|
In Bach's day
the keyboard suite, known
also as the partita, was
cast in a traditional mould
set by Johann Jakob
Froberger. Its basis was the
allemande - courante -
sarabande - gigue sequence,
capable of expandsion by
inserted movements,
especially between sarabande
and gigue.
Bach rang the changes on the
received form in a variety
of ways. He displays his
continuing allegiance to
tradition most of all in the
six French Suites, less so
in the English Suites, and
diverges most widely from it
in the six Partitas in
"Clavierübung, Part One".
The source of the respective
terms "French" and "English"
suite is open to conjecture
and would appear not to have
originated with Bach.
The French Suite no. 4 in E
flat major expands the
traditional form by the mere
inclusion of a gavotte and
an air. It is of concise
dimensions, the movements
having invariably two
sections, with the customary
excursion to the dominant at
the conclusion of the first
of these, and the reversion
to the tonic in the second.
The number of parts also is
deliberately limited:
multiple chording rarely
occurs, two-part writing
predominates. Yet it is
precisely in this limitation
that Bach, lifting the work
out of any conventional
context, asserts the wealth
of his inventiveness.
The structural expansion of
the English Suite no. 3 in G
minor consists, as in all
the English Suites, mainly
in the prefixing of a
prelude of frolicsome nature
and considerable extension;
its rondo form has evidently
been derived from the
concerto movement, resulting
in the alternation between
chordal (tutti) and two- and
three-part (solo) sections.
The sarabande too reveals a
special feature, being first
presented in a
straightforward version, and
thereafter in an ornamented
one ("Les agréments de la
même Sarabande") - one of
the comparatively rare cases
in which the contemporary
practice of ornamentation,
based on extemporisation,
appears in fixed written
form! The ensuing insert
before the gigue is once
again a gavotte, this time
with the popular musette as
its trio. The bagpipe
impression is achieved by a
persistent G in the bottom
part, an effect which is
aptly prepared in the
gavotte by the obstinate
reiteration of a G in the
bass.
Still more unconventional is
the plan of the Partita no.
2 in C minor, the stress of
which seems even more
heavily weighted towards the
introduction, a "Sinfonia"
beginning with an ample
chordal grave - akin to
Beethoven's "Pathétique"
sonata, - passing to a
highly ornamented andante,
and terminating with a brisk
two-part fugue. By way of
compensation the
conventional final gigue is
omitted; the classical
allemande, courante and
sarabande movements are
followed simply by a pert
rondo and an audacious
capriccio which rounds off
our Partita.
|
