Fasch was interested in the genre of the overture suite since his time as an alumnus of the Leipzig Thomasschule (1701–1708). In his autobiography he tells the story of how he once composed an overture in the manner of Georg Philipp Telemann for a musical presentation of the sixth-form boys, pretending it was a genuine piece by the older composer, and after the rehearsal everybody involved actually believed this to be true. Judging from the diplomatic characteristics of the sources […], Fasch wrote most of his overtures after 1722, the year he was employed as kapellmeister at the court of Johann August von Anhalt-Zerbst (1677–1742). The inventory of the castle’s Concert=Stube from the year 1743 lists 69 compositions by Fasch in this genre […]. For quite a while Fasch also regularly sent a large number of the overture suites (and other works) he composed at Zerbst to the courts of Darmstadt and Dresden. […] Fasch’s overture suite in A Major with solo violin is transmitted in a set of parts written in Dresden between about 1735 and 1740 […].
(Stephan Blaut, translation by Stephanie Wollny)
