Harp Concerto Op. 25

D minor BWV 1052-In early 1729 Bach became director of the so-called »Scottish Collegium Musician« a music organization of students and local citizens. The remarkable results of this undertaking are the concertos for harpsichord. Today it is almost certain that practically all of these concertos were transcribed from concertos for melody instruments (mostly violin or oboe).The D-minor Concerto BWV 1052 forms the opening item in Bach’s autograph score of his six harpsichord concertos BWV 1051 to BWV 1057 (Berlin Staatsbibliothek Mus. ms. Bach P 234). Bach scholars are unanimously in agreement that the piece was transcribed from a violin concerto in the same key. The originalconcerto although no longer extant today can be reconstructed with some degree of certainty from its various transcriptions.Urtext of the New Bach EditionFull score & parts (BA5224) two-keyboard reduction (BA5224-90) and study score (TP410) format 22.5 x 16.5cm (all 6 concertos) available for sale

D major BWV 1054-In early 1729 Bach became director of the so-called »Scottish Collegium Musician« a music organization of students and local citizens. The remarkable results of this undertaking are the concertos for harpsichord. Today it is almost certain that practically all of these concertos were transcribed from concertos for melody instruments (mostly violin or oboe).The D-major Concerto BWV 1054 originated as a transcription of Bach’s Violin Concerto in E major BWV 1042. The principal source for our edition is the autograph score of Bach’s harpsichord concertos preserved in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (Mus. ms. Bach P 234) where BWV 1054 forms the third item. Toaccommodate the upper limit of the harpsichord keyboard Bach decided to transpose the piece down a whole tone which allowed him to retain the frequently occurring peak pitch e3 without altering the melodic line.The D-major Concerto owes its popularity to the clear and straightforward formal design of its movements no less than its overall mood of relaxed merriment. This mood also finds expression in Bach’s choice of the rondo form for the final movement a form otherwise seldom encountered in his concertos.Urtext of the New Bach EditionFull score & parts (BA5226) two-keyboard reduction (BA5226-90) and study score (TP410) format 22.5 x 16.5cm (all 6 concertos) available for sale

In early 1729 Bach became director of the so-called »Scottish Collegium Musician« a music organization of students and local citizens. The remarkable results of this undertaking are the concertos for harpsichord. Today it is almost certain that practically all of these concertos were transcribed from concertos for melody instruments (mostly violin or oboe).When Johann Sebastian Bach created his six-part corpus of harpsichord concertos in 1738 (BWV 1052-1057) he gave pride of place to the Concerto in D minor BWV 1052. It has long been thought for good reasons that this piece was based on a lost violin concerto in the same key that he had already transcribed on twoprevious occasions.The second 'forerunner' of BWV 1052 is the present harpsichord concerto. It was first published by Wilhelm Rust in volume 17 of the old Bach Society Gesamtausgabe (1869) and given the number BWV 1052a in the Schmieder catalogue. Rust felt that Johann Sebastian Bach himself wrote out the principal source a set of orchestral parts preserved in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek under the shelf mark Mus. ms. St 350 and therefore treated the piece as an authentic early version of BWV 1052. Today however we know that the scribe was Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach who is generally also regarded as the work's author.Urtext of the New Bach EditionParts (BA5231) two-keyboard reduction (BA5231-90) and study score (TP410) format 22.5 x 16.5cm (all 6 concertos) available for sale

In early 1729 Bach became director of the so-called »Scottish Collegium Musician« a music organization of students and local citizens. The remarkable results of this undertaking are the concertos for harpsichord. Today it is almost certain that practically all of these concertos were transcribed from concertos for melody instruments (mostly violin or oboe).BWV 1053 is the second piece in the autograph score of harpsichord concertos that Bach prepared in or around 1738 (Berlin Staatsbibliothek Mus. ms. Bach P 234). It was probably transcribed from a concerto for a solo woodwind instrument although opinions differ on the original key and instrument. Bach had alreadyreworked the original concerto in two church cantatas in the autumn of 1726 (BWV 49 and BWV 169) at which time he assigned the solo part to the organ. Perhaps the original concerto is not much older than these cantatas for the siciliano slow movement is closely related in expression to many numbers from his great Passion settings.Urtext of the New Bach EditionFull score & parts (BA5225) two-keyboard reduction (BA5225-90) and study score (TP410) format 22.5 x 16.5cm (all 6 concertos) available for sale