Apart from his orchestral keyboard concertos and his solo organ concertos, Johann Sebastian Bach composed keyboard concertos for unaccompanied harpsichord:

Weimar concerto transcriptions

In his Weimar period, Johann Sebastian Bach transcribed Italian and Italianate concertos. Most, if not all, of the concerto transcriptions for unaccompanied harpsichord were realised from July 1713 to July 1714. Most of these transcriptions were based on concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Other models for the transcriptions included concertos by Alessandro Marcello, Benedetto Marcello, Georg Philipp Telemann and Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar.

Weimar concerto transcriptions (harpsichord)
BWVKeyModel
592aG majorJohann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar: Violin Concerto in G major[scores]; BWV592
972D majorVivaldi, Op.3 No.9: Violin Concerto in D major, RV230
972aD majorVivaldi, Op.3 No.9: Violin Concerto in D major, RV230
973G majorVivaldi, RV299: Violin Concerto in G major (published as Op.7 No.8)
974D minorMarcello, A.: Oboe Concerto in D minor
975G minorVivaldi, RV316 (variant RV316a, Violin Concerto in G minor, published as Op.4 No.6)
976C majorVivaldi, Op.3 No.12: Violin Concerto in E major, RV265
977C major
978F majorVivaldi, Op.3 No.3: Violin Concerto in G major, RV310
979B minorVivaldi, RV813: Violin Concerto in D minor (formerly RVAnh.10 attributed to Torelli)
980G majorVivaldi, RV383: Violin Concerto in B-flat major, (variant RV383a published as Op.4 No.1)
981C minorMarcello, B.: Concerto Op.1 No.2
982B♭ majorJohann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar: Concerto Op.1 No.1
983G minor
984C majorJohann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar: Violin Concerto in C major[scores] and possibly BWV595
985G minorTelemann: Violin Concerto in Gminor, TWV51:g1[scores]
986G major
987D minorJohann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar: Concerto Op.1 No.4

Concerto in G major, BWV 592a

After Violin Concerto in G major[scores] by Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar, and organ version BWV 592.

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Grave
  3. Presto

Concerto in D major, BWV 972

After Violin Concerto in D major Op.3 No.9 (RV230) by Antonio Vivaldi. There is an earlier version of this arrangement, BWV972a.

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Largo- Larghetto
  3. Allegro

Concerto in G major, BWV 973

After Violin Concerto in G major, RV 299, by Antonio Vivaldi (later version published as Op.7 No.8).

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Largo
  3. Allegro

Concerto in D minor, BWV 974

After Oboe Concerto in D minor by Alessandro Marcello.

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Adagio
  3. Presto

Concerto in G minor, BWV 975

After Violin Concerto in G minor, RV 316, by Antonio Vivaldi (variant RV316a, published as Op.4 No.6).

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Largo
  3. Giga Presto

Concerto in C major, BWV 976

After Violin Concerto in E major Op.3 No.12 (RV 265) by Antonio Vivaldi.

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Largo
  3. Allegro

Concerto in C major, BWV 977

After an unidentified model.

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Adagio
  3. Giga

Concerto in F major, BWV 978

After Violin Concerto in G major Op.3 No.3 (RV 310) by Antonio Vivaldi.

Movements:

  1. Allegro
  2. Largo
  3. Allegro

Concerto in B minor, BWV 979

After Violin Concerto in D minor, RV813, by Antonio Vivaldi (formerly RVAnh.10 attributed to Torelli).

Movements:

  1. Allegro – Adagio
  2. Allegro
  3. Andante
  4. Adagio
  5. Allegro

Concerto in G major, BWV 980

After Violin Concerto in B-flat major, RV 383 by Antonio Vivaldi (variant RV383a published as Op.4 No.1).

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Largo
  3. Allegro

Concerto in C minor, BWV 981

After Violin Concerto in C minor Op.1 No.2 by Benedetto Marcello.

Movements:

  1. Adagio
  2. Vivace
  3. [no tempo indication]
  4. Prestissimo

Concerto in B-flat major, BWV 982

After Violin Concerto in B-flat major Op.1 No.1 by Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar.

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Adagio
  3. Allegro
  4. Allegro

Concerto in G minor, BWV 983

After an unidentified model.

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Adagio
  3. Allegro

Concerto in C major, BWV 984

After the Violin Concerto in C major by Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe–Weimar (like BWV 595).

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Adagio e affettoso
  3. Allegro assai

Concerto in G minor, BWV 985

After the Violin Concerto in Gminor, TWV51:g1[scores], by Georg Philipp Telemann.

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Adagio
  3. Allegro

Concerto in G major, BWV 986

After an unidentified model.

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Adagio
  3. Allegro

Concerto in D minor, BWV 987

After Concerto Op.1 No.4 by Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar.

Movements:

  1. [no tempo indication]
  2. Allegro
  3. Adagio
  4. Vivace

Original compositions

Bach composed unaccompanied keyboard concertos for one and two harpsichords.

Italian Concerto included in Clavier-Übung II

Bach's Italian Concerto, BWV 971, was published in 1735, as first of two compositions included in Clavier-Übung II. An early version of the concerto's first movement survives in an 18th-century copy.

Early version of Concerto for two harpsichords, BWV 1061

BWV 1061a, a concerto for two harpsichords without accompaniment, is Bach's original version of the Concerto for two harpsichords and strings, BWV 1061.

Doubtful works

Several concertos for unaccompanied harpsichord are listed as doubtful in Anhang II of the 1998 edition of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis:

  • BWV 909 – Concerto and Fugue in C minor
  • BWV Anh. 151 – Concerto in C major
  • BWV Anh. 152 – Concerto in G major

Discography

BWV 592a and 972–987

Italian Concerto

BWV 909

BWV 1061a

  • Guillermo Brachetta and Menno van Delft[nl] (2016). Resonus RES 10189.

Further reading

  • Bach, J.S. (2010), Dirksen, Pieter (ed.), Sonatas, Trios, Concertos, Complete Organ Works (Breitkopf Urtext), vol.5 EB 8805, Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, ISMN979-0-004-18366-3 2015-09-13 at theWayback Machine (in German and English) • 2023-01-09 at theWayback Machine (English translation—commentary in paperback original is in German)
  • Breig, Werner (1997b), , in John Butt (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Bach, pp.154–170, ISBN9781139002158
  • Brover-Lubovsky, Bella (2008), Tonal Space in the Music of Antonio Vivaldi, Indiana University Press, ISBN978-0253351296
  • David, Hans Theodore; Mendel, Arthur; Wolff, Christoph (1998), The New Bach Reader (Reviseded.), W.W. Norton, ISBN0393319563]
  • Forkel, Johann Nikolaus (1920), Charles Sanford Terry (historian) (ed.), Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work, Harcourt, Brace and Howe
  • Sarah Elizabeth Hanks. The German Unaccompanied Keyboard Concerto in the Early 18th Century: Including Works of Walther, Bach, and Their Contemporaries. University of Iowa, 1972 (dissertation).
  • Hanks, Sarah E. (2001). . Grove Music Online (8thed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN978-1-56159-263-0.(subscription, access, or required)
  • Karl Heller. "Zur Stellung des Concerto C-Dur für zwei Cembali BWV 1061 in Bachs Konzert-Œuvre", pp.241–251 in Bericht über die Wissenschaftliche Konferenz zum V. Internationalen Bachfest der DDR in Verbindung mit dem 60. Bachfest der Neuen Bach-Gesellschaft (1985), edited by Winfried Hoffmann and Armin Schneiderheinze. Leipzig, 1988. (in German)
  • Hirschmann, Wolfgang (2013), "'He Liked to Hear the Music of Others': Individuality and Variety in the Works of Bach and His German Contemporaries", in Andrew Talle (ed.), Bach Perspectives, Volume 9: J.S. Bach and His Contemporaries in Germany, University of Illinois Press, pp.1–23, ISBN978-0252095399
  • Jones, Richard (1997), "The keyboard works: Bach as teacher and virtuoso", in John Butt (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Bach, Cambridge University Press, pp.136–153, ISBN9780521587808
  • Jones, Richard (2013), The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach: Music to Delight the Spirit, Volume II: 1717-1750, Oxford University Press, ISBN9780191503849
  • Marshall, Robert (1986), "Organ or 'Klavier'? Instrumental prescriptions in the sources of Bach's keyboard works", in George Stauffer; Ernest May (eds.), J.S. Bach as Organist, Indiana University Press, pp.212–239
  • Pincherle, Marc (1962), Vivaldi: Genius of the Baroque, translated by Christopher Hatch, W.W. Norton, ISBN0393001687{{citation}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  • Schulze, Hans-Joachim (1978), "J. S. Bachs Konzertbearbeitungen nach Vivaldi und anderen: Studien- oder Auftragswerke?", Deutsches Jahrbuch der Musikwissenschaft für 1973–1977, Leipzig, pp.80–100{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Stevens, Jane R. (2001), The Bach Family and the Keyboard Concerto: The Evolution of a Genre, Harmonie Park Press
  • Tagliavini, Luigi Ferdinando (1986), "Bach's organ transcription of Vivaldi's 'Grosso Mogul' concerto", in George Stauffer; Ernest May (eds.), J.S. Bach as Organist, Indiana University Press, pp.240–255
  • Talbot, Michael (1993), Vivaldi, The Master Musicians (2nded.), J.M. Dent, ISBN0460861085
  • Williams, Peter (2016), Bach: A Musical Biography, Cambridge University Press, ISBN9781107139251
  • Wolff, Christoph (1994), , Bach: Essays on His Life and Work, Harvard University Press, p.263, ISBN0674059263 (a reprint of a 1985 publication in Early Music)
  • Wolff, Christoph (2001), Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, W. W. Norton, ISBN9780393322569
  • Zohn, Steven (2008), Music for a Mixed Taste: Style, Genre, and Meaning in Telemann's Instrumental Works, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0190247850

Manuscripts

Sources

  • Kirsten Beißwenger. in edited by Daniel R. Melamed. Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN9780521028912
  • Boyd, Malcolm (2000), Bach, Master Musician Series, Oxford University Press, pp.80–83, ISBN0195142225
  • Breig, Werner (1997a), , in John Butt (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Bach, pp.123–135, ISBN9781139002158
  • Butler, H. Joseph (2011), (PDF), The Diapason: 19–21, archived from (PDF) on 2015-11-29
  • Jones, Richard (2007), The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach: Music to Delight the Spirit, Volume I: 1695-1717, Oxford University Press, pp.140–153, ISBN9780198164401
  • Schulenberg, David (2013), The Keyboard Music of J.S. Bach, Routledge, pp.117–139, ISBN9781136091469,
  • Selfridge-Field, Eleanor (1990), The Music of Benedetto and Alessandro Marcello: A Thematic Catalogue with Commentary on the Composers, Repertory, and Sources, Oxford University Press, ISBN9780193161269
  • Talbot, Michael, ed. (2011), The Vivaldi Compendium, Boydell Press, ISBN9781843836704
  • Williams, Peter (2003), The Organ Music of J. S. Bach (2nded.), Cambridge University Press, pp.201–224, ISBN0-521-89115-9

External links

  • At IMSLP website: BWV 592a: Violin Concerto in G major (Johann Ernst Prinz von Sachsen-Weimar) Italienisches Konzert, BWV 971 (Bach, Johann Sebastian) 16 Konzerte nach verschiedenen Meistern, BWV 972–987 (Bach, Johann Sebastian), Violin Concerto in D major, RV 230 (Vivaldi, Antonio), Violin Concerto in G major, RV 299 (Vivaldi, Antonio), Oboe Concerto in D minor, S.Z799 (Marcello, Alessandro), Violin Concerto in G minor, RV 316a (Vivaldi, Antonio), Violin Concerto in E major, RV 265 (Vivaldi, Antonio), Violin Concerto in G major, RV 310 (Vivaldi, Antonio), Violin Concerto in B-flat major, RV 383a (Vivaldi, Antonio), Violin Concerto in C major (Johann Ernst Prinz von Sachsen-Weimar) and Violin Concerto, TWV 51:g1 (Telemann, Georg Philipp) 12 Concerti Grossi, Op.1 (Marcello, Benedetto), L'estro armonico, Op.3 (Vivaldi, Antonio), La stravaganza, Op.4 (Vivaldi, Antonio), 12 Concerti, Op.7 (Vivaldi, Antonio) and 12 Concerti a 5 (Various) Concerto for 2 Harpsichords in C major, BWV 1061 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)