Partita for solo violin in D minor

This is what happens when I listen to too much Bach. 

He crawled into my brain and infiltrated this music completely. Or perhaps he is an old tree with deep roots, and this music is a funky patch of mushrooms growing off the side.

I started with Bach's partita in D minor and warped it. I decided not to be coy with my plagiarism this time around. I gleefully borrowed (stole, pilfered) his thematic material, chopped it up, and dumped into the salad bowl full of my own ideas. The end result is... something new and old. Bach's motifs bob to the surface as the music rushes by, and the ear will catch them easily at times. But sometimes it's tough to tell what is original and what was his; the colors have blended together everywhere.

My Allemande is a fun-house version of Bach's. The Courante borrows the exact rhythm from Bach's Courante, but changes all the notes. The Sarabande is more modern, and takes the ear on a bit of a challenging journey. The Gigue is a jaunty romp with some fun rhythmic changes - notice how it continues the consistent use of triplets that permeates the entire partita, except in the Gigue the triplets are created by using different accents on the subdivided beat. 

I am working on a Chaconne, which will be the final movement of the partita. In the meantime, I'd love to hear any feedback on this music. 

(Please note that I did not take the time to make the triple stops and quadruple stops sound arpeggiated the way a real violinist would perform them. Please use your imagination with the chords. I am aware that a real violinist would not be able to play all three/four notes at once, but would instead arpeggiate the chord. I intend for the finished music to sound the way a real performer would play those chords.)

The Allemande is much more random and disorganized harmonically and melodically than the original.  I don’t know what your intent was to take these pieces and change them to your whim.  Many might think it sacreligious to take a masterwork by Bach and change it like this.  Some might even go so far as to see conceit in the attempt as if you might have thought that you could improve upon the original.  I think it will however be compared to the original which I don’t think will be to your benefit.  So why write something like this?  I would understand if you used the original as the basis for a transformation into something original, in a different style, or as the basis for a theme and variations where variation technique would be used to morph the original material into the construction of novel themes.  You don’t do that here.  Maybe, since you titled it “Teaching” you intended this to be a pedagogical exercise for the violin student?  In that case it is also inadequate in comparison to the original, as usually virtuosity should be musically justified rather than written just to be difficult.  As a dance this also falls short as you once again employ your illogical pauses.  Bach comes to rest at cadential points and here you seem to try and mirror that without the same effect of repose.  I honestly just can’t understand why you did this.  Sorry. 😞
 

I think it's not important if the composer here wants to pay homage to Bach or whatever. What matters is the result, and I like it because it's a sort of neo baroque where taking some essentials many things are changed, and that's original. I like less pieces that try to imitate Bach (or any other genious) as close as possible, because it's impossible.

Thank you for your feedback!

On 12/26/2020 at 5:06 PM, PaperComposer said:

I honestly just can’t understand why you did this.  Sorry. 😞
 

 

That's a tough question. I guess I did it for three reasons:

1. I thought it would be fun.
2. I thought I'd learn something from the experience.
3. I hoped the end result would be art.

So if I only accomplished 2 out of 3, that's still something I suppose. I love Bach, and this work is my personal homage to his genius, and my quest to crack his secrets. I learned so much about composition from this project. Stepping into his shoes for a bit, playing with his materials, allowed me to see how he solved certain compositional puzzles (such as how to express so much feeling with a single line of music, a single violin voice). While working on this music (and the two other partitas that are still in the works), I learned more about myself as an artist than I expected to. I know the work isn't perfect, but I really appreciate what it taught me.

Speaking of teaching, the name of this partita is called "Teaching" because I wrote most of this music back when I was an economics teacher, while at the same time feeling like such a student in the realm of composition. I was teaching all day for a job, then coming home to my musical hobby where I tried to absorb whatever lessons I could from master teachers like J.S. Bach. My whole life revolved around the act of teaching, whether I was doing the teaching or receiving the lesson. So that's what this music means to me: the challenges of teaching and learning, and what can be gained from actively engaging in both.

I still have much to learn. 

20 hours ago, Luis Hernández said:

I think it's not important if the composer here wants to pay homage to Bach or whatever. What matters is the result, and I like it because it's a sort of neo baroque where taking some essentials many things are changed, and that's original. I like less pieces that try to imitate Bach (or any other genious) as close as possible, because it's impossible.

 

Yes neobaroque for sure. I appreciate your take, because I do not feel that the entire partita slavishly imitates Bach. Though I quote Bach, I am trying to transform his ideas into something original as the partita progresses. The Allemande is the most plagiaristic, so we start the partita firmly rooted in Bach. But by the time the Gigue and Sarabande roll around, the themes are all original. Thanks for listening and commenting!