In Patrick O'Brian's novel "The Ionian Mission" British ship captain and violinist Jack Aubrey comes across some old sheet music in a London shop. Aubrey knows of J.S. Bach as "old Bach", and this passage details his reaction to the chaconne after playing through the score:
..it was the great chaconne which followed that really disturbed him.... There was something dangerous about what followed, something not unlike the edge of madness or at least of a nightmare; and although Jack recognized that the whole sonata and particularly the chaconne was a most impressive composition he felt that if he were to go on playing it with all his heart it might lead him to some very strange regions indeed.
A reminder of just how porous our cultural boundaries actually are. And, how cultural bits and pieces, shreds and patches, get passed around through the ages.
One thing that article doesn't mention is that Spain and Austria, home of Mozart, were both part of the Hapsburg Empire and that culture moved back and forth quite a bit. The Infant of Prague statue is actually from Spain, brought by a Spanish noblewoman to Bohemia when she married. I have been curious as to why the song "Rose in Spanish Harlem" and the medieval Czech folk song "Rozmarinka" are the same song — not the same melody, but lyrically nearly the same. My guess is that it originated in the Hapsburg Empire somewhere, the theme spread, it might have gotten to the Caribbean by way of Spain and to New York. I lived in the Czech Republic for a few years and noticed that some old culture bounced around the empire in past centuries. So it wouldn't surprise me if an Aztec dance didn't actually make it to Spain and spread through the empire, ultimately making it from Austria to Germany and the rest of Europe.
Funny, I just played some of the chaconne on guitar from the violin score, an hour ago, aghast at its mastery and depth.
Remember: virtually all our rhythms emanate from Africa. So to call the chacon "Native American" is way too simplistic. The Native tribes of North America have a totally different feel than those of middle and South America. If the South American music influenced Bach, who could be surprised? The Moors may have made a stop in Leipzig! Also, I can't dance worth a damn, but I absolutely know dance music and it's all over my compositions. He may not have had TIME to dance. But I bet, like every worthy musician ever born, he dug a good groove. Back to this: it's all "world music."
From Ted's article: "So we have every reason to think that Bach was a smooth operator in the ballroom. [Cue up the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack here.]"
Yeah, well. . . kewl. Like John Travolta, J. S. Bach was " . . . a woman's man." I can tell, and not from ever having seen him "walk!" Now, how many kids did Johann have?
Yes, there is a long history of cleaning up the "dirty" in music. How about Pat Boone "cleaning up" Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti?" However, I'm not one who decries this process. Boone's effort may have brought many "clean" people to understand what some of those "dirty" folks were about . . .
Perhaps all human beings might be in different stages of progress and process, and need to be met where they presently reside . . .
Thank you for shining a light on this topic. The great Toto La Momposina from Colombia has studied the connection between African, indigenous Colombian, and Spanish musics...and might have some insights ......I worked with her some years ago and remember a few conversations on this topic. If you are not familiar with her I highly recommend checking her out: http://www.totolamomposina.com/about/
Of course they share a lot of things. Every single tribe, however, is different. Each has its own language, music, and customs. And as a musician I can tell you that the music of the indigenous people of Brazil or Peru has substantive differences to the Senecas. That is why it's hard to say "Native American" influence. It can mean a hundred things. The reason we have Cuban music is (partly) the blend of African traditions and the native people of that land. same thing in Alabama. Anyway a lot of this is semantics. ted's point is an interesting one. My point is minor in the large scheme.
The idea of "high art," which is universal, and "folk art," which is tied to specific cultural practices, is entirely a product of Western snobbery. Jerome Rothenberg, the great poet and ethno-linguist, viciously gutted that entire construct in a textbook I had for a literary theory class in the 1980s. He used the example of Javanese gamelan - which he argued persuasively was every bit as capable of expressing universal human truths as any of Beethoven's symphonies. But that argument could obviously be applied to blues, Amerindian, or any other supposed folk style.
It isn't just a coincidence that the Spanish, Italian and French Renaissances occurred right after Columbus's first voyage to the New World in 1492. There probably wouldn't have been a Renaissance if Europeans hadn't come into contact with Native Americans in both North and South America. I am a classical guitarist who has thought that pavanes by 16th-century Spanish composers like Luis de Milan from and Gaspar Sanz for lute or vihuela could have easily been accompanied by a Native American on the tom-tom. I don't think it's just a coincidence, because galliards, pavanes and other Renaissance dance forms didn't exist in Europe before 1492.
Somewhere I'd read that the Chaconne began as a New World chacun, and specifically that the descending bass line, used so frequently in European music, was discovered/invented/originated in Cuba.
In Patrick O'Brian's novel "The Ionian Mission" British ship captain and violinist Jack Aubrey comes across some old sheet music in a London shop. Aubrey knows of J.S. Bach as "old Bach", and this passage details his reaction to the chaconne after playing through the score:
..it was the great chaconne which followed that really disturbed him.... There was something dangerous about what followed, something not unlike the edge of madness or at least of a nightmare; and although Jack recognized that the whole sonata and particularly the chaconne was a most impressive composition he felt that if he were to go on playing it with all his heart it might lead him to some very strange regions indeed.
A reminder of just how porous our cultural boundaries actually are. And, how cultural bits and pieces, shreds and patches, get passed around through the ages.
One thing that article doesn't mention is that Spain and Austria, home of Mozart, were both part of the Hapsburg Empire and that culture moved back and forth quite a bit. The Infant of Prague statue is actually from Spain, brought by a Spanish noblewoman to Bohemia when she married. I have been curious as to why the song "Rose in Spanish Harlem" and the medieval Czech folk song "Rozmarinka" are the same song — not the same melody, but lyrically nearly the same. My guess is that it originated in the Hapsburg Empire somewhere, the theme spread, it might have gotten to the Caribbean by way of Spain and to New York. I lived in the Czech Republic for a few years and noticed that some old culture bounced around the empire in past centuries. So it wouldn't surprise me if an Aztec dance didn't actually make it to Spain and spread through the empire, ultimately making it from Austria to Germany and the rest of Europe.
This was so cool to learn about!
Funny, I just played some of the chaconne on guitar from the violin score, an hour ago, aghast at its mastery and depth.
Remember: virtually all our rhythms emanate from Africa. So to call the chacon "Native American" is way too simplistic. The Native tribes of North America have a totally different feel than those of middle and South America. If the South American music influenced Bach, who could be surprised? The Moors may have made a stop in Leipzig! Also, I can't dance worth a damn, but I absolutely know dance music and it's all over my compositions. He may not have had TIME to dance. But I bet, like every worthy musician ever born, he dug a good groove. Back to this: it's all "world music."
There are a few Native American musicians who swear that Natives invented the blues.
From Ted's article: "So we have every reason to think that Bach was a smooth operator in the ballroom. [Cue up the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack here.]"
Yeah, well. . . kewl. Like John Travolta, J. S. Bach was " . . . a woman's man." I can tell, and not from ever having seen him "walk!" Now, how many kids did Johann have?
Yes, there is a long history of cleaning up the "dirty" in music. How about Pat Boone "cleaning up" Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti?" However, I'm not one who decries this process. Boone's effort may have brought many "clean" people to understand what some of those "dirty" folks were about . . .
Perhaps all human beings might be in different stages of progress and process, and need to be met where they presently reside . . .
Thank you for shining a light on this topic. The great Toto La Momposina from Colombia has studied the connection between African, indigenous Colombian, and Spanish musics...and might have some insights ......I worked with her some years ago and remember a few conversations on this topic. If you are not familiar with her I highly recommend checking her out: http://www.totolamomposina.com/about/
Of course they share a lot of things. Every single tribe, however, is different. Each has its own language, music, and customs. And as a musician I can tell you that the music of the indigenous people of Brazil or Peru has substantive differences to the Senecas. That is why it's hard to say "Native American" influence. It can mean a hundred things. The reason we have Cuban music is (partly) the blend of African traditions and the native people of that land. same thing in Alabama. Anyway a lot of this is semantics. ted's point is an interesting one. My point is minor in the large scheme.
The idea of "high art," which is universal, and "folk art," which is tied to specific cultural practices, is entirely a product of Western snobbery. Jerome Rothenberg, the great poet and ethno-linguist, viciously gutted that entire construct in a textbook I had for a literary theory class in the 1980s. He used the example of Javanese gamelan - which he argued persuasively was every bit as capable of expressing universal human truths as any of Beethoven's symphonies. But that argument could obviously be applied to blues, Amerindian, or any other supposed folk style.
I can’t wait read what you write about Bach. I’ll bet he could get down and boogie.
Yes I agree Bach is about dance, but so few musicians get this and most playing is very ‘dry’.
Thanks for an insightful article. Just love the Partita No. 2 for Violin in D Minor, BWV 1004: V. Chaconne by Hilary Hahn
https://music.apple.com/us/album/partita-no-2-for-violin-in-d-minor-bwv-1004-v-chaconne/278940184?i=278940198
It sure feels like the processes outlined in this essay are happening at warp speed in our age.
It isn't just a coincidence that the Spanish, Italian and French Renaissances occurred right after Columbus's first voyage to the New World in 1492. There probably wouldn't have been a Renaissance if Europeans hadn't come into contact with Native Americans in both North and South America. I am a classical guitarist who has thought that pavanes by 16th-century Spanish composers like Luis de Milan from and Gaspar Sanz for lute or vihuela could have easily been accompanied by a Native American on the tom-tom. I don't think it's just a coincidence, because galliards, pavanes and other Renaissance dance forms didn't exist in Europe before 1492.
Somewhere I'd read that the Chaconne began as a New World chacun, and specifically that the descending bass line, used so frequently in European music, was discovered/invented/originated in Cuba.