Taco, --- On Wed, 10/19/11, Taco Walstra <wals...@science.uva.nl> wrote:
> BWV995 is also transposed from g to a but this has more to > do with the baroque lute string range which will fit better > in a when using a 13 course. > In modern times, 995 has been transposed from G minor to A minor (Hoppy again, Paul O'Dette, etc.), but the original two-stave notation was kept in G minor by the person who made the contemporary tablature arrangement for 13-course lute. Some have speculated that the transcriber may have been Adam Falckenhagen, but I have my doubts. The two-stave version is itself an arrangement of the fifth suite for solo cello in C minor BWV 1011. Transposition of a fifth/fourth was very common in the baroque. In de Visee's music, for example, one finds that if there is a transposition between any of the various incarnations of his pieces for guitar, theorbo or in mensural notation, it usually that of a fifth/fourth. My own thoughts are that the specific score of the two-stave 995 was probably intended for a keyboard instrument like a Lautenwerck. But the notation wasn't necessarily intended to freeze the music in that state. We know that lute players did play Bach's music - particularly this piece - so I don't think he would have had a problem with luters doing it now. I've played the contemporary tablature in G minor and although it is quite difficult and very awkward in places, it works rather well. I've worked under the assumption that that person making the arrangement sometime in the 1700's was more of an expert on baroque music than I. Chris Christopher Wilke Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer www.christopherwilke.com > > > Not sure > > about Jacob Lindberg, but I do > know that he used different tunings, > > even for the first six > courses, based on tunings found at the time of > > Reusner. > > > > My own position is that Bach > wrote all his 'lute' music for his lauten > > clavier - but had lute > players, possibly Weiss and other famous > > players, in mind, thinning the > texture as compared to his solo keyboard > > pieces. But there again, the > thinning out of the texture may have had > > something to do with the muddy > sound of his largely gut-string > > keyboard. > > > > Rob MacKillop > > > > -- > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > -- > >
