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JS Bach Program Notes

J.S. Bach's Sonata for Solo Violin No. 1 in G minor follows the typical four-movement structure of baroque sonatas. The first movement, Adagio, acts as a prelude to the intricate Fugue of the second movement. The third movement is a calm Siciliano in compound quadruple meter. The sonata concludes with a lively Presto in 3/8 time. Although copies of the original manuscript existed, the original was discovered in 1814 in St. Petersburg among old paper intended for use in wrapping butter.

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94 views1 page

JS Bach Program Notes

J.S. Bach's Sonata for Solo Violin No. 1 in G minor follows the typical four-movement structure of baroque sonatas. The first movement, Adagio, acts as a prelude to the intricate Fugue of the second movement. The third movement is a calm Siciliano in compound quadruple meter. The sonata concludes with a lively Presto in 3/8 time. Although copies of the original manuscript existed, the original was discovered in 1814 in St. Petersburg among old paper intended for use in wrapping butter.

Uploaded by

Paul Van Zuilenburg
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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J.S Bach (1685-1750) Sonata for Solo Violin No.1 in G minor (S.

1001)

1. Adagio
2. Fuga
3. Siciliano
4. Presto

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany and is considered by many as not only the
greatest composer of the Baroque, but also one of the greatest composers of all time. Having been born
into a musical family it is said that Johann’s father, Johann Ambrosius, had taught him to play the violin
at a young age. When he was ten years old both his parents died and his older brother Johann
Christoph, a church organist in Ohrdurf, took him in. As composer and performer of organ music, Bach
was in service of the Duke of Weimar from 1707 to 1717 after which he was appointed conductor and
director of the chamber music for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen. Because the Prince was a Calvinist,
Bach was not required to write sacred music and thus spent most of his time in Cothen writing secular
instrumental music. These included masterpieces such as the six Brandenburg Concerti, a suite for
orchestra, the six suites for unaccompanied cello, and the three sonatas and three partitas for solo
violin. The latter were completed in 1720 and titled “Six Solos for Violin without Bass accompaniment”.
The sonata no. 1 in G minor is written in the form of the baroque Sonata da Chiesa (church sonata) and
follows the typical four-movement slow-fast-slow-fast outline. The opening Adagio acts as a prelude to
the intricate Fugue that follows in the second movement. The third movement is a calm Siciliano in
compound quadruple meter. The sonata is concluded with a lively and energetic Presto in 3/8. Although
copies of the original manuscript existed and were used in the first print of the work in 1802, it is
interesting that the original manuscript was discovered in 1814 in St. Petersburg among old paper
intended to be used as wrappings in a butter shop.

Words:303

Reference List

Bach – Violin Sonata no.1 in G minor (Grumiaux) [Online]. Available from:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTUWCr3IXxw. Accessed on 16 April 2016.

Bach, J.S., 1971. 6 Sonatas & Partitas. 2nd ed. New York: International Music Company.

Johann Sebastian Bach [Online]. Available from:


http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e521?
q=bach&search=quick&pos=2&_start=1#firsthit. Accessed on 16 April 2016.

Johann Sebastian Bach Biography [Online] . Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/johann-


sebastian-bach-9194289. Accessed on 16 April 2016.

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