For Subscribers

Masterclass: Bach Violin Concerto in E major BWV1042, third movement

2026-10-23T07:38:00

Julian Rachlin 02 © Marco Borggreve 2025

Julian Rachlin shines a light on this joyful movement comprising a satisfying musical architecture that alternates between anchoring refrains and exploratory soloistic episodes

Bach was very familiar with Vivaldi’s concertos and was inspired by the Italian concerto form, alternating between ritornello and solo episodes. This movement is essentially a rondo, with the main theme – the refrain – occurring five times and with four episodes between each refrain. This form shows Bach’s proficiency as a musical architect; each refrain and episode is always 16 bars long, except for the fourth and final episode from bar 113, which is doubled at 32 bars, resulting in a total of 160 bars. This initially creates a sense of symmetry, before subverting your expectations later…

Already subscribed? Please sign in

Subscribe to continue reading…

We’re delighted that you are enjoying our website. For a limited period, you can try an online subscription to The Strad completely free of charge.

  • Free 7-day trial

    Not sure about subscribing? Sign up now to read this article in full and you’ll also receive unlimited access to premium online content, including the digital edition and online archive for 7 days.

    Free trial

    No strings attached – we won’t ask for your card details

  • Subscribe 

    No more paywalls. To enjoy the best in-depth features and analysis from The Strad’s latest and past issues, upgrade to a subscription now. You’ll also enjoy regular issues and special supplements* and access to an online archive of issues back to 2010.

    Subscribe

 

* Issues and supplements are available as both print and digital editions. Online subscribers will only receive access to the digital versions.