Music and Worship Student Presentations
Document Type
Conference Presentation
Event Date
3-31-2015
Conference/Event
National Conference on Undergraduate Research
Location
Ithaca, NY
Abstract
The solo violin sonatas and partitas of Bach are a staple of any classical violinist’s repertoire. The high technical and artistic ability required to perform these works reflects the growing emphasis placed on instrumental performance during their time of composition. This increased interest was due in large part to the strides made in the violin’s development, ushering in with it a completely new method of playing, and therefore a new method of composing for the instrument. Bach composed his solo violin works while serving as the kapellmeister in the court of Prince Leopold at Cöthen, which, due to his extraordinary employment circumstances, was one of the happiest professional periods of his life. The further development of the violin and therefore the growing social acceptance of instrumental music, along with Bach’s experience in the court of Prince Leopold in Cöthen, all provided influential contributions to the creation of his violin works--compositions whose influence is still acting on violin works today.
Keywords
Music, Bach, violin
Recommended Citation
Grelen, Samantha, "The Violin’s Solo Voice: J.S. Bach’s Contribution to the Violin’s Development" (2015). Music and Worship Student Presentations. 7.
https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/music_and_worship_student_presentations/7
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
