#bach composition

Bach's Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major in the "Anna Magdalena" manuscript

Below, for your reading and study, is a facsimile copy of the Bach's Cello Suite No.6 in D Major, BWV 1012, believed to have been made by Bach's second wife Anna Magdalena. Hers is one of four manuscript copies of the Suites. It has been published in several modern editions.

Bach's tuning directions at the top of the first manuscript page indicate that this suite was composed for a 5-string instrument, either the viola pomposa or the violoncello piccolo. .

View the whole manuscript and more here 👇

What's the significance of BWV 216?

BWV 216 is a wedding cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1728. Its significance lies in the fact that it was considered lost for over 80 years before its rediscovery in Japan among the papers of pianist Chieko Hara. The cantata provides valuable insights into Bach's compositional style and his approach to wedding music during that period. The rediscovery highlights the ongoing efforts to uncover and preserve Bach's works, showcasing the importance of musicological research and archival work.

Around 1741, Johann Sebastian Bach composed the Goldberg Variations for Count Hermann Carl von Keyserlingk, the Russian ambassador to the Saxon court.

Keyserlingk, often troubled by sleepless nights, asked Bach to create music that could bring him relief. The count's young harpsichordist, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, was to perform it for him during these restless hours. Bach responded with an exquisite aria followed by thirty variations, each uniquely inventive yet bound by a shared harmonic structure. This work provided the count with solace and became one of the most remarkable achievements in keyboard composition.

JS BACH PRELUDIUM

JS Bach’s two volumes of Preludes and Fugues.

In the first book, written in 1722, the key scheme progresses chromatically from C major to C minor, then C# major/C# minor etc. right through the twelve major and twelve minor keys. Volume two, dated between 1739 and 1742, repeats the process.

But even more fascinating is this – the same prelude, but from Wilhelm Friedemann Bach’s notebook, the collection of pieces written by Johann Sebastian in 1720 for his eldest son by his first wife, when Wilhelm was 10. It starts in the familiar way, but then breaks off from the figuration to write the harmonic patterns, on which the figurations are based, as chords.

The prelude appears yet again in the Anna Magdalena Notebook of 1725 – this was the second of two notebooks compiled for Anna Magdalena Bach, JS Bach’s second wife, containing keyboard works and arias by various composers. In this version, 4 bars are omitted, perhaps so that it can be fitted into two landscape manuscript pages. To see the first sixteen bars, scroll down to the sixth page here (And rotate!)

Musically, the prelude follows a journey from C major back to C major, via a series of modulations; to the dominant key of G major first, followed by the anxiety of D minor, soon resolved. The choice of harmonies becomes gradually darker until a long passage over a dominant pedal point brings the final relief of a perfect cadence; even then, Bach initially inserts a B flat , briefly turning towards the nostalgia of the sub-dominant key, before cancelling it and reaching the safety-net of the tonic chord.

In the manuscript of the second book of Preludes and Fugues, not only is Bach’s handwriting evident, but also Anna Magdalena’s, Wilhelm Friedemann’s – and that of JS Bach’s son- in-law, Johann Altnickol. They all helped with the copying. Very much a family affair.

Source:

https://notesfromapianist.wordpress.com/2017/03/04/a-family-affair-bach-prelude-in-c/