Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonata g-Moll für Cembalo und Viola da gamba (BWV 1030b)

The present edition of Johann Sebastian Bach’s G minor sonata BWV1030b is based on a manuscript in an unknown hand. The manuscript is superscribed with the word ‘Trio’ but only includes the harpsichord part; the third voice is missing. We assume that this manuscript is an earlier version of the B minor sonata for harpsichord and flute, which dates from the late 1720’s, but it is unclear for which melody instrument the G minor version may have been intended.

We can leave this enigma for musicologists to ponder. We instrumentalists are delighted to be able to appropriate such a masterpiece to our own repertoire, while taking the liberty of adapting it in the best Bachian tradition, since Bach himself not only multifariously arranged his own works but also sought inspiration from works of his esteemed colleagues.

The level of technical difficulty is quite high, somewhat comparable to the G minor BWV 1029 Gamba sonata. It is nevertheless for the most part very playable, and offers the Gamba excellent possibilities for development.

Arranged by Rainer Zipperling

CD recording : Bach à Cembalo è Viola da Gamba, Rainer Zipperling and Sabine Bauer, 2014, AEOLUS, AE-10206