Prelude in C Major (Bach) - Behind the Score (Episode 5)
Added 2021-10-10 18:03:17 +0000 UTCIn this episode of Behind the Score, we're going back to basics. We're looking at the famous Prelude in C Major by J. S. Bach, marveling at the piece's simplicity and timeless appeal. I'm taking this opportunity to give a bit of a refresher on an approach to music theory and roman numeral analysis. Hope you enjoy!
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Comments
I have to say, the inclusion of the "Schwencke measure" at m23 really threw me for a minute. I pulled out my old copy just to confirm I wasn't crazy, then looked it up. I had never encountered it before.
MPHawk
2021-10-20 01:27:13 +0000 UTCFirst often you have to look forward to recognize the function. This contradicts the flow of the music. Shouldn't you be aware of the function without looking forward? Secondly when will you change to a new tonika (I)? Especially in romantic or younger music you get to the limits of this view, Maybe you can analyze us sometimes a "younge"r piece where these ambiguity is shown?
Wolfgang Brunner
2021-10-13 19:59:54 +0000 UTCDale has commented nicely below, but I would add that the way I was taught is a combination of Riemannian theory and the figured bass performance practice. I was taught how to "realize" progressions via a figured bass...and the figures/numbers used in that system match with how I put them with the Roman Numerals.
R. Douglas Helvering
2021-10-13 19:54:41 +0000 UTCThe functional approach has (imho) limits.
Wolfgang Brunner
2021-10-13 19:50:44 +0000 UTCFirst of all: thank you for diving more deeply in some theoretical approach analyzing the harmony.
Wolfgang Brunner
2021-10-13 19:50:03 +0000 UTCJohn: many European schools teach "Ia/b/c" to indicate root/inversion positions of chords. A lot of American schools teach "6/3", "6/4" to represent inversions. Both are equally valid, the 6/3 style hearkens back to baroque period conventions of annotating figured bass lines, and then defining the interval to the chord tones above it.
Dale S Josephs
2021-10-12 06:11:34 +0000 UTCI loved this but I don't use the number notations etc. I use b, c and d for the inversions. Is there anything special in the method you use or is it just a difference in the way it is taught?
John Sawyer
2021-10-11 11:58:00 +0000 UTCAt one point I realized the Mario Kart item pickup sound uses the same arpeggio as the opening of the C major prelude https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEArQTxP_X4
Arne Martin Aurlien
2021-10-11 07:20:32 +0000 UTCThanks! I was worried it was a bit dry.
R. Douglas Helvering
2021-10-10 19:08:35 +0000 UTCGreat lecture, thank you, and you chose probably the best piece to base it on. You take the time to provide context behind the analysis which tends to fill the gaps in what some of us were expected to 'make a quantum leap across' in learning. This is extremely important to those of us who are/were 'one-liners', i.e. not pianists. As such the chordal elements and their definition became a harder road to hoe because we couldn't readily see the 'geometry' that made them up. Example: your explanation of secondary dominants and subdominants was lucid. Again, nice work. It was a pleasure to listen to; some parts twice. (And it took me back to Procol Harum's "Repent Walpurgis" where the first 12 measures of the Prelude are used as a bridge between sections.)
Peter Tutak
2021-10-10 19:07:46 +0000 UTC
