Bach, Johann Sebastian: 6 Suites a Violoncello Solo senza Basso

There are four handwritten versions of Johann Sebastian Bach’s six cello suites, all four of them copies of most likely two original sources. My edition is based on the copy by Anna Magdalena Bach which was on the whole very carefully prepared, with the exception of Suites 5 and 6, but leaves the player room for interpretation with regard to the notation of bowing.

We spared no effort in order to maintain A.M. Bach’s beaming despite the modern typography of our edition, I am very grateful that in this way the melodic flow is more visible.

By a cellist, not a musicologist, who having been face to face with Bach’s suites for over 5 decades, has on numerous occasions changed his views on them and probably will continue to do so.
ed.: Rainer Zipperling