Trio d minor, BWV 583

There remains no autograph of this Trio. All sources of this work are copies written somewhere after Bach's death. Though there were once 11 manuscripts with a version of this Trio, nowadyas only four manuscripts survive. Some of the now lost manuscripts were used for editions from Breitkopf or from Griepnkerl, so we do have a source for the text of those now lost manuscripts.

All still existing manuscripts, and the lost manuscripts of which we still have the editions that were based upon them , have a different reading of this Trio. The core is the same in all versions but they differ in the ornaments and in some small details. Roughly speaking, the more recent the manuscript is, and thus, the longer after Bach's death they were written, the more ornaments are written in the manuscript.

And since there is no autograph extant, it is impossible to say for certian which version is the more authentic. Though a reasonable assumption is that the oldest manuscript source, is perhaps themost true to the original version.

Another interesting fact is that of the four Organ Trios BWV 583 - 586 at least three are not original organ works (BWV 584 - 586). And BWV 585 is not even a composition by Bach. So, it is possible BWV 583 is also an adaptation of another work of even possibly composed by another composer.

The oldest still existing manuscript (Mus Ms Bach P286) designates this composition as "Choral Vorspiel". Though many have tried, a likely candidate for the choral on which this composition could be based has never been found. So, the title is probably an error from the scribe of the manuscript.

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Score available here: http://partitura.org/index.php/johann-sebastian-bach-trio-d-minor-bwv-583