The D Minor Ciaconna

 

"On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings.  If I imagined that  I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind."

—Johnnes Brahms on the D Minor Ciaconna, from a letter to Clara Schumann

 

The Ciaconna (or chaconne, a variation form) remains one of the loftiest peaks of the violin literature in its expressivity and the technical demands placed on the performer.  In a rare offering, our program in Weston and Ipswich includes a seldom-heard variant version along with the famous version of the 1720 autograph.

To go to the video link of Nicholas Kitchen performing the Ciaconna at the Library of Congress, click here.

To read Nicholas Kitchen's analysis of the form and structure of the Sonatas and Partitas, click here.

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Chamber Music by Candlelight

Nicholas Kitchen, violin
J.S. Bach: Complete Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin

 

To read a review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer of these performances, click HERE.

 

In these exceptional concerts, Mr. Kitchen will play from projected images of Bach's 1720 autograph, which will appear on a large screen for the audience to follow along.  We will see the music in Bach's own lively, expressive handwriting, in which the notes virtually dance across the page, soar and plunge, roll and tumble, float — an intimate experience of the music as it flowed from the composer's pen.

For a glimpse of Bach's autograph of the D Minor Ciaconna, click here.

Nicholas Kitchen will be performing all six of Bach's solo violin works on our concert series. As a single program, they make for an especially long, marathon-like evening, which we will offer only once, in Cambridge.  In the other concerts, there will be a more relaxed format:  the six works will be spread over two days: program 1 (sonatas 1 & 2, partitas 1 & 2) in Carlisle and Salem, and program 2 (sonata 3, partita 3, and two versions of the D Minor Ciaconna from partita 2) in Weston and Ipswich.  Programs 1 and 2 as a pair thus cover all the solo works, with the dazzling ciaconna appearing in both programs, and a variant version of the ciaconna making a special appearance in program 2. 

Thursday, January 20, 8:00 PM, First Religious Society
            27 School Street, Carlisle MA 01741
Friday, January 21, 8:00 PM, Weston Congregational Church
            130 Newton Street, Weston MA 02493
Saturday, January 22, 8:00 PM, Salem Athenaeum
            337 Essex Street, Salem MA 01970
Sunday, January 23, 4:00 PM, Heard House Museum
            54 South Main Street, Ipswich MA 01938
Monday, January 24, 7:00 PM, Christ Church Cambridge
            Zero Garden Street, Cambridge MA 02138 (Please note  change of time for this concert!)

For directions please click here.