Partita no.4 in D major, BWV 828
The fourth partita, whose original title page was dated 1728, is the most splendid of the partitas. Three or four movements – the overture, courante, gigue and perhaps the minuet – evoke orchestral style, but the remainder are intimate and highly expressive. The overture is of the same type found in the orchestral suites of Bach. Such movements are usually regarded as consisting of a slow dotted section followed by a fugue, but many can also be viewed as sort of binary form. Often the second half is, as here, a fugue in concerto style having little in common with the first half. Yet the tonal structure is that of a binary …show more content…
As In many Bach pieces the crowning point in the figuration is a complete scale shortly before the final cadence of each half. The character of the courante is defined by the figure corte in the opening theme. One does not expect to find such writing in a courante, and although in principal following the French version of the dance, the movement uses few of the traditional melodic or rhythmic formulas. The bass in m.3 is clearly a 6/4 and when a new motivic idea is introduced by the treble in m.9, it is imitated by alto and tenor at intervals of five quarter notes. Against the energetic motives in small notes values are set some written-out examples of the expressive long appoggiatura. The sarabande theme is the product of a particularly fantastic transformation of the traditional dance type; the accent on …show more content…
Partita no. 5 might have been composed at about the same time as partita no.4 for several distinctive passages in the first movement closely resembled the overture and the gigue of the previous suite. Moreover, both gigues follow the unusual scheme of opening the second half with a new subject. The first movement is designated a praeambulum, maybe because the term fantasia had already been used in partita no.3. it is probably another hand-crossing piece, like the gigue of partita no.1; the division of notes between the hands, calls for the right hand to cross over the left, reaching deep into the bass. In the allemande, a short theme containing triplet-sixteenths is developed in two-part imitative counterpoint and then inverted after the double bar. The courante is an example of the dance that could have served equally well as a prelude or a sonata movement. Three times the treble makes a conspicuous climb to d: the first two times it is part of a dissonant chord and only the third time is consonant, when the two hands move in contrary motion to the outer limits of Bach’s keyboard compass at the close. The sarabande is of the trio type with numerous appoggiaturas,
The fourth partita, whose original title page was dated 1728, is the most splendid of the partitas. Three or four movements – the overture, courante, gigue and perhaps the minuet – evoke orchestral style, but the remainder are intimate and highly expressive. The overture is of the same type found in the orchestral suites of Bach. Such movements are usually regarded as consisting of a slow dotted section followed by a fugue, but many can also be viewed as sort of binary form. Often the second half is, as here, a fugue in concerto style having little in common with the first half. Yet the tonal structure is that of a binary …show more content…
As In many Bach pieces the crowning point in the figuration is a complete scale shortly before the final cadence of each half. The character of the courante is defined by the figure corte in the opening theme. One does not expect to find such writing in a courante, and although in principal following the French version of the dance, the movement uses few of the traditional melodic or rhythmic formulas. The bass in m.3 is clearly a 6/4 and when a new motivic idea is introduced by the treble in m.9, it is imitated by alto and tenor at intervals of five quarter notes. Against the energetic motives in small notes values are set some written-out examples of the expressive long appoggiatura. The sarabande theme is the product of a particularly fantastic transformation of the traditional dance type; the accent on …show more content…
Partita no. 5 might have been composed at about the same time as partita no.4 for several distinctive passages in the first movement closely resembled the overture and the gigue of the previous suite. Moreover, both gigues follow the unusual scheme of opening the second half with a new subject. The first movement is designated a praeambulum, maybe because the term fantasia had already been used in partita no.3. it is probably another hand-crossing piece, like the gigue of partita no.1; the division of notes between the hands, calls for the right hand to cross over the left, reaching deep into the bass. In the allemande, a short theme containing triplet-sixteenths is developed in two-part imitative counterpoint and then inverted after the double bar. The courante is an example of the dance that could have served equally well as a prelude or a sonata movement. Three times the treble makes a conspicuous climb to d: the first two times it is part of a dissonant chord and only the third time is consonant, when the two hands move in contrary motion to the outer limits of Bach’s keyboard compass at the close. The sarabande is of the trio type with numerous appoggiaturas,