Notes for: July 18, 2006
The standard catalog of Bach’s works – the Bach Werke Verzeichnis – lists four compositions under the heading of “orchestral suites,” but Bach himself would not have recognized that designation. The four works were unpublished during Bach’s lifetime, and for a century after his death the manuscripts lay in the Royal Library in Berlin. When the Leipzig publisher C. F. Peters finally issued them in 1853, he dubbed them “orchestral suites” to enhance their appeal to 19th century musicians and audiences. And that’s how they are generally known today.
Bach himself called the works “overtures” since he modeled them after the operatic overtures that had originated at the court of Louis XIV a half-century earlier. To Bach and his contemporaries, the so-called “French overture” reflected the majesty and brilliance of Versailles, and it became one of the most popular forms for non-operatic orchestral music in other European countries. German composers, in particular, turned out “French overtures” by the dozens to satisfy the “frenchified” tastes of their employers. Georg Philipp Telemann wrote more than 130 of them, and Bach may well have written more than the four examples we have today since so much of his music was lost or destroyed.
Initially, the “French overture” was a one-movement piece of some seriousness, and strictly speaking the term “overture” applies only to this movement. As the format caught on, however, composers sought to balance its sobriety by adding a series of lighter movements, mostly dances, using French titles and styles. It was this multi-movement format that appealed to Bach.
Bach wrote his four overtures over a 20-year period, starting in 1717, when he became kapellmeister at Cöthen and extending into his service in Leipzig. In Leipzig, in addition to his many church duties, he became the director of the Collegium Musicum, an organization of professional musicians and talented university students. The Collegium Musicum’s records show that it performed all four of the overtures at its weekly public concerts, but some or all of them may date from the Cöthen period.
The four suites, to return to their modern designation, differ in their instrumentation. The B Minor Suite, which we hear this evening, calls for a flutist, first and second violins, viola and continuo. The violin and viola lines may each be played by a single instrument as in chamber music or by a small group of instruments as in a chamber orchestra. At times, the flutist simply doubles the first violin, and at other times it performs as a virtuoso solo instrument. The continuo is the standard Baroque accompaniment of a bass line with filled-in chords; in orchestral works, this role was customarily assigned to a harpsichord and cello.
The B Minor Suite opens with the traditional “French overture,” and following that format, the movement is in two sections. The first section is slow and majestic, marked by dotted rhythms and a profusion of trills. The second section is faster, in fugal style, and ends with a short slow passage similar in mood and content to the opening section. In the first section and part of the second, the flute doubles the first violin; in the course of the second section, however, the flute emerges with its own musical line.
The overture is followed by six French dances: a piquant rondeau in the style of a gavotte; a stately sarabande; a lively bourée with a second bourée sandwiched inside it; a polonaise with a variation called a double; and a menuet. The suite closes with a delightful badinerie (banter).
As the suite progresses, it becomes increasingly a showpiece for the solo flute. Note in particular the flute’s lead in the second bourée, its arabesques in the double of the polonaise, and its impudent virtuosity in the closing badinerie.