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Johann Sebastian Bach and the Bach family
Johann Sebastian Bach
Stuttgart Bach Editions
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Editorial Principles of the Stuttgart Bach Editions

The Stuttgart Bach Editions are scholarly publications. They are based on the conviction that the needs of practical performance are best served by a musicologically reliable text which neither browbeats the interpretative artist nor denies him necessary guidance as a result of any indecisiveness. After consideration of the latest research findings, the musical text is prepared through critical comparison between accessible sources.

In view of the satisfactory situation regarding the source material (in the case of most of the sacred vocal works J.S. Bach‘s original score, or the parts used at the first performance or, ideally, both have survived) there is, as a rule, no doubt concerning the sources on which an edition should be based. The autograph scores are almost free from errors, but as a result of numerous alterations made during the compositional process the definitive reading cannot always be ascertained without doubt. Sometimes essential indications of the scoring are missing – details which Bach decided upon or specified precisely only when the performance parts were written out. He generally added performance instructions such as dynamics, articulation markings, and the figuring of the continuo line only when checking the parts which had been copied by students of the Thomasschule. In similar passages, whether in different instrumental parts played simultaneously or at various points in a movement, the details are not always given identically. In view of the extreme haste with which the parts often had to be produced for a performance, careless mistakes were almost bound to occur. Thus writing errors went uncorrected and there could easily be ambiguities regarding the intended meaning of slurs. In a few cases Bach made such important alterations for the first or a subsequent performance that publication of more than one version of a movement is desirable.

In many cases the original sources of works by Johann Sebastian Bach’s sons have survived. However, compositions by other members of the Bach family are generally known only from contemporary copies, whose reliability has to be considered in detail. The Stuttgart Bach Editions consist of three sections. The musical text is preceded by a brief Foreword, which places the work’s composition and reception in its historical context and which also discusses any particular editorial or performance problems, not least the choice of instruments. Finally, in the Critical Report the source material used for the edition is described, the editorial principles employed are summed up, and in the detailed notes all editorial deviations from the sources and significant differences between the sources are described and, if necessary, justified. The German texts are given in present-day orthography and in line with current usage; where historical phonetical and grammatical formulae require explanation this has been provided. In addition to period hymn books and editions of the Bible, surviving libretti of Bach’s time have been evaluated. Each of the recent publications contains below the German text a singable English translation, which follows the original German as closely as possible. The performance material consists of the full score, miniature score, vocal score with piano, choral score, all instrumental parts, and the keyboard continuo part which includes a suggested realisation of the figured bass.


In the Stuttgart Bach Editions all editorial alterations to the musical text which go beyond the changes necessary to bring it into line with modern practice – such as the replacement of clefs which are no longer in use – are documented appropriately. Some decisions, for example the addition of dynamic markings omitted in the original, or of staccato dots or slurs on the basis of clear analogies – all of which have been made with great care – have been indicated in the musical text by the use of small print, dotted lines, italics or brackets, none of which need specific mention in the Critical Report. The editions are revised regularly, when reprinted, on the basis of the latest musicological findings.

On occasion the original sources also contain entries which were made later. In the Stuttgart Bach Editions the attempt has always been made to decide whether these entries are to be regarded as unauthorized, or whether they are still of interest today because they derive from authentic sources which are now lost, or at least because they throw light on performance practice in Bach’s day. In such cases they are presented for discussion in the Foreword, in the Critical Report, or, appropriately marked, in the musical text.

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