J. S. BACH Jonathan Berkahn - Victoria University - Victoria ...

no other way one could hear operas, symphonies, and oratorios outside the opera house
or concert room (Wesley himself made many arrangements of Handel oratorio
movements). However, once transcribed, there was no reason not to exploit the tune
further and make it the occasion for whatever virtuosity the purchaser was capable
of. 102 Composers soon became adept at getting the greatest brilliance from the meanest
technique. Very few variation sets of Wesley’s time broke the mould completely,
although many succeeded through the skill and melodic instinct with which they
exploited common materials. A standard procedure was to begin with a slow or
rhapsodic introduction; then the theme would be followed by a series of variations,
arithmetically decreasing the note-value each time and increasing the virtuosity. The
penultimate variation was usually slower and highly decorated, while the last was
often an extended fantasia on the tune, sometimes in a different time-signature.
In England the practice was the same as on the continent, with one difference.
The success of numerous publications from Playford’s Dancing Master to the Beggars
Opera to Moore’s Irish Melodies had ensured a continuing vogue for folk (or folk-
like) melodies, and these formed an important part of the stock in trade of the English
variation-manufacturers. Haydn, Beethoven, Clementi, Pleyel, and Kozeluch all
produced arrangements of or variations on British folk tunes for this market. This
influence was also perceptible in the sonatas (and especially the sonatinas) 103 of native
British composers: John Burton, James Hook, Matthew Camidge, and indeed Samuel
Wesley himself. Whether based upon actual folk themes or not, many of these pieces
irresistibly suggest the jigs and hornpipes of English country dancing, or song tunes
from the ballad operas.
Next to the variation-set, the rondo was the most congenial home for these
102 It is worth remembering that in doing so they were only following the practice of the first keyboard
intabulations of vocal music: the idea of faithfully arranging a piece without recomposing it in the
process is a relatively recent one.
103 English composers were quick to imitate Clementi’s idea of calling light commercial/educational
sonatas ‘sonatinas’.
180