Edward Klorman, a professor of music theory in the Mead Witter School of Music, has been playing Johann Sebastian Bach’s cello suites since he was a kid. The pieces have long been an integral part of any classical music education. But unlike most children begrudgingly forced to poke at a piano, Klorman never lost his passion for the music.
Now, he’s answering centuries-old questions in his latest book, Bach: The Cello Suites. As the cello suites continue to have new life breathed into them by the pop culture scape, Klorman has taken the chance to contextualize them for music experts and casual fans alike.
Bach (1685–1750) is a familiar enough name to most. The German composer, active during the Baroque period, was known in his lifetime as an organist and composer of Lutheran church music. But as his secular instrumental music was gradually rediscovered after his death, his cello suites have emerged not only as the pinnacle of solo cello composition but as an integral part of today's musical landscape. This doesn’t just mean the pieces are heralded in music classes. They’re woven into our media, hiding in the plain sight of pop culture.
It’s been this way for decades. Melodies and samples borrowed from the suites can be found in J-pop music and sprinkled in the soundtracks of movies and K-dramas. When David Bowie learned the cello in 1983 to play the role of a musical vampire in the film The Hunger, it was the suites that he learned. In the series premiere of the Netflix series “Wednesday,” when the protagonist sat down to play her cello, the music sitting on her stand was from Bach's cello suites.
Where there is a cello, there is Bach.
This correlation has always interested Klorman. Not many classical pieces find life in so many different genres. His personal favorite cameo of the music is the use of “Cello Suite No. 1” in the soundtrack of the 2003 Russell Crowe movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
When he was invited to write a book for the series the “New Cambridge Music Handbooks,” it was the perfect platform to dive deeper into the cello suites’ significance. Each book in the collection offers an in-depth look at a different piece of classical music in a digestible format.
“I knew this was something that could be seen by music lovers and more serious musicians. My goal was to share something that could be appreciated by everyone,” says Klorman.
The accessibility of this story is crucial to him, and for good reason.
Beyond their cultural prevalence, there is a second aspect of Bach’s cello suites that make them an intriguing subject: No one’s really sure how to play them.
Unlike most of Bach’s work, no autographed manuscript of the suites has survived to the present. The copies that do exist are from transcribers, and they don’t all match. Slight variations exist, such as extra ornaments and some different notes. Well after Bach’s death, when the cello suites began to be played occasionally in concerts, they initially received a lukewarm public reception, with some audiences and critics initially dismissing solo-cello music as bizarre curiosities.
Among both academics and musicians, a debate exists over how the cello suites were “meant” to be played and what’s truly correct.
Because of this, Klorman recounts being a music student purchasing sheet music and getting Bach’s cello suites printed in different books.
He saw writing for New Cambridge as a prime opportunity to answer the questions of classical music fans and confused music students around the world.
The book discusses theories on the history of the music, what Bach might have been thinking when he wrote it, and how it made its way into the mainstream. Klorman’s research lays out the evidence that exists on the topic without explicitly bringing readers to any conclusions.
He says that mystery is key.
“I have my own opinions, of course, but I try not to speak about them. Because really, this is something that’s always going to be kind of unknown,” said Klorman.
For anyone interested in learning more about this subject, Coppia Concerts is hosting a special event on Dec. 14 in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, where Klorman will present an in-depth exploration of his book alongside musical performances from colleagues from the Mead Witter School of Music.