Bach and The French Ouverture

Bach and the French Ouverture
Author(s): William Malloch

Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Summer, 1991), pp. 174-197
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/742200
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Bach and the French Ouverture
William Malloch
In the first part of an article, "The French style and the overtures of Bach,"
(Early Music, Apr. 1979), John O'Donnell assembles impressive direct and
associative evidence to indicate that the introductory music (first reprise) of
ouvertures by Lully, Bach, Telemann, and others was originally performed at
what we today would think of as a very fast tempo. He also lays out materials
indicating that in cyclic ouvertures, both introductory music and the other
lively music that followed (second reprise) were played at substantially the
same pace, sharing a common rhythmic element united in a single embrace.
Having arrived independently at the same conclusions, in part via other
means, I can add to the body of proof. I recently recorded Bach's four ouver-
tures (suites) with North American early-instrument players,1 and I can say
that the "fast" introductions work and at last provide us with the cohesive
and unified first movements Bach, Lully, and other composers clearly had
in mind.
I would add, however, that Bach's introductions are full of an articulate
and well-balanced rhythmic variety that can be threatened by the kind of
overdotting that O'Donnell, in the second part of his article, still seems to
advocate, in spite of dramatically faster tempos. But one thing at a time.
Time will tell whether he is right about rhythm. I offer my performances as a
demonstration that he is not, while at the same time helping to show that he
is right about tempos and tempo relations in ouverture first movements.
It was Joshua Rifkin who first proposed that Bach's ouvertures might
have been meant to have one player on a part, and he has so performed two
of them in London (C major, 1985; B minor, 1987).2 Bach may have per-
formed his ouvertures this way because of the limited number of players
available; he might very well have enjoyed hearing them played by larger
ensembles. Nevertheless, it is very satisfying to hear them on period instru-
ments, one on a part; the various ensembles balance very well, poised as they
are somewhere between an orchestral and chamber sound.
Rifkin also pointed out that, judging by the early parts, Bach conceived
his First Suite without cello and bass (manuscript source St. 152). No con-
tinuo part is provided or listed, only parts for bassoon and cembalo. The
bassoon never stops playing throughout except for the trio of the Minuet,
scored only for strings and cembalo, and this appears to give strong support
to Rifkin's observations. Played from the original parts, the work is incontest-
ably charming, three strings balancing the three winds and cembalo-as if
reinstrumented by Prokofiev!
174
Bach Suites for Dancing 175
a.
= 64 (J = 128; = 512)
1 Lento
b
. = 80 (J. = 160; = 480)
14
Example la-b. Colasse, Thetis e
Bach's ouvertures are patter

the operas of Jean Baptiste L
patronage of Louis XIV, and
music depicts a royal entry p
turned composer, and Louis,
lead the dances that closed th
and labored performances of
reflect these origins.
O'Donnell's most direct evid
lum markings made in 1732 b
Ouverture to Thitis et P.ile (Ex. la), by Lully's pupil Pascal Colasse, and in
1737 by La Chapelle for an "Entree de Ballet" (Ex. 2).3 The Colasse piece
cited by O'Donnell was the only music in D'Onsembray's list that is actually
part of a French ouverture. There are, however, two additional D'Onsembray
tempo indications for instrumental entrees, French ouverture introductions in
everything but name and both by Lully. Using evidence from Loulid, St.
Lambert, and others, O'Donnell concludes that the tempo range for such
entrees and first reprises was J = 57-76. The two additional examples fall
within and only slightly above this range, now extended to j = 80 (Exx. 3,
4). All four pieces are to be played at lively and energetic tempos, in spite of
the fact that the beginning of Colasse's ouverture is marked lento. (More on
the lento marking later.4)
O'Donnell also uses associative information to estimate that Bach's
ouverture first reprises and those of other German composers are slightly
slower: J = MM 50-56. But there is still other evidence that supports at least
the lower end of O'Donnell's estimates. This evidence comes from two early
English mechanical organs. One is England's Holland Organ, built in the
176 The Musical Quarterly
~ 67
1 'I
Example
= 57 2. (La Chapelle), Entr+e de Ballet
27
Example 3. Lully, Atys, "Entree des Songes Funestes" (D'Onsembray, "ler Air
des Songes Funestes")
- 8K
- 9,.9 : .. .. . . ... . . ....
PR.LUDE. f f,-
Example 4. Lully, PsycI, "Les Trois Furies, deux Nymphes de 1'Acheron"
(D'Onsembray, "Les Demons de PsichC")
= 132
Alegro
... .. . ., OP,
Example 5. Handel, Organ Concerto, op. 4, no.
early nineteenth century and still in operat

Collection, Bethersden, Kent). The other is
organ, built in 1762; this instrument is no
log, complete with timings-and therefore
down to us. The catalog lists 271 separate m
Corelli, Vivaldi, Handel, and others, chosen
John Christopher Smith.5
We must go through a few contortions to
pieces of significant tempo evidence; in one
information from both organs. Handel's Or
timed by Smith and also appears on one of
Organ, a machine that must be hand cranke
movement allegro is = 132, i = 66 (Ex. 5)
cranks the entire Holland barrel at a rate th
the allegro, the tempos-and therefore the t
certo's following alla siciliana and presto sec
the ones chosen by Smith (Alla Siciliana
Having established this, one can carry th
another Handel organ concerto-op. 4, no
The first movement allegro (Ex. 6) is first co
gro of op. 4, no. 5. The two allegros share n
also a near-common motive. It is even easy
and it cannot be in any way inappropriate t
[J = 132]
14 Allegro.
W.lIfr fr
Example 6. Handel, Organ Concerto, op. 4, no. 2, f
indeed, the two seem identically programmed

entire op. 4, no. 2, Holland barrel at the speed
at 132, its introductory movement (marked "A
which uses dotted rhythms characteristic of a
plays Another
at a lively , =movements,
of the Bute circa 100, J = circa
a praeludium from 50 (Ex.Harpsi-
Handel's 7).7
chord Suite, Book I, No. 8, is marked adagio, but travels along at a pace
almost identical to the derived pace for the introduction to op. 4, no. 2,
with which it shares similar dotted rhythms throughout: 2( = the above
concerto's ) = 102, = 51 (Ex. 8).
We must go through other contortions to dig up the third, and quite
intriguing, example. Telemann sent his friend Handel his new Tafelmusik, a
cycle of works for various combinations that included three impressive ouver-
tures. Handel, who often used someone else's works or ideas for inspiration,
consciously lifted a number of things from the Tafelmusik, including a short
section of the prologue to the ouverture in D major, which first appears in
mm. 16-18, marked lentement (Ex. 9). Handel transplanted this section
fairly literally (same time, same key, same registration) and used it as a sub-
sidiary idea in the chorus "Crown with Festal Pomp," from his oratorio, Her-
cules, first appearing in mm. 6-8, marked allegro non presto (Ex. 10). This
particular chorus opens one of the barrels for the Earl of Bute's machine
organ. J. C. Smith's tempo for it is = 100, = 50. If we take this tempo
and put it back into Telemann's original, we again have a "slow" introduc-
[J= ca. loo1 = 5so]

A tempo ordinario, e staccato
Violino Iw.. - ,,
Oboe I
Violino IIaL
Oboe II
Viola 7'
Organo 6
d[ a * . I. , , I I ',, I. I
Tutti Bassi A lb I * n** *
Example 7. Handel, Organ Concerto, op. 4, no. 2, first movement
J= 51 (.h= 102)
1 Adagio
Praludium
Example 8. Handel, Harpsichord Suite, Book 1, no. 8
tion that goes at a "fast" tempo. This certainly puts this music
world from the one it usually inhabits; it appears more forthri
tic, less labored, less sentimental, and considerably less pompo
least tentatively, we see an allegro and a lentement that appear
same tempo.
[J = 100] [J = 50]
1 Lentement
Oboe
[in D] " A An
Violino 1
Violino2 I .
Viola
Violoncello *
Fondamento
4 3 4
2 2
14
Example 9. Tlm , Tflmik, Prodctio I, Ouverture, D Major, first movement

A A A
CHORUS. CHOR.
(J = 50)J = 100
1 Allegro, ma non presto
Violino I RP
Violino II M.' "-. ,
V i o l a, I ..M
Continuo O. 0
Example 10. Handel, Hercules, "Crown with Festal Pomp"
Telemann, unlike Bach in his ouvertures, gives us tempo words (in

French) for both the introduction (lentement) and the fugue (vite). Such
words, however, do not necessarily indicate a change in basic pulse or in
length of note values. They come to us from a different perspective on time.
If one views music in whole or half measures, a beat can be quite slow even
though the music contained within the measure may seem quite fast to our
ears. For instance, there is a pendulum mark of D'Onsembray for a Lully
movement in 6/8 marked gravement (Persde: Entree des Divinitis Infemales),
which we naturally would take now at a most grave pace (i.e., very slowly).
But the pendulum mark translates to an incredible .- = circa 100 (Ex. 11), a
very mirthful gravity indeed, close to the dotted-note pace of the first allegro
of Beethoven's Seventh
To judge from (, = 104).
D'Onsembray, Colasse thought about the ouverture to
his opera, Thttis et Plde (1689) in this way as well. As already mentioned,
the introduction is marked lento. Yet D'Onsembray marks it J= 64
( = 128). Again, the beat is slow, but the music, to our ears, seems
quite fast (see Ex. 1).
J. = 100
Gravement
en 6 dans la partition
Examplede11.
Divinites Lully,
la terre") Pers.e, Entrie des Divinitis Infernales (D'Onsembray, "Les
Let us return to the Bach ouvertures. The introduction to no. 2, in

common time, is notated at half the tempo of the following lively fugue in
cut time; there are no tempo indications at the beginning, and performers
today play this introduction at a speed far slower than the fugue. At m. 198,
there is an evocation of the introductory music, but this new section, in 3
rather than in 4, is marked lentement. The word is necessary because the
time signature has changed and may be misinterpreted. This lentement cau-
tions Bach's performers, often playing without rehearsal, not to skip along
and perform the music "the fast way," one beat to a measure, but "the slow
way," three beats to a measure, so that one of the new is equals one of the
old is. That "slow way," however, is still quite fast.
As the lentement recalls material from the introduction, it follows that
the introduction itself ought reasonably to be taken at the same quarter-note
pace. If this introduction, stormily dramatic at this pace, seems no longer
sufficiently slow or even familiar, this, to paraphrase O'Donnell, is our prob-
lem, not Bach's.
Bach's lentement was not ours. David Fallows points out in The New
Grove Dictionary that in the Polonaise of the same suite (St. 154), "he
marked Lentement in the [first] violin part but Moderato e staccato in the
flute part [actually continuo part]; even if this is an oversight it strongly sug-
gests that he thought of lentement and moderato in the same way." It is
important to emphasize that even when introductory music of this type-by
Bach and others--is played at these faster tempos, it is still slow entry music,
not a quickstep. We are simply dealing with different phraseology, music in a
slow 2 rather than in a slow 4. Our angle of perspective changes; our mile-
stones along the way mark off larger areas; we see a bit more forest and a
few less trees. Overall, we can perceive a broader, more unified and more
congenial landscape, a whole within which the introductions are an inte-
grated part.8
We have already seen more than one example of potentially identical
tempos for an allegro (Handel) and a lentement (Telemann), plus an adagio
and a tempo ordinario going along at the same tempo (and all circa or
= 50). Tempo words were used by baroque composers in figurative and

comparative ways. They added weight to the evidence of the notes, but were
not in themselves quantitative.
Numerical indications for tempo in Bach's and Telemann's suites can
be just as insubstantial as verbal ones. As O'Donnell puts it, "chaos reigns!";
he quotes Heinichen's famous summary (1728): "the signs 2, 1, C and t are
used without discrimination, sometimes for a naturally rapid piece and some-
times for a slow one."9 This "chaos," however, actually a poetic and prag-
matic flexibility of thought, is a kind of thinking not restricted to the
baroque era. Musicians are not really very intellectual; their language is
notes, and they are bemusingly inconsistent about how they use them. The
past, too, was less doggedly scientific than it is now.
For example, in the earliest parts for the first movement of Bach's
Third Suite (St. 153), the "slow" introductory music has C for first and sec-
ond trumpets, oboes, and viola, and t for third trumpet, timpani, violins,
and continuo. At the double bar where the allegro (second reprise, m. 24)
begins, there is no indication for time signature changes in any of the parts.
Where the slow music is to resume (m. 107), all players have t. When the
allegro returns, oboes and first trumpet have no indication for a time change
but violins, viola, continuo, second and third trumpets, and timpani have I.
Clearly, there is no "science" to this way of marking music. There is never-
theless a practice to be divined.
When the opening movement's lively second reprise is first stated, Bach
writes "Viste" (fast) in the first violin part. The question arises, how much is
the tempo to change? The answer is that it is not to change at all. "Viste"
means that the manner of marking off the music's pulse has changed from a
slow way to a fast way; it does not mean that the pulse itself has changed.
For the first reprise, the "tactus" (or the "feel") is, say, 2 in a measure; for
the second reprise it becomes, say, 4 in a measure ("Viste"). But whole mea-
sures continue to take the same time (J continues to = J) both sides of the
double bar. The music, without help, changes character, alternating between
"slow" and "fast"-and will be perceived to do so if played simply as written.
In Carl Czemy's four-hand editions of Mozart "symphonies" (some of
which are actually serenades as well), there is an example of a metronome
mark for a very fast common-time adagio: the Finale to Mozart's Serenade
No. 3, K. 185, in D major (also converted into a symphony, K. 167a).10
The opening motive of the Finale's introductory adagio happens to be identi-
cal to a key figure in the opening of Mozart's Thirty-fourth Symphony,
marked allegro vivace (mm. 3-4). Both pieces are in common time. Czerny
marks the adagio n = 88 (Ex. 12a). Its music moves in hs. This is very close
to the tempo at which we are used to hearing the first movement of the
Thirty-fourth
= 88 (Ex. 12b). Noplayed. Theplays
one today Thirty-fourth moves in
this adagio Czerny's ,s, itthe
way; equivalent of
would
appear to us to be a contradiction in terms to do so. However, it appears that
to Czerny, adagio in this context simply meant that the beat, not the music,
should be slow.11
Adagio = 88
Adagio =88
Example 12a. Moza

arrangement)
Mozart
Mozart wrote
wrote a piece for mechanical organ that reflects the old French
ouverture, his
introduction goe
allegro and wri
intended--altho
markedly slower tha
Compare this
opening does n
tures apply, wi
values are const
it in performan
andante.stoso, an
within the mea
There are also
measure length
differing note va
meant to remai
would appear to
The slow intro
nade is compose
gives us a modi
French ouvertu
153-55). The beat is obviously the same for both sections, and one music
[J = 88]
Allegro vivace
f
a2
V n I I -
Corni in C
Trombe in Cypo , K
Timpani in C, G =_-t=
f
Violino 1I f i t o hs.h
tr tr tr -
Viola
f 3_ P
tr /Ir r r
Viola o01. . e=
hear this piece played today, but this is not always true in other cases.
The firs1 movemen IfMozaT'sTHaf fne-%rnaeIs loa eIpeo
The first movement of Mozart's Haffner Serenade is also an example of
a piece with two successive sections meant to go at the same tempo, though
to our eyes they are not so marked. A key idea within the first part (mm.
4-8; Ex. 13a), marked C, allegro maestoso, played by winds against the
strings' opening galloping music, is almost immediately played again by the
winds once we are into the second part, marked t, allegro molto (mm.
28-31; Ex. 13b). It is now usual to play it at a slow trot the first time
because of the word maestoso. Yet there is nothing about the notes alone that
Allegro maestoso
A is" ia"
Oboi
f p
a2
Fagotti -
Corni in D
f p
Trom
Violino II
Violino II ' '
Viola
Example 13a. Mozart, Serenade, K. 250 (248b), D Major, "Haffner"
tells us to take it at a beat different from that of the later allegro molto.14
This idea should remain true to its nature: in the same tempo on both sides
of the double bar. The two allegro designations relate to the contrasting
character of the two sections, not to a pulse that needs to be substantially
altered once we cross from allegro maestoso to allegro molto.
We see, among many possibilities, that a piece may be written in one
set of note values only and contain both fast and slow music, while having a
sole opening marking that is either fast or slow. It can also be written in
sections with contrasting verbal and numerical tempo, character, and nota-
tional indications, and yet musical essentials can remain identical.
Such thinking continues right up through Bruckner, whose adagio
opening of the Fifth Symphony is always incorrectly played at about half
tempo, as its recall in the finale ought to reveal to performers. The same sort
of situation prevails here as in the first and third of Bach's ouvertures. Even
though the 4 opening of Bruckner's first movement says adagio and its follow-
ing lively theme is marked allegro (letter B, also ), note values are intended
to remain relatively constant as we go from one section to the other.
Allegro molto = J]
142.
/K
A
fr
"
Ai
Example 13b. Mozart, Serenade, K. 250 (248b), D Major, "Haffner" (in cut tim
Bruckner's recall of the first and second movement opening

finale is not recognized by modern performers as a guide to the
tempo relationships of the first two movements, nor was it prob
recognized as such. Nevertheless, the repeated hints in the final
by clarinet (and trumpet) of the fugue to come are all clearly m
about the same tempo, the octave-drop motive always heard at m
the same pace. If we view Bruckner's proportional context prop
easily, and necessarily, balance out the tempos and tempo relatio
the first and second movements-and of course for the finale as
14a-d. The octave-drop fugue motive is heard in the finale's ada
5 [this adagio refers to the first movement]; in the allegro mode
11-12 [which also refers to the first movement]; in the adagio,
adagio refers to the second movement: here the preceding allegr
s, mm. 23-24, = circa the adagio's Js]; and in the allegro moder
29-30 [which goes on into the fourth movement's fugue proper
28
Example 13b. continued (in cut time)
O'Donnell presents a good deal of associative evidence to support the

idea that there is no change of beat in cyclic ouverture first movements; his
examples include ouvertures by Fux, which go from "slow" to "fast" without
any change of time signature at all. He also presents telling examples from
Bach's First Suite of motivic connections between the two reprises, which
become immediately audible once the tempo remains constant and proper
proportions are observed.
Another strong piece of contextual evidence occurs in the first move-
ment of the First Suite. As we return from fugal music to prologue, the sec-
ond violin is busily engaged in a musical line, a phrase in dotted rhythm,
which vigorously continues right over the double bar without a break (mm.
98-99; Ex. 15).
Such considerations ought also to affect our thinking as we go from one
suite dance movement to another. We often read that Bach's settings of
dances (some of which were no longer current) were abstractions and not
meant to be danced to. These remarks are usually made to justify rather slow
tempos for dances such as the saraband. But they could just as legitimately
justify fast tempos. Contemporary documents in fact show an extremely wide
Adagio [ = ca. 63-69]
1. in BNJ0
Klarinetten
2. in B
Violine 1
cresc.
Violine 2 - ...
Viola b,
PP cresc .
Pizz.
Violoncell
pp
pizz.
KontrabaB
Example 14a. Bruckner, Symphony no. 5, B-flat Major, Finale
tempo range for any given dance, from quite fast to quite slow. The tempos
chosen for the dances in my recordings are all well within the ranges listed
by contemporary sources with two exceptions: the Courante of the First
Suite, which is slightly faster, and the Polonaise of the Second Suite, which
is slightly slower (though far faster than is customary nowadays). At these
tempos, all the music is quite danceable (and marchable).
But slow or fast, what determines tempo for any given dance has much
to do with how its rhythms fit with the pieces that precede and follow. Just
as the music of the introductions segues into the fugal music that follows, the
beat also proceeds from one dance movement to the next. Variety comes not
so much from changes of tempo, but from the changes in the rhythmic pat-
terns around the ongoing beat. Each new dance flowers out of its predecessor,
the whole held together by some common rhythmic element.16 Such prac-
tices still go on today in popular music wherever people gather together for
continuous dancing.
Let us return to Colasse's ouverture; his lively lento goes directly to an
even faster section in 6/4 without a tempo marking (Ex. lb.). D'Onsembray's
tempo for the second part is . = 80. This comes out to mean that a in
[J + J ca. J] [ = ca. ]
Allegro moderato Allegro
Klar. 1
in B
If. > >
Tromp.I 1
(Allegro)
(Allegro moderato) n b bn
Viol. 1 M T-
p pp crescendo
Viol. 2 fp pp
. crescendo
hervortortretend
Via.
P PP cresc. sempre
-.jI. _
hervortortretend '-. -
p pp cresc. sempre
Kb.
Example 14b. Bruckner, Symphony no. 5, B-flat Major, Finale
Colasse's lento introduction (MM = 512) almost equals a .of the 6/4
(MM = 480). Part of the fun in this ouverture is the way the tempo of the
first part, in 2, suddenly blossoms, like a spectacular baroque scene change,
into the 6/4 of the second part and back again, all supported by a common
rhythmic element. In the same manner, Bach's Fourth Suite also has a lively
C introduction that is transformed suddenly into a jig-like fugue in 9/8 and
back and that is supported by a common rhythmic element.
If we take D'Onsembray's 2 to 3 transformation in Colasse's ouverture
and apply it to the 2 to 3 transformation in the Bach, our formula becomes
k of Bach's introduction equals .of the 9/8. The 2 of Colasse's introduction
roughly equals the .of his following 6/4. In both ouvertures, these changes
are surprises that nonetheless seem logical and natural; this is particularly so
in the Bach, as two measures of Bach's 9/8 just about equal one measure of
the introduction. Thus, the large measure prevails; the foot keeps tapping.
[ + = ca. ] [ = ca. ]
23 Allegro moderato Adagio
Fl. 1
PP
t-' I.
Ob. 1 ,._"0_
> P cresc. dimin.
Klar. 1
in B V
1. 2. in F (
Hm. PP
3. 4. in F
Tromp. 1
in F
(Allegro moderato) (Adagio)
Viol. 1 _kI
Viol. 2 ___ __ . ? ._ _
pizz. 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
pp
Vila. pizz. 3 3 3,3. 3 , , 3 3
pizz. 3 3 3 3 . 3 3 f
Example 14c. Bruckner, Symphony no. 5, B-fl
There is still much argument and u

time) about whether and where dotte
nated by triple rhythm should be "tr
increasingly unimportant as tempos be
lets become progressively harder to t
three-voiced passage in this movemen
one another. Trumpets have an upbeat
while strings simultaneously have an
[J + = ca. ]
Allegro mod(erato)
29 6 ' L'- A (a tre Thema)
1. in B __-00_______-
Klar.
2. in B ___"_I f
(Allegro moderato) A
Via. ic.
arco
ff (markiert gestrichen)
arco *
Kb.
1ff (markiert gestrichen)
Example 14d. Bruckner, Symphony no. 5, B-flat Major, Finale
97
99
Example 15. Bach, Ouverture no. 1, C Major, second violin, first movement
89). One inference we might sensibly draw from this inconsistency is that
Bach (or his copyist) was thinking of a fast tempo and that therefore it was
not a crucial matter which way such a passage was notated. 17 In the record-
ing, we adopt a fast tempo for the first movement of the Fourth Suite and
simply play it out-sometimes moving toward triplets, sometimes toward
dots, as the spirit, prompted by the letter, moves us.18
The bowings marked in the early parts are inconsistent. It has recently
been suggested that, since each part was marked differently, the players
made their own phrasing and bowing decisions-as with Stokowski, who was
famous in a more recent time for encouraging free bowing.19 In the unison
string passages in the central sections of the First Suite's Gavotte and in its
final Passepied, we played the parts as marked. The results are quite flavorful
and not at all chaotic in sound.
The suites' three minuets are all quite fast by today's standards and go
at one beat to a measure. Countrified inigalitis, of the kind still found in folk
and popular music, spice the minuets in the First Suite and, especially, the
Fourth Suite. Such swinging unevenness is mentioned in many contemporary
treatises and is articulately spelled out by Joseph Engramelle in his La tono-
technie (1775). Engramelle lays out specifications for programming music
(including minuets) for mechanical instruments, with pairs of notes pro-
grammed from equal through unequal in ratios ranging from 7:5, 5:3, 3:2,
and 2:1-from the very subtle to the quite obvious.20
The saraband in the Second Suite still sounds slow, although it is per-
formed at almost twice the tempo most modem performers take (it has always
sounded curiously unintelligible to me at the customary pace). The range for
sarabands in early sources, depending upon notation, is ; = 63/133; the
tempo on the recording is J = 116.
Bach seems to have provided the flute player no breathing space in the
center section (double) of the Polonaise. Usually, flute players make breath
pauses between phrases, breaking up the line and the rhythm. But if Bach
had wanted this, he could have written the music differently. Instead, he has
set the flutist a challenge. The flutist Christopher Krueger has done a bril-
liant job in the recording (done in a single take) of figuring out how to play
the entire section without seeming to take a breath. Bassoonist Dennis God-
bum meets similar challenges in the First and Fourth Suites.
The famous Air from the Third Suite is played more lightly than usual,
serenely, not tragically. Bach simply takes a peaceful stroll. The Gavotte that
follows sounds truly folkish, like music for social dancing. And the final
Gigue sounds, at last, like a real jig.
All kinds of appoggiaturas and graces are used, both short and long, to
realize Bach's indications. The performance of the Gavotte from the Fourth
Suite is particularly interesting in this respect because Bach, as in other
places, seems to want appoggiaturas played against the plain notes of resolu-
tion (Nicholas McGegan has shown me such a spot clearly written out in a
Rameau opera). In this movement we decided to take him at his word, just
to see what would happen. The result is invigorating. Listen to the savory
clash in the last chord. (Was this gavotte, by the way, the stimulus for Men-
delssohn's "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"?)
There are no mannered pauses between internal sections of a given
piece, and elaborate end ritards have also been avoided. The music simply
goes until it stops-as dance music usually does. There is none of what harp-
sichordist Wesley Kuhnle used to call "the train pulling into the station." All
these elements have been put together to create a style from which to draw
when it becomes time to invent. A choice band of players who know each
other and the suites equally well are united in praise of music they have
grown to love. Sometimes they enjoy imitating each other's phrasing; some-
times they prefer to go separate ways. Every part in the texture, though relat-
ing to the others, has its own rhythm, accentuation, and phrasing, its own
personality. It is important to underline the individuality of each; in this
way, the music sparkles and Bach's part-writing becomes especially clear.
Overall, I have tried to turn out a performance that is high stepping, good
humored, entertaining, and, I hope, ultimately very sensible.
I would like to conclude with a brief discussion of part two of O'Don-
nell's article. The discussion of tempo in ouverture first movements is
intended to clear the ground for his second part, which is a detailed advocacy
of various compressions of time values in first reprises. He thinks, as do oth-
ers, that many upbeat phrases and other passages in Bach's ouverture intro-
ductions should be overdotted in line with a tradition stemming from Lully.
Whether or not this was the case with Lully, the issue in the Bach ouvertures
becomes largely moot if we simply look at the music. The textures are elabo-
rate organisms already full of highly contrasting note values. Compressing
upbeat figures such as O'Donnell recommends puts all the accents on the
strong beats, throws the music out of balance, leaves no real upbeat quality,
and renders it insistently thetic and rhythmically static; it also, as Neumann
points out, throws off counterpoint, creating incredible synchronization
problems.
By taking a stand for both overdotting and fast tempos, O'Donnell is
creating a position that is paradoxical and self-defeating. By advocating intro-
ductory tempos about twice as fast as those we usually hear, O'Donnell has
already dwarfed the overdotting controversy. At tempos from J = 50-56, the
problem largely takes care of itself. Overdotting becomes a more subtle and
less prissy affair, far less jerky and self-conscious.
Most musicians have always tended to compress shorter note values,
delaying them slightly within the beat to give them life. There need not be
anything literal or mechanical about this; it is a natural way to maintain flow
and stability. Overdotting is simply a matter of good musicianship, and as a
practical matter, the greater the celerity, the less the need for elaborations,
rhythmic or otherwise, to sustain the line. O'Donnell has not so much
cleared the ground as pulled the ground out from under himself!
Once sufficient sensitivity has been established among musicians and
musicologists as to the relationship between overdotting and tempo, there
ought to be a common meeting ground for the jerky-school advocates and the
literalists to meet and celebrate a frisky Perestroika. If the rhythmical think-
ing behind the Bach suite movements becomes progressively clearer and more
tangible, musicians and audiences will share in the fun of developing an
overview that can take in a good deal more ground--including, of course,
keyboard music and a host of Lully and Lully-inspired works. In this view of
the Bach ouvertures, we also find new ways to look at substantial and related
slices of music's past-a past far more pipingly contemporary than we have
been led to suppose.21
Notes
1. The Boston Early Music Soloists, conducted by me, The Bach Suites for
Dancing, Koch International Classics 3-7037-2H1, recorded Sept. 1-5, 1989. (There
is no direct connection between the performing group and the Boston Early Music
Festival.)
2. See Joshua Rifkin, "More (and less) on Bach's Orchestra," Performance Practice
Review 4 (1991).
3. Louis-Leon Pajot, Comte D'Onsembray, "Description & usage d'un metronome

..." in Histoire de l'Acad6mie Royale des Sciences. Annie 1732 (Paris, 1735), 182-96;
Jacques Alexandre de la Chapelle, Suite des vrais principes de la musique (Paris, 1737),
42. Also in Ralph Kirkpatrick, "Eighteenth-Century Metronomic Indications," in
Papers of the American Musicological Society, (1938), 30-50; O'Donnell also lists a
tempo derived from a contemporary timing for the opening "Simphonie" of de
Lalande's Te Deum (Paris: L. Hue, 1729; copy at University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor). (See Genevieve Thibault, "Le 'Te Deum' de Lalande. Minutage de l'6poque,"
Fontes Artis Musicae 12 [1965]: 152-55.) This piece, a simple march, marked
fierement, does not have the dotted patterns of the French ouverture. The La Chapelle
and D'Onsembray examples seem more to the point.
4. The other examples have no verbal tempo indications.
5. See my "The Earl of Bute's Machine Organ: A Touchstone of Taste," Early

Music 11 (Feb. 1983): 172-83.
6. See my "Earl of Bute's," 177-78.

7. This Handel tempo ordinario is one of eleven such markings for Handel pieces
on the Bute barrels. The other movements are not equivalents to a dotted-rhythm
French ouverture introduction, but all move along at forward-moving paces. The
range of these eleven goes from = 84 to 116, so the Second Concerto's first move-
ment is just about in the center of this range. Incidentally, if we sustain the turning
rate necessary for op. 4, no. 2's, allegro to go at J = 132, its menuet plays, appropri-
ately, at a1 virtuoso
Magazine " = ca.
(Aug. 1985): 60. See
14-21, 52. my "Toward a 'New' (Old) Minuet," Opus
8. Much of the same thing is true of many adagios and andantes for which we have
metronome marks in the late classical and early romantic periods. The slow move-
ment of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is such an example. Although playing it
according to his metronome mark, J = 60, results in a performance almost twice as
fast as the ones we usually hear, it still turns out to be slow music-but slow music of
a different character, more aristocratic, more ornate, more full of contrasts, a new
world that takes getting used to-but one that in the end has its satisfactions (listen
to the Norrington recording, EMI 7 492212).
9. Rust made similar observations (Bach-Gesellschaft [1858; reprint, Ann Arbor:

Edwards Music Reprints, 1947], 22: 23). See Walter Emery's review of Fritz Roths-
child's The Lost Tradition in Music in Music and Letters 34 (July 1953): 251-64.
10. See my "Carl Czerny's Metronome Marks for Haydn and Mozart Symphonies,"
Early Music 16 (Feb. 1988): 72-82, which includes, along with other such material, a
chart of tempos (79-81) for this and eleven other early Mozart symphonies or sere-
nades. This information also turns up in appendix E of Neil Zaslaw's "Mozart's Sym-
phonies, Context, Performance, Practice, Reception," (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1989), 562-63.
11. The 6/8 allegro assai that follows Czerny's allegro-sounding adagio moves at a
jaunty = 104. The impression is that the 6/8 hs are a slightly downward-modified
continuation of the values of the adagio.
12. I have calculated that Mozart programmed the tempo for this opening music to
be o of the introduction and fugue equals . of the central andante = 28. Barrel
pinners in Mozart's time usually laid out their calculations in measures. Mozart knew
that his pieces for Count Deym's mechanical organ were to last eight minutes each.
Most likely, he would have calculated in the usual way, making all measures of equal
length, whether in 2 or 3, slow or fast. If one puts in all repeats, the following per-
fectly reasonable tempos result:
for K594, adagio: = 86; allegro: = 114; for K608, allegro: = 111; andante:
- = 83.
The resulting andante and adagio tempos are almost identical to one another, but
both play quite well at these tempos. Czerny's metronome marks for Mozart and
Haydn symphonies also display a considerable overlap for these two tempo categories
(see my "Carl Czerny's"). These tempos seem much more likely than the puzzling
application of E. W. Wolf's "equivalencies" (1788) by Zaslaw (who lists the adagio of
K594 as an andante) to these same works ("Mozart's Tempo Conventions," Interna-
tional Musicological Society Congress Report, 11 Copenhagen, 1972, 720). Note the
similarity in gesture and derived tempos between K608's opening allegro ( = 111)
and Telemann's lentement (j = 100).
13. Wagner, in 1846, found that the "allegro" in m. 20 of the autograph was not
written by Gluck. He therefore recommended playing the entire Overture at the
opening andante pace. He was right, of course, but also wrong. He had a late
nineteenth-century notion of what an andante pace was. He should have discovered
the pace of his andante by reasoning backward from its "allegro." Performers still play
this music Wagner's way. There are two early mechanical organs that still play this
overture, which was very popular on such instruments in the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries. One by Peter Strand (1790, Stiftelsen Museum, Stockholm) plays
(with cuts) the music as written, introduction and "allegro" in the same tempo. The
other, by Johann Friederich Lieder (Berlin, 1810, Markisches Museum, Berlin), plays
the introduction at a marginally slower tempo (with other cuts in the body of the
piece). Note that it is the later instrument that gives us the tempo modification, how-
ever slight. There are other examples from early nineteenth-century mechanical
organs in Utrecht and Leipzig in which the introductions to overtures by Boildieu,
Cherubini, Rossini, and others go at tempos slightly slower than the main allegros.
(In both cases above, the "allegro" goes quite fast; the barrels appear to be pro-
grammed at near-identical tempos.)
14. Maestoso does not necessarily imply a slow tempo. A mechanical clock organ
(clock by Gottfried Klose ca. 1770, Weiss-Stauffacher collection, Grellingen, near
Basel) plays an arrangement of Haydn's "Nun Scheint in vollem Glenze du Himmel"
from Die Schdpfung at about a lively J- = 50, far faster than we play it now. (Haydn
composed this work in 1796-98; the barrel is probably early nineteenth-century.)
15. Hans-Hubert Sch6nzeler, in his revealing performance of the Bruckner Eighth

original for the BBC, and in other performances and writings, has demonstrated that
there is a Bruckner tempo ordinario area, ca. X = 69, (drawn from the MM of the
Eighth's finale) within which most of his works fall into balance. Sch6nzeler calls this
tempo area Bruckner's "pendulum of the universe" and advocates no change in the
basic pulse throughout the course of a movement (see his "Bruckner en Performance"
in Bruckner et l'age d'Homme [Paris: P. G. Langevin, 1975]). The word pendulum is
appropriate. It relates to the old tactus. I have already written about the "rubber tac-
tus" I observed when listening to my "mock barrels" of the contents of the Earl of
Bute's machine organ ("Earl of Bute's"). There is evidence to suggest that musicians
used to think of music in far larger phrases than is usually the case nowadays. Gustav
Mahler, for instance, despite his many indications of tempo fluctuation, looked upon
continuity of tempo as a basic article of musical faith (1962 radio interview between
Klaus Pringsheim and me). Mahler's piano rolls, particularly of the first movement of
his Fifth Symphony, illustrate his way of putting such concerns quite dramatically and
effectively into practice.
16. See my "Earl of Bute's" for remarks about the flexible tactus going from piece to
piece observed on any given barrel (something that goes from barrel to barrel as well)
(174).
17. Quantz wants the distinction between the two patterns marked (Johann Joachim
Quantz, On Playing the Flute, 2nd ed., ed. and trans. Edward P. Reilly [New York:
Schirmer, 1985], 68). See the provocative anonymous quote from 1769 about the
matter ("This is true only in extremely fast tempo.") in The Bach Reader, ed. Hans T.
David and Arthur Mendel (New York: Norton, 1966), 446.
18. It is worth pointing out that in traditional Irish fiddling for jigs a Jin a
pattern tends to be played marginally later than the last Jin a pattern. Hear,
for example, Ned Pearson (fiddle), "The Pin Reel," Holey Ha'penny, Topic Records
No. 12 T-283.
19. See Zaslaw, "When is an Orchestra not an Orchestra?" Early Music 16 (Nov.
1988): 486.
20. George Houle, in chapter 5 of Meter in Music, 1600-1800 (Bloomington: Indi-

ana University Press, 1987), gives a clear account of Engramelle's methods. The book
is accompanied by a computer-realized cassette tape that plays Houle's realizations of
Engramelle's musical examples.
21. It is possible that Mendelssohn's Bach moved right along; Wagner criticized
Mendelssohn for his fast and uniform tempos. It is also interesting to contemplate
how Beethoven may have viewed the first movements to Bach's suites. According to
NBA, the Austrian National Library purchased a manuscript copy of the First Suite
from Anton Schindler in 1831, and it is possible that Beethoven was familiar with it.
The fugue tune of the Consecration of the House Overture is first cousin to the fugue in
the first movement of that suite. The famous figure near the opening of Beethoven's
Ninth (mm. 19-21) is uncannily reminiscent of the opening of the introduction to
Bach's Third Suite. If Beethoven knew this music, his fast metronome mark for the
Ninth's first movement ( = 88) and for those puzzlingly even faster ones ("108 oder
120," i.e., J = 54 or 60) found in his manuscript may be accounted for (see Peter
Stadlen, "Beethoven und das Metronom," in Beethoven-Kolloquium [Vienna: Biren-
reiter, 1977], 65-66). Perhaps Beethoven, Mozart, and Mendelssohn simply took
Bach at his notated word. On the other hand, it is also true that Beethoven partici-
pated in the monumentalization of the baroque, e.g., his slow "Handelian" tempo for
the 6/8 and 6/4 music in the finale of the Ninth (see my "The Stuff of the Sublime,"
Musical America-Opus 109 (Jan. 1989): 69-74.)

Bach and The French Ouverture

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Bach and the French Ouverture

Author(s): William Malloch

Example la-b. Colasse, Thetis e

Bach's ouvertures are patter

Example 5. Handel, Organ Concerto, op. 4, no.

early nineteenth century and still in operat

Example 6. Handel, Organ Concerto, op. 4, no. 2, f

indeed, the two seem identically programmed

[J= ca. loo1 = 5so]

Example 7. Handel, Organ Concerto, op. 4, no. 2, first movement

Example 8. Handel, Harpsichord Suite, Book 1, no. 8

Example 9. Tlm , Tflmik, Prodctio I, Ouverture, D Major, first movement

Violino II M.' "-. ,

Example 10. Handel, Hercules, "Crown with Festal Pomp"

Telemann, unlike Bach in his ouvertures, gives us tempo words (in

Let us return to the Bach ouvertures. The introduction to no. 2, in

= 50). Tempo words were used by baroque composers in figurative and

Example 12a. Moza

Violino II ' '

Example 13a. Mozart, Serenade, K. 250 (248b), D Major, "Haffner"

Bruckner's recall of the first and second movement opening

Example 13b. continued (in cut time)

O'Donnell presents a good deal of associative evidence to support the

Adagio [ = ca. 63-69]

Example 14a. Bruckner, Symphony no. 5, B-flat Major, Finale

Example 14b. Bruckner, Symphony no. 5, B-flat Major, Finale

(Allegro moderato) (Adagio)

Vila. pizz. 3 3 3,3. 3 , , 3 3

Example 14c. Bruckner, Symphony no. 5, B-fl

There is still much argument and u

1ff (markiert gestrichen)

Example 14d. Bruckner, Symphony no. 5, B-flat Major, Finale

3. Louis-Leon Pajot, Comte D'Onsembray, "Description & usage d'un metronome

4. The other examples have no verbal tempo indications.

5. See my "The Earl of Bute's Machine Organ: A Touchstone of Taste," Early

6. See my "Earl of Bute's," 177-78.

9. Rust made similar observations (Bach-Gesellschaft [1858; reprint, Ann Arbor:

15. Hans-Hubert Sch6nzeler, in his revealing performance of the Bruckner Eighth

20. George Houle, in chapter 5 of Meter in Music, 1600-1800 (Bloomington: Indi-

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