Scholarly record
THE ART OF IMPROVISATION BEFORE AND AFTER BACH
Abstract
This study explores the evolution of musical improvisation and variation across European musical history, analyzing stylistic, aesthetic, and methodological dimensions from Antiquity to the 20th century. Improvisation, as an integral aspect of musical creation, has its origins in the Hellenic modal system and Pythagorean numerical theories, which influenced liturgical music in both the Eastern and Western traditions. The research examines developments during the Medieval period, including the emergence of polyphony and the use of organum in the Franco-Flemish and Italian schools, as well as the contributions of Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso, and other Renaissance masters who balanced contrapuntal rules with expressive flexibility. Baroque innovations, particularly in the works of Frescobaldi, Buxtehude, and J.S. Bach, codified improvisational techniques within formalized structures such as toccatas, fugues, and passacaglias. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and Goldberg Variations exemplify the systematic integration of improvisational principles into compositional practice. In the Classical and Romantic eras, composers such as Mozart, Beethoven or Liszt advanced the art of variation, demonstrating improvisational creativity within formal frameworks. Mozart’s Ah! vous dirai-je, maman variations and Beethoven’s 33 Variations on a Diabelli Waltz illustrate the transmission of improvisatory practice into written scores and cadenzas. The 20th century witnessed the synthesis of symphonic and jazz idioms through Gershwin, influencing European composers such as Ravel or Rachmaninov. Their works reflect improvisational principles adapted to new harmonic and rhythmic contexts. An original aspect of this study is that the theoretical, stylistic, and historical analyses form the foundation of the author’s personal practice, both compositional and interpretative.
Publication Impact Profile
Publication details
References6
Berkowitz, A. L. The Improvising Mind: Cognition and Creativity in the Musical Moment. Oxford University Press (2010).
Musica Enchiriadis is an anonymous musical treatise authored during the 9th century. It is the first surviving attempt to set up a system of rules for polyphony in western art music. The treatise was once attributed to Hucbald, but this is no longer accepted. Some historians once attributed it to Odo of Cluny. It has also been attributed to Abbot Hoger.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Variation-Paraphrase-Sonata-Domenico-Scarlatti-ebook/dp/B09KY1M36Y
https://jazzworldquest.com/florin_raducanu/concerto-no-1-for-piano-and-symphonic-jazz-orchestra-2/
Schiff, David (1997). Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511620201. ISBN 978-0-521-55077-2.
Ravel, Take Jazz Seriously!”, Musical Digest nr.13 (March1928), pp.49-51, as quoted in Orenstein, A Ravel Reader,p.390. Bibliography Abert, Hermann, W. A. Mozart, translated from the German by Stewart Spencer, edited by Cliff Eisen. New Haven: Yale University Press 2007, ISBN 978-0-300-07223-5. Berkowitz, A. L. The Improvising Mind: Cognition and Creativity in the Musical Moment. Oxford University Press (2010). Forkel, J. N., Über Johann Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke: Für patriotische Verehrer echter musikalischer Kunst. Leipzig: Hoffmeister & Kühnel (Bureau de Musique), 1802. Solomon, Maynard, Beethoven, second, revised edition. New York: Schirmer Books; London: Schiff, David (1997). Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511620201
View or Download full articleAccess options
SWS access login
Login as SWS Scientific CommitteeLogin as SWS Scientific PartnerLogin as SWS AuthorAuthors and approved SWS contributors will read and export their own linked papers after identity matching by SWS profile, email and SGEM GlobalID.
For librarian assistance: [email protected]
Purchase Instant Access
- Article can be downloaded after successful payment.
- Article may be used according to SWS library access terms.
- Article cannot be redistributed.