While Johann Sebastian Bach is credited with many
harpsichord concertos, it should be noted that most of
these works are arrangements of works for other
instruments, often by other composers. When, during the
late 1730s, the Leipzig Collegium Musicum, of which he
was director, put together some ad-hoc performances of
music for harpsichord and orchestra, Bach's
contribution was an arrangement of an old work. The
Harpsichord Concerto No. 2, arranged in 1738 or 1739
and scored for the usual ensembl...(+)
While Johann Sebastian Bach is credited with many
harpsichord concertos, it should be noted that most of
these works are arrangements of works for other
instruments, often by other composers. When, during the
late 1730s, the Leipzig Collegium Musicum, of which he
was director, put together some ad-hoc performances of
music for harpsichord and orchestra, Bach's
contribution was an arrangement of an old work. The
Harpsichord Concerto No. 2, arranged in 1738 or 1739
and scored for the usual ensemble of soloist, strings,
and basso continuo, is almost certainly derived from a
concerto -- now lost -- for oboe or oboe d'amore and
orchestra in F major, possibly composed by Bach during
his tenure in Cöthen two decades earlier. It is a
splendid work in the then-modern three-movement
pattern, cheerful and gregarious. The concerto opens
with the same kind of lengthy da capo Allegro movement
that begins the Violin Concerto in E major and a
handful of the Brandenburg Concertos (a kind of allegro
that would have been rather old-fashioned by the late
1730s and early 1740s). The middle section of the
movement is of the continuously developmental
fortspinnung type, taking the basic melody of the
tutti's ritornello and setting it up against one or
another of several mock-improvisational digressions
from the harpsichord; a strong close to C sharp minor
is made, complete with dramatic grand pause, before the
reprise of the opening ritornello. The second movement
is a deliciously affected Siciliano in C sharp minor;
the dotted rhythm melody as laid out by the violins in
the opening bars of the movement and supported by some
lush chromaticism in the parts below. Soon enough the
harpsichord takes over the melodic thought, elaborating
at great length against a transparent chordal
background. The opening tutti is called upon once more
to provide a finish. Bach casts the third movement,
Allegro again, in a three-part da capo design very
similar to the one used in the first movement. Here,
however, a joyous 3/8 meter is at work, and one catches
a hint of a gigue from time to time. A nice rising
chromatic idea in eighth notes pops up during the less
stable middle portion and is set up sequentially
against some strong unison cadential gestures in the
strings; soon the ritornello melody begins to sneak
back in bits and pieces. Again, Bach makes a powerful
cadence to the minor mode (this time G sharp) before
conjuring up the reprise of the happy opening
ritornello.
Although originally written for Harpsichord, 2 Violins,
Viola and Continuo, I created this Arrangement of the
Concerto in E Major (BWV 1053) for Piano & Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).
PARTITION