Bach: Sonata No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1018 (January 30, 2000)Bach: Sonata No. 6 in G Major, BWV 1019 (January 30, 2000) Johann Sebastian Bach was a prolific composer, who wrote hundreds of works, probably many more than have survived to this day. During the years when he wrote these sonatas, however, he was particularly busy. Bach had just begun a new job in Leipzig, and his time was consumed with writing choral music for four major churches in town. These sonatas for violin and harpsichord are among the few chamber music pieces that survive from this time period. They are particularly notable, though, because in them Bach lay the groundwork for a new kind of chamber music. With these sonatas, Bach elevated the role of the harpsichord from accompaniment to musical partner, a trend that would continue and develop throughout the Romantic era, more than a hundred years later.