Most of us have forgotten what the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were, because only one remains: The Pyramids of Giza. I like to think that there are Seven Wonders of the World of Baroque Music as well, and it would be sad indeed to hear performances of baroque music in which only one "wonder" is at all illuminated.

If the performer neglects articulation or character (affect) for instance, then the listener will surely be in the dark about baroque music. Carl Philipp Emmanual Bach said it succinctly: "...A stirring performance depends on an alert mind which is willing to follow reasonable precepts in order to reveal the content of compositions." ¹ These characteristics that made the baroque era, that curious "pearl," more interesting, also made the music special, ie. contrast, spectacle, drama, extreme emotionalism, etc.

Many musical aspects of these characteristics centered around the solidification of the harmonic scheme we call tonality and which we now take so much for granted. It is the most basic of my "Seven Wonders" and the characteristic from which the other six flow.

Here are the essentials as I see them:

1. Harmony - the tonal system, a basic source.
2. Strong vs. Weak - beats and measures, too basic to ignore.
3. Rhythm and Pulse - no sewing machines.
4. Affect -character
5. Counterpoint - harmonically conceived.
6. Embellishment - the joys & mysteries of ornamentation & extemporization.
7. Articulation - baroque music's inflection.

1. Harmony

Performers who revel in or celebrate the riches of tonality will reward their audiences as well as themselves. If we put ourselves in the shoes of a musician of the late baroque years, we see what must have been excitement in the air. There had gradually arisen during the early and middle baroque, a gradated system of chordal relations that had not previously existed, "relations between a tonal center and the other triads (or 7th chords) of that diatonic scale." ² This was, and still is, tonality.

Chords now had a function: to circumscribe the key. Moving away from the tonic or home key and then returning to it provides the contrast of tension and release we may have studied about, but have we communicated this tension and release with our playing? Bukhofzer tells us that 7th chords on every degree of the scale, and diminished 7th chords in particular, became important resources of tonality. ³ As players, we can often spot unusual harmonies such as diminished 7th chords, by noting sharps or flats which do not belong to the scale of that key. Bach's Prelude #1 in C Major, from the First Book of the Well Tempered Clavier, which many players know, contains diminished 7th chords in several measures. In measure 28 for example, the chord is g, e-flat, a, c and f#, easy to spot as a chord that does not "belong" to the key of C Major.

Players need to "point out" to the audience, (even if it is only to your teacher), those color chords and strong harmonies such as diminished 7ths, secondary dominants, and pedal points, or the arrival of the home key or a deceptive arrival. How to do this?

1. Precede the unusual harmony with a larger than normal articulation. In some cases, this may even call for the tactic of delaying the beat a bit (agogic accent). Not too many agogic accents, please! Sounds too "mannered" and overdone.
2. Hold the notes of these chords a little longer -even smear arpeggiated notes together, to draw attention to them.

These harmonies create dissonance in the music, which you can hear as you play. You ARE seriously listening as you play, aren't you? J. J. Quantz divided dissonances into three classes, according to their "effects." In the third [and loudest] class, Fortissimo, he placed, along with other chords, the diminished 7th. ⁴ Elsewhere, he insisted that: "Consonances make the spirit peaceful and tranquil; dissonances, on the other hand, disturb it...The more...that a dissonance is distinguished and set off from the other notes in playing, the more it affects the ear." ⁵

Be bold in your playing, and let the string tones and the belly of your instrument fully reverberate on any peculiarly colorful and ingratiating chords you may find. As a harpsichordist, take advantage of your opportunities to suspend an audience in time!

Notes, Part One

1. Carl Philipp Emmanual Bach, Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, translated & edited by William J. Mitchell (New York: W. W. Norton, 1949) p. 148.
2. Manfred Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era, (New York: W. W. Norton, 1949) p. 220.
3. Ibid.
4. Johann J. Quantz, On Playing the Flute, translated by Edward R. Reilly (New York, Schirmer Books, 1966) p. 256.
5. Ibid, p. 254.

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Part 2