Schemata and Rhetoric Improvising the Chorale

8/9/2019 Schemata and Rhetoric Improvising the Chorale

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Schemata and Rhetoric: Improvising the Chorale Prelude

in the Eighteenth-Century Lutheran Tradition

By

Bálint Karosi

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in

Composition

Supervised by Robert Holzer and Patrick McCreless

Yale School of Music

New Haven

2014

A lecture version of this thesis with live improvisations can be watched on:

Part One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLqqI2U3dJI

Part Two: http://youtu.be/aANo0NeGV78

Part Three: http://youtu.be/6-mGub1SrJY



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Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………..…3

Chapter I: The Chorales ……………………………...13

Chapter II: Genres.……….…………………………..25

Chapter III: Model-based Improvisations…………...66

Conclusion…………………………………………….79

Bibliography:…..……………………………………..82



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Introduction

Patrick McCreless defines rhetoric as “the original metalanguage of discourse in the West,

[…] that served the educated classes as the most prestigious and influential means of

conceptualizing and organizing language, and articulating how it can best be effective,

persuasive, and elegant.”1 From the mid-sixteenth till the eighteenth century, rhetoric

was central to education across Europe and particularly in Germany. Rhetoric was taught

in every Lateinschule and served as the basis for cultured speech, persuasion and

organization of thoughts. Although the full extent of rhetorical influence on persuasion

and perception is little understood today, we know that rhetorical schemes were applied

to speech, writings and musical compositions from the sixteenth to the eighteenth

centuries. Lutheran sermons, for example relied heavily on the congregations’ knowledge

of rhetorical patterns and schemes. Preachers used poetry, rhymes and cross-references

for persuasion that drew on the congregations’s knowledge of underlying patterns. In

music, composers organized musical themes according to rhetorical principles, such as

the stilus fantasticus organ fantasies by Dieterich Buxtehude, in which the development ofmusical themes followed rhetorical schemes.

The late Renaissance saw the flowering of musico-rhetorical tradition that connected

rhetorical figures with musical diminutions. Seventeenth-century Figurenlehre mainly

focused on figuration and elocutio, the art of delivery and ornamentation. 2 Schoolboys

across Europe memorized multiplication tables for mathematics, grammatical rules for

" Patrick McCreless, “Music and Rhetoric,” in The Cambridge History of Western Music

Theory, edited by Thomas Chirstensen (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,

2002).# Such as Joachim Burmeister’s Musica Poetica (1606), Michael Praetorius’s Syntagma

Musicum (1616) and Athanasius Kircher’s Musurgia Universalis (1650).



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Latin, and rhetorical figures for speech and writing. Musicians memorized diminution

patterns, musical schemes and ornaments that they could use to compose and improvise

music. In the Lutheran tradition, the musico-rhetorical system was infused with the

Lutheran Chorales. The present thesis will focus on this influence on chorale-based organ

improvisations in the eighteenth century.

In his Grosse-Generalbassschule Johann Mattheson describes an audition for the prestigious

organist position of the Hamburg Cathedral in 1724. The audition consisted of six

improvisatory tasks:

1. To improvise a prelude at the moment; nothing previously studied, which can

be detected at once. This Vorspiel should begin in A Major and end in G Minor,

and last for approximately two minutes.

2. To improvise no longer than six minutes on the chorale, Herr Jesu Christ, du

höchster Gut. The improvisation should specifically use two manuals with the

pedal in a pure three-voice harmony, without doubling the bass, so that the feet

do not know what the hands are doing, yet that each voice sounds optimal with

the other voices…

3. To improvise in a fugue setting a given subject against its stepwise

countersubject, thoroughly completing the fugue, which can be accomplished in

four minutes, as the question is not how long but how successful the fugue is.

4. To submit, within four days, the same assignment in writing, as visual evidence

of his compositional skills.

5. To play a sung aria at sight from thoroughbass, and to accompany the aria at

first viewing correctly and completely, which will take approximately four

minutes.

6. To conclude with a Ciaccona from the given bass, using the full Werck

(plenum), for approximately six minutes in length.” $

3 Quoted in: Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, Bach and the Art of Improvisation (Ann Arbor, MI:

CHI Press, 2001), 3.

d



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Improvisation was crucial for garnering a Lutheran church position in the eighteenth

century. The ideal candidate for the Hamburg position would be not only an

accomplished organist, but also a consummate musician, or musicus, intimately familiar

with the theory and practice of the common musical style of his time. Only a musicus

would be able to execute these improvisational challenges. Mattheson’s second stipulated

task is of particular interest to us, for it emphasizes the importance of chorale-based

improvisations in Lutheran centers such as Hamburg.

The style of organ improvisations changed progressively throughout the eighteenth

century toward the simpler, Galant style. Chorale-based improvisations, however,

remained a focus for church organists. In 1787 Daniel Gottlob Türk published On the

Role of the Organist in Worship, in which he describes the improvised chorale prelude as

one of the main responsibilities of a church organist:

According to convention, the second chief responsibility of an organist [the first being

accompanying the congregation] consists of playing a good and suitable prelude,

which should be correct according to the rules of thoroughbass and composition and

appropriate to the contents of the hymn that follows. [..] the chief objectives of the

prelude are: to prepare the congregation for the content of the hymn, to make them

familiar with the melody, if this is needed, and to guide them at the same time to the

key.4

Türk compares improvised chorale preludes to sermons. A good sermon is prepared but

not written. Similarly, an improvised chorale prelude is successful when “one is led to

believe the prelude has been composed beforehand.”

5

He urged organists to familiarizethemselves with the components of the hymn, such as text, mood, key, and time

4 Johann Gottlob Türk, Von den wichtigsten Pflichten eines Organisten. (Halle, 1787).

Translated by Margot Ann Greenlimb Woolard as On the Role of the Organist in Worship.

(Lantham, Md: The Scarecrow Press, 2000).5 Ibid, 34.



'

signature ahead of time, and to prepare their improvisations in advance. Türk outlines an

improvised prelude in detail:

First one selects a melodic idea (appropriate to the content of the hymn) that

simultaneously will serve as the introduction. After this theme has been developedfor a while, together with a few short interludes, one plays the first line of the chorale

melody quite slowly on a different, more fully registered manual (if the contents of

the hymn do not demand a somewhat more lively, but never rapid, tempo).

Meanwhile, the melodic idea or at least something similar to it is continued in the

accompanying voices. This is again followed by a shorter interlude, then by the

second line of the melody, and so on. At the conclusion one closes with the main

theme, or with a similar secondary theme.6

Türk probably describes the chorale prelude with ritornelli, a genre I will explore in

Chapter Three. This, and other typical chorale-based genres in the eighteenth-century

relied on two basic techniques: augmentation and diminution. An organ student in the

eighteenth century imitated and copied written compositions to learn harmony, voice

leading, counterpoint, diminution and augmentation, as well as musical vocabulary such

as formal and harmonic and melodic schemes. These students also memorized many of

these passages and learned to combine them in their improvisations. Through the process

of memorization, students learned basic techniques of augmentation and diminution,

which offered schemes for formal, harmonic and melodic development.

Theorists often compare musical improvisations to spoken language. The analogy is

especially useful when considering long-term memory in the process of acquiring

improvisational skills. It takes an elaborate study to clarify the distinction betweenmemorized and improvised patterns in spoken language or in musical improvisations.

To clarify the role of long-term memory and memorized patterns in the improvisational

learning process, I use a system devised by Michael Callahan in his dissertation

' Ibid, 64.



(

Techniques of Keyboard Improvisation in the German Baroque.7 Callahan borrows his three

labels, dispositio, elaboratio and decoratio, from classical rhetoric.8 He calls memorized

musical patterns on the structural level dispositio, on the harmonic level elaboratio and on

the musical surface decoratio. These terms designate memorized patterns on various levels

of musical structure: dispositio corresponds to large-scale form, elaboratio corresponds to

skeletal voice-leading structures and decoratio equates surface-level embellishments. The

correspondence between memorized patterns and an inherently layered nature of chorale-

based works will become clearer in Chapter Two. Memorization is crucial in Baroque

improvisation: the player must automatize musical schemes on all three decoratio,

elaboratio and dispositio levels.

Callahan explains this concept in the context of improvisational learning: “A hierarchical

conception allows existing musical material to be digested on several levels

simultaneously; an improviser can consider its large-scale organization, its more local

generating principles, and its surface-level realization independently, and commit the

music hierarchically to memory.”9 Each level corresponds to memorized patterns that are

ingrained in the improviser’s vocabulary and stored subconsciously in long-term and

motor memory. Subconscious memorization takes a long time, often several years or

decades. Organ playing involves the whole body; it takes a long time until every limb

learns its part in executing memorized patterns. Memorization of schemes also takes

longer than in repertoire: an advanced Baroque improviser stores his musical vocabulary

7 Michael Callahan, Techniques of Keyboard Improvisation in the German Baroque (PhD.

Diss. University of Rochester, 2010).) The five traditional parts of classical rhetoric were inventio, dispositio, elocutio, memoria

and pronunciatio. Inventio addresses the development of ideas for speech, dispositio their

linear arrangement and elocutio addresses their delivery. 9 Callahan, Techniques of Keyboard Improvisation in the German Baroque, 53.



)

on a subconscious level, and memorizes the process of development as well as individual

schemes.

In my context, Callahan’s’ decoratio is the surface-level embellishment of either the

melodic or skeletal structures of chorale melodies. In many chorale-based genres decoratio

is the embellishment of one or more voices: the soprano, bass or the inner voices.

Elaboratio corresponds to the chorale’s harmonic framework that can be augmented or

compressed according to the different chorale-based genres, and accommodate various

decoratio patterns in any voice. Elaboratio is also associated with harmonic progressions,

sequences and common cadential patterns that can be altered in a similar fashion.10

Elaboratio is the most immediate generative level of improvisation: it connects surface

level embellishments with the requirements of genres. The interaction of elaboratio with

decoratio is the most challenging improvisational level. Dispositio is best understood as the

musical elements including form, tempo, style, registrations and types of figurations that

make any musical genre recognizable. In most cases, however, I use dispositio to refer to

musical form and sound: the formal and sonic requirements of a specific genre.

Improvisational learning essentially constitutes two phases: assimilation and execution.

The assimilation phase is a continuous process: an improviser enriches his musical

language with dispositio, elaboratio and decoratio patterns. The organist and scholar

Eduardo Bellotti describes three stages of the improvisational learning process as imitatio,

memoria and actio.11 Imitatio is the initial learning phase, where the student learns musical

patterns and acquires a firm grasp of the musical idiom through imitation of written

repertoire. The corresponding period in language acquisition would be the period when a

10 For a list of elaboratio cadences see Spiridion, and Edoardo Bellotti. Nova Instructio Pro

Pulsandis Organis, Spinettis, Manuchordiis Etc.: Pars Prima (Bamberg 1670): Pars Secunda

(Bamberg 1671). Colledara: Andromeda Ed., 2003.)"" Masterclass by Eduardo Belotti on March 6, 2014 at Yale University.



*

child repeats words and phrases without totally grasping the meaning behind each word.

Memoria is learning musical grammar: the theoretical rules of counterpoint, harmony and

thoroughbass. Memoria in improvisation consists of acquiring, practicing and storing

patterns into long-term memory, in which schemata are stored in their most abstract

forms, similarly to grammatical rules of spoken language. An improvising eighteenth-

century organist would use memorized patterns from repertoire, theoretical treatises and

the Lutheran Chorales. Improvised actio is the act of performance wherein the learned

idiom becomes an intelligible musical utterance.

Musical improvisation is similar to the sixteenth-century Italian commedia dell’arte

tradition, where actors improvised dramatic works with pre-formed characters and

schemes. Eighteenth-century Lutheran sermons also used memorized rhetorical formulas

to persuade their listeners. Johann Kirnberger compares composition to rhetoric: “The

primary attribute of a speaker is that he comprehend the grammar of his language, that is,

that he know how to express himself distinctly and correctly.”12 The difference between

improvised music and written compositions is similar to the difference between spoken

and written word. In spoken word, grammar governs verbal utterances subconsciously, as

harmony and counterpoint work through motor memory, bypassing conscious decisions

and relying on tactile and acoustic interactions with the instrument. Improvised

performance is a subtle act of making decisions as a reflection on the sound of the

instrument.

In his study of North German improvisational practice, William Porter examines the

relationship between performance practice, improvisation, repertoire and historical

instruments. He concludes that the interaction between written repertoire, treatises,

"# Johann Kirnberger, The Art of Strict Musical Composition, translated by David Beach and

Jürgen Thym (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1982).



"+

historic playing techniques and historic instruments is central to the actio of improvising.

He illustrates this intellectual, tactile and sonic interaction in two charts:

Figure 1.1. William Porter’s Chart 1

Porter writes:

[This chart] is a representation of various factors involved in improvisation in

historical styles. The role of the instrument is even more interactive here [e.g.

when improvising] than when performing repertoire, as it helps the player to

determine not only how to play but also what to play. “What to play,” that is, the

improvisation itself, is decided by the player, influenced by the instrument,

improvisational method, knowledge of performance practice, and, significantly,

knowledge of repertoire itself. Improvisational method is also formed partly byknowledge of the repertoire. It should be mentioned here that the temptation to

view the instrument as nothing more than a tool, a view particularly prevalent in

our day, is unfortunately a strong one with regard to improvisation. […] The late

twentieth century has seen the rise of interest in discovering more about original

and inherent characteristics of the repertoire and a corresponding respect for the



""

instrument as mediator of those characteristics; the realm of improvisation, on the

other hand, is frequently regarded as something much more personal and

therefore one in which the instrument plays a more subservient role to the

performer. Herein lies the primary challenge to the musician concerned with older

traditions of improvisation: to achieve the kind of interaction with the instrumentthat accords it the role that we now recognize as appropriate for our performance

of repertoire.

Figure 1.2. William Porter’s Chart 2

Porter writes:

Chart two is a hypothetical representation of the relationship of these factors for a

seventeenth-century musician. It shows a relationship between repertoire and

improvisational practice that is mutually formative, and a relationship with

compositional studies in which the study of composition forms improvisational

practice as well as repertoire. 13

13 William Porter, Reconstructing 17 th-century North German Improvisational Practice GoArt

Research Reports Vol. 2: (2000): 28.



"#

Porter’s point about the role of the instrument in improvisation is worth noting. A good

improviser will necessarily adjust his style to each instrument. Therefore, the instrument

directly influences every level of improvisation, decoratio, elaboratio and even its style

period. The interaction between the instrument and the player determines the outcome of

each improvisation. Sonic, tactile and visual characteristics of the instrument thus

influence all levels: style period, form, ornaments, touch, agogic accents and

embellishments. Improvisations can be effective only if played with proper musical

expression, tasteful ornaments, good registrations and expressive touch. Organ

registrations are integral to the sonic characteristic to each instrument and will only be

briefly discussed in the present thesis.

Improvisation exists in many varieties. In figured bass accompaniment the left hand is

notated and the right hand is indicated with symbols that do not specify voicing or

tessitura. In thoroughbass accompaniment, a fixed bass line, with its associated harmonic

and voice-leading structure, determines harmony, while free voicings and figurations are

improvised. Eighteenth-century thoroughbass methods and figured-bass treatises aimed

to develop skills in embellishing a bass progression through memorized schemes. In this

type of improvisation, the player has the freedom in voicing and ornamentation. Such

decoratio-level improvisations consist of melodic and rhythmic invention relying heavily

on surface level patterns, rhythmic alteration. Figured bass accompaniment can be

extended to improvisation on ground basses such as ciaccona or a passacaglia. The ostinato

bass line provides a harmonic framework, on which different decoratio schemata may be

applied. Specifics of derivative, generative and constructive techniques will become

clearer in the following chapters.



"$

Chapter I: The Chorales

Chorales have been central in shaping Lutheran culture and identity since the

Reformation. The core repertoire of catechetical hymns was composed by Martin Luther

himself, who set basic Lutheran doctrines to memorable melodies, often derived from

Gregorian chants or popular folk tunes. In the eighteenth century, hymns were essential

instruments to convey the Lutheran doctrines to laymen and laywomen in a form they

could remember and apply to their lives. An example of this is Christopher Boyd Brown’s

account of Joachimstahl, a Lutheran village in the sixteenth-century.14 Brown provides a

compelling study of the role of the Lutheran chorale in forming and preserving the

community’s Lutheran identity amid the persecution of Lutherans during the Counter-

Reformation era. Similar to the townspeople of Joachimsthal, Lutherans in the eighteenth

century sang hymns on the streets, in their homes, and in churches and schools as they

taught their children and counseled one another in difficult times. Lutheran families used

hymns in their daily devotions and informal musical gatherings, called Hausmusik.

After the Reformation, Hausmusik became a popular pastime for Lutherans.15 This

activity originated with Luther himself, who was a prolific composer and lute player,

regularly hosting friends and relatives at his home for music making. These gatherings

had a twofold purpose: for a participant to “refresh the soul from other kinds of

studies”16 and to familiarize oneself with the doctrines of the Lutheran faith as expressed

in catechetical hymns. By the end of the seventeenth century, as Hausmusik grew in

14 Christopher Boyd Brown, Singing the Gospel: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the

Reformation (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005).15 Johann Wohlmuth, Starck Virginal Book (1689) (Budapest, HU: Magyar Tudományos

Akadémia Zenetudományi Intézet, 2008), preface. 16 Robin A. Leaver, Luther’s Liturgical Music (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B.

Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007).



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popularity, instrumental tutors were in great demand and easy keyboard pieces found

their way into publications with explicit methodological and performing purposes. The

Chorales became the focal point of music education for amateur and professional

musicians, reflected in keyboard methods such as Daniel Speer’s Grundlicher kurtz leicht

und nöthiges Unterricht der musikalischen Kunst, published in 1687. It opens with a

theoretical section about singing, then moves on to continuo playing, playing on string

and wind instruments, compositions and easy pieces for performance. Another keyboard

method in a similar vein was the 1689 Starck Virginal Book, which was assembled and

composed by Johann Wolmuth (1643-1724). It was intended for the education of the

eight-year-old Johann Jacob Starck. The volume consists of sixty-one short pieces in

two-stave notation for a keyboard instrument, mostly in two or three voices. The pieces

are arranged in order of increasing difficulty, covering a great variety of musical styles

from preludes, folk dances, popular melodies and Lutheran chorale settings. The

following example is a simple, three-part harmonization of the chorale Wenn nun den

lieben Gott with bare essentials:

Figure 1.1. Johann Wohlmuth: Wenn nur den lieben Gott

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Besides chorales, the method also explores various styles and keyboard textures that

helped students to become familiar with the commonalities in form such as cadential

patterns and ornamentation. Through short preludes, dances and folk tunes, students

discovered stylistic clichés with their associated kinetic sensibilities at an early age. The

following example contains the very essentials for a prelude:

Figure 1.3. Johann Wohlmuth: Prelude #2

The piece consists of the opening scalar motion followed by an arpeggiated figuration,

both voices alternating motion of down a third, up a second, closed off by a V-I cadence.

The following prelude is structured around an ascending -3/+4 sequence with circular

motives in both hands:

Figure 1.4. Johann Wohlmuth: Prelude #5

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Both preludes and chorales in the Starck Virginal Book use idiomatic patterns and simple

harmonic progressions that students could have easily memorized and used for

improvisations. By practicing simple pieces from methods such as the Starck Virginal

Book, students might have become familiar with historical fingerings associated with

certain figurations and hand positions and burn them into their motor memory. This

learning process is the kinetic assimilation of musical grammar into one’s keyboard

technique, which starts ideally in early childhood. In her book Bach and the Art of

Improvisation, Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra posits that historical fingerings, pedal technique

and articulation are crucial elements in improvisational learning. 17 Feenstra compares this

type of grammatical learning to childhood language acquisition:

If a person does not learn proper grammar as a child or in foreign language

studies, he will not hear when his syntax is incorrect. He may struggle for a

lifetime to speak and write correctly. If he comes from a home where proper

grammar was spoken, or assimilates correct grammar in language studies, he will

eventually be able to use appropriate grammar easily and intuitively.18

As shown in early methods such as the Starck Virginal Book, Baroque students started

assimilating Figuren as applied to chorales at a very early age. Such short pieces with

figures and their associated fingerings would have armed them with the confident

technique that Feenstra describes. Through examples similar to Starck’s preludes and

chorale settings, subconsciously assimilated schemes built up to constitute musical

grammar and vocabulary.

17 Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, Bach and the Art of Improvisation (Ann Arbor, MI: CHI

Press, 2011), 20. 18 Ibid, 4.



"(

Musical instruction in the Baroque era started with figured bass, harmony, counterpoint

and the harmonization of memorized melodies. For organ students, thoroughbass

accompaniment was central to the improvisational learning process. Reading figured

bass, keyboard students learned harmony from an unspecific notation style, where only

the bass line is notated and harmony is indicated with figures. Keyboard students also

learned to decorate bass progressions with elaborate diminutions, as was also done in the

Italian tradition of unfigured bass harmonizations.

In his volume The Art of Partimento, Giorgio Sanguinetti describes education techniques

in the Italian Partimento tradition of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.19

Partimenti are compositions notated as unfigured bass lines above which the keyboard

player applied realizations in the right hand. Partimenti were more than thoroughbass

exercises. They document the composition methodology of the conservatories in Naples,

in which students would learn how to recognize and embellish skeletal voice-leading

patterns in bass exercises using solfeggi, vocal exercises to memorize upper-voice patterns

on common basses. The Italian Partimento tradition relied heavily on memorization,

where the player first learned how to recognize a schema on the page and how to

embellish it according to his master’s instructions. Robert Gjerdingen understands the

realization of an unfigured bass as an applicatio of a specific memorized schema, not the

harmonization of the bass line itself. Gjerdingen describes this process as “embellishing

not of the bass but of the implicit parts of a particular schema, meaning what was to be

played by the right hand on the keyboard.” 20 Indeed, exercises in partimenti aided the

player in recognizing, concatenating and memorizing stock progressions with the aim of

using them in free improvisations and compositions. However, even with their

19 Giorgio Sanguinetti, The Art of Partimento: History, Theory, and Practice (New York:

Oxford University Press, 2012).20 Robert O. Gjerdingen, Music in the Galant Style (New York: Oxford University Press,

2007), 45.



")

meticulous rules (regole), Partimento masters failed to record explicit instructions on how

to generate these surface-level diminutions as such. Unfortunately for contemporary

musicians, most Italian masters exclusively conveyed this kind of instruction orally. The

ultimate goal of the Partimento School was imitative counterpoint - the Partimento fugue.

A partimento fugue consisted of cues for motivic imitations on a single bass line and

required consummate experience in thoroughbass and counterpoint.

Many rules concerning bass harmonization have survived in the regole di partimento; one

of the most important is the Rule of the Octave. The RO defines harmonies to be played

above certain scale degrees in the bass emphasizing their tonal context. Stable scale

degrees are harmonized with stable harmonies (^1, ^4 and ^5), unstable tones are

harmonized with passing 6 or 6/5 chords. Sanguinetti describes two ways to accompany

a scale in the bass: “The first associates each scale degree with a sonority, which may be

modified according to the local circumstances, whereas the second uses the same

harmony on several scale degrees.”21 The example below depicts an ascending and

descending major scale with associated harmonizations:

Figure 1.6. The Rule of the Octave according to Fenaroli.

#" Giorgio Sanguinetti, The Art of Partimento: History, 56.

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The RO is a powerful tool for tonal coherence, as it defines each degree in the scale with a

unique relationship to either the preceding or following chord. For example, the major

triad on ^1 of the major scale is followed by an unstable 6/4 chord on ^2 that is followed

by a 6 chord on ^3. The stability of these chords defines the position of the bass in the

scale. Although the RO applies to a complete scale, sections of it can be used to

harmonize scalar passages in chorale melodies. Because many chorale melodies feature

stepwise motion, the RO is extremely useful for harmonizations when placing the chorale

melody in the bass.

J. S. Bach gives an ascending bass line harmonization with 5-6 progressions and 7-6

suspensions on a descending scale:22

Figure 1.7. J. S. Bach’s harmonization of an ascending scale

An organist would use similar 5-6 progressions when harmonizing a stepwise ascent in

chorale melodies, such as the opening ascending scale in Freu dich sehr:

22 Johann Sebastian Bach, J.S. Bach's Precepts and Principles for Playing the Thorough-bass or

Accompanying in Four Parts (Leipzig, 1738): Translation with Facsimile, Introduction, and

Explanatory Notes, translated by Pamela Poulin. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994).

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Figure 1.8. Bach’s scheme applied to Freu dich sehr in the bass:

Describing his father’s teaching method, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach emphasized that

“the realization of a thorough-bass and the introduction of chorales are without doubt the

best method of studying composition, as far as harmony is concerned.”23 Bach’s teaching

method, as represented in Precepts and Principles is characterized by a set of concise prose

rules that are modeled after Niedt’s Musical Guide, with accompanying exercises that

invariably are in four voices. Bach’s insistence on four-part thoroughbass accompaniment

results in voice-leading problems that arise only in four voices. Below is Bach’s realization

of his 5-6 progression for an ascending scale in the bass:

Figure 2.39. Bach’s realization of an ascending scale

This bass-harmonization exercise avoids parallel fifths and octaves with suspensions and

chordal skips in inner voices. The “skipping voice” is in the tenor, and in measure 3 in the

soprano. Four-voiced harmony was integral to Bach’s instruction, and unlike Handel or

#$ As quoted in the preface of Precepts and Principles by Christoph Wolff.

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Niedt, he insisted on keeping the four voices all the time. Niedt advises the student to

reduce the number of voices for sixth-chord progressions: “where a sixth is written above

the bass note, only the sixth is played, the octave must be omitted both in composing and

in playing.”24

This was common practice at the time and the Italians also dropped a voice

when there was a succession of sixth chords. Four-part voice leading was the essence of

Bach’s teaching method and his immediate circle of students adopted its aesthetic in their

theoretical writings.

In this way, students learned how to apply memorized cadences and recognized schemata

from looking at a single bass line. In Germany, a Lutheran organist could extract

schemata from hundreds of chorales that he became familiar since his early childhood

education. These schemata became automatized through practice and became part of his

zibaldone of memorized voice leading patterns. Joel Lester stresses the importance of

developing automatized voice-leading skills for different harmonic progressions in the

context of the Partimento tradition, describing a bass-harmonization with improvised

schemata: “the pupil learned voice-leading patterns that could be applied to realizing

figured basses as well as to improvising.” 25

The concept of musical schemata is key to our understanding of improvised music in the

eighteenth century.26 Robert Gjerdingen’s schemata are stock harmonic patterns for

composers to use in their compositions. They were taught by the Neapolitan meastri

through unfigured bass progressions, called the partimenti. Through partimenti keyboard

students learned harmony and counterpoint and many musical patterns applicable to a

#% Friedrich Erhard Niedt, The Musical Guide, translated by Pamela Pulin, (Oxford, UK:

Clarendon Press, 1989), Ch. 2, rule 8. 25 Joel Lester, Compositional Theory in the 18th Century (Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press, 1992), 64.26 Robert O Gjerdingen, Music in the Galant Style (New York: Oxford University Press,

2007).



##

given bass line. Recognizing schemata, or common melodic patterns, is an essential skill in

harmonizing melodies and improvising chorale preludes. German composers traveled to

Italy to perfect their art in the renowned Italian tradition. One of them was Johann David

Heinichen (1683-1729) who wrote the treatise Der General-Bass in der Komposition, in

which he discussed how to harmonize pairs of tones in a bass. He combined several pairs

into a larger pattern that he termed a “schema.” 27 His scalar schemata were similar to the

RO, but influenced by his travels to Italy to perfect his knowledge of the Italian style.

Schemata enabled eighteen-century composers to be incredibly prolific, while

maintaining a consistently high quality in their music. Gjerdingen illustrates schemata

with gray ovals containing abstract features:

Figure 1.9. Gjerdingen’s “Do-Re-Mi” Schema

Gjerdingen’s ovals above include the most important musical features of a schema: the

order of stages, scale degrees for the melody and for the bass with figured-bass numbers

to indicate harmony. Gjerdingen writes:

Standard music notation overspecifies a prototype’s constituent features. Theschema […] is a mental representation of a category of Galant musical utterances,

is likely in no particular key, may or may not have a particular meter, probably

includes no particular figurations or articulations, may be quite general as to the

27 Johann David Heinichen, Neu erfundene und gründliche Anweisung … zu volkommener

Erlernung des General–Basses (Hamburg, 1711), 15.



#$

spacing of the voices, their timbres and so on. All that useful indeterminacy would

vanish were the schema to be presented as a small chorale in whole notes,

probably in the key of C major with a 4/4 meter. 28

A typical schema often found in Lutheran Chorales is the “Do-Re-Mi.” The soprano in

this pattern represents a scale fragment harmonized with the most logical (^1-^7-^1)

bass progression. Many chorales also include long passages with stepwise, diatonic

motion. In the eighteenth century, major and minor scales gradually replaced the older

church modes. In the eighteenth century stable scale degrees (^1, ^3, ^5 and ^6) were

harmonized with stable harmonies, whereas less stable scale degrees (^2, ^4) were

harmonized with passing harmonies such as ii, vi, VI, vii or inversions of V7 chords. The

“Do-Re-Mi” schema represents this type of harmonization, where the unstable 2^ is

harmonized with an unstable chord in the bass. One of the most popular Lutheran

chorales in the eighteenth century, Freu dich sehr O meine Seele, consists mostly of scalar

motions. At the opening phrase one can easily recognize the “Do-Re-Mi” schema:

#) Gjerdingen, Music in the Galant Style, 453.



#%

Figure 1.10. Harmonization of Freu dich sehr A) Chorale in alto part B) in soprano part

The two harmonizations above represent two possible realizations of the “Do-Re-Mi”

scheme. Example B represents the conventional way of harmonizing the chorale melody

in the soprano, whereas in example A, the melody is in the alto part. The melody of the

first version can be played on a solo stop with the thumb on a reed or the sesquialtera

creating dynamic and timbral contrast to the other voices.

Gjerdingen’s two-voice representation of the “Do-Re-Mi” schema no longer describes

completely what is happening in example A, where the soprano voice acts as a descant

above the chorale melody. The melody is prominently part of the harmonic skeleton that

still preserves the opening schema’s recognizable features. Even though both

harmonizations belong to the many possible elaboratio frameworks associated to this

melody, example A suggests registral flexibility. Flexible voice-leading skeletons are

similar to the exercises in solfeggi taught by Partimenti maestros. They insisted on their

students practicing cadential progressions in all inversions and in open and closed



#&

positions.29 With this in mind, we find that the nature of the elaboratio in chorale-based

works is best understood as both harmonic and contrapuntal, with significant registral

flexibility for the voices.

Other schemata can be detected in the first phrase of Freu dich sehr O meine Seele. The

descending fourths in the bass line in measures 2 and 3 are typical of the Romanesca:

Example 1.11. The Romanesca

The Romanesca scheme can harmonize any diatonic descending motion in the top voice,

or in any of the upper voices. The descending chorale melody would instantly trigger the

Romanesca schema for an eighteenth-century improviser, who would be able to flip the

voices. The closing cadence with scale degrees 6^ 5^ in the soprano, understood in

modern music theory as a half cadence (or an inauthentic cadence) as harmonized in

figure 1.10 B, is another example of a schema, which would automatically trigger one of

the many interchangeable cadential patterns and final cadentiae found in many

eighteenth-century treatises.

29 Following the Dutch tradition of Psalm variations, I have observed Sietze deVries

teaching his students to harmonize a chorale melody in each of the four voices, in closed

and open hand positions.



#'

Chapter II: Genres

The Prelude

Preludizing, according to Daniel Gottlob Türk, was one of the chief responsibilities of the

eighteenth-century organist.30 A number of eighteenth-century treatises provide

instructions on how to improvise preludes. Most authors give models in wide varieties of

bass progressions and cadential patterns and they also focus on diminutions,

augmentation and bass prolongations. Figuration increases activity on the musical surface

and thus has the potential of prolonging tonal areas. Prolongation via surface figurations

is a crucial technique in eighteenth-century keyboard preludes. Friedrich Erhard Niedt’s

Musical Guide [1700/1721] is a comprehensive treatise for bass accompaniment with a

strong focus on diminution techniques.31 Niedt starts with figured-bass realizations,

cadential patterns and modulation schemes embellished mostly with arpeggiated figures.

His discussion of preludizing and modulating through different keys introduces a concept

that modern music theory understands as the phrase model. The phrase model groups

together three essential harmonic functions in tonal music: the tonic (T), predominant(PD) and dominant (D).32 The phrase model can be expanded with ornaments and

diminutions in the top voice or the bass, thus expanding vertical harmony. The following

example shows the three fundamental harmonies embellished with RH and LH

arpeggiations:

$+ Türk, On The Role o the Organist in Worship, 57. $" Niedt, The Musical Guide. $# Christopher Bartlette and Steven Laitz, Graduate Review of Tonal Music (Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 2012), Chapters 6-7.



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Figure 2.1. Niedt’s Bass realizations

To increase rhythmic activity in the bass line, Niedt provides examples for diminutions

connecting structural intervals:

Figure 2.2. Niedt’s bass diminutions

The following example outlines a bass progression for an improvised organ prelude: 33

Figure 2.3. Niedt’s scheme for a prelude

In this prelude, Niedt uses three types of harmonic prolongation: 1) the opening chordal

$$ Niedt, The Musical Guide, 50.

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skip followed by a passing tone is a bass prolongation; 2) the figures in measure 2

represent Niedt’s Cadenz-Clausulae, an expansion of V with a 6/4 chord followed by a 4-

3 suspension; 3) in measure 3, the double neighbor motion expands the tonic. 34 The

tonic expansion in measure 1 and the Cadenz-Clausula followed by a double-neighbor

motion facilitates a smooth modulation with descending thirds. The prelude connects

Cadenz-Clausulae with a -4/+1 sequence that is repeated until it reaches the T. The

sequence can be illustrated as follows:

Figure 2.4. Reduction of Niedt’s schematic cell

-4 +1

For the following prelude realization, I used a double neighbor motion in parallel sixths

for a sixteenth-note decoratio pattern as advised by Niedt in Part II:35

Figure 2.5. A possible realization of Niedt’s prelude

Similar surface-level embellishments provide the improviser with a vocabulary of

$% Niedt, The Musical Guide, Ch. 11. 35 Niedt, The Musical Guide, 108.

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schemata for improvisation of preludes on common bass progressions.

Spiridione’s Nova Instructio contains hundreds of motivic RH patterns of simple cadences

and sequences. Baptized as Johann Nenning, Spiridion a Monte Carmelo (1615-1685)

was a German monk who traveled frequently and lived for twelve years in Rome where he

assimilated the Italian style. The Nova Instructio pro Pulsandis Organis Spinettis

Manuchordiis is comprised of four parts of approximately fifty pages each.36 Spiridion’s

treatise is extremely practical; it relies exclusively on musical examples and contains

almost no written instructions. His musical examples are arranged in increasing

difficulty, which the students are expected to memorize, transpose and concatenate,

advancing from simple cadential patterns to complex diminutions. The volume starts

with diminutions over a V-I cadence with more than sixty RH variations. Only a few bars

are notated; the student is supposed to follow the logic of the pattern and apply it to the

elaboratio framework of the bass progression. The first volume is comprised of short

cadential patterns such as the Finalia and the longer Cadentiae, and longer, transitory

Passaggi are presented in the fourth part. Spiridion instructs his students to memorize and

play these examples in succession, bridging various transpositions of Cadentiae with

Passaggi: “when a cadentia has been transposed two or three times, a different cadentia or

a brief passagio should follow, after which the first cadentia is to be repeated in another

key.”37 Spridion’s instructions are extremely pragmatic for an improviser wishing to

improvise preludes in a similar fashion to Niedt’s. Spiridion’s examples show flexible

voice-leading structures with interchangeable upper voices that make students practice

common progressions in various hand positions associated with sophisticated motivic

patterns in the style. Spiridion’s examples are not simply realizations of figured bass

structures; they are motivic realizations of a three- or four-part skeleton in which each

$' Two volumes are available in a modern edition: Spiridion, Nova Instructio Pro Pulsandis

Organis, Spinettis, Manuchordiis Etc.: Pars Prima (Bamberg 1670): Pars Secunda (Bamberg

1671), ed. Edoardo Bellotti (Colledara: Andromeda Ed., 2003). $( Niedt, The Musical Guide, preface.



$+

voice, including the bass line, is subject to motivic treatment.

Spiridion introduces the four crucial components of the eighteenth-century musical

language: cadences, sequences, imitation and harmonic prolongation. He instructs

students to memorize and combine these patterns in an improvised piece. Like Niedt,

Spiridion also focuses on surface-level embellishments on bass progressions. His method

is very useful for student improvisers, as his examples are unfinished, the student is

supposed to continue the decoratio and apply it on the given elaboratio progression.

Organ preludes often begin with the prolongation of two structural harmonies: the tonic

and the subdominant over a pedal point. These two harmonies are expanded with surface

figurations as in the following cadentia prima:

Figure 2.6. One of Spiridion’s Cadentia Prima realizations

This cadentia establishes the key in A major with the rich diminutions prolonging the

cadence, finally resolving it to D major. Modulations in preludes are easily introduced via

inserting accidentals in figuration. For instance, an identical cadential pattern could

actually stay in its initial key with the insertion of G# at the end. Accidentals in

diminutions have a crucial role in establishing the tonality of certain passages over a

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pedal. For example, a G natural over a pedal on A constitutes a ^4 in D Major that tends

to resolve to ^3, thus establishing a V6/4-V7-I cadential pattern in D Major. G # over A

is a ^7 that prolongs A Major. The use of accidentals in improvisation is the result of

linearized harmonies, best acquired through embellishments, diminutions and harmonic

prolongation of existing melodies. The following example modifies Spiridion’s cadentia

with the insertion of the G# in the last group of sixteenth notes prolonging A Major.

Figure 2.7. Modified Cadentia Prima

Following Spridion’s instructions, a student would be able to combine this cadence with a

sequence and transpose it to another key. A series of transposed cadences connected with

a series of sequences make a satisfying prelude.

Michael Wiedeburg was organist at the Lutheran Ludgeri church in Norden, where he

played the Arp-Schnittger organ. In Die sich selbst informierende Clavierspieler he presents

copious examples of bass realizations, chorale harmonizations and figured-bass

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Unlike Spiridion’s motivic and imitational patterns, Wiedeburg’s variations consist

largely of three basic figures: the Schleifer, Doppelschlag and Schneller , all of which are in a

narrow intervallic range and in the same hand position. His kinetic considerations show

Wiedeburg’s practical side: the figures are extremely comfortable to play. Improvisational

patterns can be different for each player, as one adopts the most comfortable patterns to

fit one’s particular technique and fingering habits. Wiedeburg provides his students with

decoratio patterns on a two-voiced elaboratio framework (over a pedal point) that can be

practiced with associated hand positions and probable fixed fingerings, mapping them

into motor memory. His pedal-point diminutions exhibit three common features:

1. Rhythmic complementation: one sustains while the other is moving (extremely

comfortable to play).

2. Imitation: similar harmonic modules are applied in two voices (motivic and kinetic

symmetry).

3. Parallel motion: this is found exclusively in sixths and thirds (as wider intervals

would be extremely difficult to grab in one hand).

The improvisational potential and the ease of application of Wiedeburg’s examples over a

pedal point can be best understood by playing through the following example:

Figure 2.10. Wiedeburg’s prolongation of V-I over a pedal point

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keep the harmony unaltered while using different voice-leading structures or bringing

out the melody in different voices. Variations during congregational singing, however,

ought to always serve the meaning of the hymn text. In his Historisch-kritischen Beitragen

zur Aufnahme der Musik, Friedrich Marpurg condemned organists who excessively

improvised variations during congregational singing:

If organists would only realize that during the singing of hymns, it is the organ

that must keep the congregation in tune and in order. However, the way most

organists play one would think that the congregation sings the canto firmo (the

melody) in order for the organist to rummage all over it with hands and feet. The

resulting dissonances are so disagreeable to listen to that they defy description.

Since these organists are so enamoured of their rambling and noisy variations,

they play so irresolutely that it sounds as if they were unfamiliar with the melody

and needed to learn it from the congregations, for they continually lag behind,

instead of keeping pace with them.39

Improvisation during and between congregational verses in the eighteenth-century

descended from an earlier tradition, where the organ played in alternum with the

congregation. By the late Baroque period this tradition gradually dropped in favor of

congregational organ accompaniment. Between 1750 and 1850, organists often inserted

interludes between each chorale phrases to give the congregation some time to read the

text of the next line and reflect on the text. These interludes had a variety of names, such

as Zwischenspiele, Passagien or Läufer , and were played in a characteristically free

improvisatory style. Gottlob Türk discusses the composition of these interludes in his

book Kurze Anweisung zum Generalbassspielen:

$* The Historisch-kritischen Beitragen zur Aufnahme der Musik, one of three periodicals

written by Friedrich Marpurg, appeared from 1754-62 and in 1778. The journal

features reviews of books on music, short biographies of musicians, as well as general

observations on the musical scene.



$'

In this instance, the chorale player should definitely not demonstrate the dexterity

of his fingers (or feet), at least not without sufficient restraint, but merely

introduce the following note, and – if it can be done without inappropriate or

intrusive tone-painting – simultaneously express the meaning of the words, or

play serious interludes, suitable to the place and subject. Meanwhile, some moreor less lively interludes, runs Passagen and the like, can be presented for stanzas of

cheerful contents.40

With the following example, Türk demonstrates an acceptable Zwischenspiel connecting

the first and second phrases of Allein Gott :

Figure 2.12.

This cadential passagework extends the tonic by elaborating a very common formula,

Gjerdingen’s Quiescenza of scale degress ^8, 7, ^6, ^#7, 8. The success of this

Zwischenspiele, however, largely depends on its rhythmic proportions and its metric and

harmonic relationship with the perceived pulse of the chorale, and less on its melodic

content. Such toccata-like arpeggiations are similar to the French stile brisé , an idiomatic

technique for the harpsichord, employed by Böhm in his partita on Ach wie nichtig .

%+ Daniel Gottlob Türk, Kurze Anweisung zum Generalbassspielen (Leipzig und Halle:

Author, 1791).

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Linearization of harmonies is a crucial compositional tool for developing longer

passagework and diminutions. Niedt’s counterpoint examples include extended

arpeggiations of harmonies that are similar to techniques in chorale variations.

Melodic Ornamentation in Chorale Variations

Melodic ornamentation is the most immediate level of improvisation that connects linear

intervals with figurations. Seventeenth-century Figurenlehre mainly focused on figuration

and elocutio, the art of delivery and embellishments. 41 This technique is used in nearly all

eighteenth-century chorale-based genres, including chorale partitas by Georg Böhm and

Johann Pachelbel. The following example by Georg Böhm, Ach wie nichtig, ach wie

flüchtig, demonstrates an idiomatic melodic embellishment for the upper voice:

Figure 2.13. Böhm’s figuration on Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig

Böhm uses Schleifer and Schneller figures to directly embellish the chorale melody. This

decoratio does not always place the structural notes on the strong beats (such as on beat

four in measure 1) but always follows the contour of the melody.

Theorists considered figuration crucial to musical composition: thus it became a central

topic of a number of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century treatises. 42 Wolfgang Caspar

%" See, for example, Joachim Burmeister’s Musica Poetica (1606), Michael Praetorius’s

Syntagma Musicum (1616) and Athanasius Kircher’s Musurgia Universalis (1650). 42 Such as Wolfgang Printz, Phyrinidis Mytilenaei oder Satyrischen Componisten (1696) and

Johann Moritz Vogt’s Conclave Thesauri Artis Musicae (1719).

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Printz defined Figuren as devices for improvisation and composition: “[ Figure is] a

Certain module [Modulus] which is formed out of a division of one or more notes, and

which is applied in a manner appropriate to it.” In Phyrinidis Mytilenaei, Printz provides

copious lists of melodic patterns embellished with Figuren. He categorizes them according

to their basic shapes--such as Figura Corta, Messanza and Figura Suspirans--and lengths,

such as simple (einfach) and compound ( zusammengesetzt ). Printz’s examples provide

patterns for chorale variations: an improviser would apply these patterns to chorales with

similar melodic contours:

Figure 2.14. Printz’s diminutions

Printz’s figures are presented without their underlying interval; however, it is easy to

detect that these examples are embellishing a repeated note. In the same treatise Printz

also provides one hundred RH variations on a descending bass line to demonstrate how

these figures, combined with a structural bass, yield to longer-range melodic coherence.

These variations constitute a two-level hierarchical system, where an intervallic elaboratio

framework provides melodic consistency to surface elements. Printz also introduces the

concept of the Schematoid: the augmented version of the Figuren to create variations. His

definition of Schematoid is “a module equivalent to some figures in its intervals but



$*

distinct from the figure in its rhythm.”43 The concept of Schematoid is similar to

augmentation, and suggests a way in which one can discover variations by changing the

rhythmic shape of certain melodic patterns.

Another diminution treatise is Johann Moritz Vogt’s Conclave Thesauri Artis Musicae. 44

Vogt presents a comprehensive list of melodic elements as applied to harmonic patterns

to demonstrate how a voice-leading structure can accept many surface figures. His figures

on the decoratio level embellish an elaboratio framework, similar to Spiridione’s Cadentiae.

Below are three of Vogt’s phantasies of rising fourths and falling fifths with mezzanzae,

tirata, groppo figures, and a fourth with a combination of groppo and circulo figures.

Figure 2.15. Vogt’s diminutions

In all three examples Vogt places the structural note on the first position in the group.

Similar to the rich variety in Böhm’s figures, Vogt encourages a combination of many

different modules, but also advocates coherence by pointing to an underlying harmonic

%$ Callahan, Techniques of Keyboard Improvisation in the German Baroque, 111.%% Johann Moritz Vogt, Conclave Thesauri Artis Musicae, (Prague: Lebaun, 1719).



%+

framework. One of the most important innovations in Vogt’s treatise is the concept of

augmentation pertaining to the figure’s underlying harmonic framework. The example

below shows the augmented versions: the sixteenth-note figurations cover a longer

distance between structural note values, thus yielding to greater potential combinations

and a greater need for melodic coherence.

Figure 2.16. Vogt’s Phantasia Duplex (alternating 4ths and 5ths)

In Die sich selbst informierende Clavierspieler, Michael Wiedeburg presents figures that are

directional, leading effectively from point A to point B. He advocates their artful

concatenation into a larger unit, for instance, connecting various intervals with Schleifer ,

Doppelschlag and Schneller motives in various orders and forms. In the following example

we see four possible embellishments of underlying structural intervals of a unison,

ascending second, third, and a fifth with Wiedeburg’s figures.

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Figure 2.17. Wiedeburg’s Schleifer (a) and Doppelschlag (b), on simple intervals

Ascending and descending figures can be generated from the same principles and are

inversions of each other, but have quite a different aural effect. Wiedeburg focuses on the

artful connection of these limited gestures, creating a great number of interludes of any

length. The example below shows the assembly of these figures over augmented

structural intervals in their ascending, descending and compound forms.

Figure 2.18. Schleifer (a), Doppelschlag (b) and Schneller (c) on augmented intervals

Wiedeburg’s exercises can be applied to the harmonic elaboratio framework of any chorale

melody. In the following figure I have composed three written-out applications of

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Schleifert , Doppelschlag and Schneller applied on the intervallic elaboratio framework of the

first phrase of Freu dich sehr:

Figure 2.19. Simple application of Schneller (a) and Doppelschlag (b) on Freu dich

sehr

The concatenated decoratio figures owe their coherence to the shape of the chorale melody.

The example above represents a straightforward application of the figures onto an

existing intervallic framework, in which I kept the structural notes of melody on strong

beats. Similar models of melodic figurations have come down to us in seventeenth-

century Dutch Psalm variations, such as in Anthoni van Noordt’s Tabulatuurboeck

(1659). Psalm variations in the Dutch tradition rely heavily on melodic ornamentation

played on characteristically bright registrations of Dutch and North German organs.

Anthoni Van Noordt treats the Psalm melodies in three ways: cantus planus (simple

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melody) cantus coloratus (ornamented melody) and in combination.45 Thomas Morley

referred to this technique as breaking the plainchant, a term adopted in the Netherlands

as “breecken van den psalmen.” 46 Cantus coloratus variations have extensive right-hand

figurations with simple accompaniments:

Figure 2.20. Van Noordt: Cantus Coloratus Variation on Psalm 24

Noordt’s beautiful setting of long scalar motions covers a wide tessitura and does not

follow the contour of the original melody. Georg Böhm uses similar figuration his partita

on Herr Jesu Christ ; however, he structures them around the notes of the melody:

%& Jamila Javadova, Anthoni Van Noordt: Historical and Analytical Aspects of His

"Tabulatuurboeck Van Psalmen en Fantasyen" of 1659 (DMA Diss, University of North

Texas, 2008). %' Thomas Morley, A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practical Music, ed. Alex Harman

(New York: W W Harman, 1969),172.

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Figure 2.21. Variatio 5 of Herr Jesu Christ

For the following example I have composed a melodic embellishment on Nun Danket All

in cantus coloratus style:

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Figure 2.22. Cantus Coloratus and the melody of Nun Danket All

In this setting, similarly to Böhm, I have preserved the contour of the melody on strong

beats. The opening scale has important metric features: it offers an energetic opening and

anticipates the motoric drive of the movement, constituting the main decoratio element in

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this variation. At the memoria phase of improvisational learning, an organist commits

similar decoratio patterns to memory and becomes familiar with their metric and harmonic

attributes: he then tries them out in every possible metric and harmonic position.

Melodic figuration can lead to compound melodies and polyphonic textures, as well.

Compound melody is in fact a linearization of harmony, often suggesting two or three

voices that are treated with correct voice leading. In the following example, I have

applied chordal leaps and scalar motions to the elaboratio framework of Freu dich sehr. The

first is a compound melody and the second is a two-voice counterpoint:

Figure 2.23. Application of a compound (a) and two-voiced (b) decoratio on the

elaboratio framework of Freu dich sehr

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The first and the second versions contain identical decoratio patterns. However, the

second version contains longer structural notes that clearly differentiate tones of

figurations from structural tones. Space between structural notes is usually extended in

cantus firmus-based genres such as the bicinium or the chorale prelude. Augmentation is

an essential organizing principle inherited from the Renaissance that allowed Baroque

composers to enlarge musical form and use more advanced harmonies. For example, the

harmonic rhythm of a congregational hymn is quicker than the chorale prelude: in the

former, the harmony corresponds to one chorale note; in the latter, two or more

harmonies correspond to one note. Harmonies on weak beats can be dissonant, as their

function is to pass between two consonances. An organist wishing to improvise cantus

firmus-based chorale preludes needs to slow down the harmonic rhythm of the melody by

using two or more harmonies per chorale note. The example below is the “second-

species” harmonization of Freu dich sehr:

Figure 2.24. Augmented harmonization of Freu dich sehr

In this example, the even-numbered bass notes are chordal leaps and passing tones that

connect the consonant downbeats of the two-part, outer-voice structure. The relationship

between this and a simple chorale setting is similar to the difference between first- and

second-species counterpoint. The methodology of Fux’s Gradus ad Parnassum presents

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gradual steps from structural voice leading (first species) to florid counterpoint (fifth

species) in a series of exercises with controlled parameters. Augmentation techniques in

chorale harmonizations have similar stages: simple, double, triple and quadruple

harmonizations ultimately result in hierarchic distinction between structural and

secondary harmonies.

The harmonies on the weak beats serve as extensions of the first harmony, and, at the

same time they transition to the subsequent harmony. In the first bar, for example, the

second harmony provides smoother voice leading between F Major and G Minor, and

similarly in the second bar the C Major chord is a dominant of the next chord. The F

Major chord followed by a G Minor chord would be not a good choice, as it would cause

parallel fifths and octaves.

The Bicinium

A bicinium is a two-part chorale variation that consists of a florid, contrapuntal line and

an augmented chorale melody, or cantus firmus. Improvising a bicinium essentially

requires three types of techniques: augmentation, first-species counterpoint and

diminution. In the augmented cantus firmus section species counterpoint governs the

relationship between the melody and the accompaniment, which is embellished with

diminutions. A bicinium may open directly with the cantus firmus directly, as in standard

bicinia of the eighteenth century. More often, however, more elaborate bicinia start with a

Vorimitation section, in which a melodic fragment of the chorale melody serves as

thematic motto. The following example presents a bicinium by Johann Kirnberger on

“Ach, Gott von himmel sieh darein.” The first phrase of the melody uses the opening of the



%*

chorale and morphs into fourth-species counterpoint as soon as the cantus firmus enters:47

Figure 2.25. Bicinium by Kirnberger

The short Vorimitation starts in the “wrong key” on scale degree ^5 and the cantus firmus

enters in the “right key” on ^2. Vorimitation on the fourth below (or the fifth above) is

very common in short bicinia for a practical reason: the initial chorale can conveniently

enter on the tonic without need to establish the key and modulate back to the tonic.

Composers often expand the Vorimitatio to a ritornello that provides harmonic closure

with a cadence or a harmonic progression. A good example for this is the opening of the

second partita of J. S. Bach’s Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig BWV 768 , which also uses free, florid

presentation of the chorale melody.

The compound bicinium has two structural elements: the opening ritornello or

Vorimitation that is derived from the first chorale phrase, and a section with free

counterpoint against the chorale. The opening motto can be rounded up with a short

%( Kirnberger, The Art of Strict Musical Composition, Example 11.54.

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sequence and a cadence to constitute a ritornello. A harmonically closed ritornello itself has

two sections: the opening motto and a bridge of continuous faster pulses. It achieves

harmonic closure with a cadence, as opposed to a harmonically open ritornello, which

simply morphs into free-counterpoint to accompany the cantus firmus. Subsequent

ritornelli are transposed to the key of the last notes of the chorale phrases; these interludes

may vary in length and they might also introduce more distant tonal areas. The role of the

ritornello is twofold: introducing the key of the next entrance and breaking up the chorale.

The following examples illustrate different ritornelli as applied to Ach Gott vom Himmel

sieh darein:48

Figure 2.26. Kirnberger’s bicinium on “ Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh uns darein”

In the opening, Kirnberger uses the first phrase of the melody - transposed to the fifth

below - consisting of two eight-note Schleifer figures that are immediately converted to

free counterpoint, with elements of the cantus firmus returning as Schleifer motives

multiple times. In order to achieve more tonal definition, I have composed an expanded

version of Kirnberger’s opening that starts in the tonic and leads through the dominant

area.

%) Kirnberger, The Art of Strict Musical Composition, Example 11.54.

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Figure 2.27. Modified bicinium on Ach Gott vom Himmel

The opening phrase quotes the melody on the second scale degree, which ends on a

strong metric position: the downbeat of measure 3. At this point it turns into a Schleifer

figure, outlining a descending fourth-progression and briefly touching a dominant

section through measures 8-10. The primary purpose of the following harmonic

progression is to establish the tonic and provide a strong sense of pulse equating half

notes. The quarter notes in measures 7-9 line up with the odd beats of the 2/2 time

signature. These, together with the following eighth-note figures, are perceived as a

strong pulse reinforced by a descending fourth progression, which is broken off just

before the entrance of the cantus firmus on the weak beat of measure 10. This metric

structure emphasizes the upbeat quality of the first cantus firmus entrance.

A ritornello in a bicinium consists of the combination of its opening with the metric and

harmonic structure of the progression that follows. Printz’s Schematoid helps to

understand how to transform shorter chorale fragments into larger phrases followed by

simple intervallic progressions; improvising a Vorimitation in a bicinium is indeed an

inverted Schematoid process, which involves creating diminution figures from the

intervallic content of a fragmented chorale phrase. (I usually start improvising bicinia by

first imagining the bipartite phrase structure of the ritornello, then transforming the first

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chorale phrase into that rhythmic structure before starting to play.) During interludes,

there are many opportunities to explore distant keys and experiment with irregular cantus

firmus entrances.

In the following improvisations, I chose a similar tonal design (dispositio): the opening

always starts on ^5 and then modulates to the cantus firmus entrance on ^2. The

Vorimitation in Example A reaches tonal closure with the V-I cadence in measure 4 that

accents the next bar where the chorale entrance is perceived like an unaccented passing

tone between ^1 and ^3:

Figure 2.28. Example A

In Example B, the ritornello uses an extended harmonic progression to establish the tonic.

The chorale entrance in measure 8 on ^2 sounds quite dissonant after such a final

cadence, and the energy is difficult to maintain after the descending scale:

Figure 2.28. Example B

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In Examples C and D, the ritornelli start in the “right key” on ^2 and modulate to ^5:

Figure 2.29. Example C

In Example D, the chorale entrance (in the lower voice) is part of the cadence V-I, and it

confirms the tonic with ^3 on the downbeat of measure 5. This preserves the momentum

of the opening by using the pickup of the chorale as part of the cadence:

Figure 2.30. Example D

For Example E, similar to Example C, I have used the same harmonic progression as

before to extend the ritornello and cadence on the downbeat of measure 8:

Figure 2.31. Example D

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In the second movement of his partita on Herr Jesu Christ, Böhm uses a simple,

embellished descending scale as ritornello:

Figure 2.32. Example E

Böhm does not quote the chorale melody in the ritornello; instead he uses a pattern that

supports the ascending triad of the chorale, a “Do-Mi-So” schema. The neighbor motion

constitutes an effective and extremely economical decoratio to connect the structural notes

of the first-species counterpoint. Elaboratio here consists of a two-voice, first-species

counterpoint, where one voice constitutes the chorale and the other is embellished with

figures. At the end of the chorale phrase the ritornello is transposed to the last note of the

chorale melody on ^5.

Figure 2.33. 2-part elaboratio framework of Böhm’s Herr Jesu Christ

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In summary, improvised bicinia are dispositio-level structures, starting with an imitation

of the first chorale phrase followed by a two-part contrapuntal section where the chorale

melody, with its associated intervallic patterns, acts as a two-part elaboratio framework. In

the cantus firmus section, decoratio figures such as Schleifer, Doppelschlag and Schneller are

applied to adorn the two-voiced elaboratio structure. Also, voices can be flipped easily; one

can put the chorale in the soprano as well as in the bass. This form has enormous

potential for improvisational learning, as it yields to experimentation with phrase

structure, form, imitation, invertible counterpoint and modulations.

Figurations and Cantus Firmi in Inner Voices

Chorale improvisations often require harmonizing the melody in any voice. This tradition

stems from sixteenth-century hymn settings that set the melody in the tenor voice.49

Also, in the seventeenth century, most keyboard music was transmitted on handwritten

copies using the so-called New German Tabulature, a script notation without staves,

noteheads or key signatures. In the New German Tabulature, pitches were designated by

letter names written in script, durations by flags, and octave displacement by octave lines

drawn above the letters. Organists compiled their repertoire by hand-copying

tabulatures, where specific textural clarity was secondary. In contrast, however, in his

Tabulatura Nova Samuel Scheidt used regular staff notation. This indicates the author’s

keen interest in registral specificity. Although registration choices are rarely specified,

most chorale variations in the Tabulatura Nova are associated with specific organ stopselections. In its new edition, Harald Vogel provides two individual versions for each of

several movements, using alternative registration choices for each. For instance, in one

%* The first hymnal that set the chorale melody in the soprano was Lucas Osiander's

Fuenfzig geistliche Lieder und Psalmen published in 1586.



&'

the chorale can be played on either the Cornet 2’ in the pedal or with the right hand. 50

Scheidt often placed the cantus firmus in a variety of inner voices, and often in the pedal,

leaving the hands free to play florid diminutions. Improvising inverted voicing is a crucial

technique in seventeenth-century organ improvisations, which inverts the role of the

pedal from thoroughbass to soprano and the role of the left hand from inner voices to a

florid bass line. In such improvisations kinetic habits are challenged with the inverted

hands-feet setup, and the organist develops highly flexible contrapuntal skills. It is

particularly stimulating when placing the cantus firmus in the pedal with the Cornet 2’

stop in soprano, Clarin 4’ in alto and the Trompet 8’ in tenor voicings. Invertible voice-

leading can also lead to the discovery of new harmonizations and voice-leading patterns;

the organist can highlight the melody in the bass, or in any of the inner voices. These

registrally flexible voicings largely went out of fashion by the mid-eighteenth century

Germany, and only survived in the Netherlands and North Germany partly because of the

disposition of the Noth-German organs.

Chorale preludes with the melody in the tenor and bass were typical to the seventeenth

century, but theorists sporadically describe this technique in the eighteenth century.

Johann Kirnberger writes: “the main melodic line or cantus firmus can be placed in any

voice when writing for more voices; however, when it is placed in the bass, one must be

careful that it conclude with cadences that belong to the main key.”51 The sonic

parameters of registration and voicings on the organ are interconnected and are almost

inseparable from each other. Solo register choices strongly determine the voicing of the

chords: a Krummhorn 8’ sounds usually the best in the tenor range, whereas a Sesquialtera

is mostly used for solos in the soprano or alto voice. In the figure below, I present five

&+ The Cornet 2’ stop, a small trumpet typical of North German and Dutch organs is

designed specifically for chorale playing. &" Kirnberger, The Art of Strict Composition, 198.



&(

examples based on a single harmonization of the first line of Freu dich sehr, where I placed

the chorale in soprano, alto, tenor and bass and then again in the soprano, played on the

2’ Cornet in the pedal (Rp: Rückpositiv, Ow: Oberwerk).

Figure 2.34. Melody in the soprano

Figure 2.35. Melody in Alto

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large chapter on chorale harmonizations -- in his Die Kunst der Reinen Satzes in der Musik.

He stressed the importance of the study of chorales, where he clearly distinguished a

structural voice-leading skeleton from surface level ornaments in free compositions, such

as arias:

Every aria is basically nothing more than a chorale composed according to the most

correct declamation, in which each syllable of the text has one note, which is more or

less embellished according to the demands of expression. The true basis of beauty in

an aria always depends on the simple melody that is left when all its decorative notes

are eliminated. If this simple melody is incorrect in terms of declamation, progression,

or harmony, mistakes cannot be hidden by embellishment.52

In sharp contrast to the seventeenth century, Kirnberger views a chorale’s underlying

elaboratio as a two-voiced structure for the bass and soprano. He should first compose an

elaboratio that is musically satisfying in its own right, embellished with decoratio patterns.

His reduction of two arias demonstrates these two levels.53 The opening two phrases of

an aria from Tamerlano, by Carl Heinrich Graun, embellish a “Do-Re-Mi” schema with

neighbor-tone motions and using suspensions and a single chordal leap in measure 7.

&# Kirnberger, The Art of Strict Musical Composition, 235.&$ Such reductive analyses were quite rare in the eighteenth century. Spiridion’s cadentiae

are inverted reductions; however, Johann David Heinichen provides voice-leading

reductions in his Generalbass in der Composition [1728].



'+

Figure 2.40. Kirnberger’s reduction of Tamerlano

The opening of the second aria, “Silla”, has a similar melodic shape with Schneller figures.

Figure 2.41. Kirnberger’s two-level reduction of an aria from Graun’s Silla to decoratio

structures (a, b) based on its elaboratio framework (c)

In one of his examples, Kirnberger provides a five-part harmonization of Ach Gott vom

Himmel where the melody is in the alto voice. The descending “Mi-Re-Do” in the

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melody, in m. 2, is harmonized with contrary motion in the bass and the repeated ^5 in

mm. 2-3 is harmonized with a chromatic neighbor in the bass. This reflects the aesthetic

of J. S. Bach, following strict voice-leading principles:

Figure 2.42. Kirnberger’s harmonization of Ach vom Himmel sieh darein

Kirnberger provides 26 different bass lines for Ach Gott und Herr, wie gross und schwer to

demonstrate these lines’ potential to highlight the meaning of the text and connect or

disrupt phrases with harmonic rhythm. In figure 2.43 I have listed #’s 18-26. Putnam

Aldrich discussed the ways that Kirnberger uses harmony to both articulate or avoid

articulation of melodic phrases and phrase divisions.54

&% Putnam Aldrich: “Rhythmic Harmony as Taught by Johann Philipp Kirnberger,” in

Studies in Eighteenth-Century Music: A Tribute to Karl Geiringer on His Seventieth Birthday,

ed. H. C. Robbins Landon (New York: Oxford University Press, 1970), 37–52.



'#

Figure 2.43. Kirnberger’s harmonizations of Ach vom Himmel



'$

In harmonizations 20 and 26, Kirnberger uses secondary dominants to emphasize certain

words (such as “ gross”) and to connect ending phrases with the first notes of the next

phrase. Putnam writes: “[a] dissonant chord totally negates the feeling of a phrase

division (even though the melody here has all the characteristics of a cadence) and makes

further progression even more necessary.”55 For the same reason, connecting words such

as und are also harmonized with more dissonant harmonies. An experienced eighteenth-

century organist would have selected a Zwischenspiele to separate or a secondary dominant

to connect chorale phrases in improvised congregational accompaniments, and would

have followed the meaning of the words. Kirnberger’s examples provide various schemata

for accompanying chorales.

In addition to his bicinium, Kirnberger provides examples of three- and four-voice

structures on Ach von Himmel sieh uns darein. His trio on the same chorale, like his

bicinium, opens with a Vorimitation section followed by the cantus firmus entrance in the

middle voice. The opening is a two-voice invertible counterpoint followed by a

modulation to the subdominant and the dominant with salti composti figures:

&& Aldrich, Rhythmic Harmony as Taught by Johann Philipp Kirnberger, 32.



'%

Figure 2.44. Kirnberger’s trio on Ach vom Himmel

Doppelschlag figures are particularly idiomatic in parallel thirds and sixths such as in

measures 6 and 7. In the following four-part setting of Es ist das Heil Kirnberger uses

similar figures to fill third leaps in all voices.



'&

Figure 2.45. Kirnberger’s quartet on Ach vom Himmel



''

The extensive eight-note patterns that connect third leaps most certainly have a

pedagogical intent. Students in composition recognized the easiest places to ornament

and started with the most idiomatic and convenient patterns to do so.

Chapter III: Model-based Improvisations

The function of memorized elements in improvisation is best illustrated with model

compositions. As I showed earlier, the interaction between decoratio and elaboratio is the

most generative level for improvisation. In the following model compositions, decoratio

and dispositio are closely modeled on repertoire so that we can learn from the way past

improvisatory masters have handled certain problems. Great repertoire shows great

solutions for different problems: for example in the opening chorus of the cantata Nun

komm der heiden Heiland, BWV 61, Bach applies French decoratio patterns to a chorale

setting, which is a challenging compositional task. In the following sample

improvisations I will use decoratio and dispositio material from two of Bach’s compositions

and alter them to fit a different chorale melody. I will first analyze the two pieces focusingon their decoratio patterns, and then I apply these patterns to the melodies of Freu dich sehr

and Aus tiefer Not .

One of the best examples of omnes versus 56 chorale preludes is J. S. Bach’s O Lamm Gottes

Unschuldig, BWV 656, which effectively merges two genres: seventeenth-century cantus

firmus and figurative chorale variations. Throughout the piece, the figurations are applied

to all voices equally, while preserving the chorale melody largely unadorned. Nikolaus

Decius’ three-versed chorale “O Lamb of God Pure and Holy” is a substitute for the Agnus

56 Term usually applied to cantatas: each verse corresponds to a movement, in this case to

a variation.



'(

Dei in the Lutheran Ordinary Mass, which, by the eighteenth century became an accepted

Lenten Hymn.57 Theological allegories are present throughout Bach’s setting. For

example, he has set the melody in three verses, with one variation for each voice in

descending order: soprano, alto and bass. This registral descent reflects the centrality of

incarnation and suffering in Lutheran doctrine as represented Decius’ text: Jesus paid the

price for human sin by his redemption through suffering on the cross. The piece has

many direct Trinitarian representations: the opening major triad on “Lamb of God” has

long been associated with the Trinity, the first and second verses have three voices and

the piece is in a three-sharp key signature, also symbolizing the Trinity and the cross.

Decius uses the same words for the all three verses.58

The form of BWV 656 is quite simple: it consists of three sections, two three-voiced,

manualiter settings and a four-voiced pedaliter setting. The first verse uses scalar motions,

the second cross motives, and the third is a beautiful wave-shaped melody in triple meter

rounded with a double-metered coda. This dispositio provides a gradual increase of

intensity in volume (assuming the organist adds stops for each verse), in texture (the

addition of the pedal for the last verse), and rhythm (tripled motions and fast

diminutions in the coda). BWV 656’s decoratio complements its dispositio. Bach uses

perfect patterns: the scalar motions in the first verse are consonant and soothing, the

cross motives of the second verse provide rhythmic and harmonic tension between the

melody and the two voices; and finally the opening motive of the third verse evokes

soothing and comforting feelings.

57 Anne Leahy, J. S. Bach’s Leipzig Chorale Preludes, ed. Robin A. Leaver, (Lantham, Md.:

The Scarecrow Press, 2011), 95. 58 Lutheran Service Book (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2006).



')

The first variation opens with the ornamented versions of the chorale accompanied by

Schleifer and Doppelschlag figures in the alto line. These are very flexible patterns that

ensure the variations’ strong imitative character. Bach accents this entrance with a subtle

voice exchange typical for keyboard writing of the period: he allows a “false” entrance for

the CF, then drops the extra accompanying voice in measure 11. Measure 10 is the most

dense measure texturally in this verse, which prepares the climax of the cantus firmus

entrance:

Figure 3.1. Cantus firmus entrance in the top voice

Bach uses figuration for textural contrast between phrases of the chorale. Below is a a

long Schleifer passage in unison that marks the formal division between the chorale’s

Stollen and Abgesang sections:

Figure 3.2. Formal articulation with texture

In the second variation, the chorale descends to the alto voice, accompanied with the cross

motive: a joined chordal skip with a neighbor tone, similar to Printz’s salti composti:



'*

Figure 3.3. Figures in the second variation

Bach’s equal distribution of passagework is an organic development of melodic

embellishments of Böhm-type variations. Improvising such decoratio figures requires

memorizing various augmented harmonizations of the chorale that can be embellished

with passagework in any voice. The last variation is marked by the entrance of the pedal,

and a shift from double to triple meter. The opening motive mimics the ascending and

descending shape of the chorale melody, followed by a coda that recycles scalar motions

of the first verse.

BWV 656 may provide dispositio and decoratio patterns for improvisation. An improviser

can use its formal structure and decoratio patterns or any combination of those. In the

following example, I have kept Bach’s decoratio and applied to the melody of Freu dich sehr

in three variations following the dispositio of BWV 656. The first variation uses scalar

patterns, while the second uses the cross motive and a wave-shaped melody, stolen from

Bach. The main difficulty was to apply Bach’s decoratio to the elaboratio framework of Freu

Dich Sehr. First, I had to use a rhythmic variant of the chorale to fit the 3/2 time signature

of Bach’s dispositio:

Figure 3.4. Original melody by Louis Bourgeois



(+

Figure 3.5. Version by Pachelbel

In verse I, I had to alter the descending Schleifer motive of BWV 656 in order to line it up

with the chorale. The main decoratio pattern of the first verse is:

Figure 3.6. Main decoratio pattern in variation I.

The length of decoratio patterns varies according to their metric position in relation to the

chorale melody. Similarly to Dutch cantus coloratus techniques, an improviser needs to be

flexible enough to apply learned patterns to a recognized schema. In our case this also

means distributing figurations equally between the inner voices. On beat three in m. 1,

for example, the scalar figure lands on the F# harmonizing with the bass, as suggested by

the “Do-Re-Mi” schemata. However, on beat two of m. 2 there is no time to conclude

the figure in a similar direction, which would have created parallel fifths between the

soprano and bass. To keep the rhythmic flow constant, the eighth-note motion has to

continue with Schneller figures in the alto voice. Technical considerations influence

certain passages: for example in measure 3 the alto voice’s comfortable upward Schleifer

in a single hand position. Also, in measure 4, the descending alto line is comfortable to

play in one hand position.



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Figure 3.7. Schleifer decoratio of BWV 656 as applied to Freu dich sehr

Verse 2 contains more technically demanding passages. The chorale in the middle voice

blocks out an important portion of the keyboard that is difficult to cross with figuration.

The bass and the soprano lines have a limited range, while the thumb has to play the

chorale melody. In a different dispositio, the chorale melody could be played on an Octave

4’ or Cornet 2’ in the pedal, solving these textural problems.



(#

Figure 3.8. Salti composti decoratio of BWV 656 as applied to Freu dich sehr

Technical convenience is hugely important in determining the choice of improvised

patterns. Some patterns, especially the intricate voice leading of BWV 656, are simply too

difficult to improvise. Therefore, an improviser would attempt to evoke the essence of

the piece using simplified decoratio patterns, altering them according to the demands of

the chorale melody and his or her technical limitations:



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Figure 3.9. Triplet decoratio of BWV 656 as applied to Freu dich sehr

The descending decoratio pattern of Bach’s third verse is designed to harmonize with the

“Do-Re-Mi” schema of the bass line as transposed to scale degree ^3. In the

improvisational learning phase, an improviser would try out all the possibilities to fit this

pattern to other basses. Similar to opening notes of O Lamm gottes, the melody of Freu

dich sehr opens with a “Do-Re-Mi” schema (not counting the pickup). The improviser

would only need to recognize that pattern and transpose its decoratio down a third:



(%

Figure 3.10. Two transpositions of the triplet decoratio pattern

The second phrase segment of Freu dich sehr requires a slightly different motivic

treatment, introducing the C# over the cadential descent to ^5.

Figure 3.11. Cadential decoratio patterns

Figure 3.12. Less dissonant cadential pattern

Figure 3.13. Two-voiced cadential pattern



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In the imitatio phase, an improviser would become familiar with the inherent possibilities

of any particular decoratio pattern, practice it with different harmonic progressions and

would apply it to any given elaboratio in improvised actio. The result is an amalgam of

memorized and improvised elements that draws on elements stored subconsciously in

long-term memory.

Applicatio: Improvised French Ouverture on Aus tiefer Not

In the opening movements of BWV 61 Bach integrates the Advent chorale Nun komm der

heiden Heiland in two contrasting ways. First, the chorale is sung by the choir in unison,

in a hybrid cantus firmus and chordal treatment, while the orchestra is assigned to

ritornelli in a characteristic French Overture form with dotted rhythms and runs. The

writing clearly focuses on the challenge of combining the fixed French ouverture form

with an innovative cantus firmus treatment. The majestic opening evokes a festive

occasion, the first Sunday of the church year and the processional interpretation of the

words “Now come, Savior of the Gentiles.” The augmented melody is first quoted in bass

of the orchestra, then sung by all four voices in turn, first in unison, then in harmony.

The faster fugal section is a transformation of the second line of the chorale into triple

meter:

Figure 3.14. BWV 61’s middle section derived from the chorale



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The contrast between the free, imitative writing for the choir and the strict canon in the

orchestra can be interpreted as the Lutheran distinction between Law and Gospel, the

first being the commandments, the second our salvation through Christ’s sacrifice.

The original melody of Aus tiefer Not is in the Phrygian mode, as defined by the cadential

descent with flat ^2 at the end of the second phrase. I have used the original version, even

though many eighteenth-century composers often normalized it to a minor mode:

Figure 3.15. Phrygian and minor versions of Aus tiefer Not

The French character of BWV 61 largely owes to the dotted rhythms and scalar

ornamentation that are clearly presented in the opening ritornello. This ritornello is a

veritable mini-prelude: it constitutes a phrase model of T-PD-D-T that establishes the

tonic and it incorporates the melody of Nun komm den heiden Heiland in the bass:

Figure 3.16. Opening phrase of BWV 61

In the imitatio phase, an improviser needs to personalize the material borrowed from

repertoire. I have altered Bach’s ritornello with various bass lines to substitute for the

chorale quotation:



((

Figure 3.17. Opening phrase of BWV 61 with alternative bass line

In addition to this harmonization, there are many other harmonic solutions, such as

harmonizing the melody in b minor (first bass line of the example below). It is also

remarkably easy to modulate to the relative major by transposing the second half of the

phrase up a third:

Figure 3.18. Opening phrase of BWV 61 with two modulating bass lines

Different bass lines helped me to understand the structural and harmonic potential

inherent in Bach’s material. This learning phase was essential for me to have the

structural understanding to feel comfortable adapting decoratio and elaboratio to a

different chorale melody. The following example shows the dispositio of the opening two

phrases of my improvisation on Aus tiefer Not:



(*

Figure 3.21. Melody in the bass

Such details of structure are often decided during the improvised actio, even though these

choices more immediately influence the elaboratio of the material and have implications

on the dispositio as well. As we have seen in these two applicatio examples, improvised

dispositiones are flexible schemes that can accept many different versions, forms of

elaboratio and decoratio. Voicing the cantus firmus in the soprano or the bass has major

implications on the form, as well as on the harmonic structure of any dispositio: theselevels are intricately interconnected.

The rest of the improvisation works according to similar patterns: the chorale melody is

harmonized either in the soprano, the pedal, or an inner voice (as in the third phrase, for

example) and the ritornelli are transposed to the cadential notes of each phrase, bridging

the gaps between them. At the end, I have used a longer cadential formula on a pedal

note, similar to a cadenza by Spiridione with a different decoratio patterns.

Conclusion

In recent years many musicians have become increasingly interested in historical

improvisation techniques, in part because of increased interest in historically informed

performance practice. But equally important, Baroque improvisational skills offer us a

historical understanding of music theory, which is absent from much music theory

education today. I believe that historical improvisation bridges the gap between the two

extremes of classical music education: music theory curriculum, which can be overly



)+

analytical and removed from real music-making, and, at the other extreme, performance

education, which can emphasize technical athleticism at the expense of musical

understanding. Improvisation necessarily involves the simultaneous use of music theory

principles and performance techniques. Beside the pursuit of improvisation as an end in

itself, there are benefits of improvisation that are immediately practical to today’s

performer: ornamentation, for example, is a crucial expressive element to master for

repertoire of the eighteenth century. Even with limited training in the partimento

tradition, a keyboard player, for instance, would be able to better distinguish structural

notes from embellishments and learn to fluently invent personal ornaments and stylistic

alterations in any repertoire. Robert Levin is one great example of this type of

performer/composer.

I believe that any organist can and should learn chorale-based improvisations and it

should be integrated in every major musical institution’s theory curriculum. I can think of

no better way to connect theoretical understanding deeply, on a physical level, with a

player’s relationship to his instrument and practical music-making. One might say that

improvisation is not an academic subject; I argue that it needs to become one. Many

contemporary composers still compose at their instrument, and improvisation was the

trigger that made composers of many performers. Improvisation tightens the tactile and

sonic relationship between the performer and the instrument, a relationship which has

limitless potential for engendering new musical ideas.

Historical improvisation also connects our creative process with our Western musical

heritage, as music history connects performance practice with its history. What better

way to interact with the music of improvisatory masters such as Bach than by practicing

the discipline in which they were saturated? Improvisation is also highly relevant to

modern life, musical and otherwise - improvised communication is part of our everyday



)"

life, and it is the defining characteristic of Jazz. Introducing improvisation to the classical

music curriculum for historical styles will make these styles more approachable, flexible

and alive. European schools have long excelled in the teaching of improvisation. The

organ department of Paris Conservatory, for example, focused on improvisation for much

of the nineteenth century. The Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, McGill University and the

Eastman School of Music have been distinguished by excellent instruction of historically

informed performance and improvisation practices. I believe that every student should be

given the opportunity to interact with theory and their instrument, learning from this

dynamic, inspiring, and challenging element of our musical heritage. Improvisation

cements the bond between performer and instrument, just as it did for Bach, and in so

doing, the art of improvisation cements our musical bonds with the masters that came

before us.

Bibliography:

Aldrich, Putnam. “Rhythmic Harmony as Taught by Johann Philipp Kirnberger,” in

Studies in Eighteenth-Century Music: A Tribute to Karl Geiringer on His Seventieth

Birthday,” 37–52. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970.

Callahan, Michael. “Techniques of Keyboard Improvisation in the German Baroque, and

Their Implications for Today’s Pedagogy.” PhD diss., University of Rochester.

2010.

Christensen, Jesper. Grundlagen des Generalbaßspiels im 18. Jahrhundert. Kassel:

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Schemata and Rhetoric Improvising the Chorale

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