4th Brandenburg concert

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Johann Sebastian Bach's Fourth Brandenburg Concerto , BWV 1049, is a concerto for solo violin, two recorders and string orchestra. The work is part of a collection of six concerts that Bach sent to Margrave Christian Ludwig von Brandenburg-Schwedt in March 1721 under the title Six Concerts avec plusieurs instruments in score . The individual works in this collection differ greatly in terms of cast, size and character.

occupation

Various hypotheses were discussed in the professional world as to what Bach could have meant when he called Fiauti d'Echo, " echo flutes ". Presumably they were double flutes of the kind that can be seen in a picture in Christoph Weigel's book of status, published in 1698 : two recorders built in a common instrument body, which differed in volume and sound and thus enabled terrace dynamics. Two echo flutes are recorded in the inventory lists of the Köthener Hof and may well come from Bach's time. "Separate-tube" double recorders of the type that can be seen in the Leipzig Museum of Musical Instruments, on the other hand, are hardly suitable for playing these demanding flute parts.

The Fourth Brandenburg Concerto is the only work known today that uses these instruments.

Origin and later version

The highly developed motivic work in all three movements, the seamless unity of the whole concert and the “intention of the composer to break through an absolutely regular period and proportioning” suggest that it was created together with the second concert as the last of the collection, probably 1720 is. This is also indicated by the small number of corrections in the dedication score.

A composition score or an early version of the concert has not survived, but a Leipzig reworking for the harpsichord concerto in F major (BWV 1057). Bach also uses the two recorders there, but gives their parts to the harpsichord in the middle movement; probably because echo flutes were not available here. The flutes there seem more like a wind section within the orchestra, and the solo coembalo more solo than the violin in the original version.

music

The work follows the three-movement sequence usual in the Baroque period, fast - slow - fast :

  • Allegro 3/8 in G major
  • Andante 3/4 in E minor
  • Presto ¢ G major

First sentence

The first movement consists of five sections of roughly equal length, each ending with a characteristic cadence in hemioles . The movement is consistently notated in 3/8 time, but in all instruments there are always shifts in emphasis against the basic time - this often results in short sequences in 3/4 time, also shifted against each other in several instrumental groups. This characteristic runs through the entire movement, so that it can be viewed as a virtuoso, large-scale rhythmic study.

The flutes are used for long periods like an orchestral group alongside the strings; For example, they expose the ritornello theme right at the beginning, supported by the string orchestra only with chord strokes. The solo violin, also supported by the orchestra, then brings the theme to a close with repeating sixteenth notes. The flutes now introduce a kind of second theme that begins in 3/4 time and ends in 3/8 in sequences; the opening ritornello returns, and the clear cadence with hemiole mentioned above closes this first part in the root key of G major.

The second section introduces the violin as a solo instrument and leads to the resumption of the flute theme; the final cadence shows that we have reached the parallel minor key . The third section begins with an imitation playing of the two flutes and the continuo; after a while the solo violin suddenly sets virtuoso thirty-two-digit runs against it, while flutes and orchestral violins are now dramatically juxtaposed. Finally, the solo violin with energetic double stops establishes itself as the third element - here the subdominant has been reached.

The fourth section begins with scurrying pianissimo runs of the violins and then returns to the solo passages of the second part. Most of the thematic material is taken up again here and harmoniously intensified; The aim of the extensive modulation passage is the dominant parallel. Bach marks this passage with an unexpected short unison of the strings, followed by a full recapitulation of the first section.

Second sentence

The slow movement is a sarabande in which the two flutes repeat the motifs of the strings like echoes and the solo violin only functions as their bass. Here, too, five mold sections are each closed by a hemiole ; This is followed by a small solo cadenza from the first flute and a concluding Phrygian cadenza from the orchestra. The sentence ends on the dominant.

Third sentence

The final movement is a large concerted five-part fugue with extensive solo passages, particularly the violin. The integration of the two shape models ritornello form and fugue is unique: For example, the fugue theme itself is handled very variably; the first fourth is repeatedly replaced by an octave as it progresses, or Bach only uses the second part of the theme, an upbeat chain of quarters, and develops a counterpoint and accompanying figures for the solo passages.

The first solo episode begins with the violin drive, in which the flutes develop a motivic play from the theme until the orchestra starts again (now in the dominant key ). The second solo begins in the parallel minor key and focuses entirely on the violin, which shows its virtuosity in highly virtuoso runs and bariolage effects. The tutti modulates back to the dominant; the third solo episode is performed by the recorder duo alone and - after a short tutti inserted - takes up material from the first solo.

The end is announced by a point on the organ , then Bach unexpectedly stops the running movement three times before opening the way to a stretta- like, suggested narrowing and concluding the movement.

Web links

Commons : Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

grades

Recordings

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Josef Wagner: The "Fiauti d'Echo" in Johann Sebastian Bach's fourth Brandenburg Concerto (BWV 1049) . In: TIBIA , magazine for woodwinds, Celle, 34th year, issue 4/2009
  2. ↑ Klaus Hofmann: Old and new reflections on Bach's Brandenburg Concerts and especially on the flute parts of the fourth concerto. In: Peter Wollny (Ed.): Bach yearbook 2019. Evang. Verlagsanstalt Leipzig, 2019, ISBN 978-3-374-06339-0 , pages 99–122, here pages 104–122
  3. ↑ a b Lorenzo Alpert: The echo flute . Weigel's engraving “Der Pfeiffenmacher” with the echo flute is also shown there.
  4. ↑ Michael Zapf: Echo Flute . In: Siegbert Rampe, Dominik Sackmann: Bach's orchestral music . Kassel 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1345-7 , p. 279
  5. ^ Bild Musikinstrumentenmuseum der Universität Leipzig
  6. ↑ Sjur Haga Bringeland: Bach's enigmatic "echo flutes". In: Bach magazine issue 32, 2018/2019, pages 26-27, ISSN 1611-5724
  7. ^ Siegbert Rampe, Dominik Sackmann: Bach's Orchestermusik , Kassel 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1345-7 , p. 244
  8. ^ Gerd Rienäcker : curves, contradictions - on the first movement of the fourth Brandenburg Concerto . In: Martin Geck (Ed.): Bach's orchestral works. Report on the 1st Dortmund Bach Symposium 1996 . Witten 1997, ISBN 3-932676-04-1