Bach- Mvmt 3 Flashcards
What is the metre?
9/8- making it feel like a gigue (a popular dance form) with a fugal texture
How long is Ritornello 1?
25 bars (bar 1-25)
How long is Episode 1?
17 bars (bar 25-42)
How long is Ritornello 2?
3 bars (bar 42.3-45)
How long is Episode 2?
14 bars (bar 46-60)
How long is Ritornello 3?
13 bars (bar 59.3-72)
How long is Episode 3?
18 bars (bar 72.3-90)
How long is Ritornello 4?
4 bars (bar 90-94.1)
How long is Episode 4?
22 bars (bar 94-116)
How long is Ritornello 5?
25 bars (bar 117-141)
Describe bar 1-2
The violins enter with a fugue subject, accompanied by a countersubject in the violas with the continuo provides a supporting bass
Describe bar 5-6
The second violins play a tonal answer with the change of the opening interval (from a 5th to a 4th) to help modulate to Em. The first violins now have the countersubject
Describe bar 8-14
The continuo enters with the original subject (returning us to Am). By bar 12 all the parts are playing free material with a bass tag in bar 13-14
What are the harmonies in Ritornello 1?
Bar 1-9 = Am Bar 13 = Dm Bar 13-14 = G Bar 19 = Am Bar 21 = Dm Bar 23 = Am
Describe Episode 1
The texture becomes lighter (solo violin with continuo support) with occasional off-beat chords in the strings. It’s largely devoid of Ritornello references and includes sequences, appoggiaturas, melodic inversions and (to some extent) periodic phrasing. It moves harmonically from Am-G-Em
Describe Ritornello 2
The subject appears in violin 1, the countersubject in violin 2, a filler section in viola and the continuo supporting the harmonies. It is played in a dominant minor
Describe Episode 2
It is closely modelled from Episode 1, however it moves from Em-D and transposed up a 5th. There’s a new 2 bar link passage to Ritornello 3
Describe Ritornello 3
It is played in the relative major and starts off with a tonal answer in violin 2 which is harmonised (in 6ths) by violin 1 with the viola and continuo part supporting with an inverted pedal in the soloist. The subject is played in disguise in violin 2 (bar 64) and the countersubject appears later with the bass continuing support
Describe Episode 3
Largely non-thematic material with a compound gigue rhythm. From bar 82, the solo violin become virtuosic with some string crossing which is sequenced over a dominant minor chord. There is then triple-stopping and a fermata- indicating a short improvised cadenza
Describe Ritornello 4
The subject starts in the continuo, imitated a bar later (stretto) in violin 1 with the countersubject in the viola. Its in Am using a false reprise as the next Episode cuts in
Describe Episode 4
The first 8 bars are the same as Episode 1 in the tonic. In bar 100 the soloist plays a series of semiquaver runs accompanied by music from bar 4 which is tossed between violin 1 and 2. The soloist then plays a bariolage and it returns to Am with the continuo entering whilst the solo violin is playing. This is imitated by the strings, leading into the final Ritornello
Describe Ritornello 5
An exact repeat of Ritornello 1 with the only difference in the violin 2 entry in bar 117
