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Bach
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Fully Notated Articulation in
Bach's Mature Keyboard Music
By John Boe
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
DID no J. nomeans.
means.S. Bach often
Bach always often
furnished leave furnished
performance performance
instructions performance details instructions to the performer? in his scores By
in his scores
or (as is well known) in the slurs, dots, and slashes found in the perform-
ing parts of his cantatas. But many of his directions are found in the very
notes and rests of his musical text. These instructions in the notes them-
selves are often overlooked as models for similar passages elsewhere, where
Bach left no indications for performance.
In the study which follows, the fully written-out instructions for articu-
lated and legato playing found in some of Bachs keyboard works - espe-
cially the Ciavierbung volumes and the French and English Suites - are
systematically sampled.1 To the examples in music notation given at the
end of this study, are added lists of similar examples for each category of
articulation discussed. These lists are representative of the later keyboard
repertory, but are not meant to be complete.
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Continuo-Style Detached Bass, Indicated by Rests
Bach sometimes detaches the bass line when the bass moves steadily
in notes of equal value and another part above it moves more quickly.
Note that in Example 1 (see Examples following this article) it would
have been easier for Bach to have written quarter-notes in the bass, and
note, also, that the passages, if so written, would have been musically
acceptable. Here, Bach has used rests to insure articulation of the bass line
- not for the sake of emphasis in this passage, but to lighten the texture
of a part serving a Continuo function, so as to allow the upper part to
speak.
See also: BWV 828, Partita IV, Ouverture: 20-23, counter-subject here
and throughout; 34-35, 38-39, 41-47, 75; 79-83;
88-94, 97-103
See also: BWV 828, Partita IV, Aria: 1-2, 4-6, 17-18
BWV 830, Partita VI, Air: 1-2
BWV 811, English Suite VI, Gigue: 3 (counter-subject here
and derived from chords throughout)
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(Indicated by dots: )
BWV 827, Partita III, Burlesca : 5-6, 21-22 (See Example 16.)
BWV 552, Praeludium pro Organo Pleno (E- flat Major) :
33-40, 112-19
BWV 811, English Suite VI, Gavotte I: 31 (wedges over cadence
chords; note, however, that we have no autograph
of the English Suites , only copies)
See also: BWV 664, Trio super Allein Gott in der Hh' sei Ehr', a 2 Clav,
e Pedale: 1, 2, 4, 5, and throughout
BWV 663, (see Example 2): 2, 5, etc.
BWV 988, Goldberg Variations, Var. 10: 6-7, 9-13, 15, (25),
28
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BWV 816, French Suite V, Bourre'. 9
BW V 816, French Suite V, Lour e: 7, 15
BWV 802, Duetto I: 72
B W 827, Partita III, Burlesca: 5-6, 21-22 (See Example 15.)
BW 828, Partita IV, Menuet: 1, 5
Bach sometimes writes dots over a series of notes of the same time
value, especially when these notes are eighth-notes and when other parts
move against these eighth-notes in quicker time values. Example 9 is
typical.
See also: BWV 544, Praeludium for Organ in B-Minor: 18-21, 43-45,
73-74
BWV 677, Fughetta super Allein Gott in der Hh ' sei Ehr ': 1-4
BWV 682, Vater unser im Himmelreich, C.F. in Canone a 2
Clav, e Pedale: 10-11, 14-15, 17-18, 20, 28, 30-32,
39-40, 42-55, 57-59, 63-70, 75-82, 87-90
BWV 988, Goldberg Variations, Var. 16: 8-9
BWV 988, Goldberg Variations, Var. 20: throughout - here
indicated exceptionally by sixteenth-rests
Bach's florid lines for obbligato solo instruments in his cantata arias
- as marked in many autograph parts written out for performances -
often show an abundance of articulations marked by both dots and slurs.
Occasionally, Bach transfers this florid style to the keyboard, as in Exam-
ple 10.
In Example 11, observe first that Bach wrote three repeated quarter-
notes in measure 95 instead of one dotted half-note; and that Bach then
articulated and stressed these repeated quarter-notes by writing dots above
them.
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articulated. Example 12 shows Bach's use of a sixteenth-rest to achieve
both ends. (Without the sixteenth-rest the first three notes in the soprano
part, measure 15, would have been written as a dotted-quarter-note, an
eighth-note, and a half-note. The sixteenth-rest produces the same effect
as would have resulted from double-dotting the first soprano note.)
See also: BWV 552, Praeludium pro Organo Pleno (E-flat) : 5-30, 59-69,
99-110, 175-203
BWV 988, Goldberg Variations, Var. 23: 9-13, 17-20
Footnotes
1 The English Suites come to us only in copies; slurs and dots found in these
may, indeed, derive from Bach's students rather than from Bach himself. B
evidence of those passages in the English Suites , where performance indication
written out fully in notes or rests, cannot be objected to on these grounds.
2 Although it is included in a late collection of organ works based on chorale
663 is probably an early work.
Examples
Ex. 2. BWV 663, Allein Gott in der Hh' sei Ehr', a 2 Clav, e Ped., C.F. in
Tenore, meas. 1-2, 14-16 (see also 7-9) : continuo-style detached
upper parts
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Ex. 3. BWV 827, Partita III, Scherzo, meas. 1-4 and 28-30 (see also
12-16) : detached chords
Ex. 4. BWV 829, Partita V, meas. 1-4 (also 17-18, 20, 37-44, 65-68,
73-77): detached chords
Ex. 5. BWV 831, French Overture , Echo , meas. 1-2 (also 33 and
throughout ) : detached chords
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Ex. 6. BWV 988, Goldberg Variations, Var. 24, meas. 1-2 (also 4-6, where
technical considerations influence the use of rests ) : phrasing breaks
Ex. 7. BWV 804, Duetto III, meas. 1-3: isolated detached pairs of notes
Ex. 8. BWV 805, Duetto IV, meas. 78-81 ( see also 17-24, 49-56, 83-85 ) :
isolated detached pairs of notes
Ex. 9. BWV 831, French Overture , Ouverture, meas. 20-23, 38-40 (see
also 26-30, 71-72, 98-102, 104, 106, 134-36) : detached series of
equal notes, marked with dots
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Ex. 10. BWV 988, Goldberg Variations , Var. 13, meas. 11-16 (see also
21-24, 29-32 ) : detached notes marked by dots intermingled
with slurs
Ex. 11. BWV 971, Italian Concerto , Presto , meas. 94-96: repeated notes
marked with dots
Ex. 12. BWV 831, French Overture, Ouverture, meas. 15-16 (see also
1-20 and 144-162 ) : detached dotted rhythms
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