Title page of the 1886 volume of Vierteljahrsschrift für Musikwissenschaft, in which Woldemar Voigt argued that the model for Bach's concerto for two harpsichords in C minor, BWV 1060, would have been a lost concerto for oboe and violin.^[1]

The concerto for two harpsichords in C minor, BWV 1060, is a concerto for two harpsichords and string orchestra by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is likely to have originated in the second half of the 1730s as an arrangement of an earlier concerto, also in C minor, for oboe and violin. That conjectural original version of the concerto, which may have been composed in Bach's Köthen years (1717–1723), is lost, but has been reconstructed in several versions known as BWV 1060R.

History

While the extant 18th-century manuscripts present the concerto in a form for two harpsichords and strings, the assumption that it originated as concerto for violin and oboe has become widely accepted since the late 19th century.^[2][3][4] The precise date for this earlier concerto is unknown, but it is believed to have been in existence from the early 1720s.^[5] The version for two harpsichords likely originated in or around 1736.^[6] A broader estimate for the time of origin of the version for two harpsichords is 1735–1740.^[7]

Structure

1. Allegro	2. Adagio	3. Allegro

The concerto is scored for two harpsichords (cembalo concertato I and II), two violin parts (violin I and II), viola and basso continuo.^[4] The difference in texture and figuration of both solo instruments is clearest in the outer Allegro movements.^[1][3] In these movements, the melody lines of the cembalo II part are generally more lyrical and less agile than those of the cembalo I part.^[1][3] The Adagio middle movement, where the melody lines of both solo instruments imitate one another without distinction in texture and figuration, has been likened to the middle movement of Bach's double violin concerto, BWV 1043.^[1][7][8]

Length: c. 14 minutes for the recording in § Reconstructed versions

Reception

First page of music examples in Forkel's 1802 biography of Johann Sebastian Bach: the incipit of BWV 1060 is Fig. 11 on this page.^[10]

In his early 19th-century Bach biography, Johann Nikolaus Forkel described the concerto as "very old", with which he probably meant he found its style antiquated.^[10][11][12] The concerto was published in 1848, edited by Friedrich Konrad Griepenkerl.^[13][14]

In the 1874 preface to the Bach Gesellschaft edition of the concerto for two harpsichords, Wilhelm Rust had suggested that the original version of the concerto would have been for two violins.^[1][15][16] In 1886 Woldemar Voigt wrote that the original instrument for the part of the second harpsichord was more likely an oboe, and that the original of the concerto could almost certainly be identified with a lost concerto for oboe and violin mentioned in a 1764 Breitkopf catalogue.^{[1][15][17][7]}

References

Sources

• Bach, Johann Sebastian (1848). Griepenkerl, Friedrich Konrad [in German] (ed.). Concert (en Ut mineur) pour deux clavecins avec deux violons, viola et basse. Compositions pour le piano-forte sans et avec accompagnement par Jean Sébastien Bach: Edition nouvelle, soigneusement revue, corrigée, métronomisée et doigtée; enrichie de notes sur l'exécution et accompagnée d'une préface – Oeuvres complettes. Vol. 13. Leipzig: C. F. Peters. hdl:2027/mdp.39015007904116.
• Boyd, Malcolm (1993). Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521387132.
• Butt, John (1999). "Harpsichord Concertos". In Boyd, Malcolm; Butt, John (eds.). J.S. Bach. Oxford Composer Companions. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866208-2.
• Butt, John (2015). Bach Violin Concertos (PDF) (liner notes). Cecilia Bernardini, Dunedin Consort. Hyperion. CKD519.
• Clements, Dominy (2015). "Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concertos". www.musicweb-international.com.
• Forkel, Johann Nikolaus (1802). Ueber Johann Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke. Leipzig: Hoffmeister und Kühnel.
• Forkel, Johann Nikolaus (1920). Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work. Translated from the German, with notes and appendices, by Charles Sanford Terry. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe.
• Jones, Richard D. P. (2013). "Concertos for two harpsichords". The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach: Music to Delight the Spirit. Vol. II: 1717–1750. Oxford University Press. pp. 254–257. ISBN 9780199696284.
• King, Robert (1989). Bach: Violin Concertos (PDF) (liner notes). Catherine Mackintosh, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Paul Goodwin, The King's Consort. Hyperion. CDH55347.
• Rust, Wilhelm (1874). "Vorwort". Joh. Seb. Bach's Kammermusik, Fünfter Band: Drei Concerte für zwei Claviere mit Orchesterbegleitung. Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe (in German). Vol. 21.2. Breitkopf & Härtel. pp. V–X.
• Schmieder, Wolfgang (1990). Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (2nd ed.). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 9783765102554.
• Schneider, Max [in German] (1907). "Verzeichnis der bis zum Jahre 1851 gedruckten (und der geschrieben im Handel gewesenen) Werke von Johann Sebastian Bach". Bach-Jahrbuch 1906. Bach-Jahrbuch (in German). Breitkopf & Härtel. pp. 84–113.
• Seiffert, Max (1920). "Preface". Konzert C moll für Violine und Oboe oder für zwei Violinen mit Klavierbegleitung von J.S. Bach. Edition Peters. hdl:2027/pst.000056850000.
• Spitta, Philipp (1899). Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685–1750. Vol. III. Translated by Clara Bell; J. A. Fuller Maitland. Novello & Co.
  • Volume III
• Voigt, Woldemar (1886). Chrysander, Friedrich; Spitta, Philipp; Adler, Guido (eds.). "Über die Originalgestalt von J. S. Bach's Konzert für zwei Klaviere in Cmoll (Nr. 1)". Vierteljahrsschrift für Musikwissenschaft (in German). Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel. II: 482–487.

External links

• Concerto for two harpsichords in C minor, BWV 1060: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project