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 .
[4]
Weimar concerto transcriptions (harpsichord)
BWV
Key
Model
592a
G major
Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar :
Violin Concerto in G major [
scores ] ; BWV 592
972
D major
Vivaldi ,
Op. 3 No. 9: Violin Concerto in D major, RV 230; BWV 972a
972a
D major
Vivaldi ,
Op. 3 No. 9: Violin Concerto in D major, RV 230
973
G major
Vivaldi , RV 299: Violin Concerto in G major (published as
Op. 7 No. 8)
974
D minor
Marcello, A. :
Oboe Concerto in D minor
975
G minor
Vivaldi , RV 316 (variant RV 316a, Violin Concerto in G minor, published as
Op. 4 No. 6)
976
C major
Vivaldi ,
Op. 3 No. 12: Violin Concerto in E major, RV 265
977
C major
978
F major
Vivaldi ,
Op. 3 No. 3: Violin Concerto in G major, RV 310
979
B minor
Vivaldi , RV 813: Violin Concerto in D minor (formerly RV Anh. 10 attributed to
Torelli )
[7]
980
G major
Vivaldi , RV 383: Violin Concerto in B-flat major, (variant RV 383a published as
Op. 4 No. 1)
981
C minor
Marcello, B. : Concerto Op. 1 No. 2
982
B♭ major
Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar : Concerto Op. 1 No. 1
983
G minor
984
C major
Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar :
Violin Concerto in C major [
scores ] and possibly BWV 595
985
G minor
Telemann :
Violin Concerto in G minor, TWV 51:g1 [
scores ]
986
G major
987
D minor
Johann 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 .
[9]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Grave
Presto
Concerto in D major, BWV 972
After Violin Concerto in D major
Op. 3 No. 9 (RV 230) by Antonio Vivaldi.
[10] There is an earlier version of this arrangement, BWV 972a.
[11]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Largo- Larghetto
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).
[12]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Largo
Allegro
Concerto in D minor, BWV 974
After
Oboe Concerto in D minor by
Alessandro Marcello .
[13]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Adagio
Presto
Concerto in G minor, BWV 975
After Violin Concerto in G minor, RV 316, by Antonio Vivaldi (variant RV 316a, published as
Op. 4 No. 6).
[14]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Largo
Giga Presto
Concerto in C major, BWV 976
After Violin Concerto in E major Op. 3 No. 12 (RV 265) by Antonio Vivaldi.
[15]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Largo
Allegro
Concerto in C major, BWV 977
After an unidentified model.
[16]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Adagio
Giga
Concerto in F major, BWV 978
After Violin Concerto in G major Op. 3 No. 3 (RV 310) by Antonio Vivaldi.
[17]
Movements:
Allegro
Largo
Allegro
Concerto in B minor, BWV 979
After Violin Concerto in D minor, RV 813, by Antonio Vivaldi (formerly RV Anh. 10 attributed to
Torelli ).
[18]
[7]
Movements:
Allegro – Adagio
Allegro
Andante
Adagio
Allegro
Concerto in G major, BWV 980
After Violin Concerto in B-flat major, RV 383 by Antonio Vivaldi (variant RV 383a published as
Op. 4 No. 1).
[19]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Largo
Allegro
Concerto in C minor, BWV 981
After Violin Concerto in C minor Op. 1 No. 2 by Benedetto Marcello.
[20]
Movements:
Adagio
Vivace
[no tempo indication]
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.
[21]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Adagio
Allegro
Allegro
Concerto in G minor, BWV 983
After an unidentified model.
[22]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Adagio
Allegro
Concerto in C major, BWV 984
After the Violin Concerto in C major by Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe–Weimar (like
BWV 595 ).
[23]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Adagio e affettoso
Allegro assai
Concerto in G minor, BWV 985
After the
Violin Concerto in G minor, TWV 51:g1 [
scores ] , by Georg Philipp Telemann.
[24]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Adagio
Allegro
Concerto in G major, BWV 986
After an unidentified model.
[25]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Adagio
Allegro
Concerto in D minor, BWV 987
After Concerto Op. 1 No. 4 by Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar.
[26]
Movements:
[no tempo indication]
Allegro
Adagio
Vivace
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 .
[28] An early version of the concerto's first movement survives in an 18th-century copy.
[29]
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 .
[30]
Several concertos for unaccompanied harpsichord are listed as doubtful in
Anhang II of the 1998 edition of the
Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis :
[31]
BWV 909 – Concerto and Fugue in C minor
BWV Anh. 151 – Concerto in C major
BWV Anh. 152 – Concerto in G major
Bach, J.S. (2010), Dirksen, Pieter (ed.), Sonatas, Trios, Concertos , Complete Organ Works (Breitkopf Urtext), vol. 5 EB 8805,
Wiesbaden :
Breitkopf & Härtel ,
ISMN 979-0-004-18366-3
Introduction (in German and English) •
Commentary (English translation—commentary in paperback original is in German)
Breig, Werner (1997b),
"Composition as arrangement and adaptation" , in
John Butt (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Bach , pp. 154–170,
ISBN
9781139002158
Brover-Lubovsky, Bella (2008), Tonal Space in the Music of Antonio Vivaldi ,
Indiana University Press ,
ISBN
978-0253351296
David, Hans Theodore; Mendel, Arthur; Wolff, Christoph (1998), The New Bach Reader (Revised ed.), W.W. Norton,
ISBN
0393319563
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).
"Johann Ernst, Prince of Weimar" .
Grove Music Online (8th ed.).
Oxford University Press .
ISBN
978-1-56159-263-0 .
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,
ISBN
978-0252095399
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,
ISBN
9780521587808
Jones, Richard (2013), The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach: Music to Delight the Spirit, Volume II: 1717-1750 ,
Oxford University Press ,
ISBN
9780191503849
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,
ISBN
0393001687
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 (2nd ed.), J.M. Dent,
ISBN
0460861085
Williams, Peter (2016), Bach: A Musical Biography ,
Cambridge University Press ,
ISBN
9781107139251
Wolff, Christoph (1994),
"Bach's Leipzig Chamber Music" , Bach: Essays on His Life and Work ,
Harvard University Press , p. 263,
ISBN
0674059263 (a reprint of a 1985 publication in
Early Music )
Wolff, Christoph (2001), Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician , W. W. Norton,
ISBN
9780393322569
Zohn, Steven (2008), Music for a Mixed Taste: Style, Genre, and Meaning in Telemann's Instrumental Works ,
Oxford University Press ,
ISBN
978-0190247850
25448 MSM at
Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles (
RISM
702002232 ): Fascicles
3 (BWV 972a) and
4 (BWV 981) at
Bach Digital
D-DS Mus. ms. 66 at
Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt [
de ] (BWV 974;
RISM
450001735 ;
D-DS Mus. ms. 66 at
Bach Digital )
D-LEb Peters Ms. 8 at
Stadtbibliothek Leipzig [
de ] /
Bach Archive : Fascicles
14 (BWV 971),
28 (BWV 984) and
29 (BWV 981) at
Bach Digital
D-LEm Poel. mus. Ms. 29 at
Stadtbibliothek Leipzig [
de ] (BWV 592a, 973 and 983–4;
D-LEm Poel. mus. Ms. 29 at
Bach Digital )
Mus.ms. Bach P 280 at
Berlin State Library (BWV 592 and 973–982;
RISM
467300717 ;
D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 280 at
Bach Digital )
Mus.ms. Bach P 801 (28) at
Berlin State Library ("Concerto di Marcello", BWV 981;
RISM
467300247 ;
D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 801, Fascicle 28 at
Bach Digital )
Mus.ms. Bach P 804 at
Berlin State Library (
RISM
467300254 ): Fascicles
4 (BWV 974),
15 (BWV 976),
28 (BWV 985),
34 (BWV 987),
35 (BWV 983),
46 (BWV 986),
52 (BWV 984),
54 (BWV 973),
55 (BWV 972) and
56 (BWV 977) at
Bach Digital
Mus.ms. Bach St 139, Fascicle 1 at
Berlin State Library (autograph parts of BWV 1061a;
D-B Mus. ms. Bach St 139, Faszikel 1 at
Bach Digital )
Kirsten Beißwenger.
"An early version of the first movement of the Italian Concerto BWV 971 from the Scholz collection?" pp. 1–19 in
Bach Studies 2 edited by Daniel R. Melamed.
Cambridge University Press , 2006.
ISBN
9780521028912
Boyd, Malcolm (2000), Bach , Master Musician Series,
Oxford University Press , pp. 80–83,
ISBN
0195142225
Breig, Werner (1997a),
"The Instrumental Music" , in
John Butt (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Bach , pp. 123–135,
ISBN
9781139002158
Butler, H. Joseph (2011),
"Emulation and Inspiration: J. S. Bach's Transcriptions from Vivaldi's L'estro armonico " (PDF) ,
The Diapason : 19–21
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,
ISBN
9780198164401
Schulenberg, David (2013), The Keyboard Music of J.S. Bach , Routledge, pp. 117–139,
ISBN
9781136091469 ,
Updates (2016)
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 ,
ISBN
9780193161269
Talbot, Michael , ed. (2011), The Vivaldi Compendium , Boydell Press,
ISBN
9781843836704
Williams, Peter (2003), The Organ Music of J. S. Bach (2nd ed.),
Cambridge University Press , pp. 201–224,
ISBN
0-521-89115-9
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)
Organ
Fugue in G minor, BWV 131a (doubtful)
Sonatas, BWV 525–530
Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 531
Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532
Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537
Toccata and Fugue in D minor ("Dorian"), BWV 538
Toccata and Fugue in F major, BWV 540
Fantasia and Fugue in G minor ("Great"), BWV 542
Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543
Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544
Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 546
Prelude and Fugue in E minor ("Wedge"), BWV 548
Eight Short Preludes and Fugues, BWV 553–560 (doubtful)
Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 562
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 (doubtful)
Prelude (Toccata) and Fugue in E major, BWV 566
Fantasia ("Pièce d'Orgue") in G major, BWV 572
Fugue in G minor ("Little"), BWV 578
Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582
Concertos, BWV 592–597
Orgelbüchlein , BWV 599–644
Schübler Chorales , BWV 645–650
Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes , BWV 651–668
Chorale partita Sei gegrüßet, Jesu gütig , BWV 768
Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her", BWV 769
Neumeister chorales , BWV 1090–1120
Chorale fantasia Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält , BWV 1128
Keyboard Lute Mixed collections