Is Bach's Chaconne harder on violin or guitar or is it equally frustrating on both?

Answer 1

Now this is a difficult question!

Physically, I'd have to vote that the Chaconne in D minor from Bach's second partita for solo violin is more difficult on violin. It involves many chords which span four or five positions, requiring the player of a modern violin to deal with how to present each note of the chord with the bow as well as the difficulty of fingering them. Certainly the guitar wins here, because the player has all the fingers of the right hand to apply to striking all the notes of the chord at the same time.

Both instruments therefore have to deal with sustain: for the violin, some of the notes of each chord (and therefore important parts of the polyphony which must be carried forward) cannot be sustained if the bow cannot be applied to all strings at once. On the guitar, however, getting a chord to sustain over long periods of time requires the player to have developed a very good technique, and carrying the polyphony can be even more problematic. Many professional players and teachers of the guitar have (irrationally, to my thoughts) declared the guitar as not being capable of polyphony in the first place!

So, certainly, in both cases, the player has to have spent time becoming the master of their instrument before confronting the piece. After that, the difficulties lie mostly in understanding the piece and getting the instrument to carry one's interpretation to the listener.

It is worth noting, for historical completeness, that Bach created versions of movements from the Partitas for the lute, which is in some ways like the guitar. Usually, he rewrote the pieces, rather than carrying them note-for-note. Likewise, within the historical period, written chords like the chaconne provides were arpeggiated (even on violin) in order to carry the polyphonic voices and fill the sustain-weak area between chords. I have not yet heard anyone, lute, guitar or violin, apply this technique to the chaconne, though!