Some Observations on the Sources for Bach’s Violin Soli and Cello Suites

Abstract:The early history of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Sonatas and Partitas and Cello Suites is obscure and has been the subject of much speculation. This article seeks to dispel some widespread misinformation about the sources and to offer new insights into the genesis and reception of this famous music. Disrupting the scholarly consensus of the past several decades, I argue that there are no surviving early versions of either collection: every known copy of the Violin Sonatas and Partitas traces its ancestry to the composer’s 1720 autograph, and every known copy of the Cello Suites traces its ancestry to a lost (autograph?) manuscript known in the literature as Source [F]. Further, I propose identifications of the scribe who copied an influential manuscript of the Violin Sonatas and Partitas in the 1720s (Violin Source C) and the musician who provided Johann Peter Kellner with his models for both collections (Violin Source D and Cello Source B). Finally, I argue that Johann Justus Friedrich Dotzauer’s edition of the Cello Suites (Leipzig, 1826?) is based not on Kellner’s manuscript (Cello Source B), but rather on Kellner’s model, or a different copy thereof. We know little about how Bach’s contemporaries used his unaccompanied works for violin and cello, but knowing the names and biographies of those who came into contact with this music furnishes us with a basis for asking new questions.