An Outline of the Edition History of the Solo Cello Suites by JS Bach

Problematic Sources, Problematic Transmission: An Outline of the Edition History of the Solo Cello Suites by J. S. Bach Zoltán Szabó A Thesis submitted in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of PhD in Music (Musicology) Sydney Conservatorium of Music The University of Sydney 2016 P a g e | 1 Declaration I, Zoltán Szabó, hereby confirm that the work submitted is my own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgment. Signed: ___________________ Date: 15 July 2016 P a g e | 2 Acknowledgments This thesis was instigated by four decades of continuous exploration, practising, learning, performing and teaching of the Bach Cello Suites; the last four years of researching and collecting the editions and writing the dissertation was an added bonus. These four years have never ceased to be pleasurable and astonishing in their discoveries about myself, about the Master: Johann Sebastian, about how to read fast and write carefully, about how to conduct academic research and about learning a new style of thinking. I would have stumbled constantly on this road, had I not received professional and personal help from so many people. Librarians played a chief role in guiding me through the maze of confusing catalogues, books in storage and many intricate details of how to track down and obtain a source that may or may not even exist. Ludwig Sugiri and his colleagues at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music never grew tired of giving me time and attention or getting hold of yet another source, book or rare edition. Stacey Krim, curator of the Cello Music Collection and University Archives at The University of North Carolina in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA, was constantly ready to discuss problematic questions while I was researching that incredible collection over several weeks in 2013, and has provided me with a myriad of useful information ever since. During the same trip, I was privileged to spend a month at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio, where Dr. Melvin Unger, the director of the famed Riemenschneider Bach Institute, gave me access not only to the marvellous manuscript and early edition collection of the Institute but also to his vast experience. On a research trip to Switzerland a year later, the chief librarian of the Geneva Conservatory of Music’s library, Jacques Tchamkerten, made it possible for me to view and study the vast music collection of Dimitry Markevitch and offered his time and expertise generously. Although a cellist by trade, not a librarian, Alfred Richter is the owner of one of the largest collections of cello music in the world; he helped me with photocopies of rare and out of print editions, expert advice and enlightening conversations during my stay in Lugano on the same trip. My early attempts to verbalise the results of my research at conferences and publications were patiently guided, and corrected with gentle kindness by some of the great Bach scholars of our P a g e | 3 day. Professor Yo Tomita and Dr Ruth Tatlow, the rectores magnifici of the Bach Network UK engaged with my work and responded to my many email enquiries immediately over several years; they also welcomed me at their Dialogue Meeting in 2015 at Cambridge, where Chapter 5 of this thesis was presented to a scholarly audience for the first time. I am also indebted to Professor Christoph Wolff who showed interest towards my work (and listened to an early version of what became Chapter 3) in 2014 at a conference in his honour in Melbourne, Australia, and gave me his time and expertise freely afterwards. Furthermore, this dissertation was continuously supported by numerous colleagues and friends at the University of Sydney. I would like to extend special thanks for inspiring conversations and help in other areas to Dr Anna Reid, who first encouraged me to embark on this project, to Dr Goetz Richter, who invited me to write my first academic paper (much of which has been used for Chapter 2) and to Stephen Yates for printing and binding innumerable editions of the Suites. Other musician friends who have spent countless hours reading and commenting on various chapters of this work and who have boosted my fading energies with strong coffees and the occasional glass of wine over stimulating discussions of the thesis include Dorit Herskovits, Dr Jane Hardie and Dr Stephen Mould. This project would never have succeeded without my ideal team of supervisors. Dr David Larkin’s extensive musicological knowledge, unfailingly solid judgement in matters of logic, content, style and syntax, coupled with his never-ceasing exuberance helped me through many hurdles of this work. I could not have wished for a better Chief Supervisor, than Dr Alan Maddox. The combination of his professional expertise and personal empathy assisted me on countless occasions. I was repeatedly humbled by his omnipresent attention to detail, his boundless interest in my thesis and his readiness to respond to my enquiries in lengthy personal discussions and in emails composed at all hours of the day. Finally, I’m eternally grateful to my wife and children, Erzsi, Ádám, Anna and Beáta who readily accepted my greatly changed life and its challenges, were prepared to read and discuss drafts, listened to my endless ramblings about primary parameters and secondary sources, about lost manuscripts and newly found editions; boosted my faltering confidence when needed, took me for walks, made me meals and occasionally but firmly sent me to bed when it was too late – or even later. This thesis has taught me much about music and history, but perhaps even more about the care and value of many people around me. Thank you all! P a g e | 4 Abstract Over one hundred editions (excluding reprints) have been prepared of the Solo Cello Suites of J. S. Bach, and the reasons for this extraordinary number have never been properly investigated; nor have these editions ever been collated, catalogued and analysed. Due to the lack of a surviving autograph we have to rely on four highly problematic manuscript sources which have over time been interpreted in a myriad of ways. This may be in part the explanation for the multiplicity of editions spanning almost two centuries. The first half of this thesis reviews the source history of the Suites. Not many cellists or scholars would argue with the view that Anna Magdalena Bach’s copy is considered to be the most trustworthy of these manuscript copies, despite its numerous copying errors. This study, however, provides evidence proposing that the very first copy of the Suites, made by Johann Peter Kellner, might have been based on a revised autograph, which could be of a higher quality than the model of any of the other copies. This evidence suggests that a significant number of previously accepted primary parameters (pitches and rhythms) in the Suites have to be revisited, and the alternatives transmitted through Kellner’s copy newly considered. Changes to the musical text in various editions are often due to changing editorial methodologies. The diverse approaches can be best observed through a transparent categorisation system, which can place any edition into its appropriate place within the temporal and editorial spectrum. One of the most important categories, that of the critical editions, seems to be defined historically in loose and somewhat contradictory terms; in order to assist this investigation, a robust definition for a critical edition is provided. The wide range of alternative readings in all areas of the musical text is apparent in most categories. To demonstrate this, the second half of the thesis analyses a number of detailed examples from the various categories. The surveyed examples suggest that repeating the efforts of the past with minor differences will not produce a single ‘ideal’ edition. In the concluding chapter I propose a completely different editorial approach: a digital edition, collating the existing sources and selected editions, in which the discrepancies are transparently overlaid, and easily identified, could offer an educated choice to future readers. P a g e | 5 Table of Contents Declaration ............................................................................................................................. 1 Acknowledgments.................................................................................................................. 2 Abstract .................................................................................................................................. 4 Table of Contents ................................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... 8 List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ 12 Chapter 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 14 The editions.................................................................................................................................. 15 Overview of the thesis ................................................................................................................. 18 The current

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