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.
J.S. Bach's six authentic sonatas for violin and
keyboard (BWV 1014 - 1019) are unquestionably
progressive, not least for their inclusion of fully
realized harpsichord parts (as opposed to continuo
parts with figured bass). They represent the real
beginnings of the duo sonata as the term is understood
today. It may well be that the fourth -- the Sonata for
violin and harpsichord in C minor, BWV 1017 -- is
stylistically-speaking the most unusual and
forward-looking. While its four movements are plainly
of the traditional church sonata lineage, two of them
especially would have turned early eighteenth-century
heads.
Opening a four-movement sonata with a Siciliano, as
Bach does here, is certainly unusual, if not
necessarily groundbreaking; the swaying sicilienne
rhythm is given to the violin while the harpsichord
ponders arpeggios. The content of the Adagio third
movement, however, is so unusual for its time (ca. 1717
- 1723) that one cannot but wonder at its creator's
inventiveness. It is no ordinary Baroque chamber Adagio
that provides the solo instrument's melody with a
constant triplet-arpeggio accompaniment in the keyboard
right hand and a simple, streamlined bass line in the
left -- indeed, the style of the accompaniment is more
like something a composer half a century or more later
might have concocted -- and in terms of apparent
(though by no means actual) simplicity of design and
texture, this movement is unrivalled in Bach's sonatas.
The remaining two movements -- the two quick movements
-- are more standard Bach fare, though hardly less
impressive. The second movement (Allegro) is the
weightiest of all the violin/harpsichord sonata quick
movements, while the finale (also Allegro) is the kind
of dense, quasi-fugal binary movement we might
expect.
Although originally written for Violin & Harpsichord, I
created this Arrangement of the Sonata No. 4 in C Minor
(BWV 1017) for Flute & Concert (Pedal) Harp.
PARTITION