J.S. Bach: Arioso

[Martin Jonas]

Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata "Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe", BWV 156
1. Sinfonia - Arioso

This is Bach's famous "Arioso", played on mandolin with piano accompaniment. This tune was written as the instrumental introduction to the cantata, played on oboe and orchestra.

My recording is on mandolin, transposed to G major, using a MIDI piano accompaniment generated by Musescore from:

https://musescore.com/user/30892962/scores/5401413

1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia mandolin
Musescore MIDI piano soundfonts



This Arioso was one of the first classical pieces I ever tried to play on the mandolin, as it was one of the .tef files in the old Mandozine TablEdit collection. It didn't make much sense to me then, but when I came across this violin and piano setting on Musescore it clicked into place -- great fun to play and not difficult.

I attach the PDF of the mandolin part. The indicated fingerings don't make much sense to me, so I've ignored them.

Martin