Harpsichord Concerts (Bach)

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Seven concertos for a harpsichord , strings and basso continuo by Johann Sebastian Bach have been preserved in a collective manuscript - one of them also uses two recorders. In addition, there are three concertos for two harpsichords, two for three and one concert for four harpsichords, each with strings and basso continuo.

Bach's concertos for solo harpsichord without orchestra are not the subject of this article. On the one hand, this is a collection of sixteen arrangements of concerts by other authors (BWV 972 to 987) that Bach made in Weimar in order to study the new genre, and on the other hand the Italian Concerto BWV 971, which Bach performed in 1734 within the second part of the Published keyboard exercise .

Emergence

Zimmermannisches Caffee-Haus (right)

The harpsichord concerts were written in Leipzig between around 1729 and 1740, when Bach directed the Collegium Musicum founded by Telemann and organized concerts in the " Zimmermannisches Caffee-Hauß ". After a first experiment in 1720/21 in the fifth Brandenburg Concerto , Bach used the harpsichord as a solo instrument on a large scale for the first time . The biographers assume that Bach wanted to give his two eldest sons the opportunity to perform as a soloist and to gain experience in the concerts with several solo embellas.

After the death of Augustus the Strong , music was not allowed to be played in public for a few months; on June 17, 1733, the Leipzig press announced the resumption of the concerts of the Collegium Musicum on the following day and promised a special instrument: "a new clavicymbal , something like this has not yet been heard here". This was probably the occasion on which Bach presented his harpsichord concertos. If the new instrument wasn't just a particularly large harpsichord, it could have been a lute or viol piano or a large pantalon shaped like a grand piano . The fortepiano was not developed until the 1740s far enough to Bach to satisfy claims, and even 15 years later became generally regarded as solo and chamber music instrument: "This is a Cammer instrument, and therefore starcken no church Music or a whole orchestra comfortably. ”( Johann Mattheson ).

In the vast majority of cases, preserved original versions, studies of the handwriting and stylistic considerations show that Bach arranged an existing concerto for another instrument. Individual movements of the concerts also appear as instrumental introductory movements of cantatas and in each case also go back independently to the underlying original form, i.e. not to its version as a harpsichord concerto.

In the case of an original with a violin, Bach was forced to transpose the concerto down by a whole tone because of the range (on the violin up to e '' ', on the harpsichord only up to d' ''). Two processing methods can be distinguished: either the left hand of the solo instrument is the carrier of the original bass line, and the cello and bass of the orchestra are only added in the tutti passages, or the orchestral bass keeps its bass line and Bach added a new voice for the left hand of the Harpsichords.

To this day, music practice does not fully accept that Bach wanted to replace a violin with a harpsichord, although many detailed improvements and the entire type of reworking of the solo parts (when replacing violin-typical figures with harpsichord-suitable passages) show enough care and interest on the part of the author; it is certainly not about unpopular odd jobs. With one exception, no continuo parts have survived, and here it is assumed that they belonged to the underlying oboe concerto, as it is very doubtful that the pieces were played with an additional continuo embalo. In these works and some chamber music sonatas with an obbligato harpsichord, many researchers see Bach's endeavor to break away from the usual basso continuo practice, and now tend to see final versions in these concerts, which, according to Bach's will, instead of the original versions should kick.

The concerts of the autograph manuscript

As far as we know today, Bach first wrote the Concerto in G minor BWV 1058 and the fragment BWV 1059 around 1738, then the other six concerts on different paper and with different headings. The layers were later tied in reverse order, so that today's count (also in the Bachwerk directory) differs.

Concerto in D minor BWV 1052

Concerto in D minor (BWV 1052)
sentences
  • Allegro ¢ D minor
  • Adagio 3/4 in G minor
  • Allegro 3/4 in D minor
Further versions
  • BWV 1052a, probably by a variant, also as Cembalokonzert Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach arranged
  • Movement 1 in Cantata 146 We have to go through much tribulation with a concert organ
  • Movement 2 also in cantata 146, with a concert organ and added choral movement.
  • Movement 3 as the opening movement to cantata 188 I have only passed on fragmentary evidence of my confidence with the organ playing.
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Stylistic reasons and those of the range suggest an archetype in D minor for strings; especially the unaccompanied solos play very clearly with the possibilities of the empty d and a strings of a violin (a so-called bariolage effect). The purely three-part string movement in the final movement is striking; closer examination shows that there is no real four-part voice in the first movement either. It is possible that both movements were originally based on a concerto with a three-part tutti; the actually four-part middle movement has only a small range of the solo instrument and could come from another source. In general, research suspects a first version by another composer (as a violin concerto), which Bach arranged (also for violin) and added his own middle movement. On this basis he would then have created cantata movements with a concert organ on the one hand, and the harpsichord concerto on the other.

Probably the most frequently performed work of this group is characterized by an unusually passionate mood. Albert Schweitzer countered doubts about Bach's authorship with the counter-question: Who besides Bach could have written such a work? The rich ornamentation of the solo part in the middle movement somewhat obscures the fact that it and the line of the first violin imitate one another.

Concerto in E major BWV 1053

Concerto in E major BWV 1053
sentences
  • (without designation) c E major
  • Siciliano 12/8 in C sharp minor
  • Allegro 3/8 in E major
Further versions
  • 1st movement in cantata 169 God alone should have my heart (with obbligato organ)
  • 2nd movement as aria Stirb in mir, Welt , also in cantata 169 (with solo organ and alto part).
  • 3rd movement as an introductory symphony in cantata 49 I go and search with desire with an obbligato organ.
Emergence

In this concert, the small range suggests a concert for wind instrument as the original version. Various possibilities were discussed here, including an oboe concerto in E flat major. More recently, the viola has been suggested as a solo instrument; This can be countered by the fact that there is too little baroque comparative material for this instrument to support this thesis - Bach himself presented a more virtuoso treatment of the viola in the Sixth Brandenburg Concerto than this concerto would offer. Source-critical considerations also speak against a viola.

Christoph Wolff considers it to be an original organ concert and connects the composition with Bach's performance on September 21, 1725 in Dresden, where it can be proven that he performed one or more concerts with strings. Nevertheless, Siegbert Rampe and Dominik Sachs come to the conclusion, due to the tonal ranges and considerations in terms of sound and playing technique, that it could originally only have been a work for oboe d'amore and strings in D major. They give Koethen 1718/19 as the time of origin.

Concerto in D major BWV 1054

Concerto in D major BWV 1054
sentences
  • (no name) ¢ D major
  • Adagio e piano semper 3/4 B minor
  • Allegro 3/8 in D major
Further versions
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The work is a careful revision of the well-known violin concerto. The first movement is unusual because of its dense motivic work: the accompaniment quotes motifs from the theme almost continuously; In combination with a clear ABA structure (the first part is completely repeated without any changes), the sentence appears very "modern" within Bach's overall oeuvre. Something similar can be said about the final movement with its rondo form, which only brings the theme in the basic key and sets four - increasingly virtuoso - solo sections in between, which Bach adapted accordingly for the harpsichord.

The middle movement suggests a Passacaglia at the beginning , but quickly abandons the strict connection to the presented theme and only uses the motif of the theme in the bass and the final cadence.

Concerto in A major BWV 1055

Concerto in A major BWV 1055
sentences
  • Allegro ¢ A major
  • Larghetto 12/8 in F sharp minor
  • Allegro ma non tanto 3/8 in A major
Further versions
  • (none received)
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The range (except for the introductory arpeggios during the tutti theme) suggests an original concerto for oboe d'amore . The concert is often performed in this form; however, it could also have originally been written for viola d'amore . In all three movements, the tutti and solo themes clearly stand out from each other. The large intervals of the first violin and the strongly dissonant and cautious harmony make the middle movement appear unusually expressive. The final movement juxtaposes a kind of peasant dance with slowly progressing harmony with the glittering thirty-second notes in strings and solo instrument.

Concerto in F minor BWV 1056

Concerto in F minor BWV 1056
sentences
  • (no designation) 2/4 in F minor
  • Largo in A flat major
  • Presto 3/8 in F minor
Further versions
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A strikingly short work with a rather small structure, which is therefore generally regarded as an early composition by Bach. Nevertheless - after the Concerto in D minor BWV 1052 - it is probably the second most frequently performed from this series. The fact that the closing phrase of the ritornello is treated differently in the first movement suggests an original key of G minor; the range of the key movements and some stylistic details suggest that a violin was the original instrument. However, the middle movement does not match either in key or in scope - it may have come from another concerto, and the cantata movement that has survived suggests an oboe here. Bach transposed the movement to A flat major and at the end made the connection to the basic key through an unusual modulation.

Concerto in F major BWV 1057

sentences
  • (no name) 3/8 in F major
  • Andante 3/4 in D minor
  • Allegro assai in C / F major
Further versions
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The scoring is harpsichord certato, due Fiauti a bec, due Violini, Viola e Cont. ; So Bach adds two recorders. It is an arrangement of the Fourth Brandenburg Concerto and once again uses the harpsichord in place of the original violin. The first movement is striking because of its extremely lively periodicality, which repeatedly inserts bars, shifts the key points of the individual instrumental groups against each other and creates tension through frequent hemioli . The first theme entry is six bars long (bars 5 and 6 as a sequence of the previous one); in the subsequent transposed repetition, another bar is inserted, etc. The middle movement is a stylized saraband , in which the harpsichord is used against the strings in the style of multiple choirs (it takes over the parts of the original flute / violin trio). The final movement is a large-scale fugue with extensive solos, again of course for the harpsichord.

Concerto in G minor BWV 1058

sentences
  • (no designation) 2/4 G minor
  • Andante c in B flat major
  • Allegro assai in G minor 9/8
Further versions
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In the version as a violin concerto in A minor, the work is one of Bach's most famous concerts. The slow movement is a Passacaglia (so it has a consistent bass throughout); In the third, the continuous triplet rhythm is noticeable on comfortably advancing bass quarters, which is only interrupted by the solo violin by virtuoso sixteenth notes.

Concerto in D minor BWV 1059

Set name
  • (without designation) ¢ D minor
Further versions
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Only a nine-bar fragment of this concerto with the indication "Harpsichord solo, una oboe, due violini, viola, e Cont." Is preserved, which confuses a slightly edited version of the beginning of the introductory symphony (with obbligato organ) of the cantata Geist und Seele (BWV 35). Since cantata No. 35 contains a further instrumental movement at the beginning of the second part, it is assumed today that these two movements formed the cornerstones of the original concerto. Since the opening aria of the cantata also uses an obbligato organ as a solo instrument (and adds an alto part), Philipp Spitta suspected the middle movement of the concerto here. In this case, an original solo part from the parts of the organ and the alto must be created for the reconstruction. Some musicologists saw this as an argument against using this aria as a middle movement. On the other hand, Bach repeatedly arranged middle movements of his concerts as cantata arias (and vice versa).

The range of the soloist in the two cantata symphonies suggests an oboe as the original solo instrument. The uninterrupted sixteenth note movements in the 3rd movement of the harpsichord version would not allow breathing, however, so the solo part in the 3rd movement of the original version for oboe must most likely have been adapted accordingly. The small range would be very unusual for the violin; an octave lower (than viola, gamba or cello concerto) the solo instrument would too often be obscured by the orchestral accompaniment. It cannot be completely ruled out that the version for keyboard instrument could have been the only one.

The use of the oboe, which only amplifies the first violin in the surviving section, is also unclear. Perhaps in some places - for example in the slow movement - she should have taken on solo tasks.

Further concerts with a solo harpsichord

Two further concerts are not included in the collective manuscript, but should be mentioned as concertante works with solo harpsichord. They have the same line-up - a group consisting of solo harpsichord, flute and violin, opposing the strings and the basso continuo; in both works the middle movement is played exclusively by the soloists.

According to the current state of research, the compositions are among the earliest concerts with a solo harpsichord in the entire history of music.

Fifth Brandenburg Concerto BWV 1050

sentences
  • Allegro ¢ D major
  • Affettuoso in B minor
  • Allegro 2/4 in D major
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The composition was written by 1720 at the latest and was then included in the collection of the six Brandenburg Concerts that Bach completed in 1721. In the orchestral setting, it is noticeable that the second violin is missing - the work is probably written for a very small ensemble with solo strings.

Triple Concerto in A minor BWV 1044

sentences
  • Allegro in c a minor
  • Adagio ma non tanto e dolce 6/8 in C major
  • Alla breve ¢ a minor
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This concerto is an arrangement: the only known case of this kind was its corner movements from a prelude with fugue for harpsichord (BWV 894). In his preludes and fugues in the early Weimar period, Bach had begun to adapt the new Italian concert form; this background may have contributed to make the work appear suitable for this purpose.

For the middle movement, Bach used the Adagio of the Trio Sonata in D minor for organ (BWV 527); he added a fourth accompanying part to the three-part movement and then distributed the three upper parts alternately to the solo instruments.

Emergence

The orchestral setting is unusually colorful thanks to the use of double stops, pizzicato and very finely graduated dynamics; this finds parallels with Bach in the late Leipzig years and could go back to the influence of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel . The large range of the solo ensemble also led to the work being dated to after 1740 and possibly associated with one of Bach's visits to Berlin (1741 and 1747).

However, recent style-critical studies show the opposite picture. According to this, the corner movements of the concert would have been written in Weimar around 1716, a few years after the work on which it was based had been written - tending to be before the fifth Brandenburg Concerto. Only the middle movement would have been inserted later. However, the authors confirm Bach's authorship.

Concerts for two harpsichords

Concerto in C minor for two harpsichords BWV 1060

sentences
  • Allegro in C minor
  • Adagio 12/8 in E flat major
  • Allegro 2/4 in C minor
Emergence

The pitch ranges and the different treatment of the two instruments led to the realization early on that a concerto for violin and oboe is the basis. The bigger problem is the question of its original key. Today it is mostly played in D minor, but an inconspicuous passage in the figuration of the solo violin can only be explained if the original version (or an intermediate version with violin) was also in C minor.

Concerto in C major for two harpsichords BWV 1061

sentences
  • (without designation) c in C major
  • Adagio ovvero Largo “ (Quartetto tacet) ” 6/8 in A minor
  • Fuga in C major
Emergence

The harpsichord style and the minor role of the orchestra, which only doubles existing lines and is completely silent in the middle movement, suggest that the work was originally conceived for two harpsichords alone - an instrumentation that Bach otherwise only had with two contrapuncts in the art of Joint occurs. In any case, Forkel was of this opinion , who wrote in his Bach biography of 1802: It can exist without the accompaniment of bow instruments, and then it looks very excellent. The last Allegro is a strictly and magnificently crafted fugue.

The performance material was created between 1732 and 1735.

Concerto in C minor for two harpsichords BWV 1062

sentences
  • (no designation) in C minor
  • Andante 12/8 in E flat major
  • Allegro assai 3/4 in C minor
Emergence

The work is an arrangement of the D minor Concerto for two violins (BWV 1043) . It is noticeable that the slow movement in the violin version is labeled “Largo” : Either the dotted quarter is meant here as the beat and the eighth note here, or Bach actually used a significantly faster tempo for the harpsichord than for the violins.

Concerts for three harpsichords

Concerto in D minor for three harpsichords BWV 1063

sentences
  • (no designation) 3/8 in D minor
  • Alla Siciliana 6/8 in F major
  • Allegro 2/4 in D minor
original version

The three movements of the composition differ considerably in their technical details, which makes a common original source seem unlikely. The middle movement in the traditional form only uses the first harpsichord as a soloist, which clearly speaks against a concert with several solo instruments of equal standing. The final fugue begins with five parts, so that the four-part string line-up also looks more like the result of the arrangement - until the spring of 1715, Bach's orchestral setting was still five-part (with divided violas); if the original is actually by Bach, there could be remains of a work from the first Weimar years. Another explanation would be an underlying concerto with a violoncello that is obligatory in some places.

Since, especially in the first movement, many solo passages are based on a paired structure and a third part seems to have been added later in many passages, Karl Heller suspects an original version for the corner movements as a concerto for two violins, also in D minor. But many passages and the entire structure of the corner clauses contradict this proposal; furthermore, no concert is known in which Bach later composed a complete additional solo part, and so one would rather assume three violins as solo instruments.

music

The opening movement with its powerful unison theme, which is used again and again for structuring, but is also processed in imitation, is typical of a Baroque minor theme that lives from the clear play of the diminished seventh between the lower sixth and raised seventh degree.

The middle movement is very schematic - over knocking basses with secondary voices, a well-mannered unison melody in unison of the first violin and all three soloists, both halves of which are repeated and decorated. The movement does not seem to have been originally written for three solo instruments and orchestra and has cast strong stylistic doubts about Bach's authorship.

A more recent theory brings him into connection with the odes for voice and piano, which the amateur composer Lorenz Christoph Mizler von Koloff had published in Leipzig around 1737. The sentence should represent a musical parody of this, that is, situation-bound fun.

The concerto is rarely played today, but it played a prominent role in the 19th century Bach renaissance , along with the solo concerto in the same key (BWV 1052). Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in particular was very committed to it and played it frequently, for example with Clara Schumann and Louis Rakemann or with Ignaz Moscheles and Sigismund Thalberg (see review of the Musical Times ).

Concerto in C major for three harpsichords BWV 1064

sentences
  • Allegro c in C major
  • Adagio in c a minor
  • Allegro ¢ C major
Emergence

Another version of the concert is not available. It is noticeable that the three solo instruments are repeatedly played in unison against the violins of the orchestra - this setting not only suggests violins as original solo instruments, it also led to the assumption that the orchestral part was added later, so it was initially a concerto for three violins and continuo (without orchestra). This early version was dated to the late Weimar period, for example around 1716 or 1718.

Concerto in A minor for four harpsichords BWV 1065

sentences
  • (without designation) c a minor
  • Largo 3/4 in A minor
  • Allegro 6/8 in A minor
Emergence

The composition is an arrangement of Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto in B minor for four violins and strings (Opus 3, 10, from his collection “ L'Estro Armonico ” ). Bach supplemented the work with additional chromatics, livelier bass parts and many similar details and inserted a bar in the last movement.

music

The comparison between the two versions is certainly interesting for the listener. Bach's version seems much more mature and elaborated, but takes away from the original freshness and ingeniously innocent novelty that characterize Vivaldi's work.

literature

Web links

Commons : Bach Harpsichord Concerts  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bach Doc. II, 331, p. 237
  2. ^ Siegbert Rampe, Bach's Orchestra and Chamber Music - the manual. Part I: Orchestermusik , Laaber 2013, ISBN 978-3-89007-797-0 , p. 341
  3. ^ Johann Mattheson, Critica Musica II , p. 336
  4. ^ A b Siegbert Rampe, Dominik Sackmann: Bach's orchestral music . Kassel 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1345-7 .
  5. ^ New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , Second Edition 2001, Volume 2, p. 388
  6. ↑ Ulrich Siegele: Composition and processing technique in instrumental music Joh. Seb. Bachs , 1956, ISBN 3-7751-0117-9
  7. ↑ Joshua Rifkin: Lost sources, lost works (footnote) in: Martin Geck (ed.): Bach's orchestral works. Report on the 1st Dortmund Bach Symposium 1996. Witten 1997, ISBN 3-932676-04-1
  8. ↑ Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach , 2nd edition 2007. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 978-3-596-16739-5
  9. ↑ Kai Köpp: The viola d'amore without sympathetic strings and its use in Bach's works , Bach-Jahrbuch 2000
  10. ↑ Peter Wollny, Reflections on the Triple Concerto in A minor BWV 1044 in Martin Geck (Her.): Bach's orchestral works (see above)
  11. ^ Siegbert Rampe, Dominik Sackmann: Bach's orchestral music . Kassel 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1345-7
  12. ↑ About Johann Sebastian Bach's life, art and works of art
  13. ↑ Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach, 2nd edition 2007. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 978-3-596-16739-5 , p. 387
  14. ↑ Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach, 2nd edition 2007. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 978-3-596-16739-5
  15. ^ A b Siegbert Rampe, Dominik Sackmann: Bach's orchestral music . Kassel 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1345-7 , p. 172.
  16. ^ Karl Heller: A Leipzig version of the work and its unknown template - theses on the original form of the concert BWV1063 , in: Ulrich Leisinger (Her.): Bach in Leipzig - Bach and Leipzig, Conference Report Leipzig 2000. Hildesheim 2002. (Excerpts online: [1]) ).
  17. ^ Siegbert Rampe, Dominik Sackmann: Bach's orchestral music . Kassel 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1345-7 , pp. 173..175.
  18. ↑ Werner Breig : On the chronology of Johann Sebastian Bach's concert works. In: Archives for Musicology . 40, 1983
  19. ↑ Jean-Caude Zehnder: On the late Weimar style of Johann Sebastian Bach in: Martin Geck (Her.): Bach's orchestral works (see above).
  20. ↑ Gregory Butler, Toward a More Precise Chronology for Bach's Concerto for Three Violins and Strings in: Martin Geck (Her.): Bachs Orchesterwerke (see above).