A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Suite

by Hubert Parry

SUITE. In the period between the latter part of the 16th and the beginning of the 18th century the most conspicuous feature of universal instrumental music is the profusion of dance tunes. All the most civilised nations of that time took equal pleasure in them; and partly owing to the itinerant musicians who traversed divers countries, and partly to the wars which brought representatives of different nationalities into frequent contact, both friendly and hostile, the various characteristic types were spread from one land to another, were adopted universally by composers, irrespective of nationality, and were so acclimatised as to become in many cases as characteristic of and as popular in the countries of their adoption as in that of their origin. This is sufficiently illustrated in Morley's well-known 'Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music,' printed in 1597. For when he comes to treat of dance-music, the first things he takes notice of are Pavans and Galliards, Almanes and Branles; of which the first two are of Italian origin, the third probably Suabian, and the last French. The first two were not only in common use for dancing purposes in Queen Elizabeth's time, but were adopted by the great composers of the day and a little later as a favourite basis for instrumental pieces, which were intended as much for private enjoyment as music as for accompaniments to dances; and they are found plentifully scattered in such collections as 'Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book' and the 'Parthenia,' among sets of variations, preludes, and fantasias. A large proportion of such dances were naturally taken singly, but composers early perceived the advantage of contrasting one with another. Thus Morley, in the same part of the work just mentioned, speaks of the desirableness of alternating Pavans and Galliards; since the first was 'a kind of staid musick ordained for grave dancing,' and the latter 'a lighter and more stirring kind of dancing'; and he further describes more obscurely the contrast arising from the 4-time and 3-time which subsists between them. The following examples are the first halves of a 'Pavana' and a 'Galiardo' by Byrd, which fairly illustrate Morley's description:—

Spitta, in his Life of Bach (i. 681), mentions the same contrast as popular in Germany a little later, and refers to the publication of thirty Paduans and Gaillards by Johann Ghro of Dresden in 1604. In such a manner originated the idea of joining different dance-tunes together to make an artistic balance and contrast, and in this lies the germ of the Suite; in which, by selecting dances of various nationalities, and disposing them in the order which displayed their relative bearings on one another to the best advantage, composers established the first secular instrumental cyclic art-form.

It is not possible, for want of materials, to trace fully the process of selection. The Pavans and Galliards dropped out of fashion very early, and Allemandes and Courantes came in, and soon became a sort of established nucleus, to which was sometimes appended a Sarabande, or even several other dance movements, and a Prelude. Indeed, when the principle of grouping movements together was once accepted, the speculations of composers in that line seem to have been only limited by their knowledge of dance-forms. It was in fact by experimenting with various methods of grouping that the most satisfactory succession was arrived at; and thus many of the earlier suites contain a greater profusion and variety than is found in those of the maturer period. In Purcell's suites, for instance, which date from the last 10 or 20 years of the 17th century, besides the Allemande and Courante, which occupy just the very position in which they are found in the Suites of Bach and Handel; in one case the group also comprises a Sarabande, Cebell, Minuet, Riggadoon, Intrade, and March; while another contains a Trumpet tune and a Chacone, and another a Hornpipe. One of the most curious features in them is the absence of the Jig, which in the mature suite-form was the only one admitted of English origin. The opening with a Prelude is almost invariable; and this is not astonishing, since this kind of movement (which can hardly be described as a 'form') was as familiar as the dances, from having been so often attempted by the early instrumental composers, such as Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Bull, and Blow among Englishmen. The order of four movements which served as the nucleus in the large proportion of suites of the mature period is also occasionally, by accident, found very early; as for instance in one of the Suites of Froberger, which Nottebohm says was written in 1649; and another by Lully, which was probably written early in the second half of the same century.

These groups had however as yet no uniform distinctive title. In England, in common with other combinations of divisions or movements, they were generally called Lessons, or Suites of Lessons, and continued to be so called till after Handel's time. In Italy similar groups were called Sonate da Camera; in Germany they were called Parties or Partitas, as in the Clavierübung of Kuhnau published in 1689, and the set of six by Johann Krieger published in 1697; and in France they were as yet commonly known as Ordres. Thus the fact evidently existed universally for some time before the name by which it is now known came into general use.

The composers of different countries illustrated in different degrees the tendency towards consolidation which is inevitable in an art-form. The steps taken by the Italians appear to be particularly important as illustrating the distinct tendencies of the Suite and the Sonata. Corelli's earlier Sonate da Camera are scarcely distinguishable from the suite type, as they consist of a string of dance-tunes preceded by a prelude. The later sonatas or solos of his Opera Quinta, however, represent different types. Some still consist of dance tunes, but many also show a fair proportion of movements of more abstract nature; and in several the dance element is, in name at least, quite absent. These are indeed a sort of combination of the church and chamber sonata into a secular form, adding a canzona or free fugal movement in the place of the allemande, and transmuting the other dance types into movements with general qualities analogous to the earlier sonatas. Where this abstract character prevailed, the type approached more distinctly to that of the modern sonata, and where the uniformity of a dance rhythm prevailed throughout, it approached more nearly to the suite type. In these cases the arrangement had already ceased to be a mere crude experiment in antithesis, such as the early balance of galliard and pavan, and attained to the dignity of a complete art-form. With the Italians the remarkable distinction of their^[1] violin school led to the greater cultivation of the Violin Sonata, which though retaining a few dance-forms, differed markedly in their distribution, and even in the structure of the movements. In both France and Germany, more attention seems to have been paid to the clavier, and with it to the suite form. The former country very early showed many proofs of appreciation of its principles; as an instance, the suite by Lulli in E minor, mentioned above, has the complete series of allemande, sarabande, courante, minuet, and gigue. But a little later, theatrical influences seem to have come into play, and Rameau and Couperin, though in many cases adopting the same nucleus to start with, added to it a profusion of rondeaus and other short movements called by various eccentric names. In one of Couperin's Ordres the number of little pieces amounts to no less than twenty-three; and in such a case it is clear that a sense of form or complete balance in the whole can hardly have been even aimed at. The movements are strung together in the same key, according to the recognised rule, as a series of agreeable ballet pieces, and the titles point to their belonging to quite a different order of art from that illustrated by the suite in its maturity. In fact their kinship must be attributed mainly to the order of programme music. Thus in the tenth Ordre of Couperin, the first number is called 'La Triomphante' and also 'Bruit de Guerre.' In the eleventh Ordre a series of pieces represents 'Les Fastes de la grande et ancienne Mxnxstrxndxsx,' in five acts, the fourth of which is 'Les Invalides,' etc., in which the right hand is made to represent 'Les Disloqués' and the left 'Les Boiteux,' and the last is 'Désordre et déroute de toute la troupe: causés par les Yvrogues, les Singes, et les Ours.'

In Germany, composers kept their faces more steadfastly set in the direction of purer art-form, and the prevalence of uniformity in their distribution of movements soon became remarkable. Kuhnau's examples have been already referred to, and an example given in Pauer's Alte Clavier Music illustrates the usual order absolutely. Spitta mentions that the famous organist Buxtehude made a complete suite out of variations on the choral 'Auf meinem lieben Gott' in the form of sarabande, courante and gigue. Twelve sets of 'Pièces de Clavecin' by Mattheson, which were published in London as early as 1714, two years before Couperin's first set, are remarkably regular. The first, in D minor, has a prelude, allemande and double, courante and double, sarabande and gigue. The second begins with a toccatina, the fifth with a fantasia, the ninth with a 'Boutade,' and the tenth with a 'Symphonie,' but in other respects most of them follow the same outlines of general distribution. The 'Six Suits of Lessons' of the Dutchman Johann Loeillet, published a little earlier still, are equally precise. From these facts it is quite clear that by the beginning of the 18th century certain definite principles of grouping the movements were generally known and accepted; and that a nucleus, consisting of allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, had become the accepted type of the art-form.

The differences between the structure of suite movements and sonata movements have already been traced in the article Sonata. It remains here only to summarise, with more special reference to the suite. While sonata movements constantly increased in complexity, suite movements remained almost stationary. They were based upon the persistence of the uniform type of a dance rhythm, throughout the whole of each several movement. Hence the ground principles of subject in sonata and suite are altogether different. In the former the subjects are concrete, and stand out in a marked manner both in contrast to one another and to their immediate context; and it is a vital point in the form that they shall be fully and clearly recapitulated. In the suite, on the other hand, the subject does not stand out at all prominently from its context, but is only a well-marked presentation of the type of motion and rhythm which is to prevail throughout the movement. To this there is no contrasting subject or episode, and definite recapitulation is no part of the scheme at all. In a few cases—which must be regarded as accidents in relation to the logical principles of the form—the opening bars happen to be sufficiently marked to have something of the character of a sonata subject; and in such cases it may also happen that they are repeated with sufficient simplicity to have the effect of recapitulation. But nevertheless it must be maintained that this is not part of the principle of construction. And with reference to this point it is well to remember that composers did not attain the ultimate distinct outlines of sonata and suite with a definite purpose and plan before them; but that in working with particular materials they were led almost unconsciously to differentiate the two forms. The plan is found to exist when the work is done; but it was not theoretically propounded and then worked up to. It is not therefore a matter for surprise that in early times some points in the development of abstract form of the sonata kind were worked out in dance movements of the suite type, and applied and extended afterwards in works which had more distinctly the sonata character. Nevertheless the sonata is not an outgrowth from the suite; but, inasmuch as both were descended from a kindred stock, before the distinctions had become well defined, it is natural that many works should have continued to exhibit suggestions and traits of both sides promiscuously. On the whole however it is remarkable how soon the distinct types came to be generally maintained; and from the number of instances which conform, the system can be fairly deduced.

The most marked external point is the uniformity of key. In Corelli's earlier Sonate da Camera, which in general are decided suites, the one exception which marks a sonata tendency is that the slow dance is often in a different key from the rest of the movements. In later suites of all sorts the uniformity of key throughout is almost universal. In the whole of Bach's the only exceptions are the second minuet of the fourth English Suite, and the second gavotte in that known as the 'Overture in French Style.'^[2] Hence the contrast is purely one of character between the several movements; and this is emphasised by the absence of any marked contrast of key or subject in the movements themselves. They are almost invariably constructed upon the simple principle of balanced halves, each representing the same material in different phases; and each strengthened by repetition. The first half sets out from the tonic key, and without any marked pause or division modulates so as to settle into the key of the dominant or relative major, and closes in that key. The second half begins afresh from that point, and proceeding in most cases by way of the key of the subdominant, settles well back again into the original key and concludes. The only break therefore is in the middle; and the two halves are made purposely to balance one another, as far as may be, without definite recapitulation. In a few movements, such especially as sarabandes and intermezzi, the second half is somewhat extended to admit of a little development and free modulation, but the general principles in the average number of cases are the same, namely to diffuse the character of the principal figures and features throughout, rather than to concentrate the interest of the subject in definite parts of the movement. In order, however, to strengthen the effect of balance between the two halves, certain devices are common and characteristic, especially with regard to the beginnings and endings of each half. Thus though composers do not seem to have aimed at recapitulation, there is frequently a clear relation between the opening bars of each half. This often amounts to no more than a subtle equivalence in the distribution of the group of rhythms in the bar, or a very loose transcript of its melodic features. But in some cases, most especially in Bach, the opening bars of the latter half present a free inversion of the beginning of the first half, or a sort of free shuffling of the parts approximating to double counterpoint. The first mode is clearly illustrated by the Courante of the 3rd Partita in A minor as follows:

The Allemande of the 4th Suite Anglaise supplies a remarkable example of free inversion of figures and parts at the same time.

The other point, of even more common occurrence, is the correspondence of the ends of each half, which prevails particularly in allemandes, courantes and gigues. A very fine and full example is supplied by the Allemande of Bach's 1st Suite Anglaise; the Courante of his 2nd Suite Française supplies another of some length; and among works of other composers the Allemande of Lully's Suite in E minor, the Courante of Mattheson's Suite no. 5 in C minor, the Courante of Handel's 4th Suite, the Gigue of his 8th Suite, and most of his Allemandes, are instances to the point. In the particular manner of the suite movements both these devices are exceedingly effective as emphasising the balance of halves, and in the finest movements the balance of material and modulation is carefully distributed for the same end. Thus much of form applies more or less to all the movements which are based on dance rhythms, or developed on that principle. Each of the movements has also severally distinct characteristics, upon which the form of the suite as a whole is mainly based. For the better understanding of this it will be best to take the group which forms the average nucleus or so-called canon of the Suite. In the severest simplicity of the form the Allemande comes first, as in all Bach's French Suites, in some of Couperin's, and many by earlier composers. The origin of tho movement is obscure, and it is maintained that it is not based upon any dance, since the Allemande of Suabian origin, said to be the only dance-form of that name known, is quite distinct from it. However that may be, its constitution, which is most important, consists mainly of moderately slow 4-time, with regular smooth motion—most frequently of semiquavers—distributed in a figurate manner between the various parts, and its character has been generally regarded as appropriately quiet and sober; which Mattheson described as the 'Ruhe des Anfangs.' To this the Courante, which almost invariably follows it in the mature suite, is supposed and intended to supply a contrast, but it cannot be maintained that it always does so successfully. The character of this movement varies considerably, owing chiefly to the fact that there are two decidedly distinct forms derived from different sources. The one of Italian origin which is found most frequently in Corelli's Sonatas, in most of Handel's, in some but not all of Purcell's Suites, and in Bach's 5th and 6th French Suites, and 5th Partita, is in 3-4 time, of quick, light, and direct movement, full of rapid passages of simple character, with simple rhythm, and free from complication. This in general supplies in an obvious sense a fair contrast to the Allemande. The other Courante, of French origin, is nominally in 3-2 time, but its characteristic is a peculiar intermixture of 3-2 and 6-4, which is supposed to produce a stronger antithesis to the smooth motion of the Allemande. In the original dance it is said that this characteristic was chiefly confined to the last bars of each half, but in mature suite movements it was elaborately worked into the body of the movement with very curious effect. The quality is shown as early as Kuhnau, but more frequently in Couperin's Suites, from whom it is said Bach adopted it. The following example from Couperin's 3rd Suite is characteristic.

It is possible that Bach adopted this form as affording opportunities for rhythmic experiments; he certainly carried it to great lengths, such as giving the right hand a passage in 3-2 and the left in 6-4—

but the result is not on the whole very successful. In most cases the French Courantes are the least interesting movement of his Suites, and as contrasts to the Allemande do not compare favourably with the Italian Courante. As an element of contrast the crossing of the time is rather theoretical than real, and the necessity of keeping the time moderate in order to make it intelligible brings the strong beats and the average quickness of the shortest notes, as well as the full spread of the bar too near to those of the Allemande; and in the general effect of the Suite these externals tell more strongly than the abstract restlessness of crossing rhythms. It is possible however that the French Courante has one advantage over the Italian; that inasmuch as the latter has more stability in itself, it calls less for a succeeding movement, and presents less perfectly the aspect of a link in the chain than of a movement which might as well stand alone. There is a slight touch of uneasiness about the French Courante which as a step towards the Sarabande is very appropriate. In this latter movement, which is of Spanish or possibly Moorish origin, the rhythmic principle is very pronounced, and at the same time simple. Its external aspect is chiefly the strong emphasis on the second beat of a bar of three in slow time, as is clearly illustrated in Handel's Sarabande in the G minor Suite, in his 'Lascia ch'io pianga,' and in the Sarabande of Bach's F major Suite Anglaise. This is an obvious source of contrast with both the preceding members of the suite, since in both Allemande and Courante there is no pronounced and persistent rhythm, and the pace, though not necessarily quick, scarcely ever comes within the range of motion or style characteristic of definitely slow movements. There is also a further and equally important element of contrast. The first two numbers are characterised in a considerable proportion of instances by a similar free motion of parts. The process of carrying on the figures is sometimes knit by a kind of free imitation, but however desirable it may be theoretically to regard them so, they cannot fairly be described as movements of imitation (Nackahmungsätze). The process is rather that of free figuration of two or three parts, giving in general a contrapuntal effect to the whole. In the Sarabande the peculiar rhythmic character puts both systematic imitation and regular contrapuntal motion equally out of the question. Consequently as a rule a more decidedly harmonic style obtains; the chords are fuller, and move more simultaneously as blocks of harmony. The character of the finest examples is necessarily very pliable, and varies between free melody with simple accompanying harmony, such as those in Bach's Suites Anglaises in F and D minor, Handel's Suites in G minor and E minor; examples in which the prominent melodic features are distributed successively without regularity between the parts, as in those in the Suites Anglaises in G minor and A minor, the Suite Française in B minor, the Partita in B♭, and several of Couperin's; and a few examples in which a figure or characteristic mode of motion is made to prevail almost throughout, as in the Suite Française in E♭. The general effect of the sarabandes is noble and serious, and the music is more concentrated than in any other member of the group of movements. It is thus in various respects the central point of the suite in position; in musical interest and unique quality; and in the fact, as observed and curiously commented on by Nottebohm, that the preceding movements generally tend to solidity and the succeeding movements to lightness and gaiety. The order is in this respect somewhat similar to that of average sonatas, and seems to be the art-exposition of the same ideas of form from the point of view of the musical sense, though differently carried out as far as the actual manner and material of the movements are concerned.

In the most concise examples of the Suite the Sarabande is followed by the final Gigue; but it is so common with all the most notable writers of suites to interpolate other movements, that it may be well to notice them first. These appear to have been called by the older writers Galanterien, and more lately Intermezzi; and seem to have been regarded as a sort of concession to popular taste. But in any way they answer the purposes of form exceedingly well. A very great variety of dances is introduced at this point. The most familiar are the Gavottes, Bourrées, Minuets, and Passepieds. But besides these the most distinguished writers introduced Loures, Polonaises, movements called Arias, and other less familiar forms. Their character on the average is especially light and simple, and in the dance numbers it is remarkable that they always preserve their dance character more decidedly and obviously than any other member of the group. It is not possible to describe them all in detail, as they are too numerous, but their aspect in the group is for the most part similar, and is analogous to that of the Scherzo or Minuet and Trio in the modern sonata. They evidently strengthen the balance on either side of the sarabande both in quality and amount. In many cases there is a considerable group of them, and in these cases it is that the aria is sometimes introduced. This movement has little connection with the modern piece of the same name, as it is generally a short movement in the same balanced form as the other movements, but free from the dance basis and rule of time. It is generally moderately slow, and sometimes consistently melodious, as in Mattheson's Suite in A; but often it is little more than a string of figures, without even melody of much importance. The group of Intermezzi is generally contrasted with the Sarabande and the Gigue either by a square time or by the interchange of moderate movement, such as that of the Minuet; and the conciseness and distinctness of the type is always sufficient to make the relations on both sides perfectly clear.

The Gigue which concludes the series is theoretically, and in most cases actually, of light and rapid style. It is usually based on some rhythmic combination of 3 feet, but even this is not invariable. The balance is in favour of 12-8 time, but 6-8 is also common; and 12-16 and 3-8 not unfrequent, while a few are in some form of common time, as the slow Gigue in the first French Suite of Bach, and the remarkable example in his last Partita in E minor. The old fancy for concluding a work with a fugue is illustrated by the common occurrence of fugal treatment in this member alone of the regular group of the true suite series. This treatment is met with in all directions; in Kuhnau, Mattheson, Handel, Couperin, as well as Bach. The method of application is commonly to begin and carry out a free sort of fugue in the first half, concluding like the other movements in the dominant key; and to take up the same subject freely 'al rovescio' or by contrary motion in the second half, with regular answer as in a fresh fugetta, and carry it out on that basis with the usual direction of modulation, concluding in the original key. Thus the fugal treatment is an accessory to the usual form of the suite movement, which is here as regularly and invariably maintained as in the other members of the group.

The most important accessory which is commonly added to this nucleus is the Prelude. It appears in a variety of forms, and under a great variety of names. The chief point which is most obvious in relation to the other movements is that their characteristic form of nearly equal halves is systematically avoided; in fact any other form seems to have been taken in preference. In many important examples it is the longest and most elaborate movement of all. In some it is a sort of rhapsody or irregular group of arpeggios and other figures based on simple series of chords. Bach commonly developed it on the same broad outlines as some of his largest sonata movements, and the first and last of the Italian Concerto—that is, the distinct balanceing section of clear musical character and full close at the beginning and end of the movement, and the long passage of development and modulation in the middle, sometimes embracing new figures. This is illustrated by the Preludes to the Suites Anglaises in A minor, G minor, F and E minor. In other examples the treatment is fugal, or contains a complete fugue along with other matter of more rhapsodical cast, as in the Toccata of the Partita in E minor; or yet again it is in the form of a Fantasia, or of the Overture as then understood. The effect is certainly to add breadth and stability to the group in no mean degree, and the contrast with the rest of the movements is in every respect unmistakeable. This completes the general outline of the Suite in its finest and most consistently complete form, as illustrated in Bach's Suites Anglaises, which must be regarded as the culminating point of the Suite as an art-form.

In the matter of actual distribution of movements there are plenty of examples of experiments, even in the time when the usual nucleus had come to be generally recognised; in fact there is hardly any large collection of suites which does not present some exceptions to the rules. Bach's departures from the usual outlines are chiefly in the earliest examples, such as the Partitas, in one of which he concludes with a rondo and a caprice. The 'Ouverture à la manière Française,' for Clavier, is in appearance a Suite, but it is clear that Bach had not only the Clavier Suite type in his mind in laying out its plan, but also the freer distribution of numbers in the so-called French Overture said to date from Lulli. In this there is no Allemande; the Sarabande has Intermezzi on both sides of it, and it concludes with an 'Echo' after the Gigue. The works of his which are now commonly known as Orchestral Suites must be put in the same category. For the inference suggested by Dehn's trustworthy observations on the MSS. is that Bach regarded them as Overtures, and that the name Suite was added by some one else afterwards. They depart from the average order of the Clavier Suite even more conspicuously than the above-mentioned work. In his later compositions for Clavier, as has been already remarked, he was very strict. Handel's Suites on the other hand are conspicuous departures from the usual order. They are in fact for the most part hybrids, and very few have the genuine suite character as a whole. The introduction of airs with variations, and of fugues, in the body of the work, takes them out of the category of strict interdependent art forms, and makes them appear rather as casual strings of movements, which are often as fit to be taken alone or in different groups as in the group into which he has thrown them. Moreover they illustrate somewhat, as Nottebohm has also observed, the peculiar position which Handel occupied in art, as not pure German only, but also as representative of some of the finest traits of the Italian branch of the art. The tendency of the Italians after Corelli was towards the Violin Sonata, a distinct branch from the original stem, and to this order some of Handel's Suites tend to approximate. It was chiefly by thorough Germans that the suite-form was developed in its austerest simplicity; and in that condition and in relation to their keyed instruments it seems that the usual group is the most satisfactory that has been devised.

It is obvious that the Suite as an art-form is far more elementary and inexpansive than the Sonata. In fact it attained its maturity long before the complete development of the latter form; and not a little of the interest which attaches to it is derived from that and collateral facts. It was the first instrumental form in which several movements were combined into a complete whole. It was the first in which the ecclesiastical influences which had been so powerful in all high-class music were completely supplanted by a secular type of equally high artistic value. Lastly, it was the highest representative instrumental form of the contrapuntal period, as the Sonata is the highest of the harmonic period. It was brought to perfection when the modern sonata was still in its infancy, and before those ideas of key and of the relations of harmonies which lie at the root of sonata-form had become tangible realities to men's minds. In some respects the complete plan has the aspect of formalism and rigidity. The uniformity of key is sometimes taken exception to, and the sameness of structural principle in each movement is also undoubtedly somewhat of a drawback; but it must be remembered that the form is a representative product of a peculiar artistic period, and devised for a particular keyed instrument, and for minds as yet unaccustomed to the varied elaboration of the sonata. The results are remarkable and valuable in a high degree; and though this may be chiefly owing to the exceptional powers of the composers who made use of the form, it is possible that as a pattern for the combination of small pieces it may still be worthy of regard. In fact the combination of short lyrical movements such as are characteristic of modern times has strong points of analogy with it. Moreover, since it is obviously possible to introduce modifications of some of the details which were too rigid in the early scheme without destroying the general principles of the form, it seems that genuine and valuable musical results may still be obtained by grafting characteristics of modern treatment and expression upon the old stock. There already exist several experiments of this kind by modern composers of mark; and the Suites for orchestra, piano-forte, cello, or violin, by Lachner, Raff, Bargiel, St. Saëns, Tschaikowsky, Ries, and Cowen, are not by any means among their least successful efforts.

[ C. H. H. P. ]

1. See Sonata, vol. iii. p. 559.
2. 'Ouverture à la manière Française.'