vindication is the best excuse for scholarship

[lauzeta]

After repeated prodding from my teacher, the other day I finally bought a manuscript edition of the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin (for the non-musicians: Bach's handwriting is astonishing, but not that bad once you get used to it; go here for an example). Once I started poking around in it I was delighted to discover that some of the bowings

Comments

[bang_hiss_meow]

Do we actually have those pieces in Bach's own handwriting? The cello suites only exist in copies by other people, all of which are written with various degrees of carelessness and riddled with errors and inconsistencies.

[lauzeta]

No, I'm just pretending we do to mess with you. :P They actually do exist; apparently they came within an ace of being used as wrapping material for butter (oh, the indignity...). The pic I linked to shows you the beginning of the second Sonata, I think.