JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1, 2 and 3

Il Giardino Armonico

 

When Bach arrived at Cöthen in 1717, his Kapellmeister responsibilities for the first and only time in his life required nothing from him in the way of church music. His new employer, Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, was a keen amateur musician and capable bass singer also able to play the violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord. His court orchestra boasted 18 players excluding himself and Bach.

The orchestral cornerstone of Bach’s Cöthen years is the collection of six ‘Brandenburg’ concertos commissioned from Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg. Bach titled them ‘Six Concerts Avec plusieurs Instruments’ in the dedication on his autograph score (24 March 1721). As the work demanded far more than the Margrave’s modest resources could achieve, it is therefore likely that Bach intended it to be played by the excellent band at Cöthen, of which he himself was director.

The composition of individual movements, if not of entire concertos, extended over a long period embracing, at least, the years at Weimar immediately preceding his employment by Prince Leopold. Several surviving variant versions throw fascinating light on Bach’s methods of adaptation, expansion and revision. In each of these, we can see a musician absorbed in and inspired by the almost infinitely varied possibilities afforded by concerto principles laid down by Italian composers, developed thereafter in Italy, and quickly disseminated throughout Europe.

 

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