A Violinist's Viewpoint: Performing J. S. Bach's Chaconne in Bobbi Jene Smith's Broken Theater

Abstract

Abstract: This article brings together my personal reflections on performing J. S. Bach's Chaconne from the Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor BWV 1004 in the work of choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith, with critical discussions of the Chaconne's nineteenth- and twentieth-century pedagogical and reception history. While my performance of Bach's movement has over the last decade favored a modern, historically informed style, witnessing the emotional and narrative potentials of this choreographed Chaconne prompted me to revisit nineteenth- and twentieth-century editions, recordings, and commentary on the work. I make connections between the physicality of the dancers (Or Schraiber, Yaya Logothetis, and Mouna Soualem), Smith's choreographic establishment of personal psychology and interpersonal relationships, and Romantic-violinistic ideals of tone as a marker of subjective interiority. In contexts of both dance and violin practice, I point to the ways in which the idealistic potentials of Bach's music—so lauded in nineteenth- and twentieth-century accounts—are in fact carefully cultivated effects generated by corporeal means. By connecting these pedagogical ideals to my own experiences as a violin student and professional performer, I draw attention to the enduring relevance of these material and pedagogical histories. And, in drawing together Smith's choreography with contexts of the Chaconne's generic prehistory, composition, and performances, I advocate for imaginative and interdisciplinary interpretations of Bach's Chaconne, which nonetheless maintain critical perspectives on the work's spiritualization and canonization.