Near the end of Johann Sebastian Bach's life there was
a move away from the more 'learned' forms in music,
mainly fugue and counterpoint. His sons were some of
the leaders of this change to the style galant that
would lead to the Classical Era of Haydn and Mozart.
Amid all the changes in musical style of the time, the
Elder Bach's music was being looked upon as well
crafted, but old fashioned. But Johann Sebastian could
compose in the newer style of melody and accompaniment
when he so chose. Bac...(+)
Near the end of Johann Sebastian Bach's life there was
a move away from the more 'learned' forms in music,
mainly fugue and counterpoint. His sons were some of
the leaders of this change to the style galant that
would lead to the Classical Era of Haydn and Mozart.
Amid all the changes in musical style of the time, the
Elder Bach's music was being looked upon as well
crafted, but old fashioned. But Johann Sebastian could
compose in the newer style of melody and accompaniment
when he so chose. Bach was in many ways the culmination
of the Baroque Era in music, and within that
culmination lay the seeds of the future.
The Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi had his set of
concertos titled L'estro Armonico, Opus 3 (Harmonic
Inspiration) published in 1711. This was a set of 12
concertos for one, two or four violins and was a very
influential set of compositions. Bach was introduced to
the music of Vivaldi with these concertos while he was
in the employ of the Duke of Weimar's court for the
second time from 1708 to 1717. Bach went on to
transcribe and arranged 8 of Vivaldi's concertos for
differing ensembles. The concerto in A Minor for two
violins, violins, cello and continuo was arranged by
Bach as a concerto for solo organ.
Vivaldi's original concerto's figured bass continuo
part was fleshed out by Bach, with the two solo parts
and accompaniment spread out over the manuals of the
organ. It is interesting to compare the original with
Bach's transcription, as it gives some idea of Bach's
skill and knowledge of what the organ was capable of.
Bach was a literal 'one man band' when he played the
instrument. Bach maintained the Italian style of the
originals as well as most of the notes contained in the
two solo violin parts. The violin and organ are two
vastly differnet instruments, so the literal
transrciption of most of the solo parts causes some
real difficulties for the organist, but as Bach made
these transcriptions for his own use, that was probably
of no concern. The concerto is in three movements:
I. Allegro - The concerto begins with two chords and a
downward run. Vivaldi's concertos are full of fast
scales up and down the fingerboard of the violin and
Bach includes them in this concerto. The first movement
is rapid and is in the home key of A minor.
II. Andante - In Vivaldi's original, the first four
bars of the second movement are played by all the
instruments, after which they are repeated throughout
the movement as a continuous accompaniment to the solo
violins that play different melodies. Bach maintains
the ostinato in one manual as the soloist parts play in
the other. The pedals are silent in this movement, and
it is in the key of D minor. The soloists remain silent
as the four bars of the beginning play to end the
movement.
III. Allegro - The music returns to a brisk tempo and
the key of A minor. After the initial statement is
repeated, Bach changes the chords played by one of the
solo violins to running sixteenth notes while keeping
the original eighth notes of the original, one of the
few actual alterations to the notes of the original.
This adds brilliance to the music, perhaps Bach was
flexing his organ playing muscles. He must have liked
the effect for he repeats the changes later in the
movement.
Although originally written for Organ, I created this
modern interpretation of the Concerto II in A Minor
(BWV 593) for Wind Quintet (Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet,
French Horn & Bassoon).
PARTITION