Faculty Tuesdays (2018)

Program notes

In the 18th century, the transcription for solo harpsichord—of string solo and orchestral music—was frequently practiced, not least by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach’s transcriptions of Italian concerti
by Antonio Vivaldi and others mark a milestone in Bach’s own development as a composer. But
the models that Bach drew on extended also to chamber music, including trio sonatas by Tomaso Albinoni and Bach’s elder North German colleague Johann Adam Reincken (1623-1722). In the later 18th century, Bach’s biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel reports (presumably based on his exchanges with Bach’s two eldest sons) that Bach enjoyed playing his own works for solo violin, arranged for keyboard. A few transcriptions from his circle survive, including the Fugue in D minor for organ BWV 539 after the solo violin sonata fugue in G minor BWV 1001, as well as the Adagio BWV 968 from

the solo violin Sonata in C Major BWV 1005 and a complete transcription in D minor BWV 964 of the Sonata in A minor BWV 1003. But as musically remarkable as the latter two transcriptions are, Bach’s authorship of them cannot be established with certainty.

For tonight’s program, I am playing my own transcriptions of Bach’s solo violin pieces, basing
my transcription technique on the style of surviving transcriptions from Bach’s circle. In order to emphasize the close relationship between this undertaking and Bach’s own transcription activity for solo harpsichord, I preface each of my own transcriptions with movements selected from Bach’s transcriptions of contemporary string chamber music.

Finally, a word about the Chaconne, the final movement on this program: this monumental piece that concludes the Partita in D Minor BWV 1004 has been a favorite transcription piece since the end of the 19th century, and so has come to be seen as a free-standing work in its own right. Although I well understand the attraction of separating this piece from its context, I find that this Ciaccona is best experienced as the culmination of the magnificent suite that precedes it!