Masterclass: Simon Standage on Bach’s Violin Sonata in E major part 2

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By the time that Bach wrote this sonata in the 1720s, movement headings were becoming more specific indicators of character and speed. An andante, for example, indicated walking pace, but also a certain type of articulation. This vocabulary had increased tremendously by the time of Haydn, who himself had numerous qualifications of Allegro. Before the metronome came in, there were more degrees of speed variation than on a modern-day metronome stalk.

In this sonata, three out of the four movement tempo headings are in brackets, inserted by modern editors. In Bach’s day, players would have been expected to select their own tempos, determined by the character of the music, the speed of the harmonic movement, the complexity of the texture and the melodic ornamentation.

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