Johann Sebastian Bach

The scholar Ulrich Siegele has suggested that Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonata No. 3 in G minor for viola da gamba and harpsichord, BWV 1029, did not start life as a sonata at all, but as a full-scale concerto, perhaps written for two transverse flutes. While there is some debate about this proposition, it certainly would explain why the Sonata No. 3 has three movements, in trio sonata format, rather than four, as the other two sonatas do. Further, it would explain why the musical discourse resembles that of a concerto rather than a partnership, which was the model for the first two sonatas. We will probably never know the real provenance of the Sonata No. 3, but fortunately such debates are academic when it is being played.

It is hard to ignore the echoes of the Third Brandenburg Concerto in the opening theme of the Sonata No. 3, and the harpsichord's accompaniment sounds an awful lot like a stand-in for an absent orchestra. Viola da gamba and harpsichord toss the theme back and forth, each accompanying the other, and in the lengthy B section of the first movement they take the theme on an adventurous, picturesque journey through some quite remote keys. The length of the journey is emphasized by an emphatic unison statement of the main theme when the A section returns to end the movement. In the Adagio, dialogue between the viola da gamba and harpsichord gives way to a delicate interweaving, organic and essential to the music. The texture Bach uses through most of the gamba sonatas, which has the harpsichordist's left hand playing basso continuo and the right hand acting as a melody instrument, is especially clear here; the left hand plays chords at an expansive tempo, while the right hand and the viola da gamba unfurl stately, richly decorated melodies. Bach also exploits the viola da gamba's capacity to soar in a mellow way with great success, making this a warm, movingly tender Adagio. The Allegro is daringly structured. It introduces a stolid minor mode theme in the harpsichord, then provides a much more interesting answer in the major mode and takes both themes down the path of development. Along the way, an ascending trill motive becomes increasingly important, and seems almost to drive the music back to the minor mode in which it ends. The profusion of themes is handled with fluent skill, and the whole movement sounds more unified for its diversity, in retrospect seeming pointed at its goal from the start. The Sonata No. 3 is possibly the finest of Bach's gamba sonatas and one of his many lesser-known masterpieces.

-- AllMusic.com