On Fingerboard Shapes, Violinistic Chord Spacings and Instrumental Affordances in the Adagio of J. S. Bach's Violin Sonata in G minor, BWV 1001

ABSTRACT This article presents a study of multiple‐stop chords within the instrumental space of the violin. Drawing on Timothy Koozin's and Jonathan De Souza's studies of the fretboard, I develop a set‐theoretically inspired approach to examine the connection between the chord shapes on a violin's fingerboard and the corresponding spacings that they produce in pitch space. This formalisation leads to the construction of a space that depicts relationships between all possible prime forms of triple stops. I interpret this space as a visualisation of compositional potential, drawing on guidelines from instrumentation treatises to examine how the playability of chords relates to their location within the space. This synergy between instrument and chord spacing is adopted as a lens through which to study how Johann Sebastian Bach responds to the instrumental affordances of the violin in the Adagio of his Violin Sonata in G minor, BWV 1001. The analysis explores the implications that such violinistic chord shapes have on the return and development of thematic material within the movement, ultimately demonstrating how the structure of the instrumental space can interact with aspects of large‐scale melodic, harmonic, and formal design.