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First Sonata for Solo Violin: Adagio (Autograph 1720)

The Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin (BWV 1001–1006) form a set of six works composed by Johann Sebastian Bach: three sonatas in four movements and three partitas consisting of dance-based movements. The complete set was first published in 1802 by Bote and Bock. Today, the Sei Solo – a violino senza Basso accompagnato, as Bach titled them, are an integral part of the violin repertoire, and are recorded and performed frequently.

Contents

Composition

Bach composed the works in 1720, while employed at Köthen. The manuscript was nearly destroyed but someone saved it from being used as butcher paper. There, Bach composed more chamber music than sacred or choral music; the Brandenburg Concertos, concerto for two violins, and cello suites were all composed about this time.

The original performer of Bach's six sonatas and partitas is unknown. Johann Georg Pisendel and Jean-Baptiste Volumier have been suggested, both being talented violinists at the Dresden court, as has Joseph Spiess, leader of the orchestra at Cöthen, where Bach composed the works. However, some contend that it may have been Bach himself who gave the first performance, pointing to his skills as a violinist. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was a violinist, and according to his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, "in his youth, and until the approach of old age, he played the violin cleanly and powerfully".

Sonatas and Partitas

The sonatas each consist of four movements, in the slow-fast-slow-fast movement pattern of the sonata da chiesa, with the second movement as a fugue. The partitas are suites of dance movements, making use of the usual baroque pattern of allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, with some omissions and the addition of galanteries.

Many scholars and performers, like contemporary violinist Christian Tetzlaff, believe these works to be one whole idea, "like a big Bruckner symphony," he said. He also has a theory about the meaning of these works: He describes the three sonatas as religious works depicting the Christmas story, the Passion of Christ, and the Resurrection. The three partitas, on the other hand, in his opinion are the more "earthly" side of life, dances and songs. However, the two meet in the D Minor Partita, especially in the Chaccone, a personal requiem to his late wife Maria Barbara.

Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001

  1. Adagio
  2. Fuga (Allegro)
  3. Siciliano
  4. Presto

c. 16 mins 1

The first sonata is in G minor, although its key signature lacks one flat. Such a notational convention in the baroque period occurs likewise with the key of D minor, and should not necessarily suggest that the piece is in the Dorian mode. The second movement, the fugue, would later be reworked for organ (in the Prelude and Fugue, BWV 539) and the lute (Fugue, BWV 1000).

Partita No.1 in B minor, BWV 1002

  1. Allemanda
  2. Double
  3. Corrente
  4. Double
  5. Sarabande
  6. Double
  7. Tempo di Bourrée
  8. Double

The first partita substitutes a tempo di bourrée for the gigue, and each movement is followed by an embellished variation, called a double.

c. 31 mins

Sonata No.2 in A minor, BWV 1003

  1. Grave
  2. Fuga
  3. Andante
  4. Allegro

c. 24 mins

Partita No.2 in D minor, BWV 1004

  1. Allemanda
  2. Corrente
  3. Sarabanda
  4. Giga
  5. Ciaccona

In the original script, Bach marks 'Segue la Corrente' at the end of Allemanda. The powerful Ciaconna (chaconne in English) lasts nearly 14 minutes and easily surpasses the length of the other movements combined. This Ciaccona is considered a pinnacle of the solo violin repertoire in that it covers practically every aspect of violin-playing known during Bach's time and thus it is among the most difficult pieces to play for that instrument. The Ciaccona is recorded and played relatively frequently by itself, without the rest of the partita.

c. 29 mins

Sonata No.3 in C major, BWV 1005

  1. Adagio
  2. Fuga (Alla breve)
  3. Largo
  4. Allegro assai

c. 23 mins

Partita No.3 in E major, BWV 1006

  1. Preludio
  2. Loure
  3. Gavotte en Rondeau
  4. Menuet I
  5. Menuet II
  6. Bourrée
  7. Giga

An authentic transcription for lute exists, numbered BWV 1006a.

c. 20 mins

Recordings on violin

Portions were first recorded by Joseph Joachim in 1903, and the first complete set was recorded by Yehudi Menuhin in the mid-1930s.

Transcriptions and orchestrations

Although this work was intended for violin, Bach himself transcribed portions for other instruments, and the entire set has been transcribed by others for guitar, viola, cello and piano.

  • The Fuga from the First Sonata, for organ as BWV 539 and for lute as BWV 1000
  • The entire Second Sonata, for keyboard (possibly by Bach) as BWV 964
  • The Chaconne of the Second Partita has been transcribed by Ferruccio Busoni and Joseph Joachim Raff for piano, by Johannes Brahms for left hand piano solo, by Andrés Segovia for guitar, and has been orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski.
  • The Adagio of the Third Sonata, for keyboard as BWV 968
  • The entire Third Partita is also the Fourth Lute Suite, BWV 1006a
  • The Preludio to the Third Partita is also used in two different cantatas, BWV 29 (where it is scored rather dramatically for organ obbligato and orchestra) and 120a
  • Selected movements from Sonatas and Partitas 1, 2, & 3 as the Bach-Grandjany Etudes for harp, transcribed by Marcel Grandjany.
  • Two sonatas and one partita have been transcribed for piano by Godowsky.
  • The entire set has been transcribed for Harpsichord by Associate Professor Winsome Evans at the University of Sydney, and a recording by Evans of the set is due to be released later in 2007.
  • Numerous selections from the set of 3 Sonatas and 3 Partitas arranged for solo classical guitar are to be released by Savage Classical Guitar Editions in September of 2008.

List of recordings on other instruments

The Sonatas and Partitas have been transcribed for and recorded on many other instruments.

Notes & references

  1. ^ Timings taken from the Rachel Podger recording.

External links
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