Video of the week: Teodoro Baù brings Bach’s violin music to the viola da gamba

The Italian musician performs the Gavotte en rondeau from Bach’s Partita No. 3, offering a glimpse of his new album.

A familiar dance takes on a different voice in this week’s video: Teodoro Baù plays the Gavotte en rondeau from Bach’s Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006, transcribed for viola da gamba.

Adapting violin music for the instrument has historical precedents. Here, the gamba’s affinity for chordal playing and the dance-suite tradition offers another way into Bach’s writing, bringing a different instrumental colour to the recurring refrain and its contrasting episodes.

The piece appears on Baù’s new album, J. S. Bach: Partitas for Viola da Gamba, released by Arcana in October 2026. The recording brings together his transcriptions of all three solo violin partitas, BWV 1002, 1004 and 1006.