Johann Sebastian Bach
Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major, BWV 1042
Year: 1718

Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major, BWV 1042: II. Adagio | Julia Fischer · Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Introduction: During the Cöthen period, from 1717 to 1723, J.S. Bach had to satisfy the requirements of his boss, Prince Leopold, by turning out large numbers of secular works. The composer was well prepared by spending countless hours at his writing table copying out the music of the Italian masters. With his genius working, he was able to put to marvelous practical use this hard-gained knowledge of Italian string writing, which was so far in advance of any other kind. The Cöthen works are striking evidence of Bach’s ability to assimilate and create. The E-major Violin Concerto is a creation of purest Bachian splendor. Opening with three aggressive chords, built on an E-major triad, that form the beginning of the main subject, the first movement unfolds in a fashion characteristic of the composer, but with some surprises. Two serious episodes in minor provide sharp contrast with the ebullience of the main material. And before the return to the main subject, the violin has a tiny solo followed by an unexpected pause before those three opening chords announce the final full exposition of the movement’s main substance. The violin melody in the second movement is highly expressive and speaks for itself. The slow movement in a minor key is poignantly poetic and deliciously controlled, creating an inimitable version of Bach's baroque romanticism.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Johann Sebastian Bach is a German composer and organist of the Baroque period. His work is part of the monuments of classical music and benefit universal recognition in the history of music. His work is the testimony of a fundamental synthesis at the time in baroque period: of the Germanic tradition and the Italian and French influences, as well as all the musical processes of polyphonic composition, with a preponderante place reserved to the « melody ». Bach composed cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other pieces for organ, harpsichord, lute, violin, cello, flute, chamber ensemble and orchestra. There are more than 1080 known compositions by the German master. Nearly all of them are listed in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), which is the best known and most widely used catalogue of Bach's compositions. Bach was better known as a virtuoso organist than as a composer in his day. The master illustrates himself in all genres (except opera), wearing the tonal music to its full expression and preparing his future transgression in the same way. Bach's use of counterpoint is brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities of his compositional style which often included religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit perfectly together in a profound puzzle of special codes still amaze musicians today.

Many consider him the greatest composer of all time. « If there is anyone who owes everything to Bach, it is well God », writes the philosopher Emil Cioran. Indeed, the faith of Bach is the prism indispensable to the understanding of his work. Bach is a fervent Lutheran, he writes his music to the glory of God, and it is therefore his duty to cultivate his talent. Bach, a member of a family composed of a veritable dynasty of musicians, soon found himself orphaned and raised by his elder brother, an organist. He received a solid musical training on the organ, the violin and the singing, but it was by studying the writings of his contemporaries that he really assimilated the art of composition. Through his various engagements at the court or in the church, Bach constructed an opus consisting in particular of works of circumstance: to forms bequeathed by its predecessors, he gives a new dimension so much on the expressive plane that structural, by constantly renewing itself. In his time, the recognition of Johann Sebastian Bach hardly surpasses the borders of Germany where one appreciates more his qualities of organist than his compositions. Nevertheless, he trained many musicians who perpetuated his teaching. The musical heritage of the composer will be maintained for a generation by his sons then disappear with them before being brought back to the day taste by the romantics.

Lucien

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