- J. S. BACH CHACONNE FROM PARTITA II, BWV 1004 -

University of Denver

THE PROCESS OF TRANSCRIPTION FOR GUITAR OF J. S. BACH CHACONNE FROM PARTITA II FOR VIOLIN WITHOUT ACCOMPANIMENT, BWV 1004

A Thesis Presented to The Lamont School of Music Department of
Guitar and Harp Ricardo Iznaola, Chair

In partial fulfillment of the Master 's Degree in Music Performance by
Rodolfo J. Betancourt Denver, Colorado 1999

"A beautiful and graceful woman is able to wear, if she has taste, varied and different costumes, sure that they will not hurt nor diminish her beauty but will bring forth new enchantment.?Andr? Segovia, 1947


INDEX

Preface                      ii
Acknowledgments            iv

Historical Background
The Chaconne and Related Dance Forms: Historical Relationships
The Chaconne from the Partita II for Violin Solo, BWV 1004.
Evolution Through the Editing Process
Brief Survey of the Arrangements
Transcriptions for Guitar
Analysis
The Present Transcription for Guitar
Harmony
Rhythm
Dynamics
Articulations
Tempo
The Score
The Manuscript
Reference Sources
Books, Articles & Dissertations
Recordings
Scores & Facsimiles

PREFACE
The process of transcription of any work of music of the past into a different medium for which it was intended is a very complex task. It involves a thorough understanding of the historical background and a secure grasp of the analysis of the piece. Basic aspects like tempo, harmony, polyphony, articulations, additions, and subtractions should be made with extreme care and knowledge.

The Chaconne from the Partita II for Violin Solo, BWV 1004, by Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most marvelous monuments in music history. Its timeless character and profundity makes it worth to be adapted to other instruments rather than violin. Countless editions, accompaniments, arrangements, and transcriptions have been made since 1720 when the Chaconne saw light for the first time. However, with the guitar the Chaconne seems to renovate its true voice.

The musicologist and violinist Marc Pincherle wrote after Segovia's 1935 premiere of the Chaconne for guitar: "꿢 direct connection with the guitar may yet be brought to light. The very key, in which the Chaconne is written, is the perfect tonality for the guitar? The Iberian origin of the Chaconne might have suggested Bach the idea of assigning it to a Spanish instrument.? The also musicologist Sister Felicitas Curti stated: "Segovia has transcribed the Chaconne for the guitar, returning it, appropriately, to the instrument of its popular origin.?

The present transcription for guitar has a didactic purpose. Musicians in the Baroque period used the technique of transcription to have a direct contact with the style and idiosyncrasy of musical models. Bach was not an exception. Transcription was one of the first mastered tools he used to understand what could not be taught.

It would be presumptuous to refer to the current transcription as definitive. This is just the seed of a musical work that has practically no end. After this paper, this transcription will undergo revision after revision as evolution and changes in musical perspective and
interpretation come along.


This paper is divided in five main chapters :

1. Historical Background. : This chapter deals with the chaconne as a dance form and its relationships with the passacaglia, sarabande, and fol?s d'Espagne. Complete sections are devoted to the Chaconne by Bach, a brief survey of the editions, arrangements, and transcriptions, with special emphasis on those for guitar.

2. Analysis. : A brief review of the structural features of the Chaconne. It includes rhythmic
issues and the different techniques of variation used by Bach.

3. The Present Transcription for Guitar. : Divided into five sections dealing with different aspects of the process: harmony and counterpoint, rhythm, dynamics, articulations, and tempo.

4. The Score. : The present transcription for guitar.

5. The Manuscript. :  A copy of the autograph by J. S. Bach.

Acknowledgments

I would like to address deep appreciation for the following persons without whom this paper would never be possible: Ricardo Iznaola for his immense knowledge and wisdom and for believing in me more than I myself did; Jonathan Leathwood for his invaluable suggestions regarding analysis and arrangement for the guitar; and Astrid deRidder for her unconditional support and for lending me a computer when I most needed it.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Chaconne and Related Dance Forms: Historical Relationships

The dance form known as chacona is a Baroque dance in triple meter whose
compositional scheme is based in the process of continuous variation. It originated in the late Renaissance, as a dance-song in Latin America and became popular in Spain toward the beginning of the 17th century. Spanish writers like Cervantes and Lope de Vega mention this New World origin. However, there is discrepancy whether the chacona was born in Mexico or Peru. The term's origin itself is even more cumbersome: some authorities attributed it to the name (Chacon) of a successful Spanish admiral; to an Arabic word meaning 'the dance of the King' to the Spanish dance named 'Chica'(from which it is also stated that the English 'Jig' is derived); to the Italian 'Cieco,' which means blind; and to the Basque word 'Chocuna' which means pretty. The most common instrumentation in its origins included the guitar as accompanist and percussion instruments like the tambourine. There are in the texts of the period continuous occurrences in the refrain of the word 'chacona' and the phrase 'vida bona?('good life? (Ex. 1).

Ex. 1





This chacona dance was imported to Italy along with the five-course guitar. In Italy, certain harmonic progressions that had developed as accompaniment to the ciaccona were in time transformed into bass melodies, almost always in the major mode and commonly in the key of D. These bass melodies became patterns that were used either as a basso ostinato or with changes usually within a four-measure scheme. The most common and characteristic rhythmic feature is a dotted second-beat anacrusis.

Toward the middle of the 17th century, the popularity of the ciaccona was such that no opera in the Italian style would be successful without it. On the other hand, during this time some ciaccone were composed for instrumental ensemble frequently using basso continuo. Changing bass patterns were used for keyboard, archlute, or guitar ciaccone due perhaps to the nature of solo instruments and the lack of a continuo. Changing bass patterns induced also varied chordal phrases that became longer and more complex, "especially after around 1639 when single notes were incorporated into the guitar style." (*1)

The highlights of the ciaccona for guitar are found in works by Corbetta (c.1639) and G. B. Granata (1646, 1651, and 1659) in Italy and Gaspar Sanz in Spain (1674). It is relevant to point out that after the 1670s in Italy the popularity of the ciaccona declined to give way to the passacaglia.
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(*1) Richard Hudson, "Chaconne,?in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Unlike the Italian ciaccona, the French chaconne found a more fertile ground, appearing even before the passacaglia and lasting for the rest of the Baroque. During the first half of the 17th century, the chaconne acquired a slower tempo and more dignified mood. Text in the chaconne was seldom used in France thus allowing the development of the instrumental form on solo, chamber, and orchestral variations. The earliest solo variations are those composed for the lute by Nicolas Vallet (Le secres des muses, 1615) and Denis Gaultier (c.1670). Later, Fran? is Couperin composed for the harpsichord (1713) and Marin Marais for viol (1701). Robert de Vis? composed two chaconnes for guitar in 1682 and 1686.

In general, the solo instrumental chaconne are "sectionalized either by the repetition of phrases in immediate succession (Gaultier and Visee), or, far more often, by the recurrence of two or more phrases as a refrain - or 'grand couplet' - in rondeau form."(*2) The orchestral and continuo types of the chaconne developed into large forms like those of Francois Couperin and Lully. In contrast to the solo instrumental type, the orchestral chaconne is divided in large sections contrasting by mode or instrumentation. The general scheme is that of a three-part form, opening and closing in a major key and moving to the tonic minor in the middle section. The contrast by instrumentation is attained by alternating woodwind trios with the orchestra.

The French style influenced profoundly the music of England and Germany. It is also the case with the French chaconne. In England we can find in the work of Purcell precedents for Bach 's Chaconne for solo violin and the Passacaglia for organ: Written for chamber ensemble in the minor mode, it uses a basso ostinato formed by joining two four-measure phrases; the first ending on the dominant and resolving finally in the second.
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(*2) Ibid.

In Germany the synthesis of the French and Italian styles created a golden age of the dance forms that lasted from about 1675 to 1750. Most German chaconnes are for organ or harpsichord, sometimes for orchestra, solo violin, or lute. They are frequently found alone, as part of a suite or sonata, or with a prelude or fugue. Such are the chaconnes by Biber, Fux, Pachelbel, Buxtehude, and J. S. Bach among others.

The chaconne is not an isolated phenomenon. Other dance forms share with it historical and formal backgrounds, even details of rhythmic approach. Such is the case of the passacaglia sarabande and the folia d'Espagne.

The passacaglia is slow dance-song of Spanish of Italian late Renaissance origins, also based on the principle of variation upon a short basso ostinato. It was originated separately from the chaconne as a ritornello. Derived from the Spanish words pasar, to walk, and calle, street, the term pasacalle -passacaglia in the Italian form- was a term apparently used only by guitarists.

The earliest examples of passacaglia can be found in Girolamo Montesardo's the Nuova inventione d'intavolatura (Florence, 1606), the first Italian tablature for the Spanish guitar. During the Baroque the passacaglia bass melody became, like that of the chaconne, standardized in a series of formul? The influence of the chaconne is apparent, since the passacaglia adopted usually a triple meter with a stress on the second beat. However, the early passacaglia tended to favor the minor mode. In France the passacaglia appeared after the chaconne, achieving as large popularity by the end of the 17th century and developed into solo and orchestral forms. In time, the difference between these two dances became unclear since they shared similar schemes and composers treated them almost interchangeably in regard of rhythmic features like the dotted second-beat anacrusis. Differences became even more confusing and in times contradictory in
4 Germany with the influence of French and Italian styles. From France composers adopted sectionalization, from Italy the technique of variation. Most German passacaglias were composed for keyboard. (*3)

The sarabande originated in the 16th century also as a dance-song in Latin America and became part of the repertoire of the Spanish five-course guitar. It was popular in French courts at the same time as the chaconne, being the slow type the most preferred. Like the chaconne, the sarabande is in triple meter and has a second-beat anacrusis, usually in dotted rhythm. The structural scheme differs: two or more repeated sections of varied length, although some may be in rondeau form. (*4)

Meaning 'mad?or 'foolish? the fol?s d'Espagne, as is called in France, was originally a dance of Spanish or Portuguese origins. It is a chordal framework used also for songs and sets or variations, the latter the most spread type. Historically, there are two fol?s: With the appearance in Italy of the Spanish five-course guitar, it enjoyed great popularity from 1577 to 1674 as a fast sung dance. The first known set of variations appeared in J. H. Kapsberger's Libro primo d 'intavolatura di chitarone (1604). The first tablatures for guitar accompaniment (strummed) appeared in the aforementioned Nuova inventioned'intavolatura by G. Montesardo. French composers developed the second type of fol? after its introduction to the court of Louis XIV by the Italian guitarist Francesco Corbetta. Rhythmically, second beats were generally accented by the use of the dot and the tempo was slowed down into a more majestic and dignified mood. It was usually in D minor.
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(*3) ; Richard Hudson, "Passacaglia,?in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
(*4) ; Richard Hudson, "Sarabande,?in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.


The Chaconne from the Partita II for violin solo, BWV 1004.

The Chaconne in particular and the Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo in general, ones of the very landmarks of solo instrumental music, were the outcome of a young composer. Although debatable, it is the consensus to date this set around 1720, when Bach was thirty-five years old. In fact, although an integral part of the Partita II, it could have been composed as a Tombeau, written as a meditative lament for the death in July 1720 of Maria Barbara Bach, Johann Sebastian's first wife. (*5) The earliest copy, from the hand of Anna Magdalena Bach, dates from this year and was discovered in 1814 at Petrograd, Russia, among old papers about to be sent away to a butter dealer. Simrock in Bonn published the first complete edition, taken from other extant manuscripts, in 1802.

Bach was full of new ideas, encouraged by the favorable environment at the court of Prince Leopold in C?hen where he spent six years (1717-1723). There he composed mainly secular, solo instrumental and chamber music; among them are the Fifteen Inventions and Sinfonias, Wohltemperirte Clavier, Chromatic Fantasie and Fugue, Six Suites for Cello, Four Orchestral Suites and finished the Brandenburg Concertos.

There are certain pertinent questions regarding the solo violin music. Why did Bach pursue such 'impractical?project? It is obvious that they were not intended to be played in church, and since there were no first-rank violinist among the court musicians, it is likely to conclude that the solo violin music was conceived as study material for the advanced violinist. It is known in Bach the strong inclination toward pedagogy (i.e. the  Wohltemperirte Clavier or the Clavierb?hlein). Forkel remarked in 1802: "For many years, the six violin solos were universally considered by the greatest performers on the violin as the best means to make an ambitious student a perfect master of his instrument." (*6)

A source for inspiration might have come from Bach's acquaintance with Johann Paul von Westhoff (1656-1705), a violinist in the service of Duke Johann Ernst of Weimar in 1703 who also composed a set of violin sonatas and partitas. On the other hand, some historians speculate that Bach wrote the Sonatas and Partitas to Johann Georg Pisendel (1678-1755), another composer of violin solos.
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(*5) ; Helga Theone, "J. S. Bach: Ciaconna. Tanz oderTombeau.?in C?hener bachfesttage, (C?hen, 1994), 30.

(*6) ; J. N. Forkel, Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art and Work (New York: Johnson Reprint Corp., 1970), 154.