J. S. Bach
Sonata No. 1 and Partita No. 2
for 6 String Violin
J. S. Bach: Sonata No. 1 and Partita No. 2 for Unaccompanied Violin,
arranged for 6 String Violin (2002)
Score (PDF) Cover Font required
I started playing violin at age ten in
1965. By 1982, my arthritis was severe enough so that even with adaptive gear,
I had to stop playing, and sold my violin.
There followed ten years where making music was not possible. In late 2001 and early 2002, I had a stable life studying physics at NCSU, an old piano, housing, and access to a woodshop. I made two electric violins, a 4-string and a 6-string, that I held like a cello, with an assistive device to hold up my bow-arm. I could only play for a limited time before it became too painful, but the new attempt at performance inspired me to rework once again my old solo violin sonatas, including arrangements for viola and 6 string violin. I bought a curved bow from Michael Bach, allowing for polyphonic performance. This is when I made arrangements of J. S. Bach’s Sonata No. 1 and Partita No. 2 for the 6 string violin. The photograph on the 10 Sonatas for Solo Violin or Viola page shows the 6 string violin that I made, which has since been thrown away, and the Bach Bogen, now sold.
By spring of 2003, it became clear
that the arthritis was too advanced and my attempt at a return to performance
had to end.
In
February 2017, I decided to try
again to play violin, with new instruments and adaptive gear. As a
result, I went back to the Bach arrangements, which were still in the
now antiquated
format of ink and paper, and revised the copy work in Finale. My health
did not allow me to continue to play, and I had to stop permanently in
the fall of 2017.
Performance notes: Most of the movements have pedal indications. This
signifies the use of a freeze effect (sound retainer) pedal, which many
electric violinists will be familiar with. (The curved bow mentioned above is
very rare, rather expensive, and takes months to master, but may be used if
available.) The freeze pedal sustains the sound at the moment of depression,
and continues that sound until released. Other notes played during this period
will not be sustained and play normally. Thus the pedal indication is like the sostenuto pedal on a piano (not the sustain pedal), and
should be interpreted in that manner if played on a piano.
The tuning is, from the bottom,
F-C-G-D-A-E.