J.S. Bach’s Canons BWV 1087: More on Musical Emblematics
Abstract
The article focuses on 14 canons by J.S. Bach, BWV 1087, written by the composer in the printed copy of the Clavierübung IV (Goldberg Variations) under the title Various Сanons on the First Eight Foundation Notes of the Preceding Aria. The article compares this cycle with the canons from the Goldberg Variations. In particular, it explores the information accompanying the canons. Every third Goldberg Variation is called Canon. This first group of canons is marked by an imitative sequential form of variation with a completely open and fixed musical text. The second group of Fourteen Canons is marked by specific encryption. Here, the notation does not contain the complete melodic material: the melodic material given is the foundation for the full text of the composition to be derived by means of, inter alia, titles and a set of signs that serve as a guide to their reading.
Each of the 14 encrypted canons features an eight-sound soggetto as an initial construction of the bass melody from the Goldberg Variations theme, the Aria. As a canon-forming voice on the whole, in part or as a
cantus firmus, an eight-sound theme is the audible and visible basis of all the canons in question. Due to its brevity and constructive isolation, the theme is perceived entirely and at once. The analysis of the encrypted canons BWV 1087 revealed parallels to the three constituent parts of an emblem: the word (a motto) is the soggetto, the image is the musical text of the canon as a voluminous and polysemantic entity subject to decoding, and, finally, a signature that allows you to “read the depicted”. The latter, in case of the canons, implies hearing the decrypted whole and understanding the accompanying signs and explanations.
Keywords: Johann Sebastian Bach, Goldberg Variations BWV988, canons BWV1087, musical emblem
For citation: Yankus A. I. J.S. Bach’s Canons BWV 1087: More on Musical Emblematics [Electronic source]. In: Sovremennye problemy muzykoznaniya / Contemporary Musicology, 2022, no. 1, pp. 78–104. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.56620/2587-9731-2022-1-078-104
References
Velikovsky A.Yu. «Gol'dberg-variacii» I.S. Baha: monografiya [“Goldberg Variations” by I.S. Bach: Monograph]. Saint Petersburg: Lan'; Planeta muzyki [Doe; Music Planet]. 2021.
Ivanova K.N. «Gol'dberg-variacii» I.S. Baha (BWV 988): kanony dlya ispolneniya i kanony dlya ukrasheniya [“Goldberg Variations” by I.S. Bach (BWV 988): Canons for Performance and Canons for Decoration] // University Scientific Journal. 2017. №33 (Philological and Historical Sciences, Archeology and Art History). Pp. 107–117.
Lobanova M.N. Princip reprezentacii v poetike barokko [The Principle of Representation in Baroque Poetics]. In: Kontekst-1988: Literaturno-teoreticheskie issledovaniya [Context-1988: Literary and theoretical studies] / executive ed. N.K. Kay. Moscow: Nauka [Science], 1989. Pp. 208–246.
Makhov A.E. Emblematika. Makrokosm [Emblems. Macrocosm]. Мoscow: Intrada, 2014.
Milka A.P. «Muzykal’noe prinoshenie» I.S. Baha: k rekonstrukcii i interpretacii [“Musical Offering” by I.S. Bach: Towards Reconstruction and Interpretation]. Мoscow: Muzyka [Music], 1999.
Milka A.P. O hristianskoj simvolike v dvojnom kanone I.S. Baha BWV 1077 [On Christian Symbolism in the Double Canon BWV 1077 by I.S. Bach]. In: ZHizn' religii v muzyke: sb. statej [The Life of Religion in Music: A Collection of Papers] / SPbGK imeni N.A. Rimskogo-Korsakova; SPbGU [Saint Petersburg Conservatory named after N.A. RimskyKorsakov]. Saint Petersburg: Sudarynya, 2006. Pp. 132–144.
Mikhailov A.V. Poetika barokko: zavershenie ritoricheskoj epohi [Baroque Poetics: The End of the Rhetorical Era] // Mikhailov A.V. YAzyki kul'tury: ucheb. posobie po kul'turologii [Languages of Culture: Textbook for Cultural Studies] Moscow: YAzyki russkoj kul'tury [Languages of Russian Culture], 1997. Pp. 112–175.
Morozov A.A. Emblematika barokko v literature i iskusstve petrovskogo vremeni [Emblematics of the Baroque in the Literature and Art of Peter the Great] // XVIII vek. Sb. 9: Problemy literaturnogo razvitiya v Rossii pervoj treti XVIII veka [XVIII century. Collection 9: Problems of literary development in Russia in the first third of the 18th century] / executive ed. G.P. Makogonenko. Leningrad: Nauka [The Science], 1974. Pp. 184–227.
Prikhodko I.M. «Muzyka dlya glaz»: istoricheskij ocherk [“Music for the Eyes”: a Historical Sketch]. In: Naukovij visnik NMAU im. P.I. CHajkovs'kogo: Naukovi dialogi z N.O. Gerasimovoyu-Persids'koyu [Scientific Bulletin of Pyotr Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine: Scientific Dialogues with N.A. Gerasimova-Persidskaya] / sergeant-ed. I.G. Tukova. Kyiv: Pyotr Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, 2017. Iss. 119. Pp. 242–253.
Kholopov Yu.N. Kanon: genezis i rannie etapy razvitiya [Canon: genesis and early stages of development]. In: Teoreticheskie nablyudeniya nad istoriej muzyki: sb. statej [Theoretical Observations on the History of Music: a Collection of Articles] / composed by Yu.K. Evdokimova, V.V. Zaderatsky, T.N. Livanova. Мoscow: Musyka [Music], 1978. Pp. 127–157.
Yuzhak K.I. Bahovskie «chetverki» [Bach’s “Fours”] [Electronic Resource] // Contemporary Musicology. 2022. № 1. Pp. 71—109.
Yuferova O.A. Notnyj tekst zagadochnyh kanonov: kod ili shifr?[Musical Text of Mysterious Canons: Code or Cipher?] // Bulletin of Musicology. 2014. №1 (3). Pp. 19–28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24411/2308-1031-2014-00003.
Yankus A.I. Vertikal' v kanonah iz Gol'dberg-variacij I.S. Baha (BWV 988, BWV 1087): nekotorye aspekty [The Vertical in the Canons from the Goldberg Variations by I.S. Bach (BWV 988, BWV 1087): Some Aspects]. In: Opera musicologica. 2020. Vol. 12. №5 (С). Pp. 120–140. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26156/OM.2020.12.5.008.
Alain O. Un supplément inédit aux Variations Goldberg de J.S.Bach [Electronic resource]. In: Revue de Musicologie. T. 61. No. 2 (1975). Published by: Société Française de Musicologie Stable Р. 244–294. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/928397 (accessed: 15.12.2021).
Breig W. Review. Reviewed Work: Verschiedene Canones... von J.S.Bach (BWV1087) by Reinhardt Böss. München, 1996 [Electronic resource]. In: Die Musikforschung. 54. Jahrg.. H. 2. (April–Juni 2001). Besprechungen. P. 216–217. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41123723 (accessed: 24.11.2021).
Sadie S. Record Reviews: J.S.Bach. 14 canons BWV1087. W.F.Bach. Concerto in F for 2 harpsichords. C.P.E.Bach. 4 duets WQ115. J.C.Bach. Sonata in G for 2 harpsichords op. 15, No. 5. Rolf Junghans, Bradford Tracey [Electronic resource]. In: The Musical Times. Vol. 120. No. 1641. Baroque Music Issue (Nov., 1979). P. 920. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/960778 (accessed: 24.11.2021).
Tomita Yo. Bach and Dresden: A New Hypothesis on the Origin of the Goldberg Variations (BWV988). In: Music and theology: essays in honor of Robin A.Leaver / ed. by D. Zager. Lanham, Maryland, Toronto, Plymouth, UK : The Scarecrow press, 2006. P. 169–191.
Tomita Yo. Manuscripts. In: The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach. Ed. by Robin A. Leaver. London, New York: Routledge, 2017. Р.47–89.
Wolff Chr. Bach᾽s Handexemplar of the Goldberg Variations: A New Source. In: Journal of the American Musicological Society. 1976. Vol. 29. №2. Р. 224–241.
MUSICAL EDITIONS
[Bach J.S.] Clavier Ubung bestehend in einer Aria mit verschiedenen Verænderungen vors Clavicimbal mit 2 Manualen. Denen Liebhabern zur Gemüths-Ergetzung verfertiget von Johann Sebastian Bach [Electronic resource]. Nürnberg: in Verlegung Balthasar Schmids, o. J. In: Bibliothèque nationale de France. Available at: ark:/12148/btv1b550059626. (accessed: 24.11.2021).
[Bach J.S.]. Vierzehn Kanons über die ersteren acht Fundamentalnoten der Aria aus den „Goldberg-Variationen“ BWV1087. Erstausgabe / First Edition, 3 Aufl., hrsg. von Christoph Wolff. Kassel, Basel, London: Bärenreiter; Leipzig: VEB Deutscher Verlag für Music, 1987.
[Handel G.F.]. Suites de Pieces pour le Clavecin. Second Volume [Electronic resource]. London: John Walsch. No. 490. Available at: https://ks4.imslp.net/files/imglnks/usimg/8/82/IMSLP77919-PMLP44355-Handel_-_Second_Volume.pdf (accessed: 24.11.2021).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2022-1-078-104
Copyright (c) 2022 Alla I. Yankus
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/