Background

An interesting pattern that may be universal across musical traditions is the relation between music and the experience of emotion. Seemingly, in all cultures, music is used to convey emotion ranging from sadness and anger to joy and ecstasy. Most of us know this experience firsthand. A song comes on the radio and reminds us of a particularly romantic night with our significant other; another song reminds us of a particularly unpleasant breakup. The composer Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the sarabande of his Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor (Opus 1004) in the weeks after the death of his wife. Even today, more than 300 years later, we can hear the inconsolable sadness in the piece.

Go to the next tab to listen to sarabande of Bach's Violin Partita No. 2.

Violin Partita # 2