nixpertise

(This is part 2 of this series. For part 1, click here ) Variations 3-6 In variation two, the three and four-part texture is thinned to primarily two voices, with the lower one transformed into a descending, chromatic lament. If the topic of this second variation was the dotted rhythm, the rhythmic evenness of variation three directs the listener elsewhere. Despite the forced prominence of the treble line in Heifetz’s recording, it is only in this third variation that melodic elaboration takes centerstage. Bach writes the first bass line in the first four measures of variation 3, but the variation double and subsequent variations become further abstracted from the ground bass. The subject of this section becomes the single voice and its ornamental inventions. [ Bach Chaconne, first 6 measures of variation 3 (from the Joachim/Moser edition) ] Joachim’s edition shows the importance that tonal expression had for violinists in this time, who equated the singing of melodic subjects with per...

I've been working sporadically on a paper for the BACH Journal's special edition on the Bach Chaconne and dance for the better part of a year. It's been a long and circuitous process of writing, partially because I don't often find myself in academic spaces these days, partially because I have a lot to say about the piece, and also because I'm - like every other freelance musician - continually pulled in a dozen directions at the same time. The upshot of all this is that in my various revisions (currently on #6) I've actually produced two papers: one for the journal, and this one for my blog. In this series of posts I'm publishing the non-academic-journal-bound version of my paper, which takes the form of meandering reflections on Bach's Chaconne, its performance and reception history, and the generic history of the chacona. I've written these reflections in "variation form" - with variations corresponding to the 32 variations of the Chacon...