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A Practical and Historical Guide to Johann Sebastian Bach's Solo in A

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A Practical and Historical Guide to Johann Sebastian Bach's Solo in A View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by OpenSIUC Southern Illinois University Carbondale OpenSIUC Articles School of Music Spring 2017 A Practical and Historical Guide to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Solo in A Minor BWV 1013 Douglas Worthen [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/music_articles Today's flute publications often limit texts which analyze our repertoire in depth. This online publication offers a more thorough treatment of one of the flute's most iconic works. Recommended Citation Worthen, Douglas. "A Practical and Historical Guide to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Solo in A Minor BWV 1013." (Spring 2017). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Music at OpenSIUC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles by an authorized administrator of OpenSIUC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Historical and Practical Guide to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Solo in A Minor BWV 1013 By Dr. Douglas E. Worthen, Associate Professor, Southern Illinois University Carbondale Copyright 2017 All Rights Reserved 1 All of us probably began our time. Yet his interest in solving exposure to the works of Johann musical puzzles was not limited to his Sebastian Bach by playing some of his brilliant canons, fugues, and Menuets, Bourées or other dances in methodical investigation of our elementary method books. Even temperament. Bach’s works for flute from these first experiences, most of challenge the flute’s accepted range, us responded to the beauty, integrity, agility in distant key modulations, and energy of Bach’s compositions. articulation, and even dynamics and The structure and organization of balance. Each work seems books for beginners is usually experimental in some parameter, and developmental, with laudably clear an interesting and effective and defined goals of note reading, interpretation will take advantage of facility, range, dynamics, and rhythm. Bach’s interest in probing perceived To augment this instruction, students limitations of the instrument. can turn to resources such as Trevor Thanks to Christoph Wolff’s Wye’s excellent books on tone, scales, Chronology of Bach’s works included and other specific technical issues. in Grove’s1, the flute repertoire has These books contain technical goals come into clearer focus, and at least with explanation, something three rather distinct periods of conspicuously lacking in many other activity have emerged. The first, 1723 texts. However, the connection that to 1724, includes his Partita for flute must be made between these abstract alone, BWV 1013, and the Sonata in E exercises and the actual repertoire is minor, BWV 1034. The second, his not always clear. The following Sonata in A, BWV 1032 and the great articles present Bach’s works Sonata in B minor, BWV 1030, both didactically, offering a methodical written c. 1735-1736. Finally, the approach that attempts to bridge Sonata in E major, BWV 1035, c. 1741 theory and practice. as well as the Musical Offering, BWV Johann Sebastian Bach’s works 1079, c. 1747, are clearly in their own have unparalleled significance in the more Gallant style. flute repertoire. No other primary Though they are not confirmed common practice composer left works to be from Bach’s hand, The Eb Major of such quality and quantity for this Sonata, BWV 1031 and the G Minor instrument. The scope of the proposed Sonata BWV 1020 have remarkable upcoming series of commentaries will similarities and are certainly include historical, theoretical, and wonderful music. Christoph Wolff’s practical information by which chronology in Grove’s lists the Eb musicians, be they baroque or Major as c.1730-1734, and suggests modern, amateur or professional, will that the G minor sonata was written be inspired to create new and by C. P. E. Bach, though there is no informed interpretations woven from evidence as to the date of its origin. the warp of artifact and history and The C Major Sonata, dated c.1736, the weft of present performance seems radically different than the B convention and taste. Minor or the A major, and was not Bach was not seen as being particularly innovative in his own 2 included in the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, autograph survives from either this or indicating that it too may be spurious. the E minor, however both have been It nonetheless bears a closer look, and authenticated. adds to a progressive approach when There is evidence that the Solo was learning the sonatas based on written as early as 1717 in Cöthen, chronology. The two G Major Trio however its style suggests that it could Sonatas, BWV 1038 for fl. Vln. and B.C. have been written as late as 1723-24, in the early part of the fourth decade after he arrived in Leipzig. This would of the Eighteenth Century, and make it contemporary to the E minor BWV1039 for two fl. and B.C., written Sonata, and during a period when later in the decade, make for an Bach composed cantatas in which the interesting comparison and fall within flute played a prominent role. Later, the second period, during which we Bach chose more unusual keys (E have other works in a three-voice Major and even modulating to B texture. major!) for his flute sonatas, exploring Introducing and studying this the varied affects of these tonalities. repertoire in the aforementioned Some musicologists assert that Bach chronology has the advantage of new little of the flute’s limitations, beginning with one and then moving citing phrases which offer no obvious to two and then three voices, as well breathing points. Yet similar as moving from High Baroque to compositions by flutists Blockwitz and Gallant style. Each period of activity Blavet have very similar perpetual has two principal authenticated motion, suggesting that such works. Once the reader has a clearer breathing demands were common. picture of Bach’s compositional styles Bach must have known to avoid the based on a chronology, attributed third register high F even in a logical works can be more accurately arpeggiation (see Partita Allemande, appraised. M. 5 and 6), and knew that a high A would in fact be possible, providing a The Partita for flute alone, spectacular end to the Allemande BWV 1013 movement of the Solo. Unlike the modern instrument, many of the Baroque traverso’s Historical Context pitches must be produced by weaker, fork fingerings. For this reason, scale The Partita was likely Bach’s first solo collections have radically different piece for flute1. Although this work is properties and are associated with usually referenced by its Baroque specific emotional Affects. The Partita Partita form, its original title was Solo and E Minor Sonata favor a “strong” p[our une] flûte traversière par J. S. tonality, meaning that most of the Bach, and the four movements, notes, and specifically the tonic and Allemande, Corrente, Sarabande, and 5th, are not forked fingerings. In the Bourèe angloise, are French spellings case of the A minor Partita, the tonic A of these dance movements. The is strong, and the 5th (E) makes a Partita’s first movement is in the hand strong lower dominant. The Low D of two different copyists. No extant works well for a strong subdominant, 3 however the third (C), is a bit veiled. track of the number of voices implied by the texture. Like many suggestions below, this process is intended to set STRUCTURES in motion a methodology by which all repertoire might be studied. An important advantage of looking at Bach’s works chronologically is that Allemande: he wrote first for one, then two and finally three voice textures. The A superficial scan of the structure harmonies implied in the Partita are shows a piece in binary form: A:||B:|| presented monophonically, and the with a coda beginning half way rhythm of those changing harmonies through M. 34. The Allemande topic is is a primary topic of the discourse. suggested by the typical upbeat Although the basic harmonic (anacrusis) of three or seven movement will be discussed later, it is sixteenths. The last note in the first Score Bachadvisable ScoreA minor for the Excerpts student Bach to A go minorexample Excerpts falls on a strong beat (thesis), through the piece and make his or her and should feel like an arrival. (see own harmonic analysis first, keeping [Subtitle] [Subtitle]below)[Composer] [Composer] [Arranger] [Arranger] œ œ œ œ Flute Fluteœ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ + œ œ r œ œ œ r & c œ #œ œ ! & c œ #œ œ ! œ ! ‰ Œ œÓ œ ! ‰ Œ Ó 4 This first unit establishes the tonality 4 being a repeat of measure two, is of A Minor, and is repeated, propelling heard as an echo only œ when Fl. rFl. œ r 3 œ œ#œœœ œ œ#œ & œ #œ œ œ œ#œ œ !the ‰ Ó& piece œ #43œ forward œœœ œ #œœœ to œ#œ œ the !Œ second ‰ Ó c œ4œ œ œ performedœ #œ œj‰ softer Œ c œ butœ with j the ‰ œ œ measure. Already œ in measure ˙œ two, identical œ ˙ inflections as measure œ two. Bach presents five-notes that So far, we have a first measure 9 fore9shadow the opening of the third composed of 2 identical halves, and a Fl. " " Fl."movement, "" as well "" as important " "" second "" measure" repeated " in " its & material & to follow.Solo2 Measure pour three, une Fluteentirety :Traversiere . Johann Sebastian Bach 17 17 A B B Fl. Fl.Allemande & " " " & "" "" " "" "" " " " œ œ " œœ#œœ œœ œœœœ œœ œœ œœ œ#œœ œœ œœ œ#œœ 25 254 ! œ œœ œœœ œ œœ œœœ œ œ œ œœ & 4 œ œ #œ œ #œ œ #œœœ œœ œœ œ Fl.
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