Ron Singer

Bach Unmoored

French Suite #7 (The “Kitchen Sink” Suite) 

 

Part One

 

Allemande:

 

Imagine hearing Bach’s complete French Suites

--on a barge in New York Harbor, no less!

Each suite, a thrilling ride around the Bay,

each movement, an ebb, a swell –sometimes, both.

 

Gavotte:

 

“So you say!” says the performer to Bach.

“But ‘easy,’ for you, is not so, for me.”

“Well, my good sir, try again, from the top.

This time, as phrases end, breathe, but don’t stop.”

 

Polonaise:

 

Out strides the pianist, exciting the crowd.

Stretching his fingers, he takes a deep breath,

then sails into the lively polonaise,

a march, or procession, in fancy dress.

 

Courante:

 

The Barge, of course, is shaking up a storm,

thanks to constant traffic --plus, the ferry slip

is diagonally across the pier.

The pianist struggles to keep us afloat.

 

Trio:

 

Approaching the midpoint, the Interval,

with this brief stately dance, appearing but once,

Bach is giving us all our money’s worth,

while hinting that things must come to an end.

 

Interval.

 

Anglaise:

 

Out on the pier, children of all nations,

dancing and singing, asking for ice cream.

“Mummy,” pleads an English girl, dressed to the nines,

“you bought Freddie a sweet. My turn, this time.”

 

Loure:

 

Bach and his family, two wives and children,

twenty-two, in all, stroll around the pier.

Though their period dress impresses some,

others, blasé, have seen costumes before.

 

Bouree’:

 

There is no frigate, none, quite like a book,

nor courser, like a page of poetry.

Miss E. Dickinson, strolling on the pier,

bows to Herr Bach, a dear old acquaintance.

 

Part Two

 

Sarabande:

 

Not that the barge’s motion, the swaying,

the rises, falls, are all that unsettling.

Bach, a stout craft, and the barge’s record,

unblemished, shelter the listeners from fear.

 

Air:

 

Don’t all these dances make you want to sing,

to add treble tongue to the tip-toeing?

But can ballerinas carry a tune?

Imagine a basso dancing to Bach!

 

Gigue:

 

Here we come, then, and here, then, we go,

around and around, once more around,

the barge, jolly barge, resplendent with sound,

around and around, and once more around.

 

Menuet:

 

Well, then, I fear, we’ve come to the end.

No encores here, unless you consider

this Suite, “The Kitchen Sink: Seven,” as such.

It should really be called, “Set Two, Number One,”

but enough is enough; and too much, too much.

 

 

NOTES

 

There is no Frigate like a Book...

Nor any Coursers like a Page 

Of prancing Poetry-- 

     Emily Dickinson (# 1286)

 

Allemande: the opening movement of all the Suites, a moderate-speed figure dance in 2/4 time for 4 couples, with a do-si-do. Each Suite thus begins with an easy feeling of community.

 

Gavotte: a medium-paced French dance, popular in the 18th century; a piece of music composed in common time, beginning on the third beat of the measure. The one in #5 is very stately.

 

Polonaise: a slow dance of Polish origin in triple time, consisting chiefly of an intricate march or procession. Named after a sexy dress.

 

Courante: always the second movement, it speeds things up. In triple meter, this “running” dance comprises advances and retreats, providing a taste of where each suite has come from, and is going.

 

Trio: found only in #3, this is an elegant dance in 3/2 time. Since all the other suites have six parts, and #5, 7, we can speculate that the added Trio was Bach’s way of indicating that this can’t go on forever.

 

Anglaise: very similar to a gavotte, any of a # of English dances, such as the hornpipe or contredanse.

 

Loure: a ceremonious slow French gigue, named after the musette, but also associated with the bagpipe and violin.

 

Bouree’: 17th-century French dance in quick double time.

 

Sarabande: always the third movement, the sarabande keeps to the triple meter, but, oh, my, what a difference from the courante! This Spanish court dance is slow and stately, lulling us once again.

 

Air: An air is, of course, a song, popular, in Bach’s time, in EnglanD.

 

Gigue: lively dance in compound triple time and in fugal style, the final dance in all six Suites.

 

Menuet: a popular dance, of course, in ¾, with small steps, charming, disarming.

 

 

 

New-York lifer and world traveler, Ron Singer (www.ronsinger.net), is the author of ten books, including Uhuru Revisited: Interviews with Pro-Democracy Leaders (Africa World Press/Red Sea Press, 2015), which can be found in libraries in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Recently, Singer has written satire and fiction about sport/games and totalitarian politics. These can be found in publications including Avatar Review; Boned, A Collection of Skeletal Writings; Coe Review; Evergreen Review; Home Planet News; Jelly Bucket; and The Exterminating Angel magazine.