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Bach Gavotte Essay

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Johann Sebastian Bach, Gavotte, from French Suite no. 5 in GM Analysis

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a plethora of harpsichord pieces in his lifetime that have influenced composers for generations. The musical structures and forms used in his music have been replicated and still prevalent in music today. In this paper, I will be looking at how this piece is written in balanced binary form.
This piece is part of a collection of small works written by Bach. The French Suits consists of six suits of varying lengths. The fifth suit (no. 5) is the one that contains this piece, the Gavotte (IMSLP). It is written in G major but moves to a couple different key areas throughout the piece. It is in cut time has two distinct sections which are both repeated. For most of these reasons, I have concluded that this piece is structured in balanced binary form.
A piece, or parts of pieces, can be written in binary or ternary forms. Along with that, they can be written in simple, rounded or balanced binaries. A binary …show more content…

It cannot be simple binary because the first section of the piece does not resolve to the original tonic of the piece. Instead of resolving to I in G major, it resolves to I in D major. The reason the piece is not in a rounded binary is because the second section would need to start in V of the original key, however in this piece, the second section begins in the original key (G major). This is because there are no accidentals carried over from the modulation in a2. Lastly, the piece is not in a ternary form simply because there are not three distinct sections of the piece. The repeat of a2 in the last part of R2 is not considered to be a repeat of R1 because it doesn’t start at the beginning of the section nor is it an exact replication as the soprano line has been modulated as well as the bass line altered. Therefore, I have concluded that this piece is indeed in balanced binary

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