Bach Gavotte in D [Suzuki Bk 3] (violin duet)

Introduction

This Bach Gavotte is very popular as one of students’ repertoire, since it is introduced in Suzuki Book 3 and Shinozaki Violin Method Vol.2. This piece is actually from the 3rd movement of the Bach Orchestal Suite no.3.

Its second movement Aria is also very popular especially because of the arrangement of “Air on G string”. I wrote an article in the past as you can see below:

link: coming soon (I wrote in JA blog, but I realize it is not in EN site yet. The video is below, though!)

What is a Gavotte?

A Gavotte is a kind of dance from the baroque period.

According to the Grove Music Dictionary online gavotte means:

“A French folkdance still performed in Brittany in the mid-20th century; also a French court dance and instrumental form popular from the late 16th century to the late 18th. The courtly gavotte was a lively duple-metre successor to the 16th-century branle; it often had a pastoral affect in the 18th century, and frequently appeared as a movement of a suite, usually after the sarabande. It witnessed an extensive revival during the second half of the 19th century.”

Let’s practice together!

Trills and staccato

In this recording, I’m using Suzuki Book 3 revised edition. The music encourages the trills to be started above the note. However, I’m playing (the trills) from the note, for the people who are still trying to familiarize themselves with playing trills. I’m using a smaller  number of the trills as well. I’m playing, for some sections, without the staccato as well.

The second violin part

I modified a few sections of the second violin part of the Orchestral Suite by Bach.

I have an old Shinozaki Violin Method Vol. 2 (revised edition). On page 72, measure 19, I think the accidental natural is missing on the note C (by comparing with the score of Johann Sebastian Bach) – The Six Brandenburg Concertos and the Four Orchestral Suites in Full Score (Dover). There may be a question about the authenticity of this edition, but this is the reason why I’m playing C natural there, for the people who are learning with Shinozaki Violin Method Vol.2.

No matter what edition you are using, the character of the piece, what you can learn from it, and enjoyment of playing the music is the same. Let’s enjoy working on it.

This is another Bach Gavotte in D Major recording. It is a little slower than above recording for your practice.

No trills in m.21 in Gavotte II.

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Happy Practicing !

More article:

[How to Practice] Lully Gavotte (Suzuki Violin Book 2)

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