Piano practice

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Johann Sebastian Bach published a number of his works for harpsichord or organ in print in the course of his life ; in the years from 1731 to 1741 in a four-part collection under the name of piano exercises . He systematically considered all instruments with a keyboard: one or two-manual harpsichord or clavichord in the first part, organ with and without pedal in the third part and two-manual harpsichord in the second and fourth parts.

With a suite, concert, prelude and fugue, chorale arrangement and variation, Bach offered most of the common genres and compositional styles. Even if the title "Exercise" is associated with a textbook today, the compositions were and are anything but easy to play and are by no means aimed at instrumental students. Rather, they systematically show the uncompromisingly high compositional and technical level of their author.

The word "exercise" does not have to be understood here in the modern sense of the new learning that is in the foreground in Etüdenspiel , but can rather be understood in a higher sense as a comprehensive intellectual and technical acquisition, deepening and meditation of the player on the one hand, and as an exercise in the composing profession on the other be seen. The latter corresponds to the term asceticism , which since ancient times has been described as a practice in the context of self-training through disciplining both with regard to thinking and will and with regard to behavior.

Piano Exercise Part I: Partitas

From 1726 to 1731 Bach published a partita for harpsichord - a suite . In 1731 he summarized the six compositions again and published them - using the original printing plates - as his opus 1 (at the age of 46, as a recognized composer - because at that time only published works were referred to and counted with opus ).

The original title is:

Clavir exercise / consisting of / Præludien, Allemanden, Couranten, Sarabanden, Giguen, / Minuets, and other gallanteries; / Manufactured for those who love the mind / by / Johann Sebastian Bach / Hochfürstl: Saxon Weisenfelsischen traditional Capellmeisters / and / Director Chori Musici Lipsiensis. / OPUS 1 / In relocation of the author / 1731.

All partitas basically follow the sequence of movements initiated in French baroque music ( Allemande - Courante - Sarabande - Gigue ), but usually add additional dances before the Gigue or Sarabande, or replace them with other dances. The wide range of introductory clauses is particularly striking - all common types are used, from Praeludium (1st partita) to Sinfonia (2nd partita), Fantasia (3rd partita) and French overture (4th partita) to Toccata (6th partita) . Partita). The individual movements are without exception in the basic key of the respective work.

Following the French and English suites , Albert Schweitzer called them “German suites”; this designation has not caught on. Research largely agrees that Bach undertook a kind of integration of the two predominant musical styles here - the French and Italian styles.

Partita I in B flat major, BWV 825

sentences

  • Prelude 4/4 time
  • Allemande 4/4 time
  • Corrente 3/4
  • Sarabande 3/4
  • Minuet I - II - I 3/4
  • Jig 4/4 time

Partita II in C minor, BWV 826

sentences

  • Sinfonia: Grave Adagio 4/4 time- Andante 4/4 time- 3/4
  • Allemande 4/4 time
  • Courante 3/2
  • Sarabande 3/4
  • Rondeau 3/8
  • Capriccio 2/4

Partita III in A minor, BWV 827

sentences

  • Fantasia 3/8
  • Allemande 4/4 time
  • Corrente 3/4
  • Sarabande 3/4
  • Burlesca 3/4
  • Scherzo 2/4
  • Gigue 12/8

Partita IV in D major, BWV 828

sentences

  • Overture alla breve- 9/8
  • Allemande 4/4 time
  • Courante 3/2
  • Aria 2/4
  • Sarabande 3/4
  • Minuet 3/4
  • Gigue 9/16

Partita in G major, BWV 829

sentences

  • Praeambulum 3/4
  • Allemande 4/4 time
  • Corrente 3/8
  • Sarabande 3/4
  • Tempo di Menuetto 3/4
  • Passepied 3/8
  • Gigue 6/8

Partita VI in E minor, BWV 830

sentences

  • Toccata alla breve-4/4 time
  • Allemande 4/4 time
  • Corrente 3/8
  • Air alla breve
  • Sarabande 3/4
  • Tempo di Gavotta alla breve
  • Gigue Ø (= 4/2)

Keyboard exercise part II

In 1735 Bach published in the important Nuremberg publishing house by Christoph Weigel jun. the second part of his keyboard exercise , consisting of the Italian Concerto in F major and the French Overture in B minor under the original title:

Second part of the / piano exercise / consisting of / a concerto according to Italian gusto / and / an overture according to French style / in front of a / clavicymbel with two / manuals. / Made for those who love them for the pleasure of their hearts. / by / Johann Sebastian Bach / Hochfürstl: Saechss: Weissenfelss: Capellmeistern. / and / Directore Chori Musici Lipsiensis. / in relocation / Christoph Weigel Junioris.

Most authors see the musical meaning in the quasi archetypal juxtaposition of the two musical styles and do not consider the keys F major and B minor used - separated by a tritone - to be a coincidence.

The Italian Concerto is played very often today - also on the piano; the overture is almost unknown in concert life today.

Overture in B minor, BWV 831

sentences

  • Overture alla breve- 6/8
  • Courante 3/2
  • Gavotte I - II - I
  • Passepied I - II - I
  • Sarabande 3/4
  • Bourrée I - II - I
  • Gigue 6/8
  • echo
plant

With eleven movements, this composition is not only significantly more extensive than the partitas in the first part. It also has a much freer movement sequence - conspicuously, the allemande is missing (which German composers probably did not perceive as “typically French” because of the name alone). The work is more similar to Bach's orchestral suites with their free series of fashionable dances.

Another difference is the simpler melody, i.e. a clear renouncement of written adornments (contrary to the title, this does not correspond to French practice, which can be seen in the meticulous adornment prescriptions, for example in Couperin or Rameau , both of which fall in Bach's time). Bach prescribes the use of the two manuals through forte and piano . This applies particularly to the overture and of course - the title Echo suggests it - the final movement.

In addition to the version in B minor, there is an early version of the overture in C minor, which has been preserved in a copy made by Anna Magdalena Bach around 1730 .

Italian Concerto in F major, BWV 971

sentences

  • 2/4 in F major
  • Andante 3/4 in D minor
  • Presto in alla breveF major
plant

The solo concert form with the tempo sequence fast-slow-fast, initiated in Italy by composers like Arcangelo Corelli and Giuseppe Torelli and further developed by Antonio Vivaldi, contrasts a single instrument with a larger body of sound. Bach had met typical representatives of this form early on and had dealt with it by making organ and piano reductions in Weimar ("Six" and "Sixteen Concerts by Different Masters", BWV 592-597 and 972-987).

In the Italian Concerto he continued this idea; the work juxtaposes the two manuals of the harpsichord and is clearly based on elements developed by Vivaldi, such as the ritornello theme , which gradually appears on different levels, and the intervening solo parts with little voices. The whole composition flirts with the idea, so to speak, that it is a piano reduction of a real orchestral work.

In a review in 1739 Johann Adolf Scheibe wrote :

“But who will not continue to admit that this piano concerto is to be regarded as a perfect model of a well-established unanimous concert? But at the moment we will still be able to present very few, or almost no concertos of such excellent qualities and of such a well-ordered elaboration. As great a master of music as Herr Bach is, who in particular has mastered the piano almost entirely by himself [...] it had to be to give us such a piece in this setting. "

Keyboard exercise part III

CU3title.jpg

In 1739, Bach published a series of organ works as the third and most extensive part, at 77 pages. The framework is provided by the prelude and fugue in E flat major , with 21 chorale adaptations in between. Albert Schweitzer also called the whole thing an organ mass , since the chorales used are not tied to specific times of the church year and were arranged during a service, starting with Kyrie, Gloria and Credo.

Bach writes systematically for two different types of organs - each movement is clearly written either for a large multi-manual organ with a pedal or for a small pedal-less organ. There are two arrangements for each chorale melody; each movement for the large organ is followed by a version without a pedal. The introductory prelude and the concluding five-part fugue already assume a large organ with a pedal in the heading pro Organo pleno . For pedalless play, the collection also contains four two-part compositions known as duets .

The original title:

Third part / the / clavier exercise / consisting / in / various preludes / about the / catechism and other chants, / in front of the organ: / For those who love, and especially those who are familiar with / of the same kind of work, to stimulate the mind / made by / Johann Sebastian Bach, / Koenigl. Pohlnischen, and Churfürstl. Saechs. / Hoff-Compositeur Capellmeister, and / Directore Chori Musici in Leipzig. / In relocation of the authority.

Prelude and Fugue in E flat major, BWV 552

Two sentences
  • Prelude alla breve
  • Fugue alla breve

Choral arrangements, BWV 669–689

21 sentences
Christ, all the world's consolation, G-Phrygian   a 2 clav. e Ped. , BWV 670
Kyrie, God Holy Spirit, G-Phrygian   a 5 con Organo pleno , BWV 671
Kyrie, God the Father in Eternity 3/4, G major   Alio modo. Manualiter , BWV 672
Christe, all over the world consolation 6/8, C major, BWV 673
Kyrie, God Holy Spirit 9/8, G major, BWV 674
Only God on high be Ehr 6/8, G major   a 2 clav. e pedals , BWV 676
Fughetta super: God alone in the heights be Ehr Manualiter , BWV 6774/4 time  
  • These are the holy ten commandments 6/4, G major   a 2 clav. e pedals , BWV 678
Fughetta super: These are the holy ten commandments 12/8, G major   Manualiter , BWV 679
Fughetta super: We all believe in one God Manualiter , BWV 6814/4 time  
  • Our Father in the Kingdom of Heaven 3/4   a 2 Clav. e pedals , BWV 682
Our Father in the Kingdom of Heaven 6/8   Alio modo. Manualiter , BWV 683
  • Christ our Lord came to Jordan in 4/4 timeC minor, BWV 684
Christ our Lord to the Jordan came 3/4   Alio modo. Manualiter , BWV 685
In deep distress I scream to you   Alio modo. Manualiter , BWV 687
Fugue super: Jesus Christ our Savior   a 4 manualiter , BWV 689

Four duets, BWV 802–805

Four sentences
  • Duetto in E minor 3/8, BWV 802
  • Duetto in F major 2/4, BWV 803
  • Duetto in G major 12/8, BWV 804
  • Duetto in A minor 4/4 time, BWV 805

Contrary to what the title suggests today's reader, these four movements are written for a pedalless keyboard instrument and can be played on the organ or harpsichord. The title thus refers to its two-part voice throughout; they are contrapuntal and at the same time virtuoso movements similar to the Inventions , but of much greater scope. Although the Bach Works Directory ranks them among the harpsichord works, they are more likely to be regarded as organ compositions in the context of their publication.

Piano Exercise Part IV: Goldberg Variations

Title page of Part IV

Two years after the third part of the keyboard exercise , Bach wrote a cycle of 30 variations on the 32-bar bass line of an aria for two-manual harpsichord; this work is known today under the name Goldberg Variations (BWV 988). Bach published this cycle in the same year (1741) under the title:

Clavier exercise / consisting / in an / ARIA / with various changes / in front of the clavicimbal / with 2 manuals. / Manufactured for those lovers for the remediation / by / Johann Sebastian Bach / Königl. Pohl. u. Churf. Saechs. Hoff / Compositeur, Capellmeister, a. Director / Chori Musici in Leipzig. / Nuremberg in relocation / Balthasar Schmids.

The work begins with the - heavily ornamented - aria and has thirty stylistically very different movements, before the aria is repeated unchanged at the end. Similar to part I (opening movement of Partita IV), a French overture marks the beginning of the second part (variation 16).

Piano Exercise Part V?

Some researchers are of the opinion that Bach must have planned the art of the fugue as the fifth part of the keyboard exercise. The target instrument is then either the clavichord or the Silbermann grand piano (an early form of the fortepiano , of which Frederick the Great owned several copies). However, there is no documentary evidence of Bach's intentions, and so all this remains speculation.

literature

  • Christian Overstolz: The four duets of Bach from the third part of the keyboard exercise. Attempt at an interpretation . Basel 2018, ISBN 978-3-907128-08-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Wolff , foreword to the second part of the piano exercise, Bärenreiter Verlag, 1977.
  2. ↑ Doc. II, No. 463, here after: Christoph Wolff: Johann Sebastian Bach , 2nd edition 2007. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 978-3-596-16739-5 , p. 406.
  3. ^ Eva Badura-Skoda : Did Bach compose “Fortepiano Concerts”? in Bach Yearbook 1991.