Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, BWV 1043
Johann Sebastian Bach

THE STORY

At the time of the composition of the Concerto for Two Violins, Johann Sebastian Bach was undoubtedly the most prominent musician in the German city of Leipzig. Working for the city council in the position of Thomaskantor, he oversaw the performance and composition of music for four of the city’s largest churches and taught students in singing.

Records indicate that Bach worked tirelessly, seeming to have inexhaustible energy and passion for his work—but after nearly seven years, he accepted an additional position. He became Music Director of Leipzig’s Collegium Musicum, an ensemble of professional and student musicians who performed weekly concerts to great acclaim.

Possibly Bach accepted the position so that he might have the opportunity to compose more instrumental music. One of the first compositions Bach wrote for his new employer was the Concerto for Two Violins. The Collegium performed the premiere in 1730 in a large coffee house—a significant change of venue, since musical performance at the time was for the most part the province of the church. The age of concert halls was still many years away, but the dramatic exchanges of the “Double Concerto” have been brought to life on stages around the world.

THE STORY

• The sections in the first movement where the two soloists play as part of the full ensemble, with the contrasting sections in which they play alone with orchestral accompaniment
• The cello, bass, and harpsichord—collectively called the basso continuo— providing the skeletal structure in the second movement for the soloists and other instruments to ornament
• Musical lines playing simultaneously in counterpoint—a difficult compositional technique of which Bach was considered the master

INSTRUMENTATION

Strings, continuo