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Dante
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I'm having a bit of trouble analyzing this variation of BWV 768... I mean, the harmony is almost clear to me... but on a formal level? That is, it seems like a continuous development except for some evident cadences:
- measures 4/5, in B-flat+
- measure 9, in C minor
and in the finale closed in G major, I wouldn't know.
Subjects, possible countersubjects... I don't know, I have a few unhealthy ideas
What do you think?
Thanks in advance.
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It is a seamless variation in which the chorale melody serves as the melodic pivot and is embellished by a sort of perpetual motion of eighth notes (in fact, you can recognize the original note in almost every group of 4: interestingly, it is often not the first of the four, and at some points it is transposed by an octave. Try it, it's a good exercise); there are the same cadential points as the original chorale but they are not rendered via a "fermata" on a fermata sign (which isn't actually a fermata, that's another story..).
Regarding the final G major, it is nothing other than a Picardy third, i.e., a conclusion on the tonic chord with the major third (among other things, it is also present in the chorale).
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Thanks Zedef!
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One of the most beautiful explanations Zedef!
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Of course, if I had written parallel fifths in measure 6, they would have failed me on the lower completion!!
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No one ever marked the “renaissance” fifths for me... Bach inherited a lot from the past, so often a single consonance was enough for him to nullify their effect... which in fact we have become accustomed to (by school rule) recognizing... but in practice it was used all the time.
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AbateFaria wrote:Bach inherited much from the past, so often a consonance was enough for him to nullify its effect...
Well, it's not that they are very frequent in Bach... so I wouldn't say it was even "extremely common"...
Every now and then you happen to find them, but in 96% of cases he avoids them!
In this case they come from b. 5 ... quite revealing!
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RedScharlach wrote:Well, it's not that they are very frequent in Bach... so I wouldn't say it was even "extremely common"...
No, sorry... take the two-voice inventions ... there are some, there are many....
This thing? If not a sort of two-voice invention, in the form of a variation on the chorale?
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AbateFaria wrote:No one ever taught me those "Renaissance" fifths...
So, did they make you write two-voice Inventions at school? Or could you use these "Renaissance fifths" in a Fugue as well?
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It depends on the subject... if it is modal
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AbateFaria wrote:It depends on the subject... if it is modal
You caught me off guard with this answer! The subject of the Invention in C major, which uses the same figure, I wouldn't define as modal. And neither the Chorale upon which the Partita is based, nor this third Variation, seem "modal" to me. Rather, I would have said that we find a figuration of this type in purely keyboard writing, or instrumental writing in general... but I would never have thought of modality!
