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Ciaccona, a dance or Tombeau?
Johann Sebastian Bachthree major influences for his musicianship
The spirit of time
Education
Incidents in Bach’s private life
Luthenarism in music
Martti Luther
10.11.1483-18.2.1546
!
”A person who gives this some thought and yet does notregard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing butthe braying of asses and the grunting of hogs."Martin Luther
Martin Luther10.11.1483-18.2.1546
Lutheran Theology of Music
Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. The gift of language combined with the gift of song was given to man that he should proclaim the Word of God through Music.
The devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God....Music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus itdrives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets allwrath, impurity, and other devices.
Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God.
Lateinschule:# curriculum included the medieval originated trivium:
1. Grammar2. Logic3. Rhetoric
and quadrivium-subjects:
4. Arithmetic5. Geometry6. Music7. Astronomy
#The most important subjects were music and other mathematics, linguistic and rhetoric!
Mathematics: celestial proportions in intervals and tempos
Andreas Werckmeister explained the celestial origin of numbers, musical notes in 1707 like follows:
1 = God the Father, unison(C) 1:1.
The unison is the origin of all music, like the point in geometry. The moment on creation was a small step in unison for God. For music, the mirror of cosmos, the unisonis the perfect point of origin, like the universe itself, beyondconsonance and dissonance.
2 = The Son, octave (C1-C2) 1:2
The Son is the same as the Father yet distinct, an octaveaway.
3 = The Holy Spirit, fifth (C2-G2) 2:3
The Holy Spirit makes up the Trinity.
4 = The cosmic figure, fourth(G2-C3) 3:4
The four seasons, the four temperaments, the celestialangels; the angels fulfil the will of God, Also the fourthunites the Trinity (1:2:3) with the triad (4:5:6).
5 = Man, major third (C3-E3) 4:5
The major third representsMan: the five extremities(head, arms and legs). Humanity only findsfulfilment when placed in the divine context, with the fifth (4:5:6, 4:6 = 2:3).
6 = Minor third (E3-G3) 5:6
Remains forlorn on its own without the Divine referencepoint, four. (this refers to Holy Trinity / the interval of fifth)
7 Does not appear in the
musical proportions, becauseGod rested on the seventh day
after creating the world
Number Alphabets
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.
A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V W X Y Z
Fis = 33 (F=6 I=9 S=18)
# There was no J- or U-letter in the table Bach used!
I o h a n n S e b a s t i a n B a c h
9+14+8+1+13+13 18+5+2+1+18+19+9+1+13 2+1+3+8 = 158
Bach loved to play with numbers!
In his works we can find endless number of numerologicalreferences and quotes, e.g.:
Maria Barbara40 + 41 = 81
Johann Sebastian Bach58 + 86 + 14= 158
D1+D1= 8 = ∞ = infinite
About Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of public speaking.
Emerged in Greece in the 5th century BC.
Developed by Aristotle and the sophists and finally becamecomplex formulaic system in Rome in the time of Cicero an Quintilian.
Rhetoric can be considered as one of the pillars of Western thinking and civilisation up to Romantic era.
The Rhetoric System from Antiquity
1. Inventio - the technique of invention. Bach sought inspiration for his works from a variety of sources, ranging from events in the liturgical year to coffee.
2. Dispositio - the system for organising the structure of the speech.
3. Elocutio - the application of style and the augmentation of a work with rhetorical figures.
4. Memoria - committing the planned work to memory.
5. Actio (and pronuntiatio) - the art of presentation.
The Ciceronian parts of an argument to music according
Johann Mattheson in 1739
Mattheson specified that not all works of music need to contain all of these elements:
1. “The Exordium is the introduction and beginning of a melody, wherein the goal and the entire purpose must be revealed, so that the listeners are prepared and stimulated to attentiveness…”
2. “The Narratio is so to speak a report, a narration, through which the meaning and character of the herein-contained discourse is pointed out.”
3. “The Propositio or the actual discourse contains briefly the content or goal of the musical oration...” (In legal discourse, this could refer to the framing of a charge.)
4. “The Confirmatio is an artistic corroboration of the discourse...” This is the principal point of the argument, appealing to reason (logos).
5. “The Confutatio is a dissolution of the exceptions” or counter-arguments, presented to be refuted for strengthening the argument.
6. “The Peroratio finally is the end or conclusion of our musical oration, which must produce an especially emphatic impression, more so than all other parts.”
Rhetorical figures in musicA rhetorical figure may be as simple as an individual interval, a dissonance, a group of notes or a rest.
The tendencies and rhetorical figures may illustratedifferent event of feeling in text,e.g. ”I am humiliated, ”Ascended to heavens”, different emotianal situations etc.
Anabasis - rising
Catabasis -falling
Circulatio - circulation
Grammatical Stresses
nobiles are good syllables or strong stresses; the sign for this evolved into the modern symbol for down bow,
viles are bad syllables or weak stresses; the sign for this evolved into the modern symbol for up bow, duple time: 1234triple time: 123
Rhetorical Stresses
Rhetorical stress supersedes grammatical stress. Rhetorical stresses include dissonances:• highest notes • lowest notes and • long notes
Conclusion
1. Tendencies: 1. Anabasis = crescendo2. Catabasis = diminuendo
2. Dynamics and stress: tendency + mathemathicscombined with rhetorics
3. Diminutions = rhetorical figures are to be understood in certain context
Bach and the HiddenChorale Allusions
Bach used familiar songs – the chorales refer to the topic of a composition – inventio è”Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstesGut” funeral psalm in the Sonata G minor; Easter psalm”O Haupt, voll Blut und Wunden” in the Sonata A minor; Pentecost psalm”Komm Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott” in the Sonata C Major etc.
Maria Barbara Bach20.10.1684-buried 7.7.1720
Sonatas and Partitas
Sonata vs. Partita
sonata da chiesa (‘church sonata’) format, a four-movement structure whose movements are slow-fast-slow-fast.
sonata da camera tradition, which comprises a suite of dances usually preceded by a prelude.
The Concept of Sonatas and Partitas
Helga Thoene posits that Bach was planning to write pieces of music – possibly the solo Sonatas – based on the three principal events of the liturgical year as early as in 1718, on the following plan:
Christmas – reincarnationEaster – death and resurrectionPentecost – descent of the Holy Spirit
About Dances and their Titlesin General
With Bach, whether a dance is titled in Italian or French usually refers to the style in which it is written.
Sarabanda (It); Sarabande (Fr), a close relative to Ciaccona!
Ciaccona (It); Chaconne (Fr) / Passacaglia (It); Passacalle (Esp)
Personal Interpretations
Sonatas and Partitas form an epitaph to Maria Barbara and a vehicle for the composer to process his grief.
My point is that an understanding of the symbolic and rhetorical functions in Bach’s music is vital.
