This Concerto in D minor is an organ version of a
concerto for two violins and orchestra from Antonio
Vivaldi’s (1678-1741) Concerto Grosso from L’Estro
Armonico (RV 565), a collection that was published in
1711 by the Amsterdam music publisher Estienne Roger.
The work was previously attributed to Wilhelm Friedmann
Bach however, the handwriting is undoubtedly J.S.
Bach's, who seems to have been the copyist and most
probably the arranger
Vivaldi’s music was popular throughout Europ...(+)
This Concerto in D minor is an organ version of a
concerto for two violins and orchestra from Antonio
Vivaldi’s (1678-1741) Concerto Grosso from L’Estro
Armonico (RV 565), a collection that was published in
1711 by the Amsterdam music publisher Estienne Roger.
The work was previously attributed to Wilhelm Friedmann
Bach however, the handwriting is undoubtedly J.S.
Bach's, who seems to have been the copyist and most
probably the arranger
Vivaldi’s music was popular throughout Europe, and
Germany was no exception. During his years at the court
in Weimar, Bach made a series of arrangements of
Italian concerto music for organ and harpsichord,
including six concertos by Vivaldi. J. S. Bach, one of
the greatest composers of all time, also absorbed into
his music the styles of many composers of different
nationalities. An Italian master whose compositions had
significant impact on Bach was Antonio Vivaldi. In
1713-1714, Bach transcribed at least nine concertos of
Vivaldi, three for solo organ (BWV 593-4, 596), and six
for solo harpsichord (BWV 972-3, 975-6, 978, 980).
Although the precise function of these arrangements is
unclear, they are linked to a penchant for Italian
music in Weimar. On 8 July 1713, Prince Johann Ernst of
Saxe-Weimar returned home after studying at Utrecht
University for two years. The prince was a talented
violinist and composer himself, and probably took back
a large pile of brand-new music from the Low Countries.
One month earlier, one of Bach’s pupils wrote that he
wanted to stay in Weimar, as on the prince’s return
he “would be able to hear lots of fine Italian and
French music” (“kunte also noch manche schöne
Italienische und Frantzösische music hören”).
Moreover, Bach himself would undoubtedly be playing
“incomparable things” (“unvergleichliche
Sachen”) on the renovated organ in the castle chapel.
This concerto provides both opportunities at once. On a
manuscript in Bach’s own hand, the composer noted
down the instructions for the registration of the piece
himself. From the tense opening, via the bitter-sweet
melodious middle movement, to the exciting final
movement, the organist and organ could freshen up
Weimar with an incomparable Italian breeze.
PARTITION