PROGRAMME:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Partita for Solo Violin No 3 in E Major, BWV 1006
Sonata for Solo Violin No 3 in C Major, BWV 1005
Partita for Solo Violin No 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004
Bach composed his sonatas and partitas for violin solo while serving in Keten together with other instrumental works including suites for cello solo and the Brandenburg Concerti. Bach was aware of the specific nature of violin technique from a practical point of view; it is known that he was not only a brilliant performer of keyboard instruments but played the violin well too.
Like many other works by Bach, the violin sonatas and partitas remained all but unknown for several decades. Even after being published in 1802, however paradoxical it may seem, it was generally pianists who took an interest in them. These included Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann, both of whom composed a piano accompaniment to the cycle, as well as Johannes Brahms and Ferruccio Busoni, who created piano versions of the partita in D Minor.
In the 20th century Bach’s sonatas and partitas became a popular element of the violin repertoire. They have been performed and recorded by George Enescu, Jascha Heifetz, Yehudi Menuhin, Nathan Milstein and other internationally acclaimed violinists.
The partitas have a structure similar to four-movement suites featuring dance pieces – the allemanda, the corrente, the sarabanda and the gigue. But not one of Bach’s partitas exactly embodies this sequence. For example, in the Partita in E Major, of the principal elements only the final gigue is retained; moreover, it is preceded by a series of dances in the French tradition - the Loure, gavotte en rondeau (reminiscent of pieces for harpsichord by Couperin), two menuets and a bourrée. Here the traditions of the gallant style are developed by Bach with incredible refinement.
The sonatas are more similar in terms of structure. They follow the model of the four-movement church sonata with a first lento section. Bach unites this with the second in a “cycle within a cycle” – the prelude and fugue. The performance of the fugue – the loftiest form of polyphonic music – on a modern violin comes with significant technical difficulties: if an old German-style bow afforded consonance without the use of arpeggios, it is not so easy to produce several independent lines simultaneously on modern instruments. This further complicates the fugue of the Sonata in C Major, in which Bach makes use of complex polyphonic composition technique – strettas, conversions and double counterpoint.
The dramatic core of the Partita in D Minor is the final Ciaccona. Even in the 19th century this piece took on an independent life and may justifiably be considered one of the most demanding pieces in the violin repertoire. Here the instrument is used almost to the extremes of its possibilities, and the performer must possess not just technical skill but also to retain the tension – alone – for almost fifteen minutes. Bach’s Ciaccona goes well beyond the confines of its prototype – a Spanish slow dance of mournful character. Brahms wrote that “For me the Ciaccona is one of the most wonderful and incomprehensible pieces of music. In one piece of sheet music for a small instrument this man has recorded an entire world of incredibly deep thoughts and the most powerful emotions.”
© Mariinsky Theatre, 2015/Vladimir Khavrov
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