This video deals with the Grave, BWV 1002, mostly from a structural perspective. Jaap Schroder called the opening movements to the first two sonatas the “Castor and Pollux” of the solo violin works, because they are similar in so many ways. This is most evident in that they are both constructed in three sections, with the last mirroring the first. There is a video and an article on our website that discusses the Adagio, BWV 1001, in that regard. This new video does the same for the Grave, and also draws upon similarities and differences between the two movements.

It is interesting when studying a whole body of work, like the Sonatas and Partitas, to see that as Bach progressed through the collection, he challenged himself more and more as a composer and, likewise, we as players and listeners also encounter increasingly elusive and subtle puzzles to solve.