3 in E major, BWV1006; Bach, J S: Sonata for Violin & Harpsichord No. : Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1003-1006, J.S. He grew up listening to his father play the violin, and it was as a violinist that he obtained his first public appointment, playing in the Weimar Court Orchestra. Some scholars suggest that these compositions were intended as practice material for violinists, and certainly they have been used in that fashion for generations, sometimes transcribed for other instruments. 1 in G minor, BWV1001, Bach, J S: Sonata for solo violin No. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Although the works bear consecutive catalog numbers in their BWV designations, they may not have been written exactly in sequence. 29 and 120a. Johann Georg, born in 1687, studied with Francesco Antonio Pistocchi and the famous Giuseppe Torelli, worked for some years at Ansbach and Leipzig, and moved in 1712 to Dresden, where he was concertmaster and later the principal conductor until his death in 1755. Violin Partita no. The sonatas each have four movements, beginning with a slow movement, ending with a brisk one, and with the central pair of movements consisting of one fugue and one slower, more graceful movement. The whole piece is an extraordinary conjunction of architectural majesty with fanciful bravura display of the instrument. 3 in C major, BWV1005. Her D minor Giga is stunning. 1720 First Pub lication. Bach in 1720. The Bach Werke Verzeichnis catalog, compiled roughly two centuries after Bach’s passing, organizes works by type, rather than by chronology. According to his son, “in his youth, and until the approach of old age, he played the violin cleanly and powerfully”. Please consider upgrading your account for just $55 a year. But Bach knew the violin repertory well, and in writing such works, was claiming a place in a solid tradition. BACH: ASSEMBLING THE MUSICAL PUZZLE". It’s not known whether these works were performed during Bach's lifetime or, if they were, who the performer was. After this prelude, Bach launches into a remarkable fugue based on the opening of the chorale “Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott”. He was without question the leading German violinist of his generation, and it is generally supposed that it was for him that Bach wrote his solo sonatas and partitas as well as that marvel of chastely sensuous elegance, the Laudamus te in the B minor Mass. (Other possible candidates for the sonatas and partitas include Jean Baptiste Volumier, a close friend of Bach’s who … Omissions? Bach supplied violinists with great masterpieces to play, including nine sonatas for violin and harpsichord, a handful of concertos, and featured obbligato roles in his cantatas and passions. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Johann Sebastian Bach, oil on canvas by Elias Gottlieb (Gottlob) Haussmann, 1746; in the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig, Germany. It was written in his early days, when the composer hoped for a church position, though after being heard by Duke Johann Ernst, a court musician position was offered to him. One pleasing general feature of her playing, indeed, is her firm but unassertive rhythmic sense; others are the absence of any suspicion that technical difficulties exist (instead a calm control, as in the G minor's Siciliano), her subtle phrasing (as in the B minor Corrente, with the fleetest of doubles), the cross rhythms of her G minor Presto and, most strikingly, the poetic feeling with which she imbues the initial Adagio of the G minor Sonata. As expected, the second movement is a finely wrought fugue, in which a jaunty subject is contrasted with a descending chromatic countersubject.