Bach - Suite for Violin & Obbligato Harpsichord in A - Mov. 5-7/7

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)
*Based on a suite for lute by Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750)

Suite for violin and obbligato harpsichord in A major BWV1025

5. Sarabande

6. Menuet

7. Allegro

Performed by Helene Schmitt, violin
Jan Willem Jansen, harpsichord

*This piece is essentially an elaboration of one of Weiss' suites for lute. Bach added the two additional voices in the harpsichord, turning the piece into a trio. This reminds me of an anecdote from Carl Phillip Emmanual Bach:

"[J.S. Bach's] knowledge of harmony was such that he was able to improvise profusely on a trio after reading it just once and, being good-natured and knowing the author of the trios would not take offence, he turned the very poorly figured piece into a perfectly proportioned quartet, much to the amazement of the orginal composer."

**Silvius Leopold Weiss was a German composer and lutenist.

Born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of Johann Jacob Weiss, also a lutenist, he served at courts in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden, where he died. Until recently, he was thought to have been born in 1686, but recent evidence suggests that he was in fact born the following year.

Weiss was one of the most important and most prolific composers of lute music in history and one of the best-known and most technically accomplished lutenists of his day. He wrote around 600 pieces for lute, most of them grouped into 'sonatas' (not to be confused with the later classical sonata, based on sonata form) or suites, which consist mostly of baroque dance pieces. Weiss also wrote chamber pieces and concertos, but only the solo parts have survived.

In later life, Weiss became a friend of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and met J.S. Bach through him. J.S. Bach and Weiss were said to have competed in improvisation, as the following account by Johann Friedrich Reichardt describes:

"Anyone who knows how difficult it is to play harmonic modulations and good counterpoint on the lute will be surprised and full of disbelief to hear from eyewitnesses that Weiss, the great lutenist, challenged J. S. Bach, the great harpsichordist and organist, at playing fantasies and fugues."

Sylvius Weiss' son Johann Adolph Faustinus Weiss succeeded him as a Saxon court lutenist.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• baroque
• classical
• sonata
• partita
• fugue
• chaconne

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