An interpretation of JS Bach's Chaconne from Partita No. 2, arranged for solo piano

In the commoner’s graveyard in Cothen, Germany,
a freshly dug earthen grave, 
a clutch of wilted flowers on top left by children. 
No gravestone or other marker.

A strong and fit man of 35 
carrying a suitcase
runs to the grave. 
In panic and falls to his knees. 
This is Johann Sebastian Bach. 
The woman, the girl he adores, 
the mother of his children, 
lays buried at his feet. 

Rage erupts. 
His legs shake. 
His mind races through a thousand images. 

Her eyes. 
Her kiss. 
She bore him seven children. 
He remembers when they first met, 
their first embrace. 
They were married when he was just twenty-two, 
but now, 
only thirteen years later, 
in the prime of their life, 
she is gone.

Delirious with anger, 
he cannot understand. 
He's losing his mind.

A woman appears.
It’s her, his deceased love, 
Maria Barbara Bach, 
playful and flirtatious.

The dance,
as they loved to do.
Lustily, laughing, 
competing to down steins full of beer,
tricking each other.
She calms him. 
Fills his heart with peace.
It’s OK. It’s going to be OK.
He must care for their children. 
He must live. 

And he must let her go.
He says farewell. And she to him.

Dance Music

Farewell My Love for solo piano

Composer - California, USA
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ASCAP

Farewell My Love for solo piano

Jacques Bailhé