VIOLABach, Johann Sebastian
Prelude from the Cello Suite in C Major for Viola
Bach, Johann Sebastian - Prelude from the Cello Suite in C Major for Viola
BWV 1009 No. 3
Viola
ViewPDF : Prelude from the Cello Suite in C Major (BWV 1009) for Viola (2 pages - 140.01 Ko)2,297x
MP3 : Prelude from the Cello Suite in C Major (BWV 1009) for Viola 169x 1,568x
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Vidéo :
Composer :
Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685 - 1750)
Instrumentation :

Viola

  8 other versions
Style :

Baroque

Key :C major
Arranger :
MAGATAGAN, MICHAEL (1960 - )
Publisher :MAGATAGAN, MICHAEL
Copyright :Public Domain
Added by magataganm, 29 May 2014

It is thought that Bach wrote his six suites for unaccompanied cello between 1717 and 1723, while he was in the employ of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen and had two superb solo cellists, Bernard Christian Linigke and Christian Ferdinand Abel, at his disposal. However, the earliest copy of the suites dates from 1726, and no autographs survive. Thus a chronological order is difficult to prove, though one guesses that these suites were composed in numerical order from the way that they gradually evolve and deepen, both technically and musically.

A Baroque suite is typically a collection of dance movements, usually in binary form with each half repeated. Common elements of the suite were the Allemande (German dance), a moderately slow duple-meter dance; the Courante, a faster dance in triple meter; the Sarabande, a Spanish-derived dance in a slow triple meter with emphasis on the second beat; and a Gigue (Jig), which is rapid, jaunty, and energetic. Bach took these typical dance forms and abstracted them, and then added a free-form, almost improvisatory Prelude which sets the tone for each suite, and a galanterie, an additional dance interposed between Sarabande and Gigue. (In the first two suites, Bach uses a pair of Minuets.) With these dances, Bach experimented and created the first, and arguably still the finest, solo works for a relatively new instrument.

The Suite in C major is probably the most popular of Bach's six suites for solo cello, among cellists and listeners alike. How could one resist the work's mix of nobility, exuberance, and relative contrapuntal simplicity? Casals, who more than any other performer brought these suites to the forefront of the cello repertory, found in it a heroic quality. Yet this suite also has close ties to its brethren. The Prelude recalls the discursive improvisatory flavor of the second suite, but opens with a descending figure and a mood of bright sunshine instead of the study in tragedy and tension that the second suite undertakes from the beginning. The Prelude also makes brilliant use of a mighty pedal point; a single note is held in the bass register while a series of progressively richer and richer figures build tension, pushing harder and harder for resolution. A similar figure is used to heighten a sense of pathos in the Prelude to the St. John Passion. Here, however, the pedal point develops instead into an expression of great warmth and happiness.

Although this piece was originally written for Cello, I transcribed it for Viola.
Sheet central :6 Suites pour violoncelle (158 sheet music)
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By ricardo_engmec, at 02:05
ricardo_engmec

Awesome. Sadly, I could'nt find the musescore version. Anyway, thank you!

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