EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
Western Music History through Performance
Jonathan Coopersmith, Curtis Institute of Music
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E Bach's Monumental Chaconne Notes taken on May 28, 2017 by Edward Tanguay |
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over the course of the Baroque period
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instrumental music continued to gain independence over vocal music
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many of the music works in opera made their way into purely instrumental works
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recitative
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a style of delivery in operas, oratorios, and cantatas, in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech
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four categories of Baroque instrumental music
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size of ensemble
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large ensemble such as an orchestra
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smaller chamber ensemble
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solo instrument
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venue (place)
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theater
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church
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chamber
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for private entertainment
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nationality
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Italian
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French
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German
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English
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Spanish
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type of work
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fugue
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sonata
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dance suite
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variations
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chaconne
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a composition in a series of varying sections in slow triple time
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solo instrument
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chamber of small theater
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Italian and French (dance suite)
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a set of variations
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partita
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work for a single instrument
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a suite, typically for a solo instrument or chamber ensemble
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five dance movements
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Allemanda
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corrente
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Sarabanda
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Gia
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Ciaconna
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Bach: Partita in D minor for Violin, BWV 1004
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Ciaconna (chaconne)
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one of Spain's most popular dances from the early 1600 until the 1630s
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"The chaconne was often condemned for its suggestive movements and mocking texts, which spared not even the clergy, and was said to have been invented by the devil. Few could reportedly resist the call to join the dance, regardless of their station in life."
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was banned by church at one point
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evolved into a fine dance of the French court
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triple meter
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variations over a repeated bass line or harmonic progressive
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similar to passacaglia
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built on small repeated units that end with a cadence (sequence of notes or chords comprising the close of a musical phrase) leading into the next unit
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the repetition is continuous
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the chaconne
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Bach wrote three sonatas and three partitas for the solo violin
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as early as 1703 while working in Weimar alongside Johann Paul von Westhoff
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partita
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a dance suite
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but Bach's partitas are quite serious in character
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the piece is difficult to play
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to keep a sense of development and forward momentum
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Bach wrote Sei Solo as the title of these pieces, which means six solos, but in proper Italian should have been Sei Soli, although Sei Solo means: you are alone