Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Just one violin, and yet so many voices. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 1, BWV 1001 in G minor is a polyphonic masterpiece. In this video, Russian-Israeli violinist Maxim Vengerov performed the first movement, the piece's popular Adagio, as a solo encore at the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre during the Lucerne Festival in the summer of 2017.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) likely composed his Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor in 1714. It's the first of six solo works for violin. The six-part cycle is made up of three sonatas and three partitas (BWV 1001 to 1006), which the composer wrote between 1714 and 1720. At the time, he was serving as court Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Saxony-Anhalt in the city of Köthen.
Bach liked to organize his instrumental works into coherent cycles, often in groups of six. Well-known examples include his six Brandenburg Concertos and six Cello Suites. The number six also carries biblical significance, since God is said to have created the world in six days.
In 1720, Bach published the autograph manuscript of the sonatas and partitas as Book 1, under the Italian title "Sei Solo a Violino senza Basso accompagnato," indicating that the instrument must do without the basso continuo accompaniment customary in Baroque music.
Even so, a bass voice is still present. It is up to the performer to bring out this bass line for the listener, especially in the Adagio of the Violin Sonata No. 1. It's no easy feat, since a solo instrument can't sustain true polyphony — whether on basso continuo lines or a fugue — on a continuous basis. In a masterclass at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Maxim Vengerov demonstrated to his students how to suggest a basso continuo in the Adagio on the violin, as shown in this YouTube video: youtube.com/watch?v=nvf7JenZVlo
While composing, Bach himself had already considered how the ear and brain can perceive multiple voices on a melodic instrument, even when they aren't sounding at the same time. In the G minor sonata, the violin’s two strings tuned to G and D play an important role. When they are allowed to ring open, without fingering, they give the effect of a basso continuo.
In his violin sonatas, Johann Sebastian Bach followed the model of the Italian "sonata da chiesa" (church sonata), typically structured in a sequence of movements: slow, fast, slow, fast. The Adagio of the first violin sonata is therefore a slow movement — a kind of prelude: calm, restrained and sensuous, with improvisatory touches.
The violinist and conductor Maxim Vengerov is widely regarded as one of the leading violinists of his generation. Born in Novosibirsk in the former Soviet Union in 1974, he began performing as a soloist at the age of five and was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He studied with Galina Turchaninova and later with the renowned teacher Zakhar Bron in Novosibirsk and Lübeck. He also cites the Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich as a major mentor. Among other honors, he has received a Grammy, two Echo Music Prizes and the Gramophone Artist of the Year award. In addition to his performing career, he is active as a violist, conductor and teacher. He considers teaching especially important, as he writes on his homepage: "Being a teacher comes with a great responsibility as anything you say will affect your students not only in music, but also in their lives."
Text: Gaby Reucher
© 2017 Accentus Music
Watch more concerts here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBV5A14dyRWy1KSkwcG8LEey
in our Bach playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBUIGIm71zRFbYPJMQ-ETiMT
and in our playlist with great violin music: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBWJ5t7LxFkBRlcTu4qHdo67
Subscribe to DW Classical Music:
youtube.com/dwclassicalmusic
#chambermusic #JSbach #violinsonata
Just one violin, and yet so many voices. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 1, BWV 1001 in G minor is a polyphonic masterpiece. In this video, Russian-Israeli violinist Maxim Vengerov performed the first movement, the piece's popular Adagio, as a solo encore at the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre during the Lucerne Festival in the summer of 2017.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) likely composed his Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor in 1714. It's the first of six solo works for violin. The six-part cycle is made up of three sonatas and three partitas (BWV 1001 to 1006), which the composer wrote between 1714 and 1720. At the time, he was serving as court Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Saxony-Anhalt in the city of Köthen.
Bach liked to organize his instrumental works into coherent cycles, often in groups of six. Well-known examples include his six Brandenburg Concertos and six Cello Suites. The number six also carries biblical significance, since God is said to have created the world in six days.
In 1720, Bach published the autograph manuscript of the sonatas and partitas as Book 1, under the Italian title "Sei Solo a Violino senza Basso accompagnato," indicating that the instrument must do without the basso continuo accompaniment customary in Baroque music.
Even so, a bass voice is still present. It is up to the performer to bring out this bass line for the listener, especially in the Adagio of the Violin Sonata No. 1. It's no easy feat, since a solo instrument can't sustain true polyphony — whether on basso continuo lines or a fugue — on a continuous basis. In a masterclass at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Maxim Vengerov demonstrated to his students how to suggest a basso continuo in the Adagio on the violin, as shown in this YouTube video: youtube.com/watch?v=nvf7JenZVlo
While composing, Bach himself had already considered how the ear and brain can perceive multiple voices on a melodic instrument, even when they aren't sounding at the same time. In the G minor sonata, the violin’s two strings tuned to G and D play an important role. When they are allowed to ring open, without fingering, they give the effect of a basso continuo.
In his violin sonatas, Johann Sebastian Bach followed the model of the Italian "sonata da chiesa" (church sonata), typically structured in a sequence of movements: slow, fast, slow, fast. The Adagio of the first violin sonata is therefore a slow movement — a kind of prelude: calm, restrained and sensuous, with improvisatory touches.
The violinist and conductor Maxim Vengerov is widely regarded as one of the leading violinists of his generation. Born in Novosibirsk in the former Soviet Union in 1974, he began performing as a soloist at the age of five and was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He studied with Galina Turchaninova and later with the renowned teacher Zakhar Bron in Novosibirsk and Lübeck. He also cites the Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich as a major mentor. Among other honors, he has received a Grammy, two Echo Music Prizes and the Gramophone Artist of the Year award. In addition to his performing career, he is active as a violist, conductor and teacher. He considers teaching especially important, as he writes on his homepage: "Being a teacher comes with a great responsibility as anything you say will affect your students not only in music, but also in their lives."
Text: Gaby Reucher
© 2017 Accentus Music
Watch more concerts here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBV5A14dyRWy1KSkwcG8LEey
in our Bach playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBUIGIm71zRFbYPJMQ-ETiMT
and in our playlist with great violin music: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBWJ5t7LxFkBRlcTu4qHdo67
Subscribe to DW Classical Music:
youtube.com/dwclassicalmusic
#chambermusic #JSbach #violinsonata
