form and in those of a more abstract type there is a sparkling
fancy and an adjustment of the thought to his instrument, which
will keep them forever immortal.[71]
[Footnote 70: For an interesting and comprehensive account of
this development see Grove’s Dictionary, Volume IV, article on
the Suite.]
[Footnote 71: For extensive comments on Scarlatti’s style see
The History of the Pianoforte and Pianoforte Playersby Oscar
Bie, pp. 68-90.]
The grouping together of dance forms reached its highest devel-
opment through the genius of Sebastian Bach in the so-called
French and English Suites.[72] In these compositions—in the
Partitas and in the orchestral Suite in D major, which contains
the well-known Aria, often played in transcription for Violin
solo—the dance-forms are not employed literally but are made
a vehicle for the expression of varied types of human emotion
and sentiment. Nor should we overlook the twelveHarpsichord
Lessonsof Handel—especially the superb Fugue in E minor in
the Fourth Suite—which are noteworthy for their vigor, though,
in freshness and delicacy of invention, not to be compared with
Bach’s.
[Footnote 72: These titles, according to Parry (see his life of
Bach, Chapters IV and XII passim), were not given by Bach
himself but were assigned, in the case of the French Suites, to
denote the delicacy of treatment found therein, and in the En-
glish, a certain massive style.]
We now give a tabulated list of the customary dance forms,
both as found in the Classic and the modern Suite or used as
independent pieces; and we shall then analyze those which have
the most characteristic rhythmic pattern.