Musica Florea / Artistic director - Marek Štryncl
Home
Related:
Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Bach - Double Violin Concerto
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050
Title on autograph score: Concerto Traversiere, une Violino principale, une Violino è una Viola in ripieno, Violoncello, Violone è Cembalo concertato.
1. Allegro
2. Affettuoso
3. Allegro
Concertino: harpsichord, violin, flute
Ripieno: violin, viola, cello, violone, (harpsichord)
The harpsichord is both a concertino and a ripieno instrument: in the concertino passages the part is obbligato; in the ripieno passages it has a figured bass part and plays continuo.
This concerto makes use of a popular chamber music ensemble of the time (flute, violin, and harpsichord), which Bach used on their own for the middle movement. It is believed that it was written in 1719, to show off a new harpsichord by Michael Mietke which Bach had brought back from Berlin for the Cöthen court. It is also thought that Bach wrote it for a competition at Dresden with the French composer and organist Louis Marchand; in the central movement, Bach uses one of Marchand's themes. Marchand fled before the competition could take place, apparently scared off in the face of Bach's great reputation for virtuosity and improvisation.
The concerto is well suited throughout to showing off the qualities of a fine harpsichord and the virtuosity of its player, but especially in the lengthy solo 'cadenza' to the first movement. It seems almost certain that Bach, considered a great organ and harpsichord virtuoso, was the harpsichord soloist at the premiere. Scholars have seen in this work the origins of the solo keyboard concerto as it is the first example of a concerto with a solo keyboard part.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Brandenburg concertos
