SONATAS AND PARTITAS FOR SOLO VIOLIN

The 'Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin' (BWV 1001–1006) is a set of six works composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. It consists of three sonatas in four movements and three partitas composed 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 it, are an integral part of the violin repertoire, and is recorded and performed frequently.

Contents

Composition

The Sonatas and Partitas

'Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001'

'Partita No.1 in B minor, BWV 1002'

'Sonata No.2 in A minor, BWV 1003'

'Sonata No.3 in C major, BWV 1005'

'Partita No.3 in E major, BWV 1006'

Recordings on violin

Transcriptions and orchestrations

List of recordings on other instruments

Notes & References

External links

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. J.G. Pisendel and J.B. 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".

The 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.

'Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001'

# Adagio
# Fuga (Allegro)
# Siciliano
# 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 fugue is an adaptation of the organ fugue from Prelude and Fugue in D minor, BWV 539.

'Partita No.1 in B minor, BWV 1002'

# Allemanda
# Double
# Corrente
# Double
# Sarabande
# Double
# Tempo di Bourrée
# 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'

# Grave
# Fuga
# Andante
# Allegro
c. 24 mins
==='Partita No.2 in D minor, BWV 1004===
# Allemanda
# Corrente
# Sarabanda
# Giga
# Ciaccona
The powerful Ciaconna (''chaconne'' in English) lasts nearly 15 minutes and easily surpasses the length of the other movements combined.
c. 29 mins

'Sonata No.3 in C major, BWV 1005'

# Adagio
# Fuga (Alla breve)
# Largo
# Allegro assai
c. 23 mins

'Partita No.3 in E major, BWV 1006'

# Preludio
# Loure
# Gavotte en Rondeau
# Menuet I
# Menuet II
# Bourrée
# Giga
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-30s.

★ Yehudi Menuhin, 1934-1944

★ George Enescu, 1948

★ Jascha Heifetz, 1952

★ Joseph Szigeti, 1956

★ Arthur Grumiaux, 1961

★ Henryk Szeryng, 1954 and 1967

★ Nathan Milstein, 1956 and 1973

★ Jean-Jacques Kantorow, 1979

★ Sigiswald Kuijken, 1981 (baroque violin)

★ Itzhak Perlman, 1988

★ Gidon Kremer, 1980 and 2005

★ Lucy van Dael, 1996

★ Ida Haendel, 1996

★ Hilary Hahn, 1997 (1004–1006 only)

★ Rachel Podger, 1997-1999 (baroque violin)

★ Ingrid Matthews, 2000

★ John Holloway, 2006 (baroque violin)

★ Dmitry Sitkovetsky

★ Oscar Shumsky

★ Elizabeth Wallfisch (baroque violin)

★ Monica Huggett (baroque violin)

★ Thomas Zehetmair

★ Shlomo Mintz

★ Lara St. John

★ Christian Tetzlaff

★ Julia Fischer

★ Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Jan. 12./15. 1955 (1004 only)

★ Emil Telmanyi (with Vega/Bach bow)

★ James Ehnes, 2000

★ Richard Tognetti, 2005 (1759 Guadagnini)

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 for piano, 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 has been transcribed for piano by Godowsky.

List of recordings on other instruments

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

★ Scott Slapin, viola

★ Andrei Pricope, cello

★ Vito Paternoster, cello

★ Andrés Segovia, guitar (selected movements)

★ John Williams, guitar (selected movements)

★ Paul Galbraith, 1998, 8-stringed guitar

★ Goran Sollscher, guitar

★ Hopkinson Smith, 13-course baroque lute

★ Nigel North, complete set (and the cello suites) on lute

★ Sergei Rachmaninoff, piano (prelude to the third Partita)

★ Béla Fleck, banjo (prelude to the third Partita, played in C instead of E)

★ Manuel Barrueco, guitar (The Sonatas BWV 1001, 1003 & 1005)

★ Dave Grossman, 7-string electric bass

Notes & References

1. Timings taken from the Rachel Podger recording.

External links

★

★ MIDI Sequences of Bach's Violin Sonatas/Partitas

★ Heifetz playing Chaconne from Partita no.2 part I, Chaconne from Partita no.2 part II, Prelude from Partita No. 3

★ Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin Vito Paternoster - MP3 Creative Commons Recording, played on cello

★ Musical score and MIDI file at the Mutopia Project

★ From liner notes of a Benedict Cruft recording

★ Discussion of recording history

★ Discussion of publishing history and Second Sonata

★