Timo Korhonen talks about Johann Sebastian Bach's Six Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo. Special attention is given to Ciaccona, hidden chorale allusions, cabbalistic analysis, the relation of musical figures and rhetoric.

1. Ciaccona, a dance or Tombeau?

2. Johann Sebastian Bach
three major influences for his musicianship
The spirit of time
Education
Incidents in Bach’s private life

3. Luthenarism in music
Martti Luther
10.11.1483-18.2.1546
!
”A person who gives this some thought and yet does not
regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a
clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a
human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but
the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs."
Martin Luther
Martin Luther
10.11.1483-18.2.1546

4. Lutheran Theology of Music
Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. The gift of
language combined with the gift of song was given to man that he
should proclaim the Word of God through Music.
The devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles,
flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of
God....Music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus it
drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all
wrath, impurity, and other devices.
Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God.

5. Lateinschule:
# curriculum included the
medieval originated trivium:
1. Grammar
2. Logic
3. Rhetoric
and quadrivium-subjects:
4. Arithmetic
5. Geometry
6. Music
7. Astronomy
#The most important subjects were
music and other mathematics,
linguistic and rhetoric!

6. Mathematics: celestial proportions
in intervals and tempos
Andreas Werckmeister explained the celestial origin of
numbers, musical notes in 1707 like follows:

7. 1 = God the Father, unison(C) 1:1.
The unison is the origin of all music, like the point in
geometry. The moment on creation was a small step in
unison for God. For music, the mirror of cosmos, the unison
is the perfect point of origin, like the universe itself, beyond
consonance and dissonance.

8. 2 = The Son, octave (C1-C2) 1:2
The Son is the same as the Father yet distinct, an octave
away.

9. 3 = The Holy Spirit, fifth (C2-G2)
2:3
The Holy Spirit makes up the Trinity.

10. 4 = The cosmic figure, fourth
(G2-C3) 3:4
The four seasons, the four temperaments, the celestial
angels; the angels fulfil the will of God, Also the fourth
unites the Trinity (1:2:3) with the triad (4:5:6).

11. 5 = Man, major third (C3-E3) 4:5
The major third represents
Man: the five extremities
(head, arms and legs).
Humanity only finds
fulfilment when placed in
the divine context, with the
fifth (4:5:6, 4:6 = 2:3).

12. 6 = Minor third (E3-G3) 5:6
Remains forlorn on its own without the Divine reference
point, four. (this refers to Holy Trinity / the interval of fifth)

13. 7
Does not appear in the
musical proportions, because
God rested on the seventh day
after creating the world

14. Number Alphabets
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.
A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V W X Y Z
Fis = 33 (F=6 I=9 S=18)
# There was no J- or U-letter in the table Bach used!
I o h a n n S e b a s t i a n B a c h
9+14+8+1+13+13 18+5+2+1+18+19+9+1+13 2+1+3+8 = 158

15. Bach loved to play with numbers!
In his works we can find endless number of numerological
references and quotes, e.g.:
Maria Barbara
40 + 41 = 81
Johann Sebastian Bach
58 + 86 + 14= 158
D1+D1= 8 = ∞ = infinite

16. About Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of public speaking.
Emerged in Greece in the 5th century BC.
Developed by Aristotle and the sophists and finally became
complex formulaic system in Rome in the time of Cicero an
Quintilian.
Rhetoric can be considered as one of the pillars of Western
thinking and civilisation up to Romantic era.

17. The Rhetoric System
from Antiquity
1. Inventio - the technique of invention. Bach sought inspiration
for his works from a variety of sources, ranging from events in
the liturgical year to coffee.
2. Dispositio - the system for organising the structure of the
speech.
3. Elocutio - the application of style and the augmentation of a
work with rhetorical figures.
4. Memoria - committing the planned work to memory.
5. Actio (and pronuntiatio) - the art of presentation.

18. The Ciceronian parts of an
argument to music according
Johann Mattheson in 1739

19. Mattheson specified that not all works of music
need to contain all of these elements:
1. “The Exordium is the introduction and beginning of a melody, wherein the goal and the entire
purpose must be revealed, so that the listeners are prepared and stimulated to attentiveness…”
2. “The Narratio is so to speak a report, a narration, through which the meaning and character of
the herein-contained discourse is pointed out.”
3. “The Propositio or the actual discourse contains briefly the content or goal of the musical
oration...” (In legal discourse, this could refer to the framing of a charge.)
4. “The Confirmatio is an artistic corroboration of the discourse...” This is the principal point of
the argument, appealing to reason (logos).
5. “The Confutatio is a dissolution of the exceptions” or counter-arguments, presented to be
refuted for strengthening the argument.
6. “The Peroratio finally is the end or conclusion of our musical oration, which must produce an
especially emphatic impression, more so than all other parts.”

20. Rhetorical figures in music
A rhetorical figure may be as simple as an individual
interval, a dissonance, a group of notes or a rest.
The tendencies and rhetorical figures may illustrate
different event of feeling in text,e.g. ”I am humiliated,
”Ascended to heavens”, different emotianal situations etc.

21. Anabasis - rising

22. Catabasis -falling

23. Circulatio - circulation

24. Grammatical Stresses
nobiles are good syllables or strong stresses; the sign for this evolved into the
modern symbol for down bow,
viles are bad syllables or weak stresses; the sign for this evolved into the modern
symbol for up bow,
duple time: 1234
triple time: 123

25. Rhetorical Stresses
Rhetorical stress supersedes grammatical stress. Rhetorical stresses include
dissonances:
• highest notes
• lowest notes and
• long notes

26. Conclusion
1. Tendencies:
1. Anabasis = crescendo
2. Catabasis = diminuendo
2. Dynamics and stress: tendency + mathemathics
combined with rhetorics
3. Diminutions = rhetorical figures are to be understood in
certain context

27. Bach and the Hidden
Chorale Allusions
Bach used familiar songs – the chorales refer to the topic of
a composition – inventio è”Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes
Gut” funeral psalm in the Sonata G minor; Easter psalm
”O Haupt, voll Blut und Wunden” in the Sonata A minor;
Pentecost psalm”Komm Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott” in the
Sonata C Major etc.

28. Maria Barbara Bach
20.10.1684-buried 7.7.1720

30. Sonatas and Partitas

31. Sonata vs. Partita
sonata da chiesa (‘church sonata’) format, a four-
movement structure whose movements are slow-fast-slow-
fast.
sonata da camera tradition, which comprises a suite of
dances usually preceded by a prelude.

32. The Concept of
Sonatas and Partitas
Helga Thoene posits that Bach was planning to write pieces
of music – possibly the solo Sonatas – based on the three
principal events of the liturgical year as early as in 1718, on
the following plan:
Christmas – reincarnation
Easter – death and resurrection
Pentecost – descent of the Holy Spirit

33. About Dances and their Titles
in General
With Bach, whether a dance is titled in Italian or French
usually refers to the style in which it is written.
Sarabanda (It); Sarabande (Fr), a close relative to Ciaccona!

34. Ciaccona (It); Chaconne (Fr) /
Passacaglia (It); Passacalle (Esp)

35. Personal Interpretations
Sonatas and Partitas form an epitaph to Maria Barbara and
a vehicle for the composer to process his grief.
My point is that an understanding of the symbolic and
rhetorical functions in Bach’s music is vital.

36. Sibelius Academy, October 17 2016
Timo Korhonen
timo.korhonen@turkuamk.fi
http://timokorhonen.eu
Thank You!