Sonata No.2 in A minor for solo violin BWV 1003 (before 1720)

Grave

Fuga

Andante

Allegro

associated with the three Sonatas and three Partitas for solo violin that Bach finalised in fair copy in Cöthen in 1720 is what violinist, if any, he had in mind as he composed them. Theories vary between, at one extreme, the idea that he wrote them for himself to play and, at the other, the belief that they are purely speculative responses to a supreme technical challenge. Bearing in mind the barely realistic twelve-minute Chaconne of the Partita in D minor, the latter notion has its attractions. It is clear, however, that the Cello Suites from the same period were written for specifically for performance, as the scordatura tuning of No.5 in C minor and the scoring for a five-stringed instrument in No.6 in D surely confirm. There are no such requirements in the Violin Sonatas and Partitas but the occasional dynamic markings, all of them intended to produce echo effects, suggest that they were meant to be heard and not just seen.

Even so, it is interesting that, as one of his students recalled, Bach frequently played the unaccompanied string works on the clavichord. Indeed, there is a keyboard arrangement, the Sonata in D minor BWV 964, of today’s Violin Sonata No.2 in A minor.

Of the six works for solo violin - the three Sonatas and the three Partitas - that Bach wrote or, more likely, collected together in Cöthen in 1720, the Partita No.2 in D minor has always had the most formidable reputation. The Sonata No.2 in A minor, however, while it boasts nothing of the length and complexity of the Chaconne in D minor, surpasses the Partita at least in the consistent seriousness of its thinking, which is sustained from the first movement to the last.

The opening Grave bears a superficial resemblance to the opening Adagio of the Sonata No.1 in G minor but, while they have a highly decorative line in common, their motivation is quite different: the Grave in A minor is not so much a case of linear development as an enquiry into the melodic and harmonic implications of a bass line formed, with some difficulty, out of the bottom notes of the double-stopped or spread chords in the opening bars. The A minor Fuga is not as long as that of the Sonata No.3 in C major but, bearing in mind the brevity of the subject (just nine notes), its material is scarcely under-developed either in its original shape or in the inversion introduced after the second non-fugal episode. It is longer, indeed, than many of the fugues in the The Well-Tempered Clavier. Assuming that the early allusion to the bass line of the Grave is intentional, it is unique among fugues of its kind in referring back to a previous movement.

The Andante in C major is remarkable for the combination of an expressively lyrical melodic line with the rigorous rhythmic consistency of the ostinato accompaniment to it. If there is any suspicion of a concession to frivolity in this work it is in the echo effects in the opening bars of each of the two halves of the Allegro last movement, the virtuoso figuration of which derives in part from Italian violin concerto conventions.

Grave

Fuga

Andante

Allegro

Of the six works for unaccompanied violin - the three Sonatas and the three Partitas - that Bach collected together in Anhalt-Cöthen in 1720, the Partita No.2 in D minor has always had the most formidable reputation. The Sonata No.2 in A minor, however, while it boasts nothing of the length and complexity of the Chaconne in D minor, surpasses the Partita at least in the consistent seriousness of its thinking, which is sustained from the first movement to the last.

The opening Grave bears a superficial resemblance to the opening Adagio of the Sonata No.1 in G minor but, while they have a highly decorative line in common, their motivation is quite different: the Grave in A minor is not so much a case of linear development as an enquiry into the melodic and harmonic implications of a bass line formed, with some difficulty, out of the bottom notes of the double-stopped or spread chords in the opening bars.

The Andante is remarkable for the rigorous rhythmic consistency of the ostinato accompaniment to the expressive melodic line. If there is any suspicion of a concession to frivolity in this work it is in the echo effects in the opening bars of each of the two halves of the Allegro last movement, the virtuoso figuration of which derives in part from the Italian violin concerto.

Grave

Fuga

Andante

Allegro

One of the more fascinating questions associated with the three Sonatas and three Partitas for solo violin that Bach finalised in fair copy in Cöthen in 1720 is what instrumentalist, if any, they were intended for. Theories vary between, at one extreme, the idea that he wrote them for himself to play and, at the other, the belief that they are speculative responses to a supreme technical challenge. Bearing in mind the barely realistic twelve-minute Chaconne of the Partita in D minor, the latter notion has its attractions. It is clear, however, that the Cello Suites from the same period were written with practical considerations in mind, as the scordatura tuning in one case and the scoring for a five-stringed instrument in another surely confirm. There are no such requirements in the Violin Sonatas and Partitas but the dynamic markings intended to create echo effects - few though they are - surely confirm that the sonatas and partitas were meant to be heard and not just seen.

Even so, it is interesting that, as one of his students recalled, Bach frequently played the unaccompanied string works on the clavichord. Indeed, there is a keyboard arrangement, the Sonata in D minor BWV 964, of today’s Violin Sonata in A minor. The binary structure of the opening Grave is actually more effective in the keyboard version because the all-important bass line - which in the original is formed only with difficulty by the bottom notes of double-stopped or spread chords and which is less coherent to the ear than the melodic proliferation above it - is so much more clearly defined.

The fact that Bach found so little to add to the Fuga in the keyboard arrangement, apart from making explicit what is necessarily implicit in the violin version, indicates what a brilliant achievement it is. While it is not as long as the Fuga of the Sonata No.3 in C major, its nine-note theme is scarcely under-developed either in its original shape or in the inversion introduced after the second non-fugal episode.

Only a little decorative embellishment is added to the Andante, which needs nothing to enhance the tension sustained between its freely expressive melodic line and the rigorous rhythmic consistency of its ostinato accompaniment. Derived as it is from the Italian concerto tradition, the virtuoso figuration of the Allegro last movement (beginning with a rare example of echo cololuring) is far more effective in the violin version than in the unambitious keyboard arrangement.