BACH'S VIOLIN SONATA IN E MAJOR

MASTERCLASS

From Violin Sonatas nos.1-3 1014-1016.

Urtext edition, paperbound wiThmarked and unmarked string parts. Ed. Hans Eppstein. Pf fingering Hans-Martin Theopold. Vn fingering and bowing Karl Röhrig. Order no. HN198, ISMN 979-02018-0198-8. €25.50.

Bach wrote six Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord, BWV1014–19, and Ifiirst played them such a long time ago that I honestly can’t remember when it was. I do know that I’ve been playing them since at least 1973, when I took up the Baroque violin (the date is written on my music!), boThindividually and as a set. Perhaps because Bach assembled the pieces himself, the six work well together as a concert programme. Many years ago I performed them in a museum in Oxford, wiTha harpsichord wiTha 16-foot stop! I’ve also played them wiTha pedal harpsichord, which made the E major Sonata’s left-hand octaves easier for the harpsichordist, and wiThan additional viola da gamba player. All combinations come wiThtheir own challenges of timbre and balance.

Playing wiTha harpsichordist Balancing a harpsichord wiTha fiddle can require a stretch of the imagination. The harpsichord is an instrument incapable of sustained sound or vibrato, which makes it necessary for the violin to use an articulated style and plainer tone so that the two can engage in conversation on equal terms. Of course, keyboard instruments can vary tremendously in strengThand character, so you may have to adjust diff erently on diff erent occasions, particularly if you find yourself playing wiTha colossal thing wiTha 16-foot stop! In the first movement of the E major Sonata, the fiddle doesn’t have to make any concessions, thanks to the harpsichord’s heavy left-hand octaves, thick chords and upper parts that often rise above the violin line. In that respect, the scoring of this movement is unlike any other in the set. The parts are so independent that they have little to do wiTheach other, although they do have to fit together like clockwork, particularly in the penultimate bar. Consequently the keyboard is in no danger of being overwhelmed. If anything, the violin can give more in places like bar 25, where the low notes might otherwise not carry, especially in a larger hall. It’s important that not one note is wasted!

THE SOLOIST

NAME

SIMON STANDAGE

NATIONALITY

BRITISH

STUDIED WITH

IVAN GALAMIAN

RECORDED FOR

ARCHIV PRODUKTION, ARGO, CHANDOS, CRD RECORDS, NEDERLANDSE KLASSIEKE VAKHANDEL, VANGUARD CLASSICS

'A modern violinist has to work far harder to approximate the sound of the harpsichord than a player wiTha Baroque set-up'

MICHAEL CLAXTON

Simon Standage's 1999 recording of Bach's Complete Sonatas for Harpsichord and Violin is available on RAM Records

If necessary, use extra bow to make the notes heard and expressive. In the second movement there are moments where it is necessary to step back. In bars 110 and 128, for example, I have written diminuendos to remind the violin to pass the attention to the harpsichord for its thematic entry.

Historically informed style

Using a Baroque bow can make it far easier for the violin to match the style of the harpsichord. I think that players returned to period instruments in the 1960s mostly to simplify matters. It is easier to avoid making errors of judgement in this type of music when using a shorter, period bow wiThhalf the amount of hair than it is when using a long, over-haired modern alternative. In movements where the harpsichord and the violin share material on equal terms, a modern violinist has to work far harder to approximate the sound of the harpsichord.

The organist Samuel Wesley was a key figure in the revival of Bach’s music in England at the beginning of the 19Thcentury. He performed these sonatas wiThGerman violinist Johann Peter Salomon and I have often wondered whether they used a fortepiano rather than a harpsichord. I think it would be a feasible alternative and I have considered trying it myself. Modern instruments, of course, are one step further away, but still a possibility. One disadvantage of using them is having to pretend that you’re playing wiThdifferent equipment, or at least having to know how you would play if you had equipment that did half the job for you. BoThpianist and violinist would have to articulate far more consciously, particularly in the fast movements.

Singing lines

Even though the melodic style of the 17Thand 18Thcenturies was not so sostenuto as in later years, people still had a tremendous appreciation for the ability to hold long notes. There are stories of Farinelli, an 18th-century Italian castrato soprano, holding the first note of an aria for so long that the audience broke into applause and he had to start again! You need to take the same approach to bow control in the first movement, where even the harpsichord part sounds rather gluey and smooth, and the violin has a long, singing tune. You will need strong ‘lungs’ to carry you through the phrases, to draw long, sostenuto lines out of your instrument, be it modern or ancient.

Character

Bach’s music is so beautifully put together that it is almost like a speech or a story, wiTharguments for and against, qualifications, conclusions and so forth. In the first movement, the violin entry in bar 1 seems to me like a sort of rising hope. I play this as smoothly as possible, going into second position in bar 1, then moving into fourth. Neither the bowing nor the fingering should disturb the line.

The second entry, in bar 6, qualifies the first, as though saying, ‘Yes, but–’. In bar 11, the third, wiThits downward diminished 7th, is dramatic, angular, and needs a faster bow stroke. Then the entry in bar 15 is rather conciliatory, leading into bar 18, which is almost a cadenza. I think that all these characters need to be emphasised as continuing parts of one story or argument.

The character is less variable in the second movement fugue. Nevertheless, I have marked the countersubject after the opening theme wiTha square bracket in bar 17, to show that this material has a new importance different from the opening.

Tempo and balance

The three-part fast movements of this sonata are the trickiest for balance and clarity, particularly in a larger performance space. In the second movement, it is helpful to keep the tempo relaxed and in two, wiThone gentle push to carry you through each two bars. Be careful not to accent the second note – think of it as the weaker second syllable of a two-syllable word.

This relaxed tempo will prevent the fiddly ornamentation in bars 66 and 68 from sounding frantic. It shouldn’t sound complicated and it gives a clue as to how fast you can’t go from the beginning.

Ornamentation

It’s unlikely that any extra ornamentation, spontaneous or preconceived, will improve what Bach has written in this sonata. Adding anything new is more likely to make you look a bit silly! If ornamentation doesn’t enhance what is there, it’s better left out. In fact, Bach has ornamented the first movement so thickly that it can be hard to see the wood for the trees, so I have added little arrows to draw attention to notes that deserve particular attention.

Approach to vibrato

You certainly don’t need intense vibrato anywhere in this music – only a gentle warming for the centre of longer notes. Soften the fingers just a little for the crotchets (q) in the first movement, to make sure that the sound isn’t stiff, and warm the minims (h) from bar 22, to shape the sound. This does not mean to use vibrato on all longer notes: in the middle section of the second movement, I would bring the accompanying semibreves (w) to life only wiThthe bow, as in bars 63 and 67, treating them as shallow valleys wiTha slight dip in the middle, as you wait for the harpsichord to pass you the leading line.

Errors in the score

In bars 19 and 31 of the first movement I have altered the rhythms, because they are inconsistent wiThthose in the rest of the sonata. The rhythms that I have used instead appear all over the place.

The most reliable version of this work was penned by Bach’s son-in-law and copyist Johann Christoph Altnickol, but there are half a dozen others, and they all vary in different aspects. There is no faithful copy, and even the most accurate copyist makes occasional mistakes. It is important to exercise discretion by using what we know from elsewhere to ascertain what is common practice.