Johann Sebastian Bach
II LIFE
Early LifeArnstadt: 1703-1707Mühlhausen: 1707-1708Weimar: 1708-1717
Köthen: 1717-1723III WORKS Cantatas
Motets Oratorios and PassionsMagnificat and B-Minor MassOrgan WorkClavier Works
Works for Solo Instruments
During his years in Köthen and his years as collegium musicum director in Leipzig, Bach composed a large number of works for solo instruments. These include sonatas for flute, for violin, and for viola da gamba, most of which include, for the first time in Western music, a written-out line for the right hand of the harpsichord accompaniment. These pieces point to the chamber sonatas of the classical and romantic eras.
In the sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin, completed in 1720, Bach achieved the seemingly impossible task of writing imitative textures—including four-part fugues—for a solo stringed instrument. He reached a peak of sublime inspiration in the Chaconne from the D-Minor Partita, an immense set of variations that later captured the imagination of romantic-era composers such as Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. Over ten minutes long, the Chaconne is the supreme test of a violinist’s skill. The six suites for unaccompanied violoncello, also written in Köthen, are no less extraordinary.
Works for Instrumental Ensemble
Musical Offering, Canonic Variations, Art of Fugue
Method of Composing
IV THE REVIVAL OF BACH’S MUSIC
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