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

a stretto treatment (at one minim’s distance) of the first line. Already Wesley has
shown admirable contrapuntal facility, both in the scholastic disciplines of close
imitation and stretto, and in the even more important skill of inventing seamless,
flowing lines—but there is more to come.
The next event is a maggiore section which presents a curious variant of the
theme, leaping not from 1 to 5, but from (lower) 5 to 3. After this highly recognisable
head-motive the maggiore tune follows its own course; it is a miniature rondo form in
itself, thus:
A :|| B A' C A"
The last cadence in E major is not quite allowed to arrive, however, and the music is
unceremoniously whisked back to E minor and its environs (b.139). Further imitation
and free development soon announce the contrapuntal climax of the piece: the first
part of the tune is presented as a cantus firmus in minims, against which the melody
proceeds at twice the speed (there is an additional canonic entry in b.168). This will
not work for the second half of the tune, so Wesley contents himself with a canon at
half a bar’s distance (Ex.2.31).
This leaves him with something of a problem at this point. Strict canonic
writing does not (as Clementi also found) lend itself to ‘effective’ keyboard writing.
Wesley has arrived with a pause at the end of the melody, and at his tonic, in the most
undemonstrative manner possible (b.178). It can’t be the end of the piece, but how is
he going to get from here to the usual brillante conclusion? He doesn’t, of course.
Instead he gently reanimates the music with a reflective coda, piu lento rather than piu
mosso. Without actually making much reference to the tune it seems to round the
movement off perfectly. The last line enters twice, and the piece finishes like a
chorale prelude with a tierce de Picardie.
182