Examines aspects of figured bass notation and continuo realization in
the High Baroque, especially with respect to the operas and oratorios of
G. F. Handel.
This pioneering study examines aspects of figured bass notation and
continuo realization in the High Baroque, especially with respect to the
operas and oratorios of G. F. Handel. Contemporary treatises, Handel's
manuscripts, original performance material, and other early sources
provide clarification and guidance for the modern performer.
Part one is an overview of figured bass in Handel source materials:
autograph manuscripts, performing scores, original keyboard parts, 18th
century scribal copies, and early editions. Part two treats in depth
continuo realization problems that are often overlooked and can be
troublesome in modern performances. The author defines the most common
bass patterns, or formula-progressions, in Handel's music, together with
the precise harmony the composer intended.
The author attempts to show that continuo figuring can serve different
functions depending oncontext. Much of the figuring that comes down to
us in secondary sources may derive from the composer, or it may reflect
valid contemporary practice. Modern editions, in the main, are too
selective in this regard: they only include bass figuring from primary
sources, leaving the modern performer frequently without sufficient
guidance in the continuo part to improvise a stylistic accompaniment.
Appendices include brief examples of continuo realization by Handel.
Patrick J. Rogers is an active keyboard player and former Fulbright
Scholar who studied Handel under Theodor Göllner, Roland Jackson,
Terence Best, and the late J. Merrill Knapp.
