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Technical Notice
| Classical Composer: | Bach, Johann Sebastian |
|---|---|
| Work: | Lute Partita in E Major, BWV 1006a (arr. for guitar) |
| Year Composed: | 1737 |
| Instrumentation: | gtr |
| Publisher: | G. Zanibon Edition |
| Duration: | 00:20:00 |
| Period: | Baroque (1600-1750) |
| Work Category: | Instrumental |
Work Information
Available Recording(s)
In 1921, Dr. Hans Dagobert Bruger published his edition of Bach's 'lute suites', allotting numbers to each suite, thus bringing in the slightly inaccurate concept as if Bach himself had organised the composition of these suites in a deliberate order. In Bruger's scheme of things, the Partita in E major was designated as Lute Suite IV, and for various reasons has long been regarded by guitarists as perhaps the most technically challenging of the so-called 'lute suites'.
The instrumentation of the autograph copy, now in Tokyo, is not explicitly stated. Wolfgang Schmieder, the eminent scholar and author of the Bach catalogue, the Bach-Werke- Verzeichnis (BWV), even wondered if it was intended for harp, though it could be for keyboard, baroque lute or even luteharpsichord, a keyboard instrument strung with gut to imitate lute timbres.
In the Staatsbibliothek Berlin-Dahlem are two eighteenth century copies and an autograph copy in a violin version. J. S. Bach twice orchestrated the Prelude as part of Cantatas, BWV 120A and BWV 29. It is clear that in the eighteenth century composers were accustomed to making arrangements of specific pieces for a wide range of instruments. For that reason it is not surprising that this particular suite is very idiomatic to the technical and expressive qualities of the modern classical guitar.
The Prélude, consists of broken chords and bariolage (lit. 'medley of colours') string passages in perpetual motion, creating textures reminiscent of the lute preludes of Sylvius Leopold Weiss, the great eighteenth-century master of the baroque lute, personally well acquainted with Bach himself.
Writer: Graham Wade
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