Bach: Music for Harpsichord & Viola da gamba

Featuring

Alberto Rasi
Patrizia Marisaldi
Johann Sebastian Bach

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Compositional Technique

The first two viola da gamba sonatas (BWV 1027, 1028) use the Italian sonata da chiesa structure in four movements (slow-fast-slow-fast).

Composition History

Musicology has largely revised the belief that Johann Sebastian Bach's chamber music originated mostly from his Köthen period (1717-1723), now dating many works to his Leipzig years (1723-1750).

Compositional Technique

Bach's arrangement of parts in these sonatas, with the harpsichord dividing extreme voices and the viola da gamba covering intermediate registers, allows for a denser and more elaborate contrapuntal texture.

Composition History

The three sonatas for viola da gamba and 'obbligato' harpsichord (BWV 1027, 1028, 1029) are now assigned to the period 1736-1741, based on clues like watermarks and stylistic considerations.

Composition History

The four Duetti for keyboard (BWV 802-805) are found as an appendix to the third part of Bach's Clavier-Übung (1739), which contains preludes on catechism hymns for organ.

Performer Biography

Patrizia Marisaldi, the harpsichordist, studied with Emilia Fadini in Milan and Ton Koopman in Amsterdam, and has performed in major European concert halls.

Compositional Technique

The Sonata BWV 1029 has a three-movement structure (fast-slow-fast), similar to the Sonata auf Concertenart (sonata in the form of a concerto) described by theorist Johann Adolf Scheibe in 1740.