JS Bach Andante from Organ Sonata No. 4 BWV 528 for guitar
My arrangement for classical guitar of this meditative slow movement.
Sheet music PDF.
Edition notes
In the slow movement of Bach’s Organ Sonata No. 4, short phrases are continuously exchanged between the voices - an interplay of repetitive but ever-shifting motifs. My arrangement here has many simplifications to allow playing on the guitar, but I’ve tried to retain the sense of a methodical, continual pulse underpinning an interwoven texture. I haven’t been too concerned with keeping each voice technically distinct and separated, so long as there is an overall feeling of ebb and flow.
Elements that are impractical or ineffective on guitar have been cut - eg the sustained notes bars 11-13, and the trills in bars 38-39 in the 2nd manual part. Some of the 32nd-note passages have been simplified to 16th-note phrases for ease of playing, eg bars 16-18. In the short ascending and descending bass phrases (bars 11-21, 28-38), the duration of the final note in each phrase has been shortened, to allow fluidity in left hand position shifts.
The pedal part has frequent omissions, and octave shifts where necessary to fit the range of the guitar. In the opening phrase and elsewhere, bass note durations are kept short rather than ringing on, for a somewhat restrained approach. Harmonically, I’ve tried to retain the same chord inversions, sometimes choosing to shift octave in the upper (manual) parts to facilitate this, eg bars 9-10. This also gives a bit more tonal variation across the piece, employing more of the guitar’s range.
When notating on a single staff for guitar, I’ve taken a pragmatic approach to avoid too much clutter, only rendering the polyphony as three separate voices in a few short-lived stretches.
The marked trills are suggested as supported above-note (appoggiatura) single-string trills, re-articulating after the held upper auxiliary, with a rest point on the main note. At bar 4, this has been partially written out. Alternatively, some or all of the trills could be omitted.
Links
Bach, JS BWV 528 autograph manuscript facsimile https://opac.rism.info/metaopac/search?View=rism&id=467300871&Language=en
IMSLP BWV 528 various editions https://imslp.org/wiki/Organ_Sonata_No.4_in_E_minor%2C_BWV_528_(Bach%2C_Johann_Sebastian)
Bach Digital entry for BWV 528 https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000600
Edition summary
| Title | Organ Sonata No. 4 in E minor, II. Andante |
| Composer | Johann Sebastian Bach |
| Work number | BWV 528 |
| Instrument | Guitar |
| Arranger | Jonty Dawson |
| Edition date | 2023-08-14 |
| Page count | 4 |
| Edition PDF | bach-js-bwv528-organ-sonata-4-andante-guitar.pdf |