Partita No.4 in D major, BWV 828

Overture

Allemande

Courante

Aria

Sarabande

Minuet

Gigue

Although the six Partitas were the first published of Bach’s keyboard suites, they actually represent the culmination of his work in this form. Some are less ambitious than others, it is true, but there is nothing in the earlier English Suites or French Suites to equal the stature of a Partita like No.4 in D major, which is comparable to the late sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert in its structural breadth and sustained thought in keyboard terms. A French suite par excellence, it begins with a French Overture - a brilliantly decorated introduction in characteristically ceremonial dotted rhythms, followed by a fugue in concerto style. The first of the set dances, the Allemande, is the least dance-like, the most developed and the most beautifully written of all Bach’s allemandes. After that, the Courante is a well placed display of wit. The Air, which is as imaginative in rhythm as it is simple in texture, is also well placed in that it comes before a Sarabande which, though not as extended as the Allemande, is another extraordinary development of a set dance form. A minuet would not be so well placed before a gigue if they were both restricted to their conventional rhythms in a triple-time metre. But this Minuet plays off duplets against triplets while the Gigue is an impulsive fugato unusually set in 9/16.

Ouverture

Allemande

Courante

Aria

Sarabande

Minuet

Gigue

Although the six Partitas were the first of Bach’s keyboard suites to be published – they were issued separately between 1726 and 1730 and then collected together as Part I of the Clavierübung in 1731 – they actually represent the culmination of his work in this form. Some are less ambitious than others, it is true. No.3 in A minor, for example, is comparatively short and comparatively light. But there is nothing in the earlier English Suites or French Suites to equal the stature of Partita No.4 in D major, which is comparable to the late sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert in its structural breadth and sustained thought in keyboard terms.

The Partita in D major is, in fact, a French suite par excellence. Whereas the other partitas begin with, say, a Sinfonia or a Fantasia, this one opens with a French Overture. A brilliantly decorated introduction in characteristically ceremonial dotted rhythms is followed by a fugue in concerto style – but not, unusually, by a reprise of the first part. The first of the set dances, the Allemande, is the least dance-like and the most beautifully written of all Bach’s allemandes. Lasting well over ten minutes if both halves are repeated, it is also the most developed of them, improvisatory in manner and yet almost a sonata movement in its long-term structural strategy.

After that, the Courante (which adheres to the French rather than the Italian form of the dance) is a well placed display of wit, the second half beginning with an inversion of the main theme and then combining the two, each hand exchanging one version for the other. The Air, which is as imaginative in rhythm as it is simple in texture, is also well placed in that it comes before a Sarabande which, though not as extended as the Allemande, is another extraordinary development of a set dance form. Although the traditional sarabande rhythm is usually perceptible, the piece resembles the Allemande in its near-sonata ternary construction and in the elaborately decorated right-hand part in the second half.

A minuet would not be so well placed before a gigue if they were both restricted to their conventional rhythms in a triple-time metre. But this Minuet plays off ordinary duplets not only against triplets but also against dotted duplets as one hand teases the other. The Gigue, unusually set in 9/16, is an impulsive fugato which takes much the same shape as the Courante, the second half beginning with a new theme later to be combined with the first and displaced by it at the end.

Overture

Allemande

Courante

Aria

Sarabande

Minuet

Gigue

Although the six Partitas were the first published of Bach’s keyboard suites – they were issued on a yearly basis between 1726 and 1731 and then collected together as Part I of the Clavierübung – they actually represent the culmination of his work in this form. Some are less ambitious than others, it is true. No.3 in A minor, for example, which includes a Burlesca and a Scherzo where the others might offer an Air or a Rondeau or a Minuet, is comparatively short and comparatively light. But there is nothing in the earlier English Suites or French Suites to equal the stature of a Partita like No.4 in D major, which is comparable to the late sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert in its structural breadth and sustained thought in keyboard terms.

The Partita in D major is, in fact, a French suite par excellence. Whereas the other partitas begin with, say, a Sinfonia or a Fantasia, this one opens with a French Overture. A    brilliantly decorated introduction in characteristically ceremonial dotted rhythms is followed by a fugue in concerto style – but not, unusually, by a reprise of the first part. The first of the set dances, the Allemande, is the least dance-like and the most beautifully written of all Bach’s allemandes. Lasting well over ten minutes if both halves are repeated, it is also the most developed of them, improvisatory in manner and yet almost a sonata movement in its long-term structural strategy.

After that, the Courante (which adheres to the French rather than the Italian form of the dance) is a well placed display of wit, the second half beginning with an inversion of the main theme and then combining the two, each hand exchanging one version for the other. The Air, which is as imaginative in rhythm as it is simple in texture, is also well placed in that it comes before a Sarabande which, though not as extended as the Allemande, is another extraordinary development of a set dance form. Although the traditional sarabande rhythm is usually perceptible, the piece resembles the Allemande in its near-sonata ternary construction and in the elaborately decorated right-hand part in the second half.

A minuet would not be so well placed before a gigue if they were both restricted to their conventional rhythms in a triple-time metre. But this Minuet plays off ordinary duplets not only against triplets but also against dotted duplets as one hand teases the other. The Gigue, unusually set in 9/16, is an impulsive fugato which takes much the same shape as the Courante, the second half beginning with a new theme later to be combined with the first and displaced by it at the end.