The Complete Keyboard Concerti BWV 1052-1053

Abstract

Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1052 Few if any, of Bach's compositions have aroused as much controversy as this particular work Not only is its authenticity doubted, but its detractors go so far as to deny its intrinsic musical merits. Yet, in spite of all this, it has remained to this day the best known and most popular of Bich's clavier concerti. Its strong and impressive thematic material and the forward surge of the outer movements are in marked contrast to the quiet, even flow of melody characteristic of the three other concerti. Besides, the D minor concerto, alone among its companions, can be performed effectively on the piano. This takes us right back to the beginnings of the Bach revival, for this concerto was one of the first large-scale instrumental works to find its way into the concert repertory. Felix Mendelssohn liked to play it, although he had no illusions as to the public's readiness to accept it. At least that is what we can gather from a letter he wrote to Ignaz Moscheles in 1833, after a performance in Berlin. "There was no end to the applause after the last work, and people were so delighted that I am convinced not a single person liked it."

Harpsichord Concerto in E Major, BWV 1053 Whatever trie original solo instrument, and in this case it may have been the organ, there is no doubt as to Bach's authorship of this concerto. That it is less well-known and less frequently erformed than its D minor companion has several reasons. Its quiet, unspectacular chamber music character undoubtedly made less of an impression on the early Bach enthusiasts of the romantic age than the Sturm und Drang that could be interpreted into the D minor work. Also, as has been indicated above, this concerto really demands the harpsichord for proper effect, it could therefore not be expected to come into its own before the modern revival of that istrument.

Harpsichord Concerto in D Major, BWV 1054 The D Major Harpsichord Concerto is a re-arrangement of the Violin Concerto in E Major (BWV 1042), transposed, as usual in Bach's concerto adaptations, a tone lower than the original. The principal material of the first movement has three main elements — a bold broken-chord figure, a jogging, rhythmic figure (reminiscent of the third Brandenburg), and a succession of scale-passages — which all determine the nature of the events which follow. The most remarkable section of the movement is the clearly distinguishable central portion in B minor and F sharp minor. Here the first two motifs of the ritornello theme are heard within the or-chestra beneath the changing colours of the harpsichord's semiquaver runs. Two cadential bars (Adagio) lead back to a recapitulation in the tonic key.

Harpsichord Concerto in A Major, BWV 1055 It is only for the concerto in A major that we lack any clue as to the source or model, if any. In fact, it is sometimes assumed that it was not a transcription but an original work; Adolf Abert points out (in the Bach-Jan rbuch of 1913) that the autograph score of the seven concer¬tos shows a difference in Bach's working procedure for the A major. In the other six concer¬tos, he seems first to have copied only the opening passages of the original violin and bass parts. He then made his adaptive changes, and only after having decided on these changes did he copy the remainders of the movements, so that later on, when the altered passages recur, only the new, changed versions appear. Furthermore, he seems to have added the mid¬dle voices some time later. The A major contains fewer changes than any of the other concer¬tos, and they occur evenly spread all over the score. Besides, all voices seem to have been written at the same time. This is no proof, of course, but it does add some weight to the assumption.