Rythmic Patterns of the Baroque —Part I

Author(s): Walter Schenkman

Source: Bach, Vol. 5, No. 3 (JULY, 1974), pp. 21-28
Published by: Riemenschneider Bach Institute
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 Patterns of the - Part I
Rythmic Baroque
By Walter Schenkman
Greeley, Colorado

are certainrhythmic patternsin Baroquemusicthatstandout

THERE prominently by virtue of theirconstantreappearancein a widerange
of literatureof most diverse character. Upon closerexamination, these
patterns seemto be basic to the whole of
concept Baroquerhythmic struc-
ture. Theymaybe observedas readilyin the worksof the seventeenth-
century as in thoseof theeighteenth-century
Italian,Frescobaldi, German,
Bach. They may be seen in operationin the keyboardsonatasor the
concertiof a Scarlattior a Vivaldi,activein thesouthof Europe,as fre-
quentlyas in theoperas,oratorios, or organworksof a Purcell,a Schütz,
or a Buxtehude, workingin theNorth.Thesesamerhythmic figuresmay
as likelyappear in the variousdance movementsof a suite as in a
preludeor a fugue;or theymayas frequently occurin the settingof a
choraletuneas in a movement of a Mass or a cantata.

Consideringthe obviousnessand the ubiquityof the patterns, it is

surprisingthatwriterson the subjectof Baroque music and theoristsin
have not,long ago, attempted
particular, systematicanalysesand classifi-
cationsof thesevariousstructures. More oftenthan not,however,the
wholesubjectofBaroquerhythmic organizationseemsto havebeentreated
in termsof broadgeneralities ratherthanin termsof specifics:writers
expoundat lengthon the "motoricquality"or the "drivingforce"of
Baroquerhythms, but,perhapsbecauseof the veryobviousnessof these
patterns,theyfeelit evento mentiontheexistenceof specific
superfluous
figures.It seems valid,nonetheless,to assumethatthe isolationof cer-
tainof thesepatternsforthepurposeof examiningand classifying their
specific within
functions the phraseshould providevaluableinsights into
the natureof Baroquemusicnot onlyforthe performing musician,but
also fortheseriousstudentof musicalstyle.It is withthisassumption in
mindthatthepresentwriterhas setdownthefollowingobservations and
ideas.
In the case of the performer,recognitionof thesevariousrhythmic
shapesand the subsequentappreciation shouldprove
of theirfunctions
everybitas usefuland,perhapsevenmoreimportant, than therecognition
of tonicand dominantharmonies.As Paul HenryLang has commented,
the countingof measuresand the enumeration of modulationsin music
of thiskindare meaningless.1 On theotherhand,thepossibility of refer-
ringto a particular patternin a familiarcontextmaywell reinforceone's
convictionswithregardto its performance in anothercontext.Justas a

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graspof themelodicand rhythmic character
of a particular
fugaisubject
is a prerequisite
for the properperformance of a given fugue,so the
awarenessof thesebasic underlying rhythmicmotivescould serveas a
for
key entry intothewhole realm of Baroquemusic in additionto offer-
solutions
ingpractical forits intelligent
performance.
A musicalexamplemayserveto illustrate thispoint. Let us suppose
thatone examinesthe openingrhythmic shape of the subjectof the C
MinorFuguefromBach'sWell-Tempered Clavier,Book I, arriving at cer-
taindefiniteconclusions regardinga suitablephrasing and articulationfor
it ( see Example1 at thecloseof thisarticle); and that one nextturns to
the openingof thePreludein B-flatMinorfromthe sameBach volume
and notesprecisely thesamepatternin operation(possiblyobscuredfrom
immediaterecognition, in thisinstance,by the thicksupporting chordal
see
textures; Example2). Even though one may decide on a quite dif-
ferentphrasingin thecase of thesecondexample(becauseof considera-
tionsof tempo,texture, and intervallicrelations),stillan awarenessof the
relationshipto thefirstexamplemaywellresultin a clearerarticulation of
therhythmic proportions involvedthanwouldotherwise be thecase.
For thetheorist,
rhythmic analysisof thetypejustdescribed mayex-
tendbeyondthescopeofrhythm aloneandserveto elucidatecertainaspects
of melodicconstruction as well. A detailedcomparison of thetwo above
mentioned examples illustrates
this point.In both casestheanapaestgroup-
ings (/I Is) are decorativein nature:in the firstinstancetheycenter
aroundthe mordentfigureon C; in the second,theyeffectan upward
slideof threetones.But thetruemelodicsenseof thephraseis to be seen
etchedintothefinaleighth-note of eachpatternwhichfallson thestrong
firstand thirdbeatsof each measure.In bothexamples,themelodicline
unfoldswithinthesamerangeof a fourth, descending fromthe sixthde-
greein thefirstexampleand ascendingto thesixthdegreein thesecond.
These relationships
will receivefurther elaborationduringthe courseof
thispaper. (See Examples3a and 3b.)
The C-MinorFugue subjectmayalso servetheperformer as a valu-
in assessing
ableyardstick othersimilarly
constructed motives.Forinstance,
one mightconsiderthissubjectas a modeltrying to arriveat a satisfactory
executionof theopeningof a typicalScarlattisonata,suchas the Sonata
in C, KirkpatrickNo. 460. (See Example4.) In thiscase,repetition of
thesamebasicpatternshouldnotbe overlooked becauseof thedifferences
in notationor becauseof the factthatthe initialmeasurebeginson a
downbeat.Moreover, givena fairdegreeof similarity
of characterbetween
the two examples,a parallelphrasingand articulationshouldnot be out
of order.

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 But the comparisonof the Bach and Scarlattiexamplesalso raises
severalquestionsforthe studentinterested in mattersof style.As Curt
Sachshas pointedout in his book Rhythm and Tempo, mostRenaissance
composersfavored a downbeatbeginning, whileBaroquecomposers usually
preferredan upbeatopening.2 course,it would be rash to make a
Of
judgment on thebasisof twoexamplesalone,but shouldtheexamination
bodyofmaterial
ofa sufficient supporttheevidencethatourtwoexamples
arenotatypical(as I believeit doesin thecaseof single-voice
beginnings),
one could,then,statethat,in respectto rhythmic Scarlatti
organization,
was influencedby a conservative traditionthatretainedthe Renaissance
fordownbeatbeginnings.
predilection
The ramificationsof this judgmentwould almostcertainly lead to
further and
speculation questions: is therea directrelation
between this
Scarlattipatternand,forinstance, that of the openingbars of dementi's
popularteachingpiece,the"little"Sonatain C ? Is thereanysignificance
in the"compromise" solutionof a downbeat-plus-upbeat opening,suchas
is to be foundin Bach'sItalianConcerto ?

A systematic reviewof thesecommonBaroque patternsmay also

contribute of theirappropriation,
to a betterappreciation reinterpretation,
and (possiblydeliberate?)distortion
bycomposers closerto ourowntime,
suchas Bartokand Stravinsky.

Let us returnto a consideration of the C-minorFugue. Interestingly

this
enough, fugue is citedby Sachs in hisbookon Rhythm and Tempoto
illustratean anapaesticmeter"withtheadmixture of spondees"^j"J] J' J)
in a chapteron therhythms of Greeceand Rome!3 Sachsmakesno fur-
thermentionof thisparticular patternin his discussion of therhythms of
the Baroque. Nevertheless, the importance of the patternto Bach alone
(ignoringhis contemporaries and predecessors, forthe moment)cannot
be overemphasized. For instance, in the fugueunderdiscussion, the pat-
ternis repeatedthreetimesor one and one-halfmeasuresworthin a sub-
ject onlytwo measureslong. The subjectreappearseighttimesduring
the courseof the composition and,thus,accountsfortwenty- fourrepeti-
tions of the pattern.Episodes based on thematic material from thesubject
account for another twentyrepetitions. Finally,one of the counterpoints
to the subjectadds five further statements of this one singlerhythmic
motive. (The composition, which comprisesonly thirty-one measures,
couldaccommodate no more than a totalof sixty-two repetitionsat best!)

It mightbe arguedthatthe C MinorFuguepresentsan extremeex-

on a singlerhythmic
ampleof insistence principle.(So, then,wouldthe
B-flatMinorPreludequotedabove,or theA-flatMajorPrelude[also from

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WTC, /] withits slightly variedversionof the same figurewhichadds
two eighth-notes to fill out the 3/4 meter). But examination of other
fugues from the first book of the W ell-Tempered Clavierconfirms the
factthatthepattern a role
plays significant throughout Bach'scomposition
in thisgenre,evenwhennotexaggerated to thisdegree.For instance,in
the firstvolumeof the Well-TemperedClavierthereare sixteenfugues
( in additionto theC minor) in duplemeter, and,withthesole exception
of theD majorFuguein dottedFrench-Overture rhythm,theyall feature
thepreviously mentioned patternat one point or another.

Furthermore, in thesubjectsof nearlyhalf

thepatternis incorporated
of thesefugues:it appearstwicein theA-minorsubjectand once in the
C-sharpmajorsubjectin a mordent figuresimilarto thatof theC Minor
Fugue,wherea threefold has alreadybeen noted. It outlinesa
repetition
slide-figure similarto thatpreviously notedin the B-flatMinorPrelude
(see Example2) in boththe G-sharpminorand B majorsubjects.The
E-flatmajorsubjectcouldalso be includedin whatmightbe considered a
metrical"transposition" of thepattern,setone beatforward(see Example
5 ) . The leapswithinthesixteenth-note patternsof thisexampleare note-
worthy, since step-wise
progressions,as found in the mordentor slide-
figures noted above,seem to be byfarmore of
typical Bach'sstyle.
One mightquestiontheadmittance of thesubjectof Bach'sD-sharp
MinorFugue (WTC, Bk. I) as an authentic exampleof thepatternbe-
cause the anapaesticsub-division
of the quarterbeat is not clearlyset
apartfromthe precedingmaterial;but consideration of it in thislight
could be usefulin experimenting with variouspossiblearticulationsof
the subjectof thisD-sharpMinor Fugue. Bach's usage here mightbe
describedas a "displacement"of the pattern,with the initialanapaest
fallingon thestrong,rather
than theweakbeat. (See Example6.)

The patternis also introducedin areasotherthanthatof thesubject

in each of the sevenfuguespreviously mentioned, just as it was in the
C MinorFugue. Indeed,it is in theseareasof counterpoints and episodes
thatthefundamental importance of the figureas a constructivedeviceis
to be notedin connection withthosefugueswhosesubjectsshowno trace
of its influence.Examplesof thisphenomenon rangefromthecompara-
tivelyinsignificantrolewhich the in
figureplays theA-flatMajor Fugue
to itsveryvitalrolein theC-sharpminorand B-flatminorfugues.
In the A-flatMajor Fugue,the subjectis builtup of eighth-notes,
whilethemaincounter subjectcomprises runningsixteenths. The pattern
is introduced to add varietyto a chainof sequencesin eighth-note
motion
(as in thetwentieth measure)or to marka conclusion(as in -
thetwenty

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sixth). It is also used in a decorativefashionto introduce,
and thus
modify, the finalstatementof thesubject. (See Example7.)

Becauseof the broad rhythms of the main ideas of the fuguesin

B-flatminorand C-sharpminor,thepresenceof theanapaestfiguremight
easilyescapenotice.It is noteworthy,however, thatall episodicmaterials
in theFuguein B-flatMinorare basedon thissamebasicarrangement of
(an
rhythms examplemay be citedin therisingsequence idea constructed
in interlockingcounterpointwhichstartsin thesixthmeasure). It is also
interestingto notethatat leasttwoof thecounter subjectsof the C-sharp
MinorFuguefeaturethesamemotive. (See Examples8a and 8b.)

It is not at all unusualforthepatternto be founddividedbetween

twovoices. A representative exampleof thistypeof treatment is quoted
froman episodicsectionof the F-sharpMajor Fugue, whichfeaturesa
chainof sequences.Rhythmically,
characteristic the listenerclearlyhears
thepatterns of the two melodiclinesof the notationas one- the same
rhythmic patternas thatnotedin connectionwithour otherexamples.
(See Example9.)

Briefmentionshouldalso be madeof certainvariantsto be foundin

the dispositionof the anapaestgroupings.A patternof successiveana-
paests,whichreplacesthe"admixture of spondees,"is quitecommonand
playsan important rolein thefuguesin C-sharpmajor,F minor,G minor,
theG-sharpminor.Thispattern(fi J ' J*) is familiar fromtheG major
Brandenburg Concerto. Another pattern in G major, familiar fromthe
two-part Inventionin B flat, continuesthe subdivisionof the beatsup to
thepenultimate spondee(řJ5JT71 • Instancesof the use of this latter
patternmaybe citedin boththeB majorand B minorfugues.

An examination of thefuguesof thesecondbook of the Well-Tem-

pered Clavierdiscloses a similarpredilection forthissamerhythmic for-
mula. The treatment of thefigurein theopeningof the initialfuguein
C major raises an interesting point regardingornamentation. Wanda
Landowskaconsidersthethemea "glorification of themordent," withthe
firstmordentrealizedin mainnotesand thesecondindicatedby a sign.4
The questionarises,then,as to whether Bachhimself was uncompromising
in observingtherulethatthemordentmustalwaysbeginon the strong
beat. Close studyof the variousmelodicconfigurations foundin con-
nectionwith this rhythmic pattern and observation of the variousdis-
placements of the pattern itselflead one to suspect thatcomposersin
general (and Bach in particular) did not let blind adherenceto rules
hampertheirfreedom of choice in the search for variety.

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 The subjectof the C Major Fugue also illustratesa not uncommon
in
grouping pairs of notes of equal values,which a broadrhythmic
effects
and
expansion might be viewed as a telescopingof thepatternat one level
intoa similarpatternat another.The subjectitselfleavesthepatternin-
completebecauseof the ensuingsilenceat the beginningof the third
measure.Near theend of thisfugue,however, one mayobservea chain
of threeinterlocking,
completed figures neatlypiledone on topof another.
(See Example11.)
The subjectof thesecondfugue(in C minor) is interestingin that
whatmightbe termedan "inversion"
it illustrates of theoriginalpattern,
withthesubdivision in sixteenths on thesecond,ratherthanthe
occurring
first,weak beat. in
(See, Example12, how thesucceedingcounter-subject
features thepatternin itsoriginalform.)

thoughprobablynotemployed
This variant, as oftenas our firstpat-
ternduringBaroquetimes,does,nevertheless,
appearfrequently.The fugue
subjectof Handel'sOvertureto Messiahcomesto mindas a well-known
example.
to notethatthebroad-rhythmed
It is interesting fuguesof thesecond
volumeof the Well-Tempered Clavier
, like theircounterparts
of thefirst
volume,are frequently associatedwithanapaestic-spondaic patterns.The
subjectof theE-flatMajor Fugue (WTC, Bk. II) introduces thepattern
in a pair of descendingsequences.The counter-subjects of both the E
majorand B majorfuguesmakeuse of thepatternin a mannersimilar
to thatof the C-MinorFugue quotedin Example12. A finalexample
fromthe secondbook showsa fuguesubjectwhichrealizesa seriesof
statements of thepatternin conjunction withits counter
subject.As was
notedearlier, therealizationof a pattern through thecomplementary inter-
actionof twopartsis notat all unusual. (See Example13.)

Editor'sNote: The secondpartof Dr. Schenkman's

articlewill appearin
theOctober1974 issueof BACH.

Footnotes
1PaulHenry Lang, Musicin WesternCivilization
(NewYork:W. W. Norton&
Co.,Inc.,1941),p. 443.
2CurtSachs,Rhythm andTempo, a Study
in MusicHistory (NewYork:W. W.
Norton & Co.,Inc.,1953),p. 266.
3Sachs,op.cit.,p. 127.
4WandaLandowska, Landow skaon Music,ed. andtrans.
DeniseRestout(New
York:SteinandDay,1965),p. 195.

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 Examples

Ex. 1. J.S. BachFuguein C Minor, WTC, Bk.I, uppervoice,meas.1-3

Ex. 2. Bach,Preludein B-flatMinor, WTC,Bk.I, sopranovoice,meas.1-3.

Ex. 3a. Melodicshapecreated Ex. 3b. Melodicshapecreatedby

bytheinitialsubjectstate- thesopranolineof the
mentofFugueII, WTC, openingchorusofPrelude
Bk.I. XXII, WTC,Bk. I

Sonatain C, K. 460,meas.1-3
Ex. 4. DomenicoScarlatti,

Ex. 5. Bach,Fuguein E-flatMajor,WTC, Bk.I, meas.1-2

Ex. 6. Bach,Fuguein D-sharpMinor,WTC, Bk.I, meas.1-3

Ex. 7. Bach,Fuguein A-flatMajor,WTC, Bk.I, sopranovoice,meas.33

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Ex. 8a. Bach,Fuguein C-sharp Ex. 8b. Bach,C-sharpMinor
Minor,WTC, Bk.I, bass, Fugue,WTC, Bk.I,
meas.5-6 tenor,meas.51-52

Ex. 9. Bach,Fuguein F-sharpMajor,WTC,Bk.I, meas.18-19

Ex. 10. Bach,Fuguein C Major,Well-Tempered

Clavier,Bk. II, meas.1-4

Ex. 11. Bach,Fuguein C Major,WTC, Bk.II, meas.60-65

Ex. 12. Bach,Fuguein C Minor,WTC,Bk.II, meas.1-3

Ex. 13. Bach,Fuguein F-sharpMinor,WTC,Bk.II, meas.3-5

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