5 ms·

One question I would have about the manuscripts would be from an image analysis that showed how many notes J.S. Bach wrote at a time before pausing, where the p

One question I would have about the manuscripts would be from an image analysis that showed how many notes J.S. Bach wrote at a time before pausing, where the pressure and indentation from the beginning of a thought to the end of one would be different. Were they written in sliuces and flourishes, or was each note calculated methodically? It's probable he was copying from a more rough temporary copy, meaning there would have been a rhythm to writing it, and one which might come out in microscopic differences in the indentations of each line on the page. For each piece, I think most musicians who have played those pieces would only need a couple of lines to interpret his accenting. Is there such a thing as a high frequency radio refractometry that might indicate undulations over the page the way we do it with radar imaging of macro scale features?

moritzwarhier 4y ago
Very interesting thought, but, as flat as this response might sound: half of the joy of Bach's keyboard musicnis the fact that articulation, tempo etc are NOT part of the notated musical work. Sure there are conventions, best guesses, and musical necessities. But as far as I can understand, Bach considered most of this as the art of performing, cultural education and creativity. Mind that there was no "touch sensitivity" in harpsichords (only clavichords, a very quiet instrument not suitable for large public performance). So without the modern piano, players used timing and ornaments to express themselves. There also is a lot of keyboardb music by Bach in the form of dances (AABB or ABAB mostly), where the player was expected to improvise at least in the repeated parts. Even the articulation of melodies and themes central to pieces are mostly left to the player (most prominently staccato vs legato vs portato), same with the tempo of the piece. Of course there were conventions. And there also some extremely rare exceptions, where e.g. legato is notated in original (?) scripts. But, TL;DR: I find your idea very interesting, OTOH I think that Bach and people at his time mostly didn't want to write down such "documented expressions". I might be wrong, I am not a historian, but this is my takeaway from my love affair with Bachs music. It's not interesting to search for his "hidden train of thought". Plenty of mystification and speculation already exists. It is more interesting to find the different ways in which his music can be sensibly interpreted.
- moritzwarhier 4y ago
  To add to this: Bach loved to "remix" his own musical ideas and to reuse previous themes, melodies or whole pieces. As an innocent example, compare e.g. the Prelude in E minor in WTK 1 to its original version, which is part of his "book for Wilhem Friedemann Bach", as an educative piece for his son.

moritzwarhier 4y ago

Very interesting thought, but, as flat as this response might sound: half of the joy of Bach's keyboard musicnis the fact that articulation, tempo etc are NOT part of the notated musical work. Sure there are conventions, best guesses, and musical necessities. But as far as I can understand, Bach considered most of this as the art of performing, cultural education and creativity. Mind that there was no "touch sensitivity" in harpsichords (only clavichords, a very quiet instrument not suitable for large public performance). So without the modern piano, players used timing and ornaments to express themselves. There also is a lot of keyboardb music by Bach in the form of dances (AABB or ABAB mostly), where the player was expected to improvise at least in the repeated parts. Even the articulation of melodies and themes central to pieces are mostly left to the player (most prominently staccato vs legato vs portato), same with the tempo of the piece. Of course there were conventions. And there also some extremely rare exceptions, where e.g. legato is notated in original (?) scripts. But, TL;DR: I find your idea very interesting, OTOH I think that Bach and people at his time mostly didn't want to write down such "documented expressions". I might be wrong, I am not a historian, but this is my takeaway from my love affair with Bachs music. It's not interesting to search for his "hidden train of thought". Plenty of mystification and speculation already exists. It is more interesting to find the different ways in which his music can be sensibly interpreted.

moritzwarhier 4y ago
To add to this: Bach loved to "remix" his own musical ideas and to reuse previous themes, melodies or whole pieces. As an innocent example, compare e.g. the Prelude in E minor in WTK 1 to its original version, which is part of his "book for Wilhem Friedemann Bach", as an educative piece for his son.