Reimagining Bach's Continuo Arias

December 10, 2020

In his over 200 extant Cantatas, Bach wrote a fair number of Arias for voice and continuo with no obligato instruments. Some of these have figures written in the continuo part, but many do not. Some of these pieces do genuinely sound as if some obligato voice is missing, and in a couple of cases we know a part was lost. Other times it's clear that Bach intentionally chose to write no obligato parts. Listening to performances of these works makes it pretty clear that musicians feel some responsibility to fill these pieces out a bit. Normally the continuo will improvise a lot of filler figures. There may also be double continuo (organ and harpsichord together) to achieve a richer effect. In whatever way the music is performed, there seems to be a general agreement among those playing that, indeed, something is missing here, and there is room to "beef it up" a bit. This room for improvisation makes hearing various performances exciting and interesting.

Over the past few years I've written a few vocal Arias of my own, but have found myself all too often feeling my limits, getting results of varying quality, sometimes clearly subpar. For that reason, all my planned Cantatas remain unfinished. I could just give up, but I decided what I need to do is to study more, and get better. So a few months ago I embarked on a new project, in which I'm given clear direction by the master himself. Every Sunday afternoon I select one of Bach's continuo Arias, copy it in its entirety the way Bach wrote it, and then add my own obligato instrumental part to it. So far I've completed 13 pieces (there are over 60 to choose from). This has been very rewarding so far. it's an excellent way to get into this music and really learn how it's put together, more than I would learn simply by playing through and analysing.

Writing a new line of counterpoint which works along with two existing lines can sometimes be tricky, and at times difficult to choose from many possibilities, but mostly it's easier than composing from scratch. In one sense, this kind of exercise is what continuo players are doing all the time, improvising harmony that goes with the written bass line (and, more often than not, the figures). But writing a solo part is not quite the same as continuo realisation. One of the reasons I thought of doing this project was the fact that very active continuo playing tends to annoy me, because what gets played almost always sounds, well, a bit too improvised. It doesn't have the same kind of thematic coherence as composed music. It sounds at best comparatively less well formed than what is going on around it, at worst disconnected and distracting. The thought occurred to me, that a coherent and purposeful melodic line could do a better job filling in the space.

Here's an example to show you what I mean: the continuo Aria for solo Bass, "Wohl zu thun und mitzutheilen" from Cantata BWV 39 "Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot" The original score does not have an obligato organ part; I wrote the top line, and then played it along with a recorded performance of the work.

The original recording is from John Eliot Gardiner. The added part is played using the Jeux SoundFont. (Although I could use Hauptwerk to get a real sounding organ, the reverb mix unfortunately doesn't work with the recording.) For each piece, I try to add something which sounds like it belongs, like it could have been part of the composition. How closely I reach that goal varies, but my main goal is always reached — namely, that I'm challenged to do and learn something new, by working within existing music that is, without my contribution, already basically perfect.

In the process I'm also finding out a lot about how Bach worked with various texts, which to me are often highly relevant. Take this piece for example:

Wohl zu thun und mitzutheilen,
vergesset nicht,
für solche Opfer gefallen Gott wohl.

My translation:

To do and to share wellness,
don't forget,
for such offerings are pleasing to God.

Which reads a little better in English if we reverse the first two lines and add another word like so:

Don't forget
to do good and to share wellness,
for such offerings are pleasing to God.

Amen.

Stay well,
Aaron