OT: Baerenreiter edition created in MuseScore
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John. I think this is, if not exactly the same, at least related to what Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau once said about understanding (classical, notated) music: to start with, you have to be able to read music, I mean REALLY READ music.
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As you know, I'm not one to put too much weight on this particular aspect in the context of authenticity, but I fully recognize that you do, and thus, need the means to carry it over into modern notation.John Ruggero wrote:That is indeed the problem. Since I can't disregard the original beaming, I must use all means available, including thin and curved beams. I myself don't find the result displeasing, just different. In doing my very authentic edition of the Bach inventions and Sinfonias many years ago, I was concerned about readability, since the edition is aimed at students. But experience has laid worry that to rest: no student has ever had a reading problem and hopefully all have benefited from seeing Bach's music exactly as he wrote it.Knut wrote:I should clarify that I'm not a proponent of curved beams in the cases that John mentions above, which unfortunately would require me to disregard some of the cross beams in Bach's music when re-notating it on the computer. The only other way around this is to use a thinner beam, which can be just as distracting and aesthetically unpleasant.
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Thanks, Anders, for your perceptive comment, and Knut, for understanding my position.
One of the problems in modernizing notation is that it is a slippery slope. Once one starts to change the beaming, the stem direction, placement of the notes on the staff and a lot else falls in a domino effect. One is then left with something quite different from the original. There are not many performance directions in Bach's keyboard music in particular. What a shame that the few clues about phrasing and voice leading that can be gleaned from the beaming and stem direction are usually sacrificed on the altar of current standard engraving practice. Bach''s music in particular looks antiseptic to me in modern dress and reinforces the idea that his is a cold, mathematical kind of music. As we know, Bach was nothing like this as an artist or person and given his pugilistic abilities might have been "strenuous" in his objections to changing his notation. One sees evidence for this in the way copies of his music by his associates tend to adhere to the original. One also sees this with other composers, like Chopin, where the copyists stick to the original even when it is unusual.
One of the problems in modernizing notation is that it is a slippery slope. Once one starts to change the beaming, the stem direction, placement of the notes on the staff and a lot else falls in a domino effect. One is then left with something quite different from the original. There are not many performance directions in Bach's keyboard music in particular. What a shame that the few clues about phrasing and voice leading that can be gleaned from the beaming and stem direction are usually sacrificed on the altar of current standard engraving practice. Bach''s music in particular looks antiseptic to me in modern dress and reinforces the idea that his is a cold, mathematical kind of music. As we know, Bach was nothing like this as an artist or person and given his pugilistic abilities might have been "strenuous" in his objections to changing his notation. One sees evidence for this in the way copies of his music by his associates tend to adhere to the original. One also sees this with other composers, like Chopin, where the copyists stick to the original even when it is unusual.
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"The better the composer, the better the notation."
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"The better the composer, the better the notation."
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You are welcome, John. Your penetrating thoughts about notation in old music are really stimulating!
By the way, do you know if you could find the autograph of the Clavier-Übung (the Partitas) in IMSLP or somewhere else on the Internet?
By the way, do you know if you could find the autograph of the Clavier-Übung (the Partitas) in IMSLP or somewhere else on the Internet?
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Right. Thanks for reminding me, motet.
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- John Ruggero
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Thank you very much, Anders. The autograph of Bach's 6 Partitas no longer exists. According to an old report quoted in my WU edition, a single copy of the Partita no 1 turned up a long time ago but then disappeared again. There are copies of early versions of the Am and Em Partitas in A. M. Bach's Notebook no 2.
2020 M1 Mac mini (OS 12.6) Finale 25.5, Dorico, Affinity Publisher, SmartScore 64 Pro, JW Plug-ins, TG Tools, Keyboard Maestro
www.cantilenapress.com
"The better the composer, the better the notation."
www.cantilenapress.com
"The better the composer, the better the notation."