Organ Basso Continuo

Basso Continuo on the Organ. I.
Author(s): Peter Williams

Source: Music & Letters, Vol. 50, No. 1, 50th Anniversary Issue (Jan., 1969), pp. 136-152
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/732908
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BASSO CONTINUO ON THE ORGAN
BY PETER WILLIAMS
DESPITE Kinkeldey and others, much remains to be written on the

origins of basso continuo and, more specifically, of figured bass. For
such a study any author must make two general distinctions: first,
whether the music concerned was secular or sacred in intent (a
wedding-feast at Florence in I530, an Easter Mass at Seville in
1570), and secondly, whether the keyboard-player had in front of
him an intavolatura, a score, a plain bass, a bass with signs (accidentals
appeared before figures) or a bass with the soprano line above. Each
of these different circumstances had its own musical result, but
rarely can we be certain of the particulars of performance. What
precisely did the organist of Toledo play from in I604 when his
portable organ was "lowered into the Coro to accompany the singers,
who shall sing solos in their order of seniority, with organ and, if
desired, instrumental support" ? A figured bass-line may have
become normal throughout much of Europe by I647, when the
typical north Italian church of S. Rocco, Conegliano gave Ioo
ducats for a similar portable organ "worthy of taking a part in
concerted music"2, but it was unlikely by I604 in even the richest
Spanish cathedral. Continuo players today will know that the kind
of part they play from affects the style of accompaniment. So of
course will the function of the music and the instrument playing it.
Whatever Castiglione meant in I528 by the phrase "cantare alla
viola per recitar",' we can assume that the viola's style of accompani-
ment differed from that of the harp at Toledo Cathedral in 1524
when it accompanied an organ and a flute.4 But that difference,
however great it was, would most likely arise more from the differing
nature of the viola and harp than from the distinctions between
sacred and secular music.
The early guides on playing figured bass, by Viadana, Agazzari,
Banchieri, Bianciardi, Strozzi, Demanthius, Praetorius, Staden and
Sabbatini (all between 1602 and 1628), are associated with the
church, published either as a preface to a collection of sacred vocal
1 R. Stevenson, 'Spanish Cathedral Music in the Golden Age' (California, I961),
P. 337.
2 S. dalla Libera, 'L'arte degli organi nel Veneto' (Venice/Rome, 1966), p. I29.
3 B. Castiglione, 'Cortigiano' (Florence, I528), quoted in O. Kinkeldey, 'Orgel
und Klavier in der Musik des I6. Jahrhunderts' (Leipzig, I90o), p. I53.
4 J. M. Roqueta, 'Musicos de la Corte del Card. Juan Tainera (I523-45)', Anuario
Musical, vi (1951), p. I55.
136
or instrumental music, or written primarily with the church organist
in mind. This was no doubt characteristic of the publishing market
of that time and place, but it is significant that the authors make very
little of the sacred-secular distinction to occupy later theorists; more
important to them, in varying degrees, was the assumption that the
organ was the foundation, together with a string or wind bass, for the
so-called bassus ad organum part. Judging by the title-pages of early
publications of secular monody, where the organ is mentioned only
in those collections containing sacred pieces, it was irrevocably
ecclesiastical, whether a full-sized church organ or one of the
positives heard in multichoral Roman music by Maugars and others.
The organ may not have appeared alone. In one obviously special
piece played and sung on Psalm Sunday Banchieri heard a continuo
group of "organo, due violoni continoi in contrabasso, due
clavecembali, tre liuti, due chitarroni",5 but such instruments as
lute, theorbo, chitarrone, harp, lirone, pandora and spinet (4 ft.) were
only so many "instruments of ornamentation". This is Agazzari's
phrase,6 and Praetorius's familiarity with, and copying of, his little
treatise in Part III of the 'Syntagma Musicum' (1619) assured
many a German organist's paper knowledge of central Italian
practice. Schiitz, in his exceptional position, might have called for
"organ, chamber-organ or also harpsichord, lute, pandora" to
accompany the narrator of the 'Ascension Story',' but this was to
make his piece as versatile as possible. German church composers
restricted themselves to a simple variety of keyboard instruments
(a regal for the soloists, an organ for the chorus in Selle's 'St. John
Passion' of 1643), despite theorists from Praetorius to Turk speculating
on what was possible. In England secular devotional music by
Alison (I599), Leighton (1614), Tailour (i6I5), Child (1639),
Wilson (1652) and Porter (1657) might specify or give parts for
cittern, lute, theorbo or orpharion-the parts were of the familiar
repeated-chord type-but 'Organ or Theorbo' became the expensive
ideal, Martin Peerson ('Mottects', 1630) remarking that his pieces
"may be performed on Virginals, Base-Lute, Bandora or Irish
Harpe" only "for want of Organs".
In short, we should not exaggerate the part played by 'instru-
ments of ornamentation' in any form of basso continuo but should
specify the type of music concerned, bearing in mind the exceptional
nature of Mantuan opera in 1607 or of those later works using lute
or theorbo, such as Hasse's 'La Conversione di Sant' Agostino'
(I 750). Hasse no doubt had in mind the playing of S. L. Weiss, the
most famous lutenist of the period and his colleague in Dresden; but
n contemporary writer remarked that the excellence of Weiss's
5 A. Banchieri, 'Conclusioni nel suono dell' organo' (Bologna, I609), pp. 50-I.
6 A. Agazzari, 'Del suonare sopra il basso' (Siena, 1607); reliable translation in
F. T. Arnold, 'The Art of Accompaniment from a Thorough Bass' (London, 193I),
pp. 67-74.
7 See G. Kirchner, 'Der Generalbass bei Heinrich Schitz' (Cassel, 1960), pp. I8-28.
I37
continuo-playing was due to his phenomenal gifts, not to the
instrument, which was itself unsuitable for such work.8 A lute or
harp continuo for a single voice was another matter, as Agazzari
himself suggested; in chamber music generally one might expect to
find much evidence from the end of the sixteenth century onwards
for what Roger North calls "the attendance of instruments of the
arpeggio kind, which rattle plentifully, as harpsichords, arch-lutes
and above all the pandora".9 He was referring to the Morleyan
broken consorts he had heard as a child in the I66o's at a time when
the title-pages of song-books were justified in describing the
accompaniment as for "theorbo-lute or bass-viol" (Playford, 1659)
and when lutenists in Rome were still accompanying with the "mille
belles varietes et une vitesse de main incroyable" heard by Andre
Maugars. 1o
The big continuo groups necessary for the early operas and
oratorios are well known" as is the fact that both Monteverdi and
Cavalieri changed the contents of that group at certain moments in a
work. But longer-lived and more widespread was the continuo group
ideal for chamber music, the organ/harpsichord with bass viol/lute
listed by so many works, notably Corelli's Op. I & III (1681, 1689:
"doi violini, e violone 6 arcileuto, col basso per l'Organo"). Our
distrust of publishers' title-pages can be banished by living evidence
of lute groups well into the eighteenth century. In chamber-music
performances in Rome Mattheson reported hearing what must have
been a remarkable trio: Corelli (violin), Pasquini (harpsichord) and
Gaetani (theorbo).1 How players solved the clash of tuning remarked
on by Artusi in I6oo can only be conjectured;l3 perhaps the lute
played only "runs and diminutions" and not "chords . . with
gentle repercussions [and] imitations at different intervals"
(Agazzari), such as would emphasize the difference in temperament.
Even the careful lute-arpeggiation techniques taught by Mace in
England, Perrine in France and Baron in Germany might need
thinning out if the keyboard were a mean-toned sustaining organ.
Of the instruments in the continuo group probably the most
uniformly played was the organ. The German harpsichord continuo
style of I750 was very different from the Italian of I680; the lirone
style of 1600 had few things in common with the cello style of 1800;
some instruments went out of fashion (regal) only to appear again
8 D. Kellner, 'Treulicher Unterricht im Generalbass' (Hamburg, 1732), 1767 ed., p.i.
J. Wilson, 'Roger North on Music' (London, I959), pp. 271-2.
10 See L. Cervelli, 'Del suonare sopra 'I basso con tutti li stromenti', Rivista Musicale
Italiana, lvii (1955), pp. 120-35, and H. Neemann, 'Laute und Theorbe als Generalbass-
instrumente im I7. und i8. Jahrhundert', Zeitschrift fur Musikwissenschaft, xvi (I934).
11 See H. H. Eggebrecht, 'Arten des Generalbasses im friihen und mittleren 17.
Jahrhundert', Archivfiir Musikwissenschaft, xiv (1957), pp. 61-82, and N. Fortune, 'Continuo
Instruments in Italian Monodies', Galpin Society Journal, v (1953), pp. 10-I3. See also
n. I6 infra.
12 Critica Musica (Hamburg, I722), p. 159.
13 'Delle imperfettioni della musica moderna' (Venice, I60o), discussed by H.
Goldschmidt, 'Die Instrumental-Begleitung der italienischen Musikdrama in der ersten
Halfte des I7.Jahrhunderts', Monatsheftefiir Musikgeschichte, xxvii (1895), pp. 52-62, 65-72.
138
(harp). But the importance and the playing method of the organ
remained consistent: with the big, enigmatic exception of German
church recitative an organist of I8oo played figured bass like one of
I6oo. At least, the advice offered to him in the many books was
similar, in Italy, France, England and Germany.
In Monteverdi's 'Orfeo', when the Messenger interrupts the
Arcadian revels to tell Orfeo that Euridice is dead, the accompani-
ment of plucked instruments changes to the organ14 and chitarrone;
later on, at the moment when he looks back at the rescued Euridice
he sings again to the organ, only to be interrupted by the 'plentifully
rattling' harpsichord when she is snatched away the second and last
time. Such changes of timbre were evidently familiar, for Cavalieri
too "recommended changing the instruments according to the
emotion of the singer", wrote Alessandro Guidotti, who first edited
the 'Rappresentatione di anima e di corpo'.15 The wooden organs, a
pair of regals, harps, guitars, lutes, citters, mandola and a salterio
heard at different moments in the musical intermezzi at the Medici
wedding-celebration of I58916 were presumably changed according
to the context. But such changes were not only of timbre; they were
also changes of texture, for "the organist must play the organ-part
simply", according to the church-centred Viadana.l7 He may allow
his right hand "some movement, . . . such as ornamenting cadences
or some suitable embellishment", but he must not confuse the singer
nor allow himself the scherzando or contraponteggiando style suitable for
'instruments of ornamentation'. The unrelated triads accompanying
Orfeo's stricken reaction to the fatal news in both Peri's and
Monteverdi's operas must surely be as plain as possible on the organ.
Monteverdi does not make it clear whether the Messenger and
Orfeo sing all their lines to the organ at this moment in the opera
(leaving the shepherds to the harpsichord), but the organ is again
specified, as one might expect, for the lament 'Tu se' morta'.
On the whole, one can distinguish between the sustained chords
necessary in monodic secular music and the transcription-like
texture applied to church motets. If Viadana's rules are followed
exactly and the inferences carefully taken, the organ accompaniment
to some of his one- or two-voice motets will sound like transcribed
vocal lines, as if in the absence of altos, tenors and basses the organist
plays their (contrapuntal) parts below the soprano solo.18 Such a
mode of accompaniment can be traced through two centuries of
figured-bass playing. But more common was the organ-style con-
14 Organo di legno must mean a chamber organ of wooden pipes, perhaps one rank
only. But the term is not often met with in Italian sources, nor were stopped wooden
pipes at all characteristic of Lombardic-Venetian organ-building. However, the term
does appear in Francesca Caccini's 'Liberazione di Ruggiero' (Florence, I625).
15 Arnold, op. cit., p. 47.
16 Kinkeldey, op. cit., pp. 172 foll.; G. Rose, 'Agazzari and the Improvising Orchestra',
Journal of the American Musicological Society, xviii (I965), pp. 382-93.
17 Rule No. 2, preface to 'Cento concerti ecclesiastici' (Venice, 1602).
18 A good interpretation can be found in C. Gallico, 'L'arte dei Cento Concerti
Ecclesiastici di Lodovico Viadana', Quaderni della Rassegna Musicale, iii (I965), pp. 55-86.
139
sisting of fairly sustained chords in harmonic support. Praetorius
instructed that if the (church) organist were to extract his own
figured-bass part from a vocal composition, he would simplify the
bass by omitting passing-notes; he would also simplify the treble part,
following it in outline but avoiding the actual melodic figuration,
according to Schiitz's pupil Christoph Bernhard:19
Voice
v ? i} r r " m ;
Organ
114
DJ J r^r J_ I I J d
oo j , J
F' f. r r r D JrI i[.J J

; J <sl iJ i J '. I-J J
f)' 2
? - .
I
Such a style a
owed to the
and the orga
lyrical lines
whose extem
against the s
organist must
effect and th
Cantore)21 th
19 M. Praetoriu
Bernhard in J. M
Fassung seines Sc
20 A. Agazzari,
Kinkeldey, op. cit
21 S. Bonini, 'Aff
140
told him the same thing, especially in Germany.22 They were
thinking of accompaniment to one or two voices, rather than
accompaniment for a full choir or for instruments. When accompany-
ing instruments the organist could in many cases be more
adventurous, not only by adding fuller chords and drawing more
stops,28 but he was less likely to confuse the ensemble by imaginative
right-hand interpretation. How exceptional the following piece by
Guami was it is impossible to say: like all written-out continuo parts,
it might be by definition very unusual; but it does offer ideas on
accompanying instrumental ensembles:
Instruments o J J f J J
+ 2 inner parts and bass-line
- ji <gb $J d J Jp r 11 Jj J ?
Organ
t " b rr f IjJ J b
Jo oBars 10-12
b ,J J ?o |-?o i. , rC l
l:^ f f o o f r f " - p
(^gb J Ot J ^J JJ jJ
* tj^CTJJ3j iM I -
9: r J f f fr fr r
Only one piece in Guami's 'Canzonette'24 has
English chamber music of the seventeenth c
characterized by such integral contribution from t
Though not strictly relevant to basso continuo p
accompaniments to the consorts of William L
John Jenkins ('middle period' works) offer interes
those in English church music of the same perio
possible reasons for the relative simplicity of th
when published, for no two contemporary organ-p
22 A. Werckmeister, 'Die nothwendigsten Anmerkungen' (
pp. 40-1, objected to "colores in den Oberstimmen" (passage-w
23 Praetorius, op. cit., p. I45.
24 G. Guami, 'Canzonette francese i 4, 5 et 8 voci' (Antwer
from the Venice edition of I6oI, made available to me by Dr.
preparing an edition of the work.
I4I
anthem were identical. But the modern player is not always to
assume that he must make his part 'more interesting', except
perhaps in the case of unfigured bass-lines like those in the Tenbury
organ book of c. 630. The organ texture of three to five parts in
anthems by composers such as Robert Ramsey is obviously to be
taken literally, while the flowing lines of Orlando Gibbons's three-
to four-part accompaniments can neither be improved nor, in the
absence of a full organ-part, readily improvised. Eighteenth-century
verse anthems may well use the organ as a substitute for a string
orchestra, give it a lively three-part texture and put vocal themes in
the organist's right hand during the ritornelli (affording, by
the way, good models for keyboardists accompanying Italianate
arias); but full chords are very rare, and the norm is three parts
throughout English solo organ music of that period. The two- to
three-part organ score of such pieces as Blow's Services25 only
occasionally needs additions. A standard three- to four-part accom-
paniment, with the organist careful to double each imitative entry no
matter which voice sings it, is most suitable for full anthems, though
in verse anthems richer chords for full sections might highlight the
change of texture between the solo and full section, as in Gibbons's
carefully written accompaniments.
The several types of organ accompaniment to consorts follow
the various types of instrumentation. But with the exception of the
simple figured basses of such consort music as Jenkins wrote in his
later years-inadequately figured, however well the organist could
remember all the cadential and harmonic formulae given him by
thorough-bass tutors-all the written-out organ-parts expect certain
contributions from the organist. Thus, (i) in five- to six-part fantasias
the organ duplicates the imitations and enriches the ensemble with
fairly sustained chords (minims, semibreves) in four and sometimes
five parts; (ii) in two- to three-part pieces, especially of a lively
nature, the organ texture can be anything from two to five parts
(mostly four in Lawes, three in Jenkins), in which one or more
strands is a new contrapuntal line as important as those of the string
instruments; (iii) in some three-part pieces the organ plays a more or
less exact transcription, except that for the convenience of the hands
or-more important-to give prominence to an inner part, he can
transpose that part by one or two octaves. As might be expected, the
bass line itself is normally an amalgam of the lowest parts of the
string group, a type of basso seguente. As an example of organ parts
here are a few bars from Jenkins's graphic 'The Newark Siege'; the
last five bars could easily be extemporized by a figured-bass player,
but not the first three (see p. I43).26
The simplest possible texture is that employed in, for example,
25 Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS. 30 G 9 ( I16), autograph.

26 'Newark Siege', bars 26-33 (British Museum, Add. 29,290, autograph), made
available to me by Mrs. Carolyn Coxon.
142
^ ? r zr-r I' I'r^fr r ,,
<a r sw _- -j r -r r r-
') [^ fk'B? r ^^r r r J
Organ
4&##-<? r .r r '
90h J - -r-rtf r .
' -"r:: r" 'r'': T:
ti# r " r J r r r
s:# ,J ' J J r Up T r r
Henri du Mont's 'Melanges' (1657), where two pieces for
have a straight organ transcription-accompaniment, w
filling-out at cadences. The keyboard could play alone wit
"si l'on veut". According to North, and extant organ-part
out, the old masters of consort music would not allow the
the liberty of playing from a thro-base figured, as har
late have universally practised, but they formed the o
express; because the holding out the sound required exac
else the consort would suffer; or perhaps the organists had
the skill as since, for now they desire only figures.27
Simpson's, Locke's and Blow's studies28 are explanations of

rather than demonstrations of the art of accompanyin
interesting that the two later theorists use more four-pa
27 Wilson, op. cit., p. 351.
28 C. Simpson, 'A Compendium of Practical Musick' (London, 3/167
M. Locke, 'Melothesia or Certain General Rules for Playing upon a C
(London, 1673) ;J. Blow, 'Rules for Playing of a Through Bass upon Organ
British Museum, Add. 34,072, fo. I-5.
143
their explanations than Simpson does, especially for half and full
cadences. Idiomatic keyboard texture is always more, not less,
'interesting' than mere demonstrations of harmony. For this reason
North recommended that the organist play from a score instead of a
figured bass, because he could then see better where to "embellish
his play" and put "somewhat more airey" into his realization;29 in
the chamber or concert room much was allowed the organist
provided he remembered to play "evenly, softly and sweetly acchord-
ing to all", in the words of Mace.80 The number of parts, for instance,
is important: many organists today will not know how different a
three-part is from a four-part chord on a low-pressure chamber
organ whose pipes are voiced on the 'open foot-hole' principle.
The plain character of all organ continuo is its distinguishing
characteristic. Very many players, composers and authors in the
seventeenth century knew the following sample accompaniments by
Agazzari and Praetorius:
1st four bars
r r
.. - AP-~6
6 J 1J J JJ r li
and they must have served as models for the better organists. The
texture and the number of parts do vary: they are not merely
demonstrations of harmony that happen to suit the organ. The books
of rules by Staden (1626), Ebner (c.1653), Hertel (1669), Speer
(1697), Werckmeister (1698, I715) and Niedt (1700) give examples"
29 Wilson, op. cit., p. 249.
30 'Musick's Monument' (London, I676), p. 233.
31J. Staden, 'Kurzer und einfiltiger Bericht', appendix to 'Kirchenmusic'
(Nuremberg, I626), in Arnold, op. cit., p. Io9; A. Werckmeister, op. cit.; F. E. Niedt,
'Musicalische Handleitung' (Hamburg, 700o), in Arnold, op. cit., pp. 229-30.
144
so much plainer than Praetorius's that it is tempting to see them only
as harmony exercises-a view confirmed by J. S. Bach's taking
Niedt's book as a source of such exercises:
Werckmeister (German organ tablature)
nt l I. .
5
&V7 ty
6 6 6
f 5 3 5 3 5
Staden, accomaniment suitable for 'a g
t; 2 J . r ?1 .. "i X8
' LJ--r Jr r-t-- r r
Niedt
(a) right-hand accompaniment to voices and instruments
Ig () J iii #ac i1 j F i 8O
(b) right-hand accompaniment when the continuo has a solo
_ * J,ro iLu7
r r rr r -rrr crrr LL f
79
^ n. ffr1ur-
. i7 r-r I I I I' OI
I 11
I
Yet they are presented as figured-bass realization

indeed counteracted a generation later by the Italian-
of Heinichen and Mattheson, but which served cou
players who understood the organ to be the norm
instrument. Their books told them this was the case;"
them about little techniques that seem unimport
characterize the organ style-such as that suspensi
sustained" and not repeated, as on the harpsic
pandora.88 Thus the organist does not enliven his
exquisite effect of repeated unresolved discords s
harpsichords and recommended in the best harpsic
Anonymous Italian manuscript (c. 1700) The chords are played arpeggio
Instead, he plays in the background, only as a "pleasan

(liebliches Sausen) according to Werckmeister,
broken chords might be introduced.
82 e.g. W. C. Printz, 'Phrynis Mitelenaeus oder Satyrischer Com

Leipzig, I696), ii, p. I6.
83 e.g. H. Albert, 'Ander Theil der Arien' (Konigsberg, I640), pr
84 Rome, Biblioteca Corsini, MS. RI, fo. 49-49V
145
J. H. d'Anglebert (1689) assumed that a plain four-part style was
best for organ, and did not trouble to give an example of it,35 while
Michel de Saint-Lambert, in advising simple legato style, noted that
the organist did not need the harpsichordist's various tricks for
prolonging the sound of his instrument or "pour suppleer a la
secheresse de L' Instrument.36 The 'Encyclopedie' (under
'Accompagnement') agreed: the organ style was "moins sautillante".
These warnings are not merely aimed at a young player misunder-
standing the difference between keyboard instruments; they describe
a style suited to the church where, alas, more "Ernste und solidite"
were necessary than in the theatre or concert-room. It was a coinci-
dence that the best way to explain harmonic progressions happened
to be in the consistent four-part texture of organ continuo. This
texture, if in a less sustained form, also suited the German pianoforte
in its continuo period of 1750-c. I800, as the piano tutors suggest, and
we need look no farther to get a picture of the way the pianist played
with the orchestra in the opening tutti of Mozart's K.27I.
Sometimes the organist was told to play even more discreetly.
He did well to remember that his instrument
may always be heard, but seldom distinguished [and] should never

be struck in Chords with the Right-hand, as upon the harpsichord,
but in all the full Parts, the leading Subject should be singly touched,
and the Performer proceed through the rest of the Movement with
the Left-hand only.87
Precisely what experiences lead Avison to give such drastic advice

can only be guessed: he means that in instrumental (or choral)
music the organ is to play two-part chords only during the tutti-the
bass and the 'leading subject'-and tasto solo during concertino or solo
sections. This is remarkably in accord with Handel's practice in the
oratorios: in choruses the organ doubled the entries, to some extent
filling in harmony, but was often instructed to play tasto solo. In some
pieces the organ plays only when the chorus sings, not in the instru-
mental introduction or interludes. In oratorios elsewhere, such as
C. P. E. Bach's 'The Israelites', the organ accompanies the chorus
with chords but plays the bass line tasto solo in instrumental sections
(opening chorus). In the few arias of Handel that specify organ the
same phrase is very common, even in those arias of "anger, vengeance
or particular solemnity".8" Handel used the organ for obbligato
purposes as interestingly as he used any other instrument, but when
accompanying it was almost excessively discreet, perhaps doubling
the bass line at the octave (the theatre organs probably had a GG or
s5 J. H. d'Anglebert, 'Pieces de Clavecin ... et les Principes de l'Accompagnement'

(Paris, [1689]).
86 M. de Saint-Lambert, 'Nouveau Trait6 de l'Accompagnement du Clavecin'
(Paris, 1707), p. 132; cf. C. P. E. Bach, 'Versuch fiber die wahre Art das Clavier zu
spielen', ii (Berlin, 1762), ch. 6, viii (I4).
87 C. Avison, 'An Essay on Musical Expression' (London, 2/I753), pp. 121-3.
38 W. Dean, 'Handel's Dramatic Oratorios and Masques' (London, 1959), pp. 111-2.
146
even FF compass) but in no case employing more than the simple
four-part chords rounding offthe chorus 'Doleful tidings' in 'Deborah',
or even the three-part chords at the corresponding place in 'Mourn,
Israel' in 'Saul'. Such chords also end, for instance, the slow move-
ment of Vivaldi's concerto for organ and violin (Pincherle, No. 3I I);
as at the end of 'Doleful tidings', the composer has written out a
simple organ part almost certainly to be played on an 8 ft. stop only,
or at most the 8 ft. + 8 ft. + 4 ft. registration specified by Handel for
the highly-placed organ part in the slow movement of the organ
concerto, Op. IV, no. 4. Such high chords demand the plainest
registration. The 'Deborah' chorus has its required richness of
sound provided by two organi soli; the Vivaldi piece seems to require
pedals for its final chord-a simple but effective change of texture
from soft, high accompaniment to a cadential close:,9
Grave Bars 1-4
n J
-6 7 C6 7
Bars 16 to end
aET - !i - 1 11
.5
Fasions had changed-or circumstances were different-from

Fashions had changed--or circumstances were differe
the days when Lorenzo Penna'4 recommended to Italian
that "when desired... discords can be played along
concords above the bass", that when the ensemble was la
music multichoral the organist may 'mix' his chords and
example, the 5/3 chord along with the 4/2, anticipating the
as we should say, and resulting in a sound unfamiliar to m
of such music. It is a very good example of the Italian
counter their old-fashioned theory-books in the actual
their music. This "suonare ogni cosa insieme" or, as Roger N
it, playing "together continually such sounds as a descan
scarce allow of"'4 would not be possible if the organist
89 W. Kolneder, 'Auffuhrungspraxis bei Vivaldi' (Leipzig, 1955), pp. 85
40 L. Penna, 'Li primi albori musicali' (Bologna, I672), Bk. III, ch. 14
41 Wilson, op. cit., p. I69 is surely right to relate this practice to North's a
Prencourt, a Saxon very likely familiar with the styles of "German organists
Frescobaldi-men such as Froberger and J. K. Kerll". Froberger himself m
the habit behind in England, at least with the more inventive players. Pen
I47
Penna's advice elsewhere not to "play in more than three or (less
commonly) four parts"42 when accompanying a single voice: it
was an effect best reserved for fuller music. But Italian organists,
like English, seem often to have forgotten what was asked of them as
church accompanists, their chief fault a century later being that they
"expressed themselves in arpeggios, brilliant sonatas written for
harpsichord, and other galanterie" in the words of Manfredini.43
Even Gasparini had asked only for simple four-part legato style from
organists,44 "avoiding passage-work... sustaining the sound and
. . preventing confusion", to quote Agazzari. It was more impor-
tant for them to be prepared for unexpected harmonies, Padre
Martini advised, and to be sure to support the singers with full chords
at such moments as bars 4 and 8 in the following example: 4
- Of -1 ' ^ 1" 1l if I
For the purposes of good support the German organist could add
For the purposes of good support the German organist could add
16 ft. pedal (D. Speer, 1697) "when the bass-line has not too many
quick notes" (C. P. E. Bach, 1762),46 in which case he could draw
manual I6 ft. stops; if the bass instruments were inadequate for the
tutti he could play the pedals in octaves (G. Schroter, I772)." Tiirk
used the pedal for galant reinforcement of the beats:48
f P f P f
Pedal J i J
16 ft. stops were by no means common in seventeen
on either manual or pedal, but a compass en rava
allowed left-hand octaves, as in England.
Obviously the bass line is very important. From th
basso continuo composers suggested precautions again
add a trombone where possible if the organ or or
(Agazzari, I607), or a bassoon or dulzian (Praetorius,
the violone (Agazzari, I6o8),49 or "chitarrone or a
instrument that can play quickly" in the 'Messa
Cavalli's 'Musiche Sacre' (Venice, 1656). Normally
associated with S. Martino, Bologna where the still extant organ
special effects with such techniques: the soft breathy voicing of t
absence of a back reflecting wall, the height of the organ above th
the church all cushion the effect into a characteristically smooth so
42 Penna, op. cit., ch. 20.
43 V. Manfredini, 'Regole armoniche' (Venice, I775), p. 64.
44 F. Gasparini, 'L'armonico pratico al cimbalo' (Venice, 1708)
45 G. B. Martini, 'Esemplare o sia Saggio fondamentale prat
ii, p. 114.
46 C. P. E. Bach, op. cit., ch. 6, viii (6).
47 C. G. Schroter, 'Deutliche Anweisung zum Generalbass' (Halberstadt, I772),
p. 186.
48 D. G. Turk, 'Von den wichtigsten Pflichten eines Organisten' (Halle, 1787), p. 152.
49 As n. 6 supra, and letter to Banchieri of 60o6, op. cit.; Praetorius, op. cit., p. 145.
I48
is, however, best, and in a full ensemble some bass singers could be
taken out of the choir and put to play the bass viols (Praetorius). Not
bad advice. Ideally speaking, softer music or that for a smaller
number of performers, such as the concertino trio, had an 8 ft. organ
with cello or violoncino reinforcing the bass line, fuller ensembles such
as the concerto grosso, a large organ with 16 ft. stops for pedal and a
double-bass or violone (G. Muffat, I701).50 "Harpsichords, theorbos,
harps and similar instruments"-Lautenchor, as older Germans called
the group-could be added for "increased ornamentation" but were
not basic in Muffat's opinion-and he was a practical music-
director, not an author idly repeating Agazzari or Praetorius. In the
average German church of 1700, however, all that would be heard
would be the plain harmonies shown in the first example on p. I45.
Registration for basso continuo was straightforward and based upon
general rules. Since the 'instrument of foundation' supports the
tenor and supplies plain harmony, it can play chords and increase its
stops according to context (Agazzari, I606, letter to Banchieri); but
it should always play within a small compass and low down on the
keyboard cosa stretta e grave. If, as was rarely the case in Italy, the
organ had a second smaller manual or Riickpositiv, this was used for
continuo purposes and might therefore be called the organetto da
concerti, as Banchieri5l described that in Pisa Cathedral.
In average Italian organs of i60o, although the principale 8 ft.
stop was and still is often too slow for much continuo work, there is
no stopped diapason to speak more quickly; it was better therefore to
add the flauto 4 ft. stop when accompanying motets (Antegnati,
I6o8).52 Monteverdi's registration in the 'Vespers' (combinations of
8 ft., 4 ft. and 2 ft. open principale stops) is relatively stronger and
reflects conditions in a large church whose choirs are more con-
spicuous than its organs. Regals were useful per la diversita but were
otherwise not so good in musiche as wooden organs, according to
Antonio Barcotto, a Venetian builder of about I650.53 At Como also
in I650 the builder Guglielmo Hermans, a Flemish Jesuit, left
suggestions for the use of his two-manual organ in concerted music,
per la musica:54
Organo grande
Principale 8 ft. (metal) or principale 8 ft. (wood) or both.
Two principali + ottava 4 ft. with or without tromba and trombone
reed-stops.
Organo piccolo
Principale 8 ft. + voce umana 8 ft. (regal stop).
Pedal pulldowns to Organo grande.
60 G. Muffat, 'Auserlesene... Instrumental-Music' (Passau, 170I), preface.
"1Banchieri, op. cit. (i6o8 ed.).
52 C. Antegnati, 'L'arte organica' (Brescia, I6o8).
53 R. Lunelli, 'Un trattatello di Antonio Barcotto colma la lacune dell' Arte Organica'
(Florence, 1953), p. 135.
54 R. Lunelli, 'Descrizione dell' organo del Duomo di Como e l'attivitA italiana di
Guglielmo Hermans' (Florence, I956), p. 255.
149
Since such registration applied only to exceptional organs, more
significant was the general advice of authors like Speer (1697) who
assumed that the Coppel 8 ft. or wooden stopped diapason was the
most suitable stop, unless the number of other performers made it
necessary to add the open Prinzipal 8 ft. and the mixture. This
became standard practice throughout Europe, from Rome to
Hamburg, Handel's London theatres to Schubert's Viennese
churches. Schiitz thought four stops on the Riickpositiv the most that
would ever be needed, though according to one copy of Psalm 150
from 'Mehrchorige Psalmen' (1619) these stops could be varied
according to context, from a Gedackt or Quintadena to a Dulzian or
Posaune reed and even a Zimbel mixture-the last no doubt for some
special effect in one of the verses of the psalm."5 For Praetorius, too,
the basso continuo mainstay was the stopped diapason 8 ft. on the
Riickpositiv ("ein sanftes gelindes und liebliches Gedackt oder ander
stilles F16twerk")66 and no later German writer disagreed. Thus
Niedt in Hamburg suggested:
For one or two singers or players: Gedackt 8 ft., no pedal.
For a choir of eight to twelve singers (= tutti): Prinzipal 8ft. with
pedal I6 ft. + 8 ft.
Ditto, with trumpets and drums: pedal I6 ft. + 8 ft. + Posaune I6 ft. -
but do not sustain for longer than a crotchet.
Hertel (1669) suggested likewise, assuming that the organ would

accompany an eight-part motet more loudly if there were no other
instruments.57 Organists in central Europe, where organs tradition-
ally had more 8 ft. manual stops than those anywhere else, combined
such stops into relatively thick blocks of sound. Especially interesting
were the pedals, whose reeds-rather softly voiced, it seems from
extant examples-played the bass whenever it needed any degree of
emphasis, reminding one of Agazzari's and Praetorius's suggestions
for a wind instrument reinforcing the organ bass. In Salzburg Samber
(1707) suggested:68
Pedal accompanying several or many voices:
Subbass I6 ft. + Fagott 8 ft. (?) or
Oktave + Qinte Poun 8 ft. + uinte 5 ft. + Posaune 8 ft.
And three-quarters of a century later Mozart sometimes added

bassoon and trombone to the continuo bass line (e.g. in the C minor
Mass). Farther north similar ideas prevailed; at Erfurt, the builder
of the Predigerkirche organ (I647) made two pedal reeds, a Grosse
Posaune "zur vollen Music" and a Fagott 16 ft. "zur stillen Music",59
65 Kirchner, op. cit., pp. 30-I.

56 Praetorius, op. cit., p. i I.
57 F. E. Niedt, 'Musicalische Handleitung', ed.J. Mattheson (Hamburg, 172 ), p. I 21;
M. Hertel in G. Schiinemann, 'Matthaeus Hertels theoretische Schriften', Archiv fur
Musikwissenschaft, iv (1922), p. 336.
68 J. B. Samber, 'Manuductio ad Organum', ii (Salzburg, 1707), p. I50.
"9 F. Schneider, 'Die Orgelbauerfamilie Compenius', Archiv fir Musikforschung,
ii (I937), p. 8.
150
'Music' here as usual indicating concerted music and, for the organ,
continuo work.
The pitch of organs complicated continuo playing: in most
churches of central Germany before at least I750 the organist had
either to transpose or write out his part a tone lower. Some of the
larger organs, where in any case the organist was likely to be more
skilful, had a stop or group of stops in Kammerton specifically for
continuo work. Such was the typical Gedackt 8 ft. at Brandenburg
Cathedral, built in 1722 by Joachim Wagner. In Roman Catholic
Silesia whole manuals might have some kind of transposing
mechanism for this purpose, as at Griissau (Krzesz6w) Benedictine
Nunnery in 1732.
For the last great period of German organ continuo, the genera-
tion of C. P. E. Bach and F. W. Marpurg, the most carefully worked
out registrations were those of C. G. Schroter.,o They are chiefly
based on the idea that the left hand or bass line is more important
than the right-hand chords that go with it and should therefore be
played on a louder manual. Schr6ter must have had specific churches
in mind, for in many areas of Europe-notably Austria, Friesland
and Normandy-the Riickpositiv or choir organ is so much nearer
the congregation that to play the soft right-hand chords there and
leave the bass line to the larger, louder but more distant Hauptwerk
(great organ), has quite the wrong effect:
For a recitative: both hands Riickpositiv, Quintadena 8 ft. + Gedackt 8 ft.

+ Fldte 4 ft. + Rohrflote 4 ft.
For the following arioso: left hand Hauptwerk, Prinzipal 8 ft. +
Gemshorn 8 ft. + Viola da gamba, 8 ft.
For tutti with instruments; both hands Hauptwerk, Prinzipal 8 ft. +
Gemshorn 8 ft. + Viola da gamba 8 ft. + Oktave 4 ft. Pedal, Prinzipal
I6 ft. + Prinzipal 8 ft. + Violon I6 ft., coupled to the Hauptwerk.
Even with eighteenth-century voicing, such registrations give a

strong sound: it is clear that by then builders had learnt to make
bigger and better bellows and chests, and that, as Adlung saw,61 it
was no longer necessary to avoid mixing 8 ft. stops. The advantages of
the time-honoured Gedackt was that its tone was small, it spoke
promptly, stayed reliably in tune and consumed the least wind of any
8 ft. rank; but by I750 stops imitating strings were becoming so
fashionable for continuo purposes-and organists were so inclined to
be imposed upon by fanciful stop-names-that nobody noticed that
the viola da gamba stop had none of those advantages. New tone-
colours were indeed in demand for the purpose of accompaniment
in the later eighteenth century. This must have been the reason for
the violoncello stop (a Salicional) which "our Gentlemen are vastly
set on having", according to the secretary of the Edinburgh Musical
60 Schr6ter, op. cit., pp. 187 foll.
61J. Adlung, 'Anleitung zur musikalischen Gelahrheit' (Dresden/Leipzig, 2/1783),
pp. 580-96.
'5I
Society when he wrote in i766 to the builder Snetzler for a new
organ.2 It was the reason for the many newly invented stops put by
G. Serassi in the organ he made in 1807 for a theatre in Bergamo 6
-various gran' casse and sistri cinesi e piatti, no doubt. In the period
1730-80 builders' contracts in central Germany often noted that the
new oboe or the new flute stop was so life-like that it could replace
the real instrument in obbligato arias, just as the horizontal trumpets
en chamade of Spanish organs must often have replaced the clarines
and bajoncillos that were specified with strings and organ in certain
manuscript motets of the late seventeenth century.64
For concerts of a devotional nature, such as Handel's theatre
oratorios and, probably, the Concert spirituel in Paris, conditions were
different. Unlike the frontal Riickpositiv in Germany and the wide,
shallow but high organs found in narrow Italian galleries, the
continuo organ in such English performances was behind the singers
and players, and its half-dozen stops would never have had the sharp
immediacy of a single Gedackt in, say, the Dresden Court Church
during Schiitz's time. There is a study yet to be made of the
claviorgan in England-that composite instrument with crippling
faults (such as the impossibility of keeping strings and pipes in tune
together) but of obvious convenience in oratorios. Handel most
probably knew some form of it for 'Saul' (I738),66 if not earlier-a
harpsichord to whose manuals the organ-trackers were connected,
like that used by Bates to direct the Westminster Abbey performances
at the Handel Commemoration in 1784. It is easy to conjecture which
movements organ and harpsichord accompanied, since in both
cases the harpsichord was near the soloists and the organ was near
the chorus, percussion and wind instruments. Played alone,
composite instruments have to be used with care. R. J. S. Stevens
went to the Little Theatre, Haymarket in 1784 and heard Michael
Arne play an organ concerto with
sweepings of Chords, from the Bass to the upper part of the Instru-
ment; which had a novel and an original effect. The instrument he
played upon, was certainly against him; it appeared to me to be an
Organized Piano Forte.66
But it was more versatile than, for example, the new organ of I804
built for the Hanover Square Concert Room; there was no question
of using that for the continuo in Haydn's symphonies.
[To be concluded]
62 Book II of the Sederunt Books of the Society (Edinburgh Public Library).

63 G. Serassi, 'Sugli organi-Lettere di G.S.' (Bergamo, I8I6), pp. 69-70.
64 e.g. at Valladolid in c. 707. See H. Angles, 'El Archivo musical de la Catedral
de Valladolid', Anuario Musical, iii (1948), p. 69.
65 Dean, op. cit., p. oo00; see also Thurston Dart, 'Handel and the Continuo', Musical
Times (1965), pp. 348-50.
66 R. J. S. Stevens, 'Recollections' (manuscript in private possession), i, p. II9.
152

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Basso Continuo on the Organ. I.

Author(s): Peter Williams

DESPITE Kinkeldey and others, much remains to be written on the

F' f. r r r D JrI i[.J J

25 Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS. 30 G 9 ( I16), autograph.

Simpson's, Locke's and Blow's studies28 are explanations of

Yet they are presented as figured-bass realization

Instead, he plays in the background, only as a "pleasan

82 e.g. W. C. Printz, 'Phrynis Mitelenaeus oder Satyrischer Com

may always be heard, but seldom distinguished [and] should never

Precisely what experiences lead Avison to give such drastic advice

s5 J. H. d'Anglebert, 'Pieces de Clavecin ... et les Principes de l'Accompagnement'

Fasions had changed-or circumstances were different-from

Hertel (1669) suggested likewise, assuming that the organ would

And three-quarters of a century later Mozart sometimes added

65 Kirchner, op. cit., pp. 30-I.

For a recitative: both hands Riickpositiv, Quintadena 8 ft. + Gedackt 8 ft.

Even with eighteenth-century voicing, such registrations give a

62 Book II of the Sederunt Books of the Society (Edinburgh Public Library).

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