Suite No.3 in C for solo cello, BWV 1009 (c 1720)

Prelude

Allemande

Courante

Sarabande

Bourrée 1 - Bourrée 2 - Bourrée 1 da capo

Gigue

It is quite clear from the sonatas and partitas for solo violin and the suites for solo cello that Bach had great faith in both instruments – not to mention the instrumentalists for whom he wrote them during his time as Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Cöthen. It is also clear, however, that he expected rather less of the cello than the violin. It is largely a matter of texture. While that might seem an irrelevant factor when comparing a composer’s treatment of one essentially single-line instrument with another, Bach does seem to have regarded the violin as the more capable of creating at least an illusion of multi-voiced counterpoint.

Where an unaccompanied string instrument is concerned, counterpoint – the projection of two or more melodic lines at once - is possible only in so far as it is possible to play that instrument on more than one string at once. Bach seems to have concluded (although Britten ventured to disagree with him in his Cello Suite No.2) that the cello is more limited in that respect than the violin. Certainly, where the cellist is required to play on more than one string at once in Bach’s Cello Suites it is usually to produce chords rather than counterpoint. Multi-stopped chords are, on the other hand, a specially sonorous and specially significant feature of these works.

The Prelude of the Suite No.3 in C, for example, runs its course in a long line of nothing but semiquavers until it meets with succession of sustained four-note chords to bring a dramatic end to what had seemed an unstoppable flow of capricious invention.

The Allemande, the first of the five dance movements that follow, makes sparing but telling use of multi-stops, to vary the harmonies and the colouring after the introduction of its graceful main theme, whereas the mercurial Courante avoids them until the very last note. The profundity of the Sarabande derives much of its profundity from the harmonies drawn from the bottom register under its expressively shaped and wide ranging melodic line, in contrast to the carefree and largely unadorned Bourrées. There is little double-stopping in the closing Gigue but where repeated notes are added as drone harmonies to the vigorous activity above them the effect is to evoke an extraordinary and exciting impression of peasant bagpipes.

Prelude

Allemande

Courante

Sarabande

Bourrée 1 - Bourrée 2 - Bourrée 1 da capo

Gigue

It is quite clear from the sonatas and partitas for solo violin and the suites for solo cello that Bach had great faith in both instruments - not to mention the instrumentalists for whom he wrote them during his time as Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Cöthen. It is also clear, however, that he expected rather less of the cello than the violin. It is largely a matter of texture. While that might seem an irrelevant factor when comparing a composer’s treatment of one essentially single-line instrument with another, Bach does seem to have regarded the violin as the more capable of creating at least an illusion of multi-voiced counterpoint. There is little in the Cello Suites, profoundly thoughtful though they might be, to compare in contrapuntal interest with the Fuga movements of the three Violin Sonatas or, still less, the Chaconne of the Partita in D minor. The cello might be particularly good at accompanying itself, drawing a sustained melodic line over full chords in the bass, but, except in of the fugal section of the Prelude of No.5 in C minor, counterpoint is not a prominent feature of the cello suites.

Where an unaccompanied string instrument is concerned, counterpoint, the projection of two or more melodic lines at once, is possible only in so far as it is possible to play that instrument on more than one string at once. Bach seems to have concluded - although Britten ventured to disagree with him in his Cello Suite No.2 - that the cello is more limited in that respect than the violin. Certainly, where the cellist is required to play on more than one string at once in Bach’s Cello Suites it is usually to produce chords rather than counterpoint. Multi-stopped chords are, on the other hand, a specially sonorous and specially significant feature of these works.

The Prelude of the Suite No.3 in C, for example, runs its course in a long succession of nothing but semiquavers until it meets with succession of sustained four-note chords to bring a dramatic end to what had seemed an unstoppable flow of capricious invention.

The Allemande, the first of the five dance movements that follow, makes sparing but telling use of multi-stops, to vary the harmonies and the colouring after the introduction of its graceful main theme, whereas the mercurial Courante avoids them until the very last note. The profundity of the Sarabande derives much of its profundity from the harmonies drawn from the bottom register under its expressively shaped and wide ranging melodic line, in contrast to the carefree and largely unadorned Bourrées. There is little double-stopping in the closing Gigue but where repeated notes are added as drone harmonies to the vigorous activity above them the effect is to evoke an extraordinary and exciting impression of peasant bagpipes.