Partimento: G.F. Händel's Partimenti as counterpoint exercises

Video, concept, partimento realizations/keyboard by Michael Koch
This video tries to convey three central ideas of baroque compositional teaching:
1) I demonstrate the generation of elementary "chords" from dissonant 2-voice scaffoldings which was a wide spread theoretical conception of the baroque era (e.g. in Heinichen). Thus this concept of "chord" quite differs from the modern notion of chord as taught today as it conserves the necessarily implied horizontal/contrapuntal aspect of it.
2) I present a certain genre of pedagogical Partimenti that specifically focus on separate chords/figures/dissonances by trying to demonstrate their typical applications and situations within a single piece, what's sometimes called "lesson" or "lezzione". This is a thing that you actually cannot see in every Partimento-collection but that's actually a very sensible way of teaching counterpoint that I want to advertise.
3) Trio-style as paradigm: all presented Partimento-realizations are in trio-styles including spare use of standard diminutions. Most Baroque structures are by their nature essential trio-fabrications (cadences, sequences) based on invertible horizontal elements that POTENTIALLY can include additional voices and the representative paradigm-genre of the baroque trio sonata seems to be a reflection of this.
I do as well private lessons in GERMAN and ENGLISH in time zones all over the world. I provide a professional training based on up-to-date-scholarship, inovative methodolgy and reflected, sensitive pedagogical considerations. My teaching includes a constant supply of instructive materials, exercises and Partimenti that fit the current state of the student’s development, skill and individual needs to ensure an off-lesson support.
You can reach me out on:
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
My Page on Academia.edu
folkwang-hochschule.academia....
I do teach Partimento, Baroque improvisation/composition in private lessons. If you're interested: there's a contact on the channel's main page.
#Partimento

[@johnkiunke4508]

Derek Remes has a free edition of the exercises for anyone interested

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

I didn't know that, but great! :D

[@IvanYanakiev]

Could you share a link?

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

@@IvanYanakiev derekremes.com/wp-content/uploads/handel-exercises-landscape.pdf

[@shrihansuchit6647]

Loved Elam Rotem's let's start

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Legendary!

[@pondreezy]

Please keep this up, you do great work!

[@alessandrodacconti7026]

I'm getting addicted to your videos. They're so well conceived in the way you balance high quality content and little entertaining elements. Really appreciate your work

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

That is a very nice compliment, thank you.

[@johnrothfield6126]

Worthy of meticulous study!!!!!

[@andreas8967]

Super! Tolles Video!

[@robertocornacchionialegre]

Great!

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

Merci beaucoup.

Good stuff!

[@musiktheoryfury9873]

Everybody should learn to Händel counterpoint

[@johnrothfield6126]

Great video! Sadly I can't hear the bass line, probably because I'm not used to the sound of the organ.

[@luiscuypers38]

Klasse Video! Habe schon länger erwartet, dass du mal über die Händel Übungen sprichst. Die Holtmeier Edition lächelte mir die ganze Zeit über die Schulter, aber der Hinweis am Ende auf den Teil der Gesamtausgabe ist auch mega wertvoll! Wenn du für deine zukünftigen Videos oder auch einfach nur for fun mal an einer oder mehreren richtigen Kirchenorgeln spielen möchtest, bist du herzlich eingeladen!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Danke für das Lob, Luis. Ja klar, das Händel-Buch von Holtmeier et. al. ist für mich das wichtigste Buch über Partimento überhaupt und es sollte unbedingt mal eine englische Edition davon geben! Ich habe die Gesamtausgabe empfohlen weil die Übungen dort vermutlich für die meisten ohne Kostenaufwand zugänglich sind und von Alfred Mann gibt es glaube ich sogar noch ein separates Buch auf englisch zu den Übungen, ich meine jedenfalls dass ich es schon mal auf der Hand hatte. Danke für das Angebot mit den Orgeln, das klingt sehr interessant :D

[@jakob4607]

Danke auch von mir für die Videos! Und noch zum Thema Orgeln: Für ein etwas weniger nervtötenden Sound kann man auch sein E-Piano an einen PC anschließen und mit Programmen wie GrandOrgue richtige Orgelklänge nutzen. Das macht dann auch etwas mehr Spaß. :-) @@en-blanc-et-noir

[@barrypianon]

Hehehe… let’s start

[@Contrapunctus1984]

10/10 for the final Langloz scare - or should I say 9/8

[@JazzGuitarScrapbook]

Not a fan of the term Monte Romanesca then? ;-) Great video as always!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

thanks :D And you got me: I'm having a downright idiosyncrasy :DDD (No offence, Mr. Rice!!) When I read the headline of J. Rice's article "Climbing the Monte Romanesca" I did expect that thing that I called "Reversed Romanesca" near the end of my video (because its bass line 4up/2down is exactly the opposite of the Romanesca). Then I realized that he's tackling that thing that I use to call "asc. 5ths-sequence" (in Germany most people say "Quintstieg") and I was double-irritated because this thing neither features characteristics of the Romanesca nor the Monte (besides moving upwards which is trivial) :D I usally say: let's just keep it with the intervals x up/y down, but to proof my complete inconsistency: just recently I started to make frequent use of the term "Cascade" (J. Mortensen's Term for 3down/2up)...so that's where the whole schema-stuff lead us to... :DDD

[@crazyRyoga]

Hi, can you suggest me a book or publication to begin, as an amateur, to learn how to "realize" a simple partimento? I have a good understanding of theory, I guess...Something from the Petrucci Library would be great; for example I found "Regole per bene accompagnare il partimento (Paisiello, Giovanni)" there, and I'm Italian so I can read it, but there are no realizations in it, and it frankly seems too advanced for me.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Hey, drop me a line per mail and I'll see what I can do! There are just very few "original" realizations and I think Peter van Tour made at least one edition with periodical original realizations. But I guess you just want to get your foot in the door to realize them yourself... best thing would be to get a teacher, at least at the beginning until you can stand on your own feet.

[@crazyRyoga]

@@en-blanc-et-noir Mhh, I replied here with my mail hours ago but I don't see it anymore...maybe youtube deleted it. Anyway, my mail is my same name, the provider is gmail.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

you find my contact on the channel's main page. Thx

[@crazyRyoga]

@@en-blanc-et-noir Oh, I'm sorry, I misunderstood your first reply. I'll do that, thx.

[@davidfreel1451]

We think in the spaces. Please leave more or its forgettable. Also, thank you.

[@selfreferentialhumor]

Oh my god... I came to exactly the same conclusion of practicing partimenti with 3 voices. I think the four voice continuo way of realizing a partimento and then somehow magically turning it into a composition leads to fugues with alberti basses and fantasia figurations in the middle of them. In which case you have to question whether you really want to be improvising a fugue at all. I think it's worth writing a disposition in 3 voices (or using one of the Furno ones) , playing each line individually against the bass. Then playing both parts together, inverted, mixed and matched. Later on you can come back to your old dispositions, maybe play them in a different key, or take one of the lines and make it the melody of a full voiced continuo realization (or a four voiced realization if you have the skill). Or improve on them (did you make any contrapuntal errors?) Eventually, if you do this across the scales, cadences, and bass motions you will build a library of contrapuntal building blocks. It's a lifelong journey of learning counterpoint as a language. The key takeaway is that /practical/ counterpoint is two voice counterpoint against a figured bass, and knowing "what goes with what".

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Absolutely agree! 2 or 3 parts is counterpoint, 4 and more parts is "chords". I realized that already years ago when doing 16th century counterpoint. On the Händel: In some cases - e.g. that exercise on the 4th - a convincing 4-voice realization isn't even possible. This one begins with this ascending-5ths-sequence (aka Monte Romanesca) where a 4-voice realization excludes the necessary sequential aspect. Realizing the Händel's in four voices IMO is a waste of their potential. On the other hand: it's absolutely necessary to know the 4-voice chords and voicing as well, but you're right: there is still a widespread preference for chordal-realizations and -methodology - and you can hear the mindset in the music.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

And on the Furno: haha, the popularity of that collection is a mystery for me.

[@selfreferentialhumor]

​@@en-blanc-et-noir The Mattei ones are four voices, which you can't reduce to three voices just by removing the tenor (as suggested in the Holtmeier paper), or you end up with doublings. Cherubini is probably the way to go (although I might have to be less lazy and reduce the dispositions that are four voices down to three)

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Thanks for ya reply! Hm, I dunno: I copied about 30 Matteis for student materials and I work on them just as I do with the Händels - trios with invertible upper voices - I probably had a focus on trio-friendly examples. But I see where your argument is coming from! But there are some where the "best solution" or at least the most elegant is deffo a trio. e.g. when he's going for a leap-frog or a 2-3/7-6-chain in the upper voices. BTW there are a bunch of in the Insanguine that make valuable trio-exercises. What Holtmeier are you referring to? I'm interested! :D

[@selfreferentialhumor]

@@en-blanc-et-noir I wrote a reply a few days ago but it looks like it didn't send for some reason... The paper I'm referring to is "Heinichen, Rameau, and the Italian Thoroughbass Tradition: Concepts of Tonality and Chord in the Rule of the Octave", specifically the following: "Even in Joseph Riepel's dialogues, the teacher explains to his student that one must "patch in" the fourth voice (Riepel 1996, 571). This procedure can still be seen clearly in Stanislao Mattei's four-voice settings of bassi numerati (1850) - the viola part is an optional filler voice." Also check out Derek Remes' dissertation that critiques aspects of this paper and goes into greater depth on Heinichen's idea of chord. In retrospect, I think you're absolutely right about Mattei's bassi - I just found that in 3 voices sometimes doublings are required to avoid awkward leaps. But lately I'm thinking that an incomplete harmony is okay - it still sounds rich as long as the counterpoint is correct. And when the harmony is ambiguous, that leads to opportunities for multiple variations in the bass voice. P.S. Check out Tritto's partimenti - they are much easier than Leo, but still from the same contrapuntal school. They are available on IMSLP.

[@martinedubosson762]

Hello is there a written realisation of your video ? I find it very interessant but difficult to pinpoint the note of the organ It would be awfully nice if you would consider selling a pdf of it

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

I'm afraid, no! I'm sorry, I made it just at the keyboard. I'd say these exercises became quite popular so I guess there must be some written out realizations out there. Maybe if somebody reads this comment he or she will show up and can help.

[@yahyamhirsi]

@@en-blanc-et-noir Richardus Cochlearius has written realizations of each Haendel exercise. Check his channel: youtube.com/@RichardusCochlearius

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

... in 4 voices - which kinda spoils the general approach of these. No offence though, Richardus is doing a good job generally. I just don't see why one would do the Händel's in 4 voices when they clearly imply trio textures. E.g. the exercise on 4-3 suspensions: I'd say the only reasonable way to realise this is in 3 voices because otherwise you'll destroy the sequential aspect of the Monte Romanesca at the beginning (as there simply is no sequential 4-voice realisation possible)... I'd go so far to state that in this case a 4 voice approach is just wrong :DDD lol no trolling here but that's my honest opinion

[@SachinShukla]

1:01 lolol

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

:D

[@AlessandroSistiMusic]

Dying at 9:23 😂 I wish we could get you a proper digital organ! On the other hand, you and your girlfriend would have to agree about where to make space for it in the apartment...

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

I died as well when I saw the price for the first time :D

[@BlackHermit]

The 18th century was the best!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

lol was it?

[@BlackHermit]

@@en-blanc-et-noir Not sure if we can time travel, but "let's start"!