The Seventh Partita, a novel in the form of a ricercare

A: The novel is something of a puzzle for the reader to solve, for those readers who enjoy and appreciate such. My inspiration for this novel comes from the music of Johann Sebastian Bach which is known for its contrapuntal structure. I emulate this by using different “panes” of narrative that happen at various times, but that all come together as a unified work.

Although Bach is known mainly for the form known as the “fugue” I call this a ricercare because its structure is not as strict as that of a Bach fugue. In fact, the structure is inspired by the pipe organ Prelude in B Minor (BWV 544) which may be the last pipe organ Prelude and Fugue composed by Bach.

Ricercare” is an Italian term meaning “to seek.” The term was used variously for musical forms to describe a contrapuntal work where a theme enters and then it enters again to seek out the original theme. Every character and literary design in the novel seeks out something, be it fame, riches, authenticity, or some form of meaning that makes life worth living. Is it different for different people?

A: My own personal opinion mirrors that of the character Susan Song Zhao. I mean, there is a seventh partita. It’s the one we call the French Overture (BWV 831). It was published a few years after the other keyboard partitas and is itself a partita. The opening movement is itself kind of a relative minor yin for yang clone of the 4th Partita in D Major (BWV 828), a gorgeous overture in the French style complete with stately opening followed by a quick, contrapuntal part.

The only problem with the French Overture is that it’s in the “wrong” key. The cypher built into the 6 keyboard Partitas dictates that the 7^th should be in F Major. The French Overture is in b minor, which is as far as you can get from F Major, a tritone. But the French Overture was published with another work. That work is the Italian Concerto and it’s in the “correct” key of F Major. I think that Bach wanted to shine the light onto the Italian Concerto which is written in a very contemporary and unique style for Bach. I think this was an answer to a criticism by musician and critic Johann Adolf Scheibe who criticized Bach’s music for being old fashioned and over-complicated among other things. Bach’s Italian Concerto is an answer to those criticisms.

But there is a part of me that thinks there just may be another partita, or part of a partita that has not been discovered that is in partita form, or at least one movement in overture form in that sunny key of F Major. Wouldn’t that be something?

A: The first six Partita’s are as follows:

1 in Bb
2 in C
3 in A
4 in D
5 in G
6 in E

In Western music, we call the difference between two notes an “interval,” and we use a number to describe the distance in pitch between the two. Two instruments playing the same note are playing a unison. If one is playing A and the other B, they are playing a second. A to C is a third etc. If we look at the sequence of the Partitas, we will notice that Partita 2 is a second above the First Partita. The Third Partita is a third below the second. The Fourth Partita is a fourth above the third, and the Fifth is a fifth below the Fourth Partita. And yes, the Fifth Partita in E is a fifth above the Fourth Partita. So the Seventh partita must be a seventh below the Sixth Partita in F. If we gather up all these keys, we can arrange them in the following sequence, with the last one in F, first: F G A Bb C D E. These are the notes in an F major scale, which the last partita in F completes.

Except there is no known Sixth Partita.

Bach loved this sort of cypher, and we see it everywhere in his music. I understand that other collections of music for solo violin, cello, etcetera, are in sets of six, but nowhere else was there a cypher so clear as this. Also, Bach had previously written that there would be seven in the series. So, if a Seventh Partita is discovered, I told you so.

A: No. The Seventh was completed in 2020 before AI was available to help with writing novels. A paper copy of the novel was deposited with The Bach Achiv Leipzig, the cataloger of all things relating to Johann Sebastian Bach. Here is a link to the item: https://bacharchiv.libero-is.de/libero/WebOpac.cls?VERSION=2&ACTION=DISPLAY&RSN=94933&DATA=BAL&TOKEN=152x4lpfqY5243&Z=1&SET=1

A: The author, H. Doug Matsuoka, is an information technologist and has been following the development of AI for years. Although the implementation of AI described in the novel does not currently exist, many elements are described as though it were a work of science fiction. There is also no “cloaking” technology in nightclubs to ensure anonymity, and the huge condominium/community called The New Shanghai does not exist in Honolulu. Yet. But it’s based on Shanghai Tower in Shanghai which has its own water supply, air filtration system, and internal parks! The science fiction elements are part of the literary design of the novel.

A: Christoph Wolff, certainly the Johann Sebastian Bach of Johann Sebastian Bach biographers, explains in his book, “Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician,” that although almost all of the works Bach composed at Cothen have vanished, we can make an estimate of quantity in a variety of ways. Although the royal library and everything in it seems to have vanished, something important survives: The royal ledgers! These indicate that during Bach’s tenure at the court, they employed one full-time salaried music copyist and even paid an additional copyist repeatedly during most of that period. The music copyist is one who takes the score with all the parts that the composer has written, then transcribes each part for each instrument.

We know the quality of these works from the few that have survived. The six (please disregard that number) Brandenburg Concerti were composed here, and probably performed here also.  They survive only because they were sent away to the Margrave of Brandenburg in whose library they were discovered. Also the sets of six (yes, again, I know) pieces for violin and cello. Also surviving in those ledgers are costs for bookbinding for the year 1719 – 1720 in a sum sufficient to bind scores and parts for some fifty ensemble and orchestral works. Bach’s output during the first years at Leipzig confirms his ability to produce masterpieces at such an astonishing pace. Wolff estimates that even if only two-thirds of the royal repertoire came from Bach, the assumed losses would exceed 200 pieces!

On a recent trip to Leipzig, Germany for its annual Bachfest, I got to ask scholars familiar with Bach’s manuscripts where these scores may have ended up. They said that Prince Leopold died young (as did his wife) and his successors at the court were not as keen on music (or the palace itself) as Leopold. There were two dates when things were auctioned off, but there were no leads on who, if anyone, purchased the music or where they may be now. So, there is a definite possibility of there existing somewhere a treasure trove of chamber works by Bach. I’m sure he composed music showcasing the talented singer who was the second highest-paid musician after him, the young Anna Magdalena Wilcke, whom he later married.