Classical Music | Cello Music

Recorded on 11/24/2004, uploaded on 02/27/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Sonata for Gamba and Harpsichord BWV 1029 in b minor    Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach arrived at the Court of Kothen in 1717, at the age of thirty-two. He had been appointed Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, an enlightened ruler who was also fond of music, and this undoubtedly was one of the happiest periods in the composer's life.  This appointment did not require any religious music, leaving him to create instrumental works such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier. From this same period come the sonatas for "bass viol" or gamba, written for Prince Leopold, himself a gamba player. This is the only collection Bach wrote for an instrument already going out of fashion; as the Italian violoncello began to gain in popularity, only a handful of French musicians were still writing for the gamba. The Sonata in g minor recalls the Brandenburg Concertos in its style, not only by virtue of its tripartite structure, but also in its concertante style of writing. It is an astonishingly polyphonic masterwork, and possesses a remarkable contrapuntal structure.    Katinka Kleijn

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.