|
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. 6 (G
major, BWV 1019), the only
one of the series to deviate
from the traditional
four-movement form,
symmetrically groups four
violin-harpsichord movements
around an Allegro played by
the harpsichord only (the
final version, played on
this record, is the result
of several revisions and
dates from the Leipzig
period). Both in its style
and in its expression it is
simpler in effect than its
sister works; the
counterpoint is almost
constantly in free
concertante style, and it is
only the fourth movement
with its sighing motifs that
brings more serious strains
into the work's carefree,
playful character. The first
movement, a typical concerto
Allegro, is followed by a
melodious Largo that
corresponds to the last
movement but one, being
exactly the same lenght; the
harpsichord solo is, like
the first movement, a
playful concertante Allegro
while the Finale is a
stylized Gigue in the old
suite tradition.
Sonata No. 4 (C
minor, BWV 1017), an
outright earnest and austere
work pervaded by sorrowing
chromaticisms, develops, by
way of contrast, other forms
of threepart writing. The
two slow movements, in
Siciliano and Sarabande
character, are melancholy
vidin lines over a twopart
harpsichord accompaniment of
broken chords, not related
thematically and like a
"surface" of sound in its
effect, almost "romantic" in
character and texture. The
first Allegro, on the other
hand, is an austre
three-part fugato whose
writing is extremely
complex, without the
thematically contrasted
middle section usual in
these sonatas, but instead
interwoven with sorrowful
chromatic counterpoints that
stand out more and more
intensively in the course of
the movement's development.
The Finale approaches the
concerto type of movement
thematically, but it again
is structly in three
parts and largely imitatory
in texture. In its basic
mood it is hardly less
gloomy and abrupt than the
second movement.
Sonata No. 2 (A
major, BWV 1015), is lighter
in its effect than the C
minor Sonata, on account of
its relaxed, one could
almost say festive mood; on
the other hand it displays a
similar wealth of contrasts
and skillful formal features
than its sister-work. After
beginning with a tender
Andante whose motifs are
given strict treatment, it
continues with a surging
quasi-concerto movement with
thematic material typical of
the concerto style and
virtuoso arpeggios for the
violin. The second Andante
is a strict canon for the
upper voices over continuous
semiquaver movement in the
bass, while the Finale
surprisingly treats a theme
almost in folk song style or
even more popular in
character with all the arts
of strict counterpoint and
all the impetus of concerto
style.
|
