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Hello. I am working on the prelude to this suite in e major by Johann Sebastian Bach http://216.129.110.22/files/imglnks/usi ... _1006a.pdf

I am playing it on a piano BTW. Anyways, I am stuck on a certain part. I'm not sure how to play this part. The part in question is on the first page of the score posted above, and the specific part I am having trouble to can be found here http://img801.imageshack.us/i/bachhelp.png/

What I am having trouble understanding is how to play the individual sixteenth notes that are not connected to other notes that are placed in between the sixteenth notes that are connected with each other. What it looks like to me, is that I should play the "connected sixteenth notes" like normal, except to play the "solo" sixteenth notes in between the "connected ones". I tried to do this but it sounded weird, so I'm kinda lost on how to the play this part.

Any help/ideas/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, and remember, I'm playing this on a piano.

Suggestions:
Stem down = left hand
Stem up = right hand
Maybe?

Otherwise, the intention seems to be the second semiquaver of each crotchet group should be emphasised melodically (but not especially accented).

It may also help to imagine the upward-pointing notes as the "melody" and the rest as "accompaniment".

This was originally written for violin. And the stems up note are to be played of a different string than the stems down notes. You can do the same with the piano but use a different hand. These are to show the different voices that Bach loves to use at the same time. Perhaps you can show this voicing by playing a different color (musically speaking) on those notes with the opposite stems. Good luck!

The piece in question is NOT for keyboard, it is Bach's LUTE arrangement of the opening movement of the 3rd Partita for violin. You get such "interlocking" notation in the violin part and it signifies the use of a different string (and a LOT of initially counter-intuitive bowing). I don't know much about lutes but it probably means use different strings on them too.

Bach did, however, arrange the same music -- transposed to D major -- for keyboard as the solo organ part in the first movement of Cantata BWV 29. As you can see from the score to that piece, the weird passages cited are not notated in this fashion when played by the organ. In fact, Bach abandoned the crossing-string effects obtained with the violin and lute entirely and composed totally different figuration for the passages. So if you insist in playing the lute arrangement on a keyboard, I see no good practical or stylistic reason to NOT just treat the interlocked notes as a steady stream of 16ths, as is done in the cantata. It might make better musical sense, however, to adopt the figuration in the Cantata's organ part --transposed back to E major -- for the passages in question.

Also take a look on how the violin piece has been arranged for keyboard players by pianists. I don't think any of them have adopted the notation of the lute arrangement, quite sensibly.

--Sixtus

http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/c ... WV0029.pdf
http://imslp.org/wiki/6_Violin_Sonatas_ ... Sebastian)