10 - Differentiations between the Two “Ordinary” DupleMeters in Johann Sebastian Bachs Music
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2022
Summary
In chapter 8 we saw how, in certain seventeenth-centuryrepertoire, [¢|] and [c|] were essentially the samemeters with the same tempo associations and the sameset of proportional meters (fig. 8.4). Thiscontradicted what was described over and over againin the treatises: ¢ was faster than c. In chapter 9we saw that textures written in stylus phantasticus were exceptions tothe seemingly rigid proportional system. Thischapter turns to the question of whether or not wecan find further deviations from figure 8.4, i.e.,whether we can actually find evidence of ¢ = fasterand c = slower in keyboard music. The focus of thisinquiry will be on the keyboard/organ music ofJohann Sebastian Bach. To that end, we will look atthe following three main points:
1. CONTINUATION OF [¢|]=[c|] IN NON-AUTOGRAPHCOPIES OF BACH’S MUSIC. A comparison of sources ofindividual Bach works shows that at least amongsome copyists, the c = ¢ practice continued in theeighteenth century. This seems to be substantiatedby peculiar sign variants of ¢ in a number ofsources, providing more evidence for c = ¢
2. EVIDENCE OF TEMPO DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN cAND ¢ IN NON-AUTOGRAPH COPIES OF BACH’S ORGANMUSIC. The story as related above is not complete,however. In a number of Bach's works, somecopyists did indeed seem to differentiate betweenc and ¢, using ¢ to indicate a faster tempo.
3. EVIDENCE OF AFFEKTAND TEMPO DIFFERENTIATION BETWEENc AND ¢ IN BACH’S OWN PRACTICE. An examination ofa number of autograph sources seems to suggestthat Bach himself separated out the “Kirnbergian”small allabrevemeter [¢|] from [¢|] and [c|], associating [¢|]with a more solemn Affekt. He also seems to have oftenconnected [¢|] with swift and light textures, atleast prior to ca. 1740. Thereafter, Bach appearsto have actively eliminated [¢|] from his scores,as seen in the revisions to the Leipzig Chorales,BWV 651–68 in the 1740s, the notational styles ofthe two versions of the Kunstder Fuge, BWV 1080 (P 200 and posthumousedition), and other works. This corresponds towhat Johann Philipp Kirnberger and others wouldlater teach about the small allabreve, i.e., that it must beconfined to eighth notes or slower.
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- Tempo and Tactus in the German BaroqueTreatises, Scores, and the Performance of OrganMusic, pp. 313 - 333Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2021