Works for Instrumental Ensemble

Johann Sebastian Bach

II LIFE

Early Life
Arnstadt: 1703-1707
Mühlhausen: 1707-1708
Weimar: 1708-1717
Köthen: 1717-1723

Leipzig: 1723-1750

III WORKS

Cantatas

Motets
Oratorios and Passions
Magnificat and B-Minor Mass
Organ Work
Clavier Works
Works for Solo Instruments

Works for Instrumental Ensemble

Bach’s works for instrumental ensemble include the famous six Brandenburg Concertos of 1721 (BWV 1046-1051), which summarize the art of the Italian and German concerto. They are perhaps the most famous group of chamber pieces ever written. Concertos 1, 3, and 6 are ensemble concertos of the type much favored in Germany at the time: contrasting, but evenly balanced, choirs of instruments play together and alternately, spinning forth the melodic material in marvelously varied combinations. Concertos 2, 4, and 5 are solo concertos, in which three or four solo instruments alternate with the tutti, or full band. Of these more progressive, Vivaldi-oriented works, No. 5 deserves special mention since Bach uses the harpsichord as one of the solo instruments, giving it a fiendishly difficult part that includes a long solo cadenza toward the end of the first movement. This work constitutes the first keyboard concerto ever written.

Although the Brandenburg Concertos are rich in polyphonic devices, they are enjoyed by listeners unaware of the intricacy of Bach’s counterpoint. The concertos exude a spirit of exuberance and optimism that delights as much today as it must have in Bach’s time. In these masterpieces melodic inspiration, coloristic subtlety, and technical craftsmanship match each other in a way that is rare even in Bach’s output.

A similar affirmative sparkle emanates from the four orchestral suites (BWV 1066-1069), each consisting of an overture in the French style (made up of a majestic slow introduction followed by a spirited fugue) and a series of enchanting dance movements. The Suite in C Major and the two Suites in D Major are products of Bach’s Köthen years. The stylish Suite in B Minor, BWV 1067, for flute and strings, seems to be a Leipzig collegium piece, written perhaps for a visiting virtuoso flute player from Dresden.

The concertos for one, two, three, and even four harpsichords are among the most forward-looking pieces Bach wrote. Composed for himself (the first harpsichord part in the multiple concertos is always more difficult than the others) and his gifted sons and students, the works are mostly derived from earlier concertos for violin or oboe or both. Nevertheless, Bach’s inventive handling of the harpsichord and orchestra parts points to the drama and fanciful play of the later piano concertos of Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Musical Offering, Canonic Variations, Art of Fugue
Method of Composing

IV THE REVIVAL OF BACH’S MUSIC

Works for Solo Instruments

Johann Sebastian Bach

II LIFE

Early Life
Arnstadt: 1703-1707
Mühlhausen: 1707-1708
Weimar: 1708-1717
Köthen: 1717-1723

Leipzig: 1723-1750

III WORKS

Cantatas

Motets
Oratorios and Passions
Magnificat and B-Minor Mass
Organ Work
Clavier Works

Works for Solo Instruments

During his years in Köthen and his years as collegium musicum director in Leipzig, Bach composed a large number of works for solo instruments. These include sonatas for flute, for violin, and for viola da gamba, most of which include, for the first time in Western music, a written-out line for the right hand of the harpsichord accompaniment. These pieces point to the chamber sonatas of the classical and romantic eras.

In the sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin, completed in 1720, Bach achieved the seemingly impossible task of writing imitative textures—including four-part fugues—for a solo stringed instrument. He reached a peak of sublime inspiration in the Chaconne from the D-Minor Partita, an immense set of variations that later captured the imagination of romantic-era composers such as Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. Over ten minutes long, the Chaconne is the supreme test of a violinist’s skill. The six suites for unaccompanied violoncello, also written in Köthen, are no less extraordinary.

Works for Instrumental Ensemble
Musical Offering, Canonic Variations, Art of Fugue
Method of Composing

IV THE REVIVAL OF BACH’S MUSIC

Clavier Works

Johann Sebastian Bach

II LIFE

Early Life
Arnstadt: 1703-1707
Mühlhausen: 1707-1708
Weimar: 1708-1717
Köthen: 1717-1723

Leipzig: 1723-1750

III WORKS

Cantatas

Motets
Oratorios and Passions
Magnificat and B-Minor Mass
Organ Work

Clavier Works

Bach’s clavier works—that is, pieces for keyboard without pedal—were written mainly for the harpsichord. They were also played on the clavichord, which in Bach’s day was used chiefly as a practice instrument because of its tiny sound. Bach wrote a number of clavier pieces in his youth, including the charming Capriccio on the Departure of a Dearly Beloved Brother, BWV 992, intended as a farewell tribute to his brother Jacob as he joined the Swedish Army. Bach began to assemble clavier works in earnest in Köthen, where both the purchase of a large harpsichord by Prince Leopold and the need for instructional material seem to have spurred his interest. The well-known Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903, undoubtedly designed for his own use, stems from this time.

For his sons and students Bach assembled the Two-Part Inventions and Three-Part Sinfonias, miniature gems of counterpoint technique in various manners and moods; the French and English Suites, two sets of dance music; and the first volume of Das Wohltemperirte Clavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier), completed in 1722. The last consists of 24 preludes and fugues, one prelude and fugue in the major and one in the minor key on each degree of the scale. The expression “well-tempered” refers to a method of tuning, new at the time, that allowed players to use all major and minor keys rather than just those with up to two or three accidentals (sharps or flats noted within the body of the work).

In Leipzig Bach composed another set of dance suites—the six partitas published in 1731 under the title Clavierübung, or “Keyboard Exercise.” The Italian Concerto and French Overture, brilliant keyboard examples of popular national forms, followed as Clavierübung II. As the fourth and final part of the series, Bach published the superb Goldberg Variations, an aria with 30 variations composed for his admirer Count Hermann von Keyserlingk, the Russian ambassador in Dresden. The story is told that the count suffered from an illness that often kept him sleepless, and to soothe his nerves at night he had his harpsichordist, the Bach student Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, play the variations in an adjoining room. Around 1742, Bach also compiled a second set of 24 preludes and fugues to produce volume two of The Well-Tempered Clavier.

Works for Solo Instruments
Works for Instrumental Ensemble
Musical Offering, Canonic Variations, Art of Fugue
Method of Composing

IV THE REVIVAL OF BACH’S MUSIC