It’s no secret that I’ve long been fascinated by the correlation between J.S. Bach’s Baroque-era compositional approach and 20th-century contemporary harmony, leading all the way up to the present day. Not only has this been the topic of one of my masterclasses, but it’s also something I’ve discussed in some depth in my recent videos—and my very latest video is no exception:
While perhaps not a masterclass in the same sense as what you’ll find at Ben’s Guitar Club, this video presents an in-depth discussion pinpointing a variety of concepts that can be observed throughout a specific movement of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, more specifically Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 1003: VI. Allegro:
While connoisseurs of J.S. Bach can certainly debate the authenticity of my performance, one of the reasons I attempt to play this music is to understand exactly how to incorporate Bach’s Baroque-era language into my own contemporary musical approach, as both a soloist and composer.
Of the 10 excerpts highlighted in my aforementioned analysis video discussing Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, BWV 1003: VI. Allegro, I’d like to focus on 4 excerpts in particular. You can follow along with my transcription PDF, featuring standard notation and tab.
Excerpt 2
Our second excerpt, occurring between Bars 7 and 11, utilizes a variety of triad and 7th chord arpeggios to demonstrate a very familiar set of chord changes. We can clearly hear the following chord changes being spelled out in Bars 7 and 8 (and subsequently repeated in Bars 9 and 10):
As can be heard in the excerpt itself, we are presented with:
- An A Minor 7 arpeggio (over A Minor 7)
- A brief scale-based passage indicating the sound of D Minor 7 (over D Minor 7)
- A G7 arpeggio (over G7)
- Another brief scale-based passage, indicating the sound of C Major 7 (over C Major 7)
- An F Major 7 arpeggio (over F Major 7)
- Another brief scale-based passage, likely indicating the sound of a B Half-Diminished chord (over B Half-Diminished)
Before concluding with:
- A triad arpeggio-based idea indicating the sound of E7 (over E7)
If you've spent time playing through standard tunes like All The Things You Are and Autumn Leaves, you'll notice some similarities between this chord progression and the chord progressions found in each of these respective pieces of music. In fact, it can be a fantastic exercise to try and apply some of the voice-leading ideas heard in this excerpt over standard tunes.
Excerpt 3
Our third excerpt occurs between Bars 14 and 15, and by this point in the piece of music, we've modulated to the key of E Minor. Keeping in mind that we’ve modulated from our original key of A Minor, we can clearly hear the following chord changes being spelled out:
This presents us with a very similar chord progression to what we heard in Excerpt 2, just modulated to a different key.
Since we've modulated to the key of E Minor, we can view a lot of the scale-based material in this excerpt in the context of its relative major key, which is G Major. Consequently, we're utilizing a lot of modes derived from the G Major scale.
Looking at the primarily scale-based materials that are being utilized to indicate this chord progression, we are presented with:
- E Minor scale or E Aeolian mode (over E Minor 7)
- A Dorian mode (over A Minor 7)
- D Mixolydian mode (over D7)
- G Major scale or G Ionian mode (over G Major 7)
- C Lydian mode (over C Major 7)
Excerpt 6
Our sixth excerpt occurs between Bars 31 and 35, and once again, it’s very similar to what we heard in Excerpt No. 2. This time, however, it occurs in E Minor. We can clearly hear the following chord changes being spelled out in Bars 31 and 32 (and subsequently repeated in Bars 33 and 34):
Not only does this resemble Excerpt No. 2, but it also resembles the chord progression we discussed in Excerpt No. 3. As can be heard in the excerpt itself between Bars 31 and 32, we are presented with:
- E Minor 7 arpeggio (over E Minor 7)
- A brief scale-based passage, indicating the sound of A Minor (over A Minor 7)
- A D7 arpeggio (over D7)
- Another brief scale-based passage, indicating the sound of G Major (over G Major 7)
- A C Major 7 arpeggio (over C Major 7)
- Another brief scale-based passage, likely indicating the sound of F# Half-Diminished (over F# Half-Diminished)
Before concluding in Bar 32 with:
- A triad arpeggio-based idea indicating the sound of B7 (over B7)
Make sure to watch the full analysis video for an even more in-depth explanation.
Excerpt 8
Our eighth excerpt occurs between Bars 48 and 49 and is particularly reminiscent of a standard tune that we mentioned earlier. We can clearly hear the following chord changes being spelled out:
If you're thinking that's a little reminiscent of Autumn Leaves, you'd probably be right. By this point in the piece of music, we've modulated to the key of C Major. Consequently, we can observe a ii-V-I progression in C Major clearly being spelled out in Bar 48, and we’ll be able to primarily utilize modes derived from the C Major scale.
As can be heard in the excerpt, we are presented with:
- D Dorian mode (over D Minor 7)
- G Mixolydian mode (over G7)
- C Major scale or C Ionian mode (over C Major 7)
- F Lydian mode (over F Major 7)
- B Locrian mode (over B Half-Diminished)
- A G# Diminished triad (played as a spread triad over E7)
Finally, we resolve back to our Minor i chord, A Minor 7.
I hope this gives you a clear idea of how to analyze Bach’s music in such a way that it can be applied to contemporary music. If you’d like to learn this piece of music and follow along with my analysis, make sure to get my transcription PDF. Additionally, if you’d like to understand this method of analysis in greater depth, make sure to check out my full masterclass, Improvising With J.S. Bach.
Keep on shredding,
Ben.