When taking up Johann Sebastian Bach's various sonatas
for accompanied violin, it is important not to confuse
those written for violin and harpsichord with those
written for violin and continuo. The distinction might
at first seem small, but it is in fact quite
significant. Beyond the simple question of whether or
not one is to include a cello, gamba, or some other
bass instrument in addition to the harpsichord -- as
would be appropriate in the case of continuo -- Bach's
six Sonatas for violin a...(+)
When taking up Johann Sebastian Bach's various sonatas
for accompanied violin, it is important not to confuse
those written for violin and harpsichord with those
written for violin and continuo. The distinction might
at first seem small, but it is in fact quite
significant. Beyond the simple question of whether or
not one is to include a cello, gamba, or some other
bass instrument in addition to the harpsichord -- as
would be appropriate in the case of continuo -- Bach's
six Sonatas for violin and harpsichord, BWV 1014 - 1019
contain, fully realized keyboard parts, rather than
just a figured bass line. And so, while the style may
today sound to most people quite identical, those six
pieces are quite forward-looking in design, while the
two authentic sonatas for violin and continuo, composed
in the years before 1720, are quite backward-looking,
at least in terms of superficial layout. Such a piece
is the Sonata for violin and continuo in G major, BWV
1021, composed sometime during the late Weimar or early
Cöthen days (ca.1715 - 1720).
BWV 1021 has the usual four movements of a sonata da
chiesa type of piece, "Adagio," "Vivace," "Largo,"
"Presto," the latter three quite brief by comparison
with the corresponding movements in the somewhat later
violin/harpsichord sonatas. The opening Adagio is a
truly splendid binary-form piece in which the violin
weaves in and around a lightly strolling bass line at
will; a fine continuo hand is required, even more so
than is the norm, to fill out the harmonies without
obtruding on either of the two already present
characters. The following wisp of a Vivace seems almost
an addendum to the spacious opening movement, but its
elegant triple meter and graceful violin multiple-stops
move it forward into a space, albeit a small one, all
its own. In the E minor Largo, the violin again muses
free-form over an all-defining bass; the movement ends,
as is usual, in a half-cadence from which the final
Presto springs.
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