EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 5.

Bach: Prelude to English Suite, No. 3, in G-Minor.

The Motives: The thematic material out of which this prelude is developed is very simple, consisting of just two motives, which we will call (a) and (b).

Motive (a) (imitated through four voices.)

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Motive (b) (imitated by a second voice) measures 33-36.

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FIGURE XVIII. MOTIVES OF BACH PRELUDE IN G-MINOR

Note the effective contrast between the bold, assertive character of motive (a) and the more graceful character of (b).

Structure: The prelude divides itself into seven clearly marked sections, each ended by a well-marked cadence. Let us examine these briefly in turn.

Section I, measures 1-32, key of G-minor: Founded on motive (a), with many sequences which the reader should now be able to trace for himself.

Section II, measures 33-66: Begins in G-minor, modulates to B-flat major, the "relative major." Motive (b) in soprano, measures 33-34; in alto, measures 35-36; in bass, measures 43-44. Motive (a), measures 35, 36, 37 (alto), 38, 39, 43, 44, 53, 54, etc.

Section III, measures 67-98, key of B-flat: An almost exact copy of Section I, in a different key.

Section IV, measures 99-124: Begins in B-flat major, modulates to D-minor, the "dominant" of the original key. Both motives tossed about from voice to voice. (The reader should locate each instance for himself.)

Section V, measures 125-160: Begins in D-minor, modulates to E-flat major, thus giving variety of key in the middle part of the composition, which we begin to see is an important principle of form. (Compare the Gavotte of the last chapter.) Very similar in treatment to Section II.

Section VI, measures 161-179: Modulates back from E-flat major to the home key, thus preparing the way for the final statements and conclusion. In measures 175-178 the insistence of the bass on the tone D, the "dominant" of the original key, will be noticed. Such an insistence on one tone is called a "pedal point," because so frequently found in the pedal part of organ music, and serves admirably here to prepare the mind for the triumphant return to G-minor in the final section. The rest of Section VI is made up of sequences, thus: 162-165, 166-169, 170-173; and then, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178.

Section VII, measures 180-213: Almost entirely in the home-key, thus emphasizing the sense of finality. The bulk of this section is furthermore identical with Section I, thus affording a fine example of the principle of restatement after contrast.

Altogether this is a most interesting movement. In the great effect made with simple means we recognize again, as we did in the case of the invention and the fugue, the splendid power of Bach's mind. The principles of imitation of motives from voice to voice, of transpositions of a single motive in a single voice giving rise to the many sequences, and of restatement after contrast, all discussed in the first chapter, are illustrated more brilliantly than by any other composition we have thus far examined. Finally, in the variety of key of Section V, placed in the middle of the piece, and in the unity of key of the first and last sections, we get a striking anticipation of a principle of construction which we shall later see to be at the root of the most important of modern forms, the sonata-form.

After listening to such a movement as this we naturally wish to relax a little; and we are, therefore, pleased to hear a series of dances of various rhythms and qualities of expression, cast in simple "binary" or "ternary" forms, and either frankly homophonic in style or not too elaborately polyphonic. It is impossible to describe in detail here all the dances found in suites, but the table on page 68 will give an idea of the more important ones.

The gavotte studied in the preceding chapter gives an excellent general impression of the livelier dances used, which may be farther defined by a glance at such typical pieces as the bourr?s of the first and second English Suites, and the gavottes of the third English and fifth French Suites. There is generally also to be found in Bach's suites, introduced for the sake of contrast and in order to represent the more emotional side of musical expression, a sarabande or other such slow, stately, and sometimes truly noble movement. Let us take, as an example of this element, the Sarabande from the second English Suite.

FIGURE XIX. THE CHIEF DANCES USED IN SUITES


NAME	ORIGIN	METER	FORM	CHARACTER
Allemande	German	4-4	Usually "binary"	Brisk, fluent.
Courante	French	3-2 or 3-4	" "binary"	Merry, energetic.
Sarabande	Spanish	3-2, 3-4	" "binary"	Stately, serious, sometimes noble.
Bourr?	French	4-4, 2-4	" "ternary"	Lively.
Gavotte	French	4-4	" "ternary"	Moderately quick, well-marked.
Minuet	French	3-8, 3-4	" "ternary"	Well-regulated gaiety, courtly.
Passepied	French	3-4		Animated, brisk.
Loure	Old French	6-4		Slow, stately.
Anglaise	French	2-4		Lively, energetic.
Polonaise	Polish	3-4		Dignified, but animated.
Pavane	French	2-4		Stately.
Rigaudon	French	2-4, 4-4		Very lively, gay.
Gigue	Doubtful	6-8, 12-8	" "binary"	Very rollicking and merry.

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 6.
Bach: Sarabande in A-Minor from English Suite II

The melodic germ from which the piece is developed is the following very serious and earnest phrase:

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FIGURE XX.—THEME OF BACH SARABANDE

a phrase in which great depth of almost tragic feeling is expressed. Against this is set, for the sake of relief, the lighter and more suave melody of measures 5 and 6, treated in freely sequential fashion. The whole sarabande is built from these two brief melodic figures.

This sarabande serves as an admirable illustration of the type of beauty common in the music of Bach. Its phraseology, if we may use the term, is quite different from that in use in the music of to-day; it is full of quaint and archaic turns of musical speech—formal sequences, little motives that sound to us almost mechanical. It is like an etching of D?rer's, full of detail, each line carefully drawn, and the whole picture instinct with life. Thus its type of beauty differs so materially from that to which we are accustomed that it often fails in its appeal. Only by using our imagination are we able to project ourselves, so to speak, into another milieu, another time, another point of view. And this is the test with which any archaic work of art confronts us. Without imagination in the beholder a picture by Botticelli, for example, is a curiosity rather than a work of art. Its strange allegory, its quaint idea of landscape, its figures with their unusual posing—all these are beautiful or merely curious according as we look at them. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

The repetition at a higher pitch of the main motive in measures 3-4 is highly poignant; and throughout the expression is intensified by the use of rich and often complex harmony, as particularly in the last four measures of all.

Notwithstanding the earnest and impassioned character of this sarabande, its derivation from the dance is clearly revealed in the regularity of the balance of phrases consisting of equal measure groups, which divide up as follows: 2, 2, 4, 4 (double-bar); 2, 2, 4, 2, 2, 4. The symmetry is much more precise than in an invention or a fugue.

The form is binary or two-part. Part one, measures 1-12, begins in A-minor and ends in the "relative major," the key of C. Part two, measures 13-28, begins (with the original motive) in C-major, and returns to A-minor.

The sequence of measures 23-24, with measures 21-22, is very beautiful and deserves special notice.

Following the sarabande the reader will observe a more florid version of it, bearing the caption, "Les agr?ents de la m?e Sarabande"—"Ornaments for the same Sarabande." This is an example of the practice, common in Bach's day, of weaving a net-work of grace-notes, trills, and other decorations about a melody, a practice due in part to the natural fondness of all musicians for "effect," and in part to the fact that the instruments of that day were so small and poor that a tone could only be sustained by being struck many times. This custom of ornamenting melodies with all manner of embroidery gave rise to the "theme and variations," a form which we shall study later.

All the other English Suites of Bach contain very beautiful sarabandes; those in the French Suites are less interesting, though the first contains a fine example.

All of Bach's twelve suites end with gay and vigorous gigues, the most rollicking of all the dances used. This is natural enough, in view of the desirability of closing the suite with an impression of energetic vitality. These gigues are in the headlong 6-8 or 12-8 meter; they are polyphonic in texture, and constructed in the binary form. Often-times a high degree of contrapuntal skill is shown in their composition, but usually this does not interfere with their light and almost careless character. A curious feature of most of them is that in the second half the motive is inverted or turned upside down.

EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 7.

Bach: Gigue, from French Suite IV in E-Flat.

Theme of Gigue, Bach's French Suite IV, and its Inversion.

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Inversion of theme, beginning of second half.

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FIGURE XXI.

The gay little theme is composed of two motives, as indicated in Figure XXI, in which the long brackets show the theme and its imitation by the second voice to enter, and the short brackets show its component motives, of contrasting character. In measures 5 and 6 the theme is again imitated by the third voice (left hand part). In the course of the development a still more lively figure makes its appearance in measures 19, 23, 24 and 25.

The now familiar sequences are found at every turn. The form is binary (Part I, measures 1-26; Part II, measures 27-60). The inversion of the theme, shown in Figure XXI, makes the subject of the second half. The key-system is perfectly simple. Part I modulates from the tonic, E-flat, to the dominant, B-flat; Part II begins there and returns to the home-key.