Bach’s six sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord (BWV 1014-1019) form a unified cycle. Each has its own profile and places its own demands on the player.
This new edition is largely based on Bach’s “definitive version” as captured in the manuscript copy prepared by Johann Christoph Altnickol . However, as this source is not absolutely secure with regard to dynamics, articulation, ornamentation and titles, the editor has also drawn on earlier copies prepared by Johann Friedrich Agricola and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
Substantive departures from the Altnickol MS appear on ossia staves; a list of alternative readings allows readers to trace the provenance of each reading. Sonatas BWV 1018 and 1019 are accompanied by early versions illustrating the various stages that these works passed through.
Peter Wollny’s detailed preface explains the sonatas’ significance to the history of their genre and provides a rich commentary on the transmission and evaluation of the sources. Rounding off this Urtext edition is a violin part marked up for performance purposes by Andrew Manze . Here the reader will find fingerings and recommended ornaments as well as notes on performance practice.