Passacaglia in C Minor by J. S. Bach – the “enigmatic” work

Abstract

The title of this article contains an allusion to the practice of constructing musical works in an ambiguous and enigmatic way so that a potential performer or audience is encouraged to solve a puzzle in a given composition. There are numerous indications that also Passacaglia in C Minor BWV 582 by Johann Sebastian Bach fits in the trend of these musical mysteries. The work can appear as “enigmatic” for many reasons, e.g., due to its mysterious origin, ambivalent purpose, unusual basso ostinato, concept full of paradoxes, poetic and oratorical structure or the presence of very different traditions of its performance. Its mysterious origin results from the fact that the autograph of the work did not survive, nor are the circumstances of its composition known. The ambivalent purpose refers to the hint Cembalo ossia Organo given in one of the secondary copies suggesting a possibility of performing this work on different keyboard instruments. The essence of the atypical nature of basso ostinato is contained in the fact that (among other things) it is of above-standard size as compared to usual ones, and furthermore, it indicates a possible borrowing from works by other composers and, indirectly, also from Gregorian chant. The concept of the work can be regarded as full of paradoxes as well, particularly because of the implicit use of mathematical and symbolical construction bases serving the purpose of expressing certain hidden ideas, which is supposed to provoke a potential performer or audience to make the necessary intellectual effort. The poetic and oratorical structure of Passacaglia in C Minor consists, among other things, in assigning appropriately grouped variations to the successive phases of rhetorical expression. In turn, the inconsistencies concerning the performance traditions are connected with different interpretation concepts of the work, including some very unconventional ones.