Chilean music group Quilapayún plays Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Rondeau”, Orchestral Suite No.2 in B minor, BWV 1067, Movement 2/7, with Latin American musical instruments.

Quilapayún plays Bach’s Rondeau (1986). From the Chilean group’s 1986 album titled “Tralali-tralala”.

Used instruments: The siku (a traditional Andean panpipe), quena (the traditional flute of the Andes), guitar, charango (a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family), and bass guitar.

Bach’s Rondeau (Suite No.2 in B minor)

Suite No.2 in B minor is very much in the French style, as were many compositions of this kind in Germany in the first half of the eighteenth century when French national taste was predominated. The “Ouverture” is in the style developed under Lully in France, a solemn introduction in marked rhythm leading to a more rapid fugal section, ending with a return to the solemnity of the opening. A lively Rondeau follows and a stately Sarabande. The two Bourrées are played in alternation, followed by a Polonaise and a succeeding variation by the flute. The Suite ends with a Minuet and a Badinerie, a light-hearted and brilliant conclusion.

The four orchestral suites (called overtures by their author), BWV 1066-1069 are four suites by Johann Sebastian Bach. The name overture refers only in part to the opening movement in the style of the French overture, in which a majestic opening section in a relatively slow dotted-note rhythm in a duple meter is followed by a fast fugal section, then rounded off with a short recapitulation in a triple meter of the opening music.

More broadly, the term was used in Baroque Germany for a suite of dance pieces in the French Baroque style preceded by such an overture. This genre was extremely popular in Germany during Bach’s day, and he showed far less interest in it than was usual.

Scholars believe that Bach did not conceive of the four Orchestral Suites as a set (in the way he conceived of the Brandenburg Concertos), since the sources are various.

Suite No.2 in B minor is very much in the French style, as were many compositions of this kind in Germany in the first half of the eighteenth century when French national taste was predominated. The “Ouverture” is in the style developed under Lully in France, a solemn introduction in marked rhythm leading to a more rapid fugal section, ending with a return to the solemnity of the opening.

A lively Rondeau follows and a stately Sarabande. The two Bourrées are played in alternation, followed by a Polonaise and a succeeding variation by the flute. The Suite ends with a Minuet and a Badinerie, a light-hearted and brilliant conclusion.

Quilapayún

Quilapayún (Spanish pronunciation: [kilapaˈʝun]) are an instrumental and vocal folk music group from Chile and among the longest-lasting and most influential ambassadors of the Nueva Canción Chilena movement (New Song of Chile). Formed in Chile during the mid-1960s, the group became inseparable from the revolution that occurred in the popular music of the country under the Popular Unity government of Salvador Allende.

Quilapayun (2009)
Quilapayún (2009): from left to right: Ricardo “Caíto” Venegas, Ricardo Venegas, Eduardo Carrasco, Rubén Escudero, Fernando Carrasco, Ismael Oddó, Guillermo García, Hugo Lagos, Carlos Quezada | Foto: Antonio Larrea. The two other members not in this photo: Sebastían Quezada and Hernán Gómez.

Sources

M. Özgür Nevres

Published by M. Özgür Nevres

I am Özgür Nevres, a software engineer, a former road racing cyclist, and also an amateur musician. I opened andantemoderato.com to share my favorite music. I also take care of stray cats & dogs. This website's all income goes directly to our furry friends. Please consider supporting me on Patreon, so I can help more animals!

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