March 18, 2019.Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21st of 1685.Last year, while celebrating his birthday, we focused on the period of mid-1730s, when Bach was living in Leipzig and was involved with Collegium Musicum, an association of professional musicians and students, which was created by Telemann in 1702 for the purpose of producing regular public concerts.During Bach’s tenure, the summer concerts took place on Wednesdays between 4 and 6 p.m. in the coffee-garden “near the Grimmisches Thor (gates)”; during the winter time – on Fridays between 8 and 10 p.m. in Zimmermann’s coffee-house.Many of Bach’s works were performed during these concerts, some old and some new.The famous Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 was one of them, and so were the other six concertos, BWV 1053 through BWV 1058.Also performed were his orchestral suites, violin concertos and other pieces.He played the music of other composers as well, and, according to his son, C.P.E. Bach, all famous musicians passing through Leipzig played for him.
Going back to the harpsichord concertos: while they sound original, most of their music had been written by Bach earlier.For example, here is the first movement of the Harpsichord Concerto no. 1, BWV 1052, the recording made live by Glenn Gould in 1957 in Leningrad during his historic tour of the Soviet Union (the Leningrad Academic Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Ladislav Slovák).And here is the first movement, Sinfonia, of Bach’s Cantata BWV 146, Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal (We must [pass] through great sadness), composed either in 1726 or 1728.As you can hear, it’s the same music but arranged for a slightly different orchestra, with the keyboard being the organ rather than the harpsichord.The very dynamic organist in the Sinfonia is Howard Moody, the British composer and keyboard player.John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists.The second movement of the concerto was taken from the second movement of the same BWV 146 cantata, except that in this case Bach had to work harder, as converting a choral line to keyboard was not such a straightforward task.Here’s movement II, Adagio, from the concerto, and here – the second movement from the Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal cantata.The third movement of the concerto was also taken from an earlier-written cantata, but in this case, from the first movement of the cantata BWV 188, Ich habe meine Zuversicht (I have [placed] my confidence).Here’s the final movement of the Concerto, and here – the first movement of the Cantata Ich habe meine Zuversicht.
We should be grateful to Bach for so brilliantly recycling the old material; he couldn’t have expected that in the 20th century his keyboard concertos would become so popular, and of course he could’ve never predicted the phenomenon of Glenn Gould, but whether fair or not, his concertos are played and recorded much more often than the cantatas.
If you wish to listen to the complete pieces, you could do so by searching our library, or clicking here for the Harpsichord Concerto no. 1, BWV 1052, here – for the Cantata BWV 146, Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal, and here – for the Cantata BWN 188, Ich habe meine Zuversicht.
Nikolai Rinsky-Korsakov,Modest Mussorgsky, and Franz Schreker, an interesting but almost forgotten Austrian composer active at the end of the 19th – first third of the 20th century were also born this week.We’ll get to them another time.
Johann Sebastian Bach 2019
March 18, 2019. Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21st of 1685. Last year, while celebrating his birthday, we focused on the period of mid-1730s, when Bach was living in Leipzig and was involved with Collegium Musicum, an association of professional musicians and
students, which was created by Telemann in 1702 for the purpose of producing regular public concerts. During Bach’s tenure, the summer concerts took place on Wednesdays between 4 and 6 p.m. in the coffee-garden “near the Grimmisches Thor (gates)”; during the winter time – on Fridays between 8 and 10 p.m. in Zimmermann’s coffee-house. Many of Bach’s works were performed during these concerts, some old and some new. The famous Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 was one of them, and so were the other six concertos, BWV 1053 through BWV 1058. Also performed were his orchestral suites, violin concertos and other pieces. He played the music of other composers as well, and, according to his son, C.P.E. Bach, all famous musicians passing through Leipzig played for him.
Going back to the harpsichord concertos: while they sound original, most of their music had been written by Bach earlier. For example, here is the first movement of the Harpsichord Concerto no. 1, BWV 1052, the recording made live by Glenn Gould in 1957 in Leningrad during his historic tour of the Soviet Union (the Leningrad Academic Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Ladislav Slovák). And here is the first movement, Sinfonia, of Bach’s Cantata BWV 146, Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal (We must [pass] through great sadness), composed either in 1726 or 1728. As you can hear, it’s the same music but arranged for a slightly different orchestra, with the keyboard being the organ rather than the harpsichord. The very dynamic organist in the Sinfonia is Howard Moody, the British composer and keyboard player. John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists. The second movement of the concerto was taken from the second movement of the same BWV 146 cantata, except that in this case Bach had to work harder, as converting a choral line to keyboard was not such a straightforward task. Here’s movement II, Adagio, from the concerto, and here – the second movement from the Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal cantata. The third movement of the concerto was also taken from an earlier-written cantata, but in this case, from the first movement of the cantata BWV 188, Ich habe meine Zuversicht (I have [placed] my confidence). Here’s the final movement of the Concerto, and here – the first movement of the Cantata Ich habe meine Zuversicht.
We should be grateful to Bach for so brilliantly recycling the old material; he couldn’t have expected that in the 20th century his keyboard concertos would become so popular, and of course he could’ve never predicted the phenomenon of Glenn Gould, but whether fair or not, his concertos are played and recorded much more often than the cantatas.
If you wish to listen to the complete pieces, you could do so by searching our library, or clicking here for the Harpsichord Concerto no. 1, BWV 1052, here – for the Cantata BWV 146, Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal, and here – for the Cantata BWN 188, Ich habe meine Zuversicht.
Nikolai Rinsky-Korsakov, Modest Mussorgsky, and Franz Schreker, an interesting but almost forgotten Austrian composer active at the end of the 19th – first third of the 20th century were also born this week. We’ll get to them another time.