French Suite No. 6 in E major
Suite in Eb major for keyboard, BWV 819, II
Presentation + consequent
Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, II
12-bar sentence
Partita No. 5 in G major
Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, I
Sentence
French Suite No. 6 in E major. For such a benign little piece, this menuet is remarkably frustrating. Surely ideas (a), (b), and (c) are quite different from one another, and yet the common rhythm and the strictly repeated second-bar neighbor figure (with the bass) as surely draw a close connection between them. I have opted for sentence because the strain "feels" closer to that type—with its emphasis on connection and development—than to the antecedent+continuation, which tends to emphasize difference.
Suite in Eb major for keyboard, BWV 819, II. A "textbook" sentence.
Presentation + consequent
Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, II. The rare presentation + consequent theme is certainly closer to the sentence than the period, in the main because the effect of contrast or symmetrical return that we expect of the period is largely lost. Only the strength of the cadence in bar 4--as here--creates the necessary articulation.
12-bar sentence. A very motivically driven strain; the two-bar ideas are almost entirely suppressed. For Bach, a very odd piece in its overt galant cadence figures.
Partita No. 5 in G major
Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, I. Unlike the preceding, this one sharply and methodically maintains the traditional two-bar units of the menuet.
