BOOKS

Chaconne Handbook I–II: A Theoretical and Practical Guide to the Chaconne from the Partita in D minor BWV1004 by Johann Sebastian Bach Márta Ábrahám

VOL.1: 48PP ISMN 9790801682383

VOL.2: 15PP ISMN 9790801682376

BIOBACH MUSIC PUBLISHER €70

The first volume of Márta Ábrahám’s handbook to Bach’s Chaconne appears to share much common ground with her Excerpts from Eternity, co-authored with Barnabás Dukay and reviewed by Tully Potter in the March 2019 issue. Ábrahám outlines the Chaconne’s manuscript and publication history and explains some of the principal compositional procedures employed. Her subsequent thorough analysis focuses especially on how the 64 four-bar variations are apportioned throughout the movement’s tripartite (minor–major–minor) structure and how they align approximately with the golden ratio (33–19–12). She discusses the Chaconne’s theme and its variants, and concludes that 50 of the variations can be considered as 25 pairs, 9 as three trios and 5 as stand-alones. She also flags up a musical and mathematical relationship between three of the stand-alone variations, specifically nos.19, 27 and 31 and their arithmetical ‘doubles’, nos.38, 54 and 62.

A 1748 portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach

My alarm bells started ringing, however, when Ábrahám began to explore the Chaconne’s ‘possibilities for deeper interpretation’ and enter the realms of speculation regarding its symbolic content. Basing her thoughts initially on the fashionable, yet unsubstantiated theory that Bach composed the movement as an epitaph for his first wife, Maria Barbara, Ábrahám’s thought-provoking scenario seems idealistic and overly ambitious; and her recently discovered ‘time code’, in which she attempts to relate the proportions of the movement’s variations (52 [= 33 + 19] + 12) to the 52 weeks and 12 months of 1720 and associate certain variations with specific events in Bach’s personal life that year, including his wife’s death, smack of an advocate for using pictures or fanciful storylines to spark interpretative creativity. ‘The thick fog’ that covers Variations 23–30, representing the period of Bach’s sojourn in Carlsbad and Maria’s death, does little to change that view; nor does Ábrahám’s assertion that the sudden change from three to four voices in Variation 27 (the variation that, so she claims, coincides with the week of Maria’s burial) indicates ‘shock and pain… similar to a heartbeat’. Other questionable conclusions include: Ábrahám’s contentions that the 25 identified pairs of variations represent the Bachs’ marital relationship and that Bach makes a self-reference in Variation 41 (the number 41 being a gematria chart equivalent of his name), symbolising ‘outburst and creative force’; the meanings that she assigns to the twelve final variations; and the links that she makes between Bach’s ‘four motherless children’ and the four bass variants that represent the ‘hidden Chaconne theme’. Her attempts to apply that 4:1 ratio to the Second Partita as a whole and her claim that ‘the time it takes to play the four dance movements… is the same as…it takes to play the… Ciaccona’ will only rarely (if ever) stand up to performance scrutiny. Some factual inaccuracies have slipped into the text – Bach’s C major fugue, for example, was first published in Cartier’s L’art du violon (Paris, 1798), which is not a ‘collection of etudes’ – along with occasional typographical or grammatical errors and awkward English phraseology.

Ábrahám’s second volume presents the music, demonstrates some of the fruits of her structural analysis and uses the ‘Colourful BACH’ notation technique to good advantage to separate and highlight individual voices in the polyphony. Its format is not especially music-stand userfriendly, but its colour codes, appropriately coordinated with those in the first volume, and the music’s arrangement (with the four-bar variations vertically aligned, rhythmically synchronised, numbered and appropriately affiliated to her analysis) greatly facilitate visual orientation on the page. Together with parts of the first volume’s analytical content, it forms a functional pedagogical tool that will certainly assist performers and teachers in gaining a better understanding of the movement’s structure, negotiating the score and forging insightful interpretations.

ROBIN STOWELL

The Empowered Performer: The Musician’s Companion in Building Confidence & Conquering Performance Anxiety Sharon L. Stohrer

245PP ISBN 9798831764840 INDEPENDENT $20

This book is addressed to all musicians who ‘hope, dream and wonder’. It is a firm nudge in the direction of enabling the taming of performance anxiety and then the empowerment that results. It is full of good advice and encouragement, with chapter headings such as ‘Stepwise Success’ and ‘Tell your Inner Critic to Shut the H*ll Up’.

I remember the pages of The Strad devoted to Kató Havas, and videos and books, especially her Stage Fright: Its Causes and Cures, with Special Reference to Violin Playing, which dealt with this topic decades ago; many performers found Havas’s tips helpful. Her writing was focused on string players and their problems engendered by stage fright, which in these pages do not need spelling out. The language has changed, and stage fright is often referred to as anxiety, although there are plenty of references to stage fright, too, as Stohrer doesn’t dissemble and aims to provide a useful process for an approach.

There is emphasis on preparation, and that there is no silver bullet. Stohrer calls the process of overcoming stage fright a journey, and that for some it might be a longer one than for others. She invites you to doodle and be honest on written reactions. Attention is paid to the different types of focus, for example narrow focus, often achieved with the use of breath as in yoga. And the methods of achieving this are included in your daily practice.

Topics addressed include fear and its place in a performance; breathing, the natural tranquilliser of exercise; and practical techniques for personal programming. There are pages of strategies, a section on self-analysis, confronting your inner judges, and the importance of both rest and fun. And there are plenty of resources mentioned, including apps.

I found this an invigorating book, and very generous in its advice. One feels the author is really on side and trying to help, and the mood is always positive and encouraging but not prescriptive or controlling. Anyone suffering or affected by anxiety could benefit from its pages; and there is plenty, too, for the non-performer that could support approaches to difficulties in daily life.

ANNE INGLIS

Double Bass Basics Paul Harris, Jessica O’Leary

64PP ISBN 9780571542659 FABER MUSIC £12.99

Double Bass Basics completes the beginner string series by Paul Harris and Jessica O’Leary. It guides young bassists from the very beginning of their playing journey to around ABRSM Grade 1 level. The book is laid out in 18 clear stages with 75 short tunes, from open strings to first position, and third-finger harmonics introduced before first position. There are both new compositions with amusing titles such as Waltz of the Loose Bow Hairs and Marching Energetically to My Bass Lesson, as well as well-known tunes including Greensleeves and The Elephant.

Backing tracks for each tune are clearly marked in the music. They are accessible by scanning the QR code on the first page of the book or from the Faber Music website. Piano accompaniments and double bass duet parts are available to download from the Faber Music website, although they are difficult to find as no direct weblink is given (it is bit.ly/3Q0W1nk ). It would have been helpful to have the piano parts sold alongside the student’s book.

Each stage comes with warm-ups, top tips and activities, and I enjoyed the focus on posture, singing as you play for intonation; and fingerstrength exercises, such as finger tapping. The activities encourage freedom of movement from the very beginning, including arm swinging and waving. There is great focus on creativity, with opportunities for students to compose and give their music ‘personality’, one of the ‘Four Ps’ mentioned at the beginning: posture, pulse, phonology and personality. Performance skills and the importance of practice are also clearly explained.

The concern I have about this volume is that the authors (a violinist and clarinettist, also well respected as educators) do not understand the difference in teaching between the violin and double bass. Techniques such as double-stops and spiccato are introduced far too early alongside basic open strings and first position finger patterns. Spiccato, in particular, requires the dexterity that I would expect in a far more advanced student and certainly not at Grade 1. Equally, the left hand is firstly introduced on both the D and A strings, the latter being a thicker string and too challenging for the young student to press down in the early stages.

This book provides a good addition to the growing amount of repertoire for beginner bassists, to be used as additional repertoire, not as the sole tutor book.

ELOISE RIDDELL