Johann Sebastian Bach's Violin Concertos, BWV 1041–1043, and his six Brandenburg Concertos survive in their original instrumentation. His harpsichord concertos are mostly adaptations of concertos originally written for other solo instruments.[1]
In his early career Bach transcribed concertos by other composers for solo organ (BWV 592–596) and for solo harpsichord (BWV 972–987). Bach's Italian Concerto, composed in 1735, was one of his few works that he published during his life-time: it is an example of an unaccompanied concerto for two-manual harpsichord.
The earliest documentary traces of Bach's involvement with the concerto genre include:
See also: Weimar concerto transcription (Bach). Bach wrote most, if not all, of his concerto transcriptions for organ (BWV 592–596) and for harpsichord (BWV 972–987) from July 1713 to July 1714. Most of these transcriptions were based on concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Other models for the transcriptions included concertos by Alessandro Marcello, Benedetto Marcello, Georg Philipp Telemann and Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
| BWV | Key | Instr. | Model | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 592 | G major | organ | Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar | |
| 592a | G major | harpsichord | Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar ; BWV 592 | |
| 593 | A minor | organ | data-sort-value="Vivaldi, Op. 3 No. 08" | Vivaldi, Op. 3 No. 8: Concerto in A minor for two violins and strings, RV 522 |
| 594 | C major | organ | Vivaldi, RV 208: Violin Concerto in D major "Grosso Mogul" (variant RV 208a published as Op. 7 No. 11) | |
| 595 | C major | organ | Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar , first movement, and/or BWV 984/1 | |
| 596 | D minor | organ | Vivaldi, Op. 3 No. 11: Concerto in D minor for two violins, cello and strings, RV 565 | |
| 972 | D major | harpsichord | data-sort-value="Vivaldi, Op. 3 No. 09" | Vivaldi, Op. 3 No. 9: Violin Concerto in D major, RV 230; BWV 972a |
| 972a | D major | harpsichord | data-sort-value="Vivaldi, Op. 3 No. 09" | Vivaldi, Op. 3 No. 9: Violin Concerto in D major, RV 230 |
| 973 | G major | harpsichord | Vivaldi, RV 299: Violin Concerto in G major (published as Op. 7 No. 8) | |
| D minor | harpsichord | Marcello, A. | ||
| 975 | G minor | harpsichord | Vivaldi, RV 316 (variant RV 316a, Violin Concerto in G minor, published as Op. 4 No. 6) | |
| 976 | C major | harpsichord | Vivaldi, Op. 3 No. 12: Violin Concerto in E major, RV 265 | |
| 977 | C major | harpsichord | ||
| 978 | F major | harpsichord | data-sort-value="Vivaldi, Op. 3 No. 03" | Vivaldi, Op. 3 No. 3: Violin Concerto in G major, RV 310 |
| 979 | B minor | harpsichord | Vivaldi, RV 813: Violin Concerto in D minor (formerly RV Anh. 10 attributed to Torelli)[11] [12] | |
| 980 | G major | harpsichord | Vivaldi, RV 383: Violin Concerto in B-flat major, (variant RV 383a published as Op. 4 No. 1) | |
| 981 | C minor | harpsichord | Marcello, B. Concerto Op. 1 No. 2 | |
| 982 | harpsichord | Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar Concerto Op. 1 No. 1 | ||
| 983 | G minor | harpsichord | ||
| 984 | C major | harpsichord | Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar , and/or BWV 595 | |
| 985 | G minor | harpsichord | Telemann | |
| 986 | G major | harpsichord | ||
| 987 | D minor | harpsichord | Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar Concerto Op. 1 No. 4 |
See main article: article and Brandenburg Concertos.
See also: Violin Concerto in A minor (Bach), Violin Concerto in E major (Bach) and Concerto for Two Violins (Bach).
See also: Organ Sonatas (Bach). The Sonate auf Concertenart (sonata in the style of a concerto) format appears for example in Bach's organ sonatas.
Apart from adaptations of movements of his earlier concertos into his cantatas, Bach also directly composed movements of his vocal works in the concerto form: for example the opening chorus of his cantata BWV 7 has been described as having the format of an Italian violin concerto movement. Another example is the opening choral movement of Bach's Magnificat, the form of which only becomes, in Spitta's words, "thoroughly intelligible" when analysed as a concerto form.[13]
See main article: article and Keyboard concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach.
BWV 1061a, a concerto for two harpsichords without accompaniment, is Bach's original version of the Concerto for two harpsichords and strings, BWV 1061.
See main article: article and Italian Concerto. Bach's Italian Concerto, BWV 971, was published in 1735, as first of two compositions included in Clavier-Übung II.
See main article: article and Triple Concerto, BWV 1044.
Bach rarely used the name "Cantata" to indicate a vocal composition. Instead, "Concerto", closer to names of cantata precursors such as geistliches Konzert (spiritual concerto) and Choralkonzert (chorale concerto), is the name he used most often to indicate those compositions which later became known as his cantatas.
See main article: article and Sinfonia in D major, BWV 1045. BWV 1045, a movement in concerto form for violin and orchestra, is the opening of a cantata titled "Concerto" in Bach's autograph ("J J Concerto. à 4 Voci. 3 Trombe, Tamburi, 2 Hautb: Violino ConC. 2 Violini, Viola e Cont.").[14] The music breaks off before the vocalists enter. In the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis it appears as "Konzertsatz in D" (Concerto movement in D major), in the range of the orchestral concertos (BWV 1041–65).
For organ:
For harpsichord:
For chamber ensemble:
Orchestral concertos:
Detailed accounts of possible or conjectural reconstructions of Bach's harpsichord concertos for other solo instruments have been described systematically in the hand-book of Siegbert Rampe. No discussion for reconstructions is needed concerning the well-known two violin concertos BWV 1041, BWV 1042 and the double violin concerto BWV 1043, since these predate the harpsichord versions, BWV 1058, BWV 1054 and BWV 1062 respectively. The concerto BWV 1057 for harpsichord and two flutes or recorders also has an extant original: the 4th Brandenburg Concerto, BWV 1049. The concerto for two unaccompanied harpsichords BWV 1061a was modified slightly by adding strings in the first and last movements to produce BWV 1061. Vivaldi's concerto for four violins Op. 3 No. 10 was reworked by Bach as his concerto for four harpsichords BWV 1065.
The 5th Brandenburg Concerto, BWV 1050, always was a concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord, also in its earlier version BWV 1050a. Earlier versions for unaccompanied keyboard instruments of all three movements of the Triple Concerto, BWV 1044, are extant. Other harpsichord concertos, and related cantata movements if available, have been the basis for several reconstructions. The letter "R", abbreviation of "Reconstruction", can be added to the BWV number of an extant Bach concerto to indicate a conjectured original of such concerto.[16]
See also: BWV 1052. Based on BWV 1052, 1052a and/or on cantata movements BWV 146/1 (Sinfonia) and /2 (Chorus), and/or on what is known regarding the lost opening Sinfonia of BWV 188 (a variant of the third movement of BWV 1052 scored for oboe, strings and obligato organ):
Based on BWV 1053 and/or cantata movements BWV 169/1 (Sinfonia), /5 (Aria) and 49/1 (Sinfonia):
Based on BWV 1055:
Based on BWV 1056 and/or (for the middle movement) BWV 156/1 (Sinfonia):
Based on the BWV 1059 fragment and on cantata movements BWV 35/1 (Sinfonia of Part I), 156/1 (Sinfonia) or 35/2 (Aria), and 35/5 (Sinfonia of Part II):
Based on BWV 1060:
Based on BWV 1063:
Based on BWV 1064: