Bach: Unaccompanied Violin Sonata Nº 3 BWV 1005: Transcribed For Cello
The source for these transcriptions is Bach’s autographed manuscript. In the “Literal Transcription” this manuscript has simply been copied and transposed down a fifth (plus an octave). All the bowings in the “Literal Transcriptions” are Bach’s. In the “Edited Concert Versions” however, Bach’s bowings have very often been changed.
ADAGIO
This movement is almost constantly in doublestops and chords. Of its 141 quarter-note beats, no less than 121 (more than 85%) have at least one doublestop or chord on them. In fact, 85% of all the notes in this movement are part of either a doublestop or a chord. In spite of this densely chordal nature, surprisingly only six chords have needed to be revoiced to make them possible for the cello (in bars 9, 22, 24 and 33).
Probably the greatest difficulty of adapting this Adagio to cello is actually its very low register, the highest note being only an Eb on the A-string. This low register, combined with the constant double-stopping and chords makes it a prime candidate for playing as a cello duo, transposed up a fifth (into the original violin key). It really does sound a lot better in this way, played in the original key by two cellos rather than transposed down a fifth for one solo cello. But even after distributing all the notes between two cellos, there is still the need for frequent double and triple-stopping. Because of this, it is actually the three-cello version that gives the best results: now all the harmonies can be played completely free of all tension. One wonders why Bach didn’t just write this piece for string orchestra from the beginning! No additional notes have been added to these duo and trio versions apart from an optional harmonisation of bars 12 and 45-46.
FUGUE
This is the longest of Bach’s solo violin fugues, and like the others, is intensely polyphonic (with many doublestops and chords). Even when we divide the notes of these polyphonic passages between two players (in the “Duo Versions”) we still sometimes have too many notes to play. To be really comfortable, we would need to make a version for three cellos, but then the third cellist might go to sleep in those many non-polyphonic passages where there is nothing for them to do!
Many chords have needed to be revoiced to adapt them to the cello. When deciding whether or not to eliminate or change a note in a chord, priority has always been given to achieving ease of playing rather than to authenticity or harmonic fullness. No harmonies have been changed. Notes have only been removed from chords in those places where the removed note is not essential for the understanding of the harmony or of the voice-leading. Also, in quite a few doublestopped contrapuntal passages, the lower voice has been taken up an octave to get it out of the hippopotamus register (bars 289-291) or to make the doublestops playable on the cello (bars 8-10).
There are two “Duo Versions” offered here: a Low Version (transposed down a fifth, like the solo cello version) and a High Version (in the original violin key). In both “Duo Versions” the music is divided into a high voice and a low voice. The high voice is the “solo” voice and has most of the thematic, melodic material, while the low voice is the much simpler harmonic accompaniment with the occasional low register thematic material. The Low Duo Version is definitely the “Easier Version” of this fugue on the cello. The “High Duo Version” is probably even harder than the solo version, because of the problems associated with the higher register. In both duo versions, it may be interesting for the second cello to try and reproduce the effect of the spread (arpeggiated) chords that are so characteristic of this music when played by only one solo instrument. When the second cello plays the lower notes of the chords together and strictly in time (on the beat) this arpeggiated effect is sadly lost.
We have no possibility for page-turns during the four pages of music on which it lies. Some people nowadays play from a computer screen, on which the page turns can be made with a foot pedal, but for those of us who haven’t become quite so modern, we will need to either memorise it (a gargantuan and risky task) or lay the music across two stands.
LARGO
Approximately 40% of the quaver beats in this movement have at least one doublestop or chord on them, which makes it a good candidate for playing as a cello duo. In our “Duo Version,” the second cello has an accompanying voice, playing all the lower notes of the doublestops and chords as well as those other harmony notes that we have filled in where Bach left the harmony “empty”. The Duo Version in the “cello key” (transposed down a fifth) will thus also be our “Easier Version”. Playing this movement as a duo makes it so much easier that, as with many other of the Duo Versions of movements of the Bach Unaccompanied Violin Partitas and Sonatas, we can play it now also in the original key (one fifth higher than the “cello versions”).
This movement presents a layout dilemma: on one page it is quite cramped, on two pages it is very spread out, and it is not possible to combine it with either the preceding or following movements. Faced with an impossible decision, it is offered here in both layouts: wide-spaced (2p) or tight (1p).
- Low Duo Version (down fifth): Unedited
- Low Duo Version Down fifth): Edited
ALLEGRO
This movement adapts very well to the cello. It has absolutely no doublestops or chords, which certainly helps for the adaptation process. No notes have needed to be changed from the violin version, although many bowings have been slightly modified to suit the cello better. Of the 1196 notes in this movement, 2 are quarter-notes, 24 are eighth-notes and the remaining 1170 (98%) are sixteenth-notes. This could easily produce the “sewing-machine effect” but doesn’t, thanks to the great variety of imaginative bowings and string-crossing effects that Bach uses. This movement goes as high as Bach ever takes us in his unaccompanied music: up to “C” on the A-string. It not only takes us up high, it also keeps us there for a good while of climactic high-register thumb-position scrubbing: a fitting climax for the final movement of his last Solo Sonata.