Expert: Marbeth - 11/3/2010

Question
QUESTION: I taught myself the gigue from Bach's Partita no. 1 in B flat, then discovered just playing around that it feels more enjoyable to play the notes written for the left hand with the right hand and vice versa. Does anyone care about such things anymore? I also do other similar things--e.g. I play the groups of three notes in Var. 29 of the Goldberg Variations measures 10 and 11 thus: f#ad(lh),c#ge(rh), f#ad(lh),ec#g(rh), etc., so the hands seem to playfully leapfrog one another. It's just fun to play that way. In Baroque musical circles nowadays, do experts typically regard the composer as entitled to dictate how the performer fingers a piece?

ANSWER: Divide the notes between the hands as you see fit.  Usually, the division is dictated by the size of the hands; sometimes by the position of the voice between the treble and bass scores.

You still must play the key designated by the printed note (Middle C, for example), but you can use your RH, LH, nose, umbrella tip, whatever!

What you can't do is put the note/s in a different octave.

Often, dividing the notes between the hands unconventionally does result in more fun for the player, so have a go at it!
mb

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you MB.
Funny you should mention keeping the notes in the octave they were written in. In Partita No. 1 in B flat, the Allemande, measure 16, the first two notes in the left hand are the only two of Bach's notes I have ever been tempted to transpose into a different (in this case lower) octave. No matter how many times I have tried to get used to it, the jump of a tenth from the low C to the E above middle C sounds jarring to my ear. I don't understand it musically. I justify transposing down on the piano for the E and G (creating a continuous, rather than a sharply broken, melodic line) with the hypothesis that Bach's keyboards when he wrote this (whether a harpsichord or a clavier) did not have the punch in that lower range to signal a decisive start to the finale of the piece. But my piano has to do the opposite--underplay the E--in order not to sound jarring, and so ruins the drama of the transition. Perhaps you can explain what is going on there in terms of conventions I am missing?

Answer
Well, I don't think harpsichords of the time lacked punch in the lower registers because they did have thicker strings.  I think the problem would be compass.  Sometimes harpsichords (and clavichords) had what's called a "short octave."  This would explain a 10th:  it felt like an octave or less (depending on the pitches).  I wonder if this might be a factor?

While it's true that "Bach wrote what he wanted, and it's up to us to make it happen," he didn't write things that were impossible (relatively speakinhg - ha ha!).  

Also consider that Bach's pieces were designed to be played on any keyboard [Klavier].  Clavichords almost always have a short octave.  Organs go down only to two octaves below Middle C.  This makes them the same range.

HTH
As to conventions, I think Bach set them, not followed them!
mb