If Bach Was A Cellist-The purpose of the series if Bach was a cellist is to live the fantasy that everything Bach wrote he wrote for the cello.The concerto in D minor (BWV 1043) for two violins string orchestra and continuo by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is one of his most loved works. Indeed the slow movement may be one of the most popular and loved pieces in the instrumental literature. Traditionally it is believed to have been written in Köthen where he held the position of 'fürstlischer Kapellmeister' from 1717-1723 a town that saw the birth of the Brandenburg concertos and the solo works for violin and cello. The Dorian church mode (the absent Bflat in the key of Dminor) would also speak for the younger Bach. Recent research however has shown that the orchestral parts carefully written out by Bach himself and found among the papers of his son Carl Philip Emanuel date from around 1730. The sophistication of the composition also speaks for a later date than Köthen. The original score has been lost.Always in need of concert material for his 'Collegium Musicus' in Leipzig Bach made a version of the present concerto for two harpsichords (BWV 1062). The original key was transposed to C minor so that the top note would not exceed a D but remain within the range of a standard harpsichord. Another C minor concerto (BWV 1060) for two harpsi-chords often heard in an arrangement from the 1920's for violin and oboe by Max Schneider and Max Seiffert speaks for two concertos in D minor for two violins by Bach.When arranging an orchestral score for the pianoforte one has to remember that a double-bass sounds an octave lower than notated. This is a welcomed fact when dealing with two instruments that play the original solo parts an octave down. At the same time for a transcription of this kind the ambition must be to avoid the cello soloists playing in octaves with the violin tutti parts - which is what would happen were they to share the same material. This ambition made a piano reduction
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