Partita

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First page of J.S. Bach's Partita for Violin No. 3 BWV1006 preludio autograph manuscript 1720.jpeg
First page of J.S. Bach's Partita for Violin No. 3

Partita (also partie, partia, parthia, or parthie [1] ) was originally the name for a single-instrumental piece of music (16th and 17th centuries), but Johann Kuhnau (Thomaskantor until 1722), his student Christoph Graupner, and Johann Sebastian Bach used it for collections of musical pieces, as a synonym for suite.

Contents

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote two sets of partitas for different instruments. Those for solo keyboard the composer published as his Opus 1 (known as the Klavierübung I). One additional suite in B minor, the Overture in the French Style (often simply called French Overture) is sometimes also considered a partita. [2] See Partitas for keyboard (825–830) and choral partitas for organ. The "Partita" in A minor for solo flute (BWV 1013) which takes the form of a suite of four dances, has been given the title "partita" by its modern editors; it is sometimes transposed for oboe.

Bach also wrote three partitas for solo violin in 1720 which he paired with sonatas. (He titled each of them the German Partia, but they came to be called the Italian partita, which was introduced in the Bach Gesellschaft edition in 1879, being the more common term at the time. [3] ) See: Sonatas and partitas for solo violin.

The most prolific composer of partitas for harpsichord was Christoph Graupner, whose works in the form number about 57. The first set was published in 1718 and dedicated to his patron Ernest Louis, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. The last of his partitas exist in manuscripts dated 1750. They are difficult and virtuosic pieces which exhibit an astonishing variety of musical styles. [4] See: List of harpsichord pieces by Christoph Graupner. The longest partita ever written so far is Shoah for Solo Violin and Sacred Temple by Jorge Grundman, which lasts an hour and a half and was finished in 2016.

Examples

Listed by composer:

Audio files

Johann Kuhnau: a choral partita from 'Biblische Historien'. Here it is called 'Sonata 4' (a programmatic title is added). The tune or cantus firmus is the famous chorale O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden

Der todtkrancke und wieder gesunde Hiskias, 6,56MB

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Clavier-Übung, in more modern spelling Klavierübung, is German for "keyboard exercise". In the late 17th and early 18th centuries this was a common title for keyboard music collections: first adopted by Johann Kuhnau in 1689, the term later became mostly associated with Johann Sebastian Bach's four Clavier-Übung publications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (Bach)</span> Set of six works, BWV 1001–1006

The sonatas and partitas for solo violin are a set of six works composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. They are sometimes referred to in English as the sonatas and partias for solo violin in accordance with Bach's headings in the autograph manuscript: "Partia" was commonly used in German-speaking regions during Bach's time, whereas the Italian "partita" was introduced to this set in the 1879 Bach Gesellschaft edition, having become standard by that time. The set consists of three sonatas da chiesa in four movements and three partitas in dance-form movements. The 2nd Partita is widely known for its Chaconne, considered one of the most masterly and expressive works ever written for solo violin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Partita for Violin No. 2 (Bach)</span> Composition for violin by Johan Sebastian Bach

The Partita in D minor for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach was written between 1717 and 1720. It is a part of his compositional cycle called Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christoph Graupner</span> German Baroque composer (1683–1760)

Christoph Graupner was a German composer and harpsichordist of late Baroque music who was a contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann and George Frideric Handel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orchestral suites (Bach)</span> Four suites by Johann Sebastian Bach

The four orchestral suites BWV 1066–1069 are four suites by Johann Sebastian Bach from the years 1724–1731. The name ouverture refers only in part to the opening movement in the style of the French overture, in which a majestic opening section in relatively slow dotted-note rhythm in duple meter is followed by a fast fugal section, then rounded off with a short recapitulation of the opening music. More broadly, the term was used in Baroque Germany for a suite of dance-pieces in French Baroque style preceded by such an ouverture. This genre was extremely popular in Germany during Bach's day, and he showed far less interest in it than was usual: Robin Stowell writes that "Telemann's 135 surviving examples [represent] only a fraction of those he is known to have written"; Christoph Graupner left 85; and Johann Friedrich Fasch left almost 100. Bach did write several other ouverture (suites) for solo instruments, notably the Cello Suite no. 5, BWV 1011, which also exists in the autograph Lute Suite in G minor, BWV 995, the Keyboard Partita no. 4 in D, BWV 828, and the Overture in the French style, BWV 831 for keyboard. The two keyboard works are among the few Bach published, and he prepared the lute suite for a "Monsieur Schouster," presumably for a fee, so all three may attest to the form's popularity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Sebastian Bach</span> German composer (1685–1750)

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific authorship of music across a variety of instruments and forms, including; orchestral music such as the Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the cello suites and sonatas and partitas for solo violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schubler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival, he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.

Johann Sebastian Bach composed suites, partitas and overtures in the baroque dance suite format for solo instruments such as harpsichord, lute, violin, cello and flute, and for orchestra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Partita for keyboard No. 6, BWV 830</span>

The Partita for keyboard No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830, is a suite of seven movements written for the harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was published in 1731 both as a separate work and as part of Bach's Clavier-Übung I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Six Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord, BWV 1014–1019</span> Works by J. S. Bach

The six sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord BWV 1014–1019 by Johann Sebastian Bach are works in trio sonata form, with the two upper parts in the harpsichord and violin over a bass line supplied by the harpsichord and an optional viola da gamba. Unlike baroque sonatas for solo instrument and continuo, where the realisation of the figured bass was left to the discretion of the performer, the keyboard part in the sonatas was almost entirely specified by Bach. They were probably mostly composed during Bach's final years in Cöthen between 1720 and 1723, before he moved to Leipzig. The extant sources for the collection span the whole of Bach's period in Leipzig, during which time he continued to make changes to the score.

References

  1. Fuller, David; Eisen, Cliff (2001). "Partita [parte] (It.; Ger. Partie, Parthie, Partia, Parthia; Lat. pars)". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-1-56159-263-0.
  2. Philipp Spitta, Johann Sebastian Bach: his work and influence on the music of Germany, 1685-1750, Volume 3 (Novello and company, limited, 1899) p. 156.
  3. Ledbetter, David. Unaccompanied Bach, Performing the Solo Works. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009.
  4. Oswald Bill And Christoph (editors), Christoph Graupner : Thematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke (1683-1760), Stuttgart: Carus-Verlag, 2005. ISBN   3-89948-066-X