In the early years of the eighteenth century, Jan Jacob
de Graaf, organist at the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam,
began adapting the popular Italian concertos of the day
for performance on the organ. This practice is believed
to have been the inspiration for the series of concerto
transcriptions undertaken by Johann Sebastian Bach
during 1713-1714. The idea was relayed to him by a
noble at the court of his employ in Weimar, Prince
Johann Ernst, who returned from his studies in Utrecht
and Amsterdam wi...(+)
In the early years of the eighteenth century, Jan Jacob
de Graaf, organist at the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam,
began adapting the popular Italian concertos of the day
for performance on the organ. This practice is believed
to have been the inspiration for the series of concerto
transcriptions undertaken by Johann Sebastian Bach
during 1713-1714. The idea was relayed to him by a
noble at the court of his employ in Weimar, Prince
Johann Ernst, who returned from his studies in Utrecht
and Amsterdam with bundles of manuscripts of concertos
(including three he had composed himself) that he
wished for Bach to transcribe for keyboard, after the
manner of de Graaf. Bach responded with a series of 16
solo concertos for keyboard instruments, including the
work under consideration here, the Concerto No. 5 in C
major (BWV 976). Bach based the fifth concerto in the
series on a violin concerto by the acknowledged master
of the genre at the time, Antonio Vivaldi. (At least
five others in the series are likewise based on works
by Vivaldi.) Prince Johann Ernst encountered the
original concerto in Vivaldi's famous Op. 3 collection,
L'estro armonico, which was published in Amsterdam in
1711. No. 12 from that collection, the Vivaldi concerto
(RV 265), was originally composed in E major, but Bach
seems to have found the solo part's contours more
fluidly renderable in C major. The first movement
features one of the most compelling melodies in any of
Vivaldi's concertos (indeed, it is one of the more
familiar tunes to modern ears in Vivaldi's vast
oeuvre), as well as considerable harmonic surprise, and
the pacing of textural contrasts between solo and tutti
sections is less predictable here than in many of the
other violin concertos chosen for keyboard
transcription. Perhaps that is why the opening movement
transfers so convincingly to the harpsichord, the
original having relied much less on virtuosic violin
pyrotechnics to maintain momentum. Likewise, in the
plaintive Largo of the middle movement, the melody and
harmony of the original are such streamlined elegance
that Bach seems compelled to adorn the lines with
harpsichordal flourishes much less ornately than he
does in other second movements in the series. Perhaps,
though, this is simply meant to more drastically set
off the driving momentum of the final movement, a
lively and melodically circuitous Allegro in triple
meter.
Although originally written for Harpsichord. I created
this Arrangement of the Concerto in C Major (BWV 976)
for Woodwind Quintet (Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet, French
Horn & Bassoon).
SHEET MUSIC