ADDITIONAL ACCOMPANIMENTS ADDITIONAL ACCOMPANIMENTS
music if played only with strings and oboes,
or sometimes with strings alone, would sound
so thin as to he distasteful. Hence no reason-
able objection can be made to the filling up of
the harmony, if it be done with taste and
contain nothing inconsistent with tlie spirit of
the original.
9. There yet I'emains to notice one of the most
interesting points connected with our present
subject. It not seldom happens that in
additional accompaniments new matter is intro-
duced for which no warrant can be found in
the original. Sometimes the composer's idea
is modiiied, sometimes it is added to. Mozart's
scores of Handel are full of examples of this
kind ; on the other hand Franz, the most
conscientious of arrangers, seldom allows him-
self the least liberty in this respect. It is
impossible to lay down any absolute rule in
this matter the only test is success.
: Few
people, for instance, would object to the
wonderfully beautiful wind parts which Mozart
has added to ' The people that walked in dark-
ness,' though it must be admitted that they
ai'e by no means Handelian in character.
is, so to speak, Mozart's gloss or commentary on
Handel's music and one can almost fancy
; 10. It has been said abeady that additional
that could Handel himself have heard it he
would have pardoned the liberty taken with
his music for the sake of the charming effect
of the additions. So again with the trumpets
and drums which Mozart has introduced in the
song Why do the nations.' No doubt Handel
' to the end of time.
could have used them had he been so disposed
but it was not the custom of his age to employ
them in the accompaniments to songs, and here
again the excellence of the eifect is its justifica-
tion. On the same ground may be defended
the giving of Handel's violin part to a flute in
the air How beautiful are the feet, though it
'
'
is equally impossible to approve of the change
Mozart has made in the air and chorus The
trumpet's loud clangour in the ' Ode to St. ' ments for trombones and a conductor has even
Cecilia's Day,' in which he has given a great
portion of the important trumpet part (which
is imperatively called for by the words) to the
flute and oboe in unison The passages above
!
referred to from the Messiah are so well
'
'
known as to render quotation superfluous but
two less familiar examples of happily introduced
additional matter from the Ode to St. Cecilia's
' ever to tamper with the original text, either
Day ' will be interesting. In the first of these,
Vpl. 1, 2.
47
from the song Sharp violins proclaim, it will be
'
'
seen that Handel has written merely violins and
basses. The dissonances which Mozart has
added in the viola part, are of the most excel-
lent effect, well suited, moreover, to the character
of the song which treats of jealous pangs and '
desperation.' Our last extract will be from the
song 'What passion cannot music raise and
quell ?
' in which Mozart has added pizzicato
chords for the strings above the obbligato part
for the violoncello.
Viol. 1, 2.
It
accompaniments must in all cases be judged upon
their own merits. The question is not whether
but how they should be written. Their
necessity in many cases has been shown above ;
and they will probably continue to be written
While, however, it is im-
;
possible to lay down any absolute law as to what
may and what may not be done in this respect,
there are two general principles which may be
given as the conclusion of the whole matter.
First, that all additions to a score merely for
the sake of increasing the noise are absolutely
indefensible. At many operatic performances,
Mozart's Don Giovanni and Figaro were for-
' '
' '
' merly given with copious additional accompani-
;
been known to reinforce the score of Weber's
overture to Euryanthe, which already contains
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'
the full complement of brass, with two cornets
and an ophicleide. All such procedures are
utterly inartistic, and cannot be too strongly
;
condemned. And lastly, no one who writes
additional accompaniments has any right what-
by adding, cutting out, or largely modifying
passages. By all means let such additions be
made as are needed to adapt the music to our
modem requirements, but let the changes be
such as to bring out more clearly, not to
obscure or alter the thought of the composer.
These additions, moreover, should be in unison
with the spirit, as well as the letter of the
original. To hear, as is sometimes to be heard,
Handel's music scored after the fashion of
Verdi's grand operas shows an equal want of
artistic feeling and of common sense on the