Consummate Composer and Consummate Virtuoso
In 1890, Johannes Brahms received an offer to purchase an extraordinarily handsome manuscript of Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, alleged to be the composer's recently rediscovered original manuscript. Brahms, himself a great admirer of Bach's music, doubted that the manuscript was authentic and declined it with thanks. Later, it turned out that Bach did indeed write this particular manuscript himself. And with their spirited flowing style, the notes on this beautiful copy of the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin made in 1720 are are not only almost a depiction of the violinist's bow gliding over the strings, but also a masterpiece of calligraphy.
Bach, a celebrated keyboard virtuoso as well as a widely famed and feared organ examiner, was also an excellent violinist. His son, Carl Philipp Emmanuel, recalls that his father preferred to lead his instrumental ensembles as violinist or even as violist, since then he could keep them »in greater order ... than he could have accomplished from the harpsichord<< . As early as 1703, when Bach was serving as violinist and footman at the Weimar court, he made the acquaintance of the violinist Paul Westhoff (1656-1705). Westhoff was one of the best violin virtuosos of his time and his solo suites for violin, published in 1696, were the first of their kind.
Pisendel introduced Bach to the latest refinements of the Italian style of composting for violin and also to Vivaldi’s music. The 24-year-old Bach was so impressed that he arranged the concertos of the Prete Rosso for keyboard instruments, thus becoming thoroughly adept writing works in the new form of the Italian concerto. Ten years later, the Brandenburg Concertos would show the expertise which Bach had developed with the concerto grosso.
Sei Solo A Violino senza Basso
While in Weimar, Bach also got to know Georg Pisendel (1687-1755), a pupil of Antonio Vivaldi, and later concertmaster at the court of Dresden.
Accompagnato.Libro Primo da Joh. Seb. Bach. Ao. 1720 is the title Bach wrote above this copy of the six compositions for solo violin, which were not at first conceived as a cycle having in part been composed during his time at Weimar (1708-1717). Hence, these grouped were themselves originally individual compositions which only during hindsight grouped themselves in the mind’s eye of their creator into a unified whole. He brought them together in this manuscript in the year 1720 while staying at Karisbad with his employer, Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, who did not want to do without his court of musicians even while taking the waters at the famous health resort. The Libro Secondo of the collection was Bach’s autograph copy of his Six Suites for Violoncello Solo, which has unfortunately remained lost to the present day. We only know that Bach arranged his solo works for violin and cello as integral cycles from a single copy made by Bach’s second wife, Anna Magdalena. As so often in Bach’s works, these too reveal a particular characteristic of the personality of this artist. From his earliest days, he was
dominated by a compulsion to conceive of and compose music in a systematic fashion. Thus he systematically studied all the styles and genres of his musical forbears and contemporaries. Equally systematic was his way of shaping the cosmos of his own musical creations - from the Orgelbuchlein, compendium of the young virtuoso’s organ chorales and the Brandenburg Concertos, in which Bach the kapellmeister paces off the terrain of the genre of the orchestral concerto, to the yearly cycles of Leipzig cantatas up to the Art of the Fugue – this systematic principle determines Bach’s life’s work and his modus operendi as a composer. The Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin can also be arranged in a systematic order to create a comprehensive work of art in the gout reuni: with the partitas as French dance suites exhibiting an inner thematic cohesion and the sonatas in the Italian tradition of the sonata da chiesa and sonata da camera.
Because of its exquisite calligraphy, Bach’s own copy of the Sonatas and Partitas is of such expressive power that many interpreters prefer to study these works using facsimiles of this autograph than from modern printed editions. With his practical understanding as a performing musician, Bach wrote down the notes so that a musician playing them has no need to turn pages in the middle of a movement. Moreover, the rich store of indications pertaining to bowing and phrasing in the autograph demonstrate Bach’s skill as a violinist and thus continue to lead even the present day performer in the footsteps of this virtuoso’s artistry on the violin. -Detmar Huchting
It can be a rewarding and very touching experience to hear the complete cycle of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas in concert -- the formal and emotional development of this journey give fuller meaning to the individual pieces.
Beginning with the lowest string of the violin (G) and the Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, continuing through works in B Minor, A Minor, D Minor, and C Major, and ending with the abundant use of the highest string on the violin (E) and the sparkling, bright Partita No. 3 in E Major, Bach describes a trans-formation from darkness to light.
The culmination of this drama is the juxtaposition of the second Partita's desperate D Minor ciaccona and the third Sonata's glorious fuga in C Major. Between these two gigantic movements, the Adagio, which opens the Sonata No. 3, is a kind of musical no man's land -- written in the same meter and slow tempo as the ciaccone and starting in the same register as the ciaccone's last measures. Indeed, Bach has already modulated back to D Minor by the fifth bar! The first full cadence is in G Minor -- C Major almost never appears in this movement, even though it should be the predominant tonality. It seems that the influence of the ciaconne is still too strong, and almost up until the end of the adagio, keeps drawing the music back to the world of the minor keys of the preceding four pieces. Only at the very end does a musical figure, like an incantation, allow the fuga to begin; and never before has the violin been given such jubilant expression.
I cannot expect anyone to listen to the whole cycle in one sitting -- nor do I think that is advisable. But if I may, I would like to make this suggestion: to capture the essence of the journey, listen to the D Minor Partita and the C Major Sonata without interruption. Or, if time doesn't allow, the ciaccone and the C Major Sonata ...
--Christian Tetzlaff
CHRISTIAN TETZLAFF, VIOLINIST
CHRISTIAN TETZLAFF is recognized as one of the most significant violinists of his generation. He is known for performances and recordings of a broad spectrum of the repertoire, ranging from Bach to the 19th century masterworks of Mendelssohn, Beethoven, and Brahms; from 20th century concertos by Bartok, Berg, and Stravinsky to world premieres of contemporary works. Mr. Tetzlaff is also dedicated to chamber music and frequently collaborates with other distinguished artists such as Leif Ove Andsnes, and Lars Vogt, and performs with his own string quartet.
I cannot expect anyone to listen to the whole cycle in one sitting -- nor do I think that is advisable. But if I may, I would like to make this suggestion: to capture the essence of the journey, listen to the D Minor Partita and the C Major Sonata without interruption. Or, if time doesn't allow, the ciaccone and the C Major Sonata ...
Mr. Tetzlaff is in demand as a soloist with many of the world's leading ensembles, such as the orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, Minnesota, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Toronto, among many others in North America. In Europe, he has performed with major ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw and the Vienna Philharmonic. He has recorded a wide range of repertoire that reflects the breadth of his musical interests, including the concertos of Haydn, Bart6k, Mozart, Sibelius and others. Mr. Tetzlaff's most recent releases include the Brahms Sonatas for Piano and Violin with Vogt on EMI Classics, a Grammynominated album of Bartok's Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 (with Andsnes) and Bartok's Sonata for Solo Violin on Virgin Classics, the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Russian National Orchestra and Kent Nagano for PentaTone Classics, and the Beethoven Violin Sonata with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra under David Zinman on ArteNova.
Christian Tetzlaff performs on a violin made by the German violin maker, Peter Greiner, modeled after a Guarneri del Gesu.
--Christian Tetzlaff
HT E MUSICALHERITAGESOC I E YT EST. 1960 Additional information about these recordings can be found at our website www.themusicalheritagesociety.com All recordings ℗ 2005-2006 & © 2024 Heritage Music Royalties.
