J.S. Bach

Continuo Arias

At some point during one of my earlier Bach sojourns, I recognized that there is a particular type of aria in which the vocal line is supported only by the continuo (the “continuo” actually = 2 performers). These arias are essentially two-part pieces, for vocalist and bass line (the right hand fills in the chords, but the structure and the harmony are crystal-clear without them). You might even think of one of these arias as a special type of two-part “invention”, since the bass often becomes very involved in the motivic goings-on. I love studying two-part music, so I decided to collect all of these “continuo arias”, partly in order to have them available for teaching any more advanced or eager students. This project took me ages, but I now have serviceable versions of the lot of them on disc. There are a few dozen altogether, some fairly straight-ahead, others from Planet Nine.

Directions for use: You can either sing the bass line, or play it, or get someone else to (including your computer, since I’ve included the midi file as well). If you pick a piece that isn't too flipped out for the student’s level (or your own), this music equals some of the best and most rewarding there is, anywhere. Now, are you really sure you want to shell out all that money on Professor Drear’s Manual of Sight-singing and Embalming Technique? Count me out!

My master plan for these tunes is simply to post one here on the website once in while, then take it down, and replace it with another one. There are two reasons for this. First, if you’re into these pieces, then you are a really cool person, so I want you to come back to my site often. Second, frankly not all of these are in as finished a state as I would like. Just to sing them, I have normally contented myself with just the notes -- no text, no figuring, etc. But now I’ve decided to give these pieces a little more finished appearance, although I’m sure they’re not quite up to professional engraving standards. In any case, it’s great music, and a lot of it isn’t available anywhere else, especially at my price, which is zero.

Obbligato Arias

The essential components of an aria are a vocal part and a bass part, but the majority of Bach's arias also call for an accompanying "obbligato" instrument, whether a violin, organ, flute, oboe da caccia, whatever. From the production side (and the teaching side), the obbligato pieces are manifestly more complex than the ones for continuo alone, but once I realized that my computer wasn’t too broken up over that issue, my reluctance to embark on a closer study of them evaporated.

With this result: I’ve now edited a pile of these obbligato pieces, in addition to the continuo ones. One thing I realized on the way was that a fair number of the obbligato parts are quite singable, particularly since Bach quite sensibly loved the oboe family. At any rate, I ended up making yet another grand tour of the cantatas in search of arias with single, singable instrumental parts.

Of course, that turned out to be the proverbial slippery slope. Why not vocal duos, or a piece calling for two obbligato parts, or the accompaniment played by the strings in unison? You see.

As with the continuo pieces, my plan is to post them, one after another, whenever I get around to it. Since each package will normally consist of a pdf file and a midi file, you can get your computer in on the act if you feel like trying to sing through one of these arias. Just think of it, free lessons with JSB! If you are a singer, and haven't yet staked your claim to a dozen or more of these, you should betake thyself to a dark corner somewhere and start learning them this very moment.

Two Part Excerpts

The starting point for much of my work with Bach was a wonderful Hungarian publication, called "Bach Példatár", edited by Legányné Hegyi Erzsébet. In two volumes, complete with self-destructing Hungarian binding, it contains around three hundred excerpts, all vocal, all from the cantatas, mainly from arias, with a few ariosos and recits thrown in.

However, one serious shortcoming of this collection is that the excerpts consist of the vocal line only. To rectify this, and to make this material much more usable, I decided to put together my own collection: I went back to the complete Bach edition to fetch all of the bass lines, to transpose things back to their original keys, and to make a number of less important changes. Plus I added a few gems which I found along the way.

The end result is a hefty 274 pages (that is, 274 pieces!), a veritable treasure (I think that’s what ‘Példatár’ means) of great music, especially for anyone interested in serious ear-training, sight-singing, analysis, counterpoint, you name it. I have arranged these mini-duos (one bass line, one singer) by BWV number, rather than attempt a graduated approach. If you miss having things ordered in terms of increasing difficulty, you can always torture your teacher by asking her to pick out the easier ones! This collection is dedicated to anyone who has had to suffer through worthless “ear-training music” served up by the standard (expensive!) texts on this much-maligned subject. For you, these musical masterstrokes will offer a highly rewarding alternative.