Abstract:
Harmonic motion in JS Bach’s Suite IV, BWV 1010, from his set of unaccompanied cello suites,
is interpreted in various ways in professional performances by both cellists and bassoonists.
Although polyphony is clearly present in this suite through use of double-stops, sustained pedal
tones, and arpeggiated chords, the music is mostly presented as a single musical line. This
research considers whether, when polyphony is implied rather than distinct, differing perceptions
and interpretations of the underlying harmony are evident in performers’ choices of articulation
and phrasing. Background on the scholarly sources used for reference to determine historically
informed performance practice for Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites is included, especially
related to the role of bowing/articulation for musical expression and presentation of implied
polyphony. An objective approach for locating implied polyphony in single instrumental lines, as
presented by Stacey Davis in her article “Implied Polyphony in the Solo String Works of J.S.
Bach: A Case for the Perceptual Relevance of Structural Expression” (Music Perception: An
Interdisciplinary Journal 23, no. 5 [June 2006]: 423), is applied to excerpts from the Prelude and
Courante of Suite IV of Bach’s cello suites. Davis’s cumulative three-step system for identifying
implied polyphony includes evaluation of the horizontal dimension of phrases and contrapuntal
voice leading. This is accomplished through measurement of larger interval size as well as
degree of contour change and degree of conjunct motion surrounding the larger interval. This
data as a method of identifying presence of implied polyphony provides a basis for comparison
of interpretation choices by cellists Pablo Casals, Bruno Cocset, Yo-Yo Ma, and Mischa Maisky,
and bassoonists Hubert Mittermayer Nesterovskiy and Reuven Mark Mozes.
