Analysis of Badinerie by J. S. Bach Essay

The piece Badinerie is best known for its destinations as the final movement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Orchestral Suit No.2 in B minor. Johann Sebastian Bach was born on the 21st March 1685 and died on the 31st of July 1750. He was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, and violinist. He wrote sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments. Bach drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. The piece Badinerie is in a light mood and structured in the Binary Form. It is cast in swift 2/4 metre beginning on the upbeat or anacrusis. This piece was originally written for a Chamber Orchestra and a solo flute. The piece starts in B minor and played in allegro tempo throughout. Badinerie start with a messo forte dynamic marking meaning moderately loud with motive A in the pickup bar at the beginning and motive B starts on the second beat in bar two to bar 3. The Antecedent ranges from the beginning of the music to the first beat of bar four, which ends on a Perfect Authentic Cadence. The Consequent started on the second beat of bar for four to the first beat of bar ten, which ended on an Imperfect Cadence a one to a five suspended two chord in second inversion. They are long phrases throughout the duration of the piece. In the first five bars the bass line plays a Bassa Continuo style in Baroque music, however in modern day it is called a Walking Bass style. In bars six to ten the melody line plays a similar rhythm that the bass was playing in the first five bars and the bass line plays a similar rhythm to what the melody line was playing. The second beat of bar 10 the dynamic marking changes to forte meaning loud which is the beginning of the phrase extension and sequential progression to bar 16. There is a great build up in this phrase with a messo forte crescendo leading up to forte and the use of sixteen notes in the bass notes the section intense and bright. Bar sixteen the end of the first section is repeated and ends on an Imperfect five of five going to five cadence called tonicization. The second section of the piece is a development of A, which is the same melody played a fifth up. The Antecedent started from the pickup beat to the first beat of bar twenty and the consequent picked up on the next beat and ended on bar twenty three on a five of three going to a three cadence. The piece then modulated to D major in the next bar then f# minor in bar 30 then back to b minor in bar thirty two. There is a phrase extension starting on the second beat of bar twenty to the first beat of bar twenty eight. The same idea comes back again of the melody line taking the rhythm of the bass line and the bass line taken the rhythm of the melody line in bars twenty eight to thirty two. There are pedal points in bars 33 to 35, interesting to note that there is use of octaves. In bars thirty six the first beat has a loud dynamic marking and the second beat has a soft dynamic marking which is quite interesting. There is a crescendo in the next bar leading up to forte towards the second to last bar. This section is then repeated and the section time around there is a rit. 2 Volta which means turn around then retard the second time. The piece ends on a Perfect Authentic Cadence.