Harpsichord Concerto V in F Minor for Violin, Viola, and Continuo, by J. S. Bach 1738 Essay Sample
I’ve been in love with the BWV 1056 for a figure of old ages now. Bing able to interrupt it down theoretically through music analysis and so looking at the piece in its historical context has genuinely deepened my grasp for this piece and. accordingly. for keyboard concertos on a larger graduated table. along with a stronger desire to touch a cembalo. I hope this paper portrays my love of this piece and how it has enriched my turning relationship with Bach and his repertory ( particularly keyboard pieces ) together with an apprehension of Baroque public presentation pattern so that I may come closer to the sort of proper technique Bach’s pieces insist on utilizing.
Zimmerman’s Cafe .
As the spread of the popularity of java spread through Europe. the cafe was speedy to follow and rocketed throughout Europe. fueling the rational life of metropolitan metropoliss and giving fire to the sharing of musical manners and artistic involvements and doctrines. Separate One
Dear Father.
We didn’t have a opportunity to discourse before I left for my journey to Berlin.
As you know I decided to go forth behind my instruction as a attorney and pursue that of our household and my passion: music. I’ve accepted a place with this fellow. I besides wanted to I wanted to state you about my visit at that place.
AS you have taught me to be speculative and to inquire inquiries irrespective of category.
Part Two
Through Bach’s “superhuman proficient craftsmanship” ( Bukofzer ) . he achieved a really refined realisation of the Baroque manner of music. Baroque music has a certain sort of character and quality that can be broken down into an analysis of footings and techniques of which there are many. Possibly the best manner to look at the BWV 1056 from this position is to look at both Baroque qualities within the composing and in public presentation. First a general analysis and so a Segway into Baroque qualities. “Behind the traits that mark music as Baroque. so. are their ground for being: the passions. or as they were more frequently called so. the affections” ( Palisca ) . It is of import to set up that the really first thing to inquire when listening to or analysing the BWV 1056 or any Baroque music is “how are my fondnesss being moved by this piece? ” Although it isn’t wholly right to presume the “affections” being referred to are besides the emotions. for interest of simpleness. we will mention to the fondnesss as emotions in the context of this paper. and briefly discourse how each of the Baroque qualities of this piece moves the emotions. The genre of the piece is solo concerto. specifically for keyboard.
Therefore it has three motions with the varied pacing of fast. decelerate. fast ; or Allegro. Largo. and so a fabulous Presto. This is particularly of import when understanding the piece for public presentation. as. harmonizing to Donington’s book on public presentation pattern: ‘The most of import component in executing Baroque music is tempo. ” Why is this? It creates contrast. of class. and through contrast a general development of traveling the fondnesss via something kinda fast. something kinda slow. and so something fast once more ; and possibly one or a few of those with a nice dancelike ternary metre. Following to identify. tempo genuinely sets up a piece. or a subdivision of a piece. in footings of public presentation. genre. manner and what general fondnesss will be moved: the basic double star of joy and melancholy.
Yet. in the range of Baroque public presentation. we have a dramatic demand to play all the ornamentation and elaborate manner of Baroque with right nicety and articulation. and to be able to hear all of it excessively. This is why these motions of this piece. although Allegro. Largo. and Presto ; are performed by the Seattle Baroque Orchestra non excessively fast. non excessively slow. and non excessively. excessively fast. Matter of fact. in listening to the recording. the pacing of each motion seem to really be comparatively rather near each other compared to the difference of what I expect. and the perceptual experience of fast. decelerate. fast is partially due to how its played and how I perceive it. I found this rather interesting. “The most valuable working regulation for Baroque pacing is non to take the fast motions excessively fast or the slow motions excessively slow” ( Donington. 28 ) .
“…the outer motions of BWV 1056 are closely related in footings of dimension. signifier. and content were clearly conceived as complementary…” ( Dirksen. 29 ) .
The first and 3rd motions are in a basic ritornello signifier with ritornello and tutti alternating. Yet the first movement’s signifier isn’t as precise in ritornello signifier as the 3rd. it’s more of a call and response duologue. The 3rd motion is more of a rigorous ritornello signifier. four solo episodes framed by five ritornello subdivisions.
The Largo. motion two. is kindred to a de capo aria. ABA’ ( with the cembalo soloing of class ) . so much so that the tune glides along. smooth and connected. siting over a minimum figured bass. really much like a cantabile voice in an aria. Truly. this motion could easy be transcribed to voice or another solo instrument with the figured bass pieces the cembalo fills in with the left manus being given to another figured bass instrument. such as a cello. Throughout the piece. a figure of Baroque techniques resound. Possibly the most basic technique is the usage of figured bass. The music for the figured bass. in Bach manner of intermixing technique. is a healthy mix of basso figured bass and manner luthe
Staccato. Legato. and Articulation
“By acute articulation I mean utilizing chip speech patterns and crisp onslaughts instead than explosive speech patterns or monolithic attacks” ( Donington. 167 ) .
Trills are used deliberately. However. they aren’t merely used to widen a note’s continuance! Bach uses carefully placed shakes within the piece to rise harmonic intensification during peak minutes of musical thoughts. such as at steps & lt ; & gt ; . and besides uses them to add Baroque spirit to specific meter. such as at step & lt ; & gt ; . Indeed. shakes may hold been used at one clip to widen the continuance of notes. but as they continued to be used in composing there were many more grounds to utilize a shake: “No decoration has had a more varied or interesting history [ than the trill ] ; but much of its complication disappears when it is understood that the shake has non one chief map to execute. but two. One is melodious and rhythmic ornament and colour ; the other is harmonic alteration and intensification” ( Donington. 125 ) .
Dynamic Contrasts – swelling of sound
Echos and Humps
Articulation of Notes
The acting forces are. of class. a solo instrument. such as the cembalo. and a continuo consisting of. . Although Telemann & A ; violin concerto material
It should be noted at this point. in order to stress the historical importance of the BWV 1056. merely how the keyboard concerto is different than other instrument solo concertos. which is something we can see straight in the mark. The cembalo The usage of the cembalo in tutti and in ritornello transitions. Doubling of figured bass during ritro
“Today we view the keyboardist chiefly as the figured bass participant in a Baroque ensemble. Thus it seems sensible that the lift of the keyboard participant from accompanyist to soloist would hold raised the inquiries whether there should be a separate figured bass portion and how the latter should be realized when the soloist is otherwise occupied” ( Schulenberg. 30 ) .
Matter of fact it was Bach’s development of the BWV 1056 and its household of composings that had a enormous impact on the development of the keyboard concerto as a genre. I would theorize that Bach used his keyboard concertos from that clip. the BWV 1050-1057 during the 1730’s. in order to prove different cembalo agreements to detect their sonic belongingss. For illustration. if the chief figured bass instrument is pulled out of the figured bass and made the featured soloist. how does one compensate for this in the figured bass? Bach used the BWV 1052-1059 to prove out different combinations of executing forces. from utilizing the left manus of the solo cembalo to keep the figured bass to holding a 2nd dedicated cembalo. Of class. he wasn’t the lone one to be proving these Waterss at the clip. His boy Carl Emmanuel was. Handel. every bit good as a smattering of other composers. Indeed. it was clip for the cembalo. and by association the other keyboard instruments. to come out of the function of underdog and be the hero of the show.
“But Bach’s concertos. particularly BWV 1052-1059. demonstrate how proficient polish and new idiomatic construct of the solo portion could supply the footing for a genre that held promise of a great future” ( Wolff. 365 ) .
“The function of Johann Sebastian Bach ( 1685–1750 ) and his boies in the development of the keyboard concerto has long been recognized” ( Schulenberg. 29 ) .
“The cembalo concertos BWV 1052-59 reflect non merely the emerging solo function of the cembalo but besides the early development of the keyboard concerto. This development. transmitted by Bach’s boies Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christian. helped determine a new genre that was to the full realized in the keyboard concertos of Mozart and Beethoven” ( Galloway ) .
So. merely how are my fondnesss being moved. and what does this piece mean to me on a meaningful degree? I did my best to convey this through the fictional missive I wrote above. Yet. now that I have more linguistic communication. I can hopefully be more specific in this context. The first motion
Through historical research. seeking to understand this piece through the context of public presentation and existent composing ; to theoretical analysis of the piece in order to detect the qualities of the piece that make it both Baroque and unique ; a much more comprehensive apprehension of the piece has been woven together for me. along with a greater ability to recognize the keyboard concerto in general. This besides helps me understand the large inquiry. “why am I composing this paper in the first topographic point? ” Which is. why do I like the Bach BWV 1056. It all comes down to me basking the piece. holding my fondnesss moved. and inquiring why this is so. and so being able to pass on the niceties when I want. Why do I like this piece? And. by seting words to sounds and uses of them. I’m able to understand why and hopefully convey to others why I truly love this piece. It’s genuinely a merriment procedure and I hope you enjoyed this.
Leipzig Town Plan. 1720.
“Start at the bottom right-hand corner. Here you have the Vestung Pleissen-burg. built as a munition. Burg means fortress. and the Pleisse is the river on which Leipzig sits. A small to the left is the Thomaskirche ; merely on the right of it. the Thomasschule. Bach looked out over the “moat” to the Promenade ; he besides had ready entree through the small Thomas Gate. Traveling upwards from the Thomaskirche we find the Market Place in the centre. with the Town Hall. To the left is the Cather Strasse with Zimmermann’s Coffee House. Transporting on upwards and somewhat right from the Market is Grimma Street taking to the Grimma Gate. To the left of it is the Nikolaikirche. Outside the Grimma gate was a garden in which Bach’s Collegium Musicum played in summer” ( Sartorius ) .
Zimmermann’s Cafe .
“On the left is the architectural drawing of the “with much betterment rebuilt Thomas School Anno 1732” . Bach’s populating conditions thenceforth were much improved! On the right is “a portion of the Cather ( ine ) Street” . Zimmermann’s Cafe which hosted Bach’s Collegium Musicum was located in the centre edifice labeled ‘2’” ( Sartorius ) .
Coffee garden in Leipzig.
“Leipzig’s eight Coffee Shops played an of import function in the societal and musical life of the metropolis. We end this brief circuit of Bach’s Leipzig with an idealised position of Richter’s Coffee garden which however captures the lively cultured ambiance of the metropolis in 1736 when this frontispiece to the Song Collection ‘The Singing Muse by the Pleisse’ was published. Note the assortment of activities: conversation. spinet-playing. cards. and yes. bottom right – snooker! Elegant. cultured. sophisticated. commercially comfortable. cosmopolitan… this was the metropolis in which Bach and his household were fortunate in passing 27 years” ( Sartorius ) .
Plants Cited
Bach. Johann S. BACH. J. S. : Harpsichord Concertos – BWV 1052. 1053. 1055. 1056. Schenkman. Seattle Baroque Orchestra. Matthews. Centaur. n. d. Naxos Music Library. Web. 8 Oct. 2012. & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //elmhurst. naxosmusiclibrary. com. placeholder. elmhurst. edu/streamw. asp? ver=2. 0 & A ; s=10727 % 2Felmhurst08 % 2F242152 & gt ; . Very good modern recording of the BWV 1056 concerto utilizing a cembalo and period instruments.
Bach. Johann Sebastian. Clavier-Concert V ( Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 ) . BWV 1056. University Music Editions ( aggregation ) . Bach Gesellschaft Edition. Leipzig. 1926. hypertext transfer protocol: //erato. uvt. nl/files/imglnks/usimg/4/4b/IMSLP02260-Bach_-_BGA_-_BWV_1056. pdf. This is the mark I used to analyse. It’s losing some cosmetic stuff played by the harpsichordist. though sing the period that’s expected. but other than that this mark works good.
Bach. Johann Sebastian. Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 in F child. BWV 1056. IMSLP Petrucci Music Library. Leipzig: Composer’s manuscript. n. d. ( ca. 1738 ) . hypertext transfer protocol: //petrucci. Mus. auth. gr/imglnks/usimg/a/a1/IMSLP99685-PMLP110821-BWV_1056__D_B_Mus. _ms. _Bach_P_234_ . pdf
Bukofzer. Manfred. Music in the Baroque Era: From Monteverdi to Bach. New York. W. W. Norton & A ; Co. . 1947. Print. A general book on music in the Baroque Era. Great overview. Period history.
David. Hans T. . and Arthur Mendel. The Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents. New York: W. W. Norton. 1966. 168-72. Print. Insight into Bach’s personal life during the old ages of the composing of BWV 1056.
Dirksen. Peiter. J. S. Bach’s Concerted Ensemble Music. the Concerto. Edited by Gregory Butler. Urbana. Illinois: University of Illinois. 2008. 21-54. Print. Antic analysis of the BWV 1056. Butler besides argues that the 1056 was taken from a lost fiddle concerto and shows grounds. However. note that Zohn below partly refutes this and shows grounds of 1056/2 taken from Telemann.
Donington. Robert. Baroque Music: Style and Performance: A Handbook. New York: Norton. 1982. Print. Good beginning on Baroque public presentation technique.
Galloway. Robert James. “From Continuo To Obbligato Cembalo: A Study Of The Changing Role Of The Harpsichord In J. S. Bach’s Harpsichord Concertos And Solo Sonatas With Obbligato Cembalo. ” ( 1996 ) : RILM Abstractions of Music Literature. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. The development of the cembalo from figured bass to obbligato. from a rhythm subdivision instrument to a solo one.
Holborn. Hajo. A History of Modern Germany: 1648-1840. Princeton. New jersey: Princeton UP. 1964. Print. History of Germany. specifically Leipzig.
“J. S. Bach: Timeline of His Life. ” J. S. Bach: Timeline of His Life. N. p. . n. d. Web. 9 Oct. 2012. & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www. jsbach. org/timeline. hypertext markup language & gt ; . Timeline of Bach’s life.
Le Huray. Peter. “Chapters 1 & A ; 2. ” Authenticity in Performance: Eighteenth-century Case Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. 1990. 1-23. Print. Contains good stuff on the techniques of playing a Bach piece during
period times every bit good as modern times. Fingering. etc.
Munch. Christoph. “Johann Sebastian Bach and Dresden: On the Path of the Master. ” Johann Sebastian Bach and Dresden. Landeshauptstadt Dresden. 22 Jan. 2006. Web. 11 Dec. 2012. & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www. Dresden. de/en/02/press_service/press_texts_in_various_languages/english/c_04_johann_sebastian_bach_and_dresden. php & gt ; . Information on Bach’s trip to Dresden in May of 1738.
Palisca. Claude V. Baroque Music. Englewood Cliffs. New jersey: Prentice-Hall. 1968. 3-4. Print.
Pendergrast. Mark. “Coffee Colonizes the World. ” Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World. New York. New york: Basic. 1999. 11. Print.
Platen. Emil and Iain Fenlon. “Collegium musicum. ” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 8 Dec. 2012. & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www. oxfordmusiconline. com/subscriber/article/grove/music/40623 & gt ; . Good article on the assorted signifiers and locations of assorted collegiums of music.
Sartorius. Michael. “Bach’s Leipzig in Pictures. ” Bach’s Leipzig in Pictures. Baroque Music Pages. n. d. Web. 8 Dec. 2012. Map of Leipzig in 1720 along with some fantastic images of wood engravings demoing architecture from that clip.
Sartorius. Michael. Johann Sebastian Bach: A Detailed Enlightening Biography. Michael Sartorius. 2009. Web.
Schulenberg. David. “Expression and Authenticity in the Harpsichord Music of J. S. Bach. ” The Journal of Musicology. Vol. 8. No. 4. University of California Press. ( Autumn. 1990 ) . pp. 449-476.
Schulenberg. David. “J. S. Bach. C. P. E. Bach. And The Invention Of The Concerto For Keyboard And Strings. ” Early Keyboard Journal 25-26. ( 2010 ) : 29.
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.
Schwalbach. Burkhard. “Eighteenth-century Coffee-House Culture: A New Context for Bach’s Music? ” Understanding Bach 3 ( 2008 ) : 105-08. Bach Network UK. Bach Network UK. 2008. Web. 6 Dec. 2012.
Wolff. Christoph. “Johann Sebastian Bach. ” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. n. d. Web. 9 Oct. 2012. & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www. oxfordmusiconline. com/subscriber/article/grove/music/40023pg10 & gt ; . Good bio on Bach.
Wolff. Christoph. “Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. ” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. & lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www. oxfordmusiconline. com/subscriber/article/grove/music/40023pg12 & gt ; .
Wolff. Christoph. “Bach’s Leipzig Chamber Music & A ; Toward a Definition of the Last Time period of Bach’s Work” . Bach: Essaies on His Life and Music. Cambridge. Ma: Harvard UP. 1991. 223-367. Print.
Wolff. Christoph. “Special Battles: The 1730s. ” Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. New York: W. W. Norton. 2000. 351-65. Print. Amazing history on Bach with elaborate timetables of public presentations at Zimmermann’s cafe every bit good as the civilization within.
Zaslaw. Neal. The Classical Era: From the 1740s to the End of the eighteenth Century. Englewood Cliffs. New jersey: Prentice Hall. 1989. Print. Pieces highlight the displacement in music occurrence in the 1740s. when this keyboard concerto was composed.
Zimmermann’s Coffeehouse. Zimmermann’?s Coffeehouse. Baroque Chamber Ensemble. 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.
Zohn. Steven. ( Writer ) . and Ian. ( Asst. ) Payne. “Bach. Telemann. And The Process Of Transformative Imitation In BWV 1056/2 ( 156/1 ) . ” The Journal Of
