Bach spent

Johann
Sebastian
nearlyBach:
his whole
Cellolife
Suites
in the
BWV service
1007-1012of the Lutheran Church. Except f
or brief visits to Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707) in Lubeck and Frederick the Gr
eat (1712-1786) at Potsdam, he spent it in an area of a few dozen kilometres. Bu
t for a couple of years from 1721 he was Kapellmeister at the Calvinist court of
Kothen, and the majority of his secular music hails from this time. Yet even the
se works are signed off by Bach: S.D.G. Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God alone). Music
in dance metre permeates even his most profoundly sacred works, alongside elemen
ts from opera and popular song Bach didn t share today s demarcation between sac
red and secular music, as witness the Sarabande-like final chorus of the St Matt
hewitPassion,
So
is unsurprising,
BWV 244. for instance, that the chord sequence over a tonic pedal
which opens the first Cello Suite is shared with the opening recitative of the S
t Matthew Passion. Musical archetypes found in his large-scale works reappear wi
th similar resonances throughout these Suites, often giving them a sense of unit
y across the dances. The Prelude from the third suite, for example features an e
xtended dominant pedal with a chain of suspensions in two upper voices a major m
version of those in the opening chorus of the St John Passion, BWV 245. As well
ode
as blurring the sacred and secular, Bach also saw no distinction in meaning betw
his largesteen
fact
the limitations
and smallest-scale
of four fingers
works.andInfour strings seem no limitation at all
to Bach. The Cello Suites are, in Wilfrid Mellers words, [...] an example of Bachs
metamorphosis of a technical problem into a spiritual experience. In the traditio
ns ofsoBiber,
not
much unaccompanied
Domenico Gabrielli
as self-accompanied.
etc. they are
This music is the ultimate audience
participation [...] festooned with little time-bombs of harmonic potential that
tease the listener to speculate on how they might turn out as John Eliot Gardiner
puts it. Bach, the skilful lace maker knows exactly what can be pared away to l
eavescholars
But
the mostargue
delicate
aboutlattice.
the warp and weft of Bachs musical fabric. Followers of
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) and Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935) use nineteenth-c
entury
to
traceterms
the relationship
(like tonality)
between vertical harmonies, while for others (e.g. Lau
rence Dreyfus (b. 1952)) his harmony is a result of the interplay of horizontal
lines. A piece like the first Prelude, with almost continuous semiquavers, is so
skilfully woven through that it defies this distinction. Even structural and de
corative
Bach
of
inventio
we hear
notes
(idea),
a unified
becomeelaboratio
hard
creative
to distinguish.
(structure),
gesture
Indecoratio (decoration) and oratio (p
erformance). To his critic Johann Adolph Scheibe (1708-1776), Bach was producing
written out improvisations, taking from [...] the realm of the performer. Bach di
dnt want to leave decoratio to the whim of improvisation. For him, like the Order
s of Classical architecture, the proportions and relationship of structure to de
coration
Bach
is often
were described
crucial. as bringing together the Italian and French styles, but
this was no self-conscious act of cultural assimilation. He had grown up with Fr
ench Baroque dances. Their specific characteristics and metrical implications we
re in his blood. The dances that were central to social and political life at Ve
rsailles were equally central across much of Europe even in German speaking Luth
eran courts. Whether anyone actually danced to the Cello Suites is, of course ir
How could he imagine that one day there might be musicians who would not know ho
relevant.
w to dance a minuet? He also assumed a familiarity and fluency in figuren, the c
ommon vocabulary of note patterns and gestures that his decoratio inhabits. Bach
asoften
an afterthought.
delineated these
The figures become
with slurs,
the key
written
to understanding
in as he composed,
the slurs.
not The
addedm
essanza figure (three conjunct notes slurred, one disjunct) in the first Courant
e, for instance, could be so casually written by Anna Magdalena precisely becaus
eof that
The
Prelude
suites
assumed
are preluded
familiarity.
(verb not noun) by music flowing from an improvised tradit
ion. Lute players, making a virtue out of a necessity, improvised little links b
etween the chords they needed to tune. By the time it reached the hands of Bach p
reluding had become an art in itself. The first and fourth Preludes follow the mo
del of the first pages of the Well- Tempered Clavier, harmony expressed in patter
n Maria.
even
Ave
more aAprinciple
without
Gounods
plan
of keys
thantoanvisit
addition
archetype.
of would be
It enough
is simple
forbut
thecomplete
performer once they h
ad established how the first bars pattern works and how it might be varied. In hi
s contrapuntal music Bach enjoys setting voices with predictable lines against e
achPrelude,
clashes
of
other,
might
while
thebeharmonic
the listener
resolved.
time-bombs
In this
gaspstype
inresult
anticipation
from pitting
at howthe
thepattern
impending
against the im
aplications
pedal. Theofsecond
the harmonic
and third
journey,
Preludes
inverting
have a more
it, ornarrative
forcing flow,
it to Bach,
work against
the Fift
h Evangelist, orating. The Sixth Prelude combines these two styles, all the time
keepingThe
gigue.
thefifth
ebullient
Suitecharacter
is uniqueofwith
a a heavily-dotted French Ouverture conceive
d onfive
The
Sarabande
around
gives
the
athe
sense
scale
dance
Sarabande.
ofmovements
ofwhat
Bachs
Onecentre
French
Orchestral
breathless
BaroqueSuites.
accountinvolved:
dance
from 1671Now
of and
a solo
thendancer
he would expres

s anger and spite with an impetuous and turbulent cadence, and then, evoking a s
weeter passion by more moderate motions, he would sigh, swoon, let his eyes wand
er languidly;
sinuous
movements
and of
certain
the arms and body, nonchalant, disjointed and passionate ma
de him appear so admirable and so charming that throughout this enchanting dance
Dance
is
bar
the
force
heintwo
wondrawing
(one,
andchords
triple
asthe
many
two--).
time,
Music
them
lose
hearts
yet
together
of it
Too
their
asslow
Bach).
hedepends
has
harmonic
aattracted
Sublime,
two
tempo
beats
cohesion.
onanddistance,
spectators.
majestic,
per Likeuntil
contemplative,
a pair
(cited
atofaincertain
magnets,
Little
the point
sarabande
and Jenne,
the
sudden
ly becoming useless. It is this interaction between dance metre and harmony whic
h, like a Maglev train, keeps the music airborne. Like good Shakespearean versespeaking, the metre must be latent throughout, embodied yet also transcended a
paradox
is
to
Each
Allemande
equally
have
Suite
areminiscent
system.
fatal toopens
proper
Onehave
ofmust
Karl
with
a combine
system
Kraus:
an Allemande,
and
Itnot by Bachs day already out of date. Acco
both.
rding to Little and Jenne, no Allemande choreographies survive, and there are an
enormous number of different styles: reflective, meandering (Suites 1 and 6), j
umpy, exuberant (Suite 3) and a heavily.
dotted French-style (Suite 5). Only the second and fourth seem typical. Whichever
style he chooses, Bach uses the Allemandes to bridge the chasm between the narra
tive world
strongly
Despite
Courante
the
felt
ofspelling,
the Preoflthese
metre
udes
the other
and
Courantes
thedances.
moreare relatives of the virtuosic Italian cor
rente found in Corelli. A running or flowing dance, metric play is common, sometimes
alternating between 3/4 and 6/8 times. The fourth Suite further complicates thi
s ambiguity by alternating duplet and triplet quavers. The fifth Suite has the o
nly real
Courtly
After
thedances
French
Sarabande
Courante
comesofa pair
the set,
of courtly
conceived
dances:
in stately
Menuets,
3/2Bourre
time.es and Gavotte
s. Of these dances, the Bourree was the fastest dance and Menuet the slowest. In
the fourth Suite there is an extended first Bourree, and the little second Bourree
, like the A minor Violin Sonata, uses two separate voices but with different ar
ticulation. The bow dips down to dab the bottom string while playing sustained n
otes onand
Little
Gigue
theJenne
upperdistinguish
string.
three types of gigue: the heavier two notes slurred,
one separate type which I associate with the opening of the sixth Brandenburg Co
ncerto (in Suites 1, 2, 3 and the Prelude to 6); the faster rolling type with gr
oups of three under the slur (Suite 4); and the dotted French type (Suite 5). Al
though it is unlikely that Bach knew Purcells opera, the G major Gigue shares the
same ironic major/minor mode switch of Aeneass boozy sailors with their vows of r
eturning, to their nymphs on the shore, [minor] while never intending to visit t
more (no,
hem
Performing
Since
hearing
never!)
thethe
Cello
[major].
Toccata
Suitesand Fugue in D minor as a child, Bach has had a specia
l place in my life. From my teens I played Bach to my teachers whenever I could,
to the exclusion of all else if possible: Sharon McKinley, Amarylis Fleming, Wi
lliam Bylsma
Anner
and Anthony
(whosePleeth,
1979 recording
and
was a revelation). Over the years I also play
ed my
15
themparents
to Gustav
commissioned
Leonhardt,a Baroque
Laurencecello
Dreyfus
fromandClive
JohnMorris,
Butt. Atwhich I still use.
n the same year I saved up and bought Nikolaus Harnoncourts recording which came
with a free copy of Anna Magdalenas manuscript marking the beginning of an ongoin
g journey
One
stage on
to that
find journey
the meaning
camebehind
when Ithis
played
document.
the third Prelude to a class of pri
mary school children. I told them about Bachs rhetoric, how it stops near the end
, but only to hold up a finger, in dramatic pause. I said I had my own story for i
t but I wouldnt tell them because they might have their own. Afterwards they all
had to tell their story and one little boys image has stuck with me. Theres this ma
he be
n!
to
began
executed,
breathlessly,
but he escapes!
and hesHegoing
runs away down the road and across some field
s, and he comes to a HUGE WATERFALL! That nine year old boys vivid image for the o
pening
and
extended
build dominant
up
pedal section with its wave-like pattern, seems to me just
as valid a response as any published analysis, PhD, or perhaps even Mark Morris
fabulously inspiring choreography for the suite Falling Down Stairs. The descend
ing scale and broken arppeggio opening which gives Mark Morris his title rather
thanBachs
very
this
of
being
deliberately
is
a rhetorical
sermon
an accident,
exhorts
in
musicusittoiswe
education,
listen.
arecognise
veryIfdramatic
the act
one.ofEven
declamation
without unfolding
the benefitthro
ughout: long phrases build with sequences and false endings catch us by surprise
, the opening exhortation making unscheduled intrusions into the narrative. The w
aterfall
its
effectcreates
using bariolage where the bow hops between three voices creating the
illusion
The
thirdofPrelude
sustained
has long
parts,been
impossible
played ininareality.
slow, grand style. Yet one important
source from Bachs time (Peter Kellners) marks it Presto. The same Falling Down St
airs gesture opens the Well-Tempered Clavier Book Two D minor Prelude, unmarked
but always played fast! It is also found in the cello piccolo obbligato in Mein
GlauEbiges
The
flatHerz
SuiteBWVis68unusual
marked
in that
Presto.
theThe
homecase
keygrows
doesnt
forresonate
a more lively
well with
tempo.
the ce
llos open strings. This gives the Suite a characteristic resonance, even when try
ing to generate supporting resonance by holding down the fingers for as long as
possible. The sarabande principle that

the beats in a bar do not have to be the same length also extends to the fourth
Prelude. The rise and fall of the jagged pattern generates a grouping of the eig
ht quavers into 3:2:3, not pairs or fours. On inversion the pattern produces a m
oreBachs
In
standard
daystress
the cello
4:2:2had(like
onlythe
recently
hymn Ye
arrived
Holy at
Angels
todays
Bright).
tuning of a, d, G, C, s
o it should not be surprising that in two of the Suites, alternative tunings are
called for. The sixth Suite requires a higher fifth string, while the fifth Sui
te calls for the older tuning g,d,G,C made perhaps by tuning up the bottom three
strings of the old B flat tuning rather than down the top string in todays tunin
g. Either way, the fourth between the top two strings, and perhaps lower tension
, gives the instrument not only new combinations of notes and chords, but new ti
mbres, recalling Bachs fondness for the sonorities of old fashioned instruments lik
e theFrench
The
violaflavour
damore.of the fifth Prelude permeates the whole suite, with its dott
ed Allemande, French Courante (noble and restrained) and French Gigue, making the
Suite of
transalpine
French
profound
steps
the
feel.
utterances.
angular
mostThe
set.
French
central
quavers
Even
The
ofthe
an more
Sarabande
descending
flow
otherwise
likemodern
is for
tears
typically
Gallant
suggesting
many listeners
pairthe
of chromatic
Gavottes
one of Bachs
have
cross
amost
strong
motive fou
Bndminor
in theFugue.
Well-Tempered
To truly play
Claverthese
Bookfigures
1
legato, ones left hand ends up in cont
ortions like something from a Grunwald Crucifixion. Moreover, because of the part
ialable
is
full
transposition
of sophisticated
to specifyrequired
fingerings.
examples
by the
ofThe
tuning,
expressive
SuiteBach
ischoices and technical decisions, bu
t one particular example comes in the Sarabande. The opening three bars build up
a sighing pattern with two notes played on one string, then crossing to the lower
strings. The third bar repeats the pattern with a larger interval, the heighten
ed third rhetorical statement. It could easily be played cleanly by changing strin
g after the first note, but Bach/Anna Magdalena specify one string again for the
awith
first
moretheexpressive
twoall-important
notes. sigh
This,down
legato
alongtheslur,
augmented
invitesfourth.
cadencing into E flat. This ninth breaks many of Bachs own rules, not least being
Bach
in
his
repeats
autograph
offending
transcription
forobvious
thebass
cadence.
for
notelute.
Yet Rather than correct his mistake he expla
Bunprepared.
flat,
D, athe
Far
flat
more
would
be
insthe
in
the
Butt
grain
thelute
puts
dissonance
it.
ofversion
sand these
That
into
bythe
adding
beautiful
extra
oyster
piles
notes
effect,
asofare
John
thirds
unavailable to the cellist leads me to
conclude
Bach
Suite,
fifth
only
string
butthat
used
always
creates
Bachs
thetocello
mistake
agreat
lotamore
effect.
cinque
mustsympathetic
beThe
chords
corrected.
inresonance,
a handfulespecially
of Cantatashigher
and the
overton
sixth
es. Almost every note on the instrument lights up. It can give the instrument a so
ft plangent sound, (Allemande, Sarabande and the second Gavottes Musette drone).
Butovertones
of
Bach
but
innottravel
to
fast
onlymusic
makes
tofurther
use
the
theajangling
instrument
higher
with sequences,
register
interplay
effervesce.
givingIts
thebroader
music acanvas
wider harmonic
allows sweep. Rat
her than the normal 2 12 octave human voice range of four strings, the additional
voice
Its
string
usewith
gives
in
a bigger
the
the
Cantatas
instrument
rangeoften
thanasignifies
super-human
any
otherarchangels
non-keyboard
or events
instrument
of heroic
used byproportio
Bach.
ns. Almost like accounts of the castrato range, or even the huge sweep of Richar
d Strausss horn writing, the effect of a unified tone over such a range has a cer
tain
Aand
The
note
Bach
small
nobility,
onclearly
the instruments
five-string
enjoyed
cello
writing
by Brothers
for it.Amati, Cremona from Amarylis Flemings col
lection, was kindly loaned by the Fleming Trust and the Royal Academy of Music.
This extraordinary instrument was the obvious choice for the sixth Suite, althou
gh it is difficult to know exactly what kind of instrument Bach envisaged for th
e sixth Suite. Anna Magdalena specifies the tuning on the first stave, but the w
ord piccolo appears nowhere. Physics dictates the string length and hence body siz
e the
and
point.
muchThe
Elonger
string
cellothan
(whether
by
Francesco
the Amatis
at A=415
Rugeri,
25.5
or who
inchprobably
A=392)
string
is perilously
length
trained with
closeAmati,
to breaking
provides
a perfect match.
David Watkin Bach has taken David Watkin all over Europe, from the Palace of Fr
Unaccompanied
ederick the Great at Potsdam to the Prague Spring Festival. He played three of t
he Suites as part of Sir John Eliot Gardiners Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, sitting by
the font in which Bach was baptised, in Eisenach, and featured in Gardiners TV p
rogramme Bach, a Passionate Life. He is a juror for the Leipzig Bach Competition
.David Watkin studied the cello with William Pleeth, whilst reading Music at Camb
ridge, where he was also a choral scholar. Since then he has been principal cell
o in some of the worlds leading ensembles including English Baroque Soloists, Orc
hestre
of
Enlightenment
Revolutionnaire
(OAE),ettheRomantique
Philharmonia
(ORR),
Orchestra
Orchestra
andofScottish
the AgeChamber Orchestr
a.
Solo recordings include music by Vivaldi, Haydn, Beethoven, and Francis Pott. He
has been a soloist at Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Carn
egie Hall, New York and performed the Schumann Concerto with Sir John Eliot Gard
iner and ORR at Lincoln Center, New York. As a guest artist he has collaborated
with,
As
a founder
among others,
member of
Robert
the Eroica
Levin, Quartet
Fredericka
he has
von performed
Stade and all
the over
TokyoEurope
Quartetand t
he US, . at the Wigmore Hall; the Frick Collection, New York; and the Library o
including
f Congress,
acclaim
Mendelssohn
the and
Washington.
complete
Schumann
quartets
They
and ahave
ofBeethoven
recordeddisc
to (Harmonia
great
Mundi USA), the world pr
emiere recording of Mendelssohns Octet original version and quartets by Debussy a
nd Ravel
David
Watkin
(Resonus
has revived
Classics).
the eighteenth- century practice of realising figured b

the cello
ass
(improvising
and usedchordal
it in recordings
accompaniments)
of Corelli
on
with Andrew Manze (Harmonia Mundi
USA) and John Holloway (Novalis) and in Mozart operas with Sir Charles Mackerra
s and the SCO (DG) and OAE (Chandos). His writings about this and other aspects
of music have been published by Early Music, The Strad and the Cambridge Univers
ity Press volume
Conducting
is nowPerforming
an increasingly
Beethoven.
important part of his music making. He has con
ducted a wide range of repertoire with groups including the Royal Academy of Mus
the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Swedish Baroque Orchestra, the Academ
ic,
y of Ancient Music and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He founded the Edinburgh
International Cello Continuo Clinic and also teaches at the Royal Conservatoire
of Scotland.