On An Overgrown Path: How classical music was covertly dumbed down

On An Overgrown Path: How classical music was covertly dumbed down: Classical audiences would never accept a star soloist playing a Bach Partita on a poor quality factory-made violin. So why does the same audience accept a similar degradation in sound quality away from the concert hall? 

Bach Questions

Post by Jordan Smith.

David Smooke graciously responded: This is a very interesting example b/c of the harmonic rhythm. The fact that the harmony doesn't change between the anacrusis and the downbeat makes the latter feel significantly less strong. Then the V6-I on beats 2-3 of the first measure appear to clarify the meter (making the entire measure a prolongation of the tonic), but the following measure messes everything up again by modulating and coming back to the A Major sonority but now tonicizing D and now on the weak part of the measure. So, if you count from the A Majors, you get A-A-other; A-other-other; A, which almost seems to give a triple meter feel to the passage. Of course, it's all in how Bach harmonized it. [The G Major Chord] totally comes out of nowhere, and if you think in terms of strong beats, then the skeletal voice leading gives parallel 5ths (A/E - G-D) between the bass and tenor going into that chord.

Welcome

Welcome to the Blogger Edition of the Conductor's Notebook. Here, you'll find the full range of content from across the web by Jordan Randall Smith, Conductor. Please visit the website at jordanrsmth.com to learn more.