Among the wealth of works composed during his Weimar
period, J.S. Bach made 22 keyboard transcriptions of
concertos by Italian and German composers: six for two
keyboards and pedal (BWV 592?596) and sixteen for
keyboard (BWV 972?987), the latter of which is this
arrangement of BWV 972.
When J.S. Bach first got to know the music of Venetian
maestro Antonio Vivaldi during the early 1710s or
perhaps just a bit earlier, he was significantly
impressed by his Italian colleague's flair and st...(+)
Among the wealth of works composed during his Weimar
period, J.S. Bach made 22 keyboard transcriptions of
concertos by Italian and German composers: six for two
keyboards and pedal (BWV 592?596) and sixteen for
keyboard (BWV 972?987), the latter of which is this
arrangement of BWV 972.
When J.S. Bach first got to know the music of Venetian
maestro Antonio Vivaldi during the early 1710s or
perhaps just a bit earlier, he was significantly
impressed by his Italian colleague's flair and style,
and skill. Young Duke Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar, the
nephew of Bach's employer at the time, happened to have
a taste for Italian instrumental music, so Bach took it
upon himself to adapt several Italian (or Italianate)
instrumental concertos -- mostly by Vivaldi, but some
from Marcello, and even a bit of young Johann Ernst's
own music -- for performance on harpsichord alone
(there is also a corresponding and contemporaneous set
of such adaptations for solo organ: BWV 592-597). In so
doing he both pleased the Duke and began to absorb
elements of the new Italian style into his own
music-making. The first of the Vivaldi concerto
transcriptions is the Concerto for keyboard No. 1 in D
major, BWV 972, modeled upon Vivaldi's Concerto for
four violins and continuo, Op. 3, No. 9 (RV230).
Like its source, BWV 972 is in three movements,
fast-slow-fast. The first movement, which has no tempo
indication but which would have immediately been
recognized by contemporary players as an allegro. The
following Largo (Larghetto in the Vivaldi, and also in
some editions of the Bach) pulses with warm eighth
notes from start to finish. The tuttis are made from
these "simple," homophonic tones, but in the solo
passages smaller and more flexible lines are drawn in
and around this pulsation. The third movement is a
dance-like 3/8 time Allegro.
Although originally written for keyboard, I created
this arrangement for Concert (Pedal) Harp.
, 02 Nov 2018 at 16:10 
SHEET MUSIC