Partitas for keyboard (Bach)
The
History
The six partitas for keyboard form the last set of suites that Bach composed, and are the most technically demanding of the three. They were composed between 1725 and 1730 or 1731. As with the French and English Suites, the autograph manuscript of the Partitas is no longer extant.[1]
In keeping with a nineteenth-century naming tradition that labelled Bach's first set of Suites English and the second French, the Partitas are sometimes referred to as the German Suites.[2] This title, however, is a publishing convenience; there is nothing particularly German about the Partitas. In comparison with the two earlier sets of suites, the Partitas are by far the most free-ranging in terms of structure. Unlike the English Suites, for example, wherein each opens with a strict prelude, the Partitas feature a number of different opening styles including an ornamental Overture and a Toccata.[3]
Although each of the Partitas was published separately under the name
Tonalities
The tonalities of the six Partitas (B♭ major, C minor, A minor, D major, G major, E minor) may seem to be random, but in fact they form a sequence of intervals going up and then down by increasing amounts: a second up (B♭ to C), a third down (C to A), a fourth up (A to D), a fifth down (D to G), and finally a sixth up (G to E).
Six partitas
- Partita No. 1 in B♭ major, BWV 825[6]
- Menuet I, Menuet II, Gigue
- Partita No. 3 in A minor, BWV 827[8]
- Fantasia, Allemande, Corrente, Sarabande, Burlesca, Scherzo, Gigue
- Menuet, Gigue
- Partita No. 5 in G major, BWV 829[10]
- Praeambulum, Allemande, Corrente, Sarabande, Tempo di Minuetto, Passepied, Gigue
Notable recordings
On clavichord
- Richard Troeger (Lyrichord Discs, 2000) first recorded the partitas on clavichord.
- Menno van Delft (Resonus Classics, 2018)
On harpsichord
- Wanda Landowska (?, 1935 or 1936)
- Ralph Kirkpatrick (1958)
- Helmut Walcha (EMI, 1962)
- Gustav Leonhardt (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, 1964–70 and Virgin, 1986)
- Martin Galling (1964)
- Karl Richter (TELDEC Telefunken-Decca, 1960, SAWT9913-B SAWT9914-B)
- Blandine Verlet (Philips, 1978 and Naïve, 2001)
- Kenneth Gilbert (Harmonia Mundi, 1985)
- Trevor Pinnock (Archiv, 1985 and Hänssler, 1998–99)
- Huguette Dreyfus (Denon, 1986)
- Scott Ross (Erato, 1988)
- Christophe Rousset (L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1992)
- Andreas Staier (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, 1993)
- Siegbert Rampe (EMI Music Germany, 2000)
- Masaaki Suzuki (BIS, 2001)
- Zuzana Růžičková (Supraphon, 1984)
- Pascal Dubreuil (Ramée, 2008)
- Benjamin Alard (Alpha, 2010)
- Peter Watchorn (Musica Omnia, 2013)
- Martin Gester (Ligia, 2015)
- Jory Vinikour (Sono Luminus, 2016)
- Colin Tilney (Music and Arts, 2020)
Giulia Nuti (Arcana, 2024)
On piano
- Rosalyn Tureck (1949/50)
- Dinu Lipatti (BWV 825), (EMI Classics, 1950)
- Glenn Gould (Sony 1957, 1980)
- Friedrich Gulda (Philips, 1972)
- Tatiana Nikolayeva (Melodija 1981)
- Jean Louis Steuerman (Philips, 1984)
- András Schiff (Decca Classics, 1985)
- Maria Tipo (EMI, 1991)
- Wolfgang Rübsam (Naxos, 1992)
- Risto Lauriala (Alba, 1992)
- Maria João Pires (DGG 447 894-2, 1995)
- Sergey Schepkin (Ongaku, 1996–97)
- Angela Hewitt (Hyperion, 1997)
- Richard Goode (Nonesuch, 2003)
- Gianluca Luisi (OnClassical, 2005–07)
- Martha Argerich (Verbier Festival, 2008)
- Murray Perahia (Sony, 2008 and 2009)
- Vladimir Ashkenazy (Decca, 2010)
- Andres Carciente (Noromusic, 2012)
- Igor Levit (Sony, 2014)
- Yuan Sheng (Piano Classics, 2017)
- Christian Zacharias (MDG, 2021)
On guitar
- Judicael PerroyPartita no.2 (Naxos Records, 2011)
See also
- Works for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach
- English Suites, BWV 806-811
- French Suites, BWV 812-817
- List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach printed during his lifetime
Notes
- ^ Bach 2004, p. v
- ^ Philipp Spitta, Johann Sebastian Bach: his work and influence on the music of Germany, 1685-1750, Volume 3 (Novello and company, limited, 1899) p. 156.
- ^ a b Schulenberg 2006
- ^ Bach 2004
- ^ Tomita, Yo (2002). "J.S. Bach: The Six Partitas". Yo Tomita's personal web space. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- ^ Schulenberg 2006, pp. 324–326
- ^ Schulenberg 2006, pp. 326–330
- ^ Schulenberg 2006, pp. 330–333
- ^ Schulenberg 2006, pp. 333–337
- ^ Schulenberg 2006, pp. 337–340
- ^ Schulenberg 2006, pp. 340–345
References
- Bach, J.S. (2004), Klaus Engler (ed.), 6 Partiten, BWV 825–830, Wiener Urtext Edition, Schott/Universal Edition (contains detailed preface by Engler)
- Schulenberg, David (2006), The Keyboard Music of J.S. Bach (second ed.), New York and London: Routledge, pp. 321–345, ISBN 0415974003
External links
- Partitas for keyboard: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Essay by Yo Tomita on Bach's Partitas
- Moroney, Davitt. "Program notes on Bach's partitas" (PDF). University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 26 November 2020.