Bach's Gamba Sonatas
Complex, intricate and infinitely varied, Bach’s sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord are less well-known than the solo cello suites, but just as fascinating. The three sonatas are presented with two relatively recently re-discovered sonatas by his youngest son Johann Christian Bach. These lovely lyrical works demonstrate the vast difference that a generation brings. With Shaun Ng (viola da gamba) and Diana Weston (harpsichord).
September 30 @ 2.30 pm at St Jude’s Church, Bowral
October 14 @ 4 pm at Mosman Art Gallery, Mosman
October 27 @2.30pm at All Saints Cathedral, Bathurst
Review by Classikon
...with a rich command of each instrument Thoroughbass allowed the audience an insight into music and instruments rarely heard’.
Program
Originally composed for a different array of instruments, the three sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) are some of the most profound and original works of their kind. Sonata BWV 1027 appeared first for 2 flutes and continuo (BWV 1039); BWV 1028 in D major shows features of the ‘galant’ style favoured by his son Carl Philip Emanuel – it was possibly a trio sonata with flute and violin or 2 violins; BWV 1029 in G minor is reminiscent of the Brandenburg Concerti and may have originally been a concerto for two violins. Bach’s intentions in transcribing his own compositions for this combination are not known but they gave the harpsichord a new function as an equal and independent partner and provided substantial repertoire for the viola da gamba whose popularity was undergoing a sharp decline. Possible explanations are that there was a thoroughly competent gamba player – (could that person have been his god-son Carl Friedrich Abel?), or harpsichordist of his acquaintance who stimulated the process. In any event, he must have thought quite a lot of all three sonatas because he has given both parts unusually detailed performance instructions.
Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782), the youngest son of Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach, is known as the ‘London’ Bach, this being where he and his partner and friend Carl Friedrich Abel met in 1762 on Bach’s arrival, and with whom he successfully ran a 20-year long concert series. Abel (1723 – 1787), one of the last of the truly virtuosic viola da gamba players, was already known to Christian from his childhood days in Leipzig. The two moved into an apartment together on Meard’s St, St Ann’s Soho just over a year after Bach’s arrival, forming a relationship that enabled them to present weekly subscription concerts to London Society, and composing music for themselves, various musicians and each other.
Stylistically, the sonatas for harpsichord and viola da gamba by Johann Christian are worlds apart from those of his elderly father. His is the inspiration for the (very) young Mozart – music that is light and tuneful, suitable for afternoon concerts in his ‘modern’ age, and very popular.
These sonatas were considered lost until appearing at Sotheby’s auction in 1992 where they were bought, and ignored, by a private collector. We are delighted to be two of the few to have performed these delightful works since Bach’s day.