J.S. Bach - The Six Partitas, BWV 825-830 (1730)

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.

Please support my channel:
https://ko-fi.com/bartjebartmans

Uploaded with special permission by performer Peter Watchorn
https://www.musicaomnia.org

Clavier-Übung I
Six Partitas, BWV 825 – 830 (1725-1730)
Editor: First edition
Publisher Info. Leipzig: in Verlegung des Autoris [Johann Sebastian Bach], 1731.

Partita 1 in B-flat Major, BWV 825 (Autumn 1726)
1. Praeludium (0:00)
2. Allemande (2:45)
3. Corrente (7:46)
4. Sarabande (11:00)
5. Menuet I – Menuet II – Menuet I (15:46)
6. Giga (19:42)

Partita 2 in C minor, BWV 826
1. Sinfonia (22:11)
2. Allemande (27:58)
3. Courante (33:55)
4. Sarabande (36:43)
5. Rondeaux (40:26)
6. Capriccio (42:16)

Partita 3 in A minor, BWV 827 (Easter 1727)
1. Fantasia (46:47)
2. Allemande (49:53)
3. Courante (53:47)
4. Sarabande (57:31)
5. Burlesca (1:01:35)
6. Scherzo (1:04:14)
7. Gigue (1:05:39)

Partita 4 in D Major, BWV 828 (1728)
1. Ouverture (1:10:00)
2. Allemande (1:17:12)
3. Courante (1:27:22)
4. Aria (1:31:31)
5. Sarabande (1:34:20)
6. Menuet (1:41:16)
7. Gigue (1:42:32)

Partita 5 in G Major, BWV 829 (1730)
1. Preambulum (1:47:04)
2. Allemande (1:50:14)
3. Corrente (1:56:00)
4. Sarabande (1:58:33)
5. Tempo di Minuetta (2:02:48)
6. Passepied (2:05:01)
7. Gigue (2:07:01)

Partita 6 in E minor, BWV 830 (1730)
1. Toccata (2:12:33)
2. Allemande (2:20:08)
3. Corrente (2:25:37)
4. Air (2:33:09)
5. Sarabande (2:35:25)
6. Tempo di Gavotta (2:42:10)
7. Gigue (2:45:10)

Peter Watchorn, harpsichord
(A. R. McAllister, Melbourne, 1999 after J. H. Harrass –
Pedal Harpsichord by Hubbard & Broekman, 1990)
In memoriam Martin C. Jarman

When Bach’s attention turned towards publishing his Opus 1, the six Partitas, first in installments from 1726, then as a set in 1731, he was well aware that this latest collection of dance suites for harpsichord was something entirely new. Indeed, every aspect of its composition – from the carefully determined key sequence to the precise configuration of both the introductory preludes and the highly stylized dance movements that follow them – was calculated to demonstrate Bach’s mastery of writing the most sophisticated dance suites possible. Bach’s choice of the title Partitas reflects their diversity, remaining close in spirit to the word’s original 17th century connotation as a set of variations on a specific theme. Applying the idea of “variation” to the wider context of the dance suite, Bach created the most comprehensive set ever conceived. The titles of the opening preludes – different in every case: Praeludium – Sinfonia – Fantasia – Ouverture – Preambulum – Toccata, read like a compendium of free and formalized keyboard forms derived from native German, Italian and French sources. To emphasize diversity Bach altered the original titles of the introductory movements of Partitas 3 and 6 from those found in the Anna Magdalena Notebook of 1725 (Prélude = Fantasia; Prélude =Toccata), which contains fair-copy versions of both works.

The Partitas, like the later works that comprise the remaining harpsichord portions of the four-volume Clavier-Übung issued in 1735 and 1741 – the Italian Concerto, French Overture and Goldberg Variations – explore the very latest in keyboard techniques: crossing of hands on different manuals, forte/piano contrasting dynamic effects, while demanding
an expanded keyboard range, from GG – d’’’. Clearly, in volumes 1, 2 & 4, Bach intended to provide his public with a compendium of the very latest in harpsichord styles and techniques, while undertaking a thorough survey of the major keyboard genres: suite, concerto, prelude and fugue; culminating in the Goldberg Variations, the greatest set ever composed, which explore the strictest contrapuntal art within the closed harmonic framework mandated by the variation form. Moreover, the six works that comprise Bach’s Opus I contain movements that range in difficulty from the simplest to the most technically demanding. It appears that Bach had already encountered the keyboard music of his greatest contemporaries: George Frideric Handel (the Eight Great Suites of 1720) and Domenico
Scarlatti (perhaps in manuscript copies, though the Italian composer’s Essercizi did not appear in print until 1739), as their influence is apparent in the textures, styles and techniques to be found throughout the Partitas, as well as the later volumes of the Clavier-Übung. Perhaps
Jean-Philippe Rameau’s 1724 and 1728 publications of Pièces de clavecin, which exemplify the most up-to-date French keyboard writing of the time also found their way into his orbit.