C.P.E. Bach's Harp Sonata Wq.139

[Gretchen Cover]

I received a reply from the Packard Humanities Institute about the Bach Sonata in G wq. 139. I will post verbatim the information when I can access the internet. The order of playing is slow, fast, fast.

And Saul, you have no idea of the source information of the particular Sonata score being discussed. I fail to understand your comments about it being baseless unless you dealt directly with the researchers.

[Tacye]

I have no difficulty accepting that what works best on a modern harp, with all its tension and resonance and the harpist playing both solo line and continuo, is different to the most historically informed performance in many ways. As musicians we have the full scope available to us from what we believe Bach would have heard through to fully modernised versions and neither end of the spectrum is innately better than the other.

Historical performance does need to take account of how different our harps are from their predecessors. Even on a late single action speed just ripples out of my fingers as it never does on my modern CG, and the contemporary harp would have been even lighter strung, while dividing the top line between hands would help with speed too.

I would believe both that scholarship says the original was played slow fast fast(er), and that modern musicians have decided it works better for them as fast slow fast.

[Gretchen Cover]

Tayce, I agree with what you say but if a musician sufficiently alters a piece of music, such as an important piece like the Bach Sonata, it would only be fair to label it as an adaptation or arrangement. Judy Loman in her version of the Sonata called it a “realization.” Considering this is the only work for solo harp by C.P.E. Bach and the first solo for harp, I think it does the piece justice on those fronts to keep it historically accurate – and that includes the ornamentations. The ornaments are difficult to play on a concert grand harp the way it would have been played 200 some years ago. The American Harp Journal has an article about the sonata and how to play it with ornaments. The article further discusses the importance musically of the ornaments. There are a number of websites with the proper ways to play the ornaments. One site I went to even had sound clips.

In the end, it is better for harpists to play the sonata in some fashion rather than have it disappear from the harp repertoire. But, be upfront about it IMHO.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for sharing with us the answer from the Packard Humanities Institute, Gretchen!

I find what you said there, Tacye, highly interesting: “I would believe both that scholarship says the original was played slow fast fast(er), and that modern musicians have decided it works better for them as fast slow fast..

Personally, and like I stated before, I find that the fast-slow-fast order of movements works better. At least, it does for me; that soothing serenity of the ‘Adagio un poco’ just seems to fit a lot better when placed between the other two energetic and bubbly movements.

Then again, I wonder how much of that is actually due to there being some hard-to-pin-down innate quality or property in the music, and how much to it simply being what I’m used to the most. I’ve always listened to that sonata (and played it) following the fast-slow-fast pattern, and playing or listening to it in any other order would very likely make it sound “wrong”, at least the first few times; once I got used to it, who knows?

Or perhaps it’s just the fact that a little calm in the middle of two storms (not that those two fast movements here are really “stormy”, I know) seems more “logical” to most pairs of ears, and maybe more importantly, to most brains, as opposed to that calm being the prelude of two successive storms?
Just like something salty will usually taste a lot better in the middle of two predominantly sweet meals, rather than something sweet. 😉

[Gretchen Cover]

Below in verbatim is the reply I received from Laura Buch (no title given), C.P.E. Bach: The Complete Works, Packard Humanities Institute:

“The order of the movements that we have published for Wq139 (Adagio un poco / Allegro / Allegro) is intentional. This is precisely how the work comes down to us from the 18th century, according to the trustworthy manuscript source that we have for it. Indeed, C.P.E. Bach’s harp sonata exists in only this single source; it was never printed during Bach’s time, and no other handwritten copy has so far ever been uncovered.

“Fortunately, this manuscript (now preserved in Brussels) was made by Bach’s most trusted scribe, and was almost certainly copied straight from the exemplar in Bach’s own library. Movement i is clearly the Adagio un poco; there is no reason to read any other movement order. Furthermore, this common order of slow-fast-fast is also evidenced by all the rest of Bach’s three-movement solo sonatas (i.e., the sonatas for flute, oboe, or viola da gamba: all begin with a slow movement, followed by the two quicker movements. For further discussion of all this, I refer you to the Introduction and critical report for the volume of sonatas that contained the harp sonata (volume II/1 of our edition). We offer the introduction for free download at the following link, where you can also download scores for all the solo sonatas including Wq 139: (note from Gretchen – if the link I typed in does not work, go to the top of this thread for the link)

http://cpebach.org/toc/toc-II-1.html

“If you’d like to have a look at the 18th century source for the harp sonata, a facsimile of the manuscript has been published. See Carl Emanuel Bach. Sonata in G Major for Harp, ed Darrell M. Berg (Utrecht: STIMU, 1992)”

In a related matter about ornamentations in the harp sonata, there are references in the introduction. I had never seen a trilled turn which occurs in measures 3, 12 etc. of the Adagio movement. The citation for that particular ornament is Volume II/1, p. xviii. Laura Buch said it is “Bach’s own description of the ornament in his Versuch (Versuch I:2, 4 & 28 and Tab.V, Fig. LXIII-LXV).”

[Gretchen Cover]

Again, I encourage anyone interested in the Sonata to go to youtube and listen to Miriam Overlach play it. Her ornamentation is excellent and for me, the whole performance is outstanding. Now, that I have a better understanding of the Sonata, I re-listened to her playing the Bach sonata.

Unfortunately, the harp masters who recorded and/or performed this, such as Nicanor Zabaleta and Lucille Lawrence, are no longer alive. It would be so interesting to know their thoughts about the piece. Considering there has only been one manuscript in existence, the harp community is lucky it has survived to be played and have this discussion.

[Gretchen Cover]

I would like to point out an excellent transcription by harpist Chantal Mathieu is available from Harpe Budin in France.  All the ornamentation is carefully written out.  It is in the correct order of adagio, allegro, allegro.

To hear this go to Youtube and type in:  CPE Bach Sonata for harp Sarah Shemesh.  The other movements are there, too, as separate clips.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for that info, Gretchen, and sorry for the very late reply!

I did take the time to watch those clips by Sarah Shemesh, and I must say her rendition of the sonata is really delightful. I was also happy to discover another wondrous piece, while browsing through her videos: Maayani’s ‘Maqamat’!

Very best,

Adolfo

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

There was a second edition of the CPE Bach edited by Lucile Lawrence that may have been published by Lyon & Healy. There are many copies in libraries, as well.

How on earth could it be related to the Italian Concerto? Just look at the scores and listen!

It is not a matter of correct and incorrect. Grandjany, Lawrence, Zabaleta, and myself, made an informed, deliberate artistic decision to put the Adagio in the middle. I have heard it performed first several times. It is wasted. Having two Allegros both in AABB form one after the other deprives them of value, they negate each other. They need separation. It works better for the performer and moreover, for the audience. It is consistent with other works by CPE Bach, as well as his father.

The idea that there is a single, authentic original way to play something is a modern-age concept and alien to musicians of the past.

I can’t imagine why you would ask the Packard Institute.

If you’re going to compare Bach and Beethoven, you may find Bach to have been the “Beethoven of his generation,” but it belittles the significance of Bach, who was a great and influential composer, and Beethoven should not be treated as a sacred cow.

 

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Gretchen, you are in no position to criticize me. I have a copy of the “original” score, and as I stated, have studied and performed this piece for decades. I know exactly what source they are talking about, and there is no proof of when it was copied or how accurately. In any case, that has NO bearing on how it should be performed. Music is art, not science. I studied the piece for over two years with Lucile Lawrence, and had much contact at the same time with Jane Weidensaul, who also published an edition at that time. So I know Miss Lawrence’s thoughts, at least some of them.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I will reiterate, Bach has many keyboard sonatas in both the slow-fast-faster and the fast-slow-fast format of movements. This piece resembles the other fast-slow-fast sonats more than the other slow-fast-faster sonatas. That is relevant. It is an Italianate piece, and that lends weight to favoring the fast-slow-fast format, and it greatly resembles the Italian Concerto by JS Bach, even more than other works by CPE Bach.

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