Bach Johann Sebastian - Bachs Cello Suites, Volumes 1 and 2: Analyses and Explorations

BACHS
CELLO SUITES

Analyses and Explorations

Volume I: Text

ALLEN WINOLD

Indiana
University
Press

BLOOMINGTON AND INDIANAPOLIS

This book is a publication of

Indiana University Press

601 North Morton Street

Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA

http://iupress.indiana.edu

Telephone orders 800-842-6796

Fax orders 812-855-7931

Orders by e-mail

2007 by Allen Winold

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Winold, Allen.

Bachs cello suites : analyses and explorations, volume i : text / Allen Winold.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.

ISBN 978-0-253-21885-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Bach, Johann Sebastian, 16851750. Suites, violoncello, BWV 10071012.

2. Suites (Violoncello)Analysis, appreciation. I. Title.

MT145.B14W57 2007

787.41858092dc22

2007000628

1 2 3 4 5 12 11 10 09 08 07

To Helga with love, and with deep gratitude
for her insight and inspiration

Johann Sebastian Bachs Suites for Unaccompanied Cello have inspired listeners and performers for almost 300 years, and yet there has been no full-length analytical study devoted exclusively to these magnificent works. My first goal in writing this book was to fill this gap by presenting analyses of all the movements of the suites; my second goal was to involve readers actively in the explorations of these works.

I wrote the book for three groups of readers with varied but related interests. I wrote it for cellists and other performing musicians, not to insist that they follow my ideas on how to interpret, perform, and teach these works, but rather to show them how concepts from music analysis could help them form their own ideas on interpreting, performing, and teaching these works. I wrote it for music teachers and for advanced students, not to challenge them with new theories, but to help them explore ways in which traditional analytical techniques and ideas could be made more accessible and meaningful. I wrote it for interested and informed general readers and music listeners, not to give them a superficial survey of the Cello Suites, but to introduce them to the excitement that can come from delving deeply into the study of these works.

To meet these goals and serve these readers, I use analytical techniques from a variety of sources, and I adapt and simplify some of the concepts and techniques to make them easier to understand and apply. All analyses include a set of basic techniquesformal analysis, harmonic reduction, functional harmonic analysis, linear analysis, and melodic analysis. Other specialized analytical techniques are introduced in the analyses of individual movements. The basic analytical concepts used throughout the book are presented in the first two sections of in conjunction with the study of the Preludes and Allemandes of the First and Second Suites. Readers who wish to focus only on the movements of a single suite should read these sections before reading the discussions of the movements of that particular suite.

The organization of the study reflects an emphasis on active involvement on the part of the reader. performance, and pedagogy. A detailed table of contents at the end of volume 1 enables readers to find discussions of specific movements and explanations of specific analytical concepts.

To foster active involvement, the book is presented in two volumesthe first containing the text, the second containing the music examples and analyses. This produces a more readable format for the examples, makes it easier for readers to go back and forth easily between text and music, and facilitates the playing of the examples on cello, piano, or other instruments. The music examples include the complete cello part of all movements of the suites, so that it is not necessary to have a separate copy of the music for the suites while reading the book. Both volumes end with an appendix that presents a summary of analytical designations, symbols, and abbreviations.

I hope that readers, especially theorists, musicologists, and music educators, will play the examples in the second volume, and not just focus on the analytical discussions in the first volume. I hope that readers, especially performers and students, will study the analytical concepts in the first volume, and not just focus on the music examples in the second volume. In this way all readers may experience the fruitful interaction between the analysis of music, with its emphasis on thoughtful exploration of possibilities, and the practice of music, with its emphasis on active realization of these possibilities.

I acknowledge my indebtedness to my colleagues at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and to other scholars and writers from Bachs own time to the present, whose insights have helped me to understand and value the Cello Suites. I acknowledge my appreciation to Janos Starker, Helga Winold, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, and Emilio Colon from the cello department at the Jacobs School of Music and to the many generations of cellists whose performances of these works have brought them to the world in such a rich variety of styles and interpretations. I especially want to acknowledge the skill, support, patience, and encouragement of Michele Bird, Dawn Ollila, Jane Quinet, Pam Rude, and Donna Wilson of Indiana University Press, and copyeditor Eric Schramm.

Finally I acknowledge my gratitude to my teachers who helped me find the knowledge to answer my questions, and to my students who helped me find the courage to question my answers.

BACHS
CELLO SUITES

History is philosophy teaching by examples.

Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbrooke

When, in 1735, Viscount Bolingbrooke wrote this perceptive definition of history, he was probably referring to significant social or political events as the examples that bring philosophical insight. There is no reason, however, why the composition and performance of works such as J. S. Bachs Cello Suites, written roughly a decade earlier, could not serve equally well. In this spirit I present some of the historical events related to the Cello Suites, not as mere facts, but as examples that may provide insight into the composition, analysis, and performance of these works.

In the same year in which Bolingbroke wrote this definition of history, Bach wrote a genealogy entitled The Origin of the Musical Bach Family; in 1774 his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and others added supplemental materials. This genealogy lists fifty-three members of the Bach family, from Veit Bach, a Hungarian baker who played the cittern, to Johann Heinrich Bach, a good clavier player. The members of the Bach family were well established as musicians in Thuringia and other parts of Germany; indeed, the name Bach was virtually synonymous with the word musician. Here is Bachs own listing of the positions he held up until 1735: