Great Performances S47E2 · Now Hear This “The Riddle of Bach”

Great Performances

Season 47 · Episode 2 · Now Hear This “The Riddle of Bach” · 54 min

Scott Yoo goes to Germany to learn Bach’s sonatas and partitas, widely considered among the greatest works ever written for solo violin. There, Yoo discovers a riddle Bach left behind in his portrait. In trying to solve it, Yoo and his wife, leading flutist Alice Dade, discover that Bach based his melodic style on Vivaldi and his rhythms on the music of the French court.