Catherine Hsu, Art
Saagar Asnani, Viola

Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major: Gigue (1717-27)
by Johann Sebastian Bach

The music for this portal is the final movement from JS Bach’s third Cello Suite in C Major, transcribed for the viola. Derived from a fifteenth century dance in Britain, the gigue (originating from the French verb: giquer – to frolic) is an energetic dance that involves a lot of leaps and jumps, and is often characterized as lighthearted and free spirited.

The Gigue has two main themes that play against each other in a sort of conversation, inspiring Catherine’s idea to have two dancing dragons. There is something akin to binary code-switching in the play between one voice, theme, dragon to the next, and that translates to the act of playing it. Going from the restrained and noble first theme to the unbounded and bacchanalian second theme and then back again in the space of just a few notes requires a great deal of bow control and musical phrasing.

As the tension mounts, Saagar begins to play two notes simultaneously (double stops), and the dragons gather together to dance in a frenetic whirling duet. The movement ends with an inquisitive and whimsical codetta that resolves the built-up harmonic tension and leads the dragons to search for the comfort of their roosts.

* Bach, Johann Sebastian. 6 Suites for Solo Violoncello. Transcribed and edited by Simon Rowland-Jones. Leipzig, Germany: Editions Peters.