Johann Sebastian Bach was better known as a virtuoso
organist than as a composer in his day. His sacred
music, organ and choral works, and other instrumental
music had an enthusiasm and seeming freedom that
concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of counterpoint was
brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities
of his compositional style -- which often included
religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit
perfectly together in a profound puzzle of special
codes -- still amaze musici...(+)
Johann Sebastian Bach was better known as a virtuoso
organist than as a composer in his day. His sacred
music, organ and choral works, and other instrumental
music had an enthusiasm and seeming freedom that
concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of counterpoint was
brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities
of his compositional style -- which often included
religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit
perfectly together in a profound puzzle of special
codes -- still amaze musicians today. Many consider him
the greatest composer of all time.
Although J.S. Bach described his six sonatas and
partitas for solo violin as Libro primo (Book 1), he
never followed them up with a second volume; so the
Partita for solo violin No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006
(Cöthen, 1720), stands as the composer's last
utterance in the unlikely medium of the unaccompanied
violin. There were some solo violin works that predate
Bach's efforts -- Biber's Passacaglia, Westhoff's Six
Partitas -- but they cannot compare.
This Partita is perhaps the most exuberant and cheery
of the three in the book; while it is no picnic in the
park for the violinist, it offers easier going than the
chaconne in the second partita with its strings of
double and triple stops. The work consists of dance
movements that are mostly French in origin and that
diverge from those in the other two : Preludio, Loure,
Gavotte en Rondeau, Menuet I and II, Bourrée, and
Gigue. The Preludio, which was adapted by Bach for use
in two of his cantatas, proceeds almost entirely in
brilliant sixteenth notes. A Loure is a slow subspecies
of French jig, usually (as is the case here) in 6/4
time; Bach's is perhaps a less heavy dance than the
average loure. The Gavotte is, as the name suggests,
set up as a kind of rondo, with restatements of the
opening material surrounding contrasting episodes; the
happy gavotte tune is played five times in all (six if
one counts the repeat of the opening eight bars). The
two Menuets are traditionally played da capo with the
end result: Menuet I -- Menuet II -- Menuet I. The
Bourrée is short and rapid. A gigue can be either
French in style or Italian; Bach selects the quicker,
snappier Italian variety to close the E major
Partita.
Bach at some point transcribed the entirety of this
Partita for solo lute; that version is known as BWV
1006a.
PARTITION