Theodore Presser

Betty Bang Mather and Dean Karns have produced THE definitive edition of this Bach classic. Not just for flutists! This is a treatise on Bach’s forms, dance models, and musical poetry, providing broad insights into his other overtures, suites, and partitas. Bach’s monument of the flute repertoire is newly revealed in this unique combination of critical edition and performance edition, with informed insights into the dances that inspired Bach’s rhythmic ideas and phrasing. The publication includes Bach’s authentic flute part, and an elegant keyboard accompaniment. It also features a thorough analysis of the poetic, rhetorical, concerto, fugue, and harmonic structures, labeled according to late Baroque practices. Bach’s choreographic influence made visible with rhythmic examples of Gavotte, Sarabande, Bourrée, Polonaise, Menuet, and other steps that can be danced to opening phrases. Other gems in this edition include a complete facsimile of Bach’s handwritten flute part, typical examples of the Baroque passions and affects essential to 18th-century expression, and much more!