from Zipoli's Sonate d'intavolatura per
organoe cimbalo(Rome, 1716, i), and some anony-
mous versets. Giessel treats the Muffatfugues here
as a specialcase, usingopen scorenotationinsteadof
the closed score normal for all types of keyboard
music at the time (to which he revertslater in the
MS).The choice of an archaicnotation system is an
externalindicationof Muffat'slinks in these pieces
withItalianfugaltraditionsof the precedingcentury.8
The scope of this article does not extend to a full
discussion of these interesting works: a brief
characterizationmust suffice. In accordance with
tradition,Muffatdifferentiatesbetweenthe ricercar
and the canzona,with a stylefor the formergenerally
relatedto the vocal motet and using short subjects,
and a livelierinstrumentalstyle for the latter.9The
subject of ricercar 28, however, is an exception,
belongingin fact to the canzona rather than to the
vocal ricercaridiom, and of all Muffat's ricercar
themes it is closest to Handel's own style--which
no doubt explains why he was particularlydrawn
to it.
Ex.l shows first Muffat's opening section, and
then an extractfrom later in the ricercar.10
Handel's extension of the subject,by the simple
method of continuing its sequential progression
one step further,gives his version a more satisfying
shape (ex.2). He appropriatesnot only the subject,
but also some of the phraseswith which it is con-
tinued or combined in the ricercar.He takes up
Muffat'sdeviceof usingthe rhythmof threecrotchets
and a minimfrom the subjectfor his countersubject:
he adds octave leaps and alters the first intervalof
the phrase, but nevertheless his countersubject
-rF
Ex.1(b)
(bar61)
?
. ... .. .u-
Sfrom his Six Fugues and Voluntarys (1735) and the Suites de
Pieces pour le Clavecin (1720)
S Among the music recommended by Fux for study, which we
find in copies made by his pupils in Vienna, are ricercars by
Frescobaldi, Battiferri, Fontana and Poglietti.
9 These canzonas,
strangely, make hardly any use of the stan-
dard repeated-note formula which occurs frequently in other
fugues of Muffat: see the 72 Versetl sammt 12 Toccaten (Vienna,
1726); ed. Adler, in DTO, Jg.xxix/2 (1922), and ed. Upmeyer
(1952).
10 I have retained the original note-values, but for convenience
I have reduced the music to closed score. The original clefs
were treble, soprano, alto and bass.
 Ex. 2 A tempo ordinario posing this concertomovement,or had retainedthe
piece very sharply in his memory. It is also clear
Vln.. & Qb. II, Org. that he respectedMuffat'sideas, otherwisehe could
Vln. & Ob. T, Org.
have borrowedmerely the subject, and done with
Ex. 3
it as he pleased. Instead, he considered various
elements used in Muffat'sworking of it worth re-
(bar5) peating in his own. He does of course deviatefrom
the basis providedby the ricercar,to createa larger-
scale movement organized in a ritornello form:
Vln.. & Ob. II, Org.
the result is a kind of magnifiedparaphraseof the
clearlyowes its originsto Muffat's(ex.3). The series original.
of suspensionswhich appears in Muffat's codetta Thereis nothingremarkablein this process,which
(bar 6ff.) and whose rhythmicshape then combines Handel appliedto a great deal of the music of other
with the next entryof the subject,evidentlyappealed composers in order to make it his own. The par-
to Handel, and he introducesthis idea at a similar ticular significanceof this borrowingis that it must
stage in his own fugal exposition(ex.4). alter our attitudeto the connectionbetweenHandel
Ex. 4 Vln. & Ob. I, Org.

(bar9) Vln..& Ob.II

Org., B.
Via.,

Perhaps the coincidence of the fugue subjects
and the orderof voices, on its own, mighthave been
regarded as a freak. But the incorporation into
Handel's exposition of Muffat's countersubject
pattern,his codettaphrase,and both the contrapun-
tal partshe writesagainstthe thirdentryin the bass,
leaves no doubt that this was a fully conscious
borrowing.Nor does it stop there.The new counter-
subjectwhichHandel bringsin at bar 21 is Muffat's
(see ex.lb), moving upwards to match Handel's
new version of the subject (ex.5), but later (bars
Ex. 5 Vin & Ob,T, Org.
Vin. & Ob. II, Org. (Vla., B.)
103ff.)changed back into the descendingsequence
originallyfound in Muffat.
It is clear from all this that Handel either had a
copy of Muffat'sricercarby him when he was com-
and Muffat. Until now, it was assumed that the
only Muffat works known to Handel were printed
ones. It is quite natural that he should have used
the Componimentias a source, as that publication
was circulated in Europe and would have been
easily availableto him; but how did Handel come
to know an unpublishedricercarby Muffat, which
apparentlydid not circulatein Ms?One possibility
is that this ricercardid in fact travel furtherthan
Giessel and the Minoritenkonvent,in a copy or
copies now lost. Another (less probable,but more
interesting)is that Handel somehow gained direct
access to the Giessel copy of Muffat's32 ricercars,
and then Giessel decided to return his interest by
writing out for himself some of Handel's own
keyboardpieces.I can offerno documentaryevidence
whateverto support or to counter either of these
two possibilities.What is certain,amid all this con-
jecture, is that Handel'sinterestin Gottlieb Muffat
was not as was previously thought confined to
the music publishedin the Componimenti Musicali.

T)e Alusical Times

May 1872;28pp.; 2d
W. M. HUTCHINGS.
MusicalJottings,usefuland humorous.By JosephProudman
We like the "useful"betterthan the "humorous" and having to do with any time but the presentact
of these sketches.The difficultyof lashing the evils of worship.This personaladoption and appropria-
of the day by the force of ridicule is sufficiently tion of the sacred sentimentsand emotions is the
provedby the fact of so few writershavingachieved first source of true expression in worship. Given
a lasting fame in this departmentof literature;and this, what could be more impressivethan the united
if in these portions of his work Mr. Proudmanhas utteranceof five hundredlips, all warmedinto glow-
scarcely been successful, he must remember that he ing worship by the loving, earnest sincerityof five
fails in good company.But there is much to admire hundredhearts."There is also much truth in what
in his papers on "Psalmody."Take, for instance, our author observes about the "special cultivation
the following observations on the necessity of of men's music." There can be no reason, as he
individualsincerityin musicalworship:"Theidea of says, why our seamen should not learn enough of
personal identification with the thoughts and words intelligent singing to enable them to chant their
of our hymnsand psalmsis too often quiteoverlook- sabbath services, and we cordially agree with the
ed. We are prone to sing as though the believing, remarkthat if we aim to make them even humble
the hoping and confessing,the loving and praising, singers, "we shall make them better and happier
were all exercisesof anybody'sheart but our own, men, and no worse sailors."
449