There are five videos pertaining to the Allemanda in B Minor, BWV 1002, on this site. One is a performance of our arrangement, and the other four are tutorials. Parts one and two take a historical and philosophical look at the Allemanda; parts three and four discuss the piece insofar as its structure in a way that is directly relevant for performers, as well as for those who may simply wish to study it further.

In all of Bach’s sets of pieces, whether for keyboard, cello, or violin, he created an opening statement that not only introduces his chosen key, but that also captures the spirit of the instrument for which he was writing. This can be seen in Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas, both in the opening of the G-minor sonata, and in the allemanda from Partita 1. The video, part one, discusses how Bach uses this allemanda not only to introduce the first partita, but also to introduce all the partitas in the collection. We visit Lully at the Court of Louis XIV in Versailles, and also discuss how Bach was tipping his hat to the Italian school of violin playing. Courtly life was very cosmopolitan in that era, and Bach’s Allemanda encapsulates much of that lifestyle.

Part two looks into that heritage a little further. There was some interesting pre-history at play throughout Europe that set the stage for Bach’s solo violin works, and the effects of that are particularly evident in the B-minor Allemanda.

Parts three and four discuss the structure. We take a look at the long range arch of the piece, beginning with examining how Bach uses a combination of harmonic rhythm and bass lines to establish his key and then take listeners to the new key-centres, first to the cadence on the dominant at the end of the first half, and then to E minor and back to the home key of B minor.

There is also an intro video (at the top of the video page of this website) that may be very helpful if you have not already seen it, as it presents concepts that are discussed in many of the videos on the website. This was made so that the same subject matter did not need to be repeated, and so the assumption is that people have understood the material in this introductory video as it applies to the others that follow.