Partita

A set of variations in Italy, a set of keyboard dances in Bach's Germany

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BaroqueSuiteHarpsichord

Partita means a set of variations in Italian, and in the Baroque it named both variation sets and dance suites, two senses that ran side by side for over a century.

Origins and era

In the seventeenth century Italian composers called a run of variations on one bass or one tune a partita, and Frescobaldi's partitas are variation sets. Germany borrowed the word for the dance suite late in the century, and Bach's six keyboard partitas arrange allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue and galanteries into a set, each preceded by a prelude, sinfonia or toccata. After the middle of the eighteenth century the name fell out of use and survived only in occasional titles.

What you hear

Solo keyboard, six to eight movements, one key throughout, metre changing from section to section. Each dance keeps its own rhythmic type, the allemande in four with an upbeat, the courante a flowing triple time, the sarabande accenting the second beat, the gigue often a fugal triple-time close. Bach also inserts a burlesca, capriccio or aria inside the set, so the texture shifts between imitation and chordal writing. Catch the fixed rhythm of each dance, then ask whether the opening movement has already laid out the key for the whole set. Bach also pairs two dances of the same name, playing the first, then the second, then the first again.

Key figures

Frescobaldi and Pasquini wrote variation partitas, Bach's six keyboard partitas and the French Overture BWV 831 made the genre a core of playing and teaching, and later composers referred to it only in occasional titles.

Lineage

It comes from Italian variation sets and dance suites and leads to the movement layout of the classical sonata and sonatina, while its variational sense merges into the theme and variations.

Common misunderstandings

Not every partita is a dance suite, since seventeenth-century partitas were often variation sets and both senses coexisted. Nor is it an ordinary suite, because each of Bach's partitas opens with a preludial movement and runs longer than a standard dance suite.

Sources

• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry Partita, 用于核对变奏与组曲两义
• Richard Taruskin, The Oxford History of Western Music, Vol. 2, 用于核对德国键盘组曲的乐章排列

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.