J.S. Bach Violin Concerto in E Major BWV 1042: Transcribed for Cello
Here is the sheet music and some audio play-along accompaniments for Bach‘s Violin Concerto in E Major BWV 1042 in a transcription for cello with orchestral (or piano) accompaniment. Because the original key has been conserved, any standard accompaniment parts (orchestral or piano) can be used. These can be downloaded for free from imslp.org.
Bach’s original manuscripts for this concerto have been lost, and the most authentic source available is an undated copy by Hering, supposedly made sometime between 1760 and 1800. We can evaluate the general accuracy of Hering’s slurs thanks to the fact that Bach’s original manuscripts exist for his A Minor Violin Concerto, which Hering also copied. We can see in that concerto that Hering’s slurs are extremely misleading and ambiguous, and do not accurately reflect (or copy) Bach’s slurs. This means that we cannot trust Hering’s manuscript as a source for an “Urtext” Edition of this E Major Concerto, and that we also therefore cannot trust the Barenreiter/Henle editions because they used Hering as their principal source.
This is why we have not produced our normal “Literal Transcription” but offer rather a comparison score in which the Hering manuscript slurs and the Barenreiter edition are laid out in parallel (one on top of the other) so that we can immediately compare them and see their differences.
Even when the “urtext” bowings are not ambiguous, many of these “original” bowings have been changed in our Edited Version, as occurs so often in the cellofun transcriptions of Bach’s violin music. The cello just does not respond well to the frequent radical changes of bow speed required for Bach’s violin bowings and also, this transcriber often finds a lack of variety in Bach’s articulations (see “Bach and the Sewing Machine“).
Unfortunately, unlike with piano accompaniments, if we want to change the bowings in the solo cello part, we will also maybe need to change the bowings in the orchestral string parts to make sure they coincide, especially in the “tuttis” (where the solo cello plays in octave unison with the first violins).
FIRST MOVEMENT: Allegro
Apart from the octave transposition down of the solo part, the only notes that has been changed is the very last quaver (8th note) of bar 100 in which the doublestop has been removed.
Here is a play-along orchestral accompaniment, courtesy of “Goatman Music” and their YouTube channel. A one-bar introduction has been added so that we can know when to start playing.
And here is a home-recording of this movement played by the transcriber with the above accompaniment:
SECOND MOVEMENT: Adagio
The quaver (eighth-note) speed of this movement is approximately the same as the slow movement of his A Minor Violin Concerto BWV 1041. This is curious because Bach places an “Andante” tempo marking in the A Minor Concerto but uses an “Adagio” marking in this one. This would seem to indicate that we need to feel this movement as a very slow three (crotchet/quarter-note) beats to a bar, whereas for the slow movement of the A Minor Concerto, we will feel the pulse as an “Andante” (walking) pace with eight quaver/eighth-note beats to the bar.
Here is a play-along orchestral accompaniment, courtesy of “Goatman Music” and their YouTube channel.
And here is a home recording of the transcriber playing this movement with the above accompaniment:
THIRD MOVEMENT: Allegro assai
The doublestops in the third solo intervention (bars 82-87) have been removed in the cellofun transcription, simply because I could find no way to finger/play them comfortably and accurately at this speed. A more able, faster and virtuosic cellistic may well be able to find a way to play these doublestops (see the Literal Transcription) successfully.
Here is a play-along orchestral accompaniment, courtesy of “Goatman Music” and their YouTube channel. A two-bar introduction has been added so that we can know when to start.
And here is a home recording of the transcriber playing this movement with the above accompaniment: