Bach’s six violin soli have come down to us in a particularly beautiful fair copy made by the composer himself. They, along with the six cello suites, are regarded as musical and technical milestones of musical literature. Bach skilfully employs the resources of the violin to produce genuine polyphony in some sections through the use of arpeggiated chords and double stops. The culmination of these achievements is the famous Chaconne from the second Partita, which achieves great musical density while presenting the violinist with previously unheard-of technical challenges. The part marked by Wolfgang Schneiderhahn accommodates practical use and includes suggestions for accords and arpeggios.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
