The structural and stylistic features of Johann Sebastian Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin, and the history of these works, are the focus of this book. Historical topics include Bach as a violinist, the autograph score of the work, the published editions, and the history of performance traditions. Eighteenth-century notions of thoroughbass, harmony, keys, counterpoint, cadences, and rhetoric are the basis of Bach's music, from point-to-point musical continuity to the shape of the construction of movements. A general principle underlying all Bach's music is the heightening of activit ... More

The structural and stylistic features of Johann Sebastian Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin, and the history of these works, are the focus of this book. Historical topics include Bach as a violinist, the autograph score of the work, the published editions, and the history of performance traditions. Eighteenth-century notions of thoroughbass, harmony, keys, counterpoint, cadences, and rhetoric are the basis of Bach's music, from point-to-point musical continuity to the shape of the construction of movements. A general principle underlying all Bach's music is the heightening of activity as musical materials succeed one another and return in more elaborate guises. The solo-violin works are related to Bach's compositions in other genres and differentiated from music by later composers. This leads to thoughts on performing these works so as to bring to life these 18th-century features, while making the music alive in our own time.