Known around the world as a skilled violinist, teacher, and advocate for historically informed performance of early music, Stanley Ritchie has developed a definitive performer's guide to comprehending and performing J. S. Bach's musical language. In Speaking Bach, Ritchie widens the focus of his study of Bach's six solo sonatas and partitas to incorporate questions about how technical approaches to performing these pieces are affected by considerations of rhetoric, harmonic structure, and subtleties of expression. In doing so, Ritchie helps violinists form a deeper understanding of this essential repertoire, even as they work to perfect their skills and interpretations. Speaking Bach includes sections on technique, harmonic and melodic structure, expression and ornamentation, and analytical exercises, all using passages from the solo sonatas and partitas to address the specific challenges posed by playing Bach. An important addition to any violinist's collection, Speaking Bach shows us how J. S. Bach thought about his own music and illuminates what is both technically and musically appropriate for this essential repertoire.
Stanley Ritchie is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He is author of Before the Chinrest: A Violinist's Guide to the Mysteries of Pre-Chinrest Technique and Style and The Accompaniment in "Unaccompanied" Bach: Interpreting the Sonatas and Partitas for Violin.
Acknowledgments Introduction Bach's Orthography Part I: Technique 1. Right-Arm Technique The Basic Bow-Stroke Articulation (a) Detache (b) Lifted Strokes (c) Z-Bowing (d) The Swift-Bow (e) The Choreography of the Bow (f) Chordal Technique (g) Bariolage (h) Ondeggiando (i) To Slur or Not to Slur (j) Sautille 2. Left-Hand Technique Basics Intonation The Swing Fingerings (a) Choosing Fingerings (b) Avoiding Jumping (c) Use of the 4th Finger (d) Half-Position (e) Vibratos Part II: Harmonic and Melodic Structure 3. Analysis The Bass Line and Harmonic Progressions (a) Figured Bass (b) Implicit Harmony (c) Patterns (d) Beaming (e) Punctuation (f) Tension and Release (g) Cadences 4. Polyphony (a) Notation (b) Arpeggiation Part III: Expression and Ornamentation 5. Expression (a) The Word in the Top Left-Hand Corner (b) Rhetoric (c) Dynamics and Nuances (d) Rubato (e) Questions and Exclamations 6. Ornamentation (a) The Appoggiatura (b) Spontaneous Ornamentation (c) Vocal Ornaments Part IV: Analytical Exercises (a) Bass Line and Figures (b) Melodic Extraction (c) Articulation (d) Expression Coda Bibliography Index
"Bach's sonatas and partitas are like the plays of Shakespeare in the world of dramatic literature, or the Bible in the realm of religion. They are absolutely central to the repertoire of the violin, and much like Shakespeare and the Bible, they have spawned much worthy commentary. Stanley's contribution is certain to be an important supplement."-Daniel Stepner, Professor Emeritus, Brandeis University
