Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, the capital
of the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach, in present-day Germany,
on 21 March 1685 O.S. (31 March 1685 N.S.). He was the
son of Johann Ambrosius Bach, the director of the town
musicians, and Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt.
Most of Bach's accompanied violin sonatas -- distinct
from the six great solo sonatas and partitas -- pair
the instrument with harpsichord alone, and cast the
violin in a supporting role. Two, however, put the
violin front and...(+)
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, the capital
of the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach, in present-day Germany,
on 21 March 1685 O.S. (31 March 1685 N.S.). He was the
son of Johann Ambrosius Bach, the director of the town
musicians, and Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt.
Most of Bach's accompanied violin sonatas -- distinct
from the six great solo sonatas and partitas -- pair
the instrument with harpsichord alone, and cast the
violin in a supporting role. Two, however, put the
violin front and center, supported by a continuo of
keyboard and viola da gamba. Of those two, this E minor
work is the second, longer, and more emotionally
complex of the two (the other being BWV 1021). BWV
1023, unlike any of Bach's other accompanied violin
works, falls into only three movements, not four. The
first, however, breaks into two sections, both slow.
The prelude seems to cry out for organ accompaniment,
with its expressive, toccata-like violin line spinning
out over a pedal note. This music evokes the earlier
violin sonatas of Biber, but also has hints of the
famous Prelude from the Partita (BWV 1006). This soon
gives way to the more conventional Adagio ma non tanto,
which gives the impression of a chorale from one of
Bach's cantatas spun out into a somewhat more ornate
violin line. The Allemanda is the first of the work's
two dance movements -- another feature this sonata has
in common with the partitas; dances are excluded from
all of Bach's other accompanied violin sonatas, which
follow the more abstract slow-fast-slow-fast church
sonata format. It is followed by a more intricate, but
structurally more compact, Gigue. The challenge in each
of these two movements is for the violinist to provide
a sense of strong rhythmic movement while maintaining
an essentially lyrical line.
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