A performance guide to J. S. Bach's Suite No. 5 for violoncello solo: The interpretation of the ornaments, rhythm, bowing and phrasing, and polyphonic texture

The performance of Baroque music has increased extensively in the last few decades. However, there still remain stylistic concerns when playing Baroque music. Many inexperienced musicians do not know the differences between the notation and the actual sound of Baroque music. This lack of information in modern editions badly influences Baroque music performance of today in ornamentation, articulation, rhythm, dynamic and even analysis of musical structure. Although a few editions have a few general explanations about Baroque performance practice, they do not help the non-Baroque expert very much at all. Among many categories of Baroque performance practice, this document will be focused mostly on rhythm, ornamentation, bowing and phrasing, and polyphony. Rhythm and ornament are the most essential features in the Baroque music. Because no autography of these suites by J. S. Bach survived, bowing and phrasing could be one of the most conflictive subjects in these suites. Also, because Bach intended to produce polyphonic texture in these suites through a very peculiar style, the polyphonic texture of these suites could be one of the most important features. In these suites, polyphony is produced when two or more voices are played simultaneously, independent voices intertwine, the musical line proceeds in such a way that more than one voice result. By means of multiple stops and even single melodic lines, Bach suggested an interplay of independent voices.;In the fifth suite, Bach made an effort to obtain certain effects of sonority by using scordatura, and as Bach never employed scordatura in any other piece for any string instrument, it will be necessary to briefly talk about scordatura. Finally, this guide will provide a carefully edited even rewritten transcription of the suite which, I believe, reproduces the composer's intentions as accurately as possible. Although there are more than 80 different editions of these suites today, this guide will be in different notation on notes, rhythms, and so on. This transcription is intended primarily for performance purposes because it will follow the actual sound of Baroque performance, instead of just notation.