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Bach Cello Suite 2 Guitar Pdf Chords6/14/2021
I used the original cello version because it consists of a single line with the exception of the chord in measure four.I also transposed it to D major since that seems to be the key most guitarists play it in.There were a few exceptions where there could be many possible solutions and hopefully I picked a good one.For instance, in measure twenty-three I hear three distinct harmonies implied.
I decided the A (beat one), the D (beat two) and the C (second half of beat three) were the important soprano chord tones. The other tones are either appoggiaturas (C, resolving to D), implied passing tones (F, passing between G and E, although the E is also implied) or a bass note (low A). It is clear that we have descending parallel tenths in the outer voices beginning on the tonic and ending on the dominant. In measure one I am certain the A on the second half of beat two is the chord tone and the Bb is an upper neighbor, moving back to A in measure two. Measure three was the real problem; is the F on the second half of beat two the chord tone or is it the G on beat three I decided to hear the F as the chord tone and hear the G as a passing tone between the F in measure three and the A in measure four as shown in the harmonic reduction staff. This also takes care of the parallel fifths that would occur in the upper two voices if G were the chord tone in measure three. The first reduction staff shows what I think are the important structural tones and the second reduction staff is the implied harmonic content. You can see that for the most part the rate of harmonic change is one chord (sometimes two) per measure until we get close to a cadence at which time the harmonic rhythm increases to the rate of one chord per beat (three per measure). This is consistent throughout the piece and is consistent with most of Bachs music that I have examined. Its as if he is signaling a cadence is coming through this increase in the harmonic rhythm. From this we can see the typical move to the dominant (V) at the cadence of the first section (measure eight) of Minuet I as well as the move into the submediant key area (vi) in the second section before the return to tonic at the close. This is why his music has always been the model for the development of tonal music theory.
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