The art of accompaniment,
F.T. Arnold & the greatest work of musicology ever published
Continuo Bibliography - A Selective List
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The collector F. T. Arnold was a student at Trinity College, Cambridge in the early 1880s. He was also a cellist and had a passion for baroque music, and after a lifetime of study and collecting, in 1931 published The art of accompaniment from a thorough-bass as practised in the 17th & 18th centuries, described by Ernest Newman in the Sunday Times as the greatest work of musicology ever produced in this country. Arnolds personal collection was bequeathed to the Cambridge University Library in 1940. The collection forms one of the major bequests of music to the Library, and contains many of the theoretical sources for his monumental work, as well as a large number of instrumental chamber music scores featuring the continuo.
From the 'Keeping the score' exhibition, Jan-June, 2007. © Cambridge University Library 2007
Below you will find a selective bibliography which has proved useful in my research and teaching.
CONTINUO QUOTATIONS
The normal manner of spreading as outlined by Rameau in his Traité de l'harmonie, 1722.
Rameau states that this is best achieved by playing the bass note and
the first note of the spread chord at the same time:
The finger which strikes the first [note of the arpeggiated chord] must always
be played together with the bass, the other fingers following it, so that the
notes sound as if they were all played together, although a sort of
arpeggiation actually occurs, as if three or four demisemiquaver notes were
played rapidly one after another.
Source: J. P. Rameau, Traité de l'harmonie,
Paris, 1722, translated by P. Gossett, New York, 1971, p. 386. See also J. B.
Christensen, Eighteenth Century Continuo Playing, Kassel, 2002, p. 145.
A SELECTIVE LIST
Contemporary Sources
Modern Sources
D'Anglebert |
J.H. D'Anglebert: Principes de l'Accompagnement
in Pieces de Clavecin
(Paris 1689) Mod.ed. Gilbert (Paris 1975) |
Nivers |
G.G. Niver: Motets à voix seule, et quelques autres motets à deux voix propres
pour les religieuses avec L'art d'accompagner
sur la basse continue, pour l'orgue
et le clavecin (Paris, 1689/R)[2
copies BL] |
Delair |
E.D. Delair: Traite de l'Accompagnement
pour le Theorbe et le clavessin (Paris 1690 and 1723). Praised by Rameau |
St. Lambert (1707) |
M. de St. Lambert: Nouveau Traité
de l'Accompagnement du Clavecin
(1707). Engl. Trans. J. Powell (Indiana 1991) |
St. Lambert (1702) |
M. de St. Lambert: Principes
du clavecin (Paris
1702) Eng.ed.R.Harris-Warrick
(CUP 1984) |
F.Couperin |
F.Couperin: Règles pour l'Accompagnement ed.Brunold Oeuvres Complete I (Paris 1933), pp.7-17 |
Dandrieu |
J.-F. Dandrieu: Principes de l'accompagnement
du clavecin exposez dans des tables (1718-19/R); Nouvelle édition augmentée de la basse fondementale avec des leçons tirées des meilleurs auteurs italiens (announced 1777) See Christensen |
Corrette |
M.Corrette: Le Maitre de Clavecin
pour L'accompagnement (Paris 1753) |
Rameau |
J.Ph. Rameau: Dissertation sur les differentes
methods d'accompagnement pour le clavecin, pour l'orgue (Paris 1732). see Complete Theoretical Writings ed. Jacobi (Rome
1967-72) and Engl. Trans. in Dover ed
Theoretical writings. |
Facsimile of page 5 from F. Dandrieu, Principes de l'accompagnement du clavecin exposez dans des tables (1718-19/R)
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Viadana |
L. da Viadana: Cento Concerti eccliastici (Venice 1602) Frankfurt ed.1613 has Latin and Germ. transl of preface. Bassus Generalis Transcription |
Banchieri (1605) |
A. Banchieri: L'organo suonarino
(Venice, 1605, enlarged 4/1638/R1969 with introduction by G. Cattin) |
Banchieri |
Adriano
Banchieri: Essempio
Di Componere Varie Voci Sopra un Basso di Canto Fermo Bassus Generalis
Transcription |
Agazzari |
A. Agazzari: Del
Sonare sopra il basso (Siena 1607) repr.
in Sacrae cantiones, Liber
II (Venice 1609) Basso Generalis Transcription |
Bianciardi |
F. Bianciardi: Breve regola per imparar' sonare sopra il basso con ogni sorte d'istrumento (Siena, 1607); ed. R. Haas,'das
Generalbass-Flugblatt Francesco Bianciardis', Musikwissenschaftliche Beiträge: Festschrift für
Johannes Wolf, ed.
W. Lott, H. Osthoff and W. Wolffheim
(Berlin, 1929/R), 48ff, and V. Gibelli, Antiquae musicae italicae studiosi (Milan,
1965) Basso Generalis Transcription |
Bologna MSS |
Conservatorio di Musica GB Martini. See Williams |
Penna |
L. Penna: Li primi albori musicali per li principianti della musica figurata (Bologna, 1672, 4/1684/R, 5/1696) |
Muffat |
G. Muffat: Regule
con centum partiturae (1699) mod. ed. An
Essay on Thorough Bass ed.H. Federhofer (Rome 1961) Bassus Generalis transcription |
Gasparini |
F.Gasparini: L'Armonico Pratico
al Cimbalo (Venice 1708) transl. as The
Practical Harmonist at the harpsichord (New Haven 1963) |
A.Scarlatti |
A.Scarlatti: Regole per principianti (MS, c1715,
GB-Lbl Add.14244, ff.46v-52) |
Rome MS |
Rome Biblioteca Corsiniana, MS RI 'Regole per Accompagnare Sopra la Parte..d'Autore incerto' c.1710. Also MusMS 9bis/6 |
Tonelli |
A. Tonelli: Realisation of
Corelli's Op.5. Modena :MS. Link to Transcription of MS.
See also Mortensen below. |
Geminiani (1756) |
F. Geminiani: The Art
of accompaniment, or A new and well digested Method to learn and perform the
Thorough Bass, Op.XI. 2 vols.(London 1756-7) ( Fr.
version, 1754; It. trans., I-Bc) |
Geminiani (1745) |
F. Geminiani: Rules for
playing in true Taste, Op.VIII
(London 1745) |
Pasquali |
N. Pasquali: Thorough-Bass made Easy, or Practical Rules for
Finding and Applying its Various Chords
(Edinburgh, 1757, ?4/c1790; Fr. and Dutch trans., 1760) |
Facsimile of page 56 from F.Gasparini, L'Armonico Pratico al Cimbalo (Venice 1708) showing acciaccature (ac.) and mordente (m.)
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Praetorius |
Michael
Praetorius: Syntagma Musicum III: De Basso Generali seu Continuo (Wolfenbüttel 1619) Bassus Generalis Translation |
Heinichen 1711 |
J.D. Heinichen: Neu-erfundene und grundliche.. .des General-Basses
(Hamburg 1711). |
JS Bach |
See Mendel and David: The Bach Reader New
edition with commentary by Ledbetter/OUP. |
Handel |
J.T. Johnson: 'The Rules for Thorough Bass and for Tuning Attributed to Handel', EMc,
xvii (1989), 70-77. See Ledbetter. |
Mattheson |
J. Mattheson: Exemplarische Organisten-Probe (Hamburg 1719) 2nd enlarged ed. called Grosse General-Bass-Schule
(Hamburg 1731); Eng. Ed. 1734. |
Heinichen 1728 |
J.D. Heinichen: Der Generalbass in der Komposition (Dresden 1728). Partial trails. as
Thorough Bass Accompaniment according to Johann
David Heinichen by GB Buelow
(Berkeley 1966). |
Telemann |
G.P. Telemann: Singe-, Spiel- und Generalbass-Übungen (Hamburg, 1733-4/R1983
with introduction by G. Fleischhauer) |
Mattheson |
J. Mattheson: Kleine General-Bass-Schule (Hamburg 1735) |
Quantz |
J. J. Quantz: Chap. 17 of Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte
(Berlin 1752). Engl.trans.R.R.Reilly
(London 1966). Quoted in Marpurg Clavierstucke (Berlin 1763) |
CPE Bach |
C.P.E. Bach: Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, i (Berlin, 1753/R, 3/1787/R), ii (Berlin, 1762/R,
2/1797/R); Eng. trans. of pts i and ii pub.as
W.J. Mitchell as Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments
(London 1949, Eulenberg Ed.1974) |
Heck |
Johann (or John) Casper Heck (c. 1740-91): The
Art of Playing Thorough Bass (London: John Welcker,
c.1767; later editions John Preston, 1793 and c.1795). |
Kirnberger |
J.P. Kirnberger: Grundsätze des Generalbasses als erste Linien zur Composition (Berlin 1781) |
Facsmile page from the second part of Kirnberger, Grundsätze des Generalbasses als erste Linien zur Composition (1781) showing a realisation to second movement of the JS Bach's trio sonata from Das Musikalische Opfer, BWV 1079.
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Blow |
J. Blow: Rules for playing of a Thorough Bass
upon Organ & Harpsicon (Lbl
Add MS 34072,ff.1-5) |
Locke |
M. Locke: Melothesia (London 1673) |
Keller |
J.G. Keller: A Compleat Method for Attaining to Play Thorough Bass upon either Organ, Harpsicord or Theorbo-Lute (London, 1705, 6/1717, and as an appx to 1731 edn of W. Holder: A Treatise of the Natural Grounds, and Principles of Harmony) |
Prelleur |
P. Prelleur:
The Modern Musick-Master (London, 1731/R) |
Lampe |
J.F.
Lampe, A Plain and Compendious
Method of Teaching Thorough Bass. (London 1737) Monuments of
Music and Music Literature in Facsimile, II/29. New York, 1969. |
Torres |
José
de Torres's Treatise of 1736. General Rules for Accompanying on the Organ,
Harpsichord, and Harp, by Knowing Only How to Sing the Part, or a Bass in
Canto Figurado An Annotated Bilingual Edition. Edited and translated by
Paul Murphy (Indiana, 2000) |
Avison |
C. Avison: An Essay on Musical Expression
(London, 1752, 2/1753) |
Miller |
E. Miller: A Treatise on Thorough Bass and Composition (Dublin, c1780) |
Kollmann |
A.F.C. Kollmann: A Practical Guide to Thorough-Bass (London, 1801) |
Facsimile of pages 6 and 7 from M. Locke, Melothesia (London 1673)
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F. T. Arnold |
The Art of Accompaniment from a Thorough-Bass as Practised in the 17th and 18th Centuries (OUP, London 1930). The greatest work of musicology ever produced in
this country. Ernest Newman. |
P. Williams (1970) |
Figured Bass Accompaniment 2 vols (Edinburgh 1970) |
W. Hancock |
General Rules for Realising an Unfigured Bass in
Seventeenth-Century England, Chelys,
vii (1977), 6972.
An interesting, if potentially misleading attempt to formulate 17th c.
English continuo practice from instructions found in contemporary theory and
composition manuals. |
P. Holman |
'Continuo realizations in a Playford songbook' (includes song Forgive
Me, If Your Looks by R. King with handwritten 17th century realization). Early
Music, 1978, Vol. 6, 268-9. |
P. Williams (1985) |
Bach and Handel as teachers of
Thorough Bass, Bach, Handel, Scarlatti: Tercentenary Essays (CUP
1985) pp. 245-57. |
L.
Bourmayan & J. Frisch |
Méthode pour apprendre la pratique de la Basse Continue
au Clavecin à lusage des amateurs (Editions du Cornet, 1986/1996) |
T. Borgir |
The Performance of the Basso
Continuo in Italian Baroque Music (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1987) and (University of Rochester Press, 1991). |
N. North |
Continuo Playing on the Lute,
Archlute and Theorbo
(London, 1987) |
D. Ledbetter |
Continuo Playing According to Handel (OUP 1990) |
L.R. Baratz |
The Basso Continuo
According to Jean Joseph Boutmy, Early Keyboard
Journal, xiii (1995), 3980 |
P. Holman |
Evenly, Softly, and Sweetly Acchording to All: the
Organ Accompaniment of English Consort Music, John
Jenkins and his Time, ed. A. Ashbee and P. Holman
(Oxford, 1996), 35382 |
L.U. Mortensen |
Unerringly Tasteful? Harpsichord
Continuo in Corelli's Op.5 Sonatas, EMc, xxiv
(1996), 66579 |
G. Webber |
North German Church Music in
the Age of Buxtehude (Oxford,
1996) |
T. de Goede (1997) |
Del suonare sopra il basso: Concerning
the Realization of Early Seventeenth-Century Italian Unfigured Basses. Performance
Practice Review (1997/1), Vol.10, pp.80-115. This article can be downloaded from http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/ppr&CISOPTR=554 |
R. Zappulla |
Figured Bass Accompaniment
in France (Turnhout, 2000) |
J. Christensen |
Eighteenth Century Continuo Playing. A Historical
Guide to the Basics (BA 8177, 2002) |
T. de Goede (2005) |
From dissonance to note-cluster: the application of
musical-rhetorical figures and dissonances to thoroughbass accompaniment of
early 17th-century Italian vocal solo music. Early Music, May 2005,
Vol. 33, pp.233-50. (abstract on p365). |
G.Nuti |
The
Performance of Italian Basso Continuo(Ashgate,2007). |
Patrick J. Rogers Peter Holman Thomas Allery |
Continuo
Realization in Handel's Vocal Music (University of Rochester Press, 2010). 'The Conductor at the Organ, or How Choral and Orchestral
Music was Directed in Georgian England', Chapter 11 in Music and Performance Culture in Nineteenth-Century Britain: Essays in
Honour of Nicholas Temperley, Edited by Bennett
Zon (Ashgate: Farnham, 2012), pp. 243-262. Learning from the past: an introduction to
eighteenth-century figured bass treatises, Journal of the Royal College of Organists, Volume 10 (December
2016), pp. 2840. |
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