Programme
Programme Notes
Johann Sebastian Bach:
Johann Sebastian Bach’s (1685-1750) set of sonatas for harpsichord and violin can be called the first ‘duo’ sonatas for violin and keyboard. In some movements there is a more baroque trio sonata structure, with the right hand of the harpsichord forming a second upper voice with the violin, and a basso continuo in the left hand. In other places, one can see an entirely new form of keyboard and violin sonata which would influence works by Mozart and Beethoven.
From Sonata No. 6 for harpsichord and violin BWV 1019 i. Allegro, ii. Largo, v. Allegro From the St. Matthew Passion BWV 244, ‘Blute nur du liebes herz’ From Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen BWV 87, ‘Ich will leiden, ich will schweigen’ ‘Schweigt Stille, plaudert nicht’ BWV 211 Coffee Cantata
The last sonata in G major was the most developed over time, existing with varying alternative movements in different manuscripts by different copyists. Breaking with traditional sonata structure it begins with a fast joyous movement, rather than an adagio. The quick movements in this set see some of Bach’s most playful writing, particularly in the final allegro movement of this sonata. The light-hearted gigue sees rapid, almost teasing, imitative interchanges between the two instruments. The movement is also influenced by Bach’s secular cantata writing, and takes material from the aria ‘Phoebus eilt mit schnellen Pferden’ from the Wedding Cantata. The first soprano aria in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion comes after Judas 6
has agreed to betray Christ for thirty silver pieces. Bach lends some drama to this aria with word-painting: a twisting serpentine motif takes over the melody when the text laments the nurtured child becoming a snake and turning on its carers. Separated from the Gospel text which has gone before, the aria of course refers to Judas, but in its metaphorical text also implies the collective fault of all humanity in Jesus’ suffering. Like ‘Blute nur’, the cantata BWV 87 meditates on the passion of Christ as a price that was paid for humanity’s failings of sin. The tenor aria ‘Ich will liebe’ offers a moment of sweetness towards the end of the work. With the character of a gentle Siciliano, the aria dwells on the comfort that Jesus brings in the midst of pain. In a very different vein to his sacred cantatas, Bach’s secular ‘Coffee’ Cantata is a tiny masterpiece in satire. From the end of the seventeenthcentury to the mid-eighteenth, coffeehouses in Leipzig increased in number and popularity. Academics wrote about the dangers of coffee, over-stimulating the senses and weakening the body, while preachers denounced it as an overindulgence, along with overelaborate church music. Coffee-houses also had their steamier side; with the drink’s reputation as an aphrodisiac, 7