Max Reger’s Three Suites for Solo Cello, Op. 131c, occupy a significant place in the cello repertoire as among the earliest major unaccompanied cello works composed after Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Cello Suites. Reger’s deep admiration for Bach and his extensive study of Bach’s music profoundly influenced his compositional style. This study aims to examine the extent to which Bach’s compositional characteristics are reflected in Reger’s cello suites and to identify the musical elements that demonstrate this influence. This research employs comparative musical analysis of Reger’s Three Suites for Solo Cello, Op. 131c, alongside Bach’s Six Cello Suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. The analysis focuses on formal structure, melodic design, rhythmic patterns, harmonic organization, and contrapuntal techniques. The findings reveal that Reger incorporated numerous features associated with Bach’s compositional style. These include the use of preludes, fugue writing, Baroque dance movements, melodic sequences, scalar passages, arpeggiated textures, and polyphonic writing. Reger’s suites also demonstrate similarities to Bach’s works in movement organization, thematic materials, and contrapuntal treatment. At the same time, Reger reinterpreted these Baroque elements through a late-Romantic musical language characterized by richer harmony and denser textures. The study concludes that Reger’s cello suites represent both a continuation and a transformation of Bach’s compositional traditions. By combining Baroque structural principles with nineteenth-century musical aesthetics, Reger created works that honor Bach’s legacy while contributing to the development of the modern solo cello repertoire.
Yichun Chen (Tue,) studied this question.