With Bach's Partita No.1 in Bb Major, I choose to draw my own Visuals in Photoshop. The story I choose for each movement is based on the character of the piece it self. 

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JS.Bach was a German composer from the Baroque period. His family members were mostly musicians , So he pretty much grew his musical taste at home. Sadly, He lost his parents at a very young age, and was taken under the care of his eldest brother who was at the time an Organist at St. Michael’s Church where later on Bach did all his studies including Music activities.

 

Bach was a very religious man and all of his compositions were dedicated to God. Despite that he had a lot of children, whom some you may know; CPE. Bach (Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach) , JC. Bach (Johann Christian Bach).

He was a truly talented musician and was well known for his improvisational abilities.

Throughout Bach’s life he composed over 1,000 musical works,It is likely that more will later be discovered. 

 

The first piece that I performed is Partita No.1 in Bb Major. 

This piece is first out of 6 Harpsichord suites that JS. Bach composed. Bach used ‘Partita’ as a synonym for dance suites which originally were made for dancing, but as they evolved in the Baroque era, they were designed for listening instead, usually during important social functions.

 

This particular Partita consists of 7 movements.

 Here's a vague plot of each movement in text.

 

Prelude : Works like an Overture, It give an overview of the whole piece.

The Prelude stars in the key of Bb major., Imagine waking up to three birds singing outside your bedroom window, with a slash of sunshine passing through the glass, giving a warm welcome to a new day. The running notes in both hands makes me think of the birds trying the catch a worm for their breakfast. As the music modulates to a minor key, the worm sense danger and stretches away rapidly seeking shelter form the birds. Thankfully, one of the birds is generous enough and feels sorry for the little worm. The bird stands up to his friend and gets into a fight with its friends trying to protect the worm. In the end the worm gets really sad and cannot understand why fight each other. The birds apologises to each other , and they all become friends.

 

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Allemande : The German Allemande, first in the set of a standard dance suite, originated in the Renaissance era and was one of the most popular instrumental dances in the Baroque era.

The running notes in the right hand moving like water running down the stream colliding with the rocks and stones, splashing water up and down. You can hear bees flying across the stream looking for the perfect flower and then buzzing rapidly back to their hive to cook up their sweet amber syrup. Suddenly modulating from F major to C minor. A tense tone giving the image of a Grizzly bear appearing at the horizon! Completely changing the atmosphere, the bees are anxious to protect their hive. The bear gets closer and closer. To protect their home, the bees buzz out to fight the mighty bear. After a while fighting each other The big guy cannot tolerate the pain from the bees and decides to retreat leaving the bees at peace. ending the movement in a Bb Major chord.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Courante : Courante means “running”, and was danced with fast, “running” steps.

The courante is the second dance in a Baroque dance suite, and has it’s origins in the late Renaissance in France and Italy. 

I must say it is a very dizzy movement. The notes spinning round and round in circles. At least Bach was generous enough to give the whole movement a similar pattern. The left hand jumps from note to note like little frogs hopping back and forth on bon leaves in the lake. Spending quite a while hopping, they get so hungry and the timing is just perfect. Flies flying around but one was eaten by the frog adding sorrow to its friends, but not enough time to mourn, a storm approaches the skyline. Then the hurricane comes, the frogs and the flies flee the lake for their life to a tree hole but then finds them selves together, the story continues on in the audience imagination.  

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Sarabande : The Sarabande is the third dance in a Baroque suite, and it’s the slowest movement. Its origins are Spanish and became popular in Italy and France in the 1600s.

This particular movement has a unique rhythm, it is written in ¾ but the 2nd beat is emphasise unlike most ¾ pieces.

Starting with a lovely light Bb major chord followed by the same chord played stronger on the second beat. A lyrical melody follows, connecting the bars together. This movement reminds me of the childhood memories that cheer me up whenever I feel down. 

Calm 

Rest

Peace 

And Solitude

At my birth house, my parents planted a very beautiful garden which looks great in every season. Colourful flowers blooming at their peak in the early morning. I can still remember the butterflies flying across the garden searching for the sweetest nectar. Leaves moving lightly in the summer breeze along with the light dust in the air. The ripe rose apples falling from their branch. Birds bathing in the pond on the patio, Chirping joyfully suddenly flying off to a new chapter of their day.

The visuals I choose for this movement are different from the others as there no picture that can truly capture the real beauty of nature.

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Minuet I & II : This movement has a simple and Moderate rhythm. It has two separate movements in side. Minuet means ‘Small Steps’ which goes with the character of the ‘Minuet I’ like a child over dosed with sugar, having the moment of her life. Followed by ‘Minuet II’ has a lovely lyrical melody accompanied with two other voices, reminds me of a ‘Chorale’ piece. Like one matures through life, what's left are the good childhood memories. Then repeating ‘Minuet I’ once again. Normally the repeat is played as written on the score, but I choose to play the repeat with a higher octave giving it a unique character to the whole movement, reminding that no matter how old you get, there will always be a naive and naughty child inside you. 

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Gigue : The gigue is the last movement of a typical dance suite, originated in England but imported to France in the Renaissance and Baroque eras. This movement is also another fun and active movement to play. The challenge is left hand that is the melody and has to cross over octaves very fast. More over, Right hands has to be very steady in Rhythm and not speed up.  This movement I think of salmon swimming up stream  But two salmons in particular gets into a fight over which direction they should swim , up stream or down stream?

The salmon that chooses to swim down stream finds that the current is very strong and cannot control the speed. Approaching to a large rock the salmon fears death and changes course. It swim upsets quickly hoping to catch up to his friend. He did and once he saw his friend he told his friend how scary the large rock was, they made up and continued to swim up stream to their destination.