EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E 
Western Music History through Performance
Jonathan Coopersmith, Curtis Institute of Music
https://www.coursera.org/course/musichistoryperforms
C O U R S E   L E C T U R E 
Bach's Monumental Chaconne
Notes taken on May 28, 2017 by Edward Tanguay
over the course of the Baroque period
instrumental music continued to gain independence over vocal music
many of the music works in opera made their way into purely instrumental works
recitative
a style of delivery in operas, oratorios, and cantatas, in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech
four categories of Baroque instrumental music
size of ensemble
large ensemble such as an orchestra
smaller chamber ensemble
solo instrument
venue (place)
theater
church
chamber
for private entertainment
nationality
Italian
French
German
English
Spanish
type of work
fugue
sonata
dance suite
variations
chaconne
a composition in a series of varying sections in slow triple time
solo instrument
chamber of small theater
Italian and French (dance suite)
a set of variations
partita
work for a single instrument
a suite, typically for a solo instrument or chamber ensemble
five dance movements
Allemanda
corrente
Sarabanda
Gia
Ciaconna
Bach: Partita in D minor for Violin, BWV 1004
Ciaconna (chaconne)
one of Spain's most popular dances from the early 1600 until the 1630s
"The chaconne was often condemned for its suggestive movements and mocking texts, which spared not even the clergy, and was said to have been invented by the devil. Few could reportedly resist the call to join the dance, regardless of their station in life."
was banned by church at one point
evolved into a fine dance of the French court
triple meter
variations over a repeated bass line or harmonic progressive
similar to passacaglia
built on small repeated units that end with a cadence (sequence of notes or chords comprising the close of a musical phrase) leading into the next unit
the repetition is continuous
the chaconne
Bach wrote three sonatas and three partitas for the solo violin
as early as 1703 while working in Weimar alongside Johann Paul von Westhoff
partita
a dance suite
but Bach's partitas are quite serious in character
the piece is difficult to play
to keep a sense of development and forward momentum
Bach wrote Sei Solo as the title of these pieces, which means six solos, but in proper Italian should have been Sei Soli, although Sei Solo means: you are alone