Preface Tis flute and keyboard edition of Bach’s Overture-Suite in B minor for flute, strings, and continuo (BWV 1067) aims to help players of both early and modern instruments perform the music as closely as possible to Bach’s conception. o that end, the score and separate flute part are annotated with structural labels. Te Preface gives information needed to understand the score and flute part. A facsimile of Bach’s autograph flute part begins the flute book. Detailed Performance Notes conclude it. Tis Preface considers the origin and chief manuscript source of BWV 1067. It explains the choice of voices, editorial practices, and map-like structural labels in our score and flute part. For comparison with our edition it offers a full orchestral score of the opening measures constructed from Bach’s manuscript parts. It closes with a list of the abbreviated forms used in the structural labels. Although variously called Suite 2 in B minor , Ouverture II for flute and strings , and Orchestral Suite 2, the work includes both an overture and a suite of airs, and of Bach’s four sur viving works in this form, this one is chronologically the last (not the second!) he composed. We therefore call it the Overture-Suite in B minor — or, more simply, BWV 1067. ORIGIN AND M ANUSCRIPT SOURCE
Te only copy of BWV 1067 surviving from Bach’s lifetime is a set of manuscript parts1 (no score) now dated around 1739. Te set includes six separate parts: traverso, violin 1, violin 2, viola, [figured] continuo, and [unfigured] bass. Bach himself copied the traverso part. A recent study of copying mistakes and revisions reveals the set to be a transposition up a whole step from a presumed lost version in A minor, probably composed in the early 1730s with possibly violin as the solo instrument.2 Perhaps Bach included the Polonaise in the suite of dances because he was around that time petitioning the Polish King in Dresden for an appointment as Royal Court Composer, which he received in 1736. For which performer or occasion either the A minor or B minor version of this Overture-Suite was written is not known. Some have suggested the B minor version was meant for Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin, renowned flute virtuoso at the Dresden Court. After May 1738, however, Bach no longer visited Dresden. On the other hand, Bach directed the Leipzig Collegium Musicum from 1729 to 1737 and again from 1739 to 1741 so he may have written both versions for that group. A remote possibility is that Buffardin performed the flute part in Leipzig, for he did once visit Bach there. affect labels. Mouvement is the French term for movement, tempo, rhythm, and affect (styl-
3
rée rhythm. Te various musical affects , also called passions in French, are movements of the soul that transport listeners to joyful, sorrowful, and other states. In addition, the term mouvement sometimes signifies meter (Fr., mesure ). For these reasons we consider BWV 1067 to have nine movements — the three sections of the Overture and the six airs of the Suite. Characteristic tempos, dance motions, rhythms, af fects , and meters distinguish the nine. Te first repeated section of the Overture is a slow opening movement of majestic dotted figures in C meter. Te second repeated section, rarely repeated today, includes two movements—the first a dance-like concerto fugue in 2| meter; the second a slow closing movement of majestic dotted figures in I meter. In the set of six airs, the two Bourrées form a single da capo movement, and the Polonaise and its Double (variation of the Polonaise melody) form another. Bach’s title at the beginning of each instrumental part of BWV 1067 is simply Ouverture . Tis use for both the threesection opener and the complete overture-suite is typically German (despite the French spelling). Because Bach gives a title only for the third section of the Overture — Lentement (slowly) — we supply common French titles for the first two — Grave (serious, slow) and Vite (lively, quick). Bach’s titles for the six airs (here in italics) differ some what from those used today (here in parentheses): Rondeaux (Rondeau); Sarabande (Sarabande); Bourrée I [and II ] alternativement (Bourrées I & II); Polonoise [and] Double (Polonaise & Double); Menuet (Menuet); and Battinerie (Badinerie). At the start of each movement, we supply affect words in gray from one or more German writers of Bach’s day. We place these words above the time signature in the keyboard right hand of our score and below the time signature in our separate flute part. T HE F L UTE AND K EYBOARD A RRANGEMENT
Our several goals for this arrangement have been to stay as close as possible to the original parts; to edit these parts clearly and consistently; to name the chief rhetorical sections, poetic units, and melodic ideas in the orations of the top voice; to point out the chief modulations and cadences according to late Baroque concepts; and to identify the concerto structure and fugue processes in the Overture Vite. Our main guide for accuracy has been the NBA full score4 entitled II / Ouvertüre / Orchestersuite h-Moll / BWV 1067 , which is based chiefly on Bach’s manuscript parts described above. As needed for clarification we have consulted photocopies of the manuscript parts (see Bach’s autograph flute part at the start of our separate flute book).
Movement titles and
ized emotional state).3 A slow movement moves slowly. A dance movement supports the physical movements of dancers. A bourrée movement displays the typical bour114-41534
o clearly present the linear character and main protagonists in Bach’s Overture-Suite we retain the two outer voices in all movements, the chief inner voices wherever possible, and the main contrapuntal entries Choice of voices.
5 French Baroque and by German writers in Bach’s circle. We begin each abbreviation directly below the first effective pitch. o these French and German writers, a pitch foreign to the prevailing key, e.g. (to e), introduces most modulations. Upper- and lower-case letters represent major and minor tonal areas. Where two foreign pitches introduce a new area simultaneously only the leading tone is labeled. Most tonal areas come to repose in some kind of harmonic cadence at the final bar line of the poetic unit. Te last two main pitches of the highest and lowest voices frame the cadence — the initial pitch before the bar line, the arrival pitch after. We begin each cadence label directly below the initial pitch in the lowest voice. Both French and German authors mention chiefly three types of cadence: perfect, evaded (or deceptive), and half . Te perfect cadence (PC ) is the only true cadence. All voices arrive together on the final downbeat of the unit with the highest and lowest voices on the first degree of the tonal area. Te lowest voice moves from the fifth degree, the highest voice often f rom the second degree. Middle voices move from the fifth, seventh (leading tone), second, or sometimes fourth degree to the first, third, or fifth degree. Our cadence examples outline the skeletal movement of the soprano and bass voices.
An evaded cadence (PC evaded ) begins with the initial pitches of a PC but at least one voice sidesteps the expected repose. Te only evaded cadence in BWV 1067 leads to the fugue coda (mm. 185–86). Tis cadence begins like the PC in b that sets up the first entrance of the solo flute (mm. 54–55). Te expected resolutions are to b in the bass, d' in the tenor, f#' in the alto and b' in the soprano (a B minor triad). Instead the bass sidesteps to a , the tenor leaps up an octave to f#", the alto sidesteps down to d#' while the soprano makes its expected resolution to b' .
A half cadence (HC ) is so called because it constitutes only the first half of a PC —that is, it ends on the initial pitches of a PC , with the lowest voice on the fifth degree, the highest often on the second degree and the leading tone in a middle voice. (ypically these are the only arrival pitches present in a half cadence. Te fourth degree, being dissonant to both the fifth degree and the leading tone, only occasionally participates as an arrival pitch.) No initial pitches are prescribed, except that the lowest voice of a phrygian half cadence (HC phry ) moves from the sixth to the fifth degree. Te three elaborated phrygian half cadences in the BWV 1067 Grave and Lentement vary considerably in 114-41534
length and contour.
More transitory reposes not discussed by writers in Bach’s circle might be called quasi or qualified cadences (QC ). Tese are perfect cadences weakened by deviations from the requisite initial and/or arrival pitches. Most belong to one of three types: initial pitch of lowest voice on the seventh degree (leading tone) of the tonal area, or on the second or fourth degree; arrival pitch of highest voice on the third or fifth degree; and one or more pitches extending the arrival past the downbeat. For a qualified half cadence (QHC ) the bass arrives on a pitch other than the fifth degree (Overture, mm. 139, 167; Double, m. 8; Badinerie, m. 36); or another voice arrives on the fourth degree (Rondeau, mm. 4, 24). Te circled pitches in the examples below are typical deviations.
All cadences of a given type are not equally conclusive. Tose in the home key are more final than those in related keys, and more elaborated approaches and longer arrival notes are more final than others. Concerto and fugue labels. In the Overture Vite of BWV 1067, an Italian Baroque concerto structure encompasses the fugue processes.
Te concerto structure alternates ritornello (R: returning tutti ) sections and concertino (C: contrasting solo) sections. Unusual in this Vite is a hybrid episode (R/C) that separates the first three alternations (R1-R3 and C1-C3) from the last three (R4-R6 and C4-C6). Also unusual are the subsections a and b that divide sections R1, C1, C6, and R6. In quite another way, the fugue processes in this movement divide the concerto sections into fugue and concertino expositions; extra, middle, and final entries; transitions; reexpositions; and a coda. Labels in small caps below the music identify the fugue processes. ENDNOTES 1Held as Mus. ms. Bach St. 154 (1–6) in the Deutsche
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. 2 Joshua Rifkin, “Te ‘B minor Flute Suite’ Deconstructed: New Light on Bach’s Ouverture BWV 1067,” in Bach Perspectives 6 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2005), 43–46. 3Patricia Ranum, Te Harmonic Orator: Te Phrasing and Rhetoric of the Melody in French Baroque Airs (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001), 309–12. 4 Johann Sebastian Bach. Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke , VII/1 (Kassel and Leipzig: Bärenreiter, 1967), 27–46.
28
refrain tercet
contrasting couplet
contrasting tercet
refrain tercet varied
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2
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Bach’s autograph manuscript. Courtesy of the Staatsbibliothek Berlin.
6
Te King’s Grand Ball, foldout page of Pierre Rameau’s Le Maître à danser (Paris 1725, reprint 1748). Courtesy of the Library of Congress’ online collection of dance instruction manuals.
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18 couplet 1 line 1
line 2
repeat of couplet 1
start here
La Bourée d’Achille , plate 1 of Louis-Guillaume Pécour’s Receuil de danses (Paris, 1700). Our added labels relate the music and dance measures, identify the poetic lines of the first musical couplet, show the starting positions and facing directions of the dancers, and indicate Te Presence (the king at his grand ball) to whom the dancers offer their performance. Courtesy of the Library of Congress’ online collection of dance instruction manuals. 114-41534
Performance Notes
19
Louis XIV reigned personally as King of France from 1661 to 1715. A great patron of the arts, he established the French academies of dance, opera, and architecture; backed the Italian-born dancer and composer Jean-Baptiste Lully; practiced daily with the dancing master Pierre Beauchamp; and chose subjects for the court’s musical entertainments. French balls of the time featured couple dances ( danses à deux ) in the belle danse style developed by Beauchamp that led to modern ballet. Court ballets and operas (tragedies en musique ) featured virtuosic choreographies in the belle danse style performed by professional dancers, sometimes in early days including the king and Lully. Chamber concerts featured chiefly dance music.
through dancing them, playing them on instruments, and hearing and seeing them performed repeatedly. o give modern musical performers a taste of these combined physical experiences we offer the basic essentials of dancing each movement type, cite early 18th-century German writers on the sentiment, character or affect expressed, explore the poetic orations declaimed by the top voice in French overtures and French dance songs, compare the flute and string articulations taught at the time, and offer guidelines for realizing the ornament signs. o conclude, we consider the remarkably unified structure of BWV 1067.
In 1700, with permission from Louis XIV, Raoul-Auger Feuillet published the dance notation evolved under Beauchamp for belles danses .1 Alongside his tutorial, or incorporated with it, was a collection of Feuillet’s own choreographies using this notation and a collection by the eminent dancer Louis Pécour. Pécour’s collection includes La Bourée (sic) d’Achille , soon to be danced in all European courts (see plate 1 on p. 18).
Te movements in BWV 1067 make listeners want to march or dance. Te declamatory dotted rhythms in the Overture Grave and Lentement and the Polonaise suggest a festive march. Tose in the Overture go back to the concerted instrumental openings of 17th-century ballets de cour during which performers walked on stage and promenaded in halting steps while musicians repeated at least the quick second section of the music. 3 Te Polonaise, a march of couples in ç meter, is still today the first of the national dances of Poland. Te remaining movements might be danced to the elegant belle danse choreographies developed at the French court or to the folk-like contredanses brought from England. Each style has its own floor patterns and dance steps. In all three styles, dancers and musicians mark musical meter in related ways.
French balls of the late French Baroque (about 1680 to 1720 in France) opened with provincial round dances, continued with danses à deux , and concluded with contredanses (French versions of English country dances—usually long ways dances—with French dance steps). In 1725 Pierre Rameau pictures a couple preparing to perform a danse à deux before the king and their peers (see p. 6). Te couple first bows to the king (numbers 1 and 2)and then moves back to await the musicians’ downbeat (numbers 3 and 4). As a choral scholarship student at St Michael’s School in Lüneburg (1700-1702), Bach became acquainted first hand with the fashionable French court dances. From the boys at Lüneburg’s aristocratic Riders’ Academy where the French style prevailed, he learned French and perhaps some French dance steps. Te academy’s French dancing master also served the Lüneburg Castle with its orchestra of French musicians. From the library of the Lüneburg organist and composer George Böhm, Bach copied several French harpsichord suites, some with information on their performance practices.2 Te nine “movements” of Bach’s B minor Overture-Suite BWV 1067 include the three sections of a French overture, five French dance airs much in vogue in the 1730s, and a polonaise. Te Overture Grave and Lentement, and the Polonaise, feature the majestic dotted rhythms that accompany festive processions. Te Rondeau, Sarabande, Bourrées, and Menuet present the characteristic rhythms and affects of French ballroom and theatrical dances. Te lighthearted, exuberant Badinerie projects the downright fun of the French contredanses, capturing the timeless joy of folk dancing. Dancers, musicians, and audiences in Bach’s day were well acquainted with the movement types in BWV 1067 114-41534
D ANCE R HYTHMS
Floor patterns. Would-be marchers to the Grave and Lentement of BWV 1067 would naturally move in the forward direction. A polonaise dance starts in the forward direction but other folk dance figures may follow.
Te danse à deux choreographies — such as the Bourée d’Achille plate opposite — show the floor patterns as figures and the step units as groups of stylized musical notes linked together by a sometimes curved beam. At the bottom of the plate, a half circle topped by a straight line represents the gentleman, a half circle within the first half circle represents the lady. Te dancers travel chiefly toward “Te Presence” (position of highest honor) in either parallel or symmetrical tracts (paths). In front of each dancer, two small circles with outgoing diagonal stems represent the starting position of the feet. A dot in front of the rear foot shows that toe to rest lightly on the floor, the body’s weight on the front foot. Half moons with outgoing horizontal strokes show the dancers holding hands. At vertical strokes through the outgoing ones the dancers release hands. Small bar lines cutting the tract end dance measures. Te stylized musical notes show the dancers’ individual steps. A note’s black head designates the foot’s starting position, the stem its line of travel, and the flag its arrival where the body’s weight change is completed. Heading the Achille plate is the repeated first binary strain of the choreographed tune, notated in French violin clef with g' on the bottom staff line. Te figure “1” above the final bar line gives the plate number.
Bach’s first biographer calls Bach the “greatest musical poet and the greatest musical orator that ever existed.”18 Indeed the melodies in the top voice of the nine movements of BWV 1067 confirm Bach’s poetic and oratorical prowess even in French-inspired musical settings. Overture slow sections. If English words were spoken to the majestic dotted figures of French overtures they might proclaim: “Hear this!” “See now!” “It’s the King!” “Praise the King!” Te Prologue to Lully’s opera Atys (1676, revised 1689) opens with such an overture. In the brief oration in dotted figures that follows, the God of ime promises eternal fame to the reigning King Louis XIV, “greatest of heroes.”
In this, as in most musical imitations of French poetic orations, each spoken syllable is set to a single note of music. In addition, the atonic e of a French feminine rhyme, though not counted as a separate syllable in speech, is set to its own musical note.
Te first poetic line of this oration has the 12 syllables and majestic affect of a Classical alexandrine, the longest and most serious of Classical poetic lines. Te second line has the eight syllables of the longest and most serious of short lines. Te first rhyme is feminine, the second masculine. Te stress of both rhymes falls on the final musical downbeat of the line (boldface upper case in the example). One to six syllables form a French poetic foot (/ in the example). Te last syllable, the longest but not necessarily the loudest, normally falls on a musical beat. One or two poetic feet make up either a poetic half line (//) or a short poetic line of eight or fewer syllables (///). Te final syllable of a short or long French poetic line (both ///) usually falls on a musical downbeat. For dramatic effect and to ensure being heard by the audience, French actors emphasize the last two or sometimes three syllables of each poetic foot, called the relay (upper case in the example). As much as possible within the allotted time, they lengthen the last syllable of the relay for a grammatical accent , and lengthen and/or intensify the next to last syllable for an oratorical accent .19 Te grammatical accent falls on the last downbeat good note of a poetic line and the oratorical accent on the prior upbeat bad note. Even without lyrics, the dotted rhythms of the BWV 1067 Grave and Lentement can be parsed more or less like the God of ime oration. Because all rhymes in these two sections are masculine, all poetic lines start after the note or 114-41534
25 rest on a downbeat and close on either the next downbeat or the one after it. Although Grave lines 1 and 2 and Lentement line 1 have the same number of syllables (11) the two Grave lines are most naturally parsed as four almost identical poetic feet grouped into almost equal half lines, whereas the Lentement line is most naturally parsed as four assorted feet grouped into very unequal half lines. Poetic half lines in the $-meter Grave seem to end on beats 1 or 3, those in the I Lentement on beat 1, and poetic feet in both on a beat. o experience this music as declaimed poetry, English syllables can be fitted to the French scansion and majestic af fect of the music and all unusual notes set to words that the music might represent. In our BWV 1067 examples below, we set the first rising good note to the word rise , the exclamatory upward leap to praise , the long tied notes to long fame , and ornamented notes to the moving or powerful words rise, King (twice) and glides . Modern performers can practice speaking such parodies histrionically, using pitches roughly approximate to those of the music and declaiming the final two syllables of each poetic foot with as much exaggeration as the notated rhythm and good taste allow.
Lullian dance songs. Unlike the majestic orations in Lully’s prologues, the dance songs in his operas are short orations sung to a particular dance rhythm and affect . In gavotte, bourrée, and sarabande songs the oratorical and grammatical accents of actor singers’ relays embrace bar lines, as would the bend-rise movements of dancers.
In duple meter dance songs, most poetic lines are short, covering eight steady values over two musical measures. Bourrée lines have basically six syllables starting with the fourth steady value of a measure (1 | 2/ 3 4 5 | 6///). Gavotte lines have basically seven, starting with the third steady value (1 2 | 3/ 4 5 6 | 7///). Te lines in the first couplet of the ga votte song Serons-nous from Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione are typical.
28 cation during the decade or so before his 1752 publication. In Bach’s manuscript parts for BWV 1067, the flute and first violins declaim the poetic oration together in all passages marked tutti for the flute and forte for the strings. Presumably the flute and first violins would aim for similar effects. Here we consider the articulations probably used by Bach’s flute and string players for the steady values, quick values, mixed values, and slurred and staccato notes in the movements of BWV 1067. Steady values. Both flute and violin tutors of the early 1700s use separate strokes for the steady values that guide dancing. Hotteterre uses the single crisp but short syllable tu for all steady values. For the t the tip of the tongue comes to the palate to block the pent-up air for at least a moment before releasing it quickly in a stream through the lips. Te momentary silence before the release may be long or short. When the tongue returns earlier to the palate, the silence is longer, when later the silence is shorter. In both cases the intensity of the note is retained until the silence. French violin tutors of the late Baroque alternate strong and weak bow strokes as much as possible, in general using a down-bow for the good notes of the measure and an upbow for the bad ones. For continuous steady values in triple meter, they retake a down-bow at bar lines, hook an upbow, or continually alternate the bow strokes. Although all steady values in dance pieces tend to be separated, a silence automatically separates a retaken downbow and a hooked up-bow.
v
v
Quantz discusses the length and weight of bow strokes in three of the four dance types used in BWV 1067. In bourrées, the strokes are short and light. In sarabandes, quarter notes are separated whether dotted or not — though less assertively than in overtures. In menuets, quarter notes are marked with short but rather heavy bow strokes.27 Quick values. A long chain of quick values requires a different treatment. Hotteterre usually moves from a bad quick note to a good one (one that coincides with a steady value): tu-ru. Because the tu begins quickly it can be slightly delayed. Te ru is pronounced a little more slowly into the flowing air stream like one flip of a frontally trilled r .
Where two or four quick notes stand between two steady values, the usual syllables may be reversed: tu-ru. In the unison flute and violin passages of BWV 1067, the trochaic tu-ru may better match the violin bowing.
In the solo passages of the Vite, however, the iambic tu-ru would better contrast with the tu-ru of the tutti passages.
When a breath is needed among continuous quick values, the rhythmic inequality can be increased to offer enough time.Where the next poetic line starts with a good note, as does line 3 of the BWV 1067 Rondeau, the previous bad quick note can be played a little early and short.
But where the next poetic line starts with a bad quick note, as does line 3 of the Vite, the bad note can be played late.
o what extent Bach’s players imitated French declamation in performing BWV 1067 no one can know, but modern players can experiment with it. In the following model bourrée line we show declamatory flute relays (U TU) at bar lines to match those in bourrée songs, which in turn match the bend-rise movements of dancers.
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(Tose unable to trill a frontal r may substitute the flipped d of the English phrase “I have lots t’do.”) On the other hand, French violinists of the period used a down-bow for most good quick notes and an up-bow for most bad ones. By touching the bow only lightly to the strings, the up-bow on a bad quick note can readily be made shorter, lighter, and a little later than the down-bow on a good note.
(For the most inconspicuous inhalation, the lips are held in position, the tongue tip raised to the palate to block the outgoing air, and incoming air is quickly sniffed through the nose.) Mixed values. French flutists would normally relate the quick note of a dotted rhythm to the following note whatever that value: tu-ru. French violinists would use a downbow for the dotted value and an up-bow for the quick one. However, the eighth note that follows a dotted quarter note in the % meter of bourrées and gavottes, and the I meter of sarabandes and courantes, is not to be performed exactly with its notated value. Rather, Quantz specifies that the dotted note is played with emphasis, the bow lifted from the string during the dot, and the eighth note executed quickly in a sharp (crisp) manner. Where time allows, all dotted figures are treated this way.28 Line 1 of the BWV 1067 Sarabande might be executed somewhat as follows.
30 the flow. Sometimes a one-note grace decorates a dissonant main note on a strong beat. In this case, a quick, pre-beat, or unstressed execution is necessary for the main note to be heard as dissonant. Ornaments in accompanying voices have special requirements. Among dense voices, pre-beat or short executions may be needed to avoid rhythmic conflict, unpleasing dissonances, or parallels among voices. In the bass, prebeat or short executions may be needed to preserve the continuo harmonies. Te ornaments in the first couplet of the BWV 1067 Lentement are especially challenging (see example below). Te subject in the keyboard right hand features a trill on circled beat 3 and a one-note grace on circled beat 5 of its implied ' rhythm. Te compound ornament on beat 2 of the flute descant counters the ' rhythm and sets the majestic affect of the movement. In the third measure the three graces in the right hand require fairly quick execution — whether started before, across, or on the beat — to avoid conflict with the long appoggiatura in the flute and the trill in the courante-like subject now in the bass. For clarification in that third measure, the flutist might join the quarter-note appoggiatura e'' to the main note f#'' with a pincé (mordent) played before, across, or on the beat.
Each air has its own atypical repetition. Te Rondeau is especially rounded by the addition of varied refrains A1 and A2, their developed returns as A2' and A1' , and the transposed return of contrast B. Each repeated strain of the Sarabande is unusually imitated by the canon between the outside voices. Te bass voice in Bourrée I continually iterates an arched palindrome on the pitches b c' d' c' b or a transposition. Trough most of Bourrée II the bass voice repeats a single two-measure figure. Each tercet of the Polonaise develops a single opening rhythm in the first three measures and a single closing rhythm in the fourth measure. Wherever motive a appears in the top voice of the Menuet, the bass voice echoes it. In the Badinerie, idea a returns repeatedly, and ideas b, c, d, e, and f return at least once. Tematic skeleton. A thematic skeleton fleshed out in various ways unites five of the nine BWV 1067 movements. A mainstay of the skeleton is a scalar descent in B minor from the sixth degree ( g'' ) to the second degree ( c#'' ). A frequent addition is the first degree ( b' ) that may appear at the start, in the middle, and/or at the end (see parenthetical pitches in the diagram below). At the start, the first degree leaps up a minor sixth to the sixth degree. In the middle, it leaps up a perfect fourth to the fourth degree. At the end, it brings the melody to repose. Sometimes the skeleton occurs with only the bare-bones mainstay pitches.
ing ritornello and concertino sections of an Italian Baroque concerto. Te Lentement, processed as a fughetta, imitates the Grave in its subject, its subject fragments, and its sequence of harmonic cadences.
Fleshed-out versions of the thematic skeleton open and close the Grave (lines 1–2 and 9–13) and Lentement (lines 1–2 and 5–8), shape the fugue subject of the Vite (lines 1–2), and open and close the Sarabande (lines 1 and 9–10) and Menuet (lines 1 and 5–6).
B ACH’S UNIFIED S TRUCTURE
In most overture-suites, the overture and airs are little if at all related. In BWV 1067, however, uncommon repetition, a thematic skeleton, Fibonacci mean ratios, various chiastic structures (reversed parallelisms), and Bach’s signature number 14 unify the work. Each movement has at least three of these five unifiers. Uncommon repetition. All movements include some unusual repetition. Te repetition may be exact or free, and take the form of imitation, return, or rounding. Each section of the Overture processes a subject for imitation. Trough the first half of the Grave either the top or bass voice states the subject. Trough the second half one voice or another states f ragments of that subject. Te Vite develops its subject as a lengthy fugue within the alternat114-41534
In the hybrid episode of the Vite (lines 57-58), two singular statements of the skeleton appear in the subdominant E minor and relative D major. At the end of the Vite, a bare-bones descent of the skeleton with quick notes slurred in pairs (line 91) moves into the Lentement. Similar bare-
