November / Month of the Sonata – 13
.jpg "Meditation, 1936 - Rene Magritte")
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Tag: the Baroque Period
November 10, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 10
“Moonlight” or “Clair de lune” (c.1895)
Félix Vallotton
_______
at the end of the Nineteenth Century, a
a seismic shift occurred in our Western
culture’s sensitivity to art
much as visual representation during
the Renaissance and up until the late
Baroque Period had dominated, to
be replaced by music during the
Classical Age as the sensory
temperature of the times, visual
representation once again took over
as arbiter of Western sensibility
during Impressionism
you’ll remember the artists of the
Renaissance, but not many of the
composers, you’ll be able to name
the composers of the Classical Age
and the Romantic, but not many, if
any, of the painters, you’ll then
immediately toss off a list of artists
of the Impressionist Era, but not
many of its composers
this lasts till, I’d say, Andy Warhol,
when the visual arts still held sway,
but the present is, it seems, up for
grabs
here’s meanwhile, an Impressionist,
Claude Debussy – his Clair de lune,
an obvious Impressionist statement,
to be compared, incidentally, with
its Romantic counterpart, Beethoven’s
Moonlight Sonata – delivering his
Sonata for Violin of 1917
enjoy
R ! chard
March 19, 2018
French Suite no 3 in B minor – Bach
“Dance of the Majos at the Banks of Manzanares“ (1777)
_________
upon reading up somewhat on the different
Bach Suites, I’ve provisionally concluded
that the earlier English Suites, 1715 to 1720,
were a modification of the established form
of the suite, which would not have included
a prelude, which isn’t, indeed, a dance
the Cello Suites follow, ahem, suit
but by the French Suites, 1722 to 1725, Bach
is eschewing – Gesundheit – the prelude, but
inserting, however, an air in his Fourth – an
air is not either a dance – and mixing up
their order in the later Suites, a minuet, for
instance, in the last one of them, his Sixth,
coming up after the gigue, which sports even
also a polonaise, where in his Fifth, Bach adds
a loure, I ask you, a slow French gigue, to his
bristling concoction
the terms French and English, incidentally,
were added only after Bach’s demise, for
diverse and uncorroborated reasons, so
that these titles probably don’t mean much
to a contemporary audience, who can’t tell,
anyway, our gavottes from our bourrées
the music of Bach is like that of no other
composer, he owns essentially the Baroque
Period, having, in fact, wrenched the Era
from the painters, who’d established it in
art to such a degree that it defined its
earlier historical phase
with Bach, the torch is handed over to
music, from then on until the
Impressionists, the period is defined
by composers, both Classical, then
Romantic, with some poets holding
some sway
the technique that dominates the music
of Bach is that of counterpoint, where
a tune is repeated in the harmonization
a few beats from its first iteration,
vocally, we call that singing in canon
his music is introspective, as though
the player were privately meditating,
it has the playfulness of Mozart, but
Mozart is expressive, not interior,
therefore nowhere near as spiritual,
Beethoven will return with a
profundity that matches Bach’s, but
with much more Sturm und Drang,
tempestuous moral struggle, much
less resignation, ouch, watch
listening to Bach for me is like getting
on a train, and just letting the rhythm
of the wheels sustain me, as I watch,
indeed introspectively, the surrounding
countryside, stopping at the musical
journey’s several halts, its intervals,
until its final destination, which
despite, or even because of, taking
sometimes hours, is nevertheless
endlessly satisfying, and never
ever less than, however improbably,
inspiring
here’s Bach’s Third French Suite,
you’ll note it includes an idiosyncratic
“trio”, not strictly a recognized dance
either – leave it to the saucy French, I
say, to consider interpolating a trio
R ! chard
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