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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Concerto for Harpsichord in D Minor, BWV 1059
Composed: ca. 1730
Duration: 15 minutes

There is widespread acceptance that the opening sinfonia to Geist und Seele wird verwirret, BWV 35 – with its dramatic organ obbligato – was the early version of the projected Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1059, of which only the first eight-and-a-half bars were completed. The modification that Bach makes to the opening ritornello shape shows a development far and above anything seen in the other concertos in the set, and gives a tantalizing glimpse of the treatment Bach may have applied to the rest of the concerto in the rhythmic and harmonic modifications.

The other interesting thread left unresolved is the title: Concerto a Cembalo solo, una Oboe, due Violini, Viola e Cont[inuo]. The top stave is marked “Haut e Viol.1” – that is “oboe and violin 1”. However, as the violin and oboe don’t deviate in the music that survives, it is impossible to know exactly what role the oboe part should take. In the opening sinfonia to Cantata 35, the oboe is part of a group of three, who play as a team dialoguing with the strings.

As the opening metamorphosis from Cantata to Concerto is so startling, I had always been keen to try and imagine what shape the rest of the concerto might take and what problems such a reconstruction might encounter.

The first movement presented the question of how to modify all the material in the Cantata Sinfonia to reflect Bach’s treatment of the opening ritornello. Another issue was how to use the oboe, and for this movement, I chose to integrate it as another voice in the accompanying team: a reinforcement in the ritornelli and in dialogue with the violins and harpsichord in the solo accompanied passages. In order to create a complete concerto, I felt, like many others, that Cantata 35 contained all the extra music needed to create a satisfactory whole. I took the first section of the opening aria, Geist und Seele wird verwirret, from the cantata and assigned the voice part to the oboe and left the organ part mostly unaltered. The accompanying string parts were made by combining the thematic material from both the wind parts and the existing string parts. For the final movement, the Sinfonia to Part Two of the Cantata provided a musically satisfying conclusion with very little alteration needed, apart from the addition of written and extemporary ornamentation in the keyboard part on the repeat of both halves.

Program note by Steven Devine.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Concerto for Harpsichord in D Minor, BWV 1059
Composed: ca. 1730
Duration: 15 minutes

There is widespread acceptance that the opening sinfonia to Geist und Seele wird verwirret, BWV 35 – with its dramatic organ obbligato – was the early version of the projected Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1059, of which only the first eight-and-a-half bars were completed. The modification that Bach makes to the opening ritornello shape shows a development far and above anything seen in the other concertos in the set, and gives a tantalizing glimpse of the treatment Bach may have applied to the rest of the concerto in the rhythmic and harmonic modifications.

The other interesting thread left unresolved is the title: Concerto a Cembalo solo, una Oboe, due Violini, Viola e Cont[inuo]. The top stave is marked “Haut e Viol.1” – that is “oboe and violin 1”. However, as the violin and oboe don’t deviate in the music that survives, it is impossible to know exactly what role the oboe part should take. In the opening sinfonia to Cantata 35, the oboe is part of a group of three, who play as a team dialoguing with the strings.

As the opening metamorphosis from Cantata to Concerto is so startling, I had always been keen to try and imagine what shape the rest of the concerto might take and what problems such a reconstruction might encounter.

The first movement presented the question of how to modify all the material in the Cantata Sinfonia to reflect Bach’s treatment of the opening ritornello. Another issue was how to use the oboe, and for this movement, I chose to integrate it as another voice in the accompanying team: a reinforcement in the ritornelli and in dialogue with the violins and harpsichord in the solo accompanied passages. In order to create a complete concerto, I felt, like many others, that Cantata 35 contained all the extra music needed to create a satisfactory whole. I took the first section of the opening aria, Geist und Seele wird verwirret, from the cantata and assigned the voice part to the oboe and left the organ part mostly unaltered. The accompanying string parts were made by combining the thematic material from both the wind parts and the existing string parts. For the final movement, the Sinfonia to Part Two of the Cantata provided a musically satisfying conclusion with very little alteration needed, apart from the addition of written and extemporary ornamentation in the keyboard part on the repeat of both halves.

Program note by Steven Devine.