Hendrik scripsit:

 >The tie in the bass of
>measure 6 is not terribly different in function from the tie in the
>bass of measure 7.  The harmony changes above a held note in each
>case.

True, though 6/4 - 5/3 (in the case of bar 7) is not reckoned to be a
change of harmony by some theorists!

>Bar 12/13 of the gigue is a good example of a tied bass note
>serving as the foundation of no less than three different harmonies
>(B-flat 5, g-min 6, C-maj 4/2).  The tie is significant here, too.

Yes, 4/2s often sneak in in this way -- and this would have been an option
in bar 6 of the allemande too.

> >3. Replace d1 with f1 and the structure is clarified by a brief
> >articulation where it is needed.  Some would argue that this reading is
> >less interesting; but I think that would be to argue with ears used to the
> >developments of the classical, romantic and modern schools.
>
>Unfortunately, that goes for all of us.  But I think you will admit
>that, harmonically, it is a more static reading than what has been
>transmitted to us.

No question about it; but I maintain that a bit of repose at this point is
not a bad thing.

>These composers tended to avoid stepwise root-position harmony much
>as we might avoid the plague.  Whenever one encounters it playing
>B.C. it tends to be buried in fast passages or from strong to weak
>beats so it can be fudged.  On the other hand, 5-6 sequences over
>rising stepwise lines are about as common as seashells at the
>seashore.

Again, I agree; but the chords in question -- "as transmitted" -- are 5/3,
6/5, which is not something that I can recall with a stepwise or static
bass (bass proceeding by thirds, yes), though I confess that I havent
searched the literature before writing this and I am open to correction.

>   Assuming your
>contention is correct and there is no d in the first half of the
>measure, then the absolute lack of a d in the third quarter would
>tend to bolster your argument as being a voice-leading trick to avoid
>the fifth.  But when I play the passage using your reading I hear the
>fifth implied and it is a parallel fifth.  If I play it on the front
>8' non-luthee, this effect still does not disappear.

Ah, the curse of a well-developed ear!  Maybe you have spent too much time
listening to beats. ;-)  I remember long conversations with an aged piano
tuner in London (I am not wishing to suggest that you are aged, or a piano
tuner).  He had tuned for everyone, the youngest being Gieseking, and it
was quite clear that he was unable to hear music any more, though he heard
every out-of-tuneness of the piano!

>  The gesture is
>not otherwise unknown to Boehm.  The basic voice-leading is no
>different from the sequence in measures 11 and 12 (5-6-5-6...).

But the context and functions of the two bars are completely different.

>   The
>harmonic gesture appears in the allemande of the a-min. suite (#11)
>in measure 4 - first quarter F, second quarter D6, third & fourth
>quarter G.

Sorry.  I regret that I dont have this suite.  I will try to repair this
omission before too long.

> >1. I do not know any other of Boehm's suites well enough to make
> >comparisons, and if I encountered this in a Roseingrave allemande I would
> >not notice it.  (But that composer is often completely out to lunch as far
> >as I am concerned.)
>
>Sounds Kinky! Source for Roseingrave? Serendipity has been sadly
>lacking thus-wise.

Thomas Roseingrave: Eight Suits [sic] of Lessons for the Harpsicord [sic]
or Spinnet in most of the keys; with Variety of Passages & Variations
Throughout the Work.

Performers' Facsimiles No.19 -- Broude Bros.

Some of it is quite odd: many of his contemporaries thought him round the
bend.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

> >3. Bar 7 of the Sarabande -- which can only be described as a cataclysmic
> >happening -- can someone explain this?
>
>I dunno, the copyist had Parkinson's?  Boehm just wanted to see if
>everyone was awake? ;-) It is an amazing moment!  I suspect genius.

We certainly agree on this.  It's like the chord that comes somewhere on
the last CD of Moroney's set of Byrd -- really wakes you up at that point.

>"Formerly the Prussian State Library, Berlin; at present, the
>Tuebingen University Library
>Music Manuscript 40644.  Moeller manuscript from the Wolffheim Library."

Hmm.  The same M/S number as given by Ferguson, though he clearly did not
check his reference!

Thanks, Hendrik, for bearing with me.

david