Jetro Tull & J. S. Bach #<3
What is happening when we hear the progrockers from Jethro Tull play a bourrée by J. S. Bach? Of course, there might be something interesting happening in terms of genre, but more importantly (to me) the music has an effect in the authenticity of both the composer and musicians. If authenticity, according to the renowned scholar Richard Taruskin, concerns itself with the notion of convincing and being true to yourself as a performar, what role does this authenticity then play in the marriage between Jethro Tull and J. S. Bach's bourrée? In order to answer this, I'll first take a closer look at the partakers, after which I venture to claim that the answer will come forth without much resistance.
Johann Sebastian Bach is widely known as on the the greatest composers of the Baroque Era. He was born in modern-day Germany in 1685, and he was both a productive composer, renowned teacher and accomplished musician. After his death in 1750, he was momentarily forgotten, until the intellectuals declared him a genius in the 19th century.
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the bourrée (the one I'm talking about, and of course many others) 250 years before Jethro Tull got hold of it. The bourrée is in E minor and part of a suite for lute. A suite is a collection af dansable tunes, and the bourrée is a French dance, originally for peasants. Bach's bourrée is a part of the standard repertoire of any classical guitarist.
And now to something completely different: Jethro Tull. As mentioned, Jethro Tull is a progrockband and the took they're first steps on the ladder of rock fame in 1967. Two years later they harvested commercial success with the album Stand Up. The front figure is Ian Anderson, who also seems to be the brains behind the project. The rest of the band has been replaced now and then. Ian Anderson is both known as the singer of Jethro Tull and as the crazy one-legged guy with the transverse flute.
In 1968 Ian Anderson got the idea to update the bourrée. The melodi was given to the transverse flute and the rest of the band kept the underlying groove. The piece, or song, has a quite simple structure. First there is an exposition where the melody is introduced 'close' to the orignal . Then follows a more jazzy version of the melodic material, and then an improvisation. After a break, the melody is repeated and the piece is closed with Ian Andersons final improvisational solo. The bourrée (or as Jethro Tull puts is, Bourée) is to be found in several versions, I based this text on the following clip from Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u0XXpVGUwk
Well, why did I use Youtibe as my source, and not the original recording? The main reason is Ian Andersons speak in the beginning, just before Jethro Tull starts playing. I found the following quote interesting in the discussion of authenticity: ''He is an old guy, J. S. Bach (…) but back then Martin Barre [red. Jehtro Tulls guitarist] and J. S. they were like that, they were drinking buddies and over a couple of glasses of cold beer, J. S. Bach taught this piece to Martin, who played this piece to me some 300 years later, and I learnt it in time for the record. This begins with a sort of.. the nice version, before it decends into despiccable cocktail-lounge jazz.'' From this quote it is easy to gather the contradictory relationship between Jethro Tull and J. S. Bach, but at the same time the synthesis between the two works. The audience accepts this synthesis and the modern instruments and band are able to convey the Baroque material. The fact that Ian Anderson spins a thread from J. S. Bach to Martin Barre works of course as a tall tale, an anecdote, but also as a strategy of legitimization; If the band has learned the Bourée directly from Bach they have, firstly, been given the right to perform the piece, and secondly, play the piece however they want to.
And all of this comes down to the notion of authenticity I borrowed from Taruskin. At the core of authenticity is conviction. Somebody needs to convince the other about being 'real', that the band is true to whatever it stands for and has roots in the past, that the band is true to itself. If we look a bit more broadly at the concept of 'self', then we may argue that, when Jethro Tull mix their own style with baroque music, then they are still true to themselves. And this might just be because of the fact that Baroque music is part of the musical continuum that all Western rock bands is a part of? In a way, the tap on to one old tradition that has shaped their musical world. This isn't the only way that Jethro Tull adds to their authenticity, just by being able to tap into the musical traditions of a bygone era. The band shows that they are able to play this music and to improvise over it, and hereby they are given some of the serious authenticity that being able to play classical music carries with it. Especially if you buy the idea of hierarchy between musical genres, and if you place classical music at the top of this pyramid.
I think, that in Jethro Tulls rendition of Bourée, we have at least two layers of authenticity at play. Firstly, the authenticity of a rock band is at stake. By using and reusing 'old, serious and exalted' music, the rock band is given a depth beyond the superficial layers of modern pop/rock. At the same time, since the band is able to use this melodic material in a way that showcases both the musical talent of its members, in a way that suits the audience's expectations of the band, entertaining the same audience in an intelligent way, the performance gives authenticity to the performers. The band will be seen as more versatile and serious.
On the other hand, we are also dealing with the authenticity and identity of J. S. Bach's original. When Jethro Tull plays the bourrée, we are hopefully not fooled into thinking that they are performing as it sounded in 1717. On the other hand, is the performer in any way morally obliged to J. S. Bach to play the piece as if we all still wore white wigs and silk stockings? According to Richard Taruskin this is not the case (and I agree). It is only with the genius-movement of the 19th century Romantics that the scribbles of the composer became the law. Before that, the musician had a greater degree of freedom of interpretation, and this is the freedom that Jethro Tull builds on. In this way, if the authenticity of a piece is not bound to the performance of a musician, but the musician has the possibility to fit the piece into any given context with any given instruments, then the piece will always be authentic. That is, the authenticity of a piece is not bound to any idea of original performance practice.
In conclusion, I think, that Jethro Tull's Bourée is an exemplary reinterpretation (or just interpretation) of J. S. Bach's bourrée. By lifting the music into our time, the old French dance becomes relevant and interesting for a Modern audience, and all of this happens without the old bourrée loosing its authenticity. That's why I'm sure Jetro Tull & J. S. Bach #<3.
Original text (in Danish) can be found at http://musikvidenskabet.dk/
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