Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar (1696–1715) was a German
prince, son by his second marriage of Johann Ernst III,
Duke of Saxe-Weimar. Despite his early death he is
remembered as a collector and commissioner of music and
as a composer some of whose concertos were arranged for
harpsichord or organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, who was
court organist in Weimar at the time.
During his life, Walther transcribed seventy-eight
concertos for keyboard. Bach also produced a number of
virtuoso organ (BW...(+)
Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar (1696–1715) was a German
prince, son by his second marriage of Johann Ernst III,
Duke of Saxe-Weimar. Despite his early death he is
remembered as a collector and commissioner of music and
as a composer some of whose concertos were arranged for
harpsichord or organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, who was
court organist in Weimar at the time.
During his life, Walther transcribed seventy-eight
concertos for keyboard. Bach also produced a number of
virtuoso organ (BWV 592–6) and harpsichord (BWV
972–987) arrangements. These included some of the
prince's own works (BWV 592, 592a, 595, 982, 984 and
987) as well as works by German and Italian composers,
including Georg Philipp Telemann (BWV 985) and Vivaldi
(BWV 972, 973 etc.). The Bach transcriptions were
created roughly during the period July 1713–July 1714
between Johann Ernst's return from Utrecht and the
prince's final departure from Weimar. There is some
scholarly debate on Johann Ernst's role in the creation
of these arrangements, whether he commissioned some
from one or both of the musicians or whether Bach, in
particular, was studying some of the works collected by
the prince for their own sake. There are suggestions
that on a visit to Amsterdam in February 1713 the
Prince may have heard the blind organist J. J. de
Graff, who is known to have played keyboard
arrangements of other composers' concertos. In any
case, Bach's encounter with the prince's collection,
and especially the Italian music it contained, had a
profound influence on the development of the composer's
musical style
The Concerto in G major is one of a group of five
concerto transcriptions made by Bach in Weimar around
1713. Compositions by Vivaldi served as examples for
three of these transcriptions. The original on which
this concerto is based was written by Prince Johann
Ernst. This young nephew of Bach’s employer in
Weimar, who was a promising violinist and composer,
lived in the Netherlands for a while. When Vivaldi’s
revolutionary volume of string concertos, L’estro
armonico, was published in Amsterdam in 1711, Johann
Ernst immediately set to work on writing concertos as
well. Although Bach was also fascinated by this new
Italian genre, he took a different approach. He started
by making transcriptions, presumably to get to grips
with the finer points first. Maybe it would have been
better for the young prince to do likewise, as Bach
made considerably more ‘corrections’ and
improvements to his composition than he did to
Vivaldi’s concertos.
Nevertheless, it is a piece to be reckoned with. The
first movement exudes such overwhelming joy that it
brings tears to your eyes. The simple little motifs of
the solo and tutti parts are played on various
keyboards always a step higher, until they reach the
highest regions. It is one-dimensional in the very best
sense of the word. As a contemplative counterpart, the
middle movement is dominated by a rather mysterious,
legato rhythm. In the final movement, the same
overwhelming youthful exuberance returns again.
The prince died in 1715, when he was only eighteen
years old. We can only guess at what he might have
produced had he lived. But the fact that Bach
recognised his talent and did not think himself above
revealing the potential of this boy’s work speaks
volumes.
PARTITION