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Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (Bach)

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The Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin (BWV 1001–1006) is a set of six works composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. It consists of three sonatas in four movements and three partitas composed of dance-based movements. The complete set was first published in 1843 by Ferdinand David. Portions were first recorded by Joseph Joachim in 1903, and the first complete set was recorded by a young Yehudi Menuhin in the mid-30s. Today, the Sei Solo – a violino senza Basso accompagnato, as Bach titled it, is an integral part of the violin repertoire, and is recorded and performed frequently.

Bach composed his six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin in 1720, while employed at Cöthen. There, Bach composed more secular/chamber music than sacred or choral music; the Brandenburg Concertos, Double Concerto, and Cello Suites were all composed about this time. The Sonatas each consist of four movements, in a slow-fast-slow-fast tempi format, with the second movement as a fugue. The Partitas are collections of dances, making use of the baroque format of allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, but none following it to the letter: the first substitutes a bourrée for the gigue; the second includes a chaconne as a fifth movement; and the third's resemblance to the format is only in its final gigue.

The original performer of Bach's six sonatas and partitas is unknown. J.G. Pisendel and J.B. Volumier have been suggested, both being talented violinists at the Dresden court, as has Joseph Spiess, leader of the orchestra at Cöthen, where Bach composed the works. However, some contend that it may have been Bach himself who gave the first performance, pointing to his skills as a violinist. (His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was a violinist, and according to his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, "in his youth, and until the approach of old age, he played the violin cleanly and powerfully".)

The sonatas and partitas tabulated

  • Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001 (Note: This first sonata is in G minor, although its key signature lacks one flat. Such a notational convention in the baroque period occurs likewise with the key of D minor, and should not suggest that the mode of the piece is Dorian.)
    1. Adagio
    2. Fuga (Allegro)
    3. Siciliano
    4. Presto
  • Partita No.1 in B minor, BWV 1002
    1. Allemande
    2. Double
    3. Courante
    4. Double
    5. Sarabande
    6. Double
    7. Bourrée
    8. Double
  • Sonata No.2 in A minor, BWV 1003
    1. Grave
    2. Fugue
    3. Andante
    4. Allegro
  • Partita No.3 in E major, BWV 1006
    1. Preludio
    2. Loure
    3. Gavotte en Rondeau
    4. Menuet I
    5. Menuet II
    6. Bourrée
    7. Gigue


The third partita is probably the best known of the six suites. The Preludio and Gavotte pieces are often performed separately, and appear on many classical compilations.


List of Recordings on Violin

The Sonatas and Partitas have been recorded by many notable violinists, including:

Transcriptions and orchestrations

Although this work was intended for violin, Bach himself transcribed portions for other instruments, and the entire set has been transcribed by others for guitar, viola, and cello. Examples:

  • The Fuga from the First Sonata, for organ as BWV 539 and for lute as BWV 1000
  • The entire Second Sonata, for keyboard as BWV 964
  • The Chaconne of the Second Partita has been transcribed by Ferruccio Busoni for piano, by Andrés Segovia for guitar, and has been orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski.
  • The Adagio of the Third Sonata, for keyboard as BWV 968
  • The entire Third Partita is also the Fourth Lute Suite, BWV 1006a
  • The Preludio to the Third Partita is also used in two different cantatas, BWV 29 and 120a

List of Recordings on other instruments

The Sonatas and Partitas have been transcribed for and recorded on many other instruments, including:

References


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