Conversation between a Sanguineus and a Melancholicus

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Conversation between a Sanguineus and a Melancholicus ( Wq 161,1; H.579) is the programmatic heading of a three-movement trio sonata by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach for two violins and basso continuo .

Emergence

In 1751, when Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was employed as a chamber musician by Frederick the Great , the Nuremberg publishing house Balthasar Schmid printed two of the composer's trio sonatas. The first trio in C minor , composed in 1746, is entitled “Conversation between a Sanguineo and a Melancholico ”. It made a name for itself like hardly any other composition by Bach and is mentioned in Charles Burney's travelogue from 1773, which was translated into German immediately after its publication.

The chamber music work is preceded by a preliminary report by the composer, which begins as follows:

“In the first trio you tried to use instruments to express something as much as possible, for which you would otherwise use the singing voice and words much more comfortably. It is intended, as it were, to represent a conversation between a Sanguineus and a Melancholicus, who quarrel with each other in the whole of the first and right up to the end of the second sentence, and try to get one to the other; until they compare at the end of the second movement, the melancholic finally giving way and the other taking up his main clause. "

This is followed by very precise “notes about all the main points that occur” in the work, so that the listener can understand every single affect , every momentary clarification of the situation. The characterizing terms are numerous and range from humming, flirting, pleading, asking about melancholy and cheerfulness to bitterness and sadness. The aim here is a pictorial , associative musical language.

The damper is of particular importance in this piece . The second violin, which is intended to play the role of the melancholic, begins its entry con sordino and then plays in the places without a mute where it can be changed by the first violin, which takes on the part of the sanguine.

meaning

With this work, Bach touches on a theoretical question that has been vehemently discussed in contemporary musical aesthetics : what is specific about instrumental music and how can it be defined? Theorists such as Christian Gottfried Krause , Johann Joachim Quantz , Christoph Nichelmann and Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg , based on the premises of a rationalist philosophy, propagated the priority of vocal music over instrumental music because the words therein would show the "clear insight into things". In this context, Quantz writes:

“Singing music has certain advantages which instrumental music has to do without. With the former, the words and the human voice give the composer the greatest advantage, both with regard to the invention and the exception. "

In this trio, Bach provides practical proof that musical content can also be determined without words. Despite the sometimes superficial illustrative elements in the explanatory program, which also turn out to be a concession to the fashion taste, which is particularly expressed in the character pieces of French harpsichord music , Bach has succeeded in creating an artistically valuable work here. It contains numerous contrasts of expression, which are expressed through thematic differentiation, constant tempo changes and changes of major and minor. As in other works, this also shows Bach's ability to process motivic material in a variety of ways, be it through imitative voice guidance or through the creation of original harmonic combinations.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The music publisher Balthasar Schmid (1705–1749) published, among other things, Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations , his canonical changes and works by Georg Philipp Telemann and students of Bach. After Schmid's death, the publishing house was continued by his widow. in: Hans-Günter Ottenberg: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach , Reclam 1982, p. 403.
  2. ^ Hans-Günter Ottenberg: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach , Reclam 1982. p. 84
  3. ^ Hans-Günter Ottenberg: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach , Reclam 1982. p. 84.
  4. ↑ Christian Gottfried Krause, On musical poetry, Berlin 1753, p. 41.
  5. ↑ Johann Joachim Quantz, attempt at an instruction to play the flute traversiere , 2nd edition, Breslau 1780, p. 294.
  6. ^ Hans-Günter Ottenberg: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach , Reclam 1982. p. 86

expenditure

  • Sonata in C minor for 2 violins and figured bass. Edited by K. Hoffmann. Neuhausen / Stuttgart: Hänssler, 1979 (HE 33.450). Score and parts

literature

  • Hans-Günter Ottenberg: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach , Reclam 1982. pp. 83-88.

Web links

Trio Sonata in C Minor : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project