Interpreted by William Primrose

Partita in B Minor

Violins can be carried about. Pianos and such instruments cannot. Hence the need of music for Violinists to play without the accompaniment of a keyboard instrument.

No composer has written more of this music than J.S. Bach, and Violinists signify their gratitude to him by playing his unaccompanied works frequently - that is, if they are proficient in their technique. For these works are difficult. In music we must have chords of harmony ; these can be played on the Violin only by using two or more strings at once, and this greatly increases the complexity of the fingering on the strings.

Bach wrote six works for unaccompanied Violin, sometimes wrongly described as six Sonatas. Properly speaking, three of them are Sonatas and three are Partitas. The difference is one of form rather than substance. In a Sonata the contrast between the Movements is one of generalized musical character; in a Partita the Movements are ancient Dance-forms, developed artistically and retaining their names, such as Allemande, Courante, Minuet, Gigue, etc.

It will be interesting to Violinists to know that Mr. Primrose will be playing from an early edition of the Bach-Gesellschaft (an important German society for the publication of Bach's works) and that his version will be free from the alterations to which modern editing has given a vogue among players.

The First Partita, in B Minor, has seven Movements:-
I. Allemande (i.e., German). A piece in four-beat dance time, of serious character and much elaborated. II. Double. A new version of I., in a different rhythm. III. Courante. A dance. piece in three-beat time. IV. Double. A rapid version of ITT. V. Sarabande. A piece in slow three-beat rhythm. The Sarabande was a Spanish dance. VI. Double. A new version of V., in a different rhythm. VII. Bourree. A vigorous dance in abrupt four-beat rhythm. VIII. Double. A new version of VII.