Citizens of Leipzig who attended the 1724 Good Friday Vespers service at St. Nicholas Church would have heard the first performance of St. John Passion, written by the town’s new director of religious music, J.S. Bach.
The style of the early 18th century would soon seem antiquated, and nearly irrelevant to the modern orchestra of the mid-19th century and beyond. But none of it would have been possible without the innovations of the Baroque era.
Bach’s manuscript of the Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas dates from 1720, during his time as Kapellmeister in Köthen, though their inception probably goes back to 1703, during his time in Weimar.
Bach’s six solo suites are the companions of every modern cellist. Some are simple enough to play after just a few years of study, others wait for a higher level of technical mastery.
Bach almost never crossed his keyboard music with drama or narrative. In fact, Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother may be his only instrumental work to tell a story so overtly.