Bach Orchestral Suite No.3 in D Major

  • General Notes
  • Ouverture
  • Air 
  • Gigue
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  • Created by: Helen66
  • Created on: 22-05-11 22:04

General Notes

  • 1685-1750
  • Small group of strings and basso continuo - identifiable as Baroque
  • Harpsichord would be following figured bass (numbers of the chords which are then improvised around)
  • 2 Oboes (usually doublling violins, except for in the episodes of the fuge)
  • 3 Trumpets (in D)
  • Timpani (tonic and dominant - D and A)
  • 2 Violins
  • 1 Viola
  • 1 Basso Continuo
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Ouverture

  • Typically French - in the style of Lully and Ramaeu
    • Slow Intro - Dotte Rhythms
    • Fast fugal section
  • Trumpet and drums prominent in fanfare like opening
  • Tonic key of D major established by tonic pedal in the first four bards, before moving to G major
  • Trumpet and drums drop out when the music modulates
  • Fugue is contrapuntal, invertible counterpoint in middle and final entries
  • Fugue  Structure: Exposition (Bars 1-42[1]), Episode 1 (D major, Bars Bars 42[1]-58[1] ), Middle Entries (F# minor, Bars 58[1]-71[1]) ), Episode 2 (B minor, Bars 71[1]-89[1]), Final Entries (Bars 89[1]-107[1]) - a repeat of the exposition's order of entries, but in a full texture from the start.
  • Episodes are homophonic. Everything plays a chordal pattern whilst the 1st violin plays variation on 3rd countersubject
  • Answer of the fugue is REAL not tonal. Because the fugue answer contains C naturals rather than C#.
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Air

  • No trumpets or timpani - they can only play notes in the D major scale
  • Very decorated bassline, falling in octaves
  • Lots of suspensions
  • Modulations: D - A - Bm - A - (Ascending Sequence) - G - D
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Gigue

  • Full orchestration
  • Rounded Binary
  • 3 sections with 4 bar phrases
  • Openings of all the sections are exactly the same - dotted rhythms
  • 1st and 3rd endings are different: 3rd has an extended 7 bar phrase (rather than 6) at the end to modulate through circle of 5ths back to the tonic key
  • Second section starts with a big A major chord, followed by the principal theme which rises instead of falling at the end
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Comments

Faith

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This is SO helpful thanks :_)

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