While we may acknowledge the diligence shown in this monograph, the 
usefulness of some of the information, and the provocative quality of certain 

" suggestions, this reviewer would caution the prospective reader to employ 
his critical faculties to their fullest when using this study. He would also urge 
a more adventurous attitude towards the further exploration of this vital 
body of music. 

Leon Crickmore-C.P.E. Bach: Six Harpsichord 
Concertos [Wq. 43i 

Birmingham: unpubl. thesis for the Master of Arts degree, 
University of Birmingham (England), 1956 

Jane R. Steveris-The Keyboard Concertos of 
Carl Phillipp Emanuel Bach 

Ann Arbor: University Microfilms (UM order No. 65-9718), 
1965 (viii+301 pp., Yale University diss.) " 

Chester Fanning Smith 

The master's thesis of Leon Crickmore appears slightly revised in Music & 
Letters (39/4: 227-41 [July 1958]). Here the title is altered from that of the 
original thesis to simply, '''C. P. E. Bach's Harpsichord. Concertos." That 
such a change in title is possible may give some conception of the nature of 
the thesis. Miss Stevens, on the other hand, sets out to discuss all 52 of the 
concertos and dutifully proceeds from the first to the last. The emphasis of 
both authors is on the form of the concertos. 

About to embark upon an analysis of the form of C. P. E. Bach's harpsi-
chord concertos, the student who is well aware of the chronology of music 
history will expect these works to stand somewhere between the Baroque 
concerto and the Classical concerto. Of course, in a literal sense they do. 
Both authors use this point of view as a basis for their discussions. To what 
extent, then, is C. P. E. Bach, whose father was his only teacher of composi-
tion, influenced by the Baroque concerto? And to what extent" does his 
originality, to which Haydn and Mozart both paid tribute, lead toward the 
establishment of the Classical Concerto? 

The two authors center their interest on the first movements of the 
harpsichord concertos. Each feels that the form of these movements is similar 
to the form' of the fast movements of a Baroque concerto. The ritornello 
principle, upon which the discussions hinge, should perhaps be briefly 
stated. Torelli presents this principle very clearly in his concertos. The quick 

7-C·M. 197 



movements consist roughly of two musical phrases, one assigned to the 
orchestra or tutti, the other to the solo or concertino. The movement is 
constructed by alternating these two elements, taking them through a series 
of closely related keys, and then ending the movement with a final tutti in 
the original key. (J. S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 offers an excel-
lent example of this type of structure.) It is the recurring tutti which provides 
the term "ritornello principle." The number of ritornellos generally varies 
from three to five. The modulations within a movement also become highly 
conventionalized: I-V-(III ifin a minor mode)-VI-II-IV-I. Depending on 
the number of ritornellos, II and IV become optional choices for the com-
poser. 

C. P. E. Bach tends to have four or five ritornellos in the quick movements 
of the harpsichord concertos. This fact and the use of the solo harpsichord 
as a continuo instrument in the ritornellos lead Miss Stevens to conclude that 
Bach is essentially conservative in these works, which span his entire pro-
fessionallife. The key scheme of an entire movement is not discussed in either 
of the studies; one wonders at the omission. One does not expect the composer 
of the amazing Clavier-Sonaten und freye Fantasien, nebst einigen Rondos furs 
Fortepiano fur Kenner und Liebhaber to be conservative in his harmonies! The 
bold espressivo modulations which one comes to expect from Bach as well as 
the juxtaposition of unexpected keys, are elements of the Empfindsamer Stil and 
are found in these concertos as well. 

The Concerto in D minor of 1748, Wq. 23, offers some interesting insights 
into C. P. E. Bach's use of harmony, both on the larger structural level and 
within particular phrases. The structure of the first movement consists of 
five so-called ritornellos which are separated by accompanied statements 
from the solo harpsichord. These ritornellos provide the harmonic skeleton 
of the movement, giving it both scope and direction. It is interesting to see 
how differently Bach plans his harmonic "tour" in comparison with earlier-
as well as later-composers. Instead of the conventionalized scheme stated 
above, there is the following: I-IV-V (lowered from C-sharp 
to C major)-I. This intriguing scheme leads one to speculate that Bach's 
search for musical meaning is centered in the harmony rather than in the 
thematic structure or the repetition of elements. 

The harmony :.vithin individual phrases can only be· described as extra-
ordinary. One is immediately arrested in the first three measures by· the 
downward progression I-V6(minor)-VI. The harmony proceeds at the 
rate of one chord per measure here. In the sixth measure an appoggiatura 
resolves most unusually by arriving at a different chord on the note of 
resolution. In this fashion the music is propelled over a regular eighth-note 
pulsation. Frequently Bach, like Haydn, modulates by bringing the music 
toa temporary pause and simply starting in the new key. One such interesting 
example occurs between the 91 st and 92nd measures. In measure 91 the 
music comes to rest on a six-four chord in G minor. This is directly followed 
by a dominant to tonic progression in E-flat major. Bach makes these more 

198 



distant harmonies meaningful by cpnstan,tly returning to the tonic, D minor, 
during the course of the movement. 

The purpose of this brief discussion of C. P. E. Bach's use of harmony is to 
point out that the harpsichord concertos are actually anything but conserva-
tive. Miss Stevens arrives at the conclusion that they are conservative by 
analyzing the structure from a thematic standpoint without apparently 
being very aware of the novel nature inherent in these compositions. 

Miss Stevens makes the following statement on page 119 of her thesis: 

When ... Bach introduces a recapitulation into a concerto movement, 
... a conflict [italics mine] is produced between the ritornello form and 
the recapitulation design which is superimposed upon it. The fact that 
Bach worked freely after about 1750 with both this form and the more 
traditional, non-recapitulatory one is somewhat puzzling; it seems to 
suggest that he had already moved too far from the traditional ritor-
nello concept to be disturbed by what appears to be a fundamental 
dichotomy [italics again mine] between these two formal types. 

I frankly find this statement puzzling, and was heartened by Mr. Crick-
more's interesting comparison ofC. P. E. Bach's use of the so-called ritornello 
form to the textbook definition of concerto form. In one column he lists· the 
alternating tuttis and solos and compares them in an opposite column to the 
usual elements of sonata-allegro form: Exposition, Development, Recapitu-
lation. The comment has been made that practically nowhere in C. P. E. 
Bach does one find what can truly be called a development in the usual sense 
of the term. This type of comparison may therefore be questioned. It is my 
contention, however, that such a comparison is made valid by Bach's 
harmonic practice. The harmony has a restless quality in most of his music 
almost from the very start, as in the D minor concerto discussed above. This 
restlessness tends to give the music the flavor of developing while the thematic 
outlines remain intact. On the other hand, there seems to be a clear relation 
between the ritornello form and what Miss Stevens calls a "recapitulati9n 
design" : the first and last tuttis are in the same key, and the last substantially 
recapitulates the first. 

Referring once again to the Concerto in D Minor, Wq. 23, one finds, as 
in the Classical concerto, a clearly stated double exposition. The orchestra 
states theme I in the tonic and theme II in its relative major. This part of 
the exposition is followed by a harmonically exact restatement of both theme 
I and theme II with the harpsichord presenting the thematic material in 
conjunction with the orchestra. Here the similarity with concerto form ends. 
Instead of a so-called development section, there are statements of the same 
material in new keys, until the final orchestral tutti, in the same key as the 
first tutti, functions in a recapitulatory fashion and rounds out the movement. 
A development section would have been superfluous in this work, because of 
the general feeling of harmonic searching which characterizes the movement 
from the very,beginning. 

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