Ensemble, orchestral and concertos - an introduction
The landmark works in this area of Bach's repertoire are a body of sonatas for various instruments, the Orchestral Suites BWV 1066-9, The Musical Offering BWV 1079, and concertos for violin, oboe and harpsichord.
Bach's sonatas tend to follow the stylistic models of the Italian violinist-composer Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713); the typical 'sonata da chiesa' (or church sonata) form comprised four movements, alternating slow and fast. In this period of musical history, elements of Italian musical style were spreading across Europe like wildfire; Bach was fully cognisant of them, particularly in the matter of concertos. A manuscript exists, in Bach's hand, of the continuo part of a concerto by Albinoni, but it was the publication of Vivaldi's concerto collection, L'Estro Armonico, which finally crystallised the concerto style featuring a solo instrument with strings and continuo, and promulgated it into Northern Europe .
Bach not only absorbed the elements of Vivaldian concerto style in his own compositions, but he also made arrangements of Vivaldi concertos for organ and harpsichord. By contrast with his early organist posts, Bach's Kapellmeister appointment at the court of Cöthen obliged him to write concertos as part of his contract; nine of these are extant from the Cöthen period, including the enduringly popular violin concertos in A minor and E major (BWV 1041-2) and the double violin concerto in D minor (BWV 1043); these are essential listening, as are the Brandenburg Concertos (BWV 1046-51), for various combinations of solo instruments, which Bach presented to the Margrave of Brandenburg in 1721.
Bach's Leipzig years produced, for the Collegium Musicum, a series of concertos for one or more harpsichors - many of them arrangements of earlier or lost works scored originally for violin. It's likely that these keyboard concertos were vehicles for virtuoso displays by Bach and his pupils (including his family).
The four Orchestral Suites (BWV 1066-9) are often linked in recordings with the Brandenburg Concertos. The Suites are 'entertainment' music - sequences of mostly character dances in the manner of the French 'ouverture' style. The movements are typically called gavotte, minuet and bourrée, but also include examples of the courante and sarabande. In these Orchestral Suites, Bach's genius enabled him to produce a successful synthesis of Italian concerto style with these French-derived elements. As well as foot-tapping rhythms and memorable melodic invention, there is also a sense of formal, courtly grandeur in this music.
The Musical Offering (BWV 1079) has its origins ub a famous evening in 1747 when Bach performed a concert of improvisations for the flute-playing Prussian King, Frederick the Great. One of these was on a fugue subject provided by the King, who tended to dislike involved compositions and complex counterpoint; in spite of himself, he was astonished by the brilliance of Bach's treatment of the theme. But Bach himself was dissatisfied, later publishing a collection of pieces based on the King's theme, which he called the Musical Offering. The collection (which would probably have horrified Frederick , included keyboard ricercars, a trio sonata and ten canons.
© GRAEME KAY/BBC
