J.S. Bach - Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 (1733)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 - 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations as well as for vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.
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Uploaded with special permission by performer Peter Watchorn
www.musicaomnia.org
Ouvertüre nach französischer Art, BWV 831 (1733, rev. 1735)
1. Ouverture (0:00)
2. Courante (13:56)
3. Gavotte I - Gavotte II - Gavotte I (da capo) (16:35)
4. Passepied I - Passepied II - Passepied I (da capo) (20:47)
5. Sarabande (24:25)
6. Bourrée I - Bourrée II - Bourrée I (da capo) (27:21)
7. Gigue (31:08)
8. Echo (34:03)
PETER WATCHORN, harpsichord
(Hubbard & Broekman after Ruckers/Blanchet/Taskin, 1990
The French Overture, Bach’s biggest and arguably most impressive suite, a remarkably dark, even brooding piece, remains largely unknown, even to many harpsichordists, certainly in comparison to its sister-work, the ever-popular Concerto in the Italian Style, which is often played on the modern piano, transferring to that medium perhaps with more success than
much of Bach’s other keyboard music.
For the Partita-with-overture Bach re-used a composition that his wife
Anna Magdalena had copied out in about 1730 - transposing it from its original C minor down a semitone and sharpening up the dotted notation in the opening movement. The resulting tonal juxtaposition of B minor with its F major companion work, the tonalities of the two works separated by the significant interval of a tritone, was calculated to maximize the contrast between both genre and national style, though by 1735 Italian and French elements (with native German ideas - especially contrapuntal complexity - thrown in) were well and truly mixed together in countless compositions that were representative of the ideal of the “reunion of the tastes” (Les goûts réunis), espoused by, among others, François Couperin and, by the 1730s, embraced by nearly everyone.
Previously Bach had included a French Overture as the opening of the fourth Partita, but that work lacked the final return to the spirit and tempo of the opening, gravely-dotted section that typified the genre, and wore its counterpoint very lightly in the middle, fugal section, Bach introducing lighter, more “gallant”, homophonic episodes as relief from the “learned” fugal writing. In comparison, the B minor Overture is a much darker, more complex and serious piece. In BWV 831, Bach not only returns at the end to the opening material, but also specifies a repeat of both the fugal section as well as the slow ending that follows it, resulting in a massive six-part opening movement that takes around 14 minutes to perform. He also provides an extended, fully worked-out concerto fugue, which incorporates contrapuntal, solo “episodes”, clearly derived, along with the work’s overall bravura, from the Italian concerto concept, similar to the preludes from some of the English Suites. Following this magnificent
piece, Bach, perhaps recognizing the opening movement’s function as an entrée to the suite proper, dispenses with the customary allemande (as do the four Overtures for orchestra, BWV 1066 - 1069). The dances are of the French persuasion: courante - gavotte - passepied - bourrée - gigue. These are paired in the case of three of them, the first of each pair repeated after the second (in this performance with all internal binary repeats provided along with appropriate ornamentation). After the French-style gigue (in compound time, like the Italian form of the dance, but non-imitative in character, and in simple two-part texture) the suite concludes with an Echo movement, with forte and piano dynamics specified (the upper manual, which controls only one set of strings is the “soft” manual, whilst the lower manual with the coupler provides the plein-jeu - full harpsichord for contrast). - เพลง
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Once upon a time, in the last century, these recordings were so rare as white raven. I mean, as professional recording & performance as this one you just have presented. Many people can't imagine anymore what a joy it was, founding (in a CD-store for example) such an excellent piece of music performed and recorded so perfectly. You make us glad week by week (sometimes day by day) with the very best recordings of the rarest gems of classical music performances. Thank you once again. This Ouverture is exceptionally beautiful. Thanks.
Völlig einverstanden. Danke für diese gelungene Interpretation.
Just a few notes on this performance by the performer: The French Overture, BWV 831, was re-edited by Bach in 1735 from an existing work in C minor (as you see in the score here) for inclusion (with the Italian Concerto in F major, BWV 971). In order to emphasize the contrast between the two most important national instrumental forms of the day (the Italian concerto and the French ouverture), which made up Part 2 of his ClavierUebung cycle of published keyboard works, he transposed the C minor version of the Ouverture down a half-step into B minor, which lies a tritone away from the F major of the accompanying concerto, or, the greatest possible key-contrast available in the circle of fifths. Those whose ears are used to the modern pitch standard of A=440cps will be further baffled, as you will be hearing (apparently) B-flat minor. So, perhaps it's easiest to just accept that the C minor score is being heard an entire step lower! For the record: the piece was performed in its B minor version at a pitch of A=415cps, an approximation of one of the many pitches in use in the 18th century. I hope that clarifies things.
The set containing these works was recorded in Milton, MA in May of 2014 on a 1990 harpsichord copied after the famous 1646/1756/1780 Ruckers instrument, rebuilt in the 18th century by Francois Etienne Blanchet and his student and successor, Pascal Joseph Taskin. The instrument was built (with my own participation) in the Hubbard & Broekman shop in Waltham, MA. The set from which this work and the Italian Concerto are drawn also contains the Capriccio, BWV 992, Four Duets, BWV 802-805; Sonata in D minor, BWV 964; Fantasias BWV 918, 919 & 906 and the exquisite trilogy of works for Lautenwerk, Suites in E minor and C minor (BWV 996-997) and the Prelude, Fugue & Allegro in E flat major, BWV 998.
The Ouverture is played here with literally all the repeats (in the Ouverture as well as in all of the dances), enabling the listener to truly take in the sheer size and scale of Bach's conception. The first movement alone is nearly 14 minutes in length. For those who are connoisseurs of recorded harpsichord sound, this is one of the finest efforts by one of America's truly great recording engineers, Joel Gordon. The producer, as for all of my other solo Bach recordings, is the great Michigan-based fortepianist, Penelope Crawford (whose own recordings I produce in return).
Peter Watchorn
thank you so much!
Thanks Mr Watchorn. Excellent interpretation. Flawless actually. I'll look out for your other recordings
@@bag3lmonst3r72 thanks: yes, I was happy with this one. PW
Un ripasso,approfondimento validissimo grazie Signor Watchorn.
One could have tuned and recorded in a=420 the approximate pitch of Leipzig during J S Bach’s time. Or a=395, different versions of arias in the 1725 Anna Magdalena Notebook exist at two different pitches. Excellent performance and tempi choices.
just as Bach expected it to be heard. marvelous recording.
In this performance,
all is full of far superior splendor amazing
In an answer to a comment here the passage starting at 05:33 is singled out as extraordinary. For a reference, it concerns bars 104-107. I totally agree, I find these bars extremely beautiful and emotional. What’s more, this is the 4th or 5th time on TH-cam I came across similar comments on this passage. This, for me, is the miracle of Bach, there’s something special going on here, random people single it out for the same reasons. And it is, trom a technical viewpoint nothing complex or unusual, just a descending sequence on a model of two bars…
Ich liebe diese Musik
What a gem! Thanks for uploading!
Grazie.Formidabile ascolterò in seguito.
fantastic
Wunderschöne und detaillierte Interpretation dieser perfekt komponierten Ouvertüre nach französischer Art im veränderlichen Tempo mit schimmerndem Klang des technisch fehlerlosen Cembalos und mit perfekt kontrollierter Dynamik. Wahrhaft intelligenter und genialer Cembalist!
Vielen Dank aus Japan
yes, chitz Dank af
jk or w/e
Bitte schön aus Deutschland
3:40 - 4:06 this is just so good !
5:33 - 6:10
those are the "solo" episodes, specified by Bach to be played "piano"; therefore, on a two-manual harpsichord, on the upper manual, which controls only one of the three sets of strings. PW
@@peterwatchorn411 modern pianos have the only register - the left pedal. 😭 What is the maximum number of registers in harpsichords?
ottima esecuzione
Subscribed. I am a believer.
I didn't realize that in the old days one would fill the staff with all the accidentals for the key. I wondered why there were 4 flats in the treble and 5 in the clef until I realized some are just duplicated!
この自筆譜はどこで見れますか?またはどこで購入できますか?
SERIA IMPORTANTE TAMBIÉN SABER QUIEN ES EL INTÉRPRETE.
ich bin Mitarbeiter von Bach-Archiv Leipzig 😊
Questo spartito dell'ouverture francese è in do minore, perchè?
tb, mais parait bien austère au clave cin.
apres l'audition d'Andreas Schiff au piano (apport expression , chantant..)
Why the score is in C minor????
La musica clasica es esplensida se tenia que fomentar por la aministracion.
The recording is of the better known version in B minor, which clashes with the score, if one has perfect pitch. I can't listen to it and follow it, for this reason, but thank you anyway.
I expected a comment like yours. Hard to believe that you have such sensitive audio/visual perceptions. I know a fair share of perfect pitch people, they never made comments like yours. As a matter of fact many could transpose piano parts while sight reading. You have heard of transposing?
@@bartjebartmans Your instinct is correct. I have perfect pitch, and I never have problems following a score when the musician is playing at 415, 425, 403, 400, 392 or any of the other historical tunings that are used. You just make a mental adjustment to be able to follow the score. No problem.
At which particular pitch standard does your perfect pitch operate? This recording was made of the B minor version, but at the approximated Baroque pitch of A=415. Therefore, you (if you are used to modern A=440cps concert pitch) would be hearing B flat minor. If you are reading the score in C minor, while listening to the piece played in B minor, at Baroque concert pitch (A=415, a reasonably common approximation of Bach's Kammerton, or chamber pitch) then you would be hearing the pitches a whole step lower than the score indicates, rather than a half-step (if you are used to the modern approximation of Baroque pitch at A=415cps). But don't despair! You are facing the same situation as Bach's continuo organist faced in Leipzig in the 1720s & 1730s.
Had you been an organist playing in one of Bach's own cantata performances in Leipzig, the organ would have been pitched a whole step ABOVE "concert" pitch (A-465, a whole step above A=415). Therefore, if the cantata was notated in C minor, you would have been provided with an organ part notated in B flat minor, in order for it to sound at the same pitch as the "chamber" instruments. Or, exactly the transposition you are confronted with here. So, your "perfect" pitch would have been put to the test. Since the organist was probably often Bach himself, we can assume that he would have had "perfect" pitch. I have always had "perfect" pitch, and I have learned to adjust over the decades (a little disorienting at first when you hear fortepianos at A=430 cps, or in between modern A and modern G sharp). It's good to practice adjusting your pitch standard in any case. By the way, I'm also the performer on this recording, in case you wonder who wrote this, and what my level of knowledge and experience might be! PW
@@bartjebartmans I am a harpsichordist, and, when, in my younger years, I played the piano, I had to transpose, which, on a less interestingly tempered instrument, was possible for me to do. I have never tried to do that on the harpsichord, where, I feel, each key has too much of an individual character, and I simply 'do not believe' the notation. Conversely, I can traspose when playing the violin, which I also play. The recording of the Netherlands Bach Society of Aus der Tiefen, the cantata, is played in a minor. The parts are written in g minor originally, but I can play in a minor it by reading the part in alto clef, if the temperament is suitable. Similarly, in other instances, but, if I have to read something that is not in the key it was written, I find it too puzzling and unseemly. I suppose this is my personal limitation.
@@bartjebartmans Thank you for your remark that I may be ignorant of transposition. For your information, I was musically educated in Italy, where I learned the system called Setticlavio, which goes back to the baroque and before. I read fluently in any of the seven keys and, in trasposing, I mentally read in Soprano, Alto or Baritono clef, as needed. My comment related to the fact that I perceive an clash between the tonality of the score and the tonality of the performance. C minor is very, very, very different from B minor in any baroque tuning, but maybe my ears are perhaps too fine for your considerations. Of course, I can follow the score, but that does not elide the inherent discrepancy between what I read and what I hear. Thank you for your kindness, anyway. And there was I thinking that the litterae humaniores, within which music occupies special place, would make us kinder and more considerate.