Tilman Hoppstock. Bach s lute works

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1 Tilman Hoppstock Bach s lute works rom the guitarist s view Vol. 1 Suites BWV 995 / 996

2 Comment by Gustav Leonhardt Dear Mr. Hoppstock, I read your text on Bach s music or lute with great interest. I wish your publication all the success it deserves and hope that numerous guitarists will occupy themselves with the content o this meticulously written book. With admiration or your accomplished eort and best wishes, Yours Gustav Leonhardt Amsterdam, 2nd April 2009

3 4 CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS Note rom Gustav Leonhardt... Preace... 6 Introduction... 8 Brie digression on Bach s ornamentation Tempo relations SUITE BWV 995 History o origins - General remarks... 4 The model: version or cello - The lute version - The lute tablature - Instrumentation - The suite on the guitar - Musical editions - Further arrangements Prélude (irst part) Short summary - The bass notes - Verticalisation o thirds - Slurs or campanella - What is the correct tempo - Ornamentation and rhythmic notation - rests - Final chord/initial chord Prélude (Tres Viste) The theme - A ugue or not a ugue/ Polyphony - The cello version - Brie analysis - Attempt at a Fugue - Rhythmic deviation Allemande Charakter/rhythm/cello version - The dramaturgy in harmony and structure - Allemande as recitative - Polyphony - Articulation/Legato playing - Questions o transcription Courante The Harmony - Melody and articulation - The cello version - The Tablature - Charakter and tempo - Ornaments Sarabande Types o Sarabande - A harmonic cosmos - Movement structure and notation - Dynamic and legato playing - The rests - Articulation - Fingerings Gavotte I II General remarks - Pairung - Character and tempo - Gavotte I Harmony and structure - Articulation and polyphony - The Cello version - Transcription and reading - ornaments Gavotte II Charakter - Technique o structure/articulation/cello version - Harmony - Transcription/Fingings - ornaments Gigue Harmony and segmentation - The cello version - Articulation and tempo - Polyphony - The Tablature - Transcription and reading Tempo relations (BWV 995)

4 4 Bach s ornamentation Appoggiaturas (passing notes) with alling thirds In all Baroque instructive textbooks, the possibility o illing the space between alling thirds or sequences o thirds with appoggiaturas is requently mentioned. Passing notes can also be inserted between individual thirds or a more expressive character. The execution o the rhythmical insertion depends on the context o the melody notes. In his book Bach Interpretation (5, p. 48), Paul Badura-Skoda illustrates a wonderul example o Bach s antasy and lexibility with the aid o two versions o the well-known Invention BWV 772: Invention C maor BWV 772 (early version): V c Ó m m Invention C maor BWV 772a (last version): V c Ó m m Bar 2 in the intabulated version o the Sarabande rom the Suite BWV 997 displays a similar variant: (copy by Kirnberger + Agricola): (Intabulation by Weyrauch): In bar 91 o the Gavotte en Rondeaux rom the Suite BWV 1006a, the composer notates instead o a simple version......a tripletisation o the thirds: (8) (8) (8) The bars 1 to 8 (i.e. the rondo theme) occasionally slightly varied appear a total o six times. There is no reason why a little imagination would be out o place here. Gavotte en Rondeaux rom BWV 1006a, bar (autograph): Possible variants:

5 52 BWV Prélude 1 Prélude - Linear Structure HARMONIC FIELDS A minor V c chords: V C. n a E a E A. (D minor) A minor 5 V V... d A d E..... additional tension because o change between E maor and E minor SEQUENCE FIELD E maor/e minor E maor/e minor 5 9 V V... a E e H E a.....

6 BWV Prélude 61 instrument through greater attention to the damping o the bass notes. As an exercise, I recommend imagining the movement at double the speed. I the bass notes are sung in accompaniment, the pulse-like structure o the movement becomes clear; emphases on the relevant irst beats o the bar are more perceptible, above all i there is a delayed bass note in the lower octave on the second crotchet beat o a bar (bars 7, 9, 10, 12-14, 16-19, 21 and 22). The prolongation o the note (see above example, bars 10 and 12) would in contrast weaken the principle beat o the bar. I do however not advocate that all bass notes notated as a crotchet should actually be played dogmatically short: there is also a certain degree o tolerance (perhaps up to a quaver value, dependent on the underlying tempo). The damping o the bass notes should be perormed more in the manner o a ade-out. This method o notation is in no way instrument-speciic in Bach s music. It would however be interesting to speculate whether he would have notated this movement dierently or organ, as in this case the abrupt damping o the bass notes would be extremely conspicuous and perhaps even distracting. I also think that the pulsating element o heavy/light beats would not be particularly reconcilable with the somewhat static tone o the organ. Let us thereore imagine that the composer had in this case actually notated the pedal points as long sustained notes and also extended all the notes o chords to produce a completely dierent tonal quality more suited to the tonal qualities o the instrument. The ollowing musical example (bars 1-14) o a ictive version or organ presents us with the Prélude as an expansive monumental tonal architecture in which the harmonic cosmos somewhat eclipses the gestural aspect o the versions or cello or lute: 4 C C w... w w M Ó. n w Ó w... w C. w.. I am entirely convinced that Bach has always attempted to provide a guideline or the interpretation o his works through the notation o note values and rests. In the case o the introduction to the Prélude, this undoubtedly gives rise to interesting opportunities or discussion generating a variety o opinions. Final chord initial chord Should the E maor chord which is already included in /8 time be considered as the inal chord o the introduction or the beginning o the next section Mr. Authentic (I am borrowing this igure rom Anner Bylsma s book Bach, the encing master... ) would perhaps in this case tend towards the latter. According to the Baroque sense o taste, the so-called transition chords which requently orm both the culmination and beginning o the next section are customarily oriented towards the subsequent phrase. In the case o this Suite, it is hard to make a decision, as this type o chord divides not merely a single thought but also the complete hal o a movement. According to this premise, it is advisable to give the principle beat slightly less accentuation, but to play it in the new tempo o the Tres-Viste section. This permits the retention o a certain degree o inality at the end o the introduction but also provides new momentum or the upbeat o the new section.

7 BWV Tres Viste 71 This airly inconspicuous set o parallels is however not comparable with two passages in the Tres viste movement; what we see there is Bach at his most idiosyncratic. These two passages are structurally identical: bars 81/82 and 109/110. As they display such great similarity, we will ocus exclusively on the bars 81/82. First o all, here is the version or cello, ollowed by its dissected polyphonic translation : 15 m Cello, ab Takt 80: m Cello, rom bar 80 (dissected structure): :.. Here we can recognise that the oundations or bass line as the basis or the harmony had already been laid down in the version or cello. Now we will observe what Bach does with the version or lute and notice,... (15) Lute, rom bar 80 (original version):... that the already existing bass structure in the cello version has been doubled here. This is extremely uncommon! Something quite dierent would perhaps have been anticipated rom a comparison with other endings customarily utilised by Bach. Here are three ictitious examples: 16 m From bar 80, ictive ending a): From bar 80, ictive ending b): tr.. (8) From bar 80, ictive ending c):

8 82 BWV Tres Viste Leopold Godowsky ( ) pulls out all the stops o pianistic virtuosity in his version o the ugue. The second entry o the theme is already answered by a thematic counterpoint in stretto and Bach s original third entry (bars 21/22) is made to seem like a ourth voice due to the prior insertion o an additional entry (bars 15/16). The movement subsequently develops into a Neo-Romantic display o ireworks. 19 Leopold Godowsky, Allegro espressivo (Tres viste) rom the Suite BWV 1011: Fuga b b Allegro espressivo q. b 8 ( = 44-48) b b b 8 b b b b b b 8 p espressivo p n n n n n n 5 n senza cresc. n n n 15 b b b b b b 20 b b b n sempre n p n - n - n n n - n n b b b 25 b b b b b b.. n n. n n n n n n n

9 180 BWV Preludio (Passaggio) 9 " B B apple.. apple. apple apple apple... Oralio. Quindalinda n tun So geh hin-ort! Nie! So geh hin -ort! Ich wei - che... Più Lento Vivace 11 Ó n. F B. apple F B F. F. Più Oralio. apple n Lento. apple F nicht! So tu es doch.. apple. apple.. apple... Oraliọ apple.. Quindalinda apple n m. Molto Adagio Molto Adagio Quindalinda n apple apple apple. p dolce achwüsst ich nur apple zu

10 280 BWV Faksimile Gerber

Movements from the Bach Cello Suites

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