Azu Etd 15461 Sip1 M

J.S.
BACH’S SUITE IN G MINOR, BWV 995: A COMPARISON OF MANUSCRIPTS
FOR VIOLONCELLO, LUTE AND LUTE INTABULATION AS A MODEL FOR A
GUITAR ARRANGEMENT OF THE SUITE IN D MAJOR BWV 1012
by
Ivar-Nicholas Isaac Fojas
_________________________
Copyright © Ivar-Nicholas Isaac Fojas 2017
A Document Submitted to the Faculty of the
FRED FOX SCHOOL OF MUSIC
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of
DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS
In the Graduate College
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
2017
2
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

GRADUATE COLLEGE
As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the document
prepared by Ivar-Nicholas Fojas titled J.S. Bach’s Suite in G Minor, BWV 995: A
Comparison of Manuscripts for Violoncello, Lute and Lute Intabulation as a Model for a
Guitar Arrangement of the Suite in D Major BWV 1012, and recommend that it be
accepted as fulfilling the document requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Musical
Arts.
____________________________________________________________Date: 03/04/17
Prof. Thomas Patterson
____________________________________________________________Date: 03/04/17
Dr. Theodore Buchholz
____________________________________________________________Date: 03/04/17
Dr. Jay Rosenblatt
Final approval and acceptance of this document is contingent upon the candidate’s
submission of the final copies of the document to the Graduate College.
I hereby certify that I have read this document prepared under my direction and
recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the document requirement.
____________________________________________________________Date: 03/04/17
Document Director: Thomas Patterson
3
STATEMENT BY AUTHOR
This document has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an
advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library
to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library.
Brief quotations from this document are allowable without special permission,
provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for
permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in
part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate
College when his or her judgment the proposed use of material is in the interests of
scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author.
SIGNED: Ivar-Nicholas Isaac Fojas

4
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to express my deepest gratitude to my parents without whose love and
guidance none of this would be possible, to Marilyn Chase whose support was
instrumental in the completion of my studies and this research, to Chancey Pelletier who
inspired me with her love for the baroque guitar, to Mr. Tilman Hoppstock for his kind
permission in allowing me to include his work in this document, to the members of my
advisory committee and committee head, Prof. Tom Patterson whose knowledge and
wisdom helped shape this document. Special thanks to Dr. Philip Alejo for his invaluable
insight and guidance.
I am ever indebted to my former professors in the Philippines, to Felicidad
Prudente, Ph.D., for entrusting me with the opportunity to pursue my master’s degree, to
Prof. Mauricia Borromeo for her support in the beginning of my career, to my friend and
mentor Angelito Agacaoili (DMA), for his continued guidance. Finally, I would like to
express my sincerest appreciation to the Fulbright Commission in the Philippines for
giving me the opportunity to pursue my doctoral studies in the United States.

5
DEDICATION
To all those who have taught me along the way:
my daughter Bernice for being my greatest teacher,
my father, for inspiring me to pursue a career in the arts,
to Marilyn, for sharing with me her passion for life,
and Benjie and Helen Bautista for teaching me to believe.

6
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF EXAMPLES ....................................................................................................... 8
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... 11
LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... 12
ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................... 13
I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 15
1. Intent and Scope of Study ................................................................................ 16
2. Melodic elaboration ......................................................................................... 19
3, Harmonic elaboration....................................................................................... 23
4. Polyphonic elaboration .................................................................................... 24
5. Rhythmic flexibility ......................................................................................... 25
II. J.S. BACH AND THE LUTE: A BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ..................... 27
1. J.S. Bach and the “famous lutenists” ............................................................... 27
2. J.S. Bach’s works for the lute .......................................................................... 30
3. Clues to Bach’s intended instrumentation ....................................................... 34
III. J.S. BACH’S ARRANGEMENTS FOR LUTE ........................................................ 37
1. Sources for the Suite in G Minor BWV 995 .................................................... 37
2. Sources for the Suite in E Major BWV 1006a ................................................. 41
IV. LUTE TABLATURE AND TUNING ...................................................................... 43
1. The baroque lute .............................................................................................. 43
2. Intabulations by J.C. Weyrauch ....................................................................... 49
V. ELABORATIONS ...................................................................................................... 51
7
TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued
1. Melodic elaboration in Bach’s lute arrangements ........................................... 51
2. Harmonic elaboration in Bach’s lute arrangements ......................................... 59
3. Polyphonic elaboration in Bach’s lute arrangements....................................... 63
4. Rhythmic flexibility in Bach’s lute arrangements ........................................... 65
VI. SUITE IN D MAJOR BWV 1012: AN ARRANGEMENT FOR GUITAR .............. 67
1. Application of melodic elaboration ................................................................. 67
2. Application of harmonic elaboration ............................................................... 69
3. Application of polyphonic elaboration ............................................................ 70
4. Application of rhythmic flexibility .................................................................. 72
VII. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 73
APPENDIX A: Tilman Hoppstock, e-mail message to author, December 6, 2016 ........ 76
APPENDIX B: Frank Koonce, e-mail message to author, February 18, 2017 ................ 77
APPENDIX C: Frank Koonce, e-mail message to author, February 18, 2017 ................ 78
APPENDIX D: Comparison score of BWV 995 and BWV 1011 ................................... 79
APPENDIX E: Guitar arrangement of Suite in D Major BWV 1012 ............................. 95
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 110

8
LIST OF EXAMPLES
Example 1. J.S. Bach Gigue from Suite in C Minor and Suite in G Minor BWV 1011 /
BWV 995, mm. 1-4:............................................................................................. 52
Example 2. J.S. Bach Allemande from Suite in C Minor and Suite in G Minor BWV 1011
/ BWV 995, mm. 34-36: ...................................................................................... 53
Example 3. J.S. Bach Trés Viste from Suite in C Minor and Suite in G Minor BWV 1011
/ BWV 995, mm.31-34 and 61-64: ...................................................................... 53
Example 4. J.S. Bach Prelude from Partita in E Major and Suite in E Major BWV 1006 /
BWV 1006a, mm.136-138: .................................................................................. 54
/ BWV 995, mm.55-60: ....................................................................................... 54
Example 6. J.S. Bach Prelude from the Suite in C Minor BWV 1011 / Third Lute Suite
BWV 995, mm.2-4:.............................................................................................. 55
Example 7. J.S. Bach Allemande from the Suite in C Minor BWV 1011 / Third Lute Suite
BWV 995, mm.13-14:.......................................................................................... 55
Example 8. J.S. Bach Très Viste from the Suite in C Minor BWV 1011 / Third Lute Suite
BWV 995, mm.169-174:...................................................................................... 56
BWV 995, mm.26: ............................................................................................... 57
Example 10. J.S. Bach Très Viste from the Suite in G Minor BWV 995, mm.157-162:. 58
Example 11. J.S. Bach Très Viste from the Third Lute Suite BWV 995, mm.157-162:.. 58
Example 12. J.S. Bach Prelude from the Suite in G Minor BWV 995, mm.16-18: ........ 59
Example 13. J.S. Bach Très Viste from the Suite in C Minor BWV 1011 / Third Lute
Suite BWV 995, mm.82-84:................................................................................. 60
Suite BWV 995, mm.145-147 and 181-184: ....................................................... 60
Suite BWV 995, mm.157-168:............................................................................. 61
9
LIST OF EXAMPLES - Continued
Example 16. J.S. Bach Prelude from the Fifth Cello Suite BWV 1011 / Third Lute Suite
BWV 995, mm.196: ............................................................................................. 62
BWV 995, mm.10-12:.......................................................................................... 62
Example 18. J.S. Bach Sarabande from Cello Suite BWV 1011 / Lute Suite BWV 995,
mm.63-66 and 11-13: ........................................................................................... 63
Example 19. J.S. Bach Gavotte II en Rondeaux from Cello Suite BWV 1011 / Lute Suite
BWV 995, mm.1-3 and 19-22: ............................................................................ 64
Example 20. J.S. Bach Allemande from Cello Suite BWV 1011 / Lute Suite BWV 995,
mm.1-3: ................................................................................................................ 65
mm.22-24: ............................................................................................................ 66
Example 22. J.S. Bach Prelude from Cello Suite BWV 1011 / Lute Suite BWV 995,
mm.103-105: ........................................................................................................ 67
Example 23. J.S. Bach Sarabande from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm.1-2: ........... 68
Example 24. J.S. Bach Sarabande from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm 27-29: ....... 68
Example 25. J.S. Bach Gigue from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm.16-20: ............... 68
Example 26. J.S. Bach Gigue from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm.1-4: ................... 69
Example 27. J.S. Bach Allemande from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm.17 and 20: . 69
Example 28. J.S. Bach Prelude from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm. 97-99: ........... 70
Example 29. J.S. Bach Gigue from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm.50-52: ............... 70
Example 30. J.S. Bach Courante from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm.1-5: ............. 71
Example 31. J.S. Bach Gavotte I from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm.1-5:.............. 71
Example 32. J.S. Bach Sarabande from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm. 1-5: .......... 72
10
LIST OF EXAMPLES - Continued
Example 33. J.S. Bach Sarabande from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm. 15-16: ...... 72
11
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Michael Thames: 13 stringed Dresden guitar (2016) by luthier Michael

Thames. Photograph by Michael Thames. ........................................................... 45
12
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. J.S. Bach’s works for lute with dates and surviving sources ............................. 31
Table 2. Lute symbols and meanings ............................................................................... 47
Table 3. J.S. Bach: Explication unterschiedlicher Zeichen, so gewissen Manieren artig

zu spilen (A table of ornaments and their execution written by J.S. Bach) ......... 48
Table 4. J.S. Bach: Explanation of the various symbols indicating how certain
embellishments may be gracefully executed ........................................................ 48
13
ABSTRACT
J.S. Bach (1685 – 1750) is celebrated for his exemplary musical compositions, but
less known is Bach the inveterate transcriber. He not only transcribed at least nine
concertos by Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741), but he also arranged and adapted his own
works, recasting them for other instruments. Among Bach’s arrangements, are those for
the lute, which were originally written for solo violin and cello. These two arrangements
form a significant portion of J.S. Bach’s oeuvre for the lute, an instrument Bach would
have been familiar with through his encounters with the finest lutenists of the age. Bach’s
lute arrangements provide valuable insight into the editorial decisions that were made
when transcribing from solo strings to the lute, an instrument most similar to the guitar in
sonority, structure and technique.
This study examines J.S. Bach’s process of arranging for the lute by comparing
three extant versions of the same work: Bach’s Suite in C Minor BWV 1011 for cello, his
Suite in G Minor BWV 995 for lute and an unsigned version in lute tablature dating back
to Bach’s time in Leipzig (Sammlung Becker. MS. III. 11. 3, housed at the
Stadtbibliothek of Leipzig). The three extant versions of the Suite in G Minor form a
unique trifecta among Bach’s body of works that can be compared to reveal unique
features in Bach’s lute arrangements. By comparing the three sources, this study will
demonstrate that J.S. Bach displayed a propensity towards musical elaboration when
arranging from violoncello to the lute. In particular, Bach had a tendency to elaborate the
following musical elements: melody, harmony, polyphony and rhythm. This study will
14
show that these elaborations may be applied in a new guitar arrangement of Bach’s Suite
in D Major BWV 1012. Finally, this author hopes that this study may be used as a guide
or starting point for other arrangers in their attempt to create a stylistically cogent guitar
arrangement of Bach’s unaccompanied works for violin or cello.

15
I. INTRODUCTION
The impetus for this research project began in the midst of preparing for the First
Annual David Russell Bach Prize in 2015, a guitar competition hosted by the Bolton
Guitar Studies Program at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music. The
required repertoire of suites by J.S. Bach created a need to effectively arrange his music
for the guitar which in turn created its own challenges especially when arranging the solo
violin and or cello works for the guitar. Arranging music for the guitar presents unique
challenges for the arranger. For instance, the arranging process for piano music, such as
that of Isaac Albéniz (1860 – 1909) and Enrique Granados (1867 – 1916), involves
condensing the music to fit the range of the guitar. This may be done by reducing the
notes and by transposing the music to a key more favorable for the guitar. The
arrangement must take in consideration the style of the music and as well preserve the
harmony and the voice leading. While this may be true when arranging the keyboard
music of J.S. Bach, his solo music for cello, violin and flute require a different process
altogether. This is most evident in Bach’s music written as a single line. In a recorded
interview, David Russell (b. 1958) talks about two types of guitar arrangements:
You could say there are two kinds of transcriptions, there’s the kind where … a
composer has given you a whole lot of notes that we can’t play …. Granados for
example …, you have to distill it and reduce and hopefully maintain all of his
harmonies and voice leading …. Then, there’s the other kind of transcription like
… the Bach Partita [BWV 1006], he has written a single line and then we get to
add something to it, sometimes a little bit of harmony or … by holding the
fingering, we can create chords etc. that on the violin … are not there. But we
have a really good example … Bach himself, because he did it with his own
works like with the E Major Partita [which] is a lute suite, so we can see and …
study what he did …. Our Third Suite [BWV 995] is a cello suite, there he did
that quite a lot so we can understand how Bach viewed his …, monodic music,
16
music that is a single line and how he translated it to an instrument that could
include some harmony.1
1. Intent and Scope of Study
Throughout history, the most distinguished performers of the guitar and its
ancestors, the vihuela,2 and lute have, arranged music written for other instruments. As
early as 1538, composer and vihuelista Luis de Narváez published Los seys libros del
delphín, a six-chapter collection of vihuela music, published under one cover. The third
chapter contains six vihuela intabulations,3 three fragments from masses by Josquin des
Prez (ca. 1450/55–1521), Josquin’s well-known chanson Mille Regretz renamed as La
canción del Emperador,4 and two chansons from Nicholas Gombert (ca. 1495 – ca. 1560)
and Jean Richafort (ca. 1480 - ca.1546). In the early eighteenth century, Robert de Visée
(ca. 1655-1732/33), guitarist to the “Sun King” Louis XIV, published a collection of
pieces for theorbo5 and lute entitled Pièces de théorbe et de luth (Paris, 1716). The
1
David Russell’s discussion is taken from a pre-concert interview conducted by Benjamin Verdery
on March 22, 2014. The transcript of the discussion is by this author.
2
The vihuela da mano is a fourteenth-century instrument that originates from the Iberian-
peninsula, which is strung and tuned similarly to the renaissance lute. Seven books for the vihuela were
published in Spain between 1536-1576.
3
Intabulation (It.: intavolatura) is an arrangement of a vocal or instrumental piece for keyboard,
lute or other plucked instrument written in tablature (a system of notation using letters or numbers to
represent the placement of the notes on the instrument).
4
Frank Koonce on page 56 of his 2008 publication, The Renaissance Vihuela & Guitar in
Sixteenth-Century Spain, points out that some recent studies suggest that Mille regretz may have been
written by Franco-Flemish composer Jean Lemaire de Belges (c.1473 - c.1525) instead of by Josquin.
5
The theorbo or chitarrone is a lute with a long neck extension to accommodate the unfretted bass
strings or diapasons which are tuned diatonically. The fretted strings are paired courses that are tuned
similarly to the top five strings of the guitar, but employ a re-entrant tuning for the top two strings which
are tuned an octave lower.
17
collection included numerous works by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) and François
Couperin (1668 –1733), arranged for theorbo. Meanwhile in Spain, Santiago de Murcia
(1673-1739) published the Passacalles y obras (1732), a collection of five-course
baroque guitar6 music, which contains Murcia’s settings of violin works by Arcangelo
Corelli (1653-1713). The tradition of arranging for guitar would be continued by Mauro
Giuliani (1721-1829) with the Le Rossiniane (c.1820-1828), a collection of Rossini opera
arrangements for solo guitar, and by Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856) with
Schubert’sche Lieder fûr die Guitare (1845). In the late nineteenth century, guitarist
composer Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909) arranged J.S. Bach’s Fugue from BWV 1000
and the Bourées from BWV 1002 and BWV 1009, and Agustín Barrios Mangoré (1885-
1944) arranged the Gavotte and Rondeau from BWV 1006a. And finally in 1934, Schott
Edition published Andrés Segovia’s (1893-1987) monumental arrangement of the
Chaconne from BWV 1004, which he debuted in Paris on June 4 of the following year.
As demonstrated by Tárrega, Barrios and Segovia, J.S. Bach’s unaccompanied
works for cello, violin and flute provide an ideal source of musical material that can be
arranged and performed on the guitar. Despite the previous achievements in the
performance of Bach on guitar, the process of arranging Bach’s unaccompanied works
remains a complex undertaking that must be guided by recent discoveries and
historically-informed performance practices. The music is written in a self-accompanying
6
The five-course guitar also known as the baroque guitar flourished around 1600-1750. It is tuned
similarly to a modern guitar without the sixth string. Similar to the lute, the baroque guitar is strung in pairs
of strings called courses and utilizes re-entrant tuning on the fourth and fifth courses.
18
style where the polyphony is implied rather than written out. The performer must make
editorial decisions regarding transposition to accommodate the open strings of the guitar
to facilitate technical ease. Also to be considered are the stylistic conventions of Bach’s
time, particularly the use of ornamentation, phrasing and articulation through the use of
slurs and rhythmic flexibility.
I will demonstrate that it is possible to create a historically-informed guitar
arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Suite in D Major BWV 1012 through a comparison of three
extant works: Bach’s Suite in C Minor BWV 1011 for cello, his Suite in G Minor BWV
995, an arrangement for lute of the same suite, and an unsigned second version in lute
tablature from Leipzig, with index number Sammlung Becker. MS. III. 11. 3, housed at
the Stadtbibliothek of Leipzig.
For this project, I will create a guitar arrangement of the Suite in D Major BWV
1012. The guitar arrangement will incorporate changes and elaborations gleaned from
J.S. Bach’s own editorial decisions in the Suite in G Minor BWV 995 (lute) when
compared to the original cello version Suite in C Minor BWV 1011. For clarity and
brevity, I will henceforth refer to the Bach works by their BWV index numbers and the
unsigned lute intabulation as the Leipzig manuscript.
A comparison of the manuscripts shows that Bach displayed patterns and
tendencies towards elaboration of the musical material in his lute arrangements. These
may be divided into four categories: melodic elaboration, harmonic elaboration,
polyphonic elaboration and rhythmic flexibility.

19
2. Melodic Elaboration
When arranging from cello to the lute, Bach elaborated the melody by using: a)
passing tones and neighboring tones to connect disjunct lines, b) pedal tones to create
melodic interest in melodies with stepwise motion, c) reversal of pedal pattern so that the
pedal tone occurs on a weak beat, d) arpeggios in place of sustained cadential notes, e)
ornamentation such as agreménts and diminutions and f) slurs to articulate or phrase the
melody.
Ornaments can be fall into two distinct styles: French style, often referred to as
“essential” and the Italian Style otherwise known as “discretionary.”7
The French style also known as agréments is described by Croton as “adding
short notes to the melody within a range of a third from the main note, and serves to
heighten a dissonance, strengthen an affect or prolong the sound of a written note.”
Agréments are particularly useful when arranging from the cello, which can sustain notes
longer than the guitar. The following are examples of agréments written by J.S. Bach
himself in a brief table of ornaments from the Little Clavierbook for Wilhelm Friedmann
Bach (Cöthen, 1720): trillo, mordant, trillo und mordant, cadence, doppelt-cadence,
idem, doppelt cadence und mordent.8 The guitar arrangement of BWV 1012 will
incorporate the use of trills, appoggiaturas, mordents, tierce coulée (slurred third) to
name a few.
7
Peter Croton, Performing Baroque Music on the Classical Guitar: A Practical Handbook Based
on Historical Resources (San Francisco: CreateSpace, 2015), 142.
8
J.S. Bach, Clavier-Büchlein Vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1720) Complete (New York: Belwin
Mills, 1942), 7.
20
The Italian style uses ornaments called diminutions or divisions, which are
spontaneous elaborations of the melody through the use of division and melodic
improvisation. Two important source materials on diminutions are Diego Ortiz’s (c.1510-
c. 1570) Trattado de glosas sobre clausas y otros generos de puntos en la musica de
violones (1533),9 which Ortiz published in both Spanish and Italian and Arcangelo
Corelli’s (1653-1713) Violin Sonatas Opus 5 (1710), wherein Corelli provides a written
out ornamented version of the slow movements as he played them.
Slurs are indicated by the slur mark, a curved line connecting two notes of
different pitches on the same string. The two types of slurs are the ascending slur and the
descending slur. Both types are initiated by a pluck with the right hand followed by what
is described on other string instruments as the left hand pizzicato. The ascending slur, or
“hammer-on,” is executed by a rapid and vigorous hammering action of the left hand on a
higher note after the initial lower note has been played by the right hand. In contrast the
descending slur or the “pull-off” is executed by a stroking motion of the left hand after
the initial note has been played by the right hand.
According to Philip Hii, “Slurring plays an important part in the music as a
phrasing device, as well as a means of accenting the syncopations.” He adds that, “Slurs
also help to emphasize the beginning of phrases.” Hii asserts that Robert de Visée’s
baroque guitar music illustrates that slurs were used as: “a) rhythmic accents, particularly
9
Diego Ortiz, Trattado de glosas (1553): Modern edition by Annette Otterstedt (Kassel:
Bärenreiter, 2003).
21
in syncopated figures, b) melodic articulation, primarily in legato passages, c) to facilitate
greater ease of execution by reducing right-hand fingering.”10
Examination of baroque guitar and lute repertoire reveals a propensity for
favoring the use of slurs when open strings are available. This open-string approach
considerably reduces right-hand strokes making a passage easier to execute. Philip Hii
uses the term “open-string expediency” to describe the overriding concern with ease of
execution which often results in rhythmically inconsistent placements of slurs.
Philip Hii summarizes his observations on the use of slurs in baroque lute and
baroque guitar performance practice:11
1) Technical considerations seem to be the overriding concern in the majority of

baroque slur placement, particularly in reducing right hand fingering.
2) This does not lessen the musical significance of the slurring. Some of the basic
ones being: a) As rhythmic accents. b) As melodic articulations. c) To delineate
the beginning of phrases.
3) The principal [sic] of consistency in articulating similar motivic patterns seems

to have little validity in baroque guitar and lute performance practice. Perhaps our
need for symmetry and consistency only reflects as an aesthetic position quite
different from the baroque.
In discussing slurs, consideration must be given to the difference in construction
between the modern guitar and its ancestors, the lute and the baroque guitar. The nylon
strings and the higher tension of the modern guitar creates more string tension compared
to the gut strings used for lute and baroque guitar. Paul O’Dette and Pat O’Brien, two
10
Philip Hii, “Slurring Practices in Baroque Guitar and Lute Music,” GFA Soundboard 14 no. 4
(Winter 1987): 252-255.
11
Ibid.
22
leading contemporary lutenists and erstwhile guitar players discuss this point. O’Brien
notes:
The instrument has become heavier and slower-speaking, which makes slurs
harder to do … It’s difficult to make them sound good on most modern guitars. If
you do get any kind of slur, you generally have to play it so vigorously that the
second note is louder or more strident than the first, and this makes it more
important to the listeners’ ears than the note plucked before it. So you can’t get a
very reliable appoggiatura, because it’s rather difficult to get the second note to
relax.12
Campanellas is an idiomatic baroque guitar technique that any performer on
modern guitar should know, especially in the study of baroque guitar music. According to
James Tyler, the campanellas or campanelles as the Italians called it, “is the use of bell-
like or harp-like effects in scale passages … It is performed by plucking each note of a
scale (or a melodic passage) on a different course13 and employing as many open strings
as possible.”14 The baroque guitar’s re-entrant15 tuning allows for rapid scales executed
by an alternating motion between the right hand thumb playing a re-entrant string and the
right hand index or middle finger playing a non-re-entrant string. Koonce describes the
campanelles as: “fingering that allows for the selective sustain of overlapping
12
Caroline Usher, “Playing Lute Music on the Guitar: A Conversation with Paul O’Dette & Pat
O’Brien,” Soundboard 123 (Spring 1996): 18.
13
Lutes and baroque guitars are strung in pairs referred to as courses tuned either as unisons or
octaves, except for the first string called the chanterelle, which is a single string.
14
James Tyler, The Early Guitar: A History and Handbook (London: Early Music Series, 1964),
24.
15
Re-entrant tuning is a break in an otherwise ascending order of string pitches, this is similar to
the ukulele and banjo re-entrant tuning.
23
notes…..sometimes referred to as ‘over-legato’ by harpsichordists and as ‘campanella’ by
guitarists.”16
3. Harmonic Elaboration
In his lute arrangements, Bach elaborates the harmony by use of: a) harmonic
reinforcement to fill in chords, and b) added bass notes to add textural support to the
harmony.
The concept of style brisé (“broken style”) is important to understand when
studying Bach’s unaccompanied suites for cello and lute. Style brisé, or style luthe (“lute
style”) as François Couperin would have referred to it, is the characteristic style idiomatic
to lute music in which the chord is played in an arpeggiated style. According to David
Buch, the term style brisé was first used in the twentieth century by Lionel de la
Laurencie in his book Les luthistes (1928).17
The origins of this style are attributed to lutenist-composer Denis Gaultier (1603-
1702) and was incorporated into keyboard music by eighteenth-century composers such
as François Couperin and J.S. Bach. Croton differentiates style brisé from a regular
arpeggiation with the following statement: “As opposed to typical arpeggiation which
tends to go from the bass to the highest note and back again, style brisé includes
16
Frank Koonce, The Solo Lute Works of Johann Sebastian Bach (Neil A. Kjos Music Co., San
Diego, 1989, 2002), xvii.
17
David Buch, “Style Brisé, Style Luthé, and the Choses Luthées,” The Musical Quarterly 71
(1985): 52-67.
24
arpeggios in which the note order is irregular.”18 The arranger attempting to create a
stylistically informed arrangement must consciously choose fingerings that allow for
notes to blend and overlap together in the harmony notes in order to incorporate
style brisé, a concept integral to baroque music. Frank Koonce leaves it to the individual
preference of the arranger in determining whether to use “melodic” or “harmonic”
fingerings.19
4. Polyphonic elaboration
Polyphonic elaboration is the process of disambiguation or writing out of the
implied polyphony that is notated in the compound style employed by Bach in his
unaccompanied works for cello, violin and the flute. This elaboration is characterized by:
a) realization of implied polyphonic voices, such as the redistribution of the disjunct line
into separate voices, b) addition of a new contrapuntal voice.
Often in Bach’s works for solo strings, the music is written as a single voice even
though there are actually multiple voices present. The music itself reveals the hidden
multi-textural voices, often, the implied polyphony is found in disjunct melodic lines or
leaps. The arranger must decide whether a disjunct line indicates the entrance of a new
voice or simply a rhetorical gesture. Koonce cautions that “One must also often
determine whether a melodic leap is an expressive rhetorical gesture of a single voice or
18
Croton, 157.
19
Koonce, xvii.
25
whether it signals the entrance of a second, implied, voice in dialog with the first.”20 The
awareness of the implied polyphony in Bach’s compound notation and the arranger’s
choice of fingerings will determine whether the implied voices will be conveyed or
obscured.
5. Rhythmic flexibility
It is important to note the following baroque performance practices when
discussing the performance of Bach’s music: a) use of over-dotting or pointé,21 b) notes
inégales, c) and lombard rhythm. Bach also incorporates rhythmic flexibility by reversing
or varying the rhythmic pattern or grouping of a voice in his version for the lute. The
Allemande from BWV 995 is one of a few examples of Bach notating the over-dotted
rhythm, which Bach prominently displays in numerous occasions in this particular
Allemande. This unique example does not automatically give the performer the license to
arbitrarily exaggerate dotted rhythms in Bach’s music. On the contrary such an
exaggeration shows that Bach may have been deliberate and precise when altering dotted
rhythms.
Baroque performance conventions include exaggeration of notated rhythms such
as over-dotting. Also known as double-dotting, this is the baroque practice of extending
the value of the dotted note while shortening the notes that follow, resulting in sharper
rhythmic articulation. The practice of over-dotting does not prescribe a precise note
20
Ibid., xviii.
21
Pointé – a sharply over-dotted style, Couperin sometimes notated these strongly dotted
figurations. (Ibid., xvii).
26
value, instead the actual length is flexible and left to the taste and judgment of the
performer.22
By the turn of the eighteenth century, the French convention of notes inégales had
become part of performance practice in Germany and elsewhere. This practice of using a
simplified rhythmic notation while playing unequal long and short rhythmic values is
similar to the practice of swing rhythm found in jazz music. The unequal treatment of
notated rhythms became so widely practiced that a trained eighteenth-century musician
would instinctively know which notes were to be played with rhythmic inequality. The
lombard rhythm is similar to the concept of notes inégales but instead has a short
accented note followed by a longer one, effectively reversing the pattern of the notes
inégales. The lombard rhythm may be likened to the Scotch snap found in Scottish dance
music.
22
Scholarly dispute regarding the execution of over-dotting has existed since the 1960’s and even
as recent as the 1990s, most notably between musicologists David Fuller and Frederick Neumann.
27
II. J.S. BACH AND THE LUTE: A BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
1. J.S. Bach and the “famous lutenists”
During Bach’s lifetime, a number of fine lutenists emerged from the Germanic
territories, making it quite conceivable that Bach was aware of the lute’s expressive
potential as a solo instrument due to his recorded interactions with lutenists of the time.
Elias Bach (1705 – 1755), nephew of J.S. Bach mentions “two famous lutenists”
visiting J.S. Bach. One of the famous lutenists was Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1686 – 1750),
the towering figure of the baroque lute who left a corpus of 80 partitas and was
recognized by his contemporaries as the greatest lutenist of the epoch. There are two
accounts which suggest that J.S. Bach and Weiss had met. First, Johann Elias Bach
recounts a particular evening with his uncle Johann Sebastian and cousin Wilhelm
Friedemann in Leipzig, “…my honoured cousin from Dresden, who was here for over
four weeks having himself heard several times at our house along with two famous
lutenists. Mr. Weiss and Mr. Kropffgans.”23 In another account, Johann Friedrich
Reichardt mentions a kind of musical contest between J.S. Bach and Weiss, “…the great
lutenist (from Dresden) Weiss competed in playing fantasias and figures with Sebastian
Bach, who was also great as a harpsichordist and organist.”24 Furthermore, J.S. Bach’s
Suite in A Major BWV 1025 for violin and harpsichord is actually an arrangement of
23
Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel, eds., The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann
Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents (New York: W.W. Norton, 1998), 204.
24
Johann Friedrich Reichardt, Berlinische Musikalische Zeitung (Ann Arbor: RILM, 1990), 281.
28
Weiss’ Lute Sonata in A Major SC 47, further supporting the connection between J.S.
Bach and S.L. Weiss. The second lutenist mentioned in the account by Johann Elias Bach
is Johann P. Kropfgans (1708 – 1755), who like his father before him had studied under
Weiss. Kropfgans comes from a family of musucians which included a brother, a sister
and his father, all players of the lute. Kropfgans’ known repertoire was extensive but only
a few pieces survive.25
Another lutenist known to J.S. Bach was Johann Christian Weyrauch (1694 –
1771) who was a lutenist, organist and notary public in Leipzig. It is in Weyrauch’s hand
that the lute intabulation of the three movements from the Suite in G Minor BWV 997
and the Fugue from BWV 1000 is written. The importance of this intabulation lies in the
direct connection between Bach and Weyrauch. Aside from being Weyrauch’s teacher,
Bach was godfather to Weyrauch’s son Johann Sebastian. Bach provided a letter of
recommendation in which he praised Weyrauch’s skill as a composer and multi-
instrumentalist. J.S. Bach writes:
Whereas the bearer, Mr. Johann Christian Weyrauch…has requested me, the
undersigned, to give him an official testimonial concerning his knowledge in
musicus, now, therefore, I have felt it my duty not to fail to gratify his wish in this
respect, considering that he not only masters various instruments but can also well
afford to make himself heard vocaliter, has given many examples of his skill, and
also can show on request what he has done in the art of composition. I do not
doubt that he will be able to prove the accuracy of all this in person.26
25
Tim Crawford, “Kropfgans, Johann,” Grove Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.
com.ezproxy3.library.arizona.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/42439 (accessed November 16, 2016).
26
David and Mendel, The New Bach Reader, 143.
29
Another lutenist, who emerged from the Germanic territories during Bach’s time
was Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713 – 1780), he was a composer, lutenist and organist, who
studied composition under J.S. Bach at the Thomasschule in Leipzig. The manuscript of
Bach’s Suite in C Minor BWV 996 survives in Krebs’ handwriting.27 As suggested by the
guitar scholar Graham Wade, Bach’s testimonial on behalf of Krebs suggests the
possibility that Bach may have examined Krebs on the lute.28 Bach writes:
The bearer, Mr. Johann Ludwig Krebs, having requested the under-signed to
oblige him with a testimonial concerning his accomplishments at our School, I
would not deny him the same, but wish to declare that I am convinced of having
trained in him a man of such parts, and one who has qualified himself in respect
to the clavier, the violin, and the lute, as well as composition….29
It is important to mention that aside from the testimonial above and the inclusion
of a lute found in Bach’s estate after his death, there is no conclusive evidence that J.S.
Bach had indeed played the lute.30
Adam Falckenhagen (1697 – 1761) was part of the triumvirate of important
lutenists from the German school together with S.L. Weiss and E.G. Baron.
Falckenhagen studied with Weiss in Dresden at the University of Leipzig in 1719.
Although there are no accounts of a direct connection between J.S. Bach and
Falckenhagen, musicologist Hans-Joachim Schulze (b.1934) in his 1983 essay Monsieur
27
Hannu Annala and Heiki Mätlik, Handbook of Guitar and Lute Composers (Pacific, MO: Mel
Bay, 2007), 35.
28
Graham Wade, The Guitarist's Guide to Bach (Cork: Wise Owl Music, 1985), 36.
29
David and Mendel, The New Bach Reader, 170.
30
Ibid., 252.
30
Schouster, suggests a similarity between Falckenhagen’s technical signs such as
ornaments to those of the unsigned lute intabulation of Bach’s Suite in G Minor BWV
995 found in Leipzig.31
2. J.S. Bach’s works for lute
It is difficult to determine the exact dates of Bach’s works for lute but these were
most likely written between 1717-1723 in Cöthen, the same period that produced the
Sonatas and Partitas for Violin (1720) and the Suites for Unaccompanied Cello (ca.
1720). It is most probable that the Suites for lute were written shortly before or after the
composition of the original versions.
31
Hans-Joachim Schulze, “Monsieur Schouster,” Bachiana et alia musiclogica (March 1983):
246-50.
31
German musicologist and publisher of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis Wolfgang Schmeider
(1901-1990) offers the following dates with his catalog:32
Table 1. Table of J.S. Bach’s works for lute with dates and surviving sources
Works for lute Source Date Version for other instruments

and their dates
Suite in G Minor BWV Autograph manuscript ca. 1725-1730 Suite in C Minor for cello BWV
995 and tablature of unknown 1011, ca. 1720
author
Suite in E Minor BWV Suite in A Minor BWV 996 for
996 Krebs manuscript ca. 1722 harpsichord
Partita in C Minor
BWV 997 Tablature-Weyrauch ?
Prelude, Fugue and Autograph manuscript ?

Allegro in E-flat Major
BWV 998
Prelude in C Minor Kellner manuscript ca. 1720-1721

BWV 999
Fugue in G Minor Tablature-Weyrauch ca. 1720 Fugue in D Minor for Organ

BWV 1000 BWV 539, 1720 and Sonata for
Violin BWV 1001 ca. 1720
Suite in E Major BWV Autograph manuscript ca. 1720 Partita for Violin BWV 1006
1006a (1720)
Following the death of J.S. Bach in 1750, much of his music including the works
for lute lay neglected until 1829 when the St. Matthew Passion was performed again
through the efforts of Felix Mendelssohn. In 1850, the centenary of Bach’s death, the
Bach Society (Bach Gesellschaft) was founded to undertake the monumental task of
32
Wolfgang Schmieder, Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke von
Johann Sebastian Bach; Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1990), 555-558.
32
publishing Bach’s entire corpus, a total of forty-six volumes were published from 1851 to
1899. Contained within these forty-six volumes was Volume No. 903, which are works
for keyboard and lute, including the Suite in E Minor BWV 996, Partita in C Minor
BWV 997 and the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro BWV 998. Notably absent from this
initial offering is the Suite in G minor BWV 995 and the Fugue in G Minor BWV 1000.
Hans Dagobert Bruger (1894 – 1932) played an important role in the revival of
the works for lute by Bach. In 1921 Mösler Verlag published Bruger’s edition of the lute
suites. Bruger’s edition maintained the original notes found in the manuscripts which
goes below the range of the guitar but can be suitably played on the contra-guitar without
modifications to the range of the lower voice.33 In Bruger’s edition, guitar fingerings for
the left hand are provided as well as indications on the tuning of contra strings which in
turn leads this author to believe that Bruger’s edition may have been intended for a
contra-guitar or an instrument similar to a guitar but with an extended bass range. For
example, Bruger’s edition of the Prelude from the Suite in A Minor BWV 99734 includes
the instruction “Kontrasaiten in D, C, H, A.” which translates to “Contra-strings in
D,C,B,A..”35 In this edition, Bruger assigns numbers to the lute suites with the following
33
The contra-guitar is a mid-19th century double necked guitar developed in Vienna. The first neck
is the same as a conventional six string guitar while the second unfretted neck accommodates 7-12
additional bass strings to extend the bass range of the guitar.
34
BWV 997 is originally in C minor, most guitar editions including the Bruger edition transposes
the suite to A minor.
35
Hans Bruger, Kompositionen für die Laute (Zürich: Möseler-Verlag, 1921), 11.
33
designations: Lute Suite No.1 - Suite in A Minor, Lute Suite No.2 - Suite in E Minor, Lute
Suite No.3 - Suite in A Minor and Lute Suite No 4 -. Suite in E Major. This is the
numbering of the lute suites that latter generations of guitar players would universally
adopt. It is important to note that the lute suite numbers provided by Bruger were
assigned prior to the creation and use of BWV numbers. The numbers assigned by Bruger
can be misleading, according to Wade: “By giving the lute suites specific numbers of
their own, Bruger brought forth in a slightly inaccurate concept as if Bach himself had
organized in a deliberate manner the composition of these suites.”36 By contrast the Suites
for Cello and the Sonatas and Partitas for Violin were numbered by Bach himself.
The third edition of Bruger’s book was instrumental in Andrés Segovia’s own
guitar arrangements of Bach’s lute works. In 1981 Segovia described the moment when
he first discovered Bruger’s edition in these words: “I was in heaven when I discovered
that!"37 Throughout his career, Segovia recorded and published these guitar
arrangements, which included: Prelude in D Minor from BWV 999,38 Allemande from
BWV 996 and the Gavotte from Suite in E Major BWV 1006a, Courante from the Fourth
Cello Suite BWV 1009 and the famous Chaconne from the Violin Partita in D Minor
BWV 1004.
36
Wade, The Guitarist's Guide to Bach, 11.
37
Segovia’s quote was taken from an interview with the BBC program “Woman’s Hour.”
38
The Little Prelude from BWV 999 is originally in C minor.
34
In 1950, Wolfgang Schmieder completed his thematic catalog of Bach’s complete
works, published on the bicentenary of Bach’s death and contains the previously unlisted
Suite in G Minor BWV 995 and Suite in E Major BWV 1006a, which were not included
in the list for works for lute. The BWV (Bach Werke Verzeichnis) numbering system
employed by Schmieder in his thematic catalog has since been universally adapted when
referring to specific works by Bach. BWV 995-1000 represents Bach’s works for lute.39
3. Clues to Bach’s intended instrumentation
In the case of what is commonly referred to as the works for lute, Bach did not
specify the intended instruments except for the Suite in G Minor BWV 995 originally
written for Cello in the key of C minor with index number BWV 1011. In the absence of
written text indicating the intended instrument, the notation itself and more critically the
structure of the music can give us clues to the intended instrument. The Suite in G Minor
is written in Bach’s hand and is most likely the earliest lute version. According to
Hoppstock, “Numerous corrections and the style of handwriting make it reasonable to
suspect that this autograph is a first ‘writing down.’ ”40 The dedication on the front page
of the autograph manuscript is titled Pièces pour la Luth/ á / Monsieur Schouster/ par /
J.S. Bach. It is important to note that the music is written in two staves, the tenor and the
bass clef and not in French lute tablature as was the practice of the leading German
39
Schmieder, Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis, 555-558.
40
Hoppstock, Bach's Lute Works from the Guitarist's Perspective, 18.
35
lutenists of the period. The suite for lute may well have been written and arranged for
both the lute and the keyboard, with the intention of having a lutenist adapt and intabulate
the works for performance. Tilman Hoppstock points out when discussing the possible
intended instrumentation of Suite in G Minor BWV 995:
Although these arguments are equally valid there is no evidence for exclusion of
the possibility that this suite has been arranged for both lute and harpsichord. Are
there not a few passages unsuitable for the lute in suite BWV 995, and still this
composition is proved to be for this instrument by its autograph title “pour la
luth”?41
The manuscript of the Suite in E Major BWV 1006a originally the Violin Partita
in E Major BWV 1006 has the following inscription: Suite pour le Clavecin compose par
Jean Sebast. Bach Original. The problem with this inscription is that it may have been
added at much later date. According to Goldstein, “The paper used for this title page,
while ‘old’ is probably from a later period than the paper employed by Bach in writing
the manuscript which follows.”42 The music is written in two staves, which is identical to
Bach’s works for clavier and harpsichord; however, analysis of the musical structure of
the work points to lute rather than keyboard instrument. Further, the choice of key in E
major does not adapt well to the lute, which during Bach’s time would have used the D
41
Ibid., 23.
42
Michael Goldstein, “In Tokyo: A little-Known Bach Autograph,” Bach 9, no. 2 (April 1978):
33.
36
minor tuning attributed to S.L. Weiss. Author and lutenist Paolo Cherici offers his
hypothesis to the issue of instrumentation:43
It is hard to understand why Bach, usually so careful not to write music which
would be impossible to play on the instrument for which it was written, did not
transpose this piece into an easier key such as, for example, F. In this respect we
can only formulate various hypotheses, first which might be that the Suite in
question was conceived for an instrument with Renaissance tuning,44 but in E
rather than in G. Or that the piece was written for a lautenwerk.45
Even in the absence of the specified instrument, it is compelling that the lute
intabulations of Bach’s so called “lute suites” were created shortly after. Another
argument in favor of the lute as the intended instrument is that the texture and structure of
the chords, as well as the manner of writing in the upper voice is so well suited and
idiomatic of the plucked lute. This is more evident when one examines Bach’s lute
arrangement of the Suite in C Minor and the Partita in E Major. Finally, as evidence to
the suitability of these works to the idiom of plucked and fretted instruments, these works
have been absorbed into the standard guitar and lute repertoire through countless
recordings and performances.
43
Paolo Cherici, Opere Complete Per Liuto (Milano: Edizioni Suvini Zerboni, 1980), XXII.
44
The renaissance tuning mentioned by Cherici refers to the standard tuning of the renaissance
lute where the top six strings are tuned g G - c' c - f f - a a - d' d' - g', additional bass strings range in
number from two to four additional paired strings or courses
45
The lautenwerk is a keyboard lute with gut strings designed to imitate the sound of the lute.
37
III. J.S. BACH’S ARRANGEMENTS FOR LUTE
1. Sources for the Suite in G Minor
Suite in G Minor BWV 995 Autograph M.S.
One of the two versions of this suite that survives today is an autograph
manuscript in the hand of J.S. Bach. This autograph manuscript is housed at the
Bibliothèque Royale of Brussels (Fétis MS 2910) with the following dedication on the
title page: Pièces pour la Luth/ á / Monsieur Schouster/ par / J.S. Bach. It is not certain
who the dedicatee is, but musicologist Hans-Joachim Schulze has identified the person as
a book trader in Leipzig by the name of Jacob Schuster. Schulze puts forward the
argument that Schuster commissioned the Suite in G Minor with the intention of
publishing the suite. Schulze further speculates that the Leipzig Intabulation was a second
commission by Schuster. In 1739, Schuster advertised the lute publication of Adam
Falckenhagen.46
Suite in C Minor BWV 1011 A.M.B. and Kellner M.S.
No surviving manuscript of the Unaccompanied Suites for Violoncello has been
found in J.S. Bach’s hand but it is fair to assume that a copy must have existed. There are
four versions that survive as copies today, one is in the hand of Anna Magdalena Bach
and another by that of Bach’s copyist, Johann Peter Kellner (1705 –1772), which most
likely dates back to 1726. J.P. Kellner’s copy does not include the Sarabande from the
BWV 1011 and the Gigue of the same suite only includes the first nine measures. Two
46
Shulze, “Monsieur Schouster,” 243-250.
38
other copyists’ manuscripts survive with unknown authorship, dating back to the
eighteenth century. According to Zoltán Sźabo: “Kellner’s transmission provides in about
a dozen cases what are likely to be the correct notes where sources A, C and D share the
same errors.” “Copies A, C and D” refers to the A.M.B copy and the two eighteenth-
century copies. Sźabo adds that in the same number of instances, the Kellner copy
provides alternate and often better readings of the musical text.47 Sźabo also adds that the
errors in the Kellner M.S. are unique, suggesting that the Kellner M.S and the A.M.B.
M.S. were copied from different models.
A copy exists in the hand of Anna Magdalena Bach (1701–1760), J.S. Bach’s
second wife also copied the Sonatas and Partitas for Violin. The title page of the Cello
Suites copied by Anna Magdalena reads: 6 / Suites a / Violoncello Solo/ senza / Basso. /
composes. / par / Sr. J.S. Bach. / Maître de Capelle.48 Author and violist Allen Winold
(b.1929) gives the dates 1727 and 1730 as dates of preparation of the Anna Magdalena
manuscript.49 For years, this was the only known copy and believed to be the most
faithful to the original. Scholars today acknowledge that the A.M.B. copy contained
errors and the slur/bow markings were unclear. In a personal correspondence, Prof.
Koonce conveyed that the J.P. Kellner M.S. should not be overlooked as had been done
47
Zoltán Sźabo, “Remaining Silhouettes of Lost Bach Manuscripts? Re-evaluating J. P. Kellner’s
Copy of J. S. Bach’s Solo String Compositions,” Understanding Bach 10 (2015) http://www.academia.edu/
11643057/ Remaining_Silhouettes_of_Lost_Bach_Manuscripts_Re-evaluating_J._P._Kellner_s_Copy_of_
J._S._Bach_s_Solo_ String_Compositions (accessed March 2, 2017).
48
J.S. Bach, Manuscript of Anna Magdalena Bach: Six Cello Suites (San Bernardino, CA.: Edition
Fleury, 2013), title page.
49
Allen Winold, Bach’s Cello Suites (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007), 9-10.
39
so by earlier scholars. According to Koonce: “I really do believe that in many places,
Kellner's manuscript is more reliable than AM Bach's version. Some scholars have come
around to this same conclusion.”50
Suite in G Minor Leipzig intabulation
The Leipzig intabulation is housed at the Stadtbibliothek of Leipzig with index
number Samlung Becker III, 11.3. The Leipzig manuscript bears the following title: G
mol / Pieces pour / le lut / par / Sre J.S. Bach. The manuscript is written in French
tablature, which was the common practice for notating lute music.
The provenance of the Leipzig intabulation has not been thoroughly traced, but
was formerly in the collection of Leipzig organist Carl F. Becker prior to the
Stadtbibliothek of Leipzig. The author of the Leipzig intabulation is unknown, but as
previously mentioned, Schulze offers a hypothesis that the unknown scribe was in fact
Adam Falckenhaagen.51 This is reinforced by the similarity of the calligraphy and of the
ornament symbols between the Leipzig intabulation and that of Falckenhagen. Robert
Grossman in his dissertation on the Suite in G Minor, displays some caution in the
treatment of this hypothesis by Schulze. Grossman quotes an article by Schulze on the
subject of authorship of the Leipzig intabulation:
Falckenhagen’s writing, especially his calligraphic Latin letters, shows a

significant similarity with the still unidentified intabulation of the Suite
BWV 995 in the Musikbibliothek Leipzig. Admittedly, this similarity is
50
Frank Koonce, e-mail message to author, February 18, 2017.
51
Robert Grossman, “The Lute Suite in G Minor BWV 995 by Johann Sebastian Bach” (Doctoral
diss., Indiana University, 1987), 5-6.
40
not so great that one can attribute the intabulation without hesitation to
Falckenhagen.52
While Schulze is cautious when attributing the Leipzig M.S. to Falckenhagen, lutenist
Tim Crawford in a personal correspondence with Koonce, takes a stronger position
regarding this issue:
What Schulze did not know is that the tablature uses the same system of
notation of ornaments and other technical devices as Falckenhagen used in
his printed lute music and in two tables of Lauen-Manieren (‘Lute-
Graces’) in a lute MS (ca. 1750), now in Nuremberg. So it seems highly
likely that this arrangement is Falckenhagen’s, and it is possible that the
arrangement was commissioned by Monsieur Schouster who would have
him to produce a playable product he could market.53
Another argument in support of this theory is the connection between Falckenhagen and
Carl Schuster, publisher of Falckenhagen’s lute music, identified by Schulze as the
dedicatee of the Suite in G Minor. The entire manuscript also includes other intabulations
of suites by J.S. Bach that have been identified as being in the hand of J.C. Weyrauch, a
known student of J.S. Bach.
Whatever the case may be with regard to the authorship, the Leipzig intabulation
remains to be a period lutenist’s own realization of Bach’s Suite in G Minor and should
be taken simply as that, and not as a definitive period arrangement for the thirteen-course
lute. For the same reasons, the Leipzig intabulation remains to be an important source for
finger placement, articulation and ornamentation.
52
Schulze, “Monsieur Schouster,” 246.
53
Koonce, iv-v.
41
2. Sources for BWV 1006a and BWV 1006
Partita in E Major BWV 1006 (J.S. Bach autograph and Kellner M.S.)
The inclusion of the Partita in E Major BWV 1006 is important to this study due
to it being the only other known work by Bach that was arranged by the composer
himself for lute.
The Partita in E Major BWV 1006 exists in an autograph manuscript by J.S.
Bach (Catalog number P 967) and a copy in the hand Johann Peter Kellner both housed at
the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. The title page of the Bach autograph reads: Sei
Solo. / a Violino / senza / Basso / Acompagnato. / Libra Primo / da / Joh:Seb:Bach. / ao.
1720.
The text “Libra Primo” suggests that Bach may have intended to write a second
set or as posited by guitarist Nicholas Goluses: “Perhaps it was an idea that Bach may
have projected for the future, but never brought to fruition. It is also possible that he
intended the Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello (BWV 1007-1012) to serve as the
second book.”54
Suite in E Major BWV 1006a (Tokyo Autograph M.S.)
The Suite in E Major BWV 1006a is an autograph manuscript by J.S. Bach in the
collection of the Musahino-Music Academy in Tokyo with catalog number L.r, volume 2-
14. The title page is missing but the first page bears the following inscription: Suite pour
54
Nicholas Goluses, ed., J.S. Bach Violin Sonatas BWV 1001, 1003, 1005 (Van Nuys: Alfred
Publishing, 2014), 4.
42
le Clavecin compose par Jean Sebast. Bach Original. The use of French to designate the
title is consistent with J.S. Bach’s practice of using the language of the courts as he had
similarly done in other autograph manuscripts.55
55
Goldstein, “In Tokyo: A Little-Known Bach Autograph,” 33-34.
43
IV. LUTE TABLATURE AND TUNING
1. The baroque lute
In the early decades of the seventeenth century, the lute experienced a decline in
popularity in Italy. Meanwhile in Germany and France, the lute tradition continued in the
hands of distinguished players and composers such as S.L. Weiss, Esaias Reusner (1636
– 1679), Denis Gaultier (1603 – 1672) and Charles Mouton (1626 – 1710). The
renaissance lute had strings ranging from six to ten courses, and the first six courses were
tuned in the interval of fourths with the exception of a major third between the third and
fourth courses. In addition to the first six courses, there sometimes were additional bass
strings that were not fretted and were only played by the right hand. By the eighteenth
century, the six-course renaissance lute had evolved into to the thirteen-course baroque
lute tuned in D minor.
Lute Tuning
The renaissance lutenists did not have standard pitches of tuning but instead
employed a standard interval of tuning between the courses. The actual pitch to which the
lute was tuned depended on the size of the instrument and the quality of the strings that
were available. The intervals between the strings or courses however remained consistent
and were tuned: a fourth, a fourth, a major third, a fourth and a fourth. Although not
entirely standard, one of the most common ways of tuning the renaissance lute was in G,
which had the top six strings tuned as: g G - c' c - f f - a a - d' d' - g'. The standard tuning
intervals used by the six course renaissance lute is very similar to that of the modern
guitar. In fact a guitar with a capo on the third fret would have the following tuning: g G -
44
c' c - f f - a # - d' d' - g' and, by tuning the guitar’s third string half a step lower to f#, one
could read six course lute music directly from the tablature. In addition to this, the use of
a guitar capo or cejilla could recreate the lute’s tessitura and shorter scale length. At the
time of S.L. Weiss and J.S. Bach, the lute had evolved into a thirteen course instrument
tuned from the lowest to the highest courses as: A A' - B B' - c C - d D - e E - f F - g G -
A A - d d - f f - a a - d' - f '. The D minor tuning and the additional lower courses
employed by baroque lutenists make it difficult for the modern guitar to adapt this music
without alteration and arrangement. Addressing the incongruence between baroque lute
tuning and that of the modern guitar was the subject of a lecture recital document by
Renato Serrano.56Another attempt to fill the lacuna between the baroque lute and the
guitar is the 13 string Dresden guitar tuned in D minor, designed and built by luthier
Michael Thames. The name of the instrument is evidently an homage to the great baroque
lutenist of Dresden, S.L. Weiss, and clearly the 13 string Dresden guitar is designed to
replicate the D minor tuning used by Weiss and his contemporaries. The Dresden guitar
can be strung with gut or nylon strings and retains the longer string length of the
bourdons, which recreate the resonance and the sustain found in the lower courses of the
baroque lute.57
56
Renato Serrano, “Guidelines for Transposing Baroque Lute Music for the Modern Guitar, Using
Leopold Sylvius’s Sonata 36 (from the Dresden Manuscript) as a Model” (DMA document, University of
Arizona, 2016).
57
Bourdons are the lower pitched courses found on the bass side of the lute, these are located
outside of the fret board, are not fretted and attached to the swan neck peg-box whose design is attributed to
S.L. Weiss.
45
Figure 1. Michael Thames: 13 stringed Dresden guitar (2016) by luthier Michael

Thames. Photograph by Michael Thames.
Lute Tablature
Lute music is written using a tablature system in which the strings or courses are
represented by horizontal lines similar to the staff, and letters to indicate the placement of
the left hand fingers. English lutenist and musicologist Diana Poulton (1903–1995) gives
a concise description of the lute tablature:
The lines of the staff represent the first six strings of the lute, the highest line
representing the highest pitched string. The letters on the lines are consecutive
symbols denoting frets, and in the case of a, the open string. Letter b would be the
first fret, letter c the second fret and so on. Remember the letter J is skipped.
Rhythm is given through flags above the staff with the straight sign equivalent to
a whole note. The single flag would then be the half note and the double flag the
quarter note, etc. …58
The type of tablature described above was commonly used in sixteenth-century
France and is known as the French tablature. The Italians followed a different tablature
system that was also used in Spain. The fret placements are represented by numbers, a
58
Diana Poulton, John Dowland the Complete Lute Fantasias (San Francisco: Instrumenta
Antigua Publications, 1975), 3.
46
zero indicates an unfretted open string, while the other numbers denoted fret placements.
Contrary to French tablature, the highest pitched string is represented by the lowest line,
and can be more easily envisaged as a mirror image of the strings. In French tablature, the
frets placements are indicated using lower case letters of the alphabet, a represents an
open string, while the first through the twelfth frets are represented by b, r, d, e, f, h, I, k,
l, m and n respectively. The r is derived from the old German alphabet and is meant to
indicate c, using r instead of c helps differentiate between e and c. The letter j which is a
derivative of the letter I is not used in French tablature; it was not as yet widely used in
the sixteenth century, the time that French tablature gained popularity.59
Symbols used in the Lute Intabulations
Due to the lack of a standardized system of symbols for the baroque lute, most
eighteenth-century lutenists employed their own symbols when writing music for the lute
tablature. Despite the lack of a unified system, there are symbols that were commonly
employed by many eighteenth-century lutenists. Cherici provides the following baroque
lute symbols and their meanings:60
59
The letter J was distinguished from the letter I towards the middle of the sixteenth century by
Jacques Peletier (1550) and Pierre de la Ramée (1557).
60
Cherici, Opere Complete Per Liuto, XVI.
47
Table 2. Paolo Cherici: Lute symbols and meanings from Opere Complete Per Liuto
Lute symbols and meanings
I vertical line between two or more letters (notes) indicates simultaneous playing of
the notes.
A slanted line between two vertically aligned letters (notes) indicates that the
notes are to be played one after the other, each held for half the total duration.
// More than one slanted stroke in front of notes within a chord indicates a separation
of notes. The rhythm is not clearly defined.
A slanted line below or between the letters, indicates that the corresponding notes
are to be held.
ı A short vertical line above the letter indicates a staccato, as in modern notation.
^ short/long appoggiatura rising or falling.
X short or long appoggiatura or trill.
XX long trill.
II short trill, staccato.
( rising appoggiatura.
) falling appoggiatura, trill, appoggiatura and trill.
WW mordent
# vibrato.
U arc below the letter (below the note head) means appoggiatura from below.
48
Table 3. J.S. Bach: Explication unterschiedlicher Zeichen, so gewissen Manieren artig zu

spilen.61 (A table of ornaments and their execution written by J.S. Bach)
Table 4. J.S. Bach: Explanation of the various symbols indicating how certain
embellishments may be gracefully executed.62
61
Source: Table of ornaments by J.S. Bach from Klavierbüchlein für Wilmeim Friedemann Bach.
62
Source: Urtext adaptation of J.S. Bach’s table of ornaments with translation by Tilman
Hoppstock.
49
2. Intabulations by J.C. Weyrauch
Partita in C Minor BWV 997 and Fugue in G Minor BWV 1000 (Weyrauch M.S.)
Johann Christian Weyrauch’s (1694 – 1771) intabulations of selected movements
from Bach’s Suite in C Minor BWV 997 and the Fugue from BWV 1000 are given more
importance when Weyrauch’s connection with J.S. Bach is taken into account. As
discussed earlier in Chapter II, Weyrauch was a lawyer, notary public, copyist and a
lutenist. However, there is speculation that Weyrauch was a lutenist with limited
technical abilities, and according to Cherici, this may be one of the reasons why
Weyrauch only transcribed three movements, the fantasia, sarabande and giga, omitting
the fugue and the double. Weyrauch’s intabulations are a free arrangement of Bach’s lute
music, a re-adaptation for the lute that deviates from the original to accommodate the
technical boundaries of the lute or in this case the arranger.
Before discussing the lute intabulations left to us by Weyrauch, it must be pointed
out the Suite in C Minor BWV 997 was not arranged by Bach from another instrument. It
is the same case with the Fugue from Sonata in G Minor BWV 1001 for violin with the
exception of the existence of an arrangement for organ of the said Fugue BWV 539.
Nonetheless, it is important to study the lute intabulation by Weyrauch to understand how
a lutenist from Bach’s own lifetime and would make fine adjustments in order to adapt
Bach’s original music for performance on the lute. This was almost always the case with
Bach’s lute works.63
63
Cherici, Opere Complete Per Liuto, XX.
50
The intabulation is written in French lute tablature and is found in the same
manuscript as the Leipzig intabulation but is clearly written by a different hand. Both the
intabulations by Weyrauch and the Leipzig intabulation of Suite in G Minor BWV 995
are housed at the Stadtbibliothek of Leipzig. Before entering the collection of the State
Library in Leipzig, the Weyrauch manuscripts belonged to the collection of Leipzig
organist Carl F. Becker.
The manuscript of the fugue from BWV 1000 has a title page with the inscription:
Fuga / del / Signore / Bach. The fugue is listed with catalog number Samlung Becker
III.11.5. The title page of the Suite in C Minor BWV 997 bears the following inscription:
C mol / Partita / al / Liuto / Composta dal / Sigre J.S. Bach. The original version of the
fugue for violin differs substantially from the lute intabulation, the lute version is more
elaborate and is two measures longer. Hoppstock believes that since the version for violin
is clearly dated by Bach as 1720, then the version for violin must be the original source
with the lute tablature prepared after.64 Whether or not these Weyracuh lute intabulations
were arranged from violin and harpsichord or a missing lute arrangement by Bach as
speculated by Hoppstock, these intabulations provide valuable information for placement
of slurs and additional ornaments on the lute, a detail often left out by Bach in his lute
arrangements.65
64
Hoppstock, Bach's Lute Works from the Guitarist's Perspective, 22.
65. Ibid.
51
V. ELABORATIONS
This chapter presents a discussion of the musical elaborations that J.S. Bach
employed in his lute arrangement of the Suite in G Minor BWV 995. To avoid
unnecessary repetition of examples which demonstrate a similar concept, I will limit my
discussion to one or two of the most illustrative examples for each elaboration. In order to
demonstrate that the elaborations are not isolated events, I will present a color coded
catalog of the elaborations using circles with the following color code: red for melodic
elaborations, blue for the harmonic elaborations and green for polyphonic elaborations
and yellow for rhythmic flexibility. The catalog will be presented using parallel scores of
the extant manuscripts in urtext edition.66 An illustrative catalog using color coded circles
will prove more practical for future researchers and scholars who wish to reference this
research. This illustrative catalog is Appendix B in the appendices section of this
document.
1. Melodic elaboration in Bach’s lute arrangements
In the process of arranging from cello to the lute, Bach expanded the melodic
material by adding a) passing tones and neighboring tones to connect disjunct lines, b)
pedal tones to create melodic interest in melodies with stepwise motion, c) reversal of
pedal pattern so that the pedal tone occurs on a weak beat, d) arpeggios in place of
sustained cadential notes, e) ornamentation such as agreménts and diminutions and f)
slurs to articulate or phrase the melody.
66
The comparison score is an urtext edition by Tilman Hoppstock who has granted his permission
for the purposes of this research.
52
Passing and neighboring tones
Example 1. J.S. Bach Gigue from Suite in C Minor and Suite in G Minor BWV 1011 /
BWV 995, mm. 1-4:
In measure 1 Bach uses a passing tone to connect notes that are a minor third
apart. This particular elaboration is also known as tierce coulée or sliding thirds. The
tierce coulée (slurred third) is an ornament that connects two notes separated by a third
and is often slurred. Frederick Neumann clarifies that this is a type of grace: “whose
function is the strictly connective one of smoothly linking the elements of a melody by
rounding its corners or by filling spaces between intervals. Such graces are pure
lubricants and that should not aspire to melodic-rhythmic prominence. Their logical place
is between beats rather than on the beats, unless they inconspicuously short.”67
67
Frederick Neumann, Ornamentation in Baroque and Post-Baroque Music: With Special
Emphasis on J.S. Bach (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978), 139.
53
Example 2. J.S. Bach Allemande from Suite in C Minor and Suite in G Minor BWV 1011
/ BWV 995, mm. 34-36:
Cello
Lute
The closing measure of the Allemande shows the version for lute using a sequence
of tierce coulee to connect a succession of thirds transforming the arpeggiated closing
measure in the version for cello into a descending melodic line.
Pedal tones
/ BWV 995, mm.31-34 and 61-64:
Cello
Lute
Cello
Lute
54
Measures 32 and 62 of the Trés Viste incorporate the use of pedal tones to create
melodic interest in stepwise melodic lines. The use of pedal tones is mirrored from
existing pedal tones found in the cello version, measure 64 of the cello version is an
example of pedal tones existing in the original version.
Arpeggios
Example 4. J.S. Bach Prelude from Partita in E Major and Suite in E Major BWV 1006 /
BWV 1006a, mm.136-138:
Violin
Lute
Example 4 shows the use of arpeggios as a melodic elaboration in the final
measure of the lute version found in the lower staff. This device for melodic elaboration
displays Bach’s understanding of the techniques idiomatic to the lute. The use of
arpeggios is an effective means of elaborating sustained notes.
/ BWV 995, mm.55-60:
Cello
Lute
55
In the version for cello from measures 58-60, Bach employs the use of inverted
pedal tones which in the version for lute is adjusted to create arpeggios that outline the
harmonic progression. This adjustment is done by filling in the triad on measure 58, and
by reversing the notes on the first beats of measures 59-60.
French style ornaments (agréments)
BWV 995, mm.2-4:
Cello
Lute
In Example 6, the version for lute incorporates French style ornaments or
agréments such as a mordent and an appoggiatura. The examples presented in this chapter
are but a few of numerous instances where agréments are employed in the version for lute
and absent in the version for cello.
Example 7. J.S. Bach Allemande from the Suite in C Minor BWV 1011 / Third Lute Suite
BWV 995, mm.13-14:
Cello
Lute
56
Example 7 contains agréments such as trills and appoggiaturas occurring in the
lute version. In late baroque lute music, agréments were used as an expressive tool and
were often unwritten and left to the judgment of lutenists. It is fortunate and a great
source of information that Bach indicated numerous ornaments in the Suite in G minor
BWV 995.
Italian style ornaments (diminutions)
BWV 995, mm.169-174:
Cello
Lute
In measures 171 and 173, the version for lute uses an Italian style ornament or
diminution in the form of a sequence in the interval of thirds to elaborate the stepwise
ascending line found in the version for cello. The sequence of thirds in the lower voice
mirrors the descending sequence of thirds that occur in the upper voice.
57
BWV 995, mm.26:
Cello
Lute
Example 9 illustrates how Bach connects the disjunct melodic motion by use of
diminution through descending passing tones f# and e, thus altering the rhythmic
grouping.
Slurs
The absence of slur indications in Bach’s lute arrangements poses a problem for
adapting the music of Bach to guitar. Sylvius Leopold Weiss’ use of slurs is a particularly
useful model on how lute slurs may be adapted for guitar. As with de Visée, an
examination of Weiss’ lute tablatures reveal a proclivity for slurring primarily on
available open strings. Philip Hii coined the term “open-string expediency”68 to describe
the overriding technical consideration found in baroque slurs.
68
Philip Hii, “Slurring Practices in Baroque Guitar and Lute Music,” 252-255.
58
Example 10. J.S. Bach Très Viste from the Suite in G Minor BWV 995, mm.157-162:
Bach (Lute)
Leipzig M.S.
In urtext
Example 10 shows how a period lutenist would approach the use of slurs. As in
most of Bach’s lute music, slurs are not indicated. There is however speculation that
Bach played these works on the lautenwerk, a keyboard lute with gut strings designed to
imitate the sound of the lute, which would explain the absence of slur indications that is
typically found in lute tablatures.
Example 11. J.S. Bach Très Viste from the Third Lute Suite BWV 995, mm.157-162:
Leipzig M.S.
French tablature
Example 11 exhibits the “open string expediency” principle found in the lute and
baroque guitar manuscripts of Weiss and de Visée. The Leipzig manuscript contains a
descending sequence repeated three times with different slur placements each time. There
appears to be a lack of consistent articulation, but a closer examination of Example 11,
the lute tablature version clearly shows that the slurs consistently occur on an open string
indicated by the letter “a.”

59
Example 12. J.S. Bach Prelude from the Suite in G Minor BWV 995, mm.16-18:
Bach (Lute)
Leipzig
M.S.
urtext
Leipzig
M.S.
French
tablature
Example 12 contains another example of inconsistent slur placement associated
with the open string expediency approach. In measure 17, the Leipzig manuscript
includes additional short trills on the third and fourth beat denoted by these symbols ||.
2. Harmonic elaboration in Bach’s lute arrangements
In his lute arrangements, Bach elaborated the harmony by use of: a) harmonic
reinforcement b) repetition in the bass line, often an octave lower to add textural support
to the harmony and c) adding a bass note to outline the harmonic structure of the music.
60
Harmonic reinforcement by filling in chords
Suite BWV 995, mm.82-84:
Cello
Lute
Measures 83-84 from the Très Viste are examples of harmonic reinforcement
where an interval of a third and a fifth is added to a single note to outline the harmonic
motion. Examples of harmonic reinforcement are more often the type in which a double
or triple stop is reinforced by filling in the chords with inner voices.
Repetition of bass notes
Suite BWV 995, mm.145-147 and 181-184:
Cello
Lute
In the Très Viste of BWV 995, the triple meter pulse is reinforced along with the
harmonic structure by the repetition of basses. The opposing thumb of the right hand
61
allows the idiomatic maintenance of the pulse as well as the simultaneous sounding of
notes on separate strings not possible on a bowed instrument.
Harmonic support by added bass notes
Suite BWV 995, mm.157-168:
Cello
Lute
Cello
Lute
Example 15 illustrates how Bach underpins the harmonic motion in the music is
by adding bass notes to melodically active voices. These bass notes support the melodic
activity of the original line without attempting to create a new lower contrapuntal voice.
Again it is important to point out that these added bass notes are idiomatic to plucked
string instruments, revealing Bach’s innate understanding of the lute as a polyphonic
instrument.
62
Harmonic reinforcement with octave basses
Example 16. J.S. Bach Prelude from the Fifth Cello Suite BWV 1011 / Third Lute Suite
BWV 995, mm.196:
Cello
Lute
Example 16 demonstrates the filling in of the harmonic voices from double stops
to quadruple stops on the lute version. Often the harmonic reinforcement occurs
alongside a repetition of the bass transposed an octave lower. Measures 19 and 21 of the
prelude are one of many instances of this combined harmonic elaboration.
BWV 995, mm.10-12:
Cello
Lute
Another example of harmonic reinforcement in conjunction with an octave
repetition of a bass note can be found in measures 10 and 12 of the Prelude. In measure
63
10 a major third is added to perfect fifths to complete the triad. In measure 12, a major
fifth is added, in both measures the bass is repeated an octave lower.
3. Polyphonic elaboration in Bach’s lute arrangements
When Bach writes for the unaccompanied solo instruments such as the cello,
violin and flute, he uses a compound style of writing that distills the music into a
simplified notation where the polyphonic voices are ambiguous. When arranging the
same music for lute, Bach realizes the implied polyphony by: a) dividing the disjunct line
into separate voices c) and adding new contrapuntal material.
Separation of disjunct lines
Example 18. J.S. Bach Sarabande from Cello Suite BWV 1011 / Lute Suite BWV 995,
mm.63-66 and 11-13:
Cello
Lute
Cello
Lute
64
Example 18 displays the use of polyphonic elaboration in measures 1-3 and 11-13
of the Sarabande. The disjunct melodic motion in the cello version is an indication of
implied polyphony written in the compound writing style that Bach uses for his works for
unaccompanied strings. In the lute version the polyphony is realized and written out in
separate voices. In addition to separating the disjunct line into two separate voices, the
lower voices are written an octave lower, which is idiomatic to the lute and its extended
lower range.
Adding new contrapuntal material
Example 19. J.S. Bach Gavotte II en Rondeaux from Cello Suite BWV 1011 / Lute Suite
BWV 995, mm.1-3 and 19-22 :
Cello
Lute
Cello
Lute
In the opening and the final measures of the Gavotte II en Rondeaux, Bach adds a
completely new contrapuntal lower voice. One main reason for this addition is the
65
idiomatic capability of the lute to play two or more separate voices as opposed to the
cello which has a limited capability in playing simultaneous polyphonic voices.
4. Rhythmic flexibility in Bach’s lute arrangements
The baroque convention of rhythmic flexibility is often not notated and is left to
the best judgment of the period performer who would have been trained and well versed
with baroque conventions. Because rhythmic flexibility is not indicated in the music
itself, the modern arranger is compelled to ask whether Bach intended his music to be
played with or without rhythmic alterations. The Allemande of BWV 995 offers
numerous examples of over-dotting written into the lute version. The dotted rhythm
found in the Allemande of the cello version BWV 1011 is often extended in the lute
version BWV 995, creating a more pointed dotted rhythm.
mm.1-3:
Cello
Lute
66
mm.1-3:
Cello
Lute
In Examples 20-21, the version for lute creates a sharper dotted rhythm by
extending the value of the primary beat, and as a result, compressing the three-note
Examples found on the upbeat. Measures 1 and 2 are the first of many identical examples
in this particular movement. The exaggeration of dotted rhythm is the most prominent
feature of the lute version of the Allemande from BWV 995.

67
VI. SUITE IN D MAJOR BWV 1012: AN ARRANGEMENT FOR GUITAR
The process of arranging music from cello to the guitar presents similar
challenges as arranging from cello to the lute because in both instances, the arranger must
overcome the technical and idiomatic differences between bowed and plucked
instruments. The previous chapter demonstrates Bach’s arranging process and illustrates
how he addresses these technical issues by employing musical elaborations. This
arranging process lends itself well in the creation of a guitar arrangement for any of
Bach’s works for unaccompanied cello and violin. This chapter will present discussions
and examples of how these elaborations may be applied in a new guitar arrangement of
the Suite in D Major BWV 1012 for unaccompanied cello.
1. Application of melodic elaboration
Example 22. J.S. Bach Prelude from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm.102-105:
Original69
Ornamented
Example 22 shows the original version found on the upper stave ending on a held
note. Although effective on the bowed strings, ending on a single held note is less
idiomatic to the guitar. A possible solution is to substitute the final sustained note with an
arpeggio ending on a D major chord.
69. Note that all the examples use the octave treble clef conventionally used in guitar the
repertoire.
68
Example 23. J.S. Bach Sarabande from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm.1-2:
Original
Ornamented
Example 23 demonstrates the possible use of passing tones or tierce coulée to
connect g and e when the section is repeated for the second time. The added notes are
written with smaller note heads.
Example 24. J.S. Bach Sarabande from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm 27-29:
Original
Ornamented
In Example 24, the descending thirds can be connected stepwise by use of passing
tones, this elaboration also alters the rhythmic Example of the upper line.
Example 25. J.S. Bach Gigue from BWV 1012, mm.16-20:
Original
Ornamented
69
Example 25 shows the effective use of agréments, in this case a mordent. The
following ornaments were suggested to this author by concert guitarist David Russell
who in addition suggested that for symmetry and consistency, that the same ornament
also be applied to similar phrases in the music.
2. Application of harmonic elaboration
Example 26. J.S. Bach Gigue from BWV 1012, mm.1-4:
Cello
Guitar
Example 26 illustrates how the down beats of mm.1 and 3 are harmonically
reinforced by adding a middle note to complete the triad.
Example 27. J.S. Bach Allemande from BWV 1012, mm.17 and 20:
Cello
Guitar
Cello
Guitar
70
In Example 27, the addition of chords to unsupported melodic lines not only
underpins the harmonic direction of the music but also adds textural support to
unsupported lines rarely seen on plucked instruments such as the lute and guitar. The
added supporting harmony in Example 27 is taken from Allen Winold’s Bach’s Cello
Suite: Analyses and Explorations.
Example 28. J.S. Bach Prelude from BWV 1012, mm. 97-100:
Cello
Guitar
Example 28 shows a possible elaboration of the triple stops in the cadenza of the
Prelude using the filling in of the chord to create quadruple stops.
3. Application of polyphonic elaboration
Example 29. J.S. Bach Gigue from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm.50-52:
Cello
Guitar
Example 29 shows more clarity when the implied polyphony is notated in
separate voices with sustained notes at the end of each phrase. This example shows how
71
the original compound notation in the cello version can be expanded for the guitar
version.
Example 30. J.S. Bach Courante from BWV 1012, mm.1-5:
Cello
Guitar
Example 30 demonstrates how this same principle may be applied to the courante
of BWV 1012.
Example 31. J.S. Bach Gavotte I from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm.12-16:
Cello
Guitar
Example 31 demonstrates the division of the original line into two independent
voices. As seen in the previous chapter, Bach often disambiguates the compound notation
found in his unaccompanied works for strings by rewriting the implied polyphony in
separate voices when arranging for lute.

72
4. Application of rhythmic flexibility
Example 32. J.S. Bach Sarabande from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm. 1-5:
Cello
Guitar
Example 32 demonstrates the possible use of the baroque practice of over-dotting.
These are merely examples and by no means does this author argue for or against the use
of rhythmic flexibility in new arrangements and performances of Bach’s works. These
examples are only a reflection of the double dotting observed by this author in Bach’s
own arrangements for lute.
Example 33. J.S. Bach Sarabande from Suite in D Major BWV 1012, mm. 15-16:
Cello
Guitar
Example 33 shows the possible application of notes inégales or unequal rhythm in
the slow moving Sarabande.

73
VII. CONCLUSION
Creating an arrangement for the guitar normally involves the process of distilling
music to fit the range of the guitar. Due to the unique capabilities and limitations of the
guitar, this process often includes editorial decisions that aim to keep what is essential
and to dispense with what is of lesser importance. Often, chords have to be condensed
into the most essential notes and the melody transposed to where it is within reach of the
left hand.
In contrast, creating a guitar arrangement of Bach’s unaccompanied suites for
cello presents a unique challenge as the music itself is already in condensed form
perfectly suited for the cello. An unaltered note per note guitar transcription of the cello
suites is possible but would result in a very austere and unidiomatic arrangement. The
arranger must take into account the strengths and weaknesses of each instrument,
unaccompanied sustained single notes on a bowed instrument will sound plain and
unconvincing on a plucked and fretted instrument such as the guitar. The arranger must
have an understanding of baroque harmony and adhere to the rules of counterpoint when
adding notes to the bass line in order to avoid anachronistic editorial decisions that
deviate from the style and flavor of the baroque period. Another important consideration
is keeping the arrangement as close as possible to the original work, a considerably
difficult task when one has to adapt and expand the musical material to suit the
polyphonic and harmonic capabilities of the guitar. These are a few of the reasons why
many approach the arranging of J.S. Bach’s music for unaccompanied strings with some
degree of trepidation. One cannot arbitrarily add notes to the Unaccompanied Suites for
74
Cello. Editorial changes gleaned from Bach’s own lute arrangements help create
stylistically convincing arrangements, not mere note per note transcriptions.
As a result of comparing the Suite in G Minor BWV 995, Bach’s lute arrangement
of Suite in C Minor BWV 1011 to its original version, it is my conclusion that Bach
expanded or elaborated on the musical material to suit the lute’s capabilities and
limitations. The most common elaborations were the ones on the harmony where the
chords were filled in and at times chords were added in places where there were none. In
addition, bass notes were often added to reinforce the harmony. Another common
editorial tool that Bach employed was the elaboration of the polyphony, often, single
voices were divided into separate ones and completely new contrapuntal material was
added to the lute version. Equally common was the elaboration on the melody by use of
ornaments, arpeggios and pedal tones.
Although the baroque convention of rhythmic flexibility was often unwritten,
there are a number of examples where Bach adjusts the rhythm such as the over dotting
found in the lute version of the Allemande. There are many opposing views regarding the
use of baroque conventions such as rhythmic flexibility and ornamentation in the music
of Bach. The Allemande from the Suite in D Major BWV 1012 is one of the most florid
movements of his suites and supports the argument that Bach meticulously wrote out the
ornaments, making the addition of ornaments in his music unwarranted. On the other
hand, it is clear from the comparison of scores that Bach added ornaments and other
changes to the version for cello. Arguments for both sides are strong and compelling but
it is not the intention of this research to resolve this particular question, therefore I leave
75
this issue to the discretion and personal taste of the arranger who can interpret the
evidence presented in this research.
Another Bach composition that may be the subject of a similar study is the Partita
in E Major BWV 1006 also known on the lute as Suite in E Major BWV 1006a. BWV
1006 is consistently written in a single in the violin version upon which Bach adds
harmonies and new contrapuntal lines on the lower voice. Finally, this study will serve to
guide other arrangers in filling the void in the classical guitar’s repertoire from the
baroque period, particularly J.S. Bach’s solo works for cello, violin and flute.
76
APPENDIX A: Tilman Hoppstock, e-mail message to author, December 6, 2016

77
APPENDIX B: Frank Koonce, e-mail message to author, February 18, 2017

78
APPENDIX C: Frank Koonce, e-mail message to author, February 18, 2017

79
APPENDIX D: Comparison score of Suite in G Minor BWV 995 and Suite in C Minor BWV 1011
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
APPENDIX E: Guitar arrangement of Suite in D Major BWV 1012:

96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
REFERENCES
Annala, Hannu, and Heiki Mätlik. Handbook of Guitar and Lute Composers. Pacific,
MO: Mel Bay, 2007.
Artzt, Alice. "The Third Lute Suite by Bach." Journal of the Lute Society of America, 1
(1968): 9-14.
Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel. Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments.
Translated by William J. Mitchell. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1949.
Bach, Johann Sebastian. 6 Suites a Violoncello Solo Senza Basso: BWV 1007-1012.
Edited by Bettina Schwemer and Douglas Woodfull-Harris. Kassel: Bärenreiter,
2000.
———. Das Luatenwerk und verwandte Kompositionen im Urtext. Edited by Tilman
Hoppstock. Darmstadt: Prim-Musikverlag, 1994.
———. Drei Sonaten und Drei Partiten fur Violine Solo: BWV 1001-1006. Edited by
Gunter Hausswald and Peter Wolny. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2001.
———. Kompositionen für die Laute. Edited by Hans Dagobert Bruger. Zurich:
Möseler Verlag, 1921.
———. Manuscript of Anna Magdalena Bach: Six Cello Suites. Edited by Paul M.
Fleury. San Bernardino: CreateSpace, 2013.
———. Stücke für Laute aus BWV 995, 997, 1000: BWV 997 & 1000 intavoliert von
Johann Christian Weyrauch. Edited by Albert Reyerman. München: Tree-Edition,
1999.
———. Suite BWV 995. Edited by Hopkinson Smith. Bologna: Ut Orpheus Edizioni,
2001.
Boyd, Malcolm, and John Butt. J.S. Bach. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Buch, David. “Style brisé, Style luthé, and the Choses luthées.” The Musical Quarterly
71, no. 1 (1985): 52-67.
Carrington, Jerome. Trills in the Bach Cello Suites: A Handbook for Performers.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009.
Cherici, Paolo. J.S. Bach Opere complete per liuto: versione originale. Milano: Edizioni
Suvini Zerboni, 1980.
111
Corelli, Arcangelo. Sonate a violino e violone o cimbalo, opera quinta. London: Schott,
1987.
Crawford, Tim. “Kropfgans, Johann.” In Grove Music Online. http://www.oxfordmusic
online.com. ezproxy3.library.arizona.edu /subscriber/article/grove/music/42439
(accessed November 1, 2016)
Croton, Peter. Performing Baroque Music on the Classical Guitar: A Practical
Handbook Based on Historical Resources. Edited by Roger Harmon. Sand
Bernardino: CreateSpace, 2015.
David, Hans, Arthur Mendel, and Christoph Wolff. The New Bach Reader: A Life of
Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents. New York: W.W. Norton,
1999.
Giesbert, Franz Julius. Schule für die Barocklaute. Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne, 1940.
Goldstein, Michael. “In Tokyo: A Little-Known Bach Autograph.” Translated by George
Kochevitsky. Bach 9, no. 2 (1978): 33-36.
Goluses, Nicholas. “J.S. Bach and the Transcription Process.” Guitar Review 77 (Spring
1989): 15-23.
Grossmann, Robert. “The Lute Suite in G Minor BWV 995 by Johan Sebastian Bach: A
Comparison of the Autograph Manuscript and the Lute Intabulation in Leipzig,
Sammlung Becker, MS III. ii. 3.” DMA diss., Indiana University, 1987.
Hii, Phillip. “Bach’s Method of Transcription.” Soundboard: The Journal of the Guitar
Foundation of America 17, no.1 (1990): 24-33.
———. “Slurring Practices in Baroque Guitar and Lute Music.” Soundboard: The
Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America 14, no. 4 (1987): 252-258.
Hoppstock, Tilman. Bach's Lute Works from the Guitarist's Perspective. Translated by L.
Chalmers-Gerbracht. 2 vols. Darmstadt: Prim-Musikverl, 2010.
Koonce, Frank. The Baroque Guitar in Spain and the New World. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay,
2006.
———. The Renaissance Vihuela & Guitar in Sixteenth-century Spain. Pacific, MO: Mel
Bay, 2008.
———. The Solo Lute Works of Johann Sebastian Bach. San Diego: Kjos Music
Company, 2002.
Ledbetter, David. Unaccompanied Bach: Performing the Solo Works. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2009.
112
Little, Meredith, and Natalie Jenne. Dance and the Music of J.S. Bach. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 2001.
Neumann, Frederick. Ornamentation in Baroque and Post-Baroque Music: With Special
Emphasis on J.S. Bach. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978.
Ortiz, Diego. Trattado de glosas. Translated by Annette Otterstedt and Hans Reiners.
Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2003.
Poulton, Diana. A Tutor for the Renaissance Lute: For the Complete Beginner to the
Advanced Student. London: Schott, 1991.
———. John Dowland the Complete Lute Fantasias. San Francisco: Instrumenta
Antigua Publications, 1975.
Quantz, Johann Joachim. On Playing the Flute. Translated by Edward R. Reilly. New
York: The Free Press, 1966.
Schmieder, Wolfgang. Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke
von Johann Sebastian Bach; Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV). Leipzig: Breitkopf
& Härtel, 1990.
Shanet, Howard. “Why did Bach Transpose His Arrangements?” The Musical Quarterly
36 (1950): 180-203.
Sicca, Mario. “Articulation in the Lute Music of J.S. Bach.” Guitar Review 63 (Fall
1985): 26-31.
Sźabo, Zoltán. “Remaining Silhouettes of Lost Bach Manuscripts? Re-evaluating J. P.
Kellner’s Copy of J. S. Bach’s Solo String Compositions.” Academia.
http://www.academia.edu/11643057/Remaining_Silhouettes_of_Lost_Bach_Man
uscripts_Re-evaluating_J._P._ Kellner_s_Copy_of_J._S._Bach_s_Solo_String_
Compositions (accessed March 2, 2017)
Tyler, James. A Guide to Playing the Baroque Guitar. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 2011.
———. The Early Guitar: A History and Handbook Early Music Series 4. London:
Oxford University Press, 1980.
Usher, Caroline. “Playing Lute Music on the Guitar: A Conversation with Paul O’Dette
& Pat O’Brien.” Soundboard: The Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America
123, no. 4 (Spring 1996): 17-22.
Wade, Graham. The Guitarist's Guide to Bach. Cork: Wise Owl Music, 1985.
113
Winold, Allen. Bach's Cello Suites: Analyses and Explorations. 2 vols. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 2007.
Wolff, Christoph. Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. New York: W.W.
Norton, 2000.
Yates, Richard Sebastian. “The Transcriber’s Art: Johann Sebastian Bach Fugue BWV
1001 and Largo BWV 1003.” Soundboard: The Journal of the Guitar Foundation
of America 34, no.1 (2008): 35-41.
———. “The Transcriber’s Art.” Soundboard: The Journal of the Guitar Foundation of
America 23, no.1 (Summer 1996): 43-47.
Yates, Stanley. “Bach’s Unaccompanied Cello Music: The Nature of the Compound Line
and an Approach to Stylistic and Idiomatic Transcription for the Guitar.”
Soundboard: The Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America 22, no.3 (1996):
9-23.

Azu Etd 15461 Sip1 M

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Azu Etd 15461 Sip1 M

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

J.S.

BACH’S SUITE IN G MINOR, BWV 995: A COMPARISON OF MANUSCRIPTS

FOR VIOLONCELLO, LUTE AND LUTE INTABULATION AS A MODEL FOR A

GUITAR ARRANGEMENT OF THE SUITE IN D MAJOR BWV 1012

Ivar-Nicholas Isaac Fojas

A Document Submitted to the Faculty of the

FRED FOX SCHOOL OF MUSIC

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

In the Graduate College

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

SIGNED: Ivar-Nicholas Isaac Fojas

I want to express my deepest gratitude to my parents without whose love and

permission in allowing me to include his work in this document, to the members of my

insight and guidance.

I am ever indebted to my former professors in the Philippines, to Felicidad

express my sincerest appreciation to the Fulbright Commission in the Philippines for

giving me the opportunity to pursue my doctoral studies in the United States.

To all those who have taught me along the way:

my daughter Bernice for being my greatest teacher,

my father, for inspiring me to pursue a career in the arts,

to Marilyn, for sharing with me her passion for life,

and Benjie and Helen Bautista for teaching me to believe.

LIST OF EXAMPLES ....................................................................................................... 8

LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... 11

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... 12

1. Intent and Scope of Study ................................................................................ 16

2. Melodic elaboration ......................................................................................... 19

4. Polyphonic elaboration .................................................................................... 24

5. Rhythmic flexibility ......................................................................................... 25

1. J.S. Bach and the “famous lutenists” ............................................................... 27

2. J.S. Bach’s works for the lute .......................................................................... 30

3. Clues to Bach’s intended instrumentation ....................................................... 34

III. J.S. BACH’S ARRANGEMENTS FOR LUTE ........................................................ 37

1. Sources for the Suite in G Minor BWV 995 .................................................... 37

2. Sources for the Suite in E Major BWV 1006a ................................................. 41

IV. LUTE TABLATURE AND TUNING ...................................................................... 43

1. The baroque lute .............................................................................................. 43

2. Intabulations by J.C. Weyrauch ....................................................................... 49

TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued

1. Melodic elaboration in Bach’s lute arrangements ........................................... 51

2. Harmonic elaboration in Bach’s lute arrangements ......................................... 59

3. Polyphonic elaboration in Bach’s lute arrangements....................................... 63

4. Rhythmic flexibility in Bach’s lute arrangements ........................................... 65

VI. SUITE IN D MAJOR BWV 1012: AN ARRANGEMENT FOR GUITAR .............. 67

1. Application of melodic elaboration ................................................................. 67

2. Application of harmonic elaboration ............................................................... 69

3. Application of polyphonic elaboration ............................................................ 70

4. Application of rhythmic flexibility .................................................................. 72

VII. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 73

APPENDIX A: Tilman Hoppstock, e-mail message to author, December 6, 2016 ........ 76

APPENDIX D: Comparison score of BWV 995 and BWV 1011 ................................... 79

APPENDIX E: Guitar arrangement of Suite in D Major BWV 1012 ............................. 95

REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 110

LIST OF EXAMPLES - Continued

LIST OF EXAMPLES - Continued

Figure 1. Michael Thames: 13 stringed Dresden guitar (2016) by luthier Michael

Table 2. Lute symbols and meanings ............................................................................... 47

Table 3. J.S. Bach: Explication unterschiedlicher Zeichen, so gewissen Manieren artig

sonority, structure and technique.

arrangement of Bach’s unaccompanied works for violin or cello.

1. Intent and Scope of Study