BWV 768 - Partita "Sei gegrüßet, Jesu gütig"

The fourth partita “Partite diverse sopra il Corale ‘Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig’” is the culmination of the form, and was likely written between 1711 and 1713. Bach addressed the composition of this piece in 2 phases. The first early draft, found in Krebs’ notebook, is in 4 movements, containing movements 1, 2, 4, and 10. Bach then added additional movements to create a 12 movement work more appropriate for concert performance than for church performance. This partita is from Bach’s later years in that it’s notated in the standard minor mode rather than the Dorian mode (one fewer flat in the key signature) of the previous three partitas.

The form overall is as follows:
Chorale – 4 parts

Variation 1 – Bicinium - Ornamented melody over a continuo line (as in the other partitas)
Variation 2 – Four part – suspirans (sixteenth rest followed by three sixteenth notes) rhythmic figuration

Variation 3 – Bicinium – perpetual motion
Variation 4 – Four part – suspirans figuration

Variation 5 - 32nd note figuration
Variation 6 - 32nd note figuration

Variation 7 – Dance idiom, 12/8
Variation 8 – Dance idiom, 24/16

Variation 9 – Sarabande idiom, ¾. Trio
Variation 10 – Sarabande idiom, ¾. Extended countermelody

Chorale – 5 parts

Bach appeared to be returning to this piece even into the 1740 Leipzig years. I call these years his “greatest hits” years. He spent a lot of time polishing previous works, for example the Lepiziger Handschrift, or the Great 18 chorales, heard in the first concert today, where he took chorale preludes from his earlier years and polished them into a tight collection. Similarly, he took the best movements of his cantatas, along with newly composed movements, and compiled them into the B minor mass and the Christmas oratorio. Here too, Bach compiles the best representation of the chorale partita form, but never returned to a newly composed one after the 1713 Vivaldi encounter.