Concerto for harpsichord, strings & continuo No. 2 in E major, BWV 1053 While Johann Sebastian Bach is credited with many harpsichord concertos, it should be noted that most of these works are arrangements of works for other instruments, often by other composers. When, during the late 1730s, the Leipzig Collegium Musicum, of which he was director, put together some ad-hoc performances of music for harpsichord and orchestra, Bachs contribution was an arrangement of an old work. The Harpsichord Concerto No. 2, arranged in 1738 or 1739 and scored for the usual ensemble of soloist, strings, and basso continuo, is almost certainly derived from a concerto -- now lost -- for oboe or oboe damore and orchestra in F major, possibly composed by Bach during his tenure in Cöthen two decades earlier. It is a splendid work in the then-modern three-movement pattern, cheerful and gregarious. The concerto opens with the same kind of lengthy da capo Allegro movement that begins the Violin Concerto in E major and a handful of the Brandenburg Concertos (a kind of allegro that would have been rather old-fashioned by the late 1730s and early 1740s). The middle section of the movement is of the continuously developmental fortspinnung type, taking the basic melody of the tuttis ritornello and setting it up against one or another of several mock-improvisational digressions from the harpsichord; a strong close to C sharp minor is made, complete with dramatic grand pause, before the reprise of the opening ritornello. The second movement is a deliciously affected Siciliano in C sharp minor; the dotted rhythm melody as laid out by the violins in the opening bars of the movement and supported by some lush chromaticism in the parts below. Soon enough the harpsichord takes over the melodic thought, elaborating at great length against a transparent chordal background. The opening tutti is called upon once more to provide a finish. Bach casts the third movement, Allegro again, in a three-part da capo design very similar to the one used in the first movement. Here, however, a joyous 3/8 meter is at work, and one catches a hint of a gigue from time to time. A nice rising chromatic idea in eighth notes pops up during the less stable middle portion and is set up sequentially against some strong unison cadential gestures in the strings; soon the ritornello melody begins to sneak back in bits and pieces. Again, Bach makes a powerful cadence to the minor mode (this time G sharp) before conjuring up the reprise of the happy opening ritornello. youtube/watch?v=Fp81bl_pPuA
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 13:50:25 +0000
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