JAVS Spring 2025

Table 1. Bach’s lute transcriptions.

none of the tablature were notated by Bach himself. 13 Instead, manuscripts were copied by several lute players, with differences in the tablature showing distinct minor adjustments. The only extant source for BWV 1000 is a tablature by lutist Johan Christian Weyrauch (1694-1771) and the nineteenth century copy of staff notation by Carl Ferdinand Becker (1804-1877) based on the tablature. 14 There are few significant differences between the two sources for this piece. One of the most noticeable changes from BWV 1001 to BWV 1000 includes an addition of

one and a half bars at the middle of m. 3. Instead of four subject entries, five are notated. In the lute transcription, the subject entry at m. 3 is in the lowest register within the whole fugue (See Example 1). In contrast, the lowest subject entry occurs much later at m. 82 in the violin version. Musicologists David Ledbetter and Tilman Hoppstock both believe that it was Weyrauch who made the transcription, arguing Bach would never make such a decision. 15 On the other hand, musicologist André Burguéte argues that these significant changes could only happen when the composer was involved. 16

Example 1. BWV 1000. mm. 1-5.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 41, No. 1, Spring 2025

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