While the catalogue of Bach's chamber music seems quite scant with only some 45 works extant, BWV 995-1039 (, ), transcriptions beginning in Bach's time have generated countless versions for other instruments of the solo string works Bach collected first, while stimulating a cottage industry of recordings.? For example, there are almost 400 recordings of his lute works () and in recent years there are all manner of new adaptations.? Originally, Bach conceived this chamber music for personal presentation in courtly and town salons as well as at private homes.? Bach also used this music as pedagogy, teaching his students composition and applied performance. What drove the impetus for the development of this music was the mixed German style that absorbed the influences of the Italian concerto and the French dance with Germanic fugal and occasional Lutheran hymn influences.? Bach seized the opportunities by composing instrumental concertos, sonatas, and suites in three and four parts as the concurrent common practice period shaped the various genres that would be perfected in the evolving classical style of solo sonatas for all manner of instruments, the challenge of trios quartets, and quintets, and the larger ensembles of virtuoso concertos and full-textured symphonies. ? This music formed the crest of the wave of classical music as to spread north from Italy to the German-speaking lands of Austria and Germany.

Recently, Bach scholars have selectively studied these works from the perspectives of musical analysis as well as contextual studies, dating, various versions, authenticity and theological meanings. ? Essentially, the historical studies of the chamber music have yielded findings based on stylistic and collateral evidence that some of the earliest chamber pieces — violin solos, trio sonatas, and concertos — were initiated in Weimar about 1714, were revised sometimes in as many as three stages and assembled:? the first before C?then in 1717 involving variants, the second during the C?then period (1717-23), and the third in Leipzig beginning about 1725 and used for teaching.? Bach's favored chamber music instruments were the violin, harpsichord, and emerging transverse flute.? In some cases, he continued to adapt flute music in the 1740s when he visited the court of Frederick the Great where his son Emanuel was employed as keyboardist and composer.? There is still considerable scholarly debate over which of the solo string collections came first. ? Some say that the simpler cello suites were composed first; others that the violin works were prompted by Bach being the concertmaster in Weimar while having no working experience with the cello.? Perhaps, instead of academic, dualistic (binary) thinking, both collections may have evolved at the same time, 1720. ?

The following is an annotated bibliography of important studies of Bach's chamber music, from monographs to articles with a variety of perspectives.?

Series VI:? Chamber Music, Neue Bach Ausgabe (New Bach Edition, Complete Works).? Kassel:? B?renreiter,? 1958-2013).? Five volumes in German, each with critical commentary:? works for violin, cello solo suites, flute, viola da gamba and harpsichord, and various ().? Recently completed are a New Bach Revised Edition of the Music for Violin () and the Cello Suites (, ), while a new edition of "Chamber Music with Flute" is in preparation ().? The most recent study is the NBA Series VI:5, Verschiedene [Various] Kammermusikwerke (: Contents), involving duo sonatas for flute or violin and harpsichord continuo.?

Vogt, Hans.? Johann Sebastian Bach's Chamber Music:? Background, Analyses, Individual Works, Eng. trans. Kenn Johnson.? Portland OR:? Amadeus Press, 1988;? original, Johann Sebastian Bachs Kammermusik: Voraussetzungen, Analysen, Einzelwerke (Stuttgart:? GmbH & Co., 1981).? Overview, .? The only English language study of the chamber music.

Rampe, Siegbert, ed.? Bachs Orchester- und Kammermusik: Das Handbuch, Vol. 5.? Laaber:? Laaber-Verlag, 2013).? Review, .? The emphasis is on historical performance practice while exploring 12 publications on Bach's chamber music.

Brieg, Werner.? "The instrumental music," Part II:? Profiles of the Music, trans. Stewart Spencer.? In The Cambridge Companion to Bach, edited by John Butt, 123-35.? Cambridge:? Cambridge University Press, 1997.? Covers BWV 1001-1069, solo, ensemble sonatas, concertos, overtures.

Articles

Geck, Martin? "The Instrumental Works," 525-607.? In Johann Sebastian Bach:? Life and Work, trans. John Hargraves.? Orlando FL: ? Harcourt, 2006.? Geck begins with the keyboard works (fugues, chorales) and then the chamber works ("Sonatas and Suites"), presenting all manner of anecdotes and insights with an extensive but abbreviated footnote style.

Jones, Richard D. P.? Articles "The Brandenburg Concertos and other instrumental works," 65-105; "The Harpsichord concertos and other instrumental works," 248-70; and "The Musical Offering and other instrumental works," 363-73. ? In The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach:? Music to Delight the Spirit, Vol. II:? 1717-1750.? Oxford:? Oxford University Press, 2013.? This is a selective survey of Bach's compositions by categories and periods, including historical context, genres, and musical ingredients. Nicholas Kenyon, "Instrumental music," 342-81.? In Bach:? The Faber Pocket Guide to Bach.? London: Faber, 2011.? This concise study of Bach's music involves the orchestral works and concertos, BWV 1041-69, as well as the chamber music and lute music, BWV 995-1040, including highlights, alternate versions, and recordings.? The material updated and abridged in Kenyon's "Chamber Works," in Bach 333:? The Music, 163-72, J. S. Bach:? The New Complete Edition (Berlin:? Deutsch Grammaphon, 2018).? Another "complete" set of Bach's music with extensive commentary from the Bach Archiv Leipzig, observing the 333rd anniversary of Bach's birth (1685).

Ledbetter, David? "Instrumental Chamber and Ensemble Music," 317-57.? In The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach. ed. Robin A Leaver.? London:? Routledge: 2017.? This is a research guide in essay form from leading Bach scholars on subjects and genres, including surveys and such topics as "Aspects of Performance," "French Overtures," "Performance Analysis," "Instruments," "Pitch and Intonation," "Forces," "Analytical Approaches" (styles, genres, improvisation, interpretations) and Work Groups (BWV 1001-1069).? The bibliographies are found in the footnotes for each chapter.

Terry, Charles Sanford.? "The Chamber Music."? In The Music of Bach:? An Introduction, 43-54.? New York, Dover, 1933. ? Before the BWV catalog, the music is identified by editions; includes solo, suites, sonatas, concertos, overtures; with tables.

Wolff, Christoph? "Bach's Leipzig Chamber Music." In Bach: ? Essays on His Life and Music.? Cambridge MA:? Harvard University Press, 1991.? Except for the solo works, BWV 1001-1012, this covers the works for instrumental ensemble, BWV 1014-1069 and the Musical Offering, BWV 1079, showing that these works have a history in Leipzig, 1725-47; music performed at home, the Collegium Musicum and other Leipzig venues, and during travels.

In addition to Kenyon's survey of music through recordings, there are liner notes on chamber music in "complete" recording edition collections from H?nssler Edition Bachakademie (CD 155-156, 161-168), Bach 2000 Das Alte Werke Teldec (Bach 2000: vol.11, ), and Brilliant Classics (CD 9-17, 19-20, 22, ).? These recordings omit works that are considered doubtful, reworkings, or assemblages, especially clavier/continuo sonatas (BWV 1020-26) and trio sonatas (1036-1038).? These may be found in individual recordings on various labels.

There are a growing number of Bach realizations or transcriptions.? For example, recordings include the guitarist Paul Galbraith (), lutenist Hopkinson Smith (), and violist Scott Slapin (). The solo violin and cello works, BWV 1001-1012 have been arranged for viola and recorded often, most notably the print editions of Meyer/Vieland (violin) and William Primrose (5 suites). ? More than any other performer, guitarist Andres Segovia (1893-1987, ) brought Bach music to the fore in the 20th century with his transcriptions, performances, and recordings of movements from the violin, cello, and lute solo works (BWB 995-1012, ).? Others who have added to the repertory with transcriptions include cellist Yo-Yo Ma and friends (), flutist James Galway (BWV 1067, 1032, 1044, ), oboist Albrecht Meyer (), guitarist Sharon Isbin (), trumpeter Alison Balsom (), and violinist Laura St. John ().? Reconstructions of clavier concertos for violin and oboe have spurred other reconstructions (), first published in 1970, :? "Contents."

At the heart of Bach's pursuit of chamber music in C?then was the rare genre of unaccompanied solo works in sonata and suite genres beginning with the violin and cello works, BWV 1001-1012, followed primarily in Leipzig with the duo sonatas for violin, flute, and viola da gamba, as well as 24 transcriptions of 14 of these works for different instruments and the perfection of the solo pieces. ? During much of this time Bach also composed works for lute or lute harpsichord while focusing on the flute in Leipzig. ? The music was intended for varied purposes:? to teach composition to family members, students, and friends; to develop a repertory to reflect emerging genres and tastes, and to meet the needs of a growing general public to experience music first-hand. ?

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To Come: ? The collections of the solo string works for violin and cello.?

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Hi members of the new BCML,

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These commentaries are presented on the BCW marked Role [French] and a linked from the main Cantata pages (under Commentaries) and the Index to Commentaries pages, starting at:

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Bach Cantatas Website?

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At the same time recently that scholars began exploring Bach's chamber music also came studies (monographs) focusing primarily on the unaccompanied solo works. ? The two solo string collections had come into their own, following the playing of individual movements as encores, in the 1890s when premier violinist Joseph Joachim began playing all six solo violin works from Bach's autograph while cellist Pablo Casals discovered a print edition and championed the six cello suites.? While Bach in C?then was perfecting the art of fugal writing beginning with the Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC), BWV 846-69, Book 1 () and dance settings with the English Suites, BWV 812-17 (), which were first composed for Friedemann's pedagogical 颁濒补惫颈别谤产ü肠丑濒别颈苍 in 1720, he also was compiling the first two collections of instrumental music, the solo string music for violin and cello:? Six Partitas and Sonatas for Violin Solo, BWV 1001-1006 () and the Six Suites for Violoncello Solo, BWV 1007-1012 ().

Both collections "create the maximum effect with a minimum of 'instrumental tools'," says Christoph Wolff, as "Bach the quintessential instrumentalist raises and redefines the technical standards of performing by fully exploiting the idiomatic qualities of the violin and cello."¹? The "free improvisatory and strict imitative realizations of his sonata-style movements and his suite (partita) dances with their rhythmic and textural flair reveal no deficiencies whatsoever when compared with the keyboard works from the same period."? The string works "also epitomize virtuosity" and because of their singularity excel "to a degree ever greater than his keyboard works of comparable demands."? These unique, unaccompanied works also reveal his compositional abilities to show "his command of dense counterpoint and refined harmony with distinctive and well-articulated rhythmic designs, especially in the dance movements." ?

"Bach's music for solo violin and solo cello is the ultimate manifestation of this "humanization' of an instrument," says Wilfrid Mellers (1914-2008, ).² Mellers.? Wilfrid.? Part I, Prelude; Chapter 2, "Voice and Body, Bach's Cello Suites as an Apotheosis of the Dance."? In Bach and the Dance of God. London:? Faber, 1980: 17.? Review, .? Mellers brings theological, psychological, and philosophical perspective to Bach's music, beginning with the instrumental music (the cello suites and the WTC), then the St. John Passion and the B-Minor Mass, and the keyboard Goldberg Variations and Canonical Variations.? By Bach's time, he notes, the viols were obsolete, replaced by the violin and its family "as the representative instruments of the Baroque era" that "sing lyrically, like human voices, but with a range and agility beyond human resource," with a tone from expressivity to brilliance, from secular to sacred venues and "well adapted for the execution of dance."? "In his solo violin works, says Mellers (Ibid.:? 18) Bach sometimes spells out the harmonies in multiple stopping, even to the extent of creating the illusion of a four-part organ fugue for solo fiddle."? "The cello, even more than the violin, becomes a projection of a total human being, with the timbre of "a wide-ranging male voice," while physically requiring the whole body to play, sing, and dance with the cello.? "In the cello suites, he is more austere, and in a sense more profound.? He writes few quasi/fugato passages, and adheres strictly to the conventions of the dance suite of his age."

Bach's unaccompanied works for violin, cello, lute and flute "are part of the foundational repertory of their respective instruments," says David Ledbetter.*? "At the same time, they are among the most complex and sophisticated manifestations of the union of french dance and Italian sonatas styles that characterises the music of the early eighteenth century."? "The art of the suite and the sonata was to play on set forms in novel and inventive ways," he says (Ibid,:? 1f), with the originality with which the music uses these prototypes" of suite and sonata, with a "richness of invention of musical ideas, of ingenuity of developing them."? Further, "Bach worked within certain structural principles," achieving the effect, "strong and sonorous" with "the line firmly grounded in the standard harmonic progressions of late baroque music."? ? ?

• Ledbetter, David. Unaccompanied Bach: Performing the Solo Works.? New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009: vii; review, .? This scholarly study is an extensive examination of Bach's unaccompanied music for violin, cello, lute, and flute, with two introductory chapters on German traditions, style, and structure.? The reviewer (Ibid.), Raymond Erickson, also has an article on Bach's Chaconne and its importance, .

Bach's composition of unaccompanied string music, while "decidedly peripheral to the main developments in chamber music," says Richard D. P. Jones,³ achieves distinction most prominently in the six solo violin sonatas and partitas where the entire texture "is concentrated within the hands of a single player" "a degree of virtuosity comparable with that which he had long expected of the keyboard."? These were abetted by his position as Concertmaster in Weimar, leading the court orchestra from 1714 to 1717, as well as his much earlier exposure to German virtuoso violin music of Johann Paul von Westhoff and Johann Georg Pisendel as well as Johann Heinrich Smelzer, Heinrich Ignaz vin Buber and Johann Jakob Walther.? Their art of unaccompanied multi-stopping, pseudo-polyphonic writing, high positions, and brilliant passage work are infused in Bach's works c.1720.? Meanwhile, Bach had also reveled in the established dance suite with its uniform dance styles and harmonies of Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-67, ).? Bach's sonatas show melodic invention in the opening preludes, strong concertante element in the weighty fugue movements, slow movements that "belong amongst Bach's most exquisite creations," and binary dance forms in the zest finales, observes Jones (Ibid.:? 90).?

The following are other annotated bibliographies of the solo violin and cello music, examining various manuscripts and copies:

Efrati, Richard R. Treatise on the Execution and Interpretation of the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin and the Suites for Solo Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach. Translated by Efrati, Richard with Harry Lyth. Zürich: Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag, 1979.? "Efrati is a proponent of using the lute transcription manuscript . . . as a means of reconciling the mistakes in the 5th Cello Suite from the Anna Magdalena copy . . . .," says Anna Wittstruck, "Dancing with J. S. Bach and a Cello" (Stanford:? Stanford University, 2012 ).

?

Sackman, Dominik.? Triumph des Geistes über die Materie. Mutma?ungen über Johann Sebastian Bachs 'Sei Solo a Violino senza Basso accompagnato' (BWV 1001-1006) mit einem Seitenblick auf die '6 Suites a Violoncello Solo' (BWV 1007-1012).? Stuttgart:? Carus Verlag, 2008; see Tanja Kova?evi? review, Bach Bibliography, . Szabó, Zoltán.? "Remaining Silhouettes of Lost Bach Manuscripts? Re-evaluating J. P. Kellner’s Copy of J. S. Bach’s Solo String Compositions."? In Understanding Bach, 10: 71–83 (Network UK 2015), .? This is a documented study of the two 1726 copies of the violin and cello suites by leading Bach student-copyist, Johann Peter Kellner with a section on his abridged version of the "Chaconne," and a section on "Parallel traits between the two Kellner copies."? "Editions based directly on original sources" became Chapter 5 in Szabó's PhD thesis, Problematic Sources, Problematic Transmission:? An Outline of the Edition History of the Solo Cello Suites by J. S. Bach.?

A special study is David Beach's examination of the dance movements in Bach's solo works for violin, cello, keyboard and orchestra:

Beach, David W.? Aspects of Unity of J. S. Bach's Partitas and Suites:? An Analytical Study, Eastman Studies in Music.? Rochester NY:? 2005; description, .? Beach examines many of the 44 works for dance in the suites and multi-movement partitas for solo instrument, keyboard, and orchestra, showing that the well-known individual movements often were part of a greater fabric of various forms of inner unity, not just a potpourri of dances.

Studies of the violin solo works involve performance monographs and theological symbolism.? Theological meaning is an area of study in which a select group of writers began to explore this concept in the wordless instrumental music, most notably in the solo violin and cello works and the Brandenburg Concertos:⁴

Lester, Joel.? Bach's Works for Solo Violin:? Style, Structure, Performance.? New York: Oxford University Press, 1999; description, .? This violin study focuses on the first Sonata in G minor, BWV 1001, the four movements in four chapters and their implications for the other two sonatas and other Bach violin works, as well as a chapter on the three solo violin partitas.

Schr?der, Jaap.? Bach's Solo Violin Works: A Performer's Guide.? New Haven:? Yale University Press. 2007; description, .? The title speaks for itself.? Schr?der also has recordings of BWV 1003, 1004 (, .

Shute, Benjamin. Sei Solo:? Symbolium? The Theology of J. S. Bach's Solo Violin Works (Eugene OR:? Pickwick Publications, 2016); review, .? This is a study of the theological-allegorical designs of the six violin solo works, with special attention to the second Partita in D-minor, BWV 1004, with its extended, renown "Chaconne."? Paul Galbraith's guitar transcriptions of the solo violin works has his own speculation that "a thematic thread runs through the work," "a gospel story in triptych form, telling of the birth [Sonata No. 1), Passion [Sonata No. 2), and Resurrection of Christ" (Sonata No. 3), .

FOOTNOTES

¹ Christoph Wolff, Bach: The Learned Musician, rev. ed. (New York:? W. W. Norton, 2014:? 232).

² Mellers.? Wilfrid.? Part I, Prelude; Chapter 2, "Voice and Body, Bach's Cello Suites as an Apotheosis of the Dance."? In Bach and the Dance of God. London:? Faber, 1980: 17.? Review, .? Mellers brings theological, psychological, and philosophical perspective to Bach's music, beginning with the instrumental music (the cello suites and the WTC), then the St. John Passion and the B-Minor Mass, and the keyboard Goldberg Variations and Canonical Variations.

³ Richard D. P. Jones, "Violin, cello, and flute solos," in The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach:? Music to Delight the Spirit, Vol. II:? 1717-1750 (Oxford:? Oxford University Press, 2013:? 86).?

⁴ See also studies of Bach's church music in Jaroslav Palikan, Bach Among the Theologians (Philadelphia:? Fortress Press, 1986; review, ); Calvin R. Stapfert, Death, Deliverance, and Discipleship in the Music of Bach (Grand Rapids MI:? Eerdmanns Publishing; review, ); Michael Marissen, Bach & God (New York:? Oxford University Press, 2016; review .? Instrumental music, Michael Marissen, The Social and Religious Designs of J. S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos (Princeton:? Princeton University Press, 2001); summary, ); interview, ).The first English language study of Bach and theology is Leo Schrade, "Bach:? The Conflict Between the Sacred and Secular," in Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Apr., 1946): 151-194 (); summary, ).

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To come:? The six solo cello suites:? varied perspectives.

Another characteristic of the cello suites is their increasing difficulty, with the sixth, BWV 1012 in D Major, composed for a five-string cello, possibly the violoncello piccolo (). ? Bach used this instrument in a third applicational as an obbligato part () about 1725 in Leipzig in sacred cantata arias for trio or quartet (BWV 6, 41, 49, 68, 85, 115, 175, 180, 183).? French cellist Christophe Coin () has recorded many of these and others ) while Thomas Braatz has written an extensive article, "Violoncello Piccolo in Bach's Vocal Works," ).? The possible Leipzig cellist was Georg Gottfried Wagner ().

"By exploring Baroque conceptions of gesture, dance and idiomatic writing, one may imagine how musical and physical gestures converged for Bach when composing his six suites," says Anna Wittstruck.³ ? The importance of dance gesture as action for philosopher René Descartes and for the Doctrine of Affections of Johann Mattheson () made social dance and ultimately the musical forms central to Bach's compositional interests.? While "the relationship between music, musical affect, and dance origins will vary considerably depending on dance type and each individual movement," she says, Bach by tradition "adheres to the dance's particular step patterns and rhythms" while he added a progressive galant minuet to the First and Second Suite, the bourrée in suites three and four, and the gavotte in the final two (Nos. 5, 6). ? None were intended to be danced but were vehicles of musical expression, she says (Ibid.:? "Baroque Dance in the Cello Suites").? Meanwhile, instrumental (not vocal) music was the leading type in the 18th century as the concerto and sonata were developed, says Robert L. Marshall in his new book.⁴ ? Between the 1720s and 1730s, a new style developed emphasizing more "mixed rhythms, homophonic textures, and periodic phrasing," says Marshall, "specifically dance music — throughout the seventeenth century and earlier."? Later, Mozart (and Haydn) would "produce another grand synthesis by incorporating into the works of their maturity the sophisticated polyphonic procedures" of Bach and Handel, says Marshall (Ibid.:? 261 Footnote 11).

Idiomatic Writing, Transcriptions, Applications, Teaching

Another perspective was "Bach's idiomatic writing for the cello," Wittstruck observes (Ibid.:? "Bach and the Cello").? Bach's father, Ambrosius (1645-96, ), was a violinist in Eisenach and his son "would later play violin and viola, and most likely cello," says Christoph Wolff,⁵ cited by Wittstruck.? She also cites Wilfrid Mellers,⁶ who shows "how well musical affect matches with Bach's writing for a particular instrument," for example in the Prelude of the Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009 ().? Interestingly, Bach's way of writing idiomatically can be transferred to other instruments, take the so-called "Arioso" ) to cello (), keyboard (), string quartet (), and flute ().? "Efrati argues that transcription is evidence that the works are not idiomatic, and that they may not have been written for ‘cello, but something that resembles a viola," says Wittstruck (), citing Richard Efrati.⁷? "It should be noted that Efrati is an active violist."? The cello suites have been transcribed for just about every instrument imaginable (:? "Arrangements").? There are at least two editions of all Bach's solo works arranged for keyboard:? Gustav Leonhardt (, ) and David Schulenberg ().

While the Six Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin, BWV 1001-1006, have found considerable favor in the concert hall and beyond, the six cello suites also have found numerous applied versions in the visual arts⁸ with movies such as Master and Commander (Yo-Yo Ma) and The Pianist (Dorota Imie?owska), television's The West Wing, various popular recording anthologies, and ringtones.? Dancers who have choreographed the Bach music include Mikhail Baryshnikov-Jerome Robbins (), Rudolf Nureyev, Mark Norris and Taiwan's Cloud Gate Dance Theatre.? Selective, somber movements have been played as memorial music for the Boston Marathon victims (Sarabande, BWV 1011/4), Katherine Graham, and Edward Kennedy (Sarabande BWV 1012/4).? Yo-Yo Ma in his video of the six cello suites employs six artistic collaborations involving Kabuki artist, etchings, garden design, choreography, ice dancers, and filmmakers ().? Ma's third versions of the suites, "Six Evolutions," is currently underway ().

The beginning of the first cello suite is as iconic as the beginning of the Prelude in C Major, BWV 846, of the Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1, and is similar in style with simple, arpeggiated chords ().? It is quite possible that both pieces of music were conceived at the same time as the beginnings of pedagogical collections for their respective instruments.? Also conceived at the same time as the violin solos, the cello solos "are informed by a certain didactic intent, more so then the sonatas and partitas for violin," says Hans Vogt.⁹? This is particularly true of the first cello suite, which "has all the qualities of an 'introductory work'," he says (Ibid."? 179). ? The suites appear to serve as the "Gradus and Parnassus" of cello playing:? the early suites are easier and become gradually more difficult,: says Martin Geck.¹⁰? The suites are "monophonic music wherein a man has created a dance of God, says Mellers (Ibid.:? 15).? The "music springs from the dance and from the corporeal act of playing the cello, yet in the process earthbound temporality is sublimated into continuous line," he says (Ibid.:? 18).?

Six Solo Cello Suites

The first cello suite in sunny G Major lays the groundwork for the five that are to come.? The standard six contrasting dance movements have a sense of balance and proportion, unity and diversity.? The slow prelude establishes "that the piece is considerably more than a preparatory study," says Vogt (Ibid.:? 179f), concluding with a bariolage section that "transcends the boundaries of a simple prelude."? Bach follows with an allemande in symmetrical portions and a similarly shaped courante, both played at lively tempos.? The send half of the suite has the substantial, slow sarabande (the heart of the work), with two minuets in elemental yet leisurely rhythm and a "joy of making music," concluding with a binary gigue with compressed phrases in the second half, underscoring the conclusion.

The second suite offers a more substantial, intertwined prelude followed by the allemande with more double stops emphasizing a certain severity associated with the somber key of D minor and? succeeded by the courante of Bach artistry emphasizing special phrasings, says Vogt (Ibid.:? 180f); the central sarabande? alternates classical rhythmic chordal and cadential linear parts in contrasting tension followed by two minuets, serious and lively, and the concluding gigue "also has an air of 'going against the grain' and its angularity occasionally projects an 'appassionato' mood."

A much different approach is taken by Mellers in the final four, more challenging and striking cello suites which he takes out of order, showing the relationship between the keys of E-Flat Major (BWV 1010) and D Major (BWV 1012) and the complimentary C minor (BWV 1011) and C Major (BWV 1009).? Where Bach in the collection of the six violin sonatas and partitas, alternating the two genres, maintained an harmonic integrity with the first four works in minor keys — g, b, a and d — and concluding in the major keys of C and E Major, the cello suites in uniformity of form contrast certain keys including the use of E-Flat Major () with three flats symbolic of the Trinity while the other keys also have spiritual implications.? The Prelude to BWV 1010 is a "cantilena that sunders the barriers of metrical time," says Mellers (Ibid.:? 18f).? "It becomes religious music," related to the [bass] arioso, No.? 19, "Betrachte, meine Seele" (Ibid.:? 1191-125; Consider, my soul, ), alternating repose and movement.? The key of E-Fat major here represents "certitude of Christian grace, the Godhead incarnate in Man."? The succeeding allemande also is physical and metaphysical, serious and sacramental, "relief after the prelude's tragic grandeur." The courante is a "foil to the allemande's gravity" as in Bach's divine comedy hilarity may at any moment turn into exaltation."? The central sarabande is ceremonial, solemn and sacral, similar to the closing choruses of the St. John and St. Matthew Passions, "that transports us back to the passionate and Passion-laden aura of the prelude" in a "purgatorial process."? Galanteries abide in the two bourrées, a classical, solid scherzo and a dreamy trio.? The closing gigue is a? shifting, pulsating 12/8 da capo, closing a work of light and shadow.

The final D Major suite of triumph, BWV 1012, begins as a "celebration of the visible" with the "seeming inevitability of its unfolding," says Mellers (Ibid.:? 26f, ), beginning "the last, greatest and grandest of the suites" with the greatest range of expression. ? The allemande is disciplined passion while the courante is "uneasily hilarious," he says (Ibid.:? 29), the saraband is both human and divine, the lively gavotte is in 2/2 metre and the second gavotte is "in musette style" (Ibid.:? 32), and the concluding gigue "is neither grand nor sublime; yet neither is it innocent."? Turning to the last pair of suites, Mellers finds the C minor suite, in the relative minor of three flats, still Trinitarian (BWV 1011, ) "the toughest and gravest," beginning with a prelude as a two-part slow-fast French overture, ceremonial with "tragic pathos" and a 3/8 dance "strenuous rather than blithe." The allemande and courante are darker.? The monodic "sarabande is harmonically powerful, even anguished," says Mellers (Ibid.:? 34) in music of purgation, while both the final gavotte and gigue are somber.? The suite in the C Major of contentment (BWV 1009, ) is "the most sensuous of the set," he says (Ibid.:? 34f) and "profits most from performance in ecclesiastical acoustics."? The grand prelude and allemande, the latter "noble, even hymnic in manner," lead to a sumptuous sarabande, a bourrée of bucolic vigour and a mirthful gugue. ? In his cello suites, Bach fuses "the apparently contradictory principles of religious monody and secular dance," he says (Ibid.:? 35), defining "the heart of his sublime and unique achievement."

"In Bach's time, it was unusual to play in the church, during the communion, a concerto or solo upon some instrument," says Johann Nikolaus Forkel in his Bach biography.¹¹? "He often wrote such pieces himself and always contrived them so that his performers could, by their means, improve on their instruments."? Forkel lists the two collections of the violin and cello solo works as supreme pedagogical studies. ? Only in recent years have Bach scholars pursued in contextual depth the spiritual meaning of these two collections, suggesting that the violin pieces could have been a memorial to Bach's first wife, Maria Barbara, who died in C?then in 1720, probably during their composition, or a Christological study of the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, suggests Benjamin Shute,¹² while the cello pieces are a spiritual keepsake for church performance, as Forkel says, or as "home music" "with divinely endowed performers in mind," says Mellers (Ibid.:? 18)

FOOTNOTES

¹ See Kathryn J. Allwine Bacasmot, "Haimovitz Plays Bach," program notes, October 23, 2015, , relate Pablo Casals discovery of the Bach six cello suites, scant early cello repertory, and Bach's music.?

² Robert L. Marshall and Traute M. Marshall, Exploring the World of J. S. Bach: A Traveler's Guide (Urbana IL:? University of Illinois Press, 2016), published in conjunction with the American Bach Society? (.

³ Wittstruck, Anna.? "Dancing with J. S. Bach and a Cello" (Stanford:? Stanford University, 2012 [accessed 21 October 2019]).

⁴ Robert L. Marshall, Prologue, "The Century of Bach and Mozart as a Music-Historical Epoch:? A Different Argument for then Proposition," in Bach and Mozart: Essays on the Enigma of Genius (Rochester NY:? University of Rochester, 2019:? 6f).

⁵ Christoph Wolff, Bach: The Learned Musician, rev. ed. (New York:? W. W. Norton, 2014:? 42).

⁶ Wilfrid Mellers, Part I, Prelude; Chapter 2, "Voice and Body, Bach's Cello Suites as an Apotheosis of the Dance" in Bach and the Dance of God (London:? Faber, 1980: 34).

⁷ Richard R. Efrati, Treatise on the Execution and Interpretation of the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin and the Suites for Solo Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach, translated Efrati with Harry Lyth (Zürich: Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag, 1979).? B?renreiter offers various editions of the cello suites, .

?

⁸ See Eric Siblin, The Cello Suites:? J. S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece (New York:? Grove Press, 2009:? 6ff).

⁹ Hans Vogt, Johann Sebastian Bach's Chamber Music:? Background, Analyses, Individual Works, Eng. trans. Kenn Johnson ( Portland OR:? Amadeus Press, 1988:? 178f);? original, Johann Sebastian Bachs Kammermusik: Voraussetzungen, Analysen, Einzelwerke (Stuttgart:? GmbH, 1981);? overview, .

¹⁰ Martin Geck, Johann Sebastian Bach;? Life and Work (Orlando:? Harcourt Books, 2000:? 603).

¹¹ Johann Nikolaus Forkel, iv "Instrumental Pieces," "On Johann Sebastian Bach's Life, Genius and Works," inThe New Bach Reader:? A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents, eds. Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel; rev. And enlarged Christoph Wolff (New York:? W. W. Norton: 1998:? 472.

¹² Benjamin Shute. Sei Solo:? Symbolium? The Theology of J. S. Bach's Solo Violin Works (Eugene OR:? Pickwick Publications, 2016:? xi).

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bylsma, Anner.? Bach, The Fencing Master:? About Mrs. Anna Magdalena Bach's Autograph Copy of the 6 Suites for Violoncello senza Basso of Johann Sebastian Bach.? Amsterdam: ? The Fencing Mail, 2019. ? The recently-deceased (1934-2019, ), noted Dutch cellist takes cellists through the copy and makes revealing notes about how to play the music ().? He also includes his own print versions of the cello suites transcribed for viola and for violin.?

Elie, Paul.? Part II, "A Man in a Room," 59-112.? In Reinventing Bach.? New York:? Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012), review .? Pablo Casals is the main topic of this chapter in Elie's highly informative study of noted Bach performers and how recordings lead the Bach Revival in the 20th century.? This chapter also covers the Bach biographical materials with his time in C?then.? Much more information on Casals is scattered through this book and topics are found in the Index under Casals.

Winold. Allen.? Bach's Cello Suites:? Analyses & Exploration, Vol. 1, Text; Vol.II Music.? Bloomington IN:? Indiana University Press, 2007), summary :? Table of Contents.? Thus is a performers' musicological guide

—————

TO COME:? Solo Music for Lute and Fute, Sonatas for Violin

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mickelson, Brooke.? J. S. Bach’s Six Unaccompanied Cello Suites:? What did Bach Want? Pullman WA:? Washington State University:? March 2018, on-line . ? This is a concise, studied overview of the six cello suites, with material on the Martin Jarvis theory of Anna Magdalena Bach as the composer (more information, see ).

Szabó, Zoltán.? "Problematic Sources, Problematic Transmission:? An Outline of the Edition History of the Solo Cello Suites by J. S. Bach," PhD thesis.? Sydney: ? Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 2016.? The proliferation — more than 100 editions of this masterpiece — due to the lack of an autograph, is a complicated source-critical history and Szabó examines the Kellner copy of 1726, before the Anna Magdalena Bach copy of 1728-31, for a new perspective, possibly based on a revised autograph. ? Another Szabó article, see "Decoding the music masterpieces: Bach’s Six Solo Cello Suites," .

开云体育

(a) Name: I'm happy with the gentle push from

Kantaten to almost-all-of.

(b) Amateur observation, complete with amateur

question: As the machineries work at present,

with the new things having been worked with

lately, all of these Bach-messages are being

sent directly to my every-day mail address.

That's not a big issue or problem, but it's

a little bit too much -- I would prefer to have

the appropriate Almost-All-of-Bach Discussion

Group set up *on the net*, to be visited

frequently, but without having the modest

hassle of seeing it several times a day

in my inbox.

So, is there something easy I could do, to

access all these discussion threads on?

a?webpage,?instead??

Nils Lid Hjort

Dear members,

Thans for the positive responses to my suggestion.

The BCML has just be renamed as Bach Mailing List (BML).

t.

??

Dear list members,

Thanks for the positive responses to my suggestion.

The BCML has just been renamed as Bach Mailing List (BML).

See description at the Home Page:

/g/Bach

You do not have change anything, except updating your e-mail Address Book.?

?

Sincerely,

?

Aryeh Oron

Webmaster of Bach Cantatas Website (BCW)

https://www.bach-cantatas.com/

Moderator of Bach Mailing List (BML)

/g/Bach?

Mahan Esfahani harpsichord
76:53
Hyperion CDA68244

?

This CD was given a good review? on Early Music Review (started by Clifford Bartlett with Brian Clark),

?

The review is located at

?

audio samples are at the Hyperion webpage:

?

Thanks,
Kim