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 ...(+)
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.
