Musical Borrowings in the English Baroque

Author(s): Franklin B. Zimmerman

Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 4 (Oct., 1966), pp. 483-495
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/741115
Accessed: 08-03-2015 04:09 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Musical Quarterly.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 MUSICAL BORROWINGS
IN THE ENGLISH BAROQUE
By FRANKLIN B. ZIMMERMAN

Writingon the subject of estheticborrowing in his own day, the

17th-century London journalist PeterAnthonyMotteux was prompted
to quote Bartoli's statementthat "the commonwealthof Learning is
full of robbers: and that Mercury, the deityof Arts and Sciences, is
with much reason esteem'd the God of thieves."' His premiseseems
well taken. In 17th-century English music alone, to single out just one
of the arts withinMotteux's purview,thenumberof known borrowings
is sufficient
to justifythisgenerallyapt, ifcynical proposition. To these
may be added a few interestingnew examples, which,though they do
not furnishenough evidence for a comprehensivetreatment of the sub-
ject,do shed lighton some aspectsof it.
A centuryearlier the sharing of melodicand other kinds of musical
ideas by two or more composers would have occasioned littlecom-
ment.In the 16th century,as earlierin the Renaissance, various kinds
of borrowinghad played an importantpart in the art of musical com-
position. Cantus-firmustreatments,paraphrase, contrafactuin,quod-
libet,variation forms,and especially parody all were based upon the
notion that to work from an earlier model was not only permissible,
but commendable. Indeed, all these techniques continued to be used
during the Baroque.2 If anything,theiruse was expanded, what with
'Gentleman 's Journal, Feb. 1963, p. 39, fromBartoli's Huomo di Lettere.
2For example, cantus firmusis to be foundthroughoutthe centuryin the In nomine tradition
(ending only with Purcell's masterfulworks for six and seven voices respectively);paraphrase
was the technique used by Morley in his Canzonets for 2 Voices of 1595 (after Anerio); a splen-
did contrafactum is to be found in Thomas Tomkins's Musica Deo Sacra of 1668, where an

483

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
484 The Musical Quarterly

the increase of general musical activitythroughoutEurope and the

enormous growthof a "consumer public" for music in both perform-
ance and publication.(Indeed it seems only about this time that bor-
rowing became suspect,and thatoriginality,especiallyin the invention
of memorable melodies, became a principal criterionof the musical
"value" of any composer's works. Perhaps part of the reason that
musical plagiarism3 began to be consideredespecially "sinful" in the
mercantileage was that keen competitionwithinthe music publishing
trade made it an economicissue.)
By all odds, the most importantof thesetechniques,eitherfromthe
estheticor the historical point of view, was parody. As other studies
of Baroque borrowinghave shown,' parody techniquesafter1600 were
no longer employed mainly in liturgicalor paraliturgical music. Sac-
red parody still continuedin the 17th century.(For example see Pur-
cell's parody anthem 0 God, Thou art my God, or Aldrich's parody
transcriptionsfromCarissimi and others.)5But by this time it shared
the stage with parody techniques,both imitativeand competitive,in
secular music. Our concern here, then,is withthe transferof musical
thought and the tracing of the influenceof musical ideas. Because
borrowingwas so generallypracticed,I shall not attemptto list com-
pletelyany one composer's borrowings.(To discuss the bibliography

Alleluia taken from the five-partmadrigal See, see the shepherd's Queen is loosely fittedinto the
sacred piece. Parody is to be found in Purcell's B-flat-majorService (see my article in this jour-
nal, April 1964: Purcell's Service Anthem "0 God, Thou Art My God" and the B-flatMajor
Service). Burlesque parody - a new kind- also appears withHenry Lawes's settingof the table
of contents to Cifra's Scherzi ed arie (cf. Vincent Duckles in MGG, VIII, 395), with Purcell's
"drunken poet" scene in The Fairy Queen, and withthe character Polyphemus in Handel's Acis
and Galatea.

3Two examples may be seen in England during the time in question: Purcell's putative lifting
of Lully's tune from Cadmus et Hermione for use in The Tempest,and Giovanni Bononcini's
notorious publication (under his own name) of Lotti's entiremadrigal In una sieppe ombrosa.

4E. T. Ferand, Embellished "Parody Cantatas" in the Early 18th Century,in The Musical
Quarterly, XLIV (1958), 40; D. J. Grout, Seventeenth-Century Parodies of French Opera, in
The Musical Quarterly, XXVII (1941), 211, 514; M. Reimann, Parodien und Pasticcios in
norddeutschenOrgeltabulaturen,in Musikforschung,VIII (1955), 265. Further,see the extensive
bibliography in MGG, X, 833.
5Numerous Aldrich "transcriptions-curn-translations" of works by Carissimi, Palestrina, and
various English composers are to be found in Christ Church, Oxford, MSS 12, 16, 614, 1220,
etc. A similar Carissimi transcriptionby Aldrich, as reworked by Purcell, has been-discovered
recentlyby Prof. Theodore M. Finney of the Music Department,Universityof Pittsburgh.The
Aldrich transcriptionis published in Samuel Arnold's Cathedral Music (III, 48) under the Eng-
lish titleI am well pleas 'd, in B-flat major, and the alleged Purcellian readaption appears in a
manuscript score book that belonged to Samuel Worly in 1754 and is now in Prof. Finney's
possession. The latteris in C major, and bears many traces of Purcell's style.

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Musical Borrowingsin theEnglish Baroque 485

of Iandel's "quotations" alone would occupy more space than is

allotted here.) However, the very fact that Handel's works originated
some time afterthe period established by most music dictionariesfor
the "parody" is a very good reason for examining his "borrowing
techniques" anew. His very lateness provides an interestingnew per-
spectivefor the problem of niusical imitationin the English Baroque,
of which his latitudinarian instinctsproduced so many instructive
instances.
Having narrowed the field chronologicallyto the centurybetween
Purcell's birth and Handel's death, I have also limitedit geographi-
cally to England, the final (if not always the happiest) home of Han-
del's internationallycoordinated style,and themecca forany 17th-or
18th-century musician (of whateverschool or nationality)who wished
to make lots of money quickly.Indeed I suspect that it may have been
the affluencecreated by entrepreneurialcapitalism at work in English
musical life (as elsewhere) that tended to speed up "free enterprise"
music productionso much during this century.Under such conditions
a composer working against near deadlines no doubt frequentlywas
temptedto break the tenthcommandment.As theclock ran out, or as
inspiration failed, a canlus prius ftctus (or even opus prius factus)
would tendto grow increasinglyalluring.
All the above-mentionedpracticesare relatedin one way or another
to "imitation"- a conceptthat has caused general conflictbetweenes-
theticiansfromthetimeof Plato and Aristotledown to the presentday.
Discussion of the conflictitselfwould be irrelevant;but it is at least
worth mentioningthat in earlier times use of otherartists'ideas was
usually argued upon esthetic,not ethical,grounds. As early as the first
centuryA.D. for instance,Quintilianheld it "a universal rule that we
should wish to copy whatwe approve in others," thenexplained criteria
for carefulselectionboth of authors to imitateand notions to borrow.
Once these procedures were sortedout, said Quintilian,the artistought
to "improve upon the good thingsand vie withthe original in the ex-
pression of the same thoughts"etc.6To anyone who has studied Baro-
que musical borrowingpractices(especially Handel's) thishas a very
familiar ring indeed. But the relevance to thisstudy of Quintilian's re-
marks is not restrictedto such general matters.Apparentlyhe was the
firstto definethetermparody as it is now used by scholars of Renais-

6As translated and discussed by H. O. Whitein Plagiarism and Imitation during the English
Renaissance,Cambridge, Mass., 1935,pp. 1, 8, 11, and passim.

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
486 The Musical Quarterly

sance music(i.e. "para-ody" or "song paraphrase").

To returnto 17th-century England, it is essentialto rememberthat
musical borrowingthenwas not merelya matterbetweenone composer
and another. The English madrigal tradition began as a wholesale
transplantationfromItaly- a phenomenonthatremainsunique in mu-
sic history,not because oftheborrowingitselfbut by meritof the suc-
cessful naturalizationof forms,styles,and ideas borrowed. Here it is
significantthatone of themostinterestingcases of Italianate borrowing
in Restoration music may be traced back to Monteverdi'smadrigal,
Cruda Amarilli.8This shows that his famous "second practice" had
not lost its innovatoryforcein conservativeEngland, even seventy-five
or eighty years afterArtusi was so upset by the harmonic and con-
trapuntalbizarrenessesof thisverypiece.
Ex. la HenryPurcell's transcriptionfor viols of Monteverdi'sCruda Amarilli; autographscore
in Oxf. Bodl. Mus. Sch. Mus. A. 1 (correction slip).3

Cruda Amarilli
[Cru - dajA-ma - ril - li, cru - da A-ma - ril - li, che col no-mean-co - ra Da -

Cruda Amarilli

Cruda Amarilli

Cruda Amarilli

Purcell, who of course was only transcribingMonteverdi(perhaps

for study purposes), was not the only Restorationcomposer so to be
attracted,witnessthe paraphrased monodic settingofthesame textby
PietroReggio (d. July23, 1685):
b Pietro Reggio, Br. Mus. Add. MS 31440, f. 33V

Cru - d'A-ma-ril - li, cru dA-ma- ril - li, che col nom' an - co - ra

7As cited by Ludwig Finscher in MGG, X, 815: parodos: quod nomen ductum a canticis ad
aliorum [canticorum] similitudinemmodulatis. (Parody: a name of somethingtaken fromsongs
sung in a likenessof other[songs].)
'See Musical Times,July 1958.

gApart from the missing bass line, cut offwhen the correctionslip was made, Purcell's trans-
cription is so faithfulto the original that there is no need to reproduce anythingfrom Monte-
verdi's print,exceptforunderlay (in square brackets above).

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Musical Borrowingsin theEnglish Baroque 487

As intimatedabove, this was the very madrigal (from Book V) with

which Artusitook such exceptionin L'Artusi,ovvero Delle imperfettioni
della musica moderna (1600). Here theinfluenceof Monteverdi's revo-
lutionarymusical notions is unmistakable and forthehistoryof Eng-
lish music unusually significant,in view of Purcell's publicly avowed
imitationof "fam'd Italian masters" in his forewordto the Sonatas he
publishedin 1683.
Both Reggio and Purcell figured in another kind of parody--the
competitivevarietyestablished at least a centuryand a half earlier by
Renaissance composers. In setting"She loves and she confessestoo"
(Cowley's metaphysicalpoem, subtitled"Honour," fromThe Mistresse)
Purcell improved upon Reggio's model piece withwhichhe had opened
his fancilyengraved songs publishedin 1680. Purcellnot only used the
same ground, but also borrowedvarious melodicand rhythmicmotifs.
However his is a totallydifferent piece both in quality and length,a
fact I have substantiatedelsewhere in a fairly detailed discussion.1'
As for the ground melody itself,Purcell made only a fewminor
changes." First,he began theground on thedownbeat, an octave low-
er, fillingin the melody to maintainrhythmicflow,which withReggio
awkwardly ceases in the thirdmeasure (Purcell doubled each measure
to enhancethissame flow):
Ex. 2a Reggio Songs (1682), p. 1

---I
She- loves and she con - fess - es

b Purcell, XXV, p. 156

She loves and she con- fess - es- too

Purcell's melodies over the ground bass also flow,so that his twenty-
five repetitionsof the ground end climacticallywithouta hint of re-
dundancy, while Reggio's piece, monotonous afteronly halfthat num-
101na forthcoming Essays on His Music.
study,HenrVPurcell(1659-1695): Analytical
SThisis themajor ciacconapatternutilizedby Monteverdi (in Zefirotorna),by Frescobaldi
(in variouspieces),and byCazzatiinan Alleluiato be discussedbelow.

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
488 The Musical Quarterly

ber, doggedly grinds on to the end. The completelymechanical

characterof Reggio's settingdoomed it fromthebeginning,what with
every phrase of the melody perchinguncomfortablyupon the single
four-measureground patternto which all are restricted.In Purcell's
song, on the otherhand, theupper melodygradually develops its own
logical design. It begins "in phase" withthebass, but soon freesitself
from the ostinato formula. The firstbreak-away comes in the sixth
ground, wherethe need for extraordinaryfioriture gave Purcell a per-
fectopportunityto disregardformularycadence.
His settinggrows in freedomas it gains in pace, the lattersubtly
increased by Purcell's skillfulplaying of the solo voice against the
bass, each seemingto attemptto outruntheother. As a furthermeans
for maintaininginterestPurcell capitalized upon every opportunityto
illustratethe poet's images. Rather conventionalmusical elaborations
for "lo triumphe!" (mm.. 11-12), "noisy nothing, stalking shade"
(mm. 25-27), and "airy devilship" (m. 34), to choose only a few,
would scarcely call for comment,exceptthatthesepassages also serve
to unifythework by mutualreference.
As for Reggio's skill withmelodious usage ofthe English language,
of which the preface to his collectionbrags, the followingwill suffice
to show how littlehe understoodits rhythms.Comparison withPur-
cell's passage makes theseshortcomingsall theclearer.
Ex. 3a Reggio Songs (1682), p. 2

Have I o'er-come all re-al foes,- and'shall this phan-tom me op - pose?

b Purcell, XXV,p. 157

Have I o'er-come all re - al foes, and shall this phan-tomme op- pose? Noi-synoth-ing

Beginning the second part, Reggio did not hesitateto destroythe

verse structures,doing away with Cowley's contractionin "What's
this,ye gods, what can it be?" withthe followingeffect:
Ex. 4a Reggio, p. 1 b Purcell, XXV, pp. 156-57

What is this, what is this,_ ye gods_ What's this, ye gods, whatcanit_ be?

His stiffand formal syllabic treatmentleads frequently

to barbarisms,
allows very littlescope eitherfor lyrical developmentor declamatory

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Musical Borrowingsin theEnglish Baroque 489

flexibility.Writing in an equally syllabic style,Purcell was most suc-

cessfulin achievingjust thesequalities.
Purcell did not always look to foreignersformodels to imitate,how-
ever. On thecontraryhe foundparadigms in the words of the "fam'd"
English masters Tallis, Gibbons, Bull, and Byrd (to mentiononly a
fewof those whom he copied and studiedassiduously)." There is less
documentaryevidence to prove the contemporaryinfluenceon Purcell
of older contemporarymusicians such as Locke, Jenkins,Blow, and
Jeffries,but much more in the way of stylisticevidence. Like Purcell,
George Jeffriescomposed a setting of the funeral sentence"In the
midst of life we are in death." One very expressivepoint is shared by
both, in which by way of word-paintingfor "death" the lugubrious
effectof two distorteddescending intervals is utilizedto end the first
statement.In imitatingJeffries, even in so small a descriptivedetail,
Purcell chose his model well. The elder Cavalier musician, who died
in 1685 (when Purcell was twenty-six),had been a diligentworkerin
the Italianization of English musical style. Purcell's imitationfulfills
Quintilian's precepts admirably in other ways. He copied an idea
worthyof approval, improved upon it, and successfullyvied withhis
author. Seizing upon his model's best"point" (the descendingline with
final diminishedfifth for"death") he fashionedfromit one of the most
dramaticpassages in all Restorationchurchmusic:
Ex. 5a George Jeffries (d. 1685) Br. Mus.
Alto I

In the midst of life we are in death

b Purcell, XIIIa, p. 1

In the midst of life - we are in death

Here we can speak of imitationonlyin thebroadestsense.But it is

apparent that Purcellsaw much in the originalnotionnot seenby
The largenessof his conception
Jeffries. bothexplainsand justifiesthe
newcomposition.
Practicallyspeaking,Purcellborrowedgroundbass melodiesonly
for originalcompositions.In theover-alldesignof thelively"finale
on a ground" fromtheMasque in Dioclesian(No. 627/38) thereis
12For a complete list of Tudor composers and other earlier English masters whose works
Purcell scored (presumably for study) see Purcell's Autographs in Henry Purcell: Essays on his
Music, London, 1959, compiled by the presentwriterin collaboration with Dr. Nigel Fortune.

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
490 The Musical Quarterly

littleto suggest that Purcell foundhis original inspirationin a ground

that underlay, among many other pieces, Maurizio Cazzati's Alleluia
(in the Bodleian Library,Oxford,in MS Mus. Sch. C 13, pp. 131-32).
Indeed thiswas one ofthemostpopular formsof the ciaccona in Italy;
it was used at thebeginningofthe 17th centuryby Monteverdifor his
later setting(a 2) of Petrarch'sZefirotorna.l3
Ex. 6a Cazzati Alleluia, Oxf. Bodl. Mus. Sch. C. 13, pp. 131-32

b Purcell, IX, p. 134

Trn - umph vic - to - ri - ous Love

Elsewhere Purcell used this, or a very similar,ground patternin bor-

rowing fromG. B. Draghi's Scocca pur tutti(tuoi) strali for his Great
Chaconne in G minor (No. 807). He used a similar scheme,too, for
theFantasia " 3 parts in one upon a ground " (No. 731).14
Purely melodic borrowings were also frequenton the Restoration
scene, as for instance in Blow's Ah heav 'n! What is 't I hear,15which
plainly makes use of two of Purcell's ideas. The opening strain of
Blow's da capo song pays a graceful bow to In vain the am 'rous
flute,fromthe 1692 Ode to St. Cecilia, and the middle strain to If so
your goodness may your pow 'r expressfromThe Indian Queen (No.
630/4h):
Ex. 7a BlowAmphionAnglicus (1700), p. 79
Ah! heav'n-

Ah! heav'n,. Ah! heav'n,- what is't- I hear

b Purcell Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1692), London: Schott,p. 88

- -
Do gent - ly... do gent - ly, gent ly

"'As Thomas P. Walker has explained recentlyin his paper Ciaccona and Passacaglia: A
Reappraisal, given beforethe American Musicological Society at its annual meetingfor 1965 in
Ann Arbor, Michigan.

'4For another interestingcase of borrowing based on a ground bass see Anthony Lewis's
articlePurcell and Blow's " Venus and Adonis," in Music & Letters,July 1963, p. 266.

'5AmphionAnglicus, 1700, p. 79.

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Musical Borrowingsin theEnglish Baroque 491
c Blow,p. 80

S. . so so sweet- the air

thenote's soft,

d Purcell Indian Queen, XIX, p. 23

If so, if so yourgood-nessmayyourpow'r

I pass over the borrowings(acknowledged or otherwise)of men like

William Croft,whose compositionswere so derivativethatdirectquo-
tations fromPurcell seem quite in style. I am thinkinghere of Croft's
re-usingthewhole ofPurcell'sthirdversion of the funeralanthem Thou
knowest Lord, of which he himselfspoke,16 and of various otherex-
amples such as thefollowing:"
Ex. 8a Purcell The Lord is king, the earth b Croft Halleluia

Hal - le-lu - ia, hal-le - lu - ia Hal- le - lu - ia, hal- le - lu - ia

c Purcell Hear mypray'r, O Lord d Croft Hiear mny

pray'r, 0 Lord

Hear my pray - er, O Lord. Hear- my pray'r, O Lord.

So much for Purcell and contemporaries.A generationlater Handel

arrived in England to find a musical situationquite unlike that which
had flourishedthereat the time of Purcell'sdeath fifteenyears earlier.
What withthedemiseof Blow and Clarke and what withEccles's "gone
fishing"and Weldon apparentlylosing interestin musical composition,
the native English (that is mainly Purcellian)traditionhad come to a

1'Thepassage fromCroft'sMusica Sacra in whichhe spoke of his reasons"obvious to every

Artist"forreproducing Purcell'ssetting
of ThouknowestLord amonghis own funeralsentences
perhapswilljustifyquotationhere once again: "At theend ofthisvolumeis printedan entire
burial seivice,whichit is hoped will not be unacceptable,
therebeingscarceanything of that
kind thatis correctin any Cathedralin England.In thatservicethereis one versecomposed
by mypredecessor, thefamousMr. HenryPurcell, to which,in justiceto his memory,
his name
is applied;thereasonwhyI didnotcomposethatverseanew(so as to renderthewholeservice
entirelyof my own composition)is obvious to everyartist;in therestof thatservice,I have
endeavoured,as near as possiblyI could,to imitatethatgreatmasterand celebratedcomposer,
whose name will foreverstand high in the rankof those,who have labouredto improvethe
Englishstyle,in his so happilyadaptinghiscompositions to Englishwordsin thatelegantand
judiciousmanner,as was unknownto manyofhis predecessors." (As quotedin The Cathedral
Services, Anthems, Hymns and other Sacred Pieces Composed by Henry Purcell, ed. Vincent
Novello,London,1828-44,IV, 1055.)
'7As quotedin RobertScandrett,The Anthemsof WilliamCroft(unpublisheddoctoralthesis,
ofWashington,
University 1961), Vol. I, pp. 90 and 28 respectively.

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
492 The Musical Quarterly

halt. Instead of lively musical Englishmentherefore,Handel met a few

second-rateItalians and "good men" like Thomas Brittonand Maurice
Green. In London he began (as he was later to continue) by recasting
and paraphrasing cantus prius facti (frequentlyhis own) to have
Rinaldo ready forLondon opera audiences withintwo short weeks after
he had begun it.
Elsewhere(imitatingas successfullyas possible the best Handelian
authorities) I have speculated on possible motivations for Handel's
English borrowingsbut herewill be contentto point out that he shows
himselfto have been in completeagreementwithQuintilian's precepts.
His treatmentof borrowed material also is consistentwiththe views
of those who pointed to thenectar-gathering but creativehoney bee as
theimitator'sideal model.'8
To show that Handel knew Purcell's operatic works at firsthand,
nothing provides betterevidence than a passage in Sweet bird that
shun'st the noise of folly in L'Allegro ed il Penseroso. It cannot be
said that Handel actually "borrowed" harmonicprogressionand gen-
eral "other-worldly"expressionfromthefirstscenein King Arthur,yet
the exact duplicationof thechromaticmelodicline and the very similar
harmonic effectsare too much for coincidence.At any rate, Milton's
vision of the "wandering moon riding near her highestnoon" here is
marvelously depictedin a passage originally conceived to capture the
shiverings and chatteringsof the weird cold people and theirbizarre
"genius":

Ex. 9a Purcell King Arthur, XXVI, p. 85

be - low hast made me rise un-will-ing-ly and slow from

beds of ev er - last - ing snow

1-4sjg~

"'Handel's Purcellian Borrowings in His Later Operas and Oratorios, in FestschriftOtto Erich
Deutsch zum 80. Geburtstag,Kassel, 1963, pp. 28-29.

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Musical Borrowingsin theEnglish Baroque 493

b Handel L'Allegro, from "Or missing thee...," VI, p. 46

.To be - hold the wand'-ring moon, to be - hold the wand'-ring

moon, rid- ing near her high-est

t :t - O
r

To demonstratethis point in another way I have chosen two pairs

of examples that linkpieces by Handel withearlier models fromwhich
he worked. In the firstpair Blow's Overtureto his St. Cecilia Ode for
1684, Begin the Song, is to be compared withHandel's Overtureto
Susannah, elsewherereferredto as one ofthevery few of his oratorio
overturesshowing no borrowingwhatsoever.'9Here Handel's essay in
the art of borrowing must be considered by Quintilian's formula a
splendid success. In turningto Blow he chose an unimpeachable,if
not always uniformlybrilliantmusical model,electingforimitationone
of Blow's most satisfactoryinstrumentalpieces. He emphasizedits best
points, and vied successfullywith Blow, developing his ideas more
fullyand convincingly,as Examples 10 and 11 will show:

Ex. 10a Blow, Overtureto Begin the Song,Hinrichsened., p. 1

[Grave]

Vn.I
n. I I y% I
Va

Vc.

'gAgain, I have referredto this borrowing elsewhere(op. cit., pp. 22-23). For the statement
alluded to here see Winton Dean, Handel's Dramatic Oratorios and Masques, London, 1959,
p. 541: "The Overture, one of the few withoutborrowing, is an integral part of the oratorio,
not an appendage like that of Solomon."

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
494 The MusicalQuarterly

b Handel,Overture
to Susannah,
I, p. 42
[Grave]
Vn.I: p
AI I k ..
Vc.
j A_
V
a
-',-
i" I F
?
I ? m -

Vc.
c _ __ F LI! L

Notice how skillfully Handel made use of Blow's doublesubject,de-

veloping it much more eventhoughhe had shortened
satisfactorily it
by six measures.Notice,too, howhe presents thetwo subjectsclearly,
and always sticksto his "point,"whileBlow wandersfromhis much
of the time,findingit difficultapparentlyto preventconfusionof the
twosubjects.
The more thematicfugal movementof the overtureis even more
revealing.BothHandel's and Blow's versionsrunto tenstatements of
thesubject.But whata worldof difference betweenthestiff, somewhat
brusqueformality of Blow's expositionand Handel'sidiomatic,richly
imaginativepiece! In thisconnection Handel's revisionof thesubject
itselfis instructive.
By continuingthedescending lowerlineof thecom-
posite melody(which Blow merely hinted at), he openedmarvelous
for and
opportunities sequentialdevelopment modulations. Capitalizing
upon thesehe createda canzonaby comparisonto whichBlow's seems
Ex. Ila Blow,Canzona, Hinrichsened., p. 2
I ?
i: Vn.Ii I I I I
:

F: -4--xe:4
Vn. H

*M
*
-
.IN, . -,j_
b Handel, Canzona (second version), I, p. 43
A I
-p1
- -

c Handel, Canzona (firstversion)21

A r"777
-10) -F-- -

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 in theEnglishBaroque
MusicalBorrowings 495
stiffand lifeless.(See particularlythe two episodic fantasiasections
alleviatingtherathercompulsiverhythms of theexposition.)The dif-
ference in themotifis slight.Butwecan surelysay, as Geminianidid
of Handel's breakingof "the rules"in hisOverture to Muzio Scevola,
"Quel semituono vale un mondo" -the same sortof thingthatother
Italiansspeakofas "Quel tantinochifatutto"20(see Ex. 11).
Somethingof a mysteryattachesto this canzona, incidentally.
Handel wrote,or at least began,another.Butthepage thatfollowsin
the autographhas beenrippedout,and theversionremainsa torso.
Its chromatic lineis moresuitablethematically to theshort"Lentement"
movementwhich Handel added as a transition.And a verygood
transition it is, recallingsome of the"stilefrancese"of thesymphony
whilepreparing forthedescending chromatic line(reminiscent ofDido's
lament) for the opening chorusHow long, 0 Lord. (Is possiblethat
it
in Susannah Handel may have intendeda programmatic allusionto
thedangersoflovingtoo much?)
The second and last pair of examplesof thoughttransfer, if not
"parody," begins with theChorus of Devils from Purcell's The Tem-
pest (No. 631/2b) and endswitha selectionfrom Handel about which
further commentwould be superfluous, althoughone mightwellask
how such an "infernal"passage mightbe transformed to suittheceles-
tialgloryofHandel'schorus.

Ex. 12a Purcell In Hell, uwith

flames fromThe Tempest, XIX, p. 116
And for-ev - er, for - ev - er, and for-ev - er, for - ev - er

And for- ev - er, and for - ev er

And for-ev - er, for - ev - er, and for-ev - er, for - ev - er

b Handel Alleluia, Novello, Shaw's edition,p. 180

for- ev - er, and ev -er, for-ev -er and ev - er, Hal-le- iu - ia

20JohnMainwaring, Memoirs oftheLife ofHandel, London, 1760, p. 44.

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 08 Mar 2015 04:09:27 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions