On 13 Dec 2010 at 15:39, John Howell wrote: > The Bach gamba sonatas are > challenging because they do require extended high > positions and fast leaps, and even the viol parts > in Brandenburg 6 have their challenges. Of > course Bach's death inventory included a viol, > which he could probably play, perhaps having > learned from his colleague Abel at Köthen. Most > people think of him as a keyboardibecause > most of his published music was teaching music > for keyboard, but his first professional gig at > age 17 was as a violinist in a court orchestra.
The only one of the three Bach gamba sonatas that I consider to be at idiomatic for the viol is the one that is actually a transcription of a flute sonata. Which tells me something. The technique required in the Bach gamba sonatas is nothing at all like that required in any of the other virtuoso gamba literature, in either Germany or France, and because of that, I've never considered them particularly legitimate gamba music. The bowings in them are also quite suspect, in my opinion, even though the source in which they appear seems to be authentic. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
