Johann Sebastian Bach was better known as a virtuoso
organist than as a composer in his day. His sacred
music, organ and choral works, and other instrumental
music had an enthusiasm and seeming freedom that
concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of counterpoint was
brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities
of his compositional style -- which often included
religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit
perfectly together in a profound puzzle of special
codes -- still amaze musici...(+)
Johann Sebastian Bach was better known as a virtuoso
organist than as a composer in his day. His sacred
music, organ and choral works, and other instrumental
music had an enthusiasm and seeming freedom that
concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of counterpoint was
brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities
of his compositional style -- which often included
religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit
perfectly together in a profound puzzle of special
codes -- still amaze musicians today. Many consider him
the greatest composer of all time.
This work, along with Bach's other surviving violin
concerto, was composed during his stint in the service
of the Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen. J.N. Forkel, Bach's
original biographer, describes the concerto as being
"full of an unconquerable joy of life, that sings in
the triumph of the first and last movements." By the
time Bach composed this concerto he had long been
familiar with Antonio Vivaldi's influential works in
the same medium.
In the concerto's scintillating and ebullient first
movement (Allegro), Bach takes the basic idea of
ritornello form (around which Vivaldi's and almost all
other Baroque concertos are composed), employs the
essential motivic processes involved in that kind of
composition, and shapes the whole into a superb da
capo-form dialogue between soloist and accompanying
ripieno group in which neither has supremacy over the
other. While a certain balance between the soloist and
the accompaniment is maintained, the basic content of
the movement, defined by a powerful arpeggiated triad
motif (reminiscent of Vivaldi's violin concerto "Il
favorito"), becomes a springboard for continuous
invention and subtly virtuosic embellishment. In the
central Adagio, a deeply mournful instrumental aria of
unique beauty, the violin's intricate musings are woven
in and around a quiet ostinato in the bass instruments.
The Allegro assai rondo finale is a dance-like movement
of an extraordinary exuberance. Each successive
contrasting passage exploits the violin's bravura
capabilities more and more, until at last the final
refrain swoops in on the wings of wild thirty-second
notes. The Harpsichord Concerto in D major, BWV 1054,
is a transcription made by Bach, probably during the
late 1730s, of this E major Violin Concerto.
Although originally written for Violin & Strings, I
created this Arrangement of the Concerto in E Major
(BWV 1042) for Oboe & Strings (2 Violins, Viola &
Cello).
PARTITION