BUKOFZER, Allegory in Baroque Music

Allegory in Baroque Music
Author(s): Manfred Bukofzer

Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 3, No. 1/2 (Oct., 1939 -
Jan., 1940), pp. 1-21
Published by: The Warburg Institute
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/750188
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ALLEGORY IN BAROQUE MUSIC
By Manfred Bukofzer
It for
is common knowledge that baroque art shows a great predilection
emblems and allegories. So far this has been studied chiefly in
painting and sculpture, and in poetry. In music the question has not
attracted the attention of many students, apart from scholars like Schering,1
who have devoted their attention to special aspects of the problem. It is
even sometimes denied categorically that music can make any use of
symbol and allegory at all; for these are means of indirect expression
which associate pictures and attributes with abstract ideas, and since, however,
abstract concepts do not enter into music, it might be maintained that it
cannot possibly make any use of allegory. To be sure, music cannot
represent abstract concepts directly; but that does not imply that allegory
is absolutely excluded from music. Nor can painting represent abstract
concepts directly : if it shows us a woman with bandaged eyes and a sword
and a pair of scales, our recognition of this woman as Justice depends
upon an intellectual convention which has nothing essential to do with
painting. Allegory, therefore, implies a mental act, namely understanding.
But even if this act is not performed, the representation remains to this
extent intelligible, that we see a woman with particular attributes, which
from an artistic point of view can be made more or less convincing. The
allegory can be misunderstood, or indeed not understood at all, without
the picture becoming thereby altogether senseless. A painting supplies in
the first place a sensuous impression, then a meaning is superimposed on
this impression by the interpreter. The difficulty lies precisely in this
second process, since the interpretation is not subsequent to the visual
impression, but coincides with it and even sometimes precedes it.2 In
the same way, music supplies primarily a sensuous impression of tone and
rhythm; is it not possible, then, to superimpose an intellectual significance
upon this sensuous impression?
Those who refuse to admit this might argue that music cannot represent
anything definite, in the sense that painting represents a house, a flower,
or a woman. But music has definite, specifically musical objects, such as
rhythms and melodies. It betrays a very superficial view of the matter
to distinguish music from painting or poetry by asserting that it cannot
represent a house or a flower. This implies a false application of pictorial
standards to music. It would be equally false to require painting to represent
specifically musical objects, such as a definite melody or musical rhythm.
It is more to the point to inquire whether or not a specifically musical or a
specifically pictorial object can be furnished with a meaning which does not
reside in it from the start. This is the case with painting, and there is no
1 Arnold Schering : "Die Lehre von den 2 There can be no doubt that the spectator,
musikalischen Figuren," Kirchenmusikalisches knowing the meaning already in advance,
Jahrbuch, I9o8. "Bach und das Symbol," has quite a different attitude toward the work
Bach-Jahrbuch, 1925 und. 1928. "Geschicht- and actually sees more at the first glimpse
liches zur 'ars inveniendi,' " Jahrbuch Peters, than a man lacking this knowledge.
1925.
I
2 M. BUKOFZER
fundamental differe
for instance, an allego
Mars, it would be po
of war in the form
understand such a ma
capacity to interpret
allegory of war.
Before we examine
clear about the mean
symbolism is understoo
That is to say, things
certain ambiguous ex
than what they mean
and symbol would al
employs signs. For
completely valueless.
The only possibility o
will consist in an attem
to its meaning. For in
the difference lies in the relation of the intuitive to the mental side of the
process.
It is convenient to differentiate between three kinds of relation. The
first is a purely conventional and accidental one. The sign "red light"
means "stop". That is a convention; the colour might just as well be
different. Sign and meaning have nothing to do with each other :they
are divergent.
In the second class, the sign and the meaning are somewhat more closely
connected. The sign has something in common with the meaning. For
example, a triangle in a church can signify the Trinity. The common
element here resides in the numerical correspondence. In this case the
relation between the sign and its meaning is not arbitrary. Intuition and
comprehension hang together : they are coherent.
Coherence is recognised by means of an intellectual act. But it is not
always certain whether the spectator performs this act properly. He may
misread the meaning. A triangle, for instance, might be a traffic sign.
In this case the meaning is arbitrary; sign and meaning diverge.
Where sign and meaning converge, the problem arises whether the
sign is to be understood in its literal sense or figuratively. If I see a picture
of a lion, I cannot tell whether I have before me merely a picture of a lion
or an allegory of courage. The distinction between literal and figurative
understanding can only exist in the case of signs with coherent significance,
for in the case of signs with divergent significance the form of the sign is
completely immaterial so far as the act of interpretation is concerned.
The possibilities of coherence are limited to relatively few common
notions. The connection lies either in a common property, or analogy
(triangle-Trinity), or in a comparison (brave as a lion), or in the notion
ALLEGORY IN BAROQUE MUSIC 3
of a part standing for the whole (the sword mean

Almost all signs with a coherent meaning can be a
concepts. In each case we proceed by means of
external character of the sign to the figurative me
On the other hand, sign and meaning can be rela
Instead of proceeding from the appearance of the
linking them together, we find that the meaning i
the appearance. In all coherent signs it is possible
in words without the help of signs. In this case it
consists of words with a definite meaning whic
dictionary, but this will not give us the meaning
meaning of it is something which cannot be trans
Therefore the meaning is directly bound up with t
through them alone, yet it is not completely give
If I arranged the words in a different order, I s
In this type, where the sign and its meaning ar
longer a question of whether something is to be
figuratively. The sign is now absolutely insepar
In contradistinction to divergent and coherent s
these signs is inherent.
An example from music will make this quite
melody is a succession of tones; let us take then a s
Ex. I.
We have here a succession of tones, but not a melody. We call such

a conglomeration of tones senseless or meaningless. What gives a melody
meaning is something specifically musical, which cannot be expressed in
words; the specifically musical meaning lies in the music itself.' The
tones are now signs of a spiritual significance which cannot be released with-
out the assistance of these signs. In this sense, what a symphony means
for us cannot be expressed verbally; if it were possible to do this, there would
be no need to compose the symphony.
This inquiry into the relationship of sign and meaning has led us then
to consider three different kinds of figurative expression. We have now
to consider what we should call these three forms. In the first case, that
of divergence, we may call them signs. In the second case, that of coherence,
we may call them allegories; and in the third case, that of inherence, we
may call them symbols.
Signs are applied arbitrarily without regard to their external form;
allegories must be chosen and interpreted understandingly, since the sign
and the meaning must hang together in some intelligible way; symbols
1 Cf. Manfred Bukofzer, "Hegel's Musik- et de Science de l'Art, Paris, I937, Vol. II,
aesthetik," Report of the Congres d'Esthldtique p. 32.
4 M. BUKOFZER
are bound up with the intuit

in the very act of appearing; th
terms without regard for the
This distinction must und
already seen that we are not
have meanings as with the es
of the relation between the s
and inherence are therefore
expression. As the theme o
chiefly with coherence.
We find in the music of the

when the text reads "descend
the text reads "ascendit in
are generally called tone sym
symbolism is so broadly used
what we have before us is a m
expressed in the word "descen
figurative transformation, is
It should be noted that th
expression of the textual ph
figures have nothing expre
or feeling, since the shape of
well be a descending third, a
notes. As far as the allegory
example, the shape of the sca
there must be a pair of scale
What is embodied, then, in
the descent from heaven, b
same figure can be, and has
in hortum" from the Song
an abstract idea, just like in p
of imagery is different in m
different types of allegory. T
are notions associated with th
descent, height, depth, jumpi
The theoretical writers of
puzzle their heads about the s
allegory, and various system
baroque treatises at our disp
1 Examples of beginning
descending motifs
with Ellip
found in nearly every Mass
Epistrophe, etc. of t
century; they seldom occur, howev
4 Glareanus, ADAE
Gregorian chant.Adrian Petit Coclicu
2 So Arnold Schering,
1552. H. J. Mo
others. G. Zarlino, Istituzion
s The theorists C. Schneegass,
borrow Isag
their terms
always from the writers of
S. Calvisius, rhe
MEAOI
long list of instances could
dendae ratio, be q
I592.
although his "Musica Poetica" is not in fact very origina
from many earlier treatises.' But for this very reason i
tendency of the age, which makes it particularly relev
This work, which dates from I643, is a brief manual of
devotes a special chapter to "words and text". He di
res and verba, which are susceptible of musical allegor
matter, and verba refers to the so-called "meaning of t
der Worte"), a concept which recurs over and over
theory of this period. An example of "res" is the gene
In that case, the composer must choose a key which
mood. The idea that each of the twelve modes expresse
of passion goes back to ancient music, which, howe
but only systematized these correspondences. It is
present context to enter into this much discussed prob
that these coordinations have cosmological, not mus
strings and tones were coordinated with certain planets
of corresponding effects to music is due to astrology. T
is not confined to the ancient world, but is also found
India, and Java. In the baroque period these cosmo
of different characters have already become conventio
lost much of their original connotation and are retain
the general humanist equipment.
Far more important than these modal coordinations
tropic expressions and of the so-called loci topici (figu
are technical terms of rhetoric which have been transfe
to music by allegorizing the words of the text.2 Herbst
Verba Motus et Locorum, enumerates the words associ
and rest, after having mentioned the locus topicus: sta
ascendere, descendere, coelum, abyssus, montes, profu
he adds the adverbia temporis, such as : celeriter, veloci
Much more comprehensive than Andreas Herbst's is J
account of the loci topici.3 Writing in the first half o
L. Zacconi, Prattica di Musica, 1592.
J. Heinichen, Neu-erfundene ... Anweisung
(11. I622). zum Generalbass, I7II.
M. Vogt, Conclave
S. Calvisius, Compendium Musicae, I594.thesauris magnae artis
J. Burmester, Hypomnematum musicae
musicae, 1719- poe-
ticae, 1599. J. Mattheson, Critica Musica, I725.
S. Calvisius, Exercitationes duae, I6oo00. J. Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister,
J. Nucius, Musices poeticae, I6I3. I739-
M. Praetorius, Syntagma musicum III, 1619. A. Scheibe, Critischer Musicus, I743.
J. Criiger, Synopsis musica, 1624. 1 Herbst himself gives a list of ten authors
Volupius Decorus (Wolfgang Sch6nsleder), of whom he made use. The passage in
Architectonice musices universalis, 163 I. question is derived from Calvisius.
Chr. Bernhard, Tractatus compositionis aug- 2 Cf. Arnold Schering, "Bach und das
mentatus, about I650. Symbol" (second study), Bach Jahrbuch, 1928.
J. C. Printz, Phrynidis Mytilinaei . . .I, Schering's rendering of Scheibe's account of
1696. the tropic expression is not quite correct.
Chr. Caldenbach, Dissertatio musica, 1664. 3j. Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capell-
D. Speer, Grundrichtiger ... Unterricht oder meister, Part II, Ch. IV, Von der melo-
vierfaches musikaliches Kleeblatt, 1697. dischen Erfindung, ? 20.
6 M. BUKOFZER
he takes a critical vie

standards of baroque
pleonasm and suggest
regards music as a lang
rede), which is to vie
listener: "Der Musik E
deren Rhythmum, tr
at length the locus nota
the elaboration of a co
in the form of inversio
other hand, is for hi
Invention." The "pas
("beschrieben oder abg
be imagined may be
choose my examples chi
are found in their mo
even Bach's contempor
That Bach constantly

and stated by Albert
however, make no diffe
and use these words
the other hand, we are
of musical phrases whi
words in the text. L
a predecessor of Bach'
The text runs: "I sink in deep and bottomless mire."4 To this text
Buxtehude writes a melody which descends to the deepest abysses of
the bass.
Ex. 2.
Ich ver- sin- ke im tie- fen Schlamm wo kein Grund ist
6 6 6 76
3 3 5
In a similar way Bach de

downwards, particularly
1J.Mattheson, 4 D. op. cit. (after

Buxtehude, D
Vorrede kunst, XIV, p. 61
zur Temperatur).
* A. Schweitzer, J. S. Bach,
6 Ausgabe der l
Poite, 1905. 20, p. 75.
3 A. Pirro, L'Esthitique de J. S.
Ex. 3-
Noch viel Fin- ster- nis
or, "here all is night" :1

Ex. 4-
ist ja lau- ter Nacht
Finally, "this is the darkness."1

Ex. 5-
es ist die Dun- kel- heit
6
5
We see here that different words such as "night" and "darkness" on

the one hand, and "sinking" and "abyss" on the other, are illustrated
by the same musical device.
Now an example of distance. When the text reads "so far," Bach writes
an interval in which the tones are widely spaced.
Ex. 6.3
Kommt es doch so weit
6 7b
6 4 5
Here Bach w
with the words "wandered far and wide."4
1 BG 5, P. 30. 3 BG 5, P. 222.
2BG I, p. 170. 4 BG 18, p. 274.
8 M. BUKOFZER
Ex. 7-
Ach, ich ir- re weit und breit
36 2
Whereas here the musical allegory repos

Bach uses diminished ninths in a quite dif
allegorize anger and horror. For insta
Herod."x
Ex. 8.
Und wenn der written-de He- ro- des
75 6
5
2
This is a musical phrase which we have already heard as a setting to the

words "so far." But the diminished ninth is used here not for the sake of
distance, but on account of its harmonic sharpness. The point of comparison
is that an angry man is wont to utter loud and hideous cries. This is even
clearer in a passage where deeds of horror are spoken of.
Ex. 9.2
dem Greu- el an hei- li- ger Stlt-te
u ,- " " i z , ', . . F. - b,
Here again Bach does not use the ninth because of the distance
of the harmonic dissonance. It sounds as horrible as the horrors Bach
wishes to allegorize.
The same interval can acquire still a third meaning. Where the text
says "my soul's ardent desire"3 this diminished ninth appears once again.
1 BG 12, 2, p. I40. 3 BG 32, p. 64.
2 BG 20, I, p. 211.
Ex. Io.
wo mei- ner See- le briin-sti- ges Ver- lan-gen
6 72 6
2
Here the meaning is dependent upon the harmonic relation just as in the
scene of "horrors" or in the case of the "raging Herod." We see, then,
how the same interval may allegorize three distinct notions with different
emotional associations. This is only possible because the musical allegory
is not expressive: that is to say, it does not convey its meaning through
the emotions.
These examples prove that musically similar motifs can allegorize different
things. The unambiguous interpretation of the allegory is only possible
with the text before us. Since the ninth is an interval with a great stretch,
and is also harmonically a strong dissonance, it can appear both as an
allegory of distance and as an allegory of horror. The decisive factor is
the intellectual point of departure.
* * *
We see, then
just as in visu
meanings.
Music does not plainly imitate what is allegorized. It produces an event
in the musical sphere which is analogous to an event in the spiritual sphere.
When Mattheson speaks of "depicting the passions" (Abmalung der Affekte),
he does not mean imitation of expression, but figurative analogy which is
produced by the intellect alone. It is often very difficult to establish an
analogy between the two realms of the sensuous and the spiritual. Hence,
the point of comparison appears to us often very far fetched. From the
way in which the analogy is contrived we can learn a great deal about the
style of a given period.
The analogies in music may refer only to one voice or to all the voices,
to the rhythm alone, to the harmony alone, to the setting and instrumentation
alone, or simply to the intensity of sound. It is also possible to combine
some or all of these elements. When, for example, the word "fall" is to
be represented by a musical allegory, the orchestra might run from the top-
most heights to the deepest depths in a wild downward rush, as for example
Richard Strauss might manage it. In this case voices, harmony, rhythm,
instrumentation would all be involved. In a prelude of Bach to the chorale
"Through Adam's fall debased,"' the fall of Adam is allegorized by means
of plunging intervals in the bass, but these intervals are at the same time
diminished sevenths, and therefore contrasting dissonances which here
allegorize Adam's degradation, precisely in the same way as the scenes of
horror were described before by sharpened octaves.
1 BG 25, 2, Orgelbuichlein.
Io M. BUKOFZER
Ex. IIa.
This figure runs through the whole prelude. It is not episodic, t

as it would be in Strauss, but plays a structural part in the whole com
Moreover, the other voices move in a strictly chromatic way ag
given choral melody in order to allegorize Adam's ruin.
Ex. iib.
(Durch A- dams Fall ist ganz ver- derbt)
This prelude of Bach's is an instrumental composit

with the use of words. It is not quite correct, theref
music with a verbal text can make use of allegory. A
so too, if there is any extra-musical reason which can
upon it. Here, in the case of the chorale prelude,
words, but they are implied, as the listener is expect
words when he hears the music; otherwise both alleg
and that of Adam's degradation-would be quite uni
The same figures which Bach used to describe foots
also occur in his instrumental music. This makes i
parody his own works by converting instrumental compo
Thus, the slow movement from the piano concerto in
in the cantata "We have to pass through much grie
Again it is important to observe that the pain an
expressed here by purely emotional means. The
merely indicates sadness. Like footsteps and other ab
motion, sorrow is systematized by allegorical musi
frequent device for this purpose is the so-called pass
is to say, chromatic motifs which prefer melodic pro
This figure is very old. It occurs in Italian madrigals
and frequently in the I7th century in the works of
reads "miserere" the figure is almost stereotyped.
1 Cf. Chr. Bernhard, Tractatus compositionis, i I, 29 (J. Miiller-Bla

lehre Heinrich Schiitzens, 1926).
ALLEGORY IN BAROQUE MUSIC ix
Ex. 12.1
mi- se- re- re, mi- se- re- re mi- se- re- re no- bis
or with Bach in the St. John's Passion to the words "and wept bitterly."
Ex. I3.2
und wei- - ne- te
42
6 b56- 5M
s6q 6 4546 6
The same figur

Ex. 14.3
ein Ue- bel- ta. ter
---FL At I
It is, however, also poss

a cheerful meaning as
gleichfalls mit freudige
gladness." Here the fig
Ex. 15.4
zu schie- ben
... . c0,
Thus the chromatic progression h
of St. John alone.
1 Andr. Hammerschmidt, Missae,
follow" represented by the threefold imitation I66
(after Pirro, op. of the initial
cit., p. motif
83). in the basso continuo,
2Bach, St. John's the tenor Passion, Eulenbur
voice and the instrumental upper
Miniature Score, part. p. The 48.fugato here signifies following.
3 Ibid., p. 59- Secondly, the word "joyful" coincides with
Ibid., p. 39. The English
a slurred, vivacious motif ofversions
the tenor, often of
this aria demonstrate used by Bachconclusively
to indicate joy. The "foot- that
translation of Bach's Cantata texts cannot steps," finally, are represented by the peculiar
correctly be done without paying attention conduct of the bass with its sudden rests-a
to musical allegories. The aria beginstypical with figure for steps. A translation not
the words "Ich folge Dir gleichfalls mit
regarding this triple allegory destroys the
freudigen Schritten," (which means literallypoint. The "classical" English version by
'I follow thee also with joyful footsteps').the Rev. J. Troutbeck is correct only as
In the very beginning three different far as the allegory of following is concerned.
allegories are superimposed. Firstly, "I It coordinates the word "Saviour" with the
S2 M. BUKOFZER
These examples are particularly i
notion of what is 'painful' in mu
Precisely at this point where the f
must always express the feeling of
to remark that the so-called "pas
music discuss, are not to be conf
to be described as a group of typif
represented by corresponding f
emotion would be as false here as
character is more obvious.
The intellectual element is most evident where the allegory is addressed

not only to the sense of hearing but also to the sense of sight. Again the
analogy of 'falling' is a characteristic instance. The movement of somethin
falling from above to a place below is by no means identical with th
movement from the higher to the lower note. High and low, as far as not
are concerned, are merely spatial metaphors which must not be taken literally
In many periods and countries the tones are not called high and low, but
heavy and light or sharp (gravis and acutus, grave and aigiie).
The musical allegories which address themselves to the senses of sight
and sound are particularly frequent in Bach. Let us take three example
In the cantata Hercules am Scheidewege the words "for the snakes which
tried to seize me with their lullaby"2 are represented by winding figures
in the bass.
Ex. 16.
denn die Schlan- gen so mich woll- ten wiegend fan- gen
To be sure, one hears this rise and fall, but the allegory of winding appears
in its clearest shape only in the musical notation. The bass is of course
motif of joy and pays no attention to by putting to it the word "sadness." It
would require a whole book to discuss all
the footsteps (I follow thee also, my Saviour,
with gladness). Thus, both motifs, thatthe
of blunders of the different translations of
joy and that of the footsteps, become Bach's oratorios and cantatas.
musically absurd and meaningless. A 1 The strict meaning of the word "passion"
modern translation by J. Atkins : "I follow,
(Affekt) deserves further investigation. It is
a fundamental notion of baroque psychology,
I follow with gladness to meet thee", is better
from one point of view. It takes accountthe of history of which is not yet written. The
"Traites des Passions" written for painters,
the allegory of joy by putting the word "glad-
ought to be correlated with those of the
ness" to the motif ofjoy. It misses, however,
musical theorists, not to speak of the
the allegory of footsteps. Atkins connects
definitions and deductions in the "systems
in bar 63/64 the above-mentioned chromatic
of the passions" produced by contemporary
progression which indicates 'pushing,' with
the word "urge." This is, indeed, far better
philosophers.
than the classical version, which actually 2 BG 34, p. 147-
reverses the cheerful meaning of the motif
not an emotional expression of the snakes, but indicates

to their convolutions. The melody, however, also
"wiegend" by constantly representing the stereotyp
Here we have two meanings superimposed : the snak
lullaby in the vocal line.
In the text of the Sermon on the Mount : "And w
mete, it shall be measured to you again,"' Bach used
as an allegory of the correspondence of earthly action a
Ex. I7.
Denn wie ihr messt wird man euch wieder
mes- -sen
denn wie ihr messt wird man euch wie-der
mes- -sen
-F
This is the meaning of the m

of counterpoint. Those part
period, turn downward in t
is strictly carried out, so that
It should also be noted tha
in an inversion but also in
sequence of notes from back
still more sharply. The v
astonishing, but it becomes
Ex. I8.
Denn wie ihr messt wird man euch wieder mes- -sen, denn
_ _ _ I ,1 1.--I- -
76 4
4 2
1 BG 37,
Schtitz p.fashion,
in a far more primitive io8
2 Another exam
by splitting the choir into halves, one of
Rechten und einer zur Linken" are illustrated which sings "einer zur Rechten" and the
by Bach again by a melodic inversion. Theother "einer zur Linken".
same text had already been allegorized by
14 M. BUKOFZER
denn wie ihr messt wird man euch wieder mes- -sen
rtt~ -
6Z
9
75
5
6
5
g
25
6 7
5$ 2
Here yo
lines. Th
scales, th
All pass
a genera
or canon
allegory
musical
Again t
More pr
eye-mus
words.
coloured
sum. Th
filling
had alre
dieses n
sollte, so
seinem
to be fo
the wor
complica
to the e
mention
"cross5"
in the s
Though
ones mi
shall be
Ex. 19.
Wer sich selbst er- h6- -het der
S . IJ iIki"-F ,
1 Cf. also theMadrigal,"

chorus of Zeitsch
the Je
St. John's Passion "We
schaft, have a
XIV.
set as a strict fugue.
3 BG Io, p. 246.
2Cf. Alfred Einstein, "Augen
soil er- nie-dri- get wer- den und wer sich selbst er nie-
- dri- get der soll er-h6- - het wer- den.
Bach uses here the spatial analogy of a rising and falling

to exaltation and abasement. That is quite simple.
second allegory in that he sharpens the notes in the risin
places and flattens them in the descending melody, since in
and "erniedrigen" are also musical technical terms mean
to flatten. This twofold allegory turns out to be more o
that on the word "Kreuz," which is intelligible only in th
and which appears only in the musical notation.
If we wish to see how far it is possible to carry th

every conceivable sort of allegory, we have only to look
of the cantata "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God".1 Ex. 20.
See p. 16, 17.
The text quotes the first Commandment, which lays down the law of love
as the foundation of the Christian faith. The whole composition is carried
through in strict imitation. The fugue here signifies the quotation of a
dogmatic sentence from the New Testament. As we have already seen,
the fugal form allegorizes law. To the words of the first Commandment
the trumpet plays the chorale "These are the Holy Ten Commandments."
The quotation itself points, like the finger in pictures of the Crucifixion,
at the Commandment. The text is taken for granted as commonly known,
and the melody represents the meaning of the text. The bass of the chorus
takes up the melody of the trumpet, though in a special form-namely a
canon in augmentation. All the values are doubled, and thereby the ten
Commandments are made the basis of the whole, just as they are the basis
of human life. The chorale melody is played by the trumpet, the instrument
which Bach always uses as the allegory of the majesty of God, often to the
point of representing the voice of God himself.
This high estimation of the trumpet is shown also in its social aspect,
when we remember that trumpeters were the most respected and most
highly paid of all musicians. It is amusing to note that Bach always puts
the trumpet at the top of the score, as a kind of spatial allegory of God's
supremacy.
Finally, it appears during the course of the movement that the chorale
1 BG 18, p. 235. Cf. the analysis of Pirro and especially Schering, Bach-Jahrbuch, (op. cit
p. 154 f.), Schweitzer (op. cit., p. 442) 1925.
16 M. BUKOFZER
Ex. 20.
Dominica 13 post Trinitatis.

,,Du ot(L1t ott, beinen ferren,tiben".
Tromnba da tirarsi.
M.. ..
Melodie:,,Dias sind die hei 'E zeh n Gebot
a .
. ..
-_. . .
.
. .
. .
. I
. ..0
-A
i . ... . f M v, INV
6 ,_.... . . ..
, , , ,1 ... ....
D o , ..... .. . .
I) sollst Gott dei e, Her- re, liebeuvo. ga.eni,
ollsto itt, dei.ane Her.rem, lie.Ac n gapzem Her . ..
D sollt ott, dl Herren, lie. ben yoa ganzem Her .
lie ben ron ganzem Her "-.
. . . .- - . . . zen;
zen, do sollstGott,drinen Herrc
. zen, du sollstOot~ dinHer
18 M. BUKOFZER
melody is deliberately d
in allusion to the tenfold number of the Commandments. Here we have
a play on numbers.
In this cantata, therefore, there are five different allegories supe
imposed : first, the Commandment "Thou shalt love thy Lord" allegorize
by means of a fugue; then the quotation from the chorale "These are th
Holy Ten Commandments," as a tacit allusion to the Commandment
thirdly, the augmented bass melody, which turns the Commandments in
a fundamental law by means of canon form, the most rigid of all melod
accompaniments; fourthly, the trumpet as the allegory of the voice of G
and fifthly, the tenfold entrance of the chorale melody as a mystical allegory
of the number ten.
Here it may truly be said that there is nothing in this movement without
a definite meaning, just as in baroque pictures of allegories every line has
a positive figurative sense. But the most important point of all is that
the music is real music. The allegories have a concrete reality and are
no pale constructions invented for the nonce. This fivefold overlay takes
place simultaneously, as can happen only in music, without breaking
through the artistic unity of the piece. For the movement is a self-contained
affair. When we recognize the fivefold complex of meaning and hear it
as a simultaneous musical unity, we experience a feeling of immense richness.
As we listen, it is as though we were perpetually leaping from one meaning
to another. This multiplicity in unity, this combination of spiritual and
purely aesthetic pleasure, appears to me unique in its intensity.
Examples of this type might be repeated indefinitely. The objection

that these meanings are interpreted into the piece by ourselves is not valid,
since the same devices recur repeatedly. The key to these meanings is
given us by a comparison of the cantatas. As Schweitzer says, they interpret
each other mutually, though it must be confessed that his whole attitude
to these devices is fundamentally false. Like Pirro, Schweitzer interprets
these allegories as a sort of tone-poetry. Pirro alludes expressly to Wagner.'
The title of Schweitzer's book is significant : Bach, le musicien-poete. To be
sure, Schweitzer contrasts what he calls the "tone symbolism" of Bach with
that of Wagner; but it is not made clear that in the one case we are dealing
with allegories and in the other with naturalistic psychology.
It may perhaps be objected that we have been discussing so far only
a particular form of programme-music. But programme-music, in our
sense of the word, always and inevitably implies a psychological programme;
it expresses the feelings of the composer in the presence of some special
event. As Wagner says: "The language of music expresses nothing if
not feelings and emotions."2 But allegories are fundamentally unpsycho-
logical; they are intellectual. Programme-music, in the strict sense, begins
Richard Wagner."
1 Pirro closes his book with the words :
2 "Oper und Drama", Gesammelte Schriften
"Ils reconnaitront alors sous l'habit s6vere
IV, p. 234-
du cantor, le maitre expressif, le pr6curseur
farouche et v6h6ment de Beethoven et de
only when certain sounds, whose meaning is exactly d

upon an instrument : e.g. cuckoo-calls, fanfares, the t
speaking, this is only the adoption of an already
quite rightly observed by an undeservedly neglected
Chabanon,1 who wrote about 1780 : "it is simply a qu
one melody the character of another." A very ela
programme-music is given by a predecessor of Bach'
Vorstellungen einiger biblischen Historien (1700). He dist
between two kinds of programme-music. In the firs
or art is 'presented' :
und dieses geschieht entweder also, dass der Zuhdrer
des Komponisten bald merken kann, auch wenn s
angedeutet worden ist. Wenn man z.B. den Gesa
Glockengelaiute, den Kanonenknall oder auf ein
andere nachahmt; wie man auf dem Klavier die Tro
imitiert.
This is a mere question of sound : something whic

by the ear. By the second type Kuhnau means wh
called musical allegory :
Oder aber man zielt auf eine Analogiam und r
lischen Saitze also ein, dass sie in aliquo tercio m
Sache sich vergleichen lassen. Und da sind die Wo
Kuhnau then procedes to give some typical exampl
Also praesentiere ich das Schnarchen und Poch
durch das tiefe Thema und das fibrige Gepolt
Philister und das Nacheilen der Israeliten durch eine
den Noten, da die Stimmen einander bald nachfolge
tiere ich den Betrug Labans durch die Verffihrung
durch eine unvermutete Fortschreitung von ein
anderen. Und gehort in solchen Faillen eine giitige
Kuhnau's programme-music is so interesting precis
us how intellectually a composer of the baroque p
musical programme; for instance when he present
by a sudden modulation whose only object is to
realise how totally different programme-music can b
and in different styles. In the baroque period the ext
is typical. Chabanon gives a very clear definition o
remarks that music cannot reproduce images for the
always fall back upon metaphors contrived by the
pas a l'oreille que l'on peint en musique, c'est d l'esprit qui, p
combine et compare leurs sensations."
The notion of musical allegory as a representatio
1 M. de Chabanon, De la Musique2J.considedrie
Kuhnau, Denkm'ler deutscher Ton
IV.avec
en elle mime et dans ses rapports Vorrede. The preface is a mos
la parole,
portant
les langues, la podsie et le thddtre, document
Paris, 1785 for Baroque prog
(second edition). music.
20 M. BUKOFZER
the intellect is one wh

baroque music, whose ear
Reformation. The Renai
of which the greatest
opposition to this there
words of the text by m
-a kind of secret lore i
an explicit distinction b
che fosse palese a tutti.
friend of Lasso's as follo
action, rem quasi actam
are especially importan
appeal is made, significa
the definition of the me
Another theoretical wri
is intended. He too avo
implies it. According to
the matter before the m
especial importance; and
of the mind, with the e
We have now spoken

conclusion we must ask
defined the symbol as a
to things whose nature
described might, in them
in that of the baroque per
exclusively in baroque
but usually in the form o
or else in programmes
in the Sixth Symphony
The important point a
psychological character.
negative terms; we are s
music that we possess no
The counterblast to b
1 Zacconi, The passage in question
himself a taken from Adr.
represent
Baroque theory, says
Petit Coclicus' Compendium describes in a of
most th
composers (heinteresting way how Josquin
calls themcomposed "in "m
a sort of inner urge not beingnothing
that "they intended able to eat
and simple performance
or drink before the composition was finished (pu
modulatione)."
(ante absolutam
The cantilenam!)
perfect
"-I shall come c
back to this passage
the Renaissance periodin a separate study.is sai
called "absoluta2 Orl. di Lasso, Preface to his book of
cantilena" by
his pupils (cf. H. Besseler, "Musik des Villanellen und Chansons, 1555-
Mittelalters und der Renaissance," Handbuch 3 Cf. K. Benndorf, "Sethus Calvisius als
der Musikwissenschaft, 1931-34, P- 251). This Musiktheoretiker," Vierteljahrsschrift far Mu-
"absoluta cantilena," however, turns out to sikwissenschaft, X, p. 424.
be a rather grotesque blunder of translation.
discovery how to express feelings without the interventio

no longer meant this or that emotion; it was itself th
of that emotion. This transition from the notion "it means" to that of
"it is" marks the transition from the baroque style to its successor, the
classical-romantic style. It was a natural consequence that musical allegory
was relegated to a subordinate place on the boundaries of programme-
music, since direct expression came to be preferred to indirect.
In this sense baroque music differs from music of every other sort,
in its peculiar conception of the very nature of the art. In the baroque
period music is a language of signs, in which every sign has one or more
meanings; but these can only reproduce things which are more or less
known in advance. Music is thus a mirror, in the sense that man is a reflection
of God. But this reflection can make nothing; man is creature, not
creator. The composer does not invent his themes, and lays no store by
originality. The whole emphasis is on the execution and the elaboratio.
That is why composers borrow their themes so often from other works,
and often use the same motifs for quite different purposes. For the same
reason, the forms of the allegory, once chosen, have a central function.
They are not used merely episodically; they are structurally built in. In
the prelude "Durch Adams Fall" the figure of the descending seventh is
retained throughout the whole composition. The allegory furnishes the
backbone of the composition, thereby becoming a specifically musical method.
Baroque music is not, like modern music, a language of feeling, which
expresses its objects directly, but a sort of indirect iconology of sound. For
this reason it lacks all psychology in the modern sense. The rigidity of
baroque music, especially from the rhythmic point of view, has long since
been remarked upon. But this is not a weakness of such music; on the
contrary, it is its very strength. The humanization of music by means of
a dynamic emotional conception of its nature appears only during the first
half of the eighteenth century, when baroque ceremonial-the pigeon-holing
of the stereotyped emotions-gave way before the so-called natural feelings.
To the rising middle-class age the formality of baroque music appeared
unnatural, even inhuman. The two styles are based on two different
conceptions of music.
These two styles are themselves symbols, whose meaning is not to be
expressed in words, but can only be experienced in its intuitive sensuous
form. It is not correct, then, to speak of the symbol 'in' baroque music,
since it is itself symbolic and interprets itself. We who no longer live inside
this music, can still gain a reflection of it from comparison of one baroque
composition with another, which may help us to understand how this music
was intended to be understood.? But such notions as we can acquire in
this way possess no definable significance, such as an allegory possesses.
They can only refer us back again and again to the music. In this process
the study of the allegorical method may supply a key to baroque .music, for
the variations of this method from one style to another are a means of
characterizing the style itself.
1 Cf. Manfred Bukofzer, "Musikanalyse und Musikdeutung," Schweizerische Musik-
zeitung, 1937-

BUKOFZER, Allegory in Baroque Music

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BUKOFZER, Allegory in Baroque Music

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Allegory in Baroque Music

Author(s): Manfred Bukofzer

of a part standing for the whole (the sword mean

We have here a succession of tones, but not a melody. We call such

are bound up with the intuit

We find in the music of the

he takes a critical vie

That Bach constantly

Ich ver- sin- ke im tie- fen Schlamm wo kein Grund ist

In a similar way Bach de

1J.Mattheson, 4 D. op. cit. (after

or, "here all is night" :1

Finally, "this is the darkness."1

We see here that different words such as "night" and "darkness" on

Kommt es doch so weit

Whereas here the musical allegory repos

Und wenn der writ- ten-de He- ro- des

This is a musical phrase which we have already heard as a setting to the

u ,- " " i z , ', . . F. - b,

This figure runs through the whole prelude. It is not episodic, t

(Durch A- dams Fall ist ganz ver- derbt)

This prelude of Bach's is an instrumental composit

1 Cf. Chr. Bernhard, Tractatus compositionis, i I, 29 (J. Miiller-Bla

The same figur

It is, however, also poss

The intellectual element is most evident where the allegory is addressed

not an emotional expression of the snakes, but indicates

denn wie ihr messt wird man euch wie-der

This is the meaning of the m

1 Cf. also theMadrigal,"

- dri- get der soll er-h6- - het wer- den.

Bach uses here the spatial analogy of a rising and falling

If we wish to see how far it is possible to carry th

Dominica 13 post Trinitatis.

Melodie:,,Dias sind die hei 'E zeh n Gebot

I) sollst Gott dei e, Her- re, liebeuvo. ga.eni,

ollsto itt, dei.ane Her.rem, lie.Ac n gapzem Her . ..

D sollt ott, dl Herren, lie. ben yoa ganzem Her .

lie ben ron ganzem Her "-.

zen, do sollstGott,drinen Herrc

. zen, du sollstOot~ dinHer

Examples of this type might be repeated indefinitely. The objection

only when certain sounds, whose meaning is exactly d

This is a mere question of sound : something whic

the intellect is one wh

We have now spoken

discovery how to express feelings without the interventio

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