J.S. Bach's great eighteen chorale preludes arranged according to difficulty

Transcription

1 University of Iowa Iowa Research Online Theses and Dissertations 2012 J.S. Bach's great eighteen chorale preludes arranged according to difficulty Jin Ah Yoo University of Iowa Copyright 2012 Jin Ah Yoo This dissertation is available at Iowa Research Online: Recommended Citation Yoo, Jin Ah. "J.S. Bach's great eighteen chorale preludes arranged according to difficulty." DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) thesis, University of Iowa, Follow this and additional works at: Part of the Music Commons

2 J.S. BACH S GREAT EIGHTEEN CHORALE PRELUDES ARRANGED ACCORDING TO DIFFICULTY by Jin Ah Yoo An essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa December 2012 Essay Supervisor: Assistant Professor Gregory Hand

3 Copyright by JIN AH YOO 2012 All Rights Reserved

4 Graduate College The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL D.M.A. ESSAY This is to certify that the D.M.A. essay of Jin Ah Yoo has been approved by the Examining Committee for the essay requirement for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the December 2012 graduation. Essay Committee: Gregory Hand, Essay Supervisor Delbert Disselhorst Brett Wolgast Michael Eckert Frederick Skiff

5 To my Parents ii

6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My doctoral education was enabled by the Iowa Performance Fellowship and the University of Iowa School of Music. Thanks to Dr. Gregory Hand for functioning as the de facto adviser of this essay, even though the topic is beyond his immediate interests, and even though the project was born before he joined the faculty at the University of Iowa. Thanks also to Katharina Malecki of Bärenreiter-Verlag for giving permission to use musical examples from their published scores. My first music teacher, Mrs. Ki Yang Kim, has been at my side through every spiritual, emotional, and artistic step of my life. Dr. Myung Cha Jo at Yonsei University has guided me through many important steps. Dr. Marilou Kratzenstein at the University of Northern Iowa encouraged my art, my heart, and my mind during my initial time in the United States. Dr. Brett Wolgast modeled the scholarly church musician in the finest tradition of J.S. Bach. Two people in particular have contributed more than I could have asked. Dr. Delbert Disselhorst s reputation as a brilliant scholar and performer is matched only by his dedication as a teacher and adviser of the highest order. I am grateful to have been nourished by a teacher who demonstrates that excellent musicianship emanates from excellent scholarship. His care has been meted out in copious comments, advice, and suggestions. Finally, Dr. Gayle Henrotte at Handong Global University has modeled love and grace as she fought a grueling battle to bring clarity and focus to my thoughts. Her eminence as a musicologist and linguist can hardly give a hint of her magnanimity, her iii

7 warm smile, and her tenacious optimism. Without these two individuals, my work would never have come to fruition. Any quality in this essay is the trace of their hands. Personal thanks go to my loving and generous parents, Mr. Woo Geun Yoo and Mrs. Yoon Hee Koh, who made great sacrifices for my musical education while I was growing up in Seoul. My husband, Jeremy Knapp, sacrificed his time and energy by reading countless drafts and making suggestions for improvement. I was fortunate to marry someone who enjoys Bach as deeply as I do. My son, Peter Knapp, was so patient during my long absences. His cheer and joy sustained me during an otherwise arduous period, and his quiet, fascinated posture at the sound of an organ reminded me that this project was worthy of all the energy I could give. Thanks also to my husband s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Knapp, for their endless patience during long hours spent at the library near their house. My partners in music and in life at Iowa included Minji Kwon and Jung Ok Lee, without whom my doctoral studies would have been very lonely. The esteemed organist Ka Young Lee, though separated by continents and oceans since our days at Yonsei, has been a partner in prayer, an insightful critic of my work, and a joyful co-celebrant of all that is J.S. Bach. These are the people who have made this project, yet have allowed me to call it my own. Through their love, I have more clearly seen my Help. Then Samuel took a stone, and set it... and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. SDG iv

8 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES... vii LIST OF FIGURES... viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION...1 Purpose...1 Musical Sources...3 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE CONCERNING BACH S PEDAGOGY IN GENERAL...5 Contemporary Views of Bach as a Teacher...5 Current Pedagogical Scholarship...8 CHAPTER III CRITERIA AND GRADING PROCEDURES...16 Criteria...16 Grading Procedures...30 CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS OF J.S. BACH S GREAT EIGHTEEN CHORAL PRELUDES ACCORDING TO CRITERIA...39 Group One: Easy...40 Group Two: Intermediate to Advanced...48 Group Three: Advanced...72 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION...90 APPENDIX A APPENDIX B A LIST OF BACH S GREAT EIGHTEEN CHORALE PRELUDES ACCORDING TO MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE...92 LISTS OF EACH ANALTYIC CRITERION IN BACH S GREAT EIGHTEEN CHORALE PRELUDES ACCORDING TO DIFFICULTY...94 List One: Manual Technique...94 List Two: Pedal Technique...95 List Three: Coordination...96 List Four: Tempo...97 v

9 List Five: Rhythmic Complexity...98 BIBLIOGRAPHY...99 vi

10 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. BWV Table 2. BWV 668a...43 Table 3. BWV Table 4. BWV Table 5. BWV Table 6. BWV Table 7. BWV Table 8. BWV Table 9. BWV Table 10. BWV Table 11. BWV Table 12. BWV Table 13. BWV Table 14. BWV Table 15. BWV Table 16. BWV Table 17. BWV Table 18. BWV vii

11 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Ornamented voices in both hands...19 Figure 2. Ornamentation in one voice where the hand is performing a simultaneous voice...19 Figure 3. Ornamentations in two different voices with little rhythmic distance...20 Figure 4. Examples of hand-crossing...21 Figure 5. Hand-sharing because of wide intervals...22 Figure 6. Hand-sharing for better hand position...23 Figure 7. Manual exchange...24 Figure 8. Unaligned syncopation in simultaneous voices...29 Figure 9. Unaligned rhythmic accents...29 Figure 10. Uneven rhythmic ratios...29 Figure 11. Multiple rhythms in multiple voices...30 Figure 12. Rhythmic conflict where ornaments create the effect of uneven rhythmic ratios between two voices...30 Figure 13. Hand-sharing in BWV 667 measures 17 and Figure 14. Ornamentation in BWV 665 measure Figure 15. Rhythmic complexity in BWV 665 measures Figure 16. Hand-sharing in BWV 666 measures Figure 17. Imitating pattern in BWV 666 measures Figure 18. Imitating pattern in BWV 666 measures Figure 19. Coordination in BWV 666 measure Figure 20. Coordination in BWV 666 measures viii

12 Figure 21. Independent voices in BWV 659 measure Figure 22. Ornamentation with multiple voices in the same hand in BWV 653 measure Figure 23. Wide pedal intervals in BWV 653 measures Figure 24. Ornamentation in BWV 651 measures 90 and Figure 25. Manual-pedal coordination in BWV 662 measure Figure 26. Sequential passages in BWV Figure 27. Broken chords in BWV 664 measures ix

13 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Purpose Johann Sebastian Bach was a demanding teacher of performers, composers, and improvisers. More than sixty students learned from him and a majority of them received prestigious appointments in Germany. 1 Bach s organ works also reentered the standard repertoire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, research focusing on the pedagogical use of Bach s organ works has not matched the widespread performance of his other works. One of the difficulties is that there is not much information about how Bach used his own organ works in his teaching. In spite of the difficulty, the reality is that a majority of pedagogues have chosen his works to teach their students during his own time and up to the present. Using his keyboard works as pedagogical tools, teachers frequently find difficulty assigning a Bach work according to a student s current level. There is evidence that Bach distributed particular organ pieces to his own students. 2 However, there is no evidence why Bach assigned particular pieces to a student or why he made no systematic ordering of his organ works according to different levels. Several attempts have been made to arrange Bach s organ works according to difficulty in choosing an appropriate repertoire for students. However, none of these attempts fully describe the criteria used for selecting the order. In addition, most of these 1 Wolff, Christoph, David, Hans T., Arthur Mendel. The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents. Revised by Christoph Wolff, New York: W.W. Norton &, Print. 2 Stauffer, George B. "J.S. Bach as Organ Pedagogue." The Organist as Scholar: Essays in Memory of Russell Saunders. Ed. Kerala J. Snyder. Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon, Print.

14 2 arrangements have focused solely on Bach s free works or the Orgelbüchlein. 3 No such analysis has focused on Bach s chorales. This essay presents an arrangement of Bach s Great Eighteen Chorales according to difficulty, based on comprehensive analytic criteria. 4 The analysis is limited to the Great Eighteen Chorales (the so-called Leipzig Chorales), because these works are a central part of the standard repertoire, and the musical features of these chorales challenge performance technique. Thus, these works can serve as an appropriate sample by which to test the analytic method here described. The present analysis can serve as a model for how the analytic method might be applied to a broader scope of Bach s corpus. The analysis criteria consist of five technical components. The first component is manual technique which includes: voices per hand; finger independence; finger embellishment; and finally, a criterion which groups together the three individual manual skills of hand-crossing, hand-sharing, and manual exchange. The second component is pedal technique. The third component is coordination which includes three individual criteria: pedal and manual coordination, manual and manual coordination, and relationship of voices. The remaining two components are tempo and rhythmic complexity. The focus here on such criteria will enable instructors and students to understand the compositional features of these timeless works, and to understand 3 Delbert Disselhorst. The Orgelbüchlein: Bach s Method. Bach-Stunden, ed. Walther Dehnhard and Gottlob Ritter. Frankfurt: Evangelischer Presseverband in Hessen und Nassau, Print. and John Leo Lewis, Bach s Organ Compositions for Systematic Instruction in Organ Playing. Illinois, De Paul University, Elizabeth Travis Sollenberger, A Graded Analysis of the Organ Preludes and Fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach for Teachers and Students Providing A Conpendim of Increasingly Difficult Performance Problems. Washington. D.C. The American University, Various previous attempts have been made for portions of Bach s organ works. Most of these are without criteria, or with more narrowly focused criteria than those presented in this essay. The previous attempts are described in chapter two, section two, Current Pedagogical Scholarship.

15 3 precisely how those features contribute to performance difficulty. Musical Sources Some explanation may be provided regarding where the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes appear within Bach s organ works, to what extent Bach may have revised them, and which edition is used for the present research. Russell Stinson described the manuscript sources and their provenance in great detail in his 2001 book about this corpus. 5 In 2003, Peter Williams included further explanation in the revised edition of The Organ Music of J.S. Bach. 6 The textual scholarship of Stinson and Williams is extremely detailed, but there are a few cursory details that are relevant here. Since at least the early 19 th century, 7 the chorales have been regarded as a group of eighteen. The original date of composition is unclear. The best estimates with the current evidence suggest that all eighteen were composed between the years The word great was first applied in an edition by Felix Mendelssohn, distinguishing them from less developed versions of these chorales which appear in the Orgelbüchlein and elsewhere. 9 During the time Bach was cantor at St. Thomas Church and municipal director of music in Leipzig, he returned to these works in preparation for a published collection. Bach revised the first fifteen chorales (BWV ). Two more (BWV 666 and 667) were revised by Bach s son-in-law and student Johann Christoph Altnikol. The remaining 5 Stinson, Russell. J.S. Bach's Great Eighteen Organ Chorales. Oxford: Oxford UP, Print. Chapter 2. 6 Williams, Peter. The Organ Music of J.S. Bach. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, Print Stinson, Williams, Stinson, 65.

16 4 chorale, Vor deinen Thron tret ich (BWV 668), is incomplete in the Leipzig manuscript. The same chorale appears under a different title (Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten, BWV 668a); this is an earlier version from the period when Bach was living in Weimar ( ). Modern performances of the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes normally follow the Weimar version of the final chorale, and the present research includes this earlier version as part of the eighteen for the purpose of analysis. Williams notes that there are some differences between these eighteen chorales as they appear in their earlier (Weimar) and later (Leipzig) versions. In some cases the Leipzig versions are longer, and there are some small improvements in motifs, ornaments, rhythm and part-writing. 10 The present research uses these later versions because of such improvements, not because the differences between the versions have any bearing on the level of difficulty. 10 Williams,

17 5 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE CONCERNING BACH S PEDAGOGY IN GENERAL Bach began teaching about age 20 in Arnstadt and continued to teach throughout his life. His main teaching activities blossomed in Leipzig where the most prestigious education was provided. 11 Yet, while much scholarship has focused on Bach s life and his organ compositions and organ performance, 12 very little is actually known about his teaching methods. Christoph Wolff shows that Bach never mentioned organ instruction specifically in his letters of recommendation for his students. 13 In the first section of this chapter, relevant comments by Bach s contemporaries regarding him as teacher are reviewed. 14 In this survey, there is sufficient evidence concerning Bach as teacher of composition and clavier to extrapolate a Bach organ pedagogy. In the second section of this chapter, based on recent scholarship, a systematic description of Bach s pedagogy is presented. Contemporary Views of Bach as Teacher Kräuter Philipp David Kräuter, one of Bach s pupils in Weimar, described Bach s 11 Wolff, Christoph, David, Hans T., Arthur Mendel. The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents. Revised by Christoph Wolff, New York: W.W. Norton &, Print. 12 Johann Nicolaus Forkel, the first Bach biographer, focused on Bach as clavier player and clavier teaching. Philipp Spitta explored Bach s life and music. Hermann Keller wrote The Organ Works of Bach. Peter Williams devoted his work to examining Bach s organ works. 13 Wolff, The available primary sources documenting this influence are found in part IV of the New Bach Reader (Wolff). The materials collected here enable us to understand Bach s characteristics as a teacher and something of his teaching methods.

18 6 teaching in a letter he wrote to his school board: He is an excellent and sterling man, both in composition and in instruction on keyboard and other instruments. 15 Kräuter s aim in this letter was to assure his benefactors of his course of study so that they would continue to support him. Still, it is possible to gather some idea of the thoroughness of the course, for Kräuter reported that he spent six hours per day studying composition and keyboard and other instruments, and the rest of time he practiced and copied Bach s works. 16 Bach s approach to composition was step by step. In this teaching, he avoided starting with counterpoint but began with thorough bass and then proceeded to chorales. He did this by providing a bass line and had the students invent other parts above. That way they could focus not only on pure harmony, but also on creating smooth melody lines in all parts. When the students had acquired these basic skills, they were ready to work on fugues. 17 Kirnberger Johann Philipp Kirnberger, a Capellmeister to royalty and a pupil of Bach in Leipzig, described the methods Bach used to teach the elements of composition, rhythm, melody, and harmony. In Die Kunst des reinen Satzes in der Musik, he wrote, [Bach s] method is the best, for he proceeds steadily, step by step, from the easiest to the most difficult, and as a result even the step to the fugue has only the difficulty of passing from one step to the next. 18 Kirnberger s testimony indicates that Bach tailored his teaching 15 Ibid., Ibid. 17 Ibid., Ibid., 320

19 7 according to the individual student s level. Gerber In The Education of Bach s Pupil Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber Who Was a Court Organist in Sondershausen (1790), Ernst Ludwig Gerber reported that when his father began his studies with Bach, the master had asked his student whether he had industriously played fugues. During the first lesson he set his Inventions before him. When he had studied these through to Bach s satisfaction, there followed a series of suites, then The Well-Tempered Clavier. 19 After Gerber had reached this level, Bach gave instructions in thorough bass which the young Gerber described as the singing of the voices. 20 Here Gerber refers to the cantabile style, indicating that Bach instructed his students not only in matters of technique but also in expression. Forkel By far our richest source of information concerning Bach s teaching comes from his biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel. 21 Forkel owned a manuscript of the earliest version of the preludes in the The Well-Tempered Clavier, lending credibility to Forkel s testimony. 22 According to Forkel, Bach apparently used the first few months of 19 Ibid., Ibid, 322. Young Gerber wrote, I never heard anything better than the style in which my father executed these basses according to Bach s fashion, particularly in the singing of the voices. 21 Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Part VI, Chapter 7: Bach the Teacher from The New Bach Reader (Wolff), 453. Forkel thus praises Bach; Only he who knows much can teach much. Only he who has become acquainted with dangers, who has himself encountered and overcome them, can properly point them out and successfully teach his followers how to avoid them. Both were united in Bach. His teaching was, therefore, the most instructive, the most proper, and the most secure that ever was known; and all his scholars trod, at least in some one branch of the art, in the footsteps of their great master, though none of them equaled, much less surpassed him. 22 Marshall, Robert L. Johann Sebastian Bach. From Eighteenth-Century Keyboard Music. Edited by Robert L. Marshall. New York: Schirmer Books, p. 85 Regarding keyboard instruments, Marshall explains that the clavier equally effectively, on either the organ or a stringed keyboard instrument. And

20 8 instruction to teach a clear and clean touch. To this end, he made his students practice isolated exercises for all the fingers in both hands. Since his students often lost interest in these exercises, Bach wrote specific pieces for them during their lessons. The Six Little Preludes for Beginners and the fifteen two-part Inventions are such works. Bach played these pieces himself before the lessons began so that the students could become familiar with the sound, enabling them to learn the piece more easily. 23 Forkel s testimony reveals that Bach s keyboard teaching produced a clear and clean sound; the more advanced aim of the exercises was to build independence of the fingers in both hands. Summary The primary literature concerning Johann Sebastian Bach s teaching acquaints us with an outline of his methodical approach. The master s instructions are characterized by thoroughness. His teaching of composition indicates that his stepwise approach was appropriate to the individual student s level. Although none of the primary sources provides an organ teaching method, this given information enables us to form a reasonable basis for describing Bach s teaching in general. This systematic approach is eminently applicable to organ teaching. Current Pedagogical Scholarship Keller The first attempt to arrange Bach s organ works according to difficulty was done by Hermann Keller in the Peters edition of the complete works (1940). 24 Later, he Marshall, Robert L. The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach: The sources, The Style, The Significance. New York: Schirmer Books, Wolff, Bach, Johann Sebastian. [Foreword To] J.S. Bach Organ Works in Nine Volumes. Ed. Hermann Keller. Vol. 4. New York: Peters, Print.

21 9 included a graded list of the works of Bach in The Organ Works of Bach (Peters, 1948). Keller arranged the works of Bach into three different levels of difficulty: easy to medium difficult, medium difficult to difficult, and difficult to very difficult. However, Keller did not describe the criteria he used to grade the pieces. Disselhorst A more recent organization of the Orgelbüchlein according to difficulty was published by Delbert Disselhorst in The Orgelbüchlein as Bach s Organ Method. 25 He bases his organization on comments by Johann Nicolaus Forkel and Bach's last pupil, Johann Christian Kittel. Disselhorst emphasizes Bach s pedagogical intention which can be seen on the title page of the Orgelbüchlein. Disselhorst considers Bach s comments on touch, ornamentation, fingering, and compositional craft as important elements for the training of the beginning keyboard student. The basic principles of contrapuntal writing are contained in various motifs in the Orgelbüchlein, enabling students to develop more complicated compositional skills. For advanced organ studying, the Orgelbüchlein is the basic source of technical proficiency and musical knowledge, as well as a systematic development of pedal technique. 26 Disselhorst suggests ranking Bach s organ works into four levels, based upon Ernst Arfken s classification of the Orgelbüchlein. In classifying the chorales, Disselhorst considers several compositional aspects which determine difficulty. 27 The first of Disselhorst s four levels is the ornamented chorales which 25 Delbert Disselhorst. The Orgelbüchlein: Bach s Method. In Bach-Stunden. Ed. Walther Dehnhard and Gottlob Ritter (Frankfurt, Evangelischer Presseverband in Hessen und Nassau, 1978). 26 Ibid. 27 Melodically, stepwise intervals are easier than contrary motion of the feet in slow to moderate tempo. Rhythmic complexity in the pedal lines is also one of the aspects. Disselhorst considers both the intervallic features and the rhythmic complexity as important factors for coordination.

22 10 emphasize cantabile style. The second level contains chorales with scalar pedal lines or with adjacent notes as is the case with many of the chorale melodies. The third level includes chorales using intervallic motivic patterns in the pedal. The fourth level contains chorales with characteristics from the first two groups, and having a continuo-like bass voice, consistent lines, and distinct motivic patterns of both stepwise and intervallic elements. Other performance factors such as tempo, texture, form, and registration contrasts are also included in his classification. In 2006, Disselhorst wrote an unpublished lecture handout entitled Bach Organ Works: Suggested Order of Difficulty, suggesting that five levels of difficulty are to be found in Bach s entire organ corpus. 28 His list is more detailed than that of Hermann Keller; however, it likewise does not indicate specific criteria for each level. Sollenberger Elizabeth Travis Sollenberger ordered Bach s free organ works into different levels of difficulty, encompassing the thirty-four preludes and toccatas, the fantasias and their paired fugues, four single fugues and a single fantasia. 29 Following the ordering of the free works, the remaining works are arranged in order of increasing difficulty in technique, complexity of form, and aesthetic connotations. 30 Among these remaining works, Sollenberger first discusses The Little Preludes and Fugues, pointing out that these contain miniature aspects of technical problems which appear in the more complicated free works. For example, the easiest piece, the Little Prelude and Fugue in F 28 Disselhorst, Delbert. Bach Organ Works: Suggested Order of Difficulty. Nov Lecture Handout. University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. 29 Sollenberger, Elizabeth Travis. A Graded Analysis of the Organ Preludes and Fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach for Teachers and Students Providing A Compendium of Increasingly Difficult Performance Problems. Diss. The American University, Washington, DC: n.p., Print. 30 Ibid., 17.

23 11 Major challenges the student to alternate duple and triple figures in the manuals, to alternate toes in the pedals, and to maintain rhythmic steadiness. The more difficult Little Prelude and Fugue in A Minor has double trills and alternate-hand schemes. As the pieces gain in difficulty, other technical features are introduced: coordination of the left hand and pedal (Prelude and Fugue in C Major), shared hands (Prelude and Fugue in D Minor), alternating manuals (also D minor) and the articulation of inner parts (Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Major). Sollenberger s second group includes more complicated works with abundant harmonies and more incisive themes. 31 Other performance aspects appear such as registration, mordents on the manual (BWV 553) and on the pedals (BWV 549), wide intervals (BWV 553) and sweeping lines on the pedals (BWV 550), quick tempi (BWV 577), the imitation of string phrasing (BWV 579), finger substitution (BWV 539), and fingering problems with nine note chords (BWV 566). Sollenberger s third group focuses on Bach s mature works. The texture of each work in this group becomes increasingly contrapuntal. Other difficulties are long trill steadiness (BWV 578), phrasing by ear, not by eye (BWV 565), and coordination of trills in the manual and pedal (BWV 545). The fourth group contains Bach s finest later works which are described as combinations of Italian concerto style and German contrapuntal skill. 32 Sollenberger notes the major technical difficulties in this group: fingering for long phrases requiring smooth articulation (BWV 534), challenges in the length of the works (BWV 540 and 542), changing meters (BWV 543), tempi with thirty-second notes (BWV 531), difficult 31 Ibid., Ibid., 60.

24 12 pedal solos (BWV 564), and coordination problems (BWV 547). The details of her analyses focus on individual interpretation of the corpus. Levels of difficulty are not categorized. Lewis Another arrangement of Bach s free organ works for systematic instruction was made by John Leo Lewis. 33 The forty-three organ preludes and fugues as well as the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues are analyzed according to eight levels of rhythmic difficulty. The first level has one or fewer than one note per beat, the second, two notes per beat, and so on until the last level which has eight or more notes per beat. 34 His analysis focuses on rhythm and coordination rather than on melody and harmony, and Lewis claims that accentuation, intensity, opposing hand movements, changes in voice parts, and syncopation resist classification. 35 He also takes a straightforward approach toward identifying coordination problems when he cites the twelve possible combinations of hand and hand-foot coordination. 36 This survey indicates that the most common difficulties in Bach s free works are those involving both hands, both hands and right foot, both hands and left foot, both hands and both feet. 37 He analyzes each piece according to a tablature system showing combinations of hands and feet and rhythm at various levels of difficulty. 33 Lewis, John Leo. Bach's Organ Compositions for Systematic Instruction in Organ Playing. Diss. De Paul University, Print. 34 Ibid., 3 35 Ibid., 2 36 Ibid., 5. These twelve are: right hand, left hand, both hands, both feet, right hand and left foot, right hand and right foot, left hand and left foot, right hand and both feet, left hand and both feet, both hands and left foot, both hands and right foot, both hands and both feet. 37 Ibid. p.57. John Leo Lewis s research shows that 94.7 % of the 6013 bars are analyzed in Bach s free works.

25 13 Lewis identifies performance difficulties by describing rhythmic features, and gives no account of other musical features affecting performance. He recognizes the limitations of his method and questions whether rhythmic difficulty is caused simply by the number of notes per beat. He does not examine the complexity of rhythms between different voices. 38 He also questions whether coordination difficulty is governed simply by the number of limbs engaged. In sum, although Lewis provides precise information regarding rhythm and coordination difficulties, his classification is not holistic. Green Some of Bach s easier works were selected by Douglass M. Green for the 1971 C.F. Peters edition of Johann Sebastian Bach: Easier Organ Works. 39 The selected works are arranged into three groups. The first group combines eight pieces: four from the Orgelbüchlein (BWV 615, 625, 639, 643), three from the Kirnberger collection (BWV 691, 706, 711), and one miscellaneous chorale (BWV 727). The second group is made up of the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues and five free works (BWV 567, 578, 533, 537, 565). The last group consists of three miscellaneous works: the Pastorale (BWV 590), the Concerto in A Minor (BWV 593), and the first Trio Sonata (BWV 525). The selection provides a guideline for students seeking other pieces in their own level, No specific criteria for the selections is given. Johnson The Organ Teacher s Guide by David N. Johnson provides a chapter of general pedagogic considerations. The second chapter gives literature and repertoire lists for 38 According Lewis the F major prelude and Fugue, which requires only the first four degrees, is not more difficult to perform than the D minor Prelude and Fugue which requires degrees one through eight. 39 Bach, Johann Sebastian. Easier Organ Works: Organ. Comp. Douglass M. Green. New York: Peters, Print. Frontmatter.

26 14 teaching the works of Bach. 40 His three repertoire lists are arranged according to difficulty. The first list contains works for manuals alone, arranged in three levels. The second list is based on The Liturgical Year (Orgelbüchlein) arranged in four levels. The third list contains works not yet mentioned which are arranged into five levels of difficulty. The ordering is specific, but no criteria are given for the listing. Stauffer George B. Stauffer offers valuable insights into Bach s pedagogy when he points out that though we lack historical accounts of Bach s organ instruction, we do have detailed information about Bach s clavier instruction. 41 He discusses the evidence we have for claiming that Bach s organ teaching shares specific features with his clavier teaching. He surmises that Bach started his beginning organ students on the Orgelbüchlein, the more advanced students on the Great Eighteen Chorales, and later on the Clavierübung III. He suggests that Bach probably set several free works and the Trio sonatas before highly competent students. However, he finds that Bach s assignments for his students were not arranged systematically, and doubts whether the Orgelbüchlein was even written for pedagogical purposes. He points out that the lack of student copies of the Clavierübung III suggests that this work had no part in Bach s teaching and concludes that Bach s free works were not assigned in a systematic way because the pieces exist singly in randomly organized groups. 42 Bach s organ pedagogy, while based on general keyboard technique, actually relied to a great extent on works, methods, and technique 40 Johnson, David N. Organ Teacher's Guide. [Minneapolis]: Augsburg Pub. House, Print Stauffer, George B. "J.S. Bach as Organ Pedagogue." In The Organist as Scholar: Essays in Memory of Russell Saunders. Ed. Kerala J. Snyder. Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon, Print Ibid. p. 34

27 15 that were unique to the organ. In this sense, Stauffer concludes that Bach s organ pedagogy was likely more nuanced and more developed than his clavier instruction. Bach s students would have already acquired basic keyboard skills before approaching the organ. Stauffer points out that the demands placed upon organists were intense because improvisation and continuo realization were audition requirements for church positions during the 18 th century in German churches. Considering the importance of improvisational skills, Stauffer suggests that Bach s organ pedagogy might have been more spontaneous than is commonly imagined. Summary It is clear that Bach s organ music is a good tool, helping students progress systematically at various levels. Current scholars have produced several attempts at describing an organ method that corresponds to Bach s pedagogy. Yet, for various reasons, these attempts have been limited. Some studies have only focused on one or a few musical features of the works, rendering an incomplete and unconvincing basis for arranging them in levels of difficulty. Others have been unsystematic, lacking specific criteria for their arrangements. This study aims to correct these faults by offering a thorough, systematic, analytical tool by which teachers can accurately measure difficulty levels and arrange the Great Eighteen Chorales effectively for pedagogical purposes and private study.

28 16 CHAPTER III CRITERIA AND GRADING PROCEDURES Criteria The criteria for determining the level of difficulty in each of the Great Eighteen Chorales have been determined according to the level required in manual and pedal techniques, coordination, tempo and rhythmic complexity. Normally, all criteria are regarded as discrete elements. For the manuals, this includes consideration of voices per hand, finger independence, finger embellishment, and a group of three manual techniques encompassing hand-crossing, hand-sharing, and manual exchange. For the pedals, the analysis considers the rhythms and intervals of the pedal line as well as pedal-hand coordination. Manual technique Four criteria are important in determining the manual difficulty of any work. The first is the number of voices taken by each hand. The second criterion concerns finger independence. The third is finger embellishment, which is also referred to herein as ornamentation. The last component has three distinct elements: hand-crossing, handsharing, and manual exchange. Except for the second criterion, finger independence, each of these criteria directly represents a compositional feature; all are judged quantitatively. In contrast, finger independence may indeed be required, yet its presence remains largely a juristic factor of a player s technique. Thus, finger independence is judged more qualitatively than the other three components. Each of these four components occurs more frequently in advanced level works

29 17 which require the performer to have already mastered the more basic technical elements such as attack and release, articulation, finger extension and finger substitution. The present study assumes that these basic elements are already a part of the student s area of competence. The Orgelbüchlein, widely considered to be a preliminary study to all advanced chorale playing, demands only minimal competence in the four criteria of manual difficulty outlined above. In contrast, the Great Eighteen Chorales demand exceptional competence in all of these areas. Voices per Hand The number of voices needed to be played by each hand is an indication of the difficulty required in organ technique. In fact, Bach often employs one hand to play two voices in his chorale writing. In ornamented chorales as well as cantus firmus chorales, one hand often carries one voice of the cantus firmus while the other hand takes the two voices of the accompaniment. For example, in Nun danket alle Gott (BWV 657) the cantus firmus is played by the right hand and the accompaniment is carried by two voices in the left hand. In An Wasserflüssen Babylon (BWV 653) the left hand plays a single voice cantus firmus and the right hand has a two-voice accompaniment. In trios, however, each hand takes only one voice throughout. 43 Examples include Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (BWV 664) and Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend (BWV 655). Finger Independence Finger independence is the physical ability to play notes with any of the fingers without influencing the motion or stability of other fingers in the same hand. Finger independence is necessary whenever a work requires a single hand to play more than one 43 Although each hand takes only one voice in a trio, the independence of the voices presents difficulties of the highest variety for the performer.

30 18 voice. Increasing the number of voices taken by one hand also increases the performer s difficulty in articulating each voice clearly. It often happens that when one hand carries more than two voices, the individual voices will have different rhythms and different melodic lines, requiring high finger independence. For example, An Wasserflüssen Babylon (BWV 653) has two independent voices in the right hand, requiring a high degree of finger independence. On the other hand, Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten (BWV 668a) the right hand carries only the cantus firmus, requiring less finger independence. Composition factors in the Great Eighteen Chorales requiring finger independence are: ornamentation, tempo, and rhythmic complexity. Wherever one hand plays multiple voices, the use of ornamentation in that hand demands exceptional finger independence. When performing at a fast tempo, the performer s fingers must move quickly while maintaining voice clarity. Rendering such clear sound in fast-tempo passages requires a high degree of finger independence. Also, rhythmic complexity affects the degree of finger independence in way similar to that of tempo. Other musical features that affect the finger independence in a work include continuous figures in small note values, as well as figures consisting of parallel sixths or thirds in a scalar passage. Finger Embellishment Finger embellishment 44 requires finger strength as well as the refined basic skills of hand and wrist control, finger independence, and particularly in baroque music rhythmic precision. In this study, embellishment is considered as a discrete element of difficulty. In the Great Eighteen Chorales, ornamentation occurs not only in the cantus firmi, but also in the accompaniments, often requiring the performer to render ornamented voices in both hands simultaneously. If the chorale has multiple voices in one 44 This study uses embellishment and ornament synonymously.

31 19 hand, the addition of ornamentation in the same hand presents an even harder challenge. Furthermore, ornamented voices sometimes carry ornaments in different hands with little rhythmic distance, adding more difficulty. The examples in figures one, two and three illustrate difficulties in ornamentation in the Great Eighteen Chorales. 45 Figure 1. Ornamented voices in both hands An Wasserflüssen Babylon (BWV 653) measure 9 Figure 2. Ornamentation in one voice where the hand is performing a simultaneous voice Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (BWV 654) measures 16, Bach, Johann Sebastian. Die Orgelchoräle as Der Leipziger Originalhandschrift. Ed. Hans Klotz. Rev. ed. Vol. 2. Kassel: Bärenreiter-Verlag, Print. These and all succeeding musical examples in this essay are from the same edition. All examples are used by permission of Bärenreiter-Verlag.

32 20 Figure 3. Ornamentations in two different voices with little rhythmic distance Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend (BWV 655) measure 14 Hand-crossing Hand-crossing refers to the reversal of the hands from their normal positions: the left hand moves over the right hand to play keys in a higher register, or the right hand moves over the left to play keys in a lower register. One reason hand-crossing causes difficulty in performance is that it is usually not demanded in playing. The majority of keyboard compositions from a beginner s exercise repertoire to a mature player s require only standard hand positions: the right hand plays on the upper register, and the left hand plays on the lower register. When this position is reversed, confusion results in both brain and muscles. Such a challenge requires careful practice and focused attention. However, hand-crossing is often necessary in organ pieces when two manuals are required. There is more frequent hand-crossing in Bach s chorales than in his other free works. Below are two examples where hand-crossing is necessary. The first two examples are from chorales to be played on two manuals with pedal, and the third is from a trio chorale. The following examples illustrate hand-crossing.

33 21 Figure 4. Examples of hand-crossing Komm, Heiliger Geist (BWV 652) measures Trio super Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend (BWV 655) measures Because of the many possibilities in registration, performers will often adjust their hand positions according to the stops available on a specific instrument. However, this study only examines those occasions in which hand-crossing is stipulated in the written score. Hand-sharing Most of the Great Eighteen Chorales have three- or four-voice textures. Handsharing occurs when both hands share responsibility for one voice while maintaining

34 22 independence in the other voices. This technique is required to assist in coordination. Normally, the right hand plays the soprano or alto voices on the treble clef, while the left hand plays tenor or bass voices on the bass clef. Since some of these chorales have four or even five voices to be played on the manuals, hand-sharing is usually used in order to make the playing smooth. Hand-sharing is also used when all the voices are written on the same clef. This happens wherever an interval written in one clef exceeds the hand span. Even where an interval is written in one clef for a single hand span, hand-sharing can help the performer maintain good hand position and produce a smooth performance. The following examples illustrate hand-sharing. Figure 5. Hand-sharing because of wide intervals Fantasia super Komm, Heiliger Geist (BWV 651) measures O Lamm Gottes, unschldig (BWV 656) measures 57-59, 61

35 23 Figure 6. Hand-sharing for better hand position Fantasia super Komm, Heiliger Geist (BWV 651) measure 24, Manual Exchange Manual exchange occurs when one hand switches to another manual. This is necessary in two-manual chorales, especially when one of the manuals has the cantus firmus and the other hand carries a two-voice accompaniment in which each voice has wide intervals or melodic and rhythmic imitation. It is usually preferable to articulate these accompaniment voices in two hands prior to the entrance of the cantus firmus. In such cases, manual exchange is unavoidable.

36 24 Figure 7. Manual exchange Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (BWV 654) measures In this example, the right hand can take the upper voice at measure 22, but the left hand must re-assume both lower voices at measure 24. Pedal Technique Various factors influence the difficulty in pedal technique. Simple pedal parts are characterized by stepwise motion, small intervals, and simple rhythms using long note values as well as notes of equal value. When the cantus firmus is in the pedal, the chorale tune is usually stepwise and in long note values. When the cantus firmus is in one of the manuals, the pedal lines tend to have wider intervals and more complex rhythms and even melodic imitation derived from the cantus firmus. Another factor important in organ playing is that feet are more limited than hands, having a maximum of four points which may be used to press the pedals (two toes and two heels). Moreover, these four points cannot be used independently to the same degree as fingers can. Trio texture often pushes the performer close to these natural limitations because in trios, pedals carry their own voice independent of the manuals. Coordination Coordination refers to the physical ability required when playing various

37 25 combinations of voices. In order to describe performance difficulty, we must examine the various kinds of coordination present in the Great Eighteen Chorales: pedal-manual coordination, manual-manual coordination, and the relationship of voices. Manualmanual coordination occurs in manualiter chorales as well as in chorales with pedals. Coordination must be considered as a separate criterion apart from manual technique. When distinct voices using different textures and sounds are combined, the performance difficulty cannot be described according to the sum of individual pedal and manual techniques. Performance difficulty may also vary depending on the way these voices are aligned vertically. For instance, in Komm, Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist (BWV 667), the pedal technique is a 1 and the manual technique is a 1.5. Even so, the coordination score is 1.66, because pedal-manual coordination and relationship of voices is more difficult than either the pedal or manual techniques considered individually. Even if pedal is rare or absent within a work, it is necessary to describe manual-manual coordination as a separate factor affecting performance difficulty. Pedal-Manual Coordination Effective pedal-manual coordination depends on independence of voicing and the levels of both manual and pedal difficulty. A convenient way to determine the difficulty of pedal-manual coordination is to observe each chorale score vertically. If entries in the pedal line are aligned with each manual entry or downbeat, this poses few difficulties in pedal-manual coordination. However, if the pedal part is not aligned, or if it is in contrary motion to the manual parts, this increases the difficulty for the performer. Also, if a pedal cadence occurs before or after the manual cadences, the coordination difficulty increases. Such difficulty occurs especially in trio textures.

38 26 Another factor to be considered in relation to pedal-manual coordination is pedalhand coordination. Such coordination can also vary according to whether the performer is predominantly left- or right-handed. A right-handed person is likely to be less secure in places where the left hand carries larger harmonic responsibilities or higher rhythmic complexity. This criterion does not take into account combinations of pedal with a single hand. Instead, scores only reflect the coordination required between pedals and both hands. Manual-Manual Coordination Manual-manual coordination refers specifically to those places in the Great Eighteen Chorales where the hands play on separate manuals. The chorales which have a greater incidence of hand-crossing and hand-sharing require a higher degree of manualmanual coordination; as a result, performance difficulty will increase. Relationship of Voices Understanding the relationship between voices is necessary in order to determine the performance difficulty of the Great Eighteen Chorales. There are two general categories of voice relationships: independent and interdependent. Independent voices are those which are distinct from other voices in rhythm, motifs, melody, figuration, and ornamentation. Trio sonatas and chorale trios exhibit the greatest voice independence. Highly independent voice relationships require increased coordination skill, and this results in increased performance difficulty. On the other hand, interdependent voices are those which are imitative of each other in rhythm, motif, melodic figuration, and ornamentation. The imitation may be frequent or infrequent and may be completely imitative or only partially imitative.

39 27 Frequent and exact imitation increases the overall coordination difficulty. Infrequent and inexact imitation allows the voices to support each other more closely in aspects of harmony, rhythm, and vertical alignment; therefore, they are less difficult to perform. As either voice independence or voice interdependence increases, the level of coordination skill also increases, and the work becomes more difficult to play. Tempo As with all of Bach s works, performance tempo in the Great Eighteen Chorales depends partly on the performer s interpretive choices and registration. It also depends on the acoustic qualities of the performance space. Because of such inherently flexible factors that affect tempo, it is difficult to use tempo as a determining criterion of performance difficulty. When grading the chorales for difficulty, these flexible elements must be accommodated by limiting descriptions of tempo to slow, slow to moderate, and fast. Although Bach provided some tempo markings for these pieces, such as allegro, vivace or adagio, performing his organ works invites some level of flexibility in the interpretation of such markings. In Playing Bach in the Keyboard: A Practical Guide, Troeger finds that instead of giving tempo markings, Bach was able to furnish tempo indications in his time signatures, especially by way of the prevalent note values in a piece. The basic principle of baroque metric notation is that larger values are equated with slower tempos and with emphasis, and shorter ones with faster tempos and lighter treatment....depending on what note values are most characteristic of a movement, the meaning of the time signature can be modified one way or another Troeger, Richard. Playing Bach on the Keyboard: A Practical Guide. Pompton Plains, NJ: Amadeus, Print. 144.

40 28 Bach s chorale works usually allow more flexibility in their performance than is allowed in the free works. In general, a chorale written in sixteenth notes opposed by quarter notes will have a faster tempo than a chorale composed primarily in thirty-second notes opposed by eighth notes. When the basic pulse is a quarter note, a smaller division of the beat indicates a slower tempo. Other rhythmic factors being equal, generally a faster tempo makes the piece more difficult to play. The texture and text of a piece are also important in deciding an appropriate tempo. If the texture contains multiple voices in all manual and pedal parts, the tempo slows down. Likewise, if the chorale text conveys ideas that are contemplative or pensive rather than joyful, the tempo may be slower than that suggested by the relationship between the prevailing note value and main pulse. Rhythmic Complexity Rhythmic complexity is found in any passage where different voices carry rhythms which do not align vertically. Wherever the individual voices have different rhythmic patterns, and these voices are played simultaneously, rhythmic conflict rises. Such rhythmic complexity occurs in passages with unaligned syncopation in simultaneous voices, unaligned rhythmic accents, uneven rhythmic ratios, multiple rhythms in multiple voices, and rhythmic conflict where ornaments help to create the effect of uneven rhythmic ratios between two voices. 47 Obviously, a more developed level of performance is demanded in all of these cases. The following musical examples 47 Ornamentation influences rhythmic complexity because playing ornaments often requires uneven rhythmic ratios. For example, if the right hand has a sustained trill while the left hand plays figures in small note divisions, baroque performance practice normally requires the trill to begin slowly and increase gradually in speed. In such a case, not only will the trill and the left hand contain an uneven ratio of notes, but that ratio may change significantly in the course of a single measure. Such passages require the performer to effectively play two different rhythms at once. Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV 660) contains just such a passage at measure 18.

41 29 illustrate such cases of rhythmic complexity. Figure 8. Unaligned syncopation in simultaneous voices Jesus Christus, unser Heiland (BWV 665) measures Figure 9. Unaligned rhythmic accents Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist (BWV 667) measures 1-4 Figure 10. Uneven rhythmic ratios Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (BWV 662) measure 14

42 30 Figure 11. Multiple rhythms in multiple voices Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (BWV 662) measure 13 Figure 12. Rhythmic conflict where ornaments create the effect of uneven rhythmic ratios between two voices An Wasserflüssen Babylon (BWV 653) measures 13, 19 The level of rhythmic complexity in each work is based on the accumulation of such examples: the more complex, the greater the difficulty. Even though a piece has only a few examples of complex rhythms the performance will still be difficult, and the rhythmic score, high. Grading Procedures Each criterion of difficulty will be examined and graded on a scale from 1 to 3. Scale 1 indicates easy, scale 2 indicates moderately difficult, scale 3 indicates difficult. The scale is applied to all criteria, and the overall difficulty of the piece is then calculated as a mean value.

43 31 Manual Technique Voices per Hand As the number of voices per hand increases, so does the score of each component. If each hand has only one voice, the score is 1. If one hand plays two voices and the other hand has only one voice, the score is 2. If each hand carries two or more voices, the score is 3. In the first setting of An Wasserflüssen Babylon (BWV 653), the left hand plays the cantus firmus and the right hand plays two accompaniment voices. Therefore, the score for voices per hand is 2. Finger independence The factors involved in grading finger independence are: the number of voices taken by one hand, embellishments, rhythmic complexity, prevailing note values, parallel sixths or thirds in scalar passages, and tempo. The scores for finger independence in the Great Eighteen Chorales range from 2 to 3. In Komm, Heiliger Geist (BWV 652), the left hand carries two accompaniment voices, requiring significant finger independence for one hand but not the other. Accordingly, the score for finger independence is 2. An Wasserflüssen Babylon (BWV 653) is a good example of how embellishment affects the score for finger independence. In this chorale, ornaments occur frequently in multiple voices in one hand. Therefore, the finger independence score is 3. Rhythmic complexity also affects finger independence, and Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (BWV 662) provides an example. The chorale presents different rhythmic values in each voice; finger independence is both crucial and difficult, so the score for this criterion is 3.

44 32 The prevailing note values in the right hand in Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend (BWV 655) requires much finger independence because of the constant short note values; therefore the score is 3. On the other hand, in Nun danket alle Gott (BWV 657), the right hand carries a single cantus firmus in long note values. Although the left hand accompaniment affects the overall difficulty in finger independence, the right hand finger independence is still low. For that reason, the score of finger independence as a balance between the two, is 2. Parallel sixths or thirds in scalar passages also require a high degree of finger independence. For example, Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (BWV 654) has frequent parallel sixths in one hand, which results in a score of 3 for finger independence. A lack of finger independence will severely inhibit any ability to perform at a fast tempo. For that reason, the score for finger independence often reflects tempo, such as in the case of the fantasy-style Komm, Heiliger Geist (BWV 651), where finger independence is a 3. Finger Embellishment The Great Eighteen Chorales employ ornaments such as turns, appoggiaturas, trills, mordents, trill and mordent, double cadences, and finally, double cadence and mordent. 48 To grade the criterion of finger embellishment, the quantity and difficulty of the ornamentation must be considered. Because it requires little ornamentation, Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein (BWV 668a) has a score of 1. Because it requires moderate ornamentation, Nun danket alle Gott (BWV 657) has a score of 2. Because it has frequent ornamentation, Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (BWV 654) has a score of 3. In general, the 48 One example of double cadence and mordent can be found in Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (BWV 654) measure 101.

45 33 difficulty in performing ornamentation affects a score most powerfully. Even in pieces having a few ornaments, the score might be high if the ornamentation is difficult to play. For example in Jesus Christus, unser Heiland (BWV 665) there is little ornamentation, but it does occur in the multiple voiced textures in one hand. This ornamentation level is thus 2. Hand-crossing, Hand-sharing, Manual Exchange Hand-crossing, hand-sharing, and manual exchange occur throughout this corpus; however, it is rare to find all three elements in one piece. For this reason, these three elements are grouped together to form a single criterion for judging difficulty. Handcrossing occurs mostly in trio textures, while hand-sharing is found in pieces with multiple voices. In the case of pieces played on two manuals, when one manual carries the cantus firmus and the other carries a two-voice accompaniment, hand-crossing or hand-sharing does not often happen, but manual exchange may be required. Where two or more of these elements occur in a single piece, the criterion score will be high. Hand-crossing is considered the most complicated manual technique among the three. Therefore, when hand-crossing is found in a piece, the score for this criterion is 3. Both Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (BWV 664, mm ) and Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend (BWV 655, mm 32-34) are good examples of such difficulty. 49 In contrast, hand-sharing occurs more frequently in various amounts and lengths throughout the Great Eighteen Chorales. For this reason hand-sharing is scored by its frequency in relation to the entire score the percentage of measures in which it occurs. Measures requiring hand-sharing in the Great Eighteen Chorales ranges from 7 to 42 percent. The three levels of grading hand-sharing are: 7 to 20 percent, 20 to 32 percent, 49 There are further examples of complicated manual technique in the two chorales mentioned here.

46 34 and greater than 32 percent. For example, in Jesus Christus, unser Heiland (BWV 666) hand-sharing is required 16 times in 38 measures, which is 42 percent. As a result, the score is 3. Jesus Christus, unser Heiland (BWV 665) has hand-sharing 11 times in 52 measures. Hand-sharing is in about 21 percent of the measures, so the score for this component is 2. In Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist (BWV 667) hand-sharing is only in 8 percent of the measures, so its hand-sharing score is 1. Manual exchange is found when two manuals carry the cantus firmus above a pedal accompaniment. In such pieces, this happens at each entry and at each closing of the cantus firmus. In such chorales, the score for manual exchange will depend partly on the number of entries of the cantus firmus. Compared to the more difficult levels of handcrossing and hand-sharing, manual exchange is given an average score of 2. For example, in An Wasserflüssen Babylon (BWV 653), the manual exchanges are given a score of 2 for the whole component. However, if a piece requires manual exchange as well as handsharing and hand-crossing, the level score is higher because of the more complicated manual technique. For example, Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (BWV 662) requires hand-crossing as well as manual exchange. Therefore, the score for this grouped criterion involving all three components is 3. Pedal Technique The elements which affect pedal technique are melody, rhythm, and the presence of contrapuntal or homophonic textures. Less difficult pedal lines are characterized by stepwise motion, small intervals, simple rhythms, simple combinations of rhythms, and long note values. For example, the pedal line in Fantasia super Komm, Heiliger Geist (BWV 651) is a good example of a cantus firmus with long notes in a simple rhythm.

47 35 Because the intervals in this pedal line are basically stepwise, and the rhythm is simple, the pedal technique score is 1. On the other hand, the pedal line in Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV 659) is non-melodic (even though it is often stepwise and rhythmically simple); as a result, the technique required is given a score of 2. In another example, the wide intervals and varying rhythmic values in the pedal line in Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (BWV 660) indicate a high level of difficulty, so the score is 3. Coordination Pedal-Manual Coordination In order to grade pedal and manual coordination, it is necessary to observe vertical alignment in the chorale score. When the pedal and manual lines are aligned vertically, coordination between them results in a low score. For example, in Jesus Christus, unser Heiland (BWV 665) such alignment occurs frequently, so the relevant coordination score is 1. In Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV 659), on the other hand, there is a more active pedal line with imitative accompaniment in the left hand. Because these voices cannot be easily combined, high coordination skill is necessary; therefore, the coordination score is 2. In Trio super Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend (BWV 655) the pedal voice enters after the manual voices, creating a competing rhythmic pattern and a more complex texture. Therefore, the coordination score is 3. Manual-Manual Coordination In order to grade manual-manual coordination, it is necessary to consider the manual techniques of hand-crossing, hand-sharing, manual exchange and number of voices per hand. Because of the difficulty of manual-manual technique required to

48 36 perform the Great Eighteen Chorales, manual-manual coordination in this corpus is scored either 2 or 3. Rhythmic complexity in each hand also influences manual-manual coordination. A good example is found in Trio super Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV 660), in which the rhythmic complexity is very high. Relationship of Voices Whether the voices in a chorale are predominately independent or interdependent is most often related to the genre of the chorale. Trio texture is always the most difficult; also, since chorale trios are written in different motifs, they contain the most independent voice writing in Bach s organ literature. For that reason, a trio-style chorale will normally have the highest score, 3. Trio super Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (BWV 664) is a good example of highly independent voicing. On the other hand, cantus firmus chorales and long ornamental chorales are normally scored 1 or 2 depending on the complexity of the accompaniment parts. Accompaniment voices having only partial imitation tend to be homorhythmic, and are thus less challenging to play than the more imitative accompaniment voices found in chorale fugues. Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein (BWV 668a) has a score of 1 for the relationship of voices because the accompaniment voices tend to be both imitative and frequently aligned, creating a homophonic texture. In Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV 659), the accompaniment parts are more thoroughly imitative than those of Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein, and each voice is independent, so the score for relationship of voices is 2. Tempo As mentioned in the first section of the present chapter, tempo scoring is based on

49 37 the relationship between the main beat and prevailing note values, and makes use of a scale from 1 (slowest) to 3 (fastest). The main beat in Trio super Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend (BWV 655) is a quarter note, and the prevailing note values is a sixteenth note. Thus, the tempo is fast and graded 3. Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (BWV 654) has a quarter note as the main beat, and the prevailing note value is an eighth note. Thus, the tempo is medium and graded 2. There are no examples among the Great Eighteen Chorales in which the tempo should be slow because of the relationship between the prevailing note value and main beat. If a piece has two different tempo indications, such as those in Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (BWV 663), or if it has different meters, as occurs in O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig (BWV 656), the tempo will have a score of 3 because performing two different time signatures in one piece while maintaining musical integrity is difficult. Rhythmic Complexity Rhythmic complexity is clearly related to performance difficulty. When an individual voice has tied notes or syncopations, this causes shifts in rhythmic accents, and is thus difficult to perform. Rhythmic complexity is also created when each voice contains different rhythmic values and different rhythmic groups. Since the rhythmic features of the Great Eighteen Chorales tend to be complex, the scale of rhythmic complexity in the collection is either 2 or 3. For example, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV 661) has a basic rhythmic pattern which is repeated throughout, and the accented notes in different voices coincide. However, since frequent ties in all voices cause rhythmic conflict, the score is 2. On the other hand, the rhythmic complexity in Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (BWV 662) is at a higher level because it contains a variety of

50 note values and ornaments. Therefore, the score of rhythmic complexity is 3. 38

51 39 CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS OF J.S. BACH S GREAT EIGHTEEN CHORALE PRELUDES ACCORDING TO CRITERIA In this chapter, each chorale is analyzed according to the criteria and grading procedures outlined in the previous chapter. Each table shows the scores developed from the criteria. Following the tables are brief discussions of the salient performance features of the work. These will help performers and teachers understand the musical and interpretive features of the chorales. Finally, the reader will find specific information regarding how the chorales are measured according to each individual criterion. The chorales are arranged according to their difficulty, in ascending order. Group one includes the easiest chorales from among the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, having a mean difficulty grade that is less than 2.0. Group two is intermediate to more advanced chorales, and this group is comprised of chorales having a mean difficulty grade equal to or higher than 2.0, but less than 2.5. Group three includes advanced chorales having a mean difficulty grade of 2.5 or higher.

52 40 Group One: Easy Komm, Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist, BWV 667 Table 1. BWV 667 Manual Technique 1.5 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 2 Finger Embellishment 1 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 1 Pedal Technique 1 Coordination 1.66 Pedal and Manual Coordination 2 Manual and Manual Coordination 1 Relationship of Voices 2 Tempo 3 Rhythmic Complexity 2 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 1.83 Performance Features This chorale has two sections which are totally different. The first section is nearly the same as it appears in the Orgelbüchlein (BWV 631), and the entire cantus firmus is in the soprano. Here, the cantus firmus enters on the beat while the pedal punctuates this line on the third eighth note. The second section is expanded, and the

53 41 cantus firmus is in the pedals. 50 This is piece is sectional and thus is similar to a chorale partita, yet it is shorter. The pertinent feature of the opening section is its rhythmic complexity. In the second section, the basic figuration moves from eighth- to sixteenthnote values, requiring some manual dexterity. Manual Technique. In the first section, the right hand basically carries two voices and the left hand carries one. The cantus firmus is in the soprano voice; all other voices function as accompaniment. This accompaniment is more rhythmic than the cantus firmus. The two inner voices frequently span wide intervals. In order to express the different characteristics of the two voices in one hand, finger independence is required. In the second section (mm. 11-end), the hands share the three upper voices freely according to the width of intervals from the middle voices. Also in the second section, scalar sixteenth notes in the three upper voices require a medium level of finger independence. There is no complicated ornamentation in this chorale. In this work hand-crossing does not occur, but hand-sharing is needed to make a convincing articulation where the voices widely diverge as the passages in figure 13. Figure 13. Hand-sharing in BWV 667, measures 17 and 21 The overall frequency of hand-sharing is 8%, so the grade for hand-sharing is one. 50 The rhythmic pattern of this chorale presents eighth notes on the final third of the beat. Stinson claims that the rhythmic emphasis on this final third of the beat is a musical depiction of the Holy Spirit, who is traditionally conceived as the third person of the Holy Trinity. Russell Stinson,103.

54 42 Pedal Technique. The pedal technique here is at an easy level. In the first part (mm. 1-10), the pedal plays eighth notes on the final third of the beat. Such rhythmic pattern demands increased attention on the part of the performer, but it is manageable. After the first part, and continuing to the end, the pedal has the chorale theme in long note values on the beat in conjunct motion. In measures 17, 21, and 24, the pedal has passing tones in sixteenth notes, but this is not difficult. Coordination. In the first part, the chorale theme in the soprano enters on the downbeat while the pedal punctuates the third division of the beat. This demands steady rhythmic coordination between manual and pedal. However, in the second part, the rhythmic coordination between the pedal and the manual is easier to play because the pedal and the manuals have a common beat. Coordination between the hands is not challenging because the accompaniment parts are aligned. As far as the relationship of voices is concerned, in the first part, the outer lines (soprano, bass) have different rhythmic accents. However, the accompanying inner voices are rhythmically aligned. In the second part, the texture is more imitative. Tempo. The main beat is a dotted quarter note, and the prevailing note value is a sixteenth note. Thus, the tempo is at a high level. Rhythmic Complexity. The most challenging rhythmic feature of this chorale is in the first section, where the pedal continually enters on the final third of the main beat. The second section of the chorale is easier because the pedal line almost always aligns vertically with the hands on the downbeat. All in all, the rhythmic complexity is at a medium level.

55 43 Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein, BWV 668a Table 2. BWB 668a Manual Technique 1.75 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 2 Finger Embellishment 1 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 2 Pedal Technique 2 Coordination 1.66 Pedal and Manual Coordination 2 Manual and Manual Coordination 2 Relationship of Voices 1 Tempo 2 Rhythmic Complexity 2 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 1.88 Performance Features This is the only work among the Great Eighteen Chorales which does not appear in any of Bach s autograph manuscripts. 51 However, the accompaniment parts have a clear precursor in the Orgelbüchlein setting of this chorale. Thus, there is no Leipzig version of this chorale. This completed Weimar version was normally performed at funerals. Although Bach s title information for this chorale does not indicate that it 51 Williams, 385.

56 44 should be played on two manuals and pedal, the work is conventionally played as such. The top staff carries both the chorale (soprano line) and the alto line. The difficulty for the performer is playing the lower notes on the treble clef with the left hand while the right hand performs the cantus firmus above. Manual technique. During the interludes, each hand takes one voice, but when the cantus firmus appears in the soprano, the left hand must play both alto and the tenor accompaniment voices. This requires a medium level of finger independence. There is no particularly complicated ornamentation in this chorale. Although hand-sharing does not appear in this work, smooth performance requires manual exchange between the interludes of fore-imitation and the chorale presentation. Pedal technique. Imitative patterns in the chorale, which derive from the cantus firmus, require at least medium level technique because of the resulting disjunct motion. Coordination. The medium level pedal and manual techniques influence the level of coordination. The accompaniment parts are partially imitative, but the coordination required due to the relationship of voices is low. Tempo. The main quarter note beat and the prevailing eighth note values suggest a moderate tempo. Rhythmic complexity. Each voice contains a majority of eighth notes, but is periodically interrupted by sixteenth note figures. When each voice carries a different combination of note values, rhythmical complexity results.

57 45 Jesus, Christus, unser Heiland, BWV 665 Table 3. BWV 665 Manual Technique 2 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 2 Finger Embellishment 2 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 2 Pedal Technique 1 Coordination 1.66 Pedal and Manual Coordination 1 Manual and Manual Coordination 2 Relationship of Voices 2 Tempo 3 Rhythmic Complexity 2 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 1.93 Performance Features BWV 665 demands much of the performer because each section of the chorale text is depicted both rhythmically and melodically. Below the cantus firmus, the accompaniments are representative of the chorale text. Albert Schweitzer commented that the accompaniments depict God s anger (bass, bb ), bitter suffering (chromatics b.27), and resurrection from the pain of Hell (rising [thirty-second note] motif b. 38) Qtd. in Williams, p. 378

58 46 The music corresponding to the first text requires a refined technique in the changing accompaniment rhythmic figures as well as chromaticism. Next, the performer must then sustain the cants firmus in quarter notes while playing simultaneous chromatic figuration in sixteenth notes. As the chorale ends, the number of voices expands to eight in a passage which is very difficult to render well. Manual technique. Hand-crossing is not required in this piece. However, in the manualiter part one hand frequently carries two different voices, and this naturally causes one hand to cover wide leaps; therefore hand-sharing is necessary in 21% of the measures, a medium level. In order to effectively articulate the individual voices, finger independence is indispensable. As the number of voices increases at the end of the piece, the difficulty in manual technique also increases. Additional ornamentation in multiple voices also requires strong finger independence. Although embellishment does not occur throughout, ornamentation in multiple voices by one hand adds to the difficulty. An example of this is in measure 11. Figure 14. Ornamentation in BWV 665, measure 11 Pedal technique. The pedal carries the cantus firmus, and its line is mainly in conjunct intervals. Therefore, the level of pedal technique is low.

59 47 Coordination. Considering the easy pedal line and the overall medium level of manual technique, coordination between pedal and manual is low. Coordination between the hands is at a medium level. Although all parts are interdependent, presenting the individual voices distinctly requires moderate coordination between both hands. Tempo. The relationship between the prevailing sixteenth notes and the main quarter note beat may suggest a fast tempo. Rhythmic complexity. There are some places where syncopation caused by ties in different voices results in conflicting rhythms. This is particularly apparent in passages such as those in figure 15. The overall level of rhythmic complexity is therefore medium. Figure 15. Rhythmic complexity in BWV 665, measures 15-16

60 48 Group Two: Intermediate to Advanced Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, BWV 666 Table 4. BWV 666 Manual Technique 3 Voices per Hand 3 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 3 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 3 Pedal Technique 1 Coordination 2 Pedal and Manual Coordination 1 Manual and Manual Coordination 3 Relationship of voices 2 Tempo 2 Rhythmic Complexity 2 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.0 Performance Features This cantus firmus is divided into four sections in dotted quarter notes. Each section is introduced by a different accompaniment figure, and these accompaniment figures are stated before each of the four lines of the chorale is introduced. The intensity builds in the third and fourth sections, because the accompanying figuration is written in

61 49 continuous sixteenth notes. Except for the final three bars, this chorale has no the pedal line. Thus, it is among the easiest of the Great Eighteen Chorales to play. Manual technique. In this piece, each hand usually takes two voices. In some passages, one of the voices in either hand may be shared with the other hand. Such passages include measures such as those in figure 16. Figure 16. Hand-sharing in BWV 666, measures To play the cantus firmus in the soprano voice independent of the other imitating voices, a different articulation and touch are required. To achieve this articulation and touch, high levels of finger independence is necessary. For example, the first chorale phrase (measures 6-10), and likewise the tenor voice, which anticipates the next chorale line (measures 11-13) are surrounded by the imitating pattern, requiring distinct articulation.

62 50 Figure 17. Imitating pattern in BWV 666, measures 6-10 Figure 18. Imitating pattern in BWV 666, measures There is no ornamentation in this piece. Likewise, hand-crossing is not present. However, hand-sharing is necessary in order to make the theme distinctive from the other voices and to create smooth connections across wide intervals. The percentage of hand-sharing in this piece is 42%, and thus the score for this sub-criterion is a three. Pedal techniques. A pedal line appears only at the end of the chorale. Therefore no complicated pedal technique is needed. Coordination. Hand-sharing in wide intervals requires a high level of coordination between both hands. Such hand-sharing is found in the passages shown in figures 19 and 20.

63 51 Figure 19. Coordination in BWV 666, measure 23 Figure 20. Coordination in BWV 666, measures While the cantus firmus is presented in the soprano, the remaining voices carry imitative patterns. This imitation is not limited to one voice, but rather enters and exits all voices freely and at different times. In order to play the individual voices clearly, the intricate counterpoint requires a high degree of coordination. Tempo. In the first part, eighth notes are opposed to dotted quarter notes. In the second part, sixteenth notes are set against the dotted quarter notes. In the first part, the relationship between the prevailing note value and the main beat suggests a relatively moderate tempo. This tempo is maintained throughout the piece, even though the relationship changes in the second section. Therefore, the tempo is at a medium level. Rhythmic complexity. The second section (m. 17-end) contains a continuous sixteenth note rhythmic figuration which is not contained in a single voice. At no point

64 52 does an individual voice contain a rhythm which is not aligned; however, some syncopation is present. This syncopation adds some complexity, but overall this chorale s rhythm is of medium difficulty.komm, Heiliger Geist, BWV 652 Table 5. BWV 652 Manual Technique 2.5 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 2 Finger Embellishment 3 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 3 Pedal Technique 2 Coordination 2 Pedal and Manual Coordination 2 Manual and Manual Coordination 2 Relationship of Voices 2 Tempo 2 Rhythmic Complexity 2 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.1

65 53 Performance Features This is the longest of all of the Great Eighteen Chorales. 53 The cantus firmus is in the soprano, and it is ornamented. Throughout the chorale, the order of voices entry is always tenor-alto-bass-soprano. The fact that this order is sustained throughout the chorale is unique in the Great Eighteen Chorales. Another unique feature is the chorale coda, a Hallelujah (mm ), which is in the same key as the preceding section, yet with a thicker texture in the accompaniment. Further, the basic rhythm in this coda is the sixteenth note, which occurs in all four voices. Because this chorale is so long, it is difficult to maintain intensity throughout. The eight phrases of the text are of varying lengths, and each is preceded by fore-imitation. Manual technique. The left hand plays two accompaniment voices throughout this chorale. The number of voices per hand and finger independence are both of medium-level difficulty. Frequent ornamentation occurs in this piece; trills, mordents and turns appear more than fifty times. As a result, the ornamentation greatly affects the level of manual technique. Hand-sharing does not occur in this piece. Manual exchanges occur when the right hand switches manuals to assist the left hand during the interludes. There are also several measures in which the left hand plays in a higher register than the right hand, especially at the end of the work. Unless the performer uses a four-foot stop for the left hand, hand-crossing is unavoidable. Hand-crossing and manual exchange thus occur together, significantly augmenting the level of manual technique required. Pedal technique. The pedal line has imitative thematic patterns with various rhythmic and melodic changes. Wide intervals in consistent eighth notes and scale-wise motion create medium difficulty. 53 The chorale subject is derived from Gregorian Chant.

66 54 Coordination. The coordination between pedal and manual is of moderate difficulty. Fore-imitation in the accompaniment, as well as in the cantus firmus and the pedal, result in a medium level of voice independence. Tempo. The quarter note main beat and the prevailing eighth notes suggest a moderate tempo. Rhythmic complexity. Frequent ornamentation in the independent voices results in a moderate rhythmic complexity. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659 Table 6. BWV 659 Manual Technique 2.25 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 2 Finger Embellishment 3 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 2 Pedal Technique 2 Coordination 2 Pedal and Manual Coordination 2 Manual and Manual Coordination 2 Relationship of Voices 2 Tempo 1 Rhythmic Complexity 3 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.05

67 55 Performance Features In the beginning of this chorale, two imitative voices in the left hand introduce portions of the cantus firmus. Later, the cantus firmus enters in the soprano, and it is embellished throughout, and is accompanied by an independent motif which is equal in importance to the cantus firmus. Meanwhile, the pedals a continuous walking bass line in eighth notes. The left hand imitation becomes increasingly homophonic until just before the end of the chorale. Manual technique. When the cantus firmus is absent, the two accompanying voices can be divided equally between the hands. However, when the cantus firmus is present, playing these two independent voices in the left hand is a challenge, as in measure six. Figure 21. Independent voices in BWV 659, measure 6 The two independent accompaniment voices require a high level of finger independence. Careful fingering is especially necessary on beats 3 and 4 of measure six to preserve the independence of each voice within this wide span. Although hand-crossing and handsharing are not present in this piece, manual exchange occurs in order to make smooth connections between the interlude and the entry of cantus firmus.

68 56 Pedal technique. The constant walking pedal line covers a large range (C-b flat) and becomes progressively more disjunct; this results in wide intervals between the feet. Coordination. The three contrapuntal elements (cantus firmus, inner voices, ongoing pedal) are interdependent, rendering coordination at a medium level of difficulty. Coordination between the pedal and the left hand accompaniment is more complicated than that between the pedal and the cantus firmus. Tempo. The relationship between prevailing note value and the main beat in this chorale suggests a medium tempo. However, the cantus firmus is highly ornamented. The tempo needs to be slower than a medium tempo to allow for effective playing of the ornaments. This is the only work among the Great Eighteen Chorales to be graded as a 1 under the tempo criterion. Rhythmic Complexity. The ornaments in the cantus firmus occur at the thirtysecond note level and present a reasonably difficult challenge to the performer. The embellished cantus firmus requires a great amount of freedom, and the performer must simultaneously play a two-voiced lower accompaniment, derived from the cantus firmus. This should all be played with a steady tempo and relaxed phrasing.

69 57 Nun danket alle Gott, BWV 657 Table 7. BWV 657 Manual Technique 2.25 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 2 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 2 Pedal Technique 2 Coordination 2.33 Pedal and Manual Coordination 3 Manual and Manual Coordination 2 Relationship of Voices 2 Tempo 2 Rhythmic Complexity 2 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.11 Performance Features The cantus firmus in the soprano is not ornamented; it moves in constant halfnotes above the inner alto and tenor lines. Stretto (as overlapping statements of the subject) is the basic musical device used throughout the two inner accompaniment voices. Below them, the pedal moves mostly in eighth notes. Toward the end, the two inner voices proceed again in stretto (here as increased speed) in constant sixteenth notes It is worth noting that in this chorale, Bach is employing two different musical devices, each bearing the name stretto. Stretto as overlapping statements of a melodic subject is a common baroque device. Stretto as

70 58 Until the cantus firmus enters, the accompaniment is played by two hands on one manual. When the cantus firmus enters, it is played by the right hand on a different manual while the left hand takes over the responsibility for the inner accompanying voices. A refined technique is required to manipulate all these voices while maintaining both the rhythmic flow and the integrity of all voices. Manual technique. The left hand performs the imitating accompaniment voices. The rhythm varies often with smaller note values, and the cantus firmus often covers wide intervals. Therefore, playing this accompaniment part requires a high level of finger independence in the left hand. Although hand-crossing and hand-sharing are not used in this work, the manual writing requires frequent exchanges between two manuals. Pedal technique. The sparsely active rhythms and the frequent wide intervals demand a technique more refined than that which is needed for pedals which carry a cantus firmus. The technical level required here is medium. Coordination. The pedal line and the two voices in the left hand make coordination between pedal and left hand difficult. Although the cantus firmus is easy to play, the accompaniment needs a high degree of finger independence because of its ongoing counterpoint. Therefore, coordination between the manuals requires moderate skill. The independent cantus firmus in the soprano and the interdependent remaining parts require medium level independence. Tempo. The main beat is a quarter note, and the prevailing note value is an eighth note. Thus, the tempo is moderate. increased speed toward the end of a work is less common in the baroque, and by employing it, Bach precedes later composers of the Classical and Romantic eras.

71 59 Rhythmic complexity. The rhythmic independence of the three lower voices results in a medium level of complexity for the performer. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 661 Table 8. BWV 661 Manual Technique 1.75 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 0 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 2 Pedal Technique 1 Coordination 3 Pedal and Manual Coordination 3 Manual and Manual Coordination 3 Relationship of Voices 3 Tempo 3 Rhythmic Complexity 2 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.15 Performance Features This is the third and last setting of this hymn in the Great Eighteen Chorales. The overall structure is an alternation of pure ritornello sections and those with fugue and, in the bass, the cantus firmus. The opening motif is descending in the first two ritornello

72 60 sections and ascending in the next two ritornello sections. The chorale ends with both ritornello motifs sounding simultaneously above the last phrase of the chorale s cantus firmus. The chorale s steady rhythm means that this work is rather easy to play. However, the persistence of this rhythm and the organo pleno registration mean that this chorale taxes the concentration of the performer. Manual technique. The three upper voices perform a fugue above the cantus firmus in the pedal. A high degree of finger independence is necessary to maintain consistency and to clearly articulate the fugal subject presented in the upper voices. The subject takes various forms, including inversion. In 27% of the measures, two of these upper voices have wide intervals that require hand-sharing. Thus, hand-sharing is at a medium level. Pedal technique. The presentation of the chorale in the pedal is fairly simple. Coordination. Though the pedal line is simple, the manual technique is of a high level; as a result, coordination between them is high. The three fugal voices in the hands are interdependent. As with most fugal textures, clear presentation of all voices requires strong coordination between the hands. Tempo. The active eighth note pattern in the manuals and the half note cantus firmus in the bass suggest a fast tempo. Rhythmic complexity. The rhythm of this chorale is not highly difficult, due to the repetitious eighth note figures. However, because of the fugal texture, the rhythmic complexity is increased, requiring a medium degree of skill.

73 61 Von Gott will ich nicht lassen, BWV 658 Table 9. BWV 658 Manual Technique 2 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 1 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 2 Pedal Technique 1 Coordination 2.33 Pedal and Manual Coordination 2 Manual and Manual Coordination 3 Relationship of Voices 2 Tempo 3 Rhythmic Complexity 3 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.26 Performance Features The rhythm in the accompaniment voices is very complicated. All manual voices have regular thirty-second and sixteenth-note patterns throughout. Combined with tied notes, these patterns give an effect of syncopation. As a result, the overall mood is energetic and joyful. When the cantus firmus enters in the pedal, each phrase is delivered in quarter notes. The difficulty in performing this work is to maintain a steady tempo in

74 62 the face of thirty-second note motifs in all parts. These motifs are combined with intricate syncopation, also in thirty-second notes, demanding a solid, agile hand technique. Manual Technique. Above the pedal tone at measures 35-37, the end of the chorale, complicated figurations appear in the right hand as well as suspensions in the alto voice. This syncopation is then doubled by syncopation in the tenor voice, all of which requires intense finger independence and a well-developed manual technique. In the left hand, syncopation often occurs immediately following octave leaps in the bass line. To accommodate these wide intervals, at least medium hand-sharing is necessary. There is no particularly complicated ornamentation in this chorale. Hand sharing is in 32% of the measures, and is thus at a medium level. Pedal Technique. Since the pedal has the chorale theme straightforward in the middle range (C1 to C2 ), the pedal technique is easy. Coordination. Although the coordination required between pedals and manuals is at a medium level, the skill required is more difficult because of the rhythmic conflict. There is partial imitation in all parts, but each voice is basically independent. Tempo. The thirty-second note rhythmic pattern in the accompaniment and the main beat in quarter notes suggest a relatively fast tempo. Rhythmic complexity. This work exhibits intense rhythmic figuration to such a degree that the most heavily weighted criterion of difficulty for this work is the rhythmic complexity in the manuals. The intricate syncopation in all voices in the manuals, particularly in the alto and tenor lines, is representative of Bach s ability to create intensely complex rhythms.

75 63 Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV 654 Table 10. BWV 654 Manual Technique 2.75 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 3 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 3 Pedal Technique 2 Coordination 2.66 Pedal and Manual Coordination 3 Manual and Manual Coordination 3 Relationship of Voices 2 Tempo 2 Rhythmic Complexity 2 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.28 Performance Features This is a lyrical and quiet communion hymn. The underlying rhythmic pattern is a sarabande, with the accent on the second beat. The ornamented cantus firmus enters in the soprano after the basic sarabande rhythm has been introduced in the other voices. The cantus firmus and the accompaniment voices are mildly ornamented. This chorale must not be played too quickly, as a slower tempo best conveys the quiet and reflective mood. Reflecting the chorale mood, the ornamentation requires a relaxed interpretation. The

76 64 left-hand technique in this chorale is very challenging because it carries the two ornamented inner voices in parallel motion of intervals as large as sixths. In addition, hand-crossing consistently appears at the ends of phrases when the alto goes above the soprano cantus firmus. Manual technique. While the right hand can help the left hand during the ritornello, the left hand has to take all the voices of accompaniment to allow for the entry of the cantus firmus in the right hand. The left hand then plays eighth-note parallel thirds and sixths beneath the soprano cantus firmus. This requires strong finger independence in the left hand. Embellishments in this piece include trills, turns, and appoggiaturas in the cantus firmus as well as ornaments in the accompaniment voices. When the right hand shares the left hand accompaniment, playing the ornamentation is not difficult. However, when the right hand plays the cantus firmus, the left hand alone must play the ornamentation, increasing performance difficulty. Moreover, measures 1 through 33 are repeated, giving an opportunity to add more ornamentation the second time this passage is played. Although hand-sharing is not present, hand-crossing occurs naturally when the left hand range is higher than the range of the right hand. Thus, this chorale is technically challenging for the performer. Pedal technique. The pedal line provides no opportunity for the performer to rest. The pedal is mostly in wide intervals, and stepwise motion only appears infrequently. At least a medium level of pedal technique is needed. Coordination. The ongoing pedal line and the complicated rhythmic features of the ornamentation in both hands require a high degree of hand-pedal as well as manualmanual coordination. There are four voices: the continuo-like pedal, two voices of fore-

77 65 imitated accompaniment in the left hand, and the cantus firmus in the right hand. In addition, the two voices in the left hand accompaniment are interdependent with each other. Thus, the overall coordination required because of the relationship of voices is at a medium level. Tempo. The prevailing eighth notes and the quarter note main pulse suggest a moderate tempo. Rhythmic complexity. The frequent ornamentation in all manual parts, as well as the varying rhythmic values in all four voices signal a moderate rhythmic complexity.

78 66 O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig, BWV 656 Table 11. BWV 656 Manual Technique 3 Voices per Hand 3 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 3 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 3 Pedal Technique 1 Coordination 2.66 Pedal and Manual Coordination 2 Manual and Manual Coordination 3 Relationship of Voices 3 Tempo 3 Rhythmic Complexity 2 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.33 Performance Features This passion chorale has three verses. In the first verse (mm. 1-70), a modified cantus firmus appears in the soprano. In the second verse (mm ), the cantus firmus appears in the alto with only slight modification. In the third verse (mm ), the pedal makes its first entry, with the cantus firmus in half and whole notes. Here, the three manual voices accompany in triple, invertible counterpoint; the effect is one of stability. Each verse ends with a refrain. In the first and second refrains, the text is a plea

79 67 for mercy whereas, in the third and final refrain (mm. 139-end), there is a plea for peace. In each verse, the cantus firmus is played in a different voice, and the melodic and rhythmic features of the accompanying voices change significantly. Together, these musical changes depict the movement of the chorale text from pain, to mercy, and, finally, to peace. The chorale begins with a 3/2 meter and changes to a 9/4 meter in the final verse. However, the tempo must remain the same throughout. Thus a half note in the first two verses has the same duration as a dotted half note in the third verse. This shift in meter presents this work s main difficulty; performers must be extremely precise in order to maintain a steady rhythm. Another significant difficulty is that each verse has not only different meter but also different musical figurations. Yet the three verses form but one piece, so they all must be played with unity even as the musical intensity increases throughout. That is to say, the performer must maintain the flow of a developing musical idea throughout. Manual technique. Since the alto and tenor voices share a similar pitch range, hand distribution between alto and tenor also changes frequently. In the second verse, wide intervals in the soprano and alto demand different hand distribution and also wider finger positions. This passage requires distinct articulation between the cantus firmus and the countersubjects; the cantus firmus might easily be obscured otherwise. In order to render this clearly, steady finger independence is demanded. Ornamentation is applied in all voices more often in the first verse than in the other verses, and this requires extra effort because one hand has to play two inner voices as well as the ornamentation. Handsharing is 38%, a high level.

80 68 Pedal technique. The pedal appears in the third verse and it is easy to play. Coordination. In the third verse, the pedal plays the chorale in long note values. Coordination between the pedal and the hands is moderate because of the simple pedal line. However, coordination between the two hands is challenging in all three verses due to frequent hand-sharing. The well-constructed counterpoint around the cantus firmus increases the level of coordination between manuals. Tempo. The prevailing note value is an eighth note, and the main beat is a half note. Ordinarily, this would suggest a fast tempo. However, the mood of the text should require moderation and a medium tempo. However, there are two meters in this chorale and this requires the performer to maintain a steady tempo throughout. Because of the shift in meter, the tempo of this particular chorale is graded as a three. Rhythmic complexity. The first and second verses have busy eighth note patterns while the third verse is characterized by quarter note patterns. The rhythmic conflict between the voices results in a medium level of rhythmic complexity.

81 69 An Wasserflüssen Babylon, BWV 653 Table 12. BWV 653 Manual Technique 2.5 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 3 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 2 Pedal Technique 2 Coordination 2.66 Pedal and Manual Coordination 3 Manual and Manual Coordination 3 Relationship of Voices 2 Tempo 2 Rhythmic Complexity 3 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.43 Performance Features The trills throughout the three upper voices, as well as the sarabande rhythm may depict the sorrowful mood in the text. The chorale opens with all voices except tenor, and is written in a canon-like structure. The tenor appears later, carrying the cantus firmus. A wavering motif in the soprano imitates the cantus firmus. Throughout the chorale, one of the accompaniment voices presents the chorale tune before the chorale tune enters as a solo.

82 70 Each voice has a different rhythmic flow, with ornaments that are not simultaneous with ornaments in the other voices. While the intricate ornamentation is performed in the hands, the pedal line maintains a steady stepwise motion. Manual technique. The right hand of this chorale carries passages derived from the cantus firmus which occur between actual statements of the cantus firmus. These passages are repeated as the cantus firmus is played in the tenor. Therefore the right hand needs strong finger independence. Ornamentation occurs not only in the cantus firmus but also in the right hand when it takes the two accompaniment voices, increasing the performance difficulty. When the right hand takes the accompaniment voices, the ornamentation is more challenging, requiring supple finger technique and independence. In addition, frequent chromatic ornaments complicate each line. Although the ornamentation itself is fairly simple, its combination with a full voice in the same hand makes it difficult to play. There are twelve such examples in this piece the most frequent among the Great Eighteen Chorales. The first of these passages is shown in figure 22. Although hand-sharing does not occur in this chorale, hand exchange between the two manuals is necessary. Figure 22. Ornamentation with multiple voices in the same hand in BWV 653, measure 7

83 71 Pedal technique. The pedal line is in continuous quarter notes, and it is not stepwise. There are also wide interval eighth note figures such as those in figure 23. Figure 23. Wide pedal intervals in BWV 653, measures Overall, a moderate level of pedal technique is required for this piece. Coordination. The vertically disaligned pedal and manual voices require a high level of coordination. The left hand plays the cantus firmus in the tenor, and the cantus firmus is interdependent with the right hand accompaniment. Together they are played above the pedal continuo; this texture requires good coordination. Likewise, the rhythmic complexity between the voices in the manuals increases the need for coordination skill at the medium level. Tempo. The quarter note main beat and the prevailing eighth notes in the upper voices suggest a moderate tempo. Rhythmic complexity. Contrary to the standard sarabande, this sarabande has no upbeat. 55 As a result, there are many places in which tied notes between voices are not aligned. This feature increases the rhythmic complexity between two manuals. 55 Williams, p. 348

84 72 Group Three: Advanced Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 663 Table 13. BWV 663 Manual Technique 2.5 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 2 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 3 Pedal Technique 2 Coordination 3 Pedal and Manual Coordination 3 Manual and Manual Coordination 3 Relationship of Voices 3 Tempo 3 Rhythmic Complexity 2 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.5 Performance Features This is the second setting of this chorale in the Great Eighteen Chorales. In fact, the chorale s opening motif is used by Bach wherever he sets this particular chorale. The cantus firmus is in the tenor line throughout and is richly ornamented, as are the alto and

85 73 soprano. Halfway through, the tenor has a cadenza followed by an adagio marked by modulation, full harmonies, and chromaticism. Manual technique. The asymmetric eighth note patterns throughout the manual parts require strong finger independence. Ornamentation, although not complicated, occurs frequently not only in the cantus firmus but also in the accompaniments. This adds to the overall difficulty. The left hand exchanges manuals frequently in order to play multiple statements of the cantus firmus in the tenor. Hand-crossing also occurs. Such complication in the two manuals renders the level of manual technique very high. Pedal technique. Although the pedal line is repetitious, it is most often aligned with downbeats in the manuals, and requires only moderate skill to play. Coordination. Considering the high level of manual technique and the active pedal line, coordination between hands and feet is high. Further, the quick-tempo passages in eighth notes in both manuals also require strong coordination skill. The independent pedal line, the cantus firmus in the left hand, and the interdependent accompaniment voices in the right hand together represent a strongly independent relationship of voices. Tempo. Bach has written two tempo indications: cantabile and adagio. Since there is no established standard for these tempi, many scholars and performers interpret them differently. 56 One measure before the adagio, there is a cadenza-like passage, suggesting a ritardando rather than a sudden change of tempo. Although there is no a tempo or cantabile at that point, a return to the original tempo is indicated at measure 102 because the theme here is similar to that at the chorale s opening. Without a certain amount of performance experience, it is difficult to handle such tempo changes smoothly. Thus, the tempo is graded at a high level. 56 According to Stinson, cantabile may be interpreted as a moderate tempo (p. 93).

86 74 Rhythmic complexity. Different rhythmic values in each voice result in a medium level of rhythmic complexity. Fantasia super Komm, Heiliger Geist, BWV 651 Table 14. BWV 651 Manual Technique 2.5 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 2 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 3 Pedal Technique 1 Coordination 3 Pedal and Manual Coordination 3 Manual and Manual Coordination 3 Relationship of Voices 3 Tempo 3 Rhythmic Complexity 3 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.5 Performance Features This Pentecost hymn is a fantasy, in a style between strict counterpoint and free form. The cantus firmus is in the bass. Above this, in the upper three voices, there are constant sixteenth notes as well as a sighing motif. These features appear throughout the

87 75 chorale in the three upper voices, but not as imitation. Their use is free. The constant disjunct sixteenth notes may represent the Holy Spirit as it appeared to the apostles in the form of flame. The pedal line is simple, but the challenge in performance is in the constant sixteenth notes in the accompaniments. The articulation of the Holy Spirit figuration must be executed exactly the same way at each entrance, demanding technical skill in finger independence as well as relaxed wrists and a high level of concentration. Manual technique. Thematic motifs performed by the right hand appear later in the left hand. As a result, the manual parts require high virtuosic finger independence. The use of ornamentation is moderate in this piece. However, each of the hands must often play one adorned and one unadorned voice simultaneously. Such passages include those found in figure 24. Figure 24. Ornamentation in BWV 651, measures 90 and 92 In the manuals, the sixteenth-note figuration builds continuous tension, requiring much energy to maintain focus throughout the piece. Due to the thematic motifs appearing freely in all voices, hand-sharing between the alto and tenor parts is very frequent,

88 76 occurring in 40% of the measures. The manual technique of this chorale is high, and it requires a high level of concentration. Pedal technique. The pedal part in this Pentecost hymn is played in long sustained notes which do not require a high technical performance level. Coordination. The high level manual technique influences every aspect of coordination in this piece. Although the pedal part requires only a simple technique, both hands require a high level of coordination skill. This, in turn, increases the difficulty of coordination between hands and feet. Thematic motifs are presented in all the voices in fantasy-like counterpoint which emphasizes the independence of each voice. Tempo. The basic pulse is a quarter note, and the prevailing note value is a sixteenth note. These sustained patterns suggest a fast tempo, and they also make it difficult to maintain a steady tempo. Rhythmic complexity. Independent rhythms in each voice create the rhythmic complexity which is intense in this piece.

89 77 Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 662 Table 15. BWV 662 Manual Technique 2.75 Voices per Hand 2 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 3 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 3 Pedal Technique 2 Coordination 2.66 Pedal and Manual Coordination 3 Manual and Manual Coordination 3 Relationship of Voices 2 Tempo 3 Rhythmic Complexity 3 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.68 Performance Features The cantus firmus is in the soprano, is written in thirty-second notes, and is richly ornamented. In the underlying adagio pace, the bass moves in eighth notes while the two inner voices move in sixteenth notes. This rhythmic motion is constant, but there is no melodic parallelism between the voices. The shorter note values in the higher register depict the lofty position of God in heaven, in der Höh.

90 78 The fact that there is no parallel motion in the voices presents a significant challenge to the performer. The ornamented, contrapuntal lines are sometimes played together in a single hand. The articulation and execution of these lines is, thus, very difficult. In many cases, the cantus firmus itself has wide intervals, but hand-sharing is not possible since the left hand is simultaneously occupied with two richly ornamented voices. Manual technique. As a result of the counterpoint, a high level of finger independence is required. The wide variety of ornamentation trills, mordents, turns, appoggiaturas and lombardic rhythms increases the difficulty of this chorale. The left hand accompaniment contains elaborate imitation with various types of ornamentation. The cantus firmus is also richly decorated. Such a rich language of ornamentation can obscure the cantus firmus or bury the imitation in the left hand. Although hand-sharing does not occur, hand-crossing and hand exchange are both necessary. Since these two different techniques are used simultaneously, the level of this criterion is high. Pedal technique. Throughout the chorale, the pedal line carries two motifs which are derived from the cantus firmus. These motifs add variety to the pedal line, and many of them feature triadic intervals which mildly increase the difficulty. Overall, this pedal line requires medium level technique. Coordination. The pedal line and the independent features of two accompaniment voices demand a high degree of coordination between the pedals and manuals. This is especially true in measure 50.

91 79 Figure 25. Manual-pedal coordination in BWV 662, measure 50 Here, the pedals feature small note divisions (sixteenth and thirty-second notes) opposed to the ornamentation in the left hand. Overall, the coordination level in this chorale is high because of the complicated and ongoing ornamentation. Each voice is strongly independent. Tempo. The main beat is a quarter note, and the prevailing note value is mainly sixteenth notes, with frequent passages containing thirty-second notes. This relationship suggests a fast tempo. Rhythmic complexity. The variety of note values and ornamentation result in a texture which is rhythmically complex.

92 80 Trio super Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 660 Table 16. BWV 660 Manual Technique 1.75 Voices per Hand 1 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 3 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 0 Pedal Technique 3 Coordination 3 Pedal and Manual Coordination 3 Manual and Manual Coordination 3 Relationship of Voices 3 Tempo 3 Rhythmic Complexity 3 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.75 Performance Features The opening eighth note motif of this trio comes from the cantus firmus. The tenor states it first, and then bass, and then the cantus firmus begins in the soprano, with melodic embellishments. The cantus firmus itself is divided into four sections, always with a long canonic, imitative introduction in the two lower voices. These four entries are presented with high symmetry: 1) Tenor enters and is followed by bass, 2) Bass enters and is followed by tenor, 3) Bass enters and is followed by tenor, and finally 4) Tenor

93 81 enters and is followed by bass. Further highlighting the symmetry, each time the cantus firmus appears, it begins with a mordent and ends with a trill on the final note in each iteration. This chorale demands great concentration and physical strength. This tension is present throughout; playing this trio is akin to playing the parts of three superb musicians simultaneously, each with all of their faculties engaged. Since each of the four sections of the chorale is independent, the performer must remain mentally focused in order to create a sense of unity. The two lower voices overlap, but they are never parallel. Manual technique. As this chorale is a trio, each hand plays only one independent voice. Finger independence is at a high level because each of the voices carries active sixteenth note rhythms. Various ornaments such as mordents and trills are present throughout the manual voices, so embellishment is at a high level. Hand-crossing, handsharing, and manual exchange are all absent. Pedal technique. The pedal s independence and nearly incessant sixteenth-note figures and wide eighth-note figures require a very polished pedal technique. This is likely the most difficult and complicated pedal line in all of the Great Eighteen Chorales. Coordination. The two lower voices begin in canonic imitation, and later the cantus firmus appears in the soprano. Canonic imitation also appears in the last ritornello before the last verse. In many places, this chorale features sequential passages such as those in figure 26.

94 82 Figure 26. Sequential Passages in BWV 660 Measures 4-5 Measures Measures Measures The counterpoint in this piece demands coordination between all parts, especially between the two lower voices which imitate each other. Overall, this piece requires a high level of coordination.

95 83 Tempo. The prevailing note value is a sixteenth note, and the main pulse is a quarter note, suggesting a fast tempo. Rhythmic complexity. The many tied notes, ornaments, suspensions, and syncopations in all voices at different times eschew vertical alignment. As a result, the rhythmic complexity of this chorale is at an advanced level. Trio super Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, BWV 655 Table 17. BWV 655 Manual Technique 2.5 Voices per Hand 1 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 3 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 3 Pedal Technique 3 Coordination 3 Pedal and Manual Coordination 3 Manual and Manual Coordination 3 Relationship of Voices 3 Tempo 3 Rhythmic Complexity 3 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.9

96 84 Performance Features This trio begins with a triadic motif. The harmonic structure of the chorale alternates between G major and A major in the first phrase. Additionally, two underlying motifs appear in either G major or A major. One of these motifs is triadic, and its figuration may be either ascending or descending. The other is scalar, and in each iteration is descending, representing the text s plea to God to send the Holy Spirit to earth. In this chorale, the cantus firmus never appears in a complete iteration until it enters in the pedal at measure 52. Yet from the beginning and throughout the chorale, melodic features of the cantus firmus are used as motifs in the other voices. Until the cantus firmus appears, there is no repetitive pattern in any of the voices. The upper voices have different melodic lines which are rhythmically active. In the midst of all of this activity, the resulting sound must remain smooth and light. The greatest challenge is setting the tempo and keeping it regular, so that the music can be controlled and steady, yet quick and light throughout. Because of these rhythmic and melodic features, this work demands intense concentration. Manual technique. Each hand plays only one independent voice, even though the two upper voices imitate each other. Finger independence is high because of the relationship of voices and the active rhythms. Finger embellishment is quite high, and hand-crossing appears more than twenty-five times in this piece. As a result, the level of manual technique required to perform this chorale is high. Pedal technique. The triadic pedal line is basically continuous except for the long pedal scales in measures 40 and 42. Such continuous activity demands a high level pedal technique.

97 85 Coordination. Hand-crossing is frequent, and the manual voices remain independent despite some imitation; thus, manual-manual coordination is at a high level. The pedals frequently feature triadic figures and wide intervals. Consequently, pedalmanual coordination is also at a high level. Tempo. The prevailing sixteenth notes in the manual parts and the quarter note main beat suggest a fast tempo. Rhythmic Complexity. The highly independent voices rarely align rhythmically. This high level of contrapuntal craft intensifies rhythmic complexity.

98 86 Trio super Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 664 Table 18. BWV 664 Manual Technique 2.5 Voices per Hand 1 Finger Independence 3 Finger Embellishment 3 Hand-Crossing/Hand-Sharing/Manual Exchange 3 Pedal Technique 3 Coordination 3 Pedal and Manual Coordination 3 Manual and Manual Coordination 3 Relationship of Voices 3 Tempo 3 Rhythmic Complexity 3 MEAN DIFFICULTY GRADE 2.9 Performance Features This final setting of Allein Gott is a trio. This trio is often compared with Trio super Herr Jesu Christ dich zu uns wend (BWV 655) since it is also a trio texture. But the Allein Gott trio is longer than the Herr Jesu Christ trio, and the two contain marked differences in their episodes. The episode of Allein Gott takes almost half the total length

99 87 of the work. 57 The cantus firmus is in the bass, and it does not appear in unmodified form until measure 85. Even there, only half of the chorale subject is heard. The initiative tune, A-C -D-E or A-B-C appears on the downbeat of soprano and continuo. Other motifs on the continuo hint at the cantus firmus. The triadic sixteenth notes in the soprano in the episode and also the continuo reminds us of the cantus firmus. Throughout, continuous sixteenth notes in the two upper voices are likely intended to depict God s glory. The first section of the chorale (mm. 1-34) is a ritornello, characterized by an ascending motif in the upper voices which re-appears in the third section. In the second section, the lengthy episode (mm ), the upper voices are in broken chords in all voices, similar to a chamber trio. The final section (mm ) starts with the chorale s opening motif and is in the same key as the beginning. Just before the end of the chorale, the first two phrases of the cantus firmus are played in a section similar to a coda. This piece is the most difficult of the Great Eighteen Chorales. In the manuals, there is more hand-crossing than in any other of the Great Eighteen Chorales. Moreover, the pedal has many upbeats which the manuals do not have, and also the rhythm in the bass conflicts with the motifs and the melodic line in the upper voices. Manual technique. Each hand has only one voice, and each voice carries its own thematic subject. Many times the voices imitate the subjects of other voices especially in the manuals. Such independence of voice requires strong finger independence. Ornaments are profuse more than sixty appear. This chorale demands concentration when playing, especially in light of the need to maintain a fast, steady tempo. As in the other chorale trios, the most intense manual technique is hand-crossing. It appears more 57 Stinson suggests an ABA scheme, along the lines of an abbreviated da capo aria. Qtd. in Williams, p.101.

100 88 than 35 times, and is especially present during the episode. A special difficulty is present in measures 36-39, where the left hand plays broken chord figures in a high register. Neither the hand-crossing nor the figuration is difficult per se, but in measures 36-39, the left hand must move to a higher register while playing the broken chords, requiring a highly refined manual technique. Figure 27. Broken chords in BWV 664, measures Pedal technique. The pedal part is an independent voice, the continuo line. The pedal s motif also derives from the cantus firmus So it starts with stepwise motion. However in many cases, the pedal s motion is very lively and intervallic. Octaves are more difficult than triadic figures, and in this chorale frequent octave leaps are present in the pedal. Therefore the pedal technique required is at a high level of difficulty. Coordination. Although there are imitative lines between the two manuals, the relationship of voices increases the difficulty of coordination. Considering the difficulty of both pedal and manual technique, coordination skills required are more intense and more difficult. As trio texture suggests, the independence level of voices is very high. Tempo. The relationship between the active sixteenth note figures and the quarter note main beat suggests a fast tempo.