b'Program NotescontinuedJohann Sebastian BachBorn March 31, 1685 EisenachDied July 28, 1750 LeipzigChaconne from Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004Composed 1717-20 in Kthen Instrumentation Solo ViolinDuration 14 minutesIll never forget the first time I heard Bachs Chaconne for solo violin. I was a teenager listening on the car radio, and this incredible violin music came on, getting more intense and breathtaking with each passing minute. The violin is a wonderfully versatile instrument, capable of producing a singing tone and a huge range of tonal colors and dynamics. It can perform rapid passagework, create brilliant effects with the bow, and play multiple melodic lines simultaneously, all of which appear in the Chaconne. As a soprano instrument, the violin doesnt often express a monumental character, but the grand structure of the Chaconne seems appropriate to the organ. Many keyboard players have in fact arranged the Chaconne for piano, including Busoni and Brahms. Acknowledging the extreme difficulty and the heroic element of playing the Chaconne on the violin, Brahms restricted his transcription to the use of the left hand only.The Chaconne is quite unique in Bachs set of Six Sonatas and Partitas. It is the last of the five movements of the D Minor Partita and is almost as long as the other four movements combined. Its basic form is sixty-four iterations of a four-measure chord progression, and part of the marvel of Bachs composition is how he generates and releases tension to create a unified story that unfolds naturally from beginning to end. Bach creates a sense of continuity by altering certain aspects of the music while maintaining others. Successive four-bar phrases are joined together by sharing similar textures or rhythmic values, with intensity gradually building over this composite section. The most dramatic contrast in the piece occurs with the glorious switch to the major mode, which happens in measure 133, just after the halfway point. German composers such as Biber and Westhoff had previously composed works for solo violin without basso continuo accompaniment, but with the Chaconne, Bach took the genre to a new level of musical profundity. continued.princetonsymphony.org/ 15'