About this edition
Bach's Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001–1006, completed in Cöthen in 1720, stand as one of the supreme achievements in the entire violin repertoire — a cycle in which a single instrument is asked to sustain four-voice fugues, intricate dance suites, and the monumental Chaconne of the D minor Partita. Alternating three sonatas in the Italian sonata da chiesa form with three partitas built from stylized dances, the set demands and rewards a lifetime of study, and remains a touchstone for every serious violinist from student to soloist.
This volume reproduces the text prepared by Alfred Dörffel (1821–1905) for Band 27 of the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, published in Leipzig by Breitkopf und Härtel in 1879 (plate B.W. XXVII). The Bach-Gesellschaft edition, undertaken between 1851 and 1900 by an extraordinary collaboration of nineteenth-century scholars and editors, was the first complete critical edition of Bach's works and remains a landmark of musical scholarship. Dörffel, a respected musicologist and longtime contributor to the project, prepared a clear and faithful engraving that has served generations of performers and editors as a primary reference text for these pieces.
About this edition:
- Complete score of all six Sonatas and Partitas, BWV 1001–1006
- Reproduced from the 1879 Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, Band 27
- Edited by Alfred Dörffel
- Generous 8.5 x 11 inch page size for clear reading at the stand
- Faithfully reproduced from a public domain historical edition
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
This printing makes a treasured historical edition of Bach's solo violin masterworks readily available to today's performers, teachers, and students — a beautiful classic preserved and shared, with the music itself in the public domain and free to enjoy, study, and play.
