Bach Suite No. 2 for Unaccompanied Violoncello in D Minor

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) composed his six suites for solo violoncello while in Cöthen. The six suites all have the same basic form: prelude, allemande, courante, sarabande, two shorter dance movements (either boureés, menuets, or gavottes), and gigue. The second suite in D minor, performed today, follows this formula with menuets as the penultimate dances. After the prelude, which travels through various key areas closely related to tonic, the movements of the suite are binary; each first half begins in D minor, and each second half begins either in F major or with an A major chord. The second menuet is an exception to this rule, as it is in D major. It is common for the second of the penultimate dances to be in a parallel key, or key with the same tonic but in a different mode.

This suite will be performed on a modern replica of a Baroque cello. It has no endpin, uses gut strings, is tuned a semitone below standard modern tuning (A415 instead of A440/2), and uses a different kind of bow. Aside from these factors, playing the Baroque cello is a similar experience to playing the modern cello. The notes are in the same place and the bow works the same way. Minor technical adjustments are made to compensate for the manufactured differences, but the instrument is remarkably similar to its modern relative. I chose to use of this cello to have a more historically informed performance of the suite since it is an instrument similar to those used during Bach’s lifetime. 


I also chose to use this cello because I find it incredibly rewarding to play, and I wanted another chance to show it off on campus! This cello arrived at UD on April 23, 2011--the day before my birthday (that also makes my recital date the cello's 6-month UD anniversary!). When I played it for the first time, I immediately fell in love with the instrument. I'm serious--you can ask Dr. Murray if you don't believe me! Since then, I have loved playing this beautiful instrument. I've been playing it for about six months, but it's still in the baby instrument phase. That means it doesn't like to stay in tune for very long. At this performance, I might need to stop in between movements to retune, so please pardon the pause if that happens. 


Finally, I apologize in advance to those with absolute pitch who might be frustrated to hear this suite sounding in what sounds like C-sharp minor as a result of the instrument's low pitch.


Since this and others of Bach's cello suites are based upon Baroque dances, I'll leave you with some examples of actual dancing, courtesy of YouTube.


Allemande:

Sarabande:

Minuet:

Gigue:

Anton Webern, or "Overdramatic Romantic teenager becomes overdramatic Pointillist"

Anton Webern (1883-1945) is best known for writing twelve-tone serial music, as inspired by his teacher Arnold Schoenberg. Some say Webern charged by the note, as most of his pieces are incredibly short. The Two Pieces were written in 1899, before Webern met Schoenberg. They are lyrical, tonal, and full of outward emotion. Webern, a musicologist as well as a composer, saw his music as descendent from that of Gustav Mahler. The Two Pieces were written with a Romantic vocabulary, and are reminiscent of Mahler’s lieder. Incidentally, these pieces are the first evidence of Webern’s compositions; he wrote them for himself and his mother, a cellist and a pianist, respectively. When I first came across these pieces, I didn't believe that they were composed by the same Webern I studied in my 20th century harmony and history classes and whose music I found unpalatable. It turns out that they were indeed written by our friend Anton, when he was fifteen or sixteen years old, and sound beautiful to most who enjoy the cello and piano. Webern never titled these pieces, and they were given the name Two Pieces after his death. Their practical, specific title makes sense in the context of Webern's oeuvre; some of his most salient pieces have titles such like Symphony and Piano Variations. Short and to the point.

The Drei Kleine Stücke (Three Little Pieces) are atonal, pointillist, and incredibly brief. Altogether, they consist of thirty-two measures of music. The outer movements are incredibly slow and frequently call for false harmonics and sul ponticello playing (bowing at the bridge) to create varied sound effects. These outer movements are also incredibly soft; they are rarely notated at a louder dynamic than piano. In contrast, the second movement is incredibly loud and fast. These pieces combine a non-diatonic pitch vocabulary with highly complicated rhythms. I urge you to listen to these pieces with an open mind and open ears. They don't sound like the music most of us grew up with, but they can be fascinating.

Check out my Spotify playlist featuring Webern, Schoenberg, and Alban Berg (another composer with strong associations with the Second Viennese School and 12-tone composition). The playlist includes Webern's Two Pieces and Drei Kleine Stücke, as well as his Symphony. Also: Piano Suite and Verklärte Nacht by Arnold Schoenberg. The former is 12-tone, and the latter is tonal. Finally, Alban Berg's Violin Concerto and the opening of his 12-tone opera, Lulu.

Beethoven Theme & Variations

Seven Variations on “Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen” from Die Zauberflöte, WoO 46, by Ludwig van Beethoven


Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is arguably the most talked-about composer in Western classical music. His nine symphonies and thirty-two piano sonatas comprise the meat and potatoes of his compositional output. Most historically salient have been the fifth and ninth symphonies. The opening motive of the fifth symphony corresponds to "victory" in morse code and was used by the allied powers in WWII. His ninth symphony included a choir in the final movement, paving the way for voices in subsequent symphonic writing, a technique celebrated by later composers.
Beethoven composed five sonatas for cello and piano, making him the first to write in this genre. The sonatas allow the cello a partnered rather than subordinate role with the piano. Earlier examples of this type of writing for other instruments include Mozart's sonatas for violin and piano. In addition to the five cello sonatas, Beethoven wrote three sets of variations for cello and piano: one on a theme from Händel's oratorio Judas Maccabaeus, and two on themes from Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute).


The programmed set in E-flat major comes from Pamina and Papageno's duet about love from The Magic Flute. The piece opens with a statement of the theme, with the piano in the dominant role. Beethoven, master of development and variation, sends the theme through seven contrasting emotional states before returning to a shortened paraphrase of the original theme. Beethoven had a tormented relationship with the concept of love during his lifetime; perhaps this set of variations expresses his feelings toward the varied emotions love can elicit. For more on Beethoven and love, consider Maynard Soloman's Beethoven for its extensive discussion of Beethoven and the Immortal Beloved.


Here is a performance of the duet from Die Zauberflöte, with Lucia Popp as Pamina and Wolfgang Brendel as Papageno.


Check out my "Basically Beethoven, Minimally Mozart" playlist on Spotify. It has a bunch of Beethoven's music that I think is good and worth listening to. It's by no means exhaustive, but it's a good starting place.


Lyrics to the duet for German speakers:

Pamina:

Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen,

Fehlt auch ein gutes Herze nicht.

Papageno:

Die süßen Triebe mitzufühlen

Ist dann der Weiber erster Pflicht.

Papageno and Pamina

Wir wollen uns der Liebe freun

Wir leben durch die Lieb allein,

Wir leben durch die Lieb allein,

Pamina

Die Lieb versüßet jede Plage,

Ihr opfert jede Kreatur.

Papageno

Sie würzet unsre Lebenstage,

Sie winkt im Kreise der Natur.

Pamina and Papageno

Ihr hoher Zweck zeigt deutlich an,

Nichts edlers sei als Weib und Mann,

Mann und Weib und Weib und Mann,

Mann und Weib und Weib und Mann,

Reichen an die Gottheit an.

Mann und Weib und Weib und Mann,

Reichen an die Gottheit an.

An die Gottheit an, an die Gottheit an.

And an English translation for civilians:

Pamina:

In men, who feel love

A good heart is not lacking.

 Papageno:

To sympathize with the sweet instincts

Is then the wives [sic] first duty.

Papageno and Pamina:

We want to be happy with love

We live through love alone,

We live through love alone,

 Pamina:

Love sweetens every torment

Every creature offers itself to her.

 Papageno:

It seasons our daily lives,

It beckons us in the circles of nature.

 Papageno and Pamina:

Its higher purpose indicates,

Nothing is more nobel [sic] than wife and man,

Man and wife, and wife and man,

Man and wife, and wife and man,

Reach to the height of Godliness.

Man and wife, and wife and man,

Reach to the height of Godliness.

To Godliness, to Godliness.

Translation of full zingspiel here, by Lea Frey

PDQ Bach: Suite No. 1 For Cello All By Its Lonesome

Suite No. 1 For Cello All By Its Lonesome (S. 1a)
By P.D.Q. Bach (1807-1742)?
Edited with the loneliness known only to those of integrity, by
Professor Peter Schickele

1. Preludiamble
2. Sarabanda Carmen Miranda
3. Gigue-o-lo


The following program notes appear printed in the sheet music. I wish I could take credit for them, but I'm not that funny.:


P.D.Q. Bach’s composing life has been divided, and not a moment too soon, into three creative periods: the Initial Plunge, the Soused Period, and Contrition.  That the unaccompanied cello suites hail from the last of these periods is indicated by the fact that they harken back, stylistically speaking, to the composer’s father, Johann Sebastian Bach, yet lack the poignant anarchy that is so characteristic of the works of the Initial Plunge, the other period during which the scourge of Wein-am-Rhein was in a paternally emulative mode.


The original manuscript (or “ms.”, as we professionals say) bears the inscription “For Clara Bow.”  Since P.D.Q. lived more than a century before the silent screen star, there has been speculation that the composer was musically and/or romantically (or both) involved with some German ancestor of The “It” Girl, but if there was indeed such a person in his life, it seems more likely that she would have been connected (either as dedicatee or performer[or both]) with the CONCERTO FOR TWO PIANOS VS. ORCHESTRA IN E♭ MAJOR, since, in German, “Das ‘Es’ Mädchen” means not only “The ‘It’ Girl,” but also “The ‘E Flat’ Girl.”


It turns out, however that “Für Clara Bow” is not a dedication at all, but rather an indication of what kind of bow is to be employed when performing the pieces; that is, the curved bow that P.D.Q.’s father is presumed to have intended for the performance of his unaccompanied cello suites is to be eschewed for these works in favor of an English “clear bow,” the word “clear” used here in the sense of “straight,” as in, “you can see clear across town from this window; that bump on the horizon is the tax collector’s aushaus.”


Nevertheless, the first person to play these suites was, in all likelihood, another woman, the fiery Russian cellist Pia Tigorsky.  Her virtuosity in juggling paramours was as legendary as was that which she displayed with involved with her instrument, and she is known to have been in Baden Baden Baden at the same time that P.D.Q. Bach was there, perpetrating the works of his Contrition Period.  This “brilliant comet in the musical heavens,” as the English historian Chuck Burney called her, thought of herself as Cleopatra, and spent her highly nomadic life looking for her Antony, who, in addition to be the love of her life, would help her start a music school.  She was born in Siberia and died in Philadelphia, having failed to find Tony or found Curtis.  (Incidentally, Pia Tigorsky was, as far as can be ascertained, the first woman ever to play all six of the unaccompanied cello suites by J.S. Bach above the Arctic Circle.)

Professor Peter Schickele

Department of Musical Pathology

University of Southern North Dakota

At Hoople

RC: Self-proclaimed “musicolologist” Peter Schickele (b. 1935) has devoted much of his professional career to the “discovery” of works by P.D.Q. Bach, the (fictional) son of Johann Sebastian Bach.  In actuality, Schickele writes music satirizing J.S. Bach, filled with jokes intended for those with musical savvy.  Distributed by Public Radio International, Schickele Mix served as a vehicle for Schickele’s joking musical mind from 1992-2007.


A well-rounded musician and colleague heard the end of my recital preview. When I finished and walked off stage, she asked me what this last piece was. She said it sounded like Bach, but there something was wrong. That's the point! When Schickele writes as P.D.Q. Bach, he uses elements of J.S. Bach's music, but does changes things around to entertain the musically learned. My favorite example of Shickele's blatant satire is in P.D.Q. Bach's Short-Tempered Clavier: Preludes and Fugues in All the Major and Minor Keys Except for the Really Hard Ones. I am unfortunately unable to link to that music here, but I highly suggest you seek it out elsewhere. In this work, Shickele satirizes J.S. Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, using contemporary popular melodies to write preludes and fugues. The Suite No. 1 For Cello All By Its Lonesome is less outwardly funny. The first movement is similar to the prelude of Bach's third cello suite, and the third movement can more-or-less be linked to the gigue of the fourth Bach cello suite. However, J.S. Bach never wrote blues scales in his music, as far as we know...


I recommend searching for some P.D.Q. Bach videos on YouTube. You'll find some fun things like "The Art of the Ground Round," and more!