T. A. Arne as an Inventor of Musical Form. 197 



the third section, the two subjects are recapitulated (the 

 second now in the tonic key), and a coda, or tail piece, brings 

 the movement to a conclusion. Now Handel worked on 

 very different lines from these. In his day two forms of 

 •overture were known, the French and Italian. He followed 

 the French model, which was to make the overture consist 

 of four parts, (1) a short, solemn, and very slow movement, 

 leading into (2) one of a lively fugal character founded on a 

 single subject developed at some length, (3) another short 

 and slow movement, and (4) a quick one in dance rhythm 

 to conclude the piece. Those present who have fre- 

 quented Sir Charles Halle's concerts this winter may 

 perhaps recall that that is the form in which the overture to 

 "Theodora" is cast. The overture to the Occasional Oratorio 

 you will all remember, and (except as to some limitation 

 and variation in the third and fourth movements) this is the 

 fixed Handelian form. It is adhered to by Arne in "Comus," 

 and yet one feels on hearing it that it is not Handel's, 

 the harmonies in the third and fourth bars of the initial 

 largo at once arresting the attention as being removed from 

 the commonplace. A brisk fugue follows, the viola having 

 a perfectly independent part, and the 'cello being (for the 

 very first time I believe) used here and elsewhere in this 

 and many later works in the tenor register as a melodic 

 instrument, the composer taking advantage of the presence 

 in England of Cervello, one of the foremost 'cello players of 

 his day. A bridge, three bars long, leads to the concluding 

 movement — a fast one — contrasted in time with the pre- 

 ceding fugue. Arne at once dispenses with the customary 

 third or slow movement of Handel, and if, as is occasionally 

 the case in some subsequent overtures, he introduces this 

 movement, he omits the opening largo altogether, thus 

 inclining more to the Italian model, which consisted of 

 two fast movements, with a slow one sandwiched between 

 them. At any rate, even as early as "Comus," Arne was no 



