Investigating the Relationship between Implied Polyphony and Meter in the Unaccompanied String Works of J.S. Bach

Stacey Davis, The University of Texas at San Antonio

A general agreement exists about the presence of implied polyphony in Bach's unaccompanied string works. Little attempt has been made, however, to discuss the specific musical features that create this implied polyphony or to provide guidelines for determining what these different voices actually are. In response to this lack of adequate research, a concrete analytical system was developed that offers a simple method for parsing these monophonic lines into multiple voices.

In order to place the analysis of this melodic feature in its historical context, the output of this analytical system was compared to eighteenth century conceptions of implied polyphony. Both the related repertoire and the theoretical treatises of the time suggest that implied polyphony was typically explained as a technique of arpeggiation. Evidence for this is found in the repertoire for the lute, where arpeggiation was used to allow for the performance of polyphonic passages and thereby compensate for the lute's inability to produce sustained tones. The treatises of Mattheson, Kirnberger, and Heinichen then confirm that eighteenth century composers typically described implied polyphony as a way of using arpeggiation to embellish a melodic line, disguise an otherwise unacceptable melodic progression, or delay the resolution of dissonance.

In comparison to these historical descriptions, Bach's use of implied polyphony is far more varied and complex than simple ideas of arpeggiation and dissonance resolution can explain. Based on the detailed analysis generated from the system mentioned above and on results from empirical studies of perception, it is proposed that Bach instead used implied polyphony as a means of applying irregular accent patterns to the surface of the music, thereby preserving one of the basic aspects of meter in Baroque instrumental music by creating purposeful and engaging activity at even the fastest levels of the metric hierarchy.