Cello Suite III in C major, BWV 1009

The  Cello Suites, written in Cöthen around 1720, have been called "the
apotheosis of the Dance", a title they share  with  Beethoven's  Seventh
Symphony.   No‐one  but  Bach  has  written such rich music for the solo
line.  Everywhere there are several voices implied.   allowing  Bach  to
write  not  just melody, but also counterpoint and harmony.  The flow of
new motifs serves the needs of the implied counterpoint, but the  motifs
also  have their own motivic logic, balancing identity for each movement
with variety within it.  Casals  points  out  the  implication  for  the
performer:  "It is fantastic to think that with one note after the other
there can be melody, the central voices and the bass  all  together.   A
wonderful polyphony . . .  We have to give the proper expression to each
voice."

The  six  suites  have  different  characters.   Casals  spoke  of   the
"fundamental  mood  of  optimism" of the G‐major suite, contrasting with
the "tragic feeling" of the suite in d‐minor, or the "heroic"  suite  in
C‐major.   Rostropovic  spoke of the "Lightness" of the first suite, the
"Sorrow and intensity" of the second, the "Brilliance" of the third.

Many wonderful recordings are available; for example by Pierre Fournier,
Pablo  Casals,  Pieter Wispelwey, or Jaap ter Linden, or on the viola de
gamba by Paulo Pandolfo, on the flute by Wilbert  Hazelzet,  or  on  the
recorder by Marion Verbruggen.

Within   each   suite,   the   character  of  each  movement  should  be
differentiated, and there should always be variety from one dance  tempo
to  the  next.  Of this third suite, Casals observed "The first thing we
must understand when playing the cello  suites  is  that,  as  with  the
partitas for violin and for keyboard, the Prelude gives the character to
the whole work", and he considered  this  Prelude  to  have  a  "heroic"
caharacter.   Of the Sarabande he said "A Sarabande is not a romance, or
an adagio; it is a Spanish dance, which used  to  be  performed  in  the
churches,  and  is still danced in Sevilla.  We must not be lost between
one beat and another".  In the bars  in  the  Courante  with  descending
arpeggios,  he  taught that the melody lies in the first quaver, so that
the remaining five should be lighter.  Likewise, in the  first  Bourrée
bars  1  and  3,  he  taught that the the melody lies in the 1st and 4th
beats, and the 2nd and 3rd should not be  given  equal  importance  lest
they  become "a repetition which harms the melody".  The second Bourrée
has a contrasted character.  When teaching the Gigue he  observed  "This
must give joy to everyone who hears it.  No formality. Rustic ‐ there is
no place for niceness."

The first three of the six suites can be played  on  the  recorder.   Of
course  the  chords  have  to be played as arpeggios, and some low notes
have to be rewritten; these are given here in  chords,  with  the  lower

                             ‐2‐

note  for  flute  players,  and the upper for recorders.  Several of the
notes are contested; for example, the third‐last note in bar  7  of  the
Sarabande  is  C  in  the  Bachgesellschaft  edition, but B‐flat in Anna
Magdalena's manuscript.  On a  recorder,  bar  7  of  the  Allemande  is
difficult,  and  players  should  feel  free to omit a note or two.  All
slurs in this  edition  are  editorial  suggestions  only,  and  can  be
disregarded with a clear conscience.

                             Peter J Billam

                             www.pjb.com.au