Partita for Violin No. 3 (Bach)

	Preludio (BWV 1006a) Performed on guitar (originally composed for lute) by Gordon Rowland. Courtesy of Musopen Gavotte en Rondeau (BWV 1006) Menuet I (BWV 1006)
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The Partita No. 3 in E major BWV 1006 by Johann Sebastian Bach for solo violin is the last work in the set of Six Sonatas and Partitas. It consists of the following movements:

1. Preludio
2. Loure
3. Gavotte en Rondeau
4. Menuets (I and II)
5. Bourrée
6. Gigue

It takes about 20 minutes to perform.

The entire partita was transcribed by Bach cataloged as BWV 1006a. The organist Wilhelm Tappert claimed in 1900 that this arrangement was for lute solo, but present research indicates that it was for an unspecified instrument.^[1]

The most commonly found recordings are usually of the Preludio. The Preludio demands advanced bowing technique and consists almost entirely of semiquavers (i.e. sixteenth notes). The Preludio was also transcribed by Bach for use in two cantatas:

• the sinfonia which opens the second part of the 1729 cantata Herr Gott, Beherrscher aller Dinge, BWV 120a.
• the opening sinfonia, scored for obbligato organ, oboes, trumpets and strings, of the 1731 cantata Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29, in D major

The "Gavotte en Rondeau" is famously included on the Voyager Golden Record and often heard in TV or radio programs.

In 1933 Sergei Rachmaninoff transcribed for piano (and subsequently recorded) the Preludio, Gavotte, and Giga from this partita (as TN 111/1).

References

External links

• Manuscript (fair copy) in Bach's hand of the Partita at the Bach Digital project
• Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• Performance by violinist Karen Gomyo from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format