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, an...(+)
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,
begins with a handful of separate aristocratic gestures
and then gains momentum and spins out continuously
until its end. Bach does more than just take the notes
of Vivaldi's concerto and condense them onto two staves
for one player to play; he thickens the textures
considerably (Vivaldi loved lean music, while Bach
usually loved full, rich, dense music), adding bits and
fleshing out counterpoint along the way. 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 that begins with a duet in parallel
thirds, and which Bach supplements with several
passages of his own, passages not found in the Vivaldi
at all.
Although originally written for Harpsichord. I created
this Arrangement of the Concerto in D Major (BWV 972)
for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
PARTITION