Given that the Solo Sonata in A minor is one of the most significant flute pieces for the romantic baroque and an extremely useful and appreciative methodological work, it would not be bad to analyze and clarify it. By analyzing the work, we get inspiration for the melody, phrasing and the best possible interpretation.
1. TRANSITIONAL PERIOD BETWEEN BAROQUE AND ROCOCO
The Baroque period represents the period between 1600 and 1750, in response to the previous period - the Renaissance.
The Baroque period was characterized by instrumental and vocal polyphony, flat dynamics (contrasts in dynamics - unprepared transitions from quiet to loud and vice versa) and ornateness. The most common instrumental types were suite, fugue, toccata and prelude, and in vocal-instrumental masses, motet, cantata, passion and oratorio. Of the solo types, the most common are solo sonatas, suites, preludes, toccata, trio-sonatas and concerts.
The most used instruments of that time were the violin, harpsichord and organ.
The most famous composers of the time were Alessandro Scarlatti, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Claudio Monteverdi, Henry Purcell, Antonio Vivaldi, Giuseppe Tartini, Domenico Scarlatti, Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Sebastian Bach and others.
Characteristics of baroque compositions are the general bass, the imitation principle of design, the predominant monothematic nature, the treatment of the theme in the form of concerts and variations, the motor skills of rhythm and meter, and the predominance of chromatic style and melody ornamentation.
After the Baroque period in the 18th century, we enter the Rococo period, which is occasionally called the "gallant style". Stylistic aspirations have changed and it has manifested itself in a change in the treatment of musical techniques. Instrumental music introduces the idea of the predominance of solo sections, differentiation in the formation of themes in the direction of the sonata form and the rhythmic restlessness that arises from the elaboration of older sound ornaments in favor of the independence of decorative lines. Musical speech strives to be clear, endearing, likable and expressive. The principle of symmetry, emphasizing dynamic gradations and contrasts prevails in the design, and the tunes are enriched with ornamentation.
The first composers that started using elements of gallant style were Johann Joachim Quantz and Carl Phillipp Emanuel Bach.
1.1.CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH
Carl Phillipp Emanuel Bach was born on March 8, 1714 in Weimar (Germany), as the second son of J.S.Bach and his first wife Maria Barbara. He was given another name in an instant by his godfather Georg Philip Telemann, a friend of his father. He was usually called Emanuel.
Unlike his brother Johann Christian, who was called "London Bach" because he was in the service of the Queen of London at the time, Carl Philipp Emanuel was called "Berlin Bach" and later "Hamburg Bach". We consider the highlights of his career to serve at court as a chamber harpsichordist in the service of the Prussian Emperor Frederick II and later as the head of the church - conductor of five Hamburg churches - Michaeliskirche, Jakobikirche, St Katharinen, Nikolaikirche and Petrikirche.
He is the most successful composer of all Bach's children - and since he received lessons from his father, there is a strong influence of the use of baroque techniques in his music, which can be seen in his work "An Essay on the Real Art of Playing the Piano".
In the book Bibliothek der Schonen Wissenschaften we find that C.P.E.Bach, already as his father's student in Leipzig, mastered playing the accompaniment and "...knew how to virtuously transform rigid encrypted bass into refined music and show how it is played sensitively and in accordance with the nature of the work..."
He is considered one of the representatives of the transition period between the German Baroque and the Classics. The style of composing can be compared to the French gallant style and the German counterpoint, empfindsamer style, which is based on rhetoric and drama in musical structures.
He died in Hamburg on December 14, 1788, where he was buried in Michaeliskirche.
1.2 SONATA IN A MINOR FOR FLUTE SOLO (WG 132, H 562)
This composition was written sometime around 1747 in Berlin, while C.P.E.Bach was a harpsichordist at the court of Frederick the Great. The first year of publication was recorded in 1763 - given that Frederick played the flute and that this composition was probably commissioned, and that there were certain prohibitions when publishing the work (because it was written for the king after all).
Since Bach and Johann Joachim Quantz collaborated together at court (Quantz was Frederick's flute teacher), there are certain indications of a new gallant style, which are distinctly felt in this work. It was definitely influenced by J.S. Bach, because he had previously written Partita for solo flute in A minor (same key), and there are certain similarities in the motifs and work with motifs. The big difference in his work is that his father's work is composed of 4 dance items (Allemande, Corrente, Sarabande, Bouree anglaise) while his is composed of 3 items with a slow-fast-fast order, which also appears in some of his other works. . These are most likely the musical trends of the time.
The structural features of this work can be described in the form:
1) characteristic polyphonic elements,
2) change of character and color of tones in the use of different tonalities,
3) specific and exact playing of ornaments.
Given this, before analyzing the individual paragraphs, I will describe each of these elements, as they relate to the whole work.
1. CHARACTERISTIC POLYPHONIC ELEMENTS
Polyphonic elements in this work can be two voice part and three voice part, and they are manifested by a sudden change of registers and dynamics and careful planning of articulation to connect individual sound parts together.
Example of a two voice part:
Example of a three voice part:
2. TONALITIES AND CHANGE OF CHARACTER
In this work we distinguish 4 tonalities: A minor, C major, D minor and E minor.
Given their sound and the feeling they evoke in us, we can add an individual character and the appropriate color to each tonality. When performing them, one should be aware of the transitional elements - modulations, bridges in which these tonalities change, as well as tonal jumps and the type of effects they can cause.
The uniqueness and beauty of this work lies in the clear change of character, and at the same time the color of the tone. The clearer the change is shown, the greater the effect of the work, as well as the satisfaction of the listener / audience.
3. USING OF THE ORNAMENTS
In this work CPEBach uses a tremendous amount of ornaments, combining many different styles of the time (German, Italian and French style), which is no wonder given that in his book he said “… one style may be better than another, but each nonetheless it contains something good, and that none is so perfect that it cannot be enriched by anything. (…)… One should know how to use everything that is good, wherever one finds it. ”. In addition to using ornament, he also used the "silence" technique - leaving an entire bar blank, as a kind of general break (in the first and third movements).
In the following table I will try to systematize the forms of decorations in this work, and in the explanation below the tables to specify how to use them. Detailed explanations of all the decorations are described in C.P.E.Bach's "Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments", which gives a truly credible account of the composer's idea and an accurate picture of how each ornament should sound.
1. and 2. All ornaments written in small notes belong to the following note; therefore the note preceding the ornaments must never be shortened, and the tone which follows must lose its value only in so far as the small notes of the ornament are taken away from it. According to this rule, instead of the basic tone of the ornament, small notes are played, together with the bass or other voices.
3. Grupetto can be viewed as an abbreviated ordinary thriller with a suffix. The initial notes of the grupetto are played faster than the last, and there must always be a small space between the grupetto and the next note. It is most often used to add shine to notes.
4., 5. and 6. Appoggiatura- all appoggiaturas should be emphasized more strongly than the tone that follows, including the additional ornament on it, and associated with that next tone, whether or not an bow is inscribed.
7. The abrupt alternation of f and p- is most often used to create the illusion of polyphony.
8. A short thriller is the most common and most pleasant, but also the heaviest ornament. He has to literally explode, the last upper tone of that thriller has to accelerate and it is this acceleration that gives him character.
9. The unornamented quiet tone that occurs after appoggiature is called the release tone. He can come up with fast notes, but it has to be played so fast that it gives the impression as if the note on which he is performing is not shortened at all but was performed just in time.
10. The established rule on the durations of ornaments dictates that the appoggiatura belongs to half the duration of the note which follows if that note is in two parts or two thirds if it is in three parts.
First movement: Poco Adagio
The main thematic-motive unit of the whole movement is a four-bar phrase:
Given that the number of repetitions of the characteristic four-bar phrase and its appearance in different tonalities, we can divide the movement into two parts: the exposition part and the repetition part. In the repetition part, the four-bar phrase is most similar to the introductory form, and is again in A minor.
The whole movement can be called a two-part form with elements of rondo with one theme (although the laws of rondo are completely different and their appearance is almost every time in a different key).
I.PART
The first four-bar phrase is a sentence that ends in the half cadence, ie the 5th degree of A minor (E-G#-B). It is acoustically constructed as if performed in two voices - the fundamental, deep tone represents the fundamental tone of the harmony and we can see that it is a harmonic progression I-VI-IV-V. After half-cadence we can see a sentence with modulation into a solemn, optimistic C major, and after that sentence a sudden shift into dramatic D minor. D minor is followed by a motif work with an incomplete authentic cadence, and then the sequence appears as the final part of the first part before repeating the theme in C minor.
II.PART
The theme in C minor begins with an unexpected F# tone (as a kind of false cadence, and a contrast to the expected C major). The end of the phrase marks the end in C major. Further motif work is characterized by deviations in D minor, and the same motif appears in E minor as a variation and the whole sentence ends at half cadence of E minor.
III.PART
The third appearance of the theme begins in E minor and ends with a perfect authentic cadence in E minor. The motifs of two voices stretch all the time. The next sentence ends with a half cadence in A minor, indicating that there has been modulation in the meantime. This is followed by another four-bar sentence that also ends with a half-cadence in A minor and contains a pause before repeating the theme in basic A minor, representing the method of "silence" - which is also a kind of compositional effect.
IV.PART
In this part comes the repetition of the first theme in A minor. Later there is a two-parts work with a motif from the initial, sixth bar at the beginning and its sequencing and variating until the end of the forth part, before the false cadence in the code.
V.PART-CODA
The code begins with the repetition of the theme in A minor, the repetition of the same in the higher register, the general pause, and with the corona after the pause, which may be followed by a solo cadence. After the solo cadence we end with a perfect authentic cadence in A minor.
Second movement: Allegro
This paragraph consists of two parts separated by repetition signs. The movement is called Allegro and is in 2/4 measure.
We cound shorten this form into II: a: II: b a ': II, so we have an exposition part, a so-called development part with a slightly different material, and a reprise, a varieated part.
The theme of this movement is a two-bar phrase with an half-bar in A minor.
I.PART
The first, exposition part contains six bars of the theme, where two bars are inserted and ends with an imperfect cadence. After the presentation of the theme,sequence and modulation are showing and ending with an imperfect authentic cadence in C major. From the 15th bar, chord figuration follows, followed by motif work and sequencing, all the way to a false cadence. There is a codet in the last four bars before the repetition signs, where the C major key is confirmed.
II.PART
After the repetition, the theme is repeated in C major following with the motif work, where it is modulated into E minor. Then the theme is repeated in E minor and the sequence in the same key. From the 76th bar, sequencing occurs with deviations in D minor and E minor. This is followed by a stagnation on the dominant and an imitation of a solo cadence with a fermata at the end.
III.PART
The final, return part begins with a repetition of the initial theme. It is followed by a motif work, where the first two bars are a question, and the rest are answered with a metrical expansion of the material. The last four bars are coda (modeled on the codet from the first rehearsal) and end in A minor.
Third movement: Allegro
The last movement of this solo sonata is the Allegro movement in 3/8 measure. This paragraph also consists of two parts separated by repetition characters. (II: A: II: B A ': II), so again we have the exposition part, the so-called implementation part with a slightly different material, and the reprise, varied part.
The topic of this paragraph is a four-bar phrase at the beginning in A minor:
EXPOSITION
The paragraph begins with the main theme in A minor, and the sentence ends with a half cadence. From the 13th bar start sequencing and work with the motif, and we notice modulation and cadence at the fifth stage of the E minor. In bar 29, the theme is repeated in E minor, and the phrases are developed 4 by 4 bars. Four bars before the repeat sign we have a small codet in E minor.
DEVELOPMENT
Development i.e. the central or middle part, begins behind the signs of repetition in C major. The first 8 bars contain the material of the question, while the other 8 bars contain the answer. After that comes the tonally unstable work with the material, where here too 4 by 4 bars are counted by phrases, with numerous chord figurations. The form of the solo cadence comes after the general break.
REPETITION
The reprise begins with the presentation of the theme in the basic, A minor key. The form of repetition is very similar to the form of exposition, because even after the presentation of the theme, sequencing and work with the motif from the exposition and development there is appearing of A minor. At the end of the reprise we have a code, which confirms the ending in A minor key.
This analysis was made with the help of many sources of literature, and the text was written in Croatian in the master's thesis of Karla Križanić, which you can find in Karla's digital library. If you want to join, you can do so here. The explanations are published in English.
Written by:
Comments