Sonata No. 3 for Solo Violin in C Major

Slowly, like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, the opening of the C major Sonata begins to unfurl: first a single note, then two together, until by the beginning of the fourth measure a four-note chord is achieved. This opening “Adagio” shares kinship with the third movement of the A minor Sonata BWV 1003, and it’s a decidedly arresting start to perhaps the most ambitious sonata of the whole set. Imbued with the spirit of the Italian concerto slow movements by Vivaldi and Marcello that Bach had transcribed for keyboard at Weimar, the “Adagio” acts as a languorous up-beat to the monumental fugue that now follows—one of the longest he wrote for any instrument. The sturdy theme is derived from the Pentecost hymn “Komm, Heiliger Geist” (Come Holy Ghost), and Bach throws everything in his contrapuntal armoury at it. Deploying techniques such as inversion, reversal and entries piled up in quick succession, it sustains a formidable fugal argument that spans some 10 minutes. Gently confiding—as had been the “Adagio”—an F major “Largo” proposes a moment of repose; but the reverie is dashed by a concluding “Allegro assai” whose rushing notes carry all before them. After the references to “Komm, Heiliger Geist” in the “Fuga”, is it too fanciful to imagine Bach depicting the Pentecostal wind—transmuted into a breathless, charismatic, aural epiphany? Whatever, the music hurtles pell-mell towards the unassuming single note that brings this giant of a sonata modestly to a close. About J.S. Bach's Partitas and Sonatas for Solo Violin Although Bach was arguably the pre-eminent keyboard exponent of his age he began his career as a violinist. He preferred to direct the orchestra at Köthen from the string section, and, thanks to friendship with the likes of Westhoff and Pisendel, understood the instrument inside out. Just how profound was that understanding can be deduced from the Sei Solo (Six Solos) for violin without bass accompaniment that were assembled in a manuscript dated 1720. Pinnacles of the German violin tradition, the pieces cast an inquisitive eye on developments in Italy, comprising of three Partitas that acknowledge the dance-led sovereignty of the French Suites, and three Sonatas laid out along Italian “Church” lines alternating movements slow(ish) and fast.