Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) was a German
composer and musician of the Baroque period. He
enriched established German styles through his mastery
of counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and
his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from
abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's
compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the
Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions,
and over three hundred cantatas of which approximately
two hundred survive.His ...(+)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) was a German
composer and musician of the Baroque period. He
enriched established German styles through his mastery
of counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and
his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from
abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's
compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the
Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions,
and over three hundred cantatas of which approximately
two hundred survive.His music is revered for its
technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual
depth. While Bach's abilities as an organist were
highly respected during his lifetime, he was not widely
recognised as an important composer until a revival of
interest in his music during the first half of the 19th
century. He is now generally regarded as one of the
greatest composers of all time.
The fifth of J.S. Bach's six authentic sonatas for
violin and harpsichord (BWV 1014 - 1019), the Sonata in
F minor, BWV 1018, is not the full-blown formal
experiment that its immediate successor BWV 1019 in G
major is; nor does it offer such stylistic deviation as
we find in its immediate predecessor BWV 1017 in C
minor. In its own quiet way, however, the Sonata in F
minor, BWV 1018, breaks the mold firmly established by
the first three of the six violin/harpsichord
sonatas.
Melody as we usually understand it is altogether absent
throughout the Adagio third movement. Instead, there is
a rich four-voice texture divided into two pairs: the
violin takes one of the pairs and sets it up as
pulsating double-stops, the harpsichord takes the other
pair and sets it up as two opposing voices of
thirty-second-note bursts.
Although originally written for Violin & Harpsichord, I
created this Arrangement of the Adagio from the Sonata
No. 5 in F Minor (BWV 1018 No. 3) for Solo Concert
(Pedal) Harp.
PARTITION