Bach’s Violin and Harpsichord Sonata No.5

Carl Philippe Emmanuel Bach wrote of the Six Sonatas for Harpsichord and Violin as “these are the best works by my beloved father. They sound excellent and still give me much pleasure, even through over 50 years have passed.” Almost 300 years have passed now and they still give one of the most exquisite musical pleasure one can ever think of.

These sonatas are collected into a unit of six (BWV1014-1019), like all Bach’s instrumental chamber works and were composed in Cöthen, probably around 1719-20 [1]. They are part of a large set of sonatas and partitas written for many instruments (Sonatas and Partitas for violin, the English Suites, Partitas for harpsichord, Cello Suites). Their standard structure, like all sonatas, follows the pattern slow-fast-slow-fast in tempo (the last sonata though offers an interesting exception to the rule).