A Schenkerian Analysis of “Preludio” from Bach’s Unaccompanied Violin Partita No. 3
A Schenkerian Analysis of “Preludio” from Bach’s Unaccompanied Violin Partita No. 3
“A single creative genius lies behind all of Bach’s music in all genres…his work exhibits a stylistic uniformity that transcends the differences between all the genres in which he composed…In short, Bach’s music in all the genres sounds like it is by Bach.” – Joel Lester
Very few theorists touch upon the topic of motivic and structural coherence in Bach’s dance suites. The keyboard and lute suites deservedly have more published analyses than the string suites - considering there are simply more of them - leaving the cello and violin suites pristine and practically untouched, and unjustifiably so. The most obscure are the violin suites, particularly the BWV 1006 in E major. With the exception of the well-known published analysis by Schenker of the Preludio, Carl Schachter’s analysis of the Gavotte en Rondeaux, no other analysis can be found of this partita. Building on Schenker and Schachter, I present my own Schenkerian analysis of the Preludio. With the help of David Beach’s book on unity in Bach suites and Joel Lester’s book on Bach’s solo violin works, I address motivic and structural coherence in this partita with some observations that apply to all of Bach’s violin suites.
Bach composed six unaccompanied works for the violin in the year 1720, three Sonatas da chiesa and three Partitas. The “partita”, as understood during Bach’s time, was a set of variations; as one might infer, this definition implies that some or all movements of each partita are variations of each other. The BWV 1006 has seven movements and the only violin partita that begins with a prelude.
David Beach addresses the first two of three violin Partitas in his book, observing the importance of the neighbor motion as a motivic pattern in the first and second Partitas. I wish to call attention to the great significance of the neighbor motion that is present in the third Partita as well. The Preludio opens
“A single creative genius lies behind all of Bach’s music in all genres…his work exhibits a stylistic uniformity that transcends the differences between all the genres in which he composed…In short, Bach’s music in all the genres sounds like it is by Bach.” – Joel Lester
Very few theorists touch upon the topic of motivic and structural coherence in Bach’s dance suites. The keyboard and lute suites deservedly have more published analyses than the string suites - considering there are simply more of them - leaving the cello and violin suites pristine and practically untouched, and unjustifiably so. The most obscure are the violin suites, particularly the BWV 1006 in E major. With the exception of the well-known published analysis by Schenker of the Preludio, Carl Schachter’s analysis of the Gavotte en Rondeaux, no other analysis can be found of this partita. Building on Schenker and Schachter, I present my own Schenkerian analysis of the Preludio. With the help of David Beach’s book on unity in Bach suites and Joel Lester’s book on Bach’s solo violin works, I address motivic and structural coherence in this partita with some observations that apply to all of Bach’s violin suites.
Bach composed six unaccompanied works for the violin in the year 1720, three Sonatas da chiesa and three Partitas. The “partita”, as understood during Bach’s time, was a set of variations; as one might infer, this definition implies that some or all movements of each partita are variations of each other. The BWV 1006 has seven movements and the only violin partita that begins with a prelude.
David Beach addresses the first two of three violin Partitas in his book, observing the importance of the neighbor motion as a motivic pattern in the first and second Partitas. I wish to call attention to the great significance of the neighbor motion that is present in the third Partita as well. The Preludio opens
Bibliography: Schenker, Heinrich. The Masterworks in Music. Volume 1. New York: Cambridge, 1994. Schenker, Heinrich Beach, David. Aspects of Unity in J. S. Bach 's Partitas and Suites. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2005. Lester, Joel Mellers, Wilfrid. Bach and the Dance of God. London: Faber and Faber, 1980. Schenker, Heinrich. Free Composition. E. Oster, Transl. Longman, New York, 1979. [ 2 ]. David Beach, Aspects of Unity in J. S. Bach 's Partitas and Suites. (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2005). [ 5 ]. Heinrich Schenker, The Masterworks in Music. (New York: Cambridge University Press 1994), 39. Schenker was quite fond of the 8-line as all three of his analyses of Bach’s work for solo string instruments were read from scale degree 8.