Francesco Fornasaro - J.S. Bach: Duetto No.3 BWV 804 (Clavier-Übung, Part 3)

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH'S DUETTI BWV 802-805:

Johann Sebastian Bach's four Duets BWV 802-805 belong to the Third Part of the "Clavier-Übung", composed in 1739 and intended for the organ, and were included at a fairly late stage in the engraved plates for the book. Their purpose has remained a source of debate. Like the beginning Prelude and Fugue BWV 552 of "Clavier-Übung III" they are not explicitly mentioned on the title page and there is no explicit indication that they were intended for organ. However, as several commentators have noted, at a time when Bach was busy composing counterpoint for the Second Book of "The Well-Tempered Clavier" and the "Goldberg Variations" ("Clavier-Übung IV") using a very wide harpsichord range, Bach wrote the duets to lie comfortably in the range C to c’’’ in Helmholtz pitch notation (C2 to C6 in scientific pitch notation), so within the relatively narrow compass of almost every organ of the time. The pieces can nevertheless be played on any single keyboard because there is no pedal part in the notation, and since the writing is very close to that of the "Two Part Inventions" (BWV 772-786) they lend themselves perfectly to being played on the harpsichord too. Moreover, there is a noticeable reminiscence of the Prelude-Fugue structure in the preamble-like character of Duets no.1 and no.3, and in the imitative principle that governs the 2nd and the 4th (except in the key relationships). These strict, delicately wrought pieces are an unjustly neglected part of Bach's keyboard output.


DUETTO NO.3 BWV 804:

The third duet BWV 804 in G major, 39 bars long, is the simplest of the four duetti. Light and dance-like, it is the closest in form to Bach's "Two Part Inventions" (BWV 772-786), of which it most closely resembles the last, No.15 BWV 786. The bass accompaniment in detached quavers of the subject does not appear in the upper part and is not developed.
With very little modulation or chromaticism, the novelty of BWV 804 lies in the development of the semiquaver passagework.
Apart from a contrasting middle section in E minor, the tonality throughout is resolutely that of G major. The use of broken chords recalls the writing in the first movements of the sixth Trio Sonata for organ BWV 530 and the third Brandenburg Concerto BWV 1048.


Michael Radulescu said: «The four Duets perhaps symbolize the four elements: fire, air, water and earth. Moreover, Martin Luther also refers to these four elements in the Catechism. However, it is possible that the duets symbolize the four directions of the Cross. A few years ago I had also considered the hypothesis that these pieces could symbolize the four Archangels: all the more so because each one is symbolically linked to one of the four elements. Thus Michael would be the first, linked to the element of fire, Gabriel the second to the element of air, the third would be Raphael, with the symbol of fish, water; the fourth, Uriel, the earth. This perhaps could be the meaning of the four duets».


The harpsichord used in the recording - which is not the one that can be seen in the photograph that portrays me - is a French-Style double-manual by Roberto Marioni, copy after Pascal Taskin, Paris, 1769 (Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments, Edinburgh).

Temperament: Werckmeister III (unequal temperament) - Pitch (tuning reference): A = 415 Hz.

Recording: San Giacomo - Spazio d'Arte (SkillMedia), Padua (Italy), July 2019.

Recording engineer: Marco Lincetto - Editing: Mattia Zanatta.

Music starts at minute 00:26


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