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Bach's “Sei
Suonate 4 Cembalo certato e
Violino Solo, col Basso per
Viola da Gamba accompagnato
se piace”, as they are
called in the title of
Bach's auto- graphs (written
ca. 1720), occupy, together
with the three sonatas each
for flute and harpsichord
and gamba and harpsichord, a
special place among these
Köthen compositions as also
in the art of the sonata of
that age. The solo sonata of
the baroque period was
almost exclusively for a
melody instrument with
continuo accompaniment, and
therefore in its essence in
two parts with a leading
upper part and a bass that
laid the foundation for the
harmonic development and
could only secondarily be
linked with the melodic part
in its motifs. Bach himself
wrote a few sonatas of this
traditional type, but he was
at all times ready to break
the bonds of a traditional
approach from within, as it
were, by means of more
profound expression and
greater concentration in the
writing, even in works that
lent themselves to social
occasions or musical
activities in the home, and
this fact, together with
Bach's ever-present
partiality to polyphony, may
well have led with a certain
inevitability to a new type
of composition, unique in
its time: the solo sonata
with a fully worked-out
harpsichord part in two
voices, in other words a
synthesis of the trio
writing and solo sonata
principles.
The six Violin Sonatas are
the most important examples
of this category. Their
basic dominant feature is
the three part writing, each
part being absolutely
essential, the harpsichord
parts almost as substantial
as the violin part. Only a
few passages, mainly in slow
movements, still seem
reminiscent of the
traditional continuo
writing, as one of many
possibilities in the
technique of composition
that are handled with
supreme mastery. In these
passages the
harpsichordist's right hand
plays figurated chords
against a continuo-like bass
line in the left hand;
occasionally the violin too,
in complete reversal of the
musical functions, takes
part in this chordal playing
while the harpsichord part
continues in strict two-
part writing.
Like the technique of
composition employed in the
works, their form also com-
bines old and new elements
into an inseparable unity of
strongly personal character.
Whereas the four movements
of the traditional Church
Sonata (Slow-
Quick-Slow-Quick) remain
unaltered on principle,
there prevails within the
movements themselves a
unique wealth of forms that
combines abundance of ideas
and order with Bachian
intensity. But above all
details of form and compo-
sition stands the wealth of
characters into which the
expression crystallizes; it
is this which ultimately
imparts of the works their
outstanding greatness and
makes them the most
important sonatas in the
entire violin literature
before Mozart, Beethoven and
Brahms.
Sonata No. 3 (E
major, BWV 1016) begins with
an Adagio building up broad
cantilenas for the violin
over a quasi ostinato
semiquaver figure in the
right hand of the
harpsichord; the second
movement develops a theme of
very popular effect in
strict three-part writing of
fugal character and returns
unexpectedly in the
cantabile theme of the
middle section to the violin
cantilena of the first
movement. The third movement
is a melancholy Adagio on a
Chaconne bass that recurs
fifteen times, while the
Finale is in the form of an
energetic concerto movement
pervaded by defiant
undertones, with a densely
written middle section whose
cantabile theme is derived,
again in concertante
fashion, from the theme of
the main section.
Sonata No. 1 (B
minor, BWV 1014) begins with
a dignified, tone-saturated
Adagio in free ‘da capo’
form, which is dominated by
double-stops for the violin;
it is followed by a strictly
three-part fugato Allegro
with an almost exuberant
main subject, a calm Andante
with two cantabile upper
parts over a moving quaver
bass and an energetic final
Allegro that is again
strictly in three parts,
large sections of which are
written with great skill and
density of texture in double
counterpoint.
Sonata No. 5 (F
minor, BWV 1018) begins with
the only truly four-part
movement in all the six
works, a contrapuntal fabric
of motifs in three parts in
the harpsichord over which
the violin intones
thematically free, resigned
and melancholy sighing
motifs. It is followed by a
shorter Allegro, strict in
its formal scheme and
austere in its expressive
content, a serious Adagio
which, without any use of
motifs or counterpoints, is
only a relaxed, radiant
stream of tone and a
gigue-like Allegro in fugato
form whose traditional dance
character is, however,
transformed into defiance
and wildness through
upward-striving
chromaticism.
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